Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
County Legislator, Frank Sparaco, Denies Organized Crime Ties
Rockland County Legislator Frank Sparaco on Tuesday vehemently denied any connection to organized crime and accused the Democratic leadership in Albany of being behind media reports about mob ties among his campaign donors.
"They have attempted to plant in the media the despicable and preposterous idea that somehow I am linked to organized crime," said Sparaco, who is running for the Assembly. "I wish to make the following perfectly clear: I vehemently deny any knowledge that political contributions to my campaign came from companies with alleged ties to organize crime," he said at a news conference outside Rockland Republican Party headquarters off Route 304.
He is running on the Republican, Conservative and Working Families lines to unseat 94th District Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, who is on the Democratic and Independence lines. The election is Tuesday.
The news conference followed Saturday's publication of an article in The Journal News about Sparaco's campaign donations.
An investigation by the newspaper of county, state and federal records showed that at least $11,500 from reputed Colombo crime family members and associates and their businesses went into Sparaco's campaign coffers since 2007, including donations to his county Legislature and Assembly races.
"There's not one contributor who has been proven guilty of one act of organized crime," he said.
He would not identify the Democratic leaders he blamed for the reports or answer questions after his statement. "This type of insidious racial politics" has been seen before in attacks against other politicians, he said, citing Geraldine Ferraro, Rudy Giuliani and Mario Cuomo. "I will not stand for it," Sparaco said. "I will bring an independent voice to Albany, and there are those that are petrified of that."
He said he had no relationship with his biological father, Frank Sparaco Jr., a reputed Colombo member who pleaded guilty to federal murder charges in 1993 and was sentenced to prison for 24 years. The younger Sparaco said his father abandoned his mother when he was 9 months old.
"In this country, unlike others, we do not tell people to live in the shadows and stay on the margins of society because of what family they come from," Sparaco said. "I am standing up today for the millions of children across this country that are a product of a broken home. Are we worth less? I say no."
Rockland County Republican Party Chairman Vincent Reda backed his candidate.
"We stand behind Frank Sparaco and we reject the media story orchestrated by the Albany Democrats, who have increased taxes by $14 billion over the past two years and chased families and small businesses out of the state," Reda said. "We can no longer afford that."
Reda said the Democrats he was referring to were those cited in an Oct. 21 report by the state inspector general. The report found Senate leaders, including Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, and Gov. David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, complicit in steering a contract for video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens to Aqueduct Entertainment Group. In exchange, the report said, lobbyists and AEG officials pumped more than $100,000 into lawmakers' campaign coffers.
Requests for comment from the state Democratic Committee were not returned Tuesday.
"My candidacy is clearly a threat to those that represent the special interests, the status quo in Albany," said Sparaco, who lives in Valley Cottage. "So much so that they have generated these rumors to deter the good people of Rockland County from achieving the reform that they deserve ."
Diane Holland of West Nyack, who attended the event, said she would continue to support Sparaco.
"Frank is a man of integrity," Holland said. "I've known him for many years. ... He would stand behind me and I would stand behind him."
Thanks to Laura Incalcaterra
"They have attempted to plant in the media the despicable and preposterous idea that somehow I am linked to organized crime," said Sparaco, who is running for the Assembly. "I wish to make the following perfectly clear: I vehemently deny any knowledge that political contributions to my campaign came from companies with alleged ties to organize crime," he said at a news conference outside Rockland Republican Party headquarters off Route 304.
He is running on the Republican, Conservative and Working Families lines to unseat 94th District Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, who is on the Democratic and Independence lines. The election is Tuesday.
The news conference followed Saturday's publication of an article in The Journal News about Sparaco's campaign donations.
An investigation by the newspaper of county, state and federal records showed that at least $11,500 from reputed Colombo crime family members and associates and their businesses went into Sparaco's campaign coffers since 2007, including donations to his county Legislature and Assembly races.
"There's not one contributor who has been proven guilty of one act of organized crime," he said.
He would not identify the Democratic leaders he blamed for the reports or answer questions after his statement. "This type of insidious racial politics" has been seen before in attacks against other politicians, he said, citing Geraldine Ferraro, Rudy Giuliani and Mario Cuomo. "I will not stand for it," Sparaco said. "I will bring an independent voice to Albany, and there are those that are petrified of that."
He said he had no relationship with his biological father, Frank Sparaco Jr., a reputed Colombo member who pleaded guilty to federal murder charges in 1993 and was sentenced to prison for 24 years. The younger Sparaco said his father abandoned his mother when he was 9 months old.
"In this country, unlike others, we do not tell people to live in the shadows and stay on the margins of society because of what family they come from," Sparaco said. "I am standing up today for the millions of children across this country that are a product of a broken home. Are we worth less? I say no."
Rockland County Republican Party Chairman Vincent Reda backed his candidate.
"We stand behind Frank Sparaco and we reject the media story orchestrated by the Albany Democrats, who have increased taxes by $14 billion over the past two years and chased families and small businesses out of the state," Reda said. "We can no longer afford that."
Reda said the Democrats he was referring to were those cited in an Oct. 21 report by the state inspector general. The report found Senate leaders, including Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, and Gov. David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, complicit in steering a contract for video lottery terminals at Aqueduct Race Track in Queens to Aqueduct Entertainment Group. In exchange, the report said, lobbyists and AEG officials pumped more than $100,000 into lawmakers' campaign coffers.
Requests for comment from the state Democratic Committee were not returned Tuesday.
"My candidacy is clearly a threat to those that represent the special interests, the status quo in Albany," said Sparaco, who lives in Valley Cottage. "So much so that they have generated these rumors to deter the good people of Rockland County from achieving the reform that they deserve ."
Diane Holland of West Nyack, who attended the event, said she would continue to support Sparaco.
"Frank is a man of integrity," Holland said. "I've known him for many years. ... He would stand behind me and I would stand behind him."
Thanks to Laura Incalcaterra
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Gangsters of Harlem
For the first time ever, author Ron Chepesiuk chronicles the little known history of organized crime in Harlem. African American organized crime has had as significant an impact on its constituent community as Italian, Jewish, and Irish organized crime has had on theirs. Gangsters are every bit as colorful, intriguing, and powerful as Al Capone and Lucky Luciano, and have a fascinating history in gambling, prostitution, and drug dealing. In this riveting, vivid documentation, Chepesiuk tells the little-known story of organized crime in Harlem through in-depth profiles of the major gangs and motley gangsters whose exploits have made them legends.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Joseph "Rudy" Olivieri, Reputed Genovese Crime Family Soldier, to Face Trial as Alleged Union Contact Person for the Mob
The mob-linked head of a powerful contractors group goes on trial Tuesday in a case expected to dramatically demonstrate organized crime's grip on the city's construction unions.
Joseph (Rudy) Olivieri is the last of nine contracting bigwigs to face judgment in a case that's seen District Council of Carpenters chief Michael Forde and seven cohorts plead guilty this year.
Authorities say Olivieri, 55, is a Genovese crime family soldier who headed the Association of Wall-Ceiling & Carpentry Industries. The group represents 160 contractors who employ thousands of workers.
The trial centers on Olivieri's group, which is a force in several unions, and his role in a plot to steal millions from the carpenters' benefit funds.
Prosecutors say he took orders from mob capo Louis Moscatiello, who ran the crime family's construction rackets in the city. Moscatiello was set to testify against Olivieri but died last year in prison while serving time for a 2004 racketeering case.
Prosecutors have massed a parade of mobsters, ex-union officials, crooked contractors and FBI agents to show how the mob infests unions, rips off their benefit funds and pockets kickbacks to let contractors use cheap, nonunion labor.
Reputed Genovese associate Joseph Rizzuto, ex-business agent of Operating Engineers Local 14, has fingered Olivieri as the mob's "contact person" in the union in the late 1990s. Rizzuto is set to tell the jury how Olivieri "threatened" him and summoned him to a meeting at a LaGuardia Airport hotel after he balked at putting Moscatiello's pick in a top union post.
Jurors also are expected to hear a 2004 recording of capo John (Buster) Ardito and several wiseguys identifying Olivieri as "a friend of Louis" with ties to longtime labor racketeer Vincent DiNapoli.
At a hearing yesterday, defense lawyer Brian Gardner tried to bar prosecutors from using sworn testimony Olivieri gave in a related civil case without warning him he was a criminal target.
Manhattan Federal Judge Victor Marrero decided Olivieri will be tried first only for perjury, one of five counts against him.
Thanks to Brian Kates
Joseph (Rudy) Olivieri is the last of nine contracting bigwigs to face judgment in a case that's seen District Council of Carpenters chief Michael Forde and seven cohorts plead guilty this year.
Authorities say Olivieri, 55, is a Genovese crime family soldier who headed the Association of Wall-Ceiling & Carpentry Industries. The group represents 160 contractors who employ thousands of workers.
The trial centers on Olivieri's group, which is a force in several unions, and his role in a plot to steal millions from the carpenters' benefit funds.
Prosecutors say he took orders from mob capo Louis Moscatiello, who ran the crime family's construction rackets in the city. Moscatiello was set to testify against Olivieri but died last year in prison while serving time for a 2004 racketeering case.
Prosecutors have massed a parade of mobsters, ex-union officials, crooked contractors and FBI agents to show how the mob infests unions, rips off their benefit funds and pockets kickbacks to let contractors use cheap, nonunion labor.
Reputed Genovese associate Joseph Rizzuto, ex-business agent of Operating Engineers Local 14, has fingered Olivieri as the mob's "contact person" in the union in the late 1990s. Rizzuto is set to tell the jury how Olivieri "threatened" him and summoned him to a meeting at a LaGuardia Airport hotel after he balked at putting Moscatiello's pick in a top union post.
Jurors also are expected to hear a 2004 recording of capo John (Buster) Ardito and several wiseguys identifying Olivieri as "a friend of Louis" with ties to longtime labor racketeer Vincent DiNapoli.
At a hearing yesterday, defense lawyer Brian Gardner tried to bar prosecutors from using sworn testimony Olivieri gave in a related civil case without warning him he was a criminal target.
Manhattan Federal Judge Victor Marrero decided Olivieri will be tried first only for perjury, one of five counts against him.
Thanks to Brian Kates
Sam Giancana's Life Could become TV Series
Legendary Chicago mobster Sam Giancana could soon get the TV series treatment. Ted Field and his Radar Pictures shingle have pacted with Dimitri Logothetis and Nicholas Celozzi to turn Giancana's life story into a drama. Radar, Logothetis and Celozzi are looking first for international financing and distribution before turning their attention to finding a U.S. partner. A deal is imminent, the trio said.
Giancana ran the Chicago mob -- known as "the Outfit" -- from the 1950s to the 1970s, when he was forced out of power and exiled to Mexico. Upon his return, Giancana became an informant for the FBI but was assassinated in his home. Giancana's murder has never been solved.
Giancana was also a widower raising three daughters. Celozzi secured Giancana's life rights from daughters Bonnie and Francine, who also happen to be Celozzi's cousins.
Logothetis and Celozzi will write and exec produce. The duo's credits include recent Lifetime telepic "The Lost Angel."
Logothetis' other credits include "Code Name Eternity," "Dark Realm" and "Stephen King's Sleepwalkers." He also directed HBO's "Body Shot." Celozzi has written indie features such as "Quiet Kill" and "A Fine Step."
Giancana story also hits home for Field, who formerly owned the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as Kaiser Broadcasting and Interscope Communications. As a producer, Field was behind "The Invention of Lying," "Jumanji," "The Last Samurai" and "Runaway Bride."
Thanks to Michael Schneider
Giancana ran the Chicago mob -- known as "the Outfit" -- from the 1950s to the 1970s, when he was forced out of power and exiled to Mexico. Upon his return, Giancana became an informant for the FBI but was assassinated in his home. Giancana's murder has never been solved.
Giancana was also a widower raising three daughters. Celozzi secured Giancana's life rights from daughters Bonnie and Francine, who also happen to be Celozzi's cousins.
Logothetis and Celozzi will write and exec produce. The duo's credits include recent Lifetime telepic "The Lost Angel."
Logothetis' other credits include "Code Name Eternity," "Dark Realm" and "Stephen King's Sleepwalkers." He also directed HBO's "Body Shot." Celozzi has written indie features such as "Quiet Kill" and "A Fine Step."
Giancana story also hits home for Field, who formerly owned the Chicago Sun-Times, as well as Kaiser Broadcasting and Interscope Communications. As a producer, Field was behind "The Invention of Lying," "Jumanji," "The Last Samurai" and "Runaway Bride."
Thanks to Michael Schneider
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Armenian Organized Crime Mobsters Target Medicare Scams Along with Credit Card Fraud, Identity Theft and Mortgage Fraud
Endeavor Diagnostics billed itself as a thriving medical laboratory that performed more than $1 million of work for Medicare patients.
When two FBI agents went to inspect it, they found an empty San Fernando Valley office with only a desk and a fax machine. There were no workers, no patients and no biological samples.
Behind the door of the facade were signs tying the operation to a sprawling network of phantom enterprises allegedly set up by Armenian mobsters to try to defraud Medicare of $163 million for services never provided.
Dozens of arrests around the country Wednesday highlighted a criminal demographic rarely seen, but one that officials say is rooted in California and growing in reach and sophistication.
"They are victimizing our systems, they are victimizing business, they are victimizing private citizens," said Glendale police Lt. Steve Davey, who heads up a task force tackling Eurasian crime. "Their ultimate goal is oligarchy - to see if they can infiltrate government."
Few criminal groups can match the sophistication of Armenian scammers, who developed an uncanny savvy for probing weaknesses in government systems and were hailed as heroes when they exploited their Soviet republic homeland, authorities said. They have been known for devising complex white collar schemes such as credit card fraud, identity theft and mortgage fraud.
Indictments released Wednesday in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere show how various cells, largely working on their own but often sharing techniques, set up fraudulent medical businesses using stolen physician identities. After becoming licensed Medicare providers and submitting claims, the fake office billed the government, which would pay money to fraudulent bank accounts. Many claims were bogus but sometimes criminals would provide a small service then submit an inflated bill.
In Los Angeles, for example, they would provide a scooter worth about $1,000, but profit after billing Medicare for a top-end electric wheelchair worth six times as much, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Matt McLaughlin said.
The groups have been known to recruit people with a nominal sum to become a fake patient, then bill Medicare for services supposedly rendered.
"It's great camouflage," McLaughlin said. "We have to deconstruct each element to prove a fraud."
Prosecutors also allege that conspirators paid corrupt doctors to carry out unnecessary testing on purported accident victims, then charged the government for the treatment.
In all, $163 million in fraudulent bills were submitted, with Medicare actually paying out $35 million, according to the documents.
The complex operation was allegedly overseen by Armen Kazarian, who melded into Glendale's large Armenian population after arriving as an asylum seeker in 1996 and mostly stayed out of view of the police. Kazarian, 46, who is in custody in Los Angeles, is known by the Soviet term "thief in law," which is the rough equivalent of a "godfather." Authorities say it is only the second time such a figure, known in Russian as a "vor v zakone," has been arrested in the U.S.
Nearly half of Glendale's 200,000 residents have an Armenian background. Following the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Turkey, a diaspora spread around the globe, with many arriving in Fresno and the East Coast.
Successive waves of immigrants followed major geopolitical upheavals, including the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, and a small Armenian community in Hollywood quickly expanded to Glendale and the surrounding areas
In the mid-1980s, sons of Armenian immigrants from the Hollywood area banded together to form a gang called Armenian Power to protect themselves against Hispanic gangs. The community initially saw members as vigilante protectors but the group soon morphed into a street gang like any other, carrying out drive-by shootings and other crimes such as kidnappings, drug deals and burglaries, Glendale Officer Rafael Quintero said. But most crime in the Armenian community is carried out quietly and centers on sophisticated identity theft schemes. Police started picking up on these activities at the end of the 1990s and Glendale's task force was established in 2000, Davey said.
Several police agencies have task forces focused on Eurasian crime but Los Angeles police Lt. Stephen Margolis said this operation illustrates how the law enforcement community overall should pay closer attention.
"The sophistication and the pervasiveness of this type of criminal activity is years in the making," Margolis said. "Hopefully this will serve as a wake up to the extent of the seriousness this problem presents at a national level."
Zaven Kazazian, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Armenian-American Chamber of Commerce, said much of the crime in the community is carried out by people raised under communist rule in the former Soviet republic of Armenia, where exploiting a corrupt government was seen as fair game. "It is a different cultural background," Kazazian said. "Everybody was out for themselves."
Kazazian stressed that only a handful of Armenians are engaged in criminal enterprises and cautioned against making generalizations. "We are embarrassed by it and we do not have any affiliation with them. They do not represent the true Armenian people," he said. "It's like saying all Italians are part of the Mafia. That's just stupid."
Prosecutors say the crime ring was known as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, named after its principal leaders Davit Mirzoyan, 34, of Glendale and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn.
Most of the 44 people charged are from the Los Angeles area and New York but arrests were also made in Georgia, New Mexico and Ohio.
The seven defendants named in the Los Angeles indictment have all pleaded not guilty. Defendants named in the New York portion of the case had either pleaded not guilty or were due to be arraigned Monday.
A call to Kazarian's defense attorney, Vicken Hagopian, was not immediately returned Friday.
As the "thief-in-law" of the operation, Kazarian was touted by authorities as the big catch. But the role of such "vor v zakones" is more subtle than that of a Mafia boss, Lt. Davey said.
Armenian crime bosses typically are nominated by other criminals and their main task is to mediate disputes between groups. Though they describe no actual violence, authorities allege Kazarian helped the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization and would use threats to resolve disputes in the U.S., Armenia and other places.
Armenia has said it will cooperate with the U.S. in its investigation and Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan has said his nation was sorry.
Thanks to Thomas Watkins
When two FBI agents went to inspect it, they found an empty San Fernando Valley office with only a desk and a fax machine. There were no workers, no patients and no biological samples.
Behind the door of the facade were signs tying the operation to a sprawling network of phantom enterprises allegedly set up by Armenian mobsters to try to defraud Medicare of $163 million for services never provided.
Dozens of arrests around the country Wednesday highlighted a criminal demographic rarely seen, but one that officials say is rooted in California and growing in reach and sophistication.
"They are victimizing our systems, they are victimizing business, they are victimizing private citizens," said Glendale police Lt. Steve Davey, who heads up a task force tackling Eurasian crime. "Their ultimate goal is oligarchy - to see if they can infiltrate government."
Few criminal groups can match the sophistication of Armenian scammers, who developed an uncanny savvy for probing weaknesses in government systems and were hailed as heroes when they exploited their Soviet republic homeland, authorities said. They have been known for devising complex white collar schemes such as credit card fraud, identity theft and mortgage fraud.
Indictments released Wednesday in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere show how various cells, largely working on their own but often sharing techniques, set up fraudulent medical businesses using stolen physician identities. After becoming licensed Medicare providers and submitting claims, the fake office billed the government, which would pay money to fraudulent bank accounts. Many claims were bogus but sometimes criminals would provide a small service then submit an inflated bill.
In Los Angeles, for example, they would provide a scooter worth about $1,000, but profit after billing Medicare for a top-end electric wheelchair worth six times as much, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Matt McLaughlin said.
The groups have been known to recruit people with a nominal sum to become a fake patient, then bill Medicare for services supposedly rendered.
"It's great camouflage," McLaughlin said. "We have to deconstruct each element to prove a fraud."
Prosecutors also allege that conspirators paid corrupt doctors to carry out unnecessary testing on purported accident victims, then charged the government for the treatment.
In all, $163 million in fraudulent bills were submitted, with Medicare actually paying out $35 million, according to the documents.
The complex operation was allegedly overseen by Armen Kazarian, who melded into Glendale's large Armenian population after arriving as an asylum seeker in 1996 and mostly stayed out of view of the police. Kazarian, 46, who is in custody in Los Angeles, is known by the Soviet term "thief in law," which is the rough equivalent of a "godfather." Authorities say it is only the second time such a figure, known in Russian as a "vor v zakone," has been arrested in the U.S.
Nearly half of Glendale's 200,000 residents have an Armenian background. Following the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Turkey, a diaspora spread around the globe, with many arriving in Fresno and the East Coast.
Successive waves of immigrants followed major geopolitical upheavals, including the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, and a small Armenian community in Hollywood quickly expanded to Glendale and the surrounding areas
In the mid-1980s, sons of Armenian immigrants from the Hollywood area banded together to form a gang called Armenian Power to protect themselves against Hispanic gangs. The community initially saw members as vigilante protectors but the group soon morphed into a street gang like any other, carrying out drive-by shootings and other crimes such as kidnappings, drug deals and burglaries, Glendale Officer Rafael Quintero said. But most crime in the Armenian community is carried out quietly and centers on sophisticated identity theft schemes. Police started picking up on these activities at the end of the 1990s and Glendale's task force was established in 2000, Davey said.
Several police agencies have task forces focused on Eurasian crime but Los Angeles police Lt. Stephen Margolis said this operation illustrates how the law enforcement community overall should pay closer attention.
"The sophistication and the pervasiveness of this type of criminal activity is years in the making," Margolis said. "Hopefully this will serve as a wake up to the extent of the seriousness this problem presents at a national level."
Zaven Kazazian, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Armenian-American Chamber of Commerce, said much of the crime in the community is carried out by people raised under communist rule in the former Soviet republic of Armenia, where exploiting a corrupt government was seen as fair game. "It is a different cultural background," Kazazian said. "Everybody was out for themselves."
Kazazian stressed that only a handful of Armenians are engaged in criminal enterprises and cautioned against making generalizations. "We are embarrassed by it and we do not have any affiliation with them. They do not represent the true Armenian people," he said. "It's like saying all Italians are part of the Mafia. That's just stupid."
Prosecutors say the crime ring was known as the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, named after its principal leaders Davit Mirzoyan, 34, of Glendale and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn.
Most of the 44 people charged are from the Los Angeles area and New York but arrests were also made in Georgia, New Mexico and Ohio.
The seven defendants named in the Los Angeles indictment have all pleaded not guilty. Defendants named in the New York portion of the case had either pleaded not guilty or were due to be arraigned Monday.
A call to Kazarian's defense attorney, Vicken Hagopian, was not immediately returned Friday.
As the "thief-in-law" of the operation, Kazarian was touted by authorities as the big catch. But the role of such "vor v zakones" is more subtle than that of a Mafia boss, Lt. Davey said.
Armenian crime bosses typically are nominated by other criminals and their main task is to mediate disputes between groups. Though they describe no actual violence, authorities allege Kazarian helped the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization and would use threats to resolve disputes in the U.S., Armenia and other places.
Armenia has said it will cooperate with the U.S. in its investigation and Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan has said his nation was sorry.
Thanks to Thomas Watkins
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Reputed Mafia Godfather, Armen Kazarian, Alleged to Have Led Massive Medicare Cheating Scam
A vast network of Armenian gangsters and their associates used phantom health care clinics and other means to try to cheat Medicare out of $163 million, the largest fraud by one criminal enterprise in the program's history, U.S. authorities said Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors in New York and elsewhere charged 73 people. Most of the defendants were captured during raids Wednesday morning in New York City and Los Angeles, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio.
The scheme's scope and sophistication "puts the traditional Mafia to shame," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at a Manhattan news conference. "They ran a veritable fraud franchise."
Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was "completely notional," Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York office, said in a statement. "The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage."
The operation was under the protection of an Armenian crime boss, known in the former Soviet Union as a "vor," prosecutors said. The reputed boss, Armen Kazarian, was in custody in Los Angeles.
Bharara said it was the first time a vor — "the rough equivalent of a traditional godfather" — had been charged in a U.S. racketeering case.
Kazarian, 46, of Glendale, Calif., and two alleged ringleaders — Davit Mirzoyan, 34, also of Glendale, and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn — were named in an indictment charging racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and identity theft.
The indictment accused Terdjanian and others of hatching other schemes involving stolen credit cards, untaxed cigarettes and counterfeit Viagra. It also alleges that during a meeting last year at a Brighton Beach restaurant, Terdjanian pulled a knife on someone who owed him money "and threatened to disembowel the individual if the debt was not paid."
A judge jailed Terdjanian without bail on Wednesday at a brief hearing. Afterward, his attorney said his client denies the charges.
Kazarian and Mirzoyan were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Authorities began the New York-based investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen.
The defendants in the New York case also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states, authorities said. The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given, they said.
Some of the phony paperwork was a giveaway: It showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; obstetricians testing for skin allergies; and dermatologists billing for heart exams.
In the New York portion of the case, more $100 million in fraudulent bills were submitted and Medicare paid out at least $35 million, sometimes by wiring it to the clinics' banks accounts, investigators said.
Most of the defendants "were Armenian nationals or immigrants and many maintained substantial ties to Armenia" and criminals there, the indictment said. Couriers would often carry cash proceeds from the fraud back to Armenia, it added.
Prosecutors were seeking forfeiture of real estate in Las Vegas; Palm Springs, Calif.; and elsewhere, and of a 2007 Maserati and a 2006 Jaguar.
Thanks to Tom Hays
Federal prosecutors in New York and elsewhere charged 73 people. Most of the defendants were captured during raids Wednesday morning in New York City and Los Angeles, but there also were arrests in New Mexico, Georgia and Ohio.
The scheme's scope and sophistication "puts the traditional Mafia to shame," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at a Manhattan news conference. "They ran a veritable fraud franchise."
Unlike other cases involving crooked medical clinics bribing people to sign up for unneeded treatments, the operation was "completely notional," Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York office, said in a statement. "The whole doctor-patient interaction was a mirage."
The operation was under the protection of an Armenian crime boss, known in the former Soviet Union as a "vor," prosecutors said. The reputed boss, Armen Kazarian, was in custody in Los Angeles.
Bharara said it was the first time a vor — "the rough equivalent of a traditional godfather" — had been charged in a U.S. racketeering case.
Kazarian, 46, of Glendale, Calif., and two alleged ringleaders — Davit Mirzoyan, 34, also of Glendale, and Robert Terdjanian, 35, of Brooklyn — were named in an indictment charging racketeering conspiracy, bank fraud, money laundering and identity theft.
The indictment accused Terdjanian and others of hatching other schemes involving stolen credit cards, untaxed cigarettes and counterfeit Viagra. It also alleges that during a meeting last year at a Brighton Beach restaurant, Terdjanian pulled a knife on someone who owed him money "and threatened to disembowel the individual if the debt was not paid."
A judge jailed Terdjanian without bail on Wednesday at a brief hearing. Afterward, his attorney said his client denies the charges.
Kazarian and Mirzoyan were scheduled to appear in court Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Authorities began the New York-based investigation after information on 2,900 Medicare patients in upstate New York — including Social Security numbers and dates of birth — were reported stolen.
The defendants in the New York case also had stolen the identities of doctors and set up 118 phantom clinics in 25 states, authorities said. The names were used to submit fake bills for care that was never given, they said.
Some of the phony paperwork was a giveaway: It showed eye doctors doing bladder tests; ear, nose and throat specialists performing pregnancy ultrasounds; obstetricians testing for skin allergies; and dermatologists billing for heart exams.
In the New York portion of the case, more $100 million in fraudulent bills were submitted and Medicare paid out at least $35 million, sometimes by wiring it to the clinics' banks accounts, investigators said.
Most of the defendants "were Armenian nationals or immigrants and many maintained substantial ties to Armenia" and criminals there, the indictment said. Couriers would often carry cash proceeds from the fraud back to Armenia, it added.
Prosecutors were seeking forfeiture of real estate in Las Vegas; Palm Springs, Calif.; and elsewhere, and of a 2007 Maserati and a 2006 Jaguar.
Thanks to Tom Hays
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Mafia Princess Challenges Coco Giancana to Take a DNA Test to Prove She's Granddaughter of Sam Giancana
The daughter of assassinated Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana is challenging a Las Vegas woman to take a DNA test to prove she's Giancana's granddaughter.
Antoinette "Mafia Princess" Giancana, one of the mobster's three daughters, said she does not believe the claim by Coco Giancana, who identified herself as a granddaughter during a Tony Curtis-related interview last week with Vegas Confidential.
"This has really been upsetting to me and my sisters," said Antoinette Giancana, who moved from Chicago to Las Vegas about 14 months ago to be involved in the Las Vegas Mob Experience at the Tropicana . She added, "We don't know her or of her. I'd like to have a DNA test done. I just don't believe it."
Coco Giancana, who operates a local concierge service, said, "I don't have to prove anything to anybody. If she doesn't like it, that's tough."
According to Coco Giancana, Sam Giancana had an affair with a woman from Oak Park, Ill., who was a film star. "They had a baby. That was my mother."
The mobster visited the family home more than 100 times, said Coco Giancana. "I know where my mother came from and I know who came to our house and I know where the checks came from."
Coco Giancana moved here about 20 years ago, she said, after a career as a top model in New York City for Wilhelmina modeling agency. She grew up across from Jilly Rizzo's joint in New York and was befriended by Rizzo and Sam Giancana's friend Frank Sinatra, "who would take us backstage when I was 16."
Sam Giancana was killed at his Chicago home in 1975 in what appeared to be a mob hit. He was 67.
"There are so many people who claim they are related to us," said Antoinette Giancana.
Coco Giancana said she kept her grandfather's name "because I'm proud of it." She added that she's never taken a DNA test to confirm her link to the organized crime chief.
Her father, whom she did not identify, was a partner with Arnie Morton, who founded Morton's steak restaurants empire. She wasn't shy about filling in the blanks in her biography. During her modeling days, she said she dated the Cincinnati Reds' Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench over a 10-year period starting in the 1970s.
Thanks to Norm!
Antoinette "Mafia Princess" Giancana, one of the mobster's three daughters, said she does not believe the claim by Coco Giancana, who identified herself as a granddaughter during a Tony Curtis-related interview last week with Vegas Confidential.
"This has really been upsetting to me and my sisters," said Antoinette Giancana, who moved from Chicago to Las Vegas about 14 months ago to be involved in the Las Vegas Mob Experience at the Tropicana . She added, "We don't know her or of her. I'd like to have a DNA test done. I just don't believe it."
Coco Giancana, who operates a local concierge service, said, "I don't have to prove anything to anybody. If she doesn't like it, that's tough."
According to Coco Giancana, Sam Giancana had an affair with a woman from Oak Park, Ill., who was a film star. "They had a baby. That was my mother."
The mobster visited the family home more than 100 times, said Coco Giancana. "I know where my mother came from and I know who came to our house and I know where the checks came from."
Coco Giancana moved here about 20 years ago, she said, after a career as a top model in New York City for Wilhelmina modeling agency. She grew up across from Jilly Rizzo's joint in New York and was befriended by Rizzo and Sam Giancana's friend Frank Sinatra, "who would take us backstage when I was 16."
Sam Giancana was killed at his Chicago home in 1975 in what appeared to be a mob hit. He was 67.
"There are so many people who claim they are related to us," said Antoinette Giancana.
Coco Giancana said she kept her grandfather's name "because I'm proud of it." She added that she's never taken a DNA test to confirm her link to the organized crime chief.
Her father, whom she did not identify, was a partner with Arnie Morton, who founded Morton's steak restaurants empire. She wasn't shy about filling in the blanks in her biography. During her modeling days, she said she dated the Cincinnati Reds' Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench over a 10-year period starting in the 1970s.
Thanks to Norm!
Monday, October 11, 2010
"To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia" Motivation for 2 Movies on Irish Gangster Danny Greene
Embezzlement, racketeering, mob enforcer, suspected killer … it’s no wonder Irish-American mobster Danny Greene was blown to bits by a car bomb on Oct. 6, 1977. But with gangsters from Chicago to New York making headlines for decades, the vast criminal enterprises in Ohio, in which Greene was instrumental until his death, have garnered few national headlines over the years.
As a student at Ohio State University, Manhattan Beach resident Tommy Reid, who grew up in north New Jersey, had heard stories about the nearly mythic figure of Greene from his friend who grew up in Cleveland. Back in 1995, when the Internet wasn’t a dominant source for research, Reid found little information about Greene. After he graduated and moved to L.A., he heard Greene was going to be a subject of a book. He hunted down its author, Rick Porrello, and eventually optioned the book, “To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia,” in 1997.
After a long and winding road, two films that Reid produced about Greene will be released early next year. One is a documentary, “Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman,” and the other a feature film, “Kill the Irishman,” starring Ray Stevenson (HBO’s “Rome”), Christopher Walken, Vincent D’Onofrio, Val Kilmer, Paul Sorvino and Linda Cardellini. Anchor Bay, a division of Starz Media, is planning to release the film in North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand in early 2011.
While struggling to come up with funds for the feature film for 10 years, Reid said he became so specialized in his life history during his research that he tackled the documentary. He already had a screenplay that he had hired a writer (Jeremy Walters) to adapt the book into a feature, but the documentary seemed the best option in the hopes of bringing to light his aspirations in making a feature film.
“I had over 18 hours of interviews from all of these prominent figures that have had relationships with Danny Greene, his wife, a cop who went against him, the attorney who represented the mafia, a hitman who went after him, I had access to all of these guys and they were aging. Even since I made the documentary, a couple of the people have already passed away from natural causes. So Danny Greene was becoming an urban legend will in Cleveland.”
But the script began circulating and “got to the top shelf of Hollywood.” A “bankable” director, lead and supporting cast were attracted and Reid partnered with Code Entertainment. “Kill the Irishman” was filmed last year in Detroit, doubling for Cleveland, in an effort to get 40 percent in tax incentives.
Reid was still shooting his documentary when “Kill the Irishman” started filming in Detroit last year. The main challenge was raising money for post-production in order to get the highest quality facility to reach his vision. By putting production costs on a credit card and with the help of family money and a couple of private investors, one being Hermosa Beach resident William Fletcher, that project was finished. He said there are three different perspectives in the documentary - the Irish, Italian and the government side of the story. The other challenge was creating a compelling narrative so audiences would sit through an hour documentary on the life of a little-known figure. But Reid feels that Greene’s life story is compelling enough for two films.
According to Reid, “Kill the Irishman” chronicles the rise and fall of Greene, who muscled in on the Italian mob in 1970s Cleveland and set off a turf war that ravaged the streets of Cleveland and led to the collapse of the Mafia in a number of U.S. cities, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit and Los Angeles.
Greene, a former Marine, rose to prominence in the early 1960s in the International Longshoreman’s Association. Kicked out for embezzling union funds, he soon became a henchman for mobsters like Alex “Shondor” Birns, who had his own rap sheet of extortion, murder and more. After a money dispute, Birns reportedly put a hit on Greene and had a bomb planted in his car, but he discovered it before it took his life. Soon after, Greene, who survived numerous assassination attempts, was suspected of planting a bomb in Birns’ car, killing him. A few years later, Teamster official John Nardi, an associate of Greene’s, was blown up, followed a few months later by Greene, after a dentist appointment in Lyndhurst, Ohio. The Cleveland Mafia, who had conflicts for many years with Greene, was reportedly responsible for the deaths.
“When you hear something about Ohio and Cleveland … why would they have the mafia there?” Reid said. “You find out that Cleveland is such a big hub for the boats coming out of the Great Lakes, down through the distribution centers of the Mississippi and all the way through all the other distribution and out to the west from Ohio … there’s lot of cargo coming off these big ships.”
Reid added, “It’s not just Cleveland. It’s Youngstown, Toledo, which leads you into Detroit. Those four cities, that’s a wide area of mafia. That’s equivalent of what you would think of the New York crime families, all the families that had their hands into organized crime. Cleveland was an area that never really got as much exposure as the eastern cities did, Boston and New York.”
With his vast criminal past, Reid said one thing he was surprised about when it came to the contradictory life of Greene was this almost Robin Hood-type figure and how much he “would extract just to give back.”
“He would take the money he would make ... and he would give it out to his neighborhood,” Reid said. “He would pay for kid’s braces that needed dental work. He would buy groceries for struggling families that couldn’t put food on the table.”
Thanks to Michael Hixon
As a student at Ohio State University, Manhattan Beach resident Tommy Reid, who grew up in north New Jersey, had heard stories about the nearly mythic figure of Greene from his friend who grew up in Cleveland. Back in 1995, when the Internet wasn’t a dominant source for research, Reid found little information about Greene. After he graduated and moved to L.A., he heard Greene was going to be a subject of a book. He hunted down its author, Rick Porrello, and eventually optioned the book, “To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia,” in 1997.
After a long and winding road, two films that Reid produced about Greene will be released early next year. One is a documentary, “Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman,” and the other a feature film, “Kill the Irishman,” starring Ray Stevenson (HBO’s “Rome”), Christopher Walken, Vincent D’Onofrio, Val Kilmer, Paul Sorvino and Linda Cardellini. Anchor Bay, a division of Starz Media, is planning to release the film in North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand in early 2011.
While struggling to come up with funds for the feature film for 10 years, Reid said he became so specialized in his life history during his research that he tackled the documentary. He already had a screenplay that he had hired a writer (Jeremy Walters) to adapt the book into a feature, but the documentary seemed the best option in the hopes of bringing to light his aspirations in making a feature film.
“I had over 18 hours of interviews from all of these prominent figures that have had relationships with Danny Greene, his wife, a cop who went against him, the attorney who represented the mafia, a hitman who went after him, I had access to all of these guys and they were aging. Even since I made the documentary, a couple of the people have already passed away from natural causes. So Danny Greene was becoming an urban legend will in Cleveland.”
But the script began circulating and “got to the top shelf of Hollywood.” A “bankable” director, lead and supporting cast were attracted and Reid partnered with Code Entertainment. “Kill the Irishman” was filmed last year in Detroit, doubling for Cleveland, in an effort to get 40 percent in tax incentives.
Reid was still shooting his documentary when “Kill the Irishman” started filming in Detroit last year. The main challenge was raising money for post-production in order to get the highest quality facility to reach his vision. By putting production costs on a credit card and with the help of family money and a couple of private investors, one being Hermosa Beach resident William Fletcher, that project was finished. He said there are three different perspectives in the documentary - the Irish, Italian and the government side of the story. The other challenge was creating a compelling narrative so audiences would sit through an hour documentary on the life of a little-known figure. But Reid feels that Greene’s life story is compelling enough for two films.
According to Reid, “Kill the Irishman” chronicles the rise and fall of Greene, who muscled in on the Italian mob in 1970s Cleveland and set off a turf war that ravaged the streets of Cleveland and led to the collapse of the Mafia in a number of U.S. cities, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit and Los Angeles.
Greene, a former Marine, rose to prominence in the early 1960s in the International Longshoreman’s Association. Kicked out for embezzling union funds, he soon became a henchman for mobsters like Alex “Shondor” Birns, who had his own rap sheet of extortion, murder and more. After a money dispute, Birns reportedly put a hit on Greene and had a bomb planted in his car, but he discovered it before it took his life. Soon after, Greene, who survived numerous assassination attempts, was suspected of planting a bomb in Birns’ car, killing him. A few years later, Teamster official John Nardi, an associate of Greene’s, was blown up, followed a few months later by Greene, after a dentist appointment in Lyndhurst, Ohio. The Cleveland Mafia, who had conflicts for many years with Greene, was reportedly responsible for the deaths.
“When you hear something about Ohio and Cleveland … why would they have the mafia there?” Reid said. “You find out that Cleveland is such a big hub for the boats coming out of the Great Lakes, down through the distribution centers of the Mississippi and all the way through all the other distribution and out to the west from Ohio … there’s lot of cargo coming off these big ships.”
Reid added, “It’s not just Cleveland. It’s Youngstown, Toledo, which leads you into Detroit. Those four cities, that’s a wide area of mafia. That’s equivalent of what you would think of the New York crime families, all the families that had their hands into organized crime. Cleveland was an area that never really got as much exposure as the eastern cities did, Boston and New York.”
With his vast criminal past, Reid said one thing he was surprised about when it came to the contradictory life of Greene was this almost Robin Hood-type figure and how much he “would extract just to give back.”
“He would take the money he would make ... and he would give it out to his neighborhood,” Reid said. “He would pay for kid’s braces that needed dental work. He would buy groceries for struggling families that couldn’t put food on the table.”
Thanks to Michael Hixon
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Chicago Drug Fugitives Arrested in Mexico
Two former Chicago residents with ties to a sophisticated drug operation who had been on the run from law enforcement for nearly a decade, were located and arrested earlier this week in Mexico, announced Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Jody P. Weis, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD).
JUAN CARLOS DURAN, age 34, who is also known as “Psycho” and his common law wife, DIONNE GARCIA, age 33, both of whom were last known to reside at 2955 West 40th Street in Chicago, were arrested without incident on Tuesday, October 5th, near Tijuana, Mexico, by members of the Policia Estatal Preventiva (PEP), an international liaison and enforcement unit.
DURAN and GARCIA have been the subjects of an international manhunt, coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs (JTFG), since late 2001 when both were charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of Federal drug laws. DURAN was charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute (PCP) and conspiracy while GARCIA was charged with conspiracy.
DURAN and GARCIA were among 52 people charged in connection with an investigation code named “Operation Blue Water”, which targeted a Chicago based street gang that manufactured and distributed PCP in Chicago and northwest Indiana. DURAN eluded arrest at the time the charges were filed while GARCIA fled after being released on bond following her arrest.
The arrest of DURAN and GARCIA was the result of a tip provided by a viewer of the television show “America’s Most Wanted” who saw DURAN and GARCIA featured during a recent episode. Further investigation by the Chicago JTFG, with the assistance of FBI Agents assigned to the Resolution Six initiative in Tijuana and Mexican authorities, ultimately resulted in the location of DURAN and GARCIA and their subsequent arrest.
DURAN and GARCIA were turned over to FBI Agents in San Diego, late yesterday. They are scheduled to have their initial court appearance later this afternoon, prior to their eventual return to Chicago to face the outstanding charges.
The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI Special Agents and Gang Crimes Officers from the Chicago Police Department.
JUAN CARLOS DURAN, age 34, who is also known as “Psycho” and his common law wife, DIONNE GARCIA, age 33, both of whom were last known to reside at 2955 West 40th Street in Chicago, were arrested without incident on Tuesday, October 5th, near Tijuana, Mexico, by members of the Policia Estatal Preventiva (PEP), an international liaison and enforcement unit.
DURAN and GARCIA have been the subjects of an international manhunt, coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs (JTFG), since late 2001 when both were charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of Federal drug laws. DURAN was charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute (PCP) and conspiracy while GARCIA was charged with conspiracy.
DURAN and GARCIA were among 52 people charged in connection with an investigation code named “Operation Blue Water”, which targeted a Chicago based street gang that manufactured and distributed PCP in Chicago and northwest Indiana. DURAN eluded arrest at the time the charges were filed while GARCIA fled after being released on bond following her arrest.
The arrest of DURAN and GARCIA was the result of a tip provided by a viewer of the television show “America’s Most Wanted” who saw DURAN and GARCIA featured during a recent episode. Further investigation by the Chicago JTFG, with the assistance of FBI Agents assigned to the Resolution Six initiative in Tijuana and Mexican authorities, ultimately resulted in the location of DURAN and GARCIA and their subsequent arrest.
DURAN and GARCIA were turned over to FBI Agents in San Diego, late yesterday. They are scheduled to have their initial court appearance later this afternoon, prior to their eventual return to Chicago to face the outstanding charges.
The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI Special Agents and Gang Crimes Officers from the Chicago Police Department.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra's Family Receives Discounted Chicago Water Bill
City meter readers always seemed to have a hard time getting inside the Bridgeport home of the late Chicago mob boss Angelo "The Hook" LaPietra to read his water meter.
So City Hall repeatedly sent estimated water bills to the 6,000-square-foot home, where LaPietra's daughter, JoAnne Lascola, lives.
City workers finally got inside on Aug. 26, 2009, to install a new meter -- one that can be read electronically by a meter reader driving past the house.
In removing the old meter, though, they found they had been drastically underestimating how much water LaPietra's family was using.
So, on Oct. 10, 2009, the city sent the family a bill for $1,156.66 -- $625.22 of that for about 355,000 gallons of water and $531.44 for sewer service.
The family balked. Three weeks later, the city slashed the bill to $256.55.
"In implementing the [automatic meter-reading] program, we found some readings from old meters came under question by customers, especially when they had not been read over a period of time," City Hall said in response to questions from the Chicago Sun-Times. "In these cases, customers were given the benefit of the doubt and charged on the basis of an average of previous bills."
In the LaPietra family's case, "A one-time adjustment of $900.11 was made to the account . . . because the customer had been estimated for a period of time, as a result of our inability to access the meter to obtain a meter reading."
Authorities say LaPietra, a brutal Chicago Outfit boss who died in 1999, ran the mob's 26th Street Crew, overseeing gambling in the Loop and Chinatown. He was once convicted of skimming millions of dollars from Las Vegas casinos.
So City Hall repeatedly sent estimated water bills to the 6,000-square-foot home, where LaPietra's daughter, JoAnne Lascola, lives.
City workers finally got inside on Aug. 26, 2009, to install a new meter -- one that can be read electronically by a meter reader driving past the house.
In removing the old meter, though, they found they had been drastically underestimating how much water LaPietra's family was using.
So, on Oct. 10, 2009, the city sent the family a bill for $1,156.66 -- $625.22 of that for about 355,000 gallons of water and $531.44 for sewer service.
The family balked. Three weeks later, the city slashed the bill to $256.55.
"In implementing the [automatic meter-reading] program, we found some readings from old meters came under question by customers, especially when they had not been read over a period of time," City Hall said in response to questions from the Chicago Sun-Times. "In these cases, customers were given the benefit of the doubt and charged on the basis of an average of previous bills."
In the LaPietra family's case, "A one-time adjustment of $900.11 was made to the account . . . because the customer had been estimated for a period of time, as a result of our inability to access the meter to obtain a meter reading."
Authorities say LaPietra, a brutal Chicago Outfit boss who died in 1999, ran the mob's 26th Street Crew, overseeing gambling in the Loop and Chinatown. He was once convicted of skimming millions of dollars from Las Vegas casinos.
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