Mafia Inc.: The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada’s Sicilian Clan by André Cédilot and André Noël

As with its actors and professional football players, Canada’s Mafia families were long considered to be little more than farm teams for their many big brothers to the south. Montreal journalists André Cédilot and André Noël turn this notion on its ear to show that, perversely, this country’s organized crime underworld is arguably deeper, darker and more violent than the goings-on in New York’s five boroughs or elsewhere.

Cédilot and Noël, veteran crime reporters for La Presse, spin an exhaustive and compelling read. Much like the mob itself, Mafia Inc.’s narrative tendrils are long and widespread, and converge on an imposing subject: Montreal’s Rizzuto clan. Hailing from Sicily, Nick Rizzuto arrived in Montreal and in short order usurped the Cotroni clan to become patriarch of the country’s most important crime family. His son Vito, who helped cement the deal with bullets pumped into the bodies of rivals, eventually took over.

For whatever reason—luck of the devil, the RCMP’s zealous ineptitude, or what Cédilot and Noël call “Canadian judicial authorities’ incomprehensible indolence” toward the mob—Vito stayed out of jail, and his decades-long reign expanded the family’s influence to New York, Italy and beyond. The book is larded with keen details. For example: who knew that the Lebanese civil war was the reason why Montreal organized crime moved from hashish to cocaine, or that leaders of Quebec’s biker gangs had a childlike adoration of Montreal’s Mafia types?

The genius of Mafia Inc. is its all-important connections between organized crime, legitimate business and government. The chapter on the alleged cozy relationship between former Liberal minister Alfonso Gagliano and the Rizzuto clan (Gagliano denies any Mafia ties) is alone worth the price of admission. And the authors show how the Rizzutos, like any big and violent Mafia clan worth its salt, were crippled much as they started: with hubris and a hail of bullets.

Thanks to Martin Patriquin

Is the Russian Mafia Now the Strongest in the World?

Officials with the US State Department believe that the Russian mafia is the mafia of all mafias. World-known mafia brands such as Cosa Nostra and Yakuza pale in comparison with the great and terrible Russian gangsters. What does that mean?

In July, Barack Obama signed a decree to introduce tough sanctions against transnational criminal groups. If US authorities suspect you of having any relation to these dark forces, they may deny you entry to the United States, block your bank accounts, and so on and so forth.

The US Department for Treasury included Russian citizens on the Brothers' Circle black lists. Officials with the ministry said that the circle operates in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and, of course, poses a strategic danger to the interests of the United States. Thus, it just so happens that Russian gangsters rule the world.

It appears that Russia is supposed to be eternally grateful to US experts for their struggle against our mafia. However, it also appears that it is very easy to get into this mafia and very hard to get out of it. It is not the gangsters, but American officials that make you stay in the mafia.

One of the prominent members of the Russian mafia (as US officials say), Anzori Aksentyev-Kikalishvili said: "In 1994, I wrote an open letter to then-President Clinton, in which I urged him to stop the escalation of the new ideological weapon called the "Russian mafia." That letter made me a mafia mob once and for all. Now I am a dreadful mob, even more dreadful than Soviet singer Joseph Kobzon (the Americans labeled the singer a mafia mob too -ed.). He even wondered once what was so special about me that made me more dreadful for the Americans than him."

For fairness sake, we have to admit that the Americans are not alone with their opinion about it. Britain's the Daily News wrote a year ago that the Russian mafia controlled 70 percent of the Russian economy, as well as the prostitution business in Macao, China and Germany. According to British reporters, the Russian mafia controls drug trafficking in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the money-laundering business in Cyprus, Israel, Belgium and England. The list continues with car theft and nuclear materials smuggle.

This is very impressive indeed! How large a criminal group must be to control prostitution in China alone?

Russian criminals are highly sophisticated and uncatchable for the West. As soon as the Soviet Union collapsed, Russian criminals started to look for new homes far away from the motherland. Vyacheslav Ivankov, for example, bought a ticket to the United States as soon as he came out of prison in Russia. That was a perfect opportunity for him to change his image. In Russia, he was known as a jailbird. In the States, he earned the reputation of Robin Hood; US newspapers referred to him as the new Solzhenitsyn. Afterwards, Mr. Ivankov showed the States how to love freedom.

The deeds of Mr. Ivankov in particular and the Russian mafia in general are dramatized and demonized in the West. The Russian mafia definitely exists, but it does not stand out from others of the ilk, such as Cosa Nostra, Yakuza, Ndrangheta, etc. The myth that has been created is much more profitable. Special departments were created and colossal funds were allocated to struggle against the Russian mafia. Reporters would make attention-catching headlines, and politicians would earn their scores.

The Russian mafia has thus become a brand. We have to acknowledge that Russian godfathers would often add more fuel to the fire as they decide to share their stories with the world every now and then. It is impossible to imagine a member of Cosa Nostra or Yakuza arranging a news conference. Russian mafia mobs do not hesitate to give interviews.

As a result, in 1993, the FBI headquarters in Washington established a special department for the struggle against Russian organized crime. A similar department was subsequently established in New York. It is about time the Americans should thank the Russian gangsters for creating jobs.

A typical news story about the Russian mafia is as follows: "A criminal group fraudulently appropriated $3.4 million having staged a car accident." How can the Russian mafia be the richest and the most powerful if it is the drugs that bring the largest income in the criminal world? The Russians do not produce drugs - they can only transit them. Agents can never leave suppliers behind. For example, the incomes of Colombian drug lords let them maintain a whole army, with helicopters, that can resist the attacks from US regular forces. Russian gangsters are nowhere near.

Thanks to Mikhail Sinelnikov

CRIME BEAT RADIO SHOW’S UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR NOV 10, 2011, THROUGH JANUARY 5, 2012, FEATURES HIT MEN, MANHUNTS, JFK ASSASSINATION, AND MAFIA LESSONS FOR LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES

CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE on Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule for November 10, 2011, through January 5, 2012.:Topics covered include hit men, a sensational Canadian murder investigation, Mafia lessons for legitimate business, the JFK Assassination, manhunts, and more. Here is the lineup:

• November 10—David Gibb, investigative journalist and author of Camouflaged Killer: The Shocking Double Life of Canadian Air Force Colonel Russell Williams.
• November 17—John Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters.
• November 24—Rick Porrello, author of To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia, which has recently been made into the Hollywood movie, Kill an Irishman. A command appearance.
• December 1—Benjamin Runkle, Author of Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden.
• December 8—Larry Mazza, Tommy Dades and Bob Mladnich discuss the Colombo Mafia war of the early 1990s...Dades was a detective during that period and Larry Mazza, a hitman. Mladinich is writing a book on the topic.
• December 15—Anthony Amore and Tom Mashberg authors of Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists, and Eric Rasmussen, author of The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios.
• December 22— Lou Ferrante, author of Mob Rules: What the Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman.
• December 29— Tim Donaghy, former NBA referee and author of Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal that Rocked the NBA. A command appearance.
• January 5— Wahida Clark, best-selling urban fiction author and entrepreneur who honed her writing skills behind bars. A command appearance.

Anti-Mafia Tourism Comes to Sicily

In pop culture, the mafia may enjoy an image romanticized by the Sopranos, the Godfather and tabloid coverage of dapper dons. Dealing with organized crime in the real world, however, is as much fun as living down the street from the Crips and Bloods.

In Italy, groups like Sicily’s Cosa Nostra are destructive as well as economically vexing. Mob operatives routinely extort protection money from businesses, intimidating and inflicting violence on those that don’t cooperate.

These days, tourists and specialized travel agencies in Southern Italy are fighting back, by supporting business that defy the mafia. It’s a burgeoning form of responsible or ethical tourism in a region with much to offer: splendid Mediterranean countryside, stunning shorelines, hearty wines and cuisine that’s superlative even by Italy’s standards — influenced by the Greeks, Arabs, Spanish and French who invaded the island.

“There is a strong demand for [anti-mafia tourism],” said Francesca Vannini Parenti, the founder of Addiopizzo Travel, a Palermo-based agency that offers mafia-free holidays. “People want to know which shops, restaurants and hotels don’t pay protection money to the mafia.”

The addio pizzo — literally “goodbye protection money” — network of businesses was created in 2004 by a few young locals outraged that they couldn’t open a bar without paying up. Back then, organizing the mafia resistance movement was revolutionary. Today, about 700 local businesses in the Palermo region are part of the network — an encouraging if small number in an area with about 25,000 retailers. In Sicily about 70 percent of 50,000 retailers pay the protection money, according to the 2010 statistics of SOS Impresa, the anti-racketeering office of Confesercenti, the national retailers’ association.

Addiopizzo directs tourists to the shops, restaurants and hotels where it is certain none of their money will go to the mob. Addiopizzo can make reservations and publishes a map of Palermo indicating these establishments. The group offers holiday packages to discover the "hot spots" in the fight against the mafia in Palermo and its surroundings. These include meetings with locals on the frontlines of the resistance. Participants in their tours say these are crucial to increasing their understanding of the mafia and what fighting it entails.

“I was very moved” said one German student on the tour, after meeting with Ignazio Cutro, a businessman who is under police protection after exposing men who tried to extort money from him. “He and his family live in complete isolation now. Afterward, his children lost all their friends at school – even his brother doesn’t speak to him anymore.”

So far, Addiopizzo mainly offers guided tours for schools and university students but it hopes to attract larger crowds. In September, Addiopizzo launched a one-day tour of Palermo which includes stops at the mafia victims square, the courthouse, police headquarters and the home of Paolo Borsellino, a leading anti-mafia prosecutor, assassinated in 1992.

Through the tour, participants learn the history of the resistance to the mafia, as old as the mafia itself, dating back to the end of the 19th century. They hear details about the legal fight against the mafia over the years led by prosecutors and the difficulties faced by police officers charged with tracking the mafiosi.

The guides also detail the collusion between the mafia and political elites, and they recount the Catholic Church's attitude toward the Cosa Nostra: mostly silence for decades, except for the resistance of a couple of isolated priests. And to illustrate how film has portrayed the mafia, the tour visits the steps of Palermo’s opera house where one of the famous and final scenes of Godfather III was shot. In that scene, Mary, the daughter of Michael Corleone, the Godfather, is killed in front of him by a rival clan.

Meanwhile, the tour stops for lunch at the Focacceria San Francesco. The restaurant, which offers a celebrated veal spleen and ricotta sandwich, is also well known for its owner, Vincenzo Conticello. He was one of the first in Palermo to expose his extortionists.

In 2005, a man came to the Focacceria to ask him to pay a regular fee. He refused and reported the incident to the police. The man and two accomplices were arrested and in 2008, received prison sentences of 10 to 16 years for extortion. Conticello has been living under police protection since then. “This is one of the very publicized cases, the majority of the ones who (report the mafia) today face limited risks," said Valerio d’Antoni, a lawyer affiliated with Addiopizzo who provides support to businesses to resist the mafia. "When the businessman is very determined, the mafia understands it is better to let it go.”

Still, there can be repercussions, says Parenti.

Last year about 50 acts of intimidation occurred in Palermo, according to SOS Impresa. These included arson, vandalism and “glue attacks” in which a shop’s locks are glued shut, a sign that the property doesn’t really belong to the owner. “Often the ones who (resist) become isolated," Parenti said. "One of our members, a bar owner in a small town, lost all his clients after [resisting]. If everybody would stand up against the mafia, we wouldn’t need heroes anymore.”

Addiopizzo is not alone in using tourism to fight the mob. Another organization, Libera Terra (Free land), specializes in finding socially productive uses of assets seized from the mafia. In Italy, more than 11,500 assets have been seized from the mafia half of that in Sicily, according to government estimates.

Libera Terra, offers similar "ethical" travel packages, shows visitors how socially conscious organizations are currently producing organic pasta, wine, and traditional preserves on the land once owned by Cosa Nostra. In the stunning Sicilian hinterlands close to Corleone, a small town made famous by The Godfather and home of famous mafia bosses, Libera Terra farms about 300 hectares of land.

It also runs a bed and breakfast on the “Corleone lands” nearby. The charming stone farmhouse with a beautiful view of the surrounding hills once belonged to top mafia boss Toto Riina in the 1980s and the mastermind behind the assassinations of the famous anti-mafia prosecutors Falcone and Borsellino in 1992. He is currently in prison.

Since its inception 10 years ago, Libera Terra has pushed to create businesses that are run legally, respecting labor laws, worker’s rights and the environment. It offers higher wages, benefits and dignity to its employees, say officials. “Our message is that one can work legally and make a decent living out of it, that there is an alternative to the mafia," said Francesco Galante, Libera Terra communication director. In Sicily, the unemployment rate reaches 14.7 percent. That gives the mafia a powerful lure.

“At the beginning we felt very isolated," said Galante. "Nobody wanted to work with us or commit to it. But things changed when workers understood that we offered better working conditions and also that there was no danger.”

In the early years, the organization's crops were vandalized or set on fire and their agricultural tools were stolen. A decade later, that type of intimidation has ceased. “The mafia knows that if they attack us, we will get lots of media attention and official support," Galante said. "With this visibility, they will have more difficulties doing business.”

Today, Libera employs 30 people and is flooded with job applications. It sells its own brands of organic wine, olive oil and pasta throughout Italy and visitors are starting to crowd the scenic bed and breakfast and its restaurant.

“The campaigns for responsible consumer behavior have had a notable impact," said Umberto Santino, author of a book on the anti-mafia movement and director the Giuseppe Impastato Sicilian Information Center on the mafia. "They have received a lot of support from consumers.”

“However, if we look at how many businesses participate, this is still a very small minority," he added. "We have made progress since the 1990’s but there is still a long way to go.”

Thanks to Caroline Chaumont

Uncle Al Capone…The Untold Story From Inside His Family – By The Last Of The Capones

Deirdre Marie Capone lived in the house of the infamous Al Capone, her uncle. He taught her to swim, ride a bike, and play the mandolin. In her tell-all memoir, Uncle Al Capone - The Untold Story from Inside His Family, Deirdre, the last member of the family born with the name Capone, shares what it was really like growing up a Capone – definitely not the way most people would have imagined it to be. It is the only book ever written about America’s most notorious mobster by someone who knew him well.

Already a best-seller on Amazon, Deirdre’s fascinating memoir tells what really happened in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, what the ‘outfit’ was really all about, and what the ‘family’ were really like, especially the one person she confided in more than anyone – her Aunt Maffie (short for Mafalda – the Italian princess she was named after); a strong woman with whom she shared a close bond as one of the only two girls in the Capone family.

Uncle Al Capone is packed with absorbing stories about Al and his family, along with never-before-published photos and authentic Capone family recipes for the food that Al and his family enjoyed. Simply stated, there is no one else left who could ever share this piece of history with the world.

Deirdre relates what life was like growing up the grand niece of Public Enemy #1, Al Capone. Her own life had been saddened by the fact that her father, who had tried to live a more legitimate lifestyle than the rest of the family, couldn’t shake the shame of the Capone name and ended up taking his own life when Deirdre was just ten years-old. For most of her life she too had made every effort to hide the fact that she was a Capone and in 1972, in her early thirties, she left Chicago and her family history behind to reinvent herself in Minnesota, making sure that no one other than her husband knew her ancestry. She succeeded.

That is, until her past caught up with her on the day her nine year-old son came home from school and announced they were studying Al Capone in a class project. She and her husband agreed it was time to tell the kids but she was afraid for them – she had not wanted them growing up shunned by others or not having other kids to play with once they knew her name. She need not have worried – her kids thought it was totally ‘cool.’ So, at age 34, she finally accepted herself as Deirdre Marie Capone and today her 14 grandchildren are proud to tell the story of their ancestry.

Uncle Al Capone grabs the reader’s attention right from the start with its true life dialogue of the Capone family - from their ancestral roots in Angri, Italy to Brooklyn, New York, and later to Chicago. Deirdre offers a true portrait of an American family and gives a decidedly different look at her favorite uncle, endlessly depicted as the iconic mastermind behind some of the century’s most brutal killings.

For all the dissension, for all the pain, there comes a moment in our lives where we have to stand up and say: This - the good and the bad – is who I am, says Deirdre Marie Capone.

“Figuring Out How to Do What’s Right…" Keynote Address by Michael Franzese

Ever wonder what it’s like to be in the mafia? What about being at a corporation when an ethical scandal is discovered? What do you do when you’re at work and a baseball player is shooting up behind you?
Ethical dilemmas are a part of everyone’s life, both personal and professional. You will be faced with a range of ethical questions here at Bryant, at home, and in the workplace. So how do you know what decision to make? When are you crossing the line?

On Tuesday, November 8th, the Interfaith Center is sponsoring “Figuring Out How to Do What’s Right…” featuring a panel discussion and keynote speaker Michael Franzese. The panel will consist of Gina Spencer, an ombudsman at Covidien who worked at Tyco when a scandal was uncovered in 2002, Professor Tom Roach, who teaches the ethics-based classes here at Bryant, and Kevin McNamara, a writer for the sports section of the Providence Journal. The panel will discuss where values come from, how to find the courage to make the right decision, and examples of ethical dilemmas that come up with their work.

Following the panel, keynote speaker Michael Franzese will take the stage. Franzese, a former member of the Colombo family, will discuss life in organized crime and working with the Russian Mafia. He will talk about leaving a life of crime, deciding between right and wrong, and how his life has improved since leaving the Mafia.

The event will be hosted by Professor Mike Roberto, and takes place on November 8th in the MAC. The panel discussion will begin at 2PM, with Franzese to follow at 3PM. For more information, please contact John Nesbitt, Program Coordinator of the Ronald K. & Kati C. Machtley Interfaith Center at jnesbitt@bryant.edu.

Thanks to Katie Colton

Catherine Greig, Girlfriend of Whitey Bulger, Denied Bail

Catherine Greig, charged with aiding her fugitive boyfriend, notorious mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, was denied bail on Friday by a federal judge who ruled she was a serious flight risk.Greig's lawyers had requested that she be released on bail to home confinement and electronic monitoring, with her own house and the home of her identical twin sister as additional collateral. But the judge denied that request.

"She walked away from both 16 years ago when she left Massachusetts with Bulger, demonstrating a willingness to leave everything and everyone behind," U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal said in a written ruling.

Greig, 60, is scheduled to go on trial in April 2012 on federal charges that she conspired with Bulger and others to conceal and harbor the aging gangster during the 16 years the pair hid from authorities.

Bulger, 82, fled Boston in late 1994 after receiving a tip from a corrupt FBI agent that federal charges were pending. Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including over 19 killings from the 1970s and 1980s.

Greig, who joined Bulger in hiding, faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Bulger and Greig were arrested in California in June with a stash of about 30 firearms and $822,000 in cash hidden in holes in the wall of their apartment.

The judge said she had considered Greig's skill in eluding authorities for 16 years while aiding Bulger on the run, including her use of assumed names and false identification documents.

In denying bail, the judge also said the brutal nature of the crimes that Bulger was accused of committing added weight to Greig's charges. "While the crime of harboring a fugitive is not normally considered a crime of violence, the court cannot ignore the fact that Greig is charged with harboring a fugitive who is accused of 19 murders," Boal wrote.

Bulger for years led the Winter Hill Gang, a mostly Irish-American organized crime operation that operated in Boston.

Crime in Chicago Seminar

Join The Chicago History Museum for an exploration of Chicago crime from historical and contemporary perspectives. Programs begin at 7:00 p.m.

Lecture - The Chicago “Outfit:” Traditional Chicago Organized Crime from its Earliest Roots to Operation Family Secrets
Tuesday, November 8, 7:00 p.m.

Arthur Bilek is the Executive Director of the Chicago Crime Commission, a civilian “watchdog” agency that has monitored organized crime activity in Chicago since 1919. Art served under Cook County Sheriff Richard B. Ogilvie in a key investigative role from 1962-1966, and is the author of two books “The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee", and “St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone.” A recognized authority on the mob and its inner workings, Art will discuss the history of the Outfit from its earliest days through the defining government prosecutions of the 1990s and the recent Operation Family Secrets that has significantly crippled operations locally.
Cost: $10, $8 members


Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: North by Northwest
Saturday, November 12, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

We’ll visit famous North Side and Northwest side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members


History Pub Crawl - Booze, Bars, and Bootlegging! Prohibition Era Chicago
Sunday, November 13, 1:00 p.m.-4p.m.

Find out what makes Chicago untouchable. Get a taste of infamous speakeasies frequented by some of Chicago’s infamous gangsters like Capone, Moran, and Dillinger. On this trolley tour, learn how prohibition came to be, some fascinating facts about the era, and how it ultimately shaped the city and its image.
Cost: $30, $25 members

Film - Madness In The White City
Sunday, November 13, 1:30 p.m.

It’s 1893 and the Columbian Exposition is taking center stage in Chicago. Amidst all the new and wonderful buildings and innovations at the fair, was an evil predator that threatened the lives of many. This film takes a closer looks at the life of H.H. Holmes, one of America's first serial killers. In collaboration with Kurtis Productions. 50 Minutes.
Cost: Free with Museum admission



Lecture - Street Gangs in Chicago
Tuesday, November 15, 7:00 p.m.

John M. Hagedorn is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois and a subject matter expert on contemporary inner-city street gangs. He is the author of “A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture (Globalization and Community),” and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute. Assisted by historian and author Richard Lindberg, Professor Hagedorn’s discussion will be framed around the historical roots of gangs in Gaslight Era Chicago; contemporary gangs and who they are what they represent today.
Cost: $10, $8 members

Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: South and West
Saturday, November 19, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

We’ll visit famous South Side and West side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members

Walking Tour - Crime of the Century: Leopold & Loeb and the Murder of Bobby Franks
Saturday, November 19, 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

On May 21, 1924, in the city of Chicago, a young boy went missing. The next morning his father, Jacob Franks, received a phone call informing him that his son, Bobby, had been beaten to death. This gruesome and senseless murder has stained Chicago history and still leaves many baffled. Join us as we return to the scene of the crime and tour the Kenwood neighborhood where we will visit sites relevant to Leopold and Loeb’s murder of Bobby Franks.
Cost: $15, $10 members

Twenty-Two Alleged Members of Violent “Dead Man Incorporated” Gang Indicted on Federal Racketeering, Murder, and Drug Charges That May Bring Life in Federal Prison

A federal grand jury has charged 22 defendants with conspiracy to participate in a violent racketeering enterprise known as the Dead Man Incorporated (DMI). All but one defendant are also charged with conspiring to distribute drugs. The indictment was returned on October 6, 2011 and unsealed upon the arrests of seven defendants and the execution of seven search warrants. Eleven defendants were previously in custody and four defendants are still at large.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III; Anne Arundel County Police Chief James Teare, Sr.; Secretary Gary D. Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee.

“This case is another in a series of federal racketeering prosecutions in which federal, state, and local agencies have joined to target leaders and key members of violent gangs in Maryland,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Today’s indictment alleges that the Dead Man Incorporated gang is an organized criminal enterprise with leaders and members who deal drugs and commit violent crimes. Federal racketeering cases have been filed recently in Maryland against Black Guerilla Family (BGF), South Side Brims (SSB) Bloods, Pasadena Denver Lanes (PDL) Bloods, Tree Top Piru (TTP) Bloods, Latin Kings, 18th Street, and MS-13, and additional gang investigations are ongoing. Anyone who joins a criminal gang should be on notice that they can be held accountable for all crimes committed by fellow gang members.”

“This investigation was extremely challenging, not just from the level of organization DMI displays, but the level of violence that this indictment alleges,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely. “But the investigators and attorneys that formed this task force were even better organized and over a three year period, left department insignia at the door and leveraged almost every investigative tool available to stem the flow of violence allegedly committed by this group. Today’s indictment is a testament to the success of that strategy and the commitment by Maryland’s law enforcement agencies to come together and stop the violence against our citizens.”

“We are pleased to have worked such a successful operation with our law enforcement partners,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait. “Together, we worked a strategic and methodical investigation against a group of violent offenders, whose actions have brought fear to our communities. We have dismantled the DMI organization with today’s arrests, and we are confident that we have made a significant impact on violent crime. We want the members of the DMI gang or any criminal gang to know that membership may earn you a lifetime in federal prison.”

According to the 27-count indictment, 18 men and four women are members and associates of the DMI. DMI was created originally in 2000 as a prison gang in Maryland. From the beginning, defendant Perry Roark was the “Supreme Commander.” Also at its inception and for several years thereafter, DMI was closely allied to the Black Guerilla Family (BGF), another prison gang. By 2006, DMI expanded its membership by recruiting members outside prison, including women.

DMI members operated in and out of prisons throughout Maryland, as well as Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Texas. DMI is active in numerous prison facilities in Maryland, including the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, Baltimore City Detention Center, Baltimore City Correctional Center, Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center, Eastern Correctional Institution, Metropolitan Transition Center, Roxbury Correctional Institution, Patuxent Correctional Institution, Maryland Correctional Institution - Hagerstown, Western Correctional Institution, Central Maryland Correctional Facility, Maryland Correctional Institution - Jessup, Jessup Correctional Institution, Brockbridge Correctional Facility; Maryland Correctional Training Center; Anne Arundel County Detention Center; and Baltimore County Detention Center. Units operating outside the prisons are identified by the region they cover, such as Brooklyn, South Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Dundalk, Westminster, Glen Burnie, etc.

The indictment alleges that all 22 defendants conspired to conduct the affairs of DMI through a pattern of criminal activity from 2000 to the present, including: murder and threats to commit murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking and extortion. The defendants are alleged to have smuggled drugs, tobacco, cell phones and other contraband into prisons, by concealing them on the persons of visitors to the prisons. Twenty-one of the defendants are charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, crack, oxycodone, Suboxone, heroin, and marijuana.

According to the indictment, gang members used contraband cell phones in prisons to coordinate the smuggling of contraband into prisons, disseminate information about arrests and releases of members and associates, to warn of investigations, to publicize the identities of persons believed to be cooperating with law enforcement, and to order assaults and murders of such persons, as well as enemies of DMI.

Specific acts of violence alleged in the indictment include four murders in Maryland, as follows: the February 16, 2009 murder of James Flanary; the June 2, 2009 murder of Tony Geiger; the September 18, 2009 murder of Eugene Chambers; and the September 19, 2009 murder of Walter Milewski.

Additionally, the indictment alleges that several of the defendants planned to murder four other individuals, and ordered assaults on, and/or assaulted, over 10 individuals, six of whom were incarcerated in a Maryland detention facility. Four defendants allegedly fired weapons into a house, wounding an occupant. Another defendant committed a home invasion robbery in Glen Burnie, Maryland and assaulted the occupants.

The following defendants are charged in the indictment:

• Perry Roark, a/k/a Rock, “Pops,” “Slim,” “Saho the Ghost,” age 42;
• James Sweeney, age 34;
• Nicky Cash, a/k/a “Mom,” age 46, of Baltimore;
• George Treas, a/k/a “Georgie,” “Fat Boy;” age 28, of Baltimore;
• Dane Shives, age 22;
• Michael Quinn, a/k/a “Mikey,” age 28;
• Michael Forame, a/k/a “Skinny,” “Skinny Pimp,” age 40, of Sykesville, Maryland;
• Brian Mitchell, a/k/a “Carlito,” age 40;
• Richard Ingram, a/k/a “Ricky,” “Hades,” age 45;
• Timothy Mixter, a/k/a “Fuhrer,” age 35, of Essex, Maryland;
• John Henry Adams, a/k/a “L.J.,” “Little Johnny,” age 25;
• Gregory Cook, age 36;
• Jeremy Ridgeway, a/k/a “J-Rock,” age 22;
• John Zion, a/k/a “John John,” age 27;
• Russell Hartman, a/k/a “Busy,” age 29, of Baltimore;
• Bonnie Rice, age 35, of Baltimore;
• Kelly Witter, age 26;
• Charles Gray, a/k/a “Bud,”“Budrow;” age 31;
• Edward Mueller, a/k/a “Dusty,” age 31, of Baltimore;
• Melanie Holquist, age 28; of Baltimore;
• Scott Jarriel, a/k/a “Scotty J.,” age 28; and
• Gary Horton, age 26.

All of the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison on the racketeering conspiracy. All but one defendant, Gary Horton, also face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison on the drug conspiracy. Roark, Adams, Mitchell, Forame, Mueller, Treas, Mixter, Ingram, Hartman, and Zion face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder and/or an assault in aid of racketeering.

Roark, Adams, Mitchell, Gray, Forame, Jarriel, and Mueller face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury. Cash and Holquist face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for being accessories after the fact of an assault; Witter, Holquist, Zion, Mixter and Treas face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for distributing drugs; and Treas and Mixter face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a gun.

Initial appearances for the defendants began this morning in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

Mr. Rosenstein praised the FBI, ATF, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Department; Baltimore City Police Department; the Maryland State Police; Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office; Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office for their assistance in this investigation and prosecution.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Robert R. Harding and Christopher J. Romano, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.