Boston, 1926. The '20s are roaring. Liquor is flowing, bullets are flying, and one man sets out of make his mark on the world.
Joe Coughlin, the son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his proper upbringing. Now in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw.
Joe embarks on a dizzying journey up the ladder of organized crime that takes him from Jazz Age Boston to Tampa's Latin Quarter to the streets of Cuba. Live by Night is a riveting epic layered with loyal friends and callous enemies, tough rumrunners and sultry femme fatales, Bible-quoting evangelists and cruel Klansmen, all battling for survival and their piece of the American dream. A compelling saga of love and revenge, it is a spellbinding tour de force of betrayal and redemption that brings to life a bygone era when sin was cause for celebration and vice was a national virtue.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Leaders of Two Chicago-Area Drug Trafficking Organizations Among 39 Arrested on Federal Narcotics Charges
Two leaders of separate drug trafficking organizations that operated independently while sometimes supplying each other with multiple kilograms of cocaine were arrested and are among 39 defendants who are facing federal drug charges, federal and local law enforcement officials announced today. The charges contained in a criminal complaint stem from an investigation led jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration that began in July 2011, with assistance from other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
Agents yesterday executed three federal search warrants at the same time as they began arresting defendants in the Chicago area, as well as in Indiana, Texas, and California. Agents seized approximately 2.5 kilograms of cocaine, $176,800 cash, and several guns. The two alleged leaders, Jesus Ramirez-Padilla and Humberto Jimenez, were among 27 defendants who were arrested, while the whereabouts of four others were accounted for, and eight remained fugitives. Previously, during the year-long investigation, agents seized more than 13 kilos of cocaine, 10 kilos of marijuana, 1.5 kilos of heroin, and approximately $75,000.
All 39 defendants were charged with various drug distribution offenses in a criminal complaint that was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court and unsealed yesterday following the arrests. The defendants who were arrested began appearing yesterday before Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez in U.S. District Court and remain in federal custody pending detention hearings scheduled for next week.
Yesterday’s operation brings to nearly 100 the number of defendants who have been arrested and charged in Chicago with federal or state drug trafficking offenses in just the last three weeks.
Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, praised the dedication and teamwork of the FBI, DEA, and HSI agents who worked diligently with the Chicago Police Department to disrupt these alleged drug trafficking organizations. Mr. Shapiro announced the charges with William C. Monroe, Acting Special Agent in -Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Jack Riley, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration; Gary Hartwig, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago; and Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The U.S. Marshals Service and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division also assisted, together with the Illinois State Police, the Cook County Sheriff’s Police, and the Berwyn and Oak Lawn Police Departments. The investigation was conducted under the umbrella of the U.S. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).
According to the complaint affidavit, the investigation determined that Ramirez-Padilla, 39, and Jimenez, 26, both of Chicago, each led his own drug trafficking organization. Both organizations regularly bought and sold multiple kilos of powder cocaine on Chicago’s southwest side. Each organization had its own wholesale distributors, drug couriers, stash houses, workers, and suppliers. While the Ramirez and Jimenez organizations operated independently, they sometimes supplied each other with kilograms of powder cocaine. Both organizations took steps to protect themselves from detection by law enforcement, including: using code words to disguise references to narcotics and other items; regularly replacing telephones; using different vehicles to transport drugs; and engaging in counter-surveillance techniques.
The 205-page affidavit details conversations among various defendants that were intercepted on 26 different telephones during the investigation pursuant to court-authorized electronic surveillance.
Sixteen defendants, who were charged in two separate conspiracies to possess and distribute cocaine and/or heroin, face a mandatory minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The remaining defendants face maximum sentences up to 20 or 40 years in prison and a maximum fine of $2 million or $5 million. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is being represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Nathalina Hudson, Joseph Thompson, and John Kness.
The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Agents yesterday executed three federal search warrants at the same time as they began arresting defendants in the Chicago area, as well as in Indiana, Texas, and California. Agents seized approximately 2.5 kilograms of cocaine, $176,800 cash, and several guns. The two alleged leaders, Jesus Ramirez-Padilla and Humberto Jimenez, were among 27 defendants who were arrested, while the whereabouts of four others were accounted for, and eight remained fugitives. Previously, during the year-long investigation, agents seized more than 13 kilos of cocaine, 10 kilos of marijuana, 1.5 kilos of heroin, and approximately $75,000.
All 39 defendants were charged with various drug distribution offenses in a criminal complaint that was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court and unsealed yesterday following the arrests. The defendants who were arrested began appearing yesterday before Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez in U.S. District Court and remain in federal custody pending detention hearings scheduled for next week.
Yesterday’s operation brings to nearly 100 the number of defendants who have been arrested and charged in Chicago with federal or state drug trafficking offenses in just the last three weeks.
Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, praised the dedication and teamwork of the FBI, DEA, and HSI agents who worked diligently with the Chicago Police Department to disrupt these alleged drug trafficking organizations. Mr. Shapiro announced the charges with William C. Monroe, Acting Special Agent in -Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Jack Riley, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration; Gary Hartwig, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago; and Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department. The U.S. Marshals Service and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division also assisted, together with the Illinois State Police, the Cook County Sheriff’s Police, and the Berwyn and Oak Lawn Police Departments. The investigation was conducted under the umbrella of the U.S. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).
According to the complaint affidavit, the investigation determined that Ramirez-Padilla, 39, and Jimenez, 26, both of Chicago, each led his own drug trafficking organization. Both organizations regularly bought and sold multiple kilos of powder cocaine on Chicago’s southwest side. Each organization had its own wholesale distributors, drug couriers, stash houses, workers, and suppliers. While the Ramirez and Jimenez organizations operated independently, they sometimes supplied each other with kilograms of powder cocaine. Both organizations took steps to protect themselves from detection by law enforcement, including: using code words to disguise references to narcotics and other items; regularly replacing telephones; using different vehicles to transport drugs; and engaging in counter-surveillance techniques.
The 205-page affidavit details conversations among various defendants that were intercepted on 26 different telephones during the investigation pursuant to court-authorized electronic surveillance.
Sixteen defendants, who were charged in two separate conspiracies to possess and distribute cocaine and/or heroin, face a mandatory minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life in prison and a $10 million fine. The remaining defendants face maximum sentences up to 20 or 40 years in prison and a maximum fine of $2 million or $5 million. If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is being represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Nathalina Hudson, Joseph Thompson, and John Kness.
The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mark Haller, Author of "Life Under Bruno: The Economics of an Organized Crime Family" Passes Away
Mark H. Haller, 83, formerly of Center City, a professor emeritus at Temple University who was an expert on the history of organized crime, died Saturday, Sept. 22, of pneumonia at Brooke Grove, a retirement community in Sandy Spring, Md.
Dr. Haller joined Temple's faculty in 1968. He was a professor in the history and criminal justice departments, which he helped establish, before retiring in 2010.
Dr. Haller, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of the eugenics movement in the United States, transferred his interest to the study of the history of crime while teaching at the University of Chicago.
On Temple's history department's website, he explained how it happened: "In the mid-1960s, I received, unsolicited, a grant to write a report on an aspect of crime and criminal justice in 1920s Chicago. I found the topic challenging."
Dr. Haller said that after joining Temple's faculty, he began to study Philadelphia organized crime, which he preferred to call "illegal enterprise."
Over the years, Dr. Haller published articles describing the structure of gambling, bootlegging, loan sharking, and drug trafficking, and the relationship between organized crime and the community - especially political connections.
In an Inquirer article about the rising rate of robberies in Philadelphia in 1996, Dr. Haller pointed out that a century earlier, people were less likely to be robbed and more likely to lose money on the street to pickpockets. "It doesn't mean you lose more money, but the feeling of safety is very different," he said."I've been mugged twice in Philadelphia in 28 years, and I can tell you that was more frightening than four attempts to pick my pocket in Rome."
In 1990, Dr. Haller was interviewed about Moses L. Annenberg and his son Walter H., former owners of The Inquirer, for a WHYY TV12 series, Mobfathers. Moses Annenberg became a multimillionaire through his monopoly of the racing wire, which telegraphed race results and tracked odds from coast to coast. Eventually, he was convicted of income-tax evasion and went to prison.
Dr. Haller is the author of a book on the eugenics movement and of Life under Bruno : The Economics of An Organized Crime Family
.
Dr. Haller joined Temple's faculty in 1968. He was a professor in the history and criminal justice departments, which he helped establish, before retiring in 2010.
Dr. Haller, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the history of the eugenics movement in the United States, transferred his interest to the study of the history of crime while teaching at the University of Chicago.
On Temple's history department's website, he explained how it happened: "In the mid-1960s, I received, unsolicited, a grant to write a report on an aspect of crime and criminal justice in 1920s Chicago. I found the topic challenging."
Dr. Haller said that after joining Temple's faculty, he began to study Philadelphia organized crime, which he preferred to call "illegal enterprise."
Over the years, Dr. Haller published articles describing the structure of gambling, bootlegging, loan sharking, and drug trafficking, and the relationship between organized crime and the community - especially political connections.
In an Inquirer article about the rising rate of robberies in Philadelphia in 1996, Dr. Haller pointed out that a century earlier, people were less likely to be robbed and more likely to lose money on the street to pickpockets. "It doesn't mean you lose more money, but the feeling of safety is very different," he said."I've been mugged twice in Philadelphia in 28 years, and I can tell you that was more frightening than four attempts to pick my pocket in Rome."
In 1990, Dr. Haller was interviewed about Moses L. Annenberg and his son Walter H., former owners of The Inquirer, for a WHYY TV12 series, Mobfathers. Moses Annenberg became a multimillionaire through his monopoly of the racing wire, which telegraphed race results and tracked odds from coast to coast. Eventually, he was convicted of income-tax evasion and went to prison.
Dr. Haller is the author of a book on the eugenics movement and of Life under Bruno : The Economics of An Organized Crime Family
.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Jimmy Hoffa Buried Under Driveway in Roseville, Michigan?
Investigators will take soil samples from the ground beneath a suburban Detroit driveway after a man told police he believes he witnessed the burial of missing Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa about 35 years ago, police said Wednesday.
Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said his department received a tip from a man who said he saw a body buried approximately 35 years ago and "thinks it may have been Jimmy he saw interred."
"We are not claiming it's Jimmy Hoffa, the timeline doesn't add up," Berlin said. "We're investigating a body that may be at the location."
Hoffa was last seen on July 30, 1975, outside a suburban Detroit restaurant where he was supposed to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain. His body has not been found despite a number of searches over the years.
Innumerable theories about the demise of the union boss have surfaced over time. Among them: He was entombed in concrete at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, ground up and thrown in a Florida swamp or obliterated in a mob-owned fat-rendering plant. The search has continued under a backyard pool north of Detroit in 2003, under the floor of a Detroit home in 2004 and at a horse farm northwest of Detroit in 2006.
After Roseville police received the most recent tip, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality used ground penetrating radar on a 12-foot-by-12-foot patch beneath the driveway, said agency spokesman Brad Wurfel. It found "that the earth had been disturbed at some point in time," Berlin said.
The environmental quality department on Friday will take soil samples that will be sent to a forensic anthropologist at Michigan State University to "have it tested for human decomposition," Berlin said.
Results are not expected until next week.
The FBI had no immediate comment on the new effort in Roseville. Andrew Arena, who recently retired as head of the FBI in Michigan, told Detroit TV station WDIV that all leads must be followed, but he would be surprised if Hoffa is buried there.
Thanks to Corey Williams.
Roseville Police Chief James Berlin said his department received a tip from a man who said he saw a body buried approximately 35 years ago and "thinks it may have been Jimmy he saw interred."
"We are not claiming it's Jimmy Hoffa, the timeline doesn't add up," Berlin said. "We're investigating a body that may be at the location."
Hoffa was last seen on July 30, 1975, outside a suburban Detroit restaurant where he was supposed to meet with a New Jersey Teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia captain. His body has not been found despite a number of searches over the years.
Innumerable theories about the demise of the union boss have surfaced over time. Among them: He was entombed in concrete at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, ground up and thrown in a Florida swamp or obliterated in a mob-owned fat-rendering plant. The search has continued under a backyard pool north of Detroit in 2003, under the floor of a Detroit home in 2004 and at a horse farm northwest of Detroit in 2006.
After Roseville police received the most recent tip, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality used ground penetrating radar on a 12-foot-by-12-foot patch beneath the driveway, said agency spokesman Brad Wurfel. It found "that the earth had been disturbed at some point in time," Berlin said.
The environmental quality department on Friday will take soil samples that will be sent to a forensic anthropologist at Michigan State University to "have it tested for human decomposition," Berlin said.
Results are not expected until next week.
The FBI had no immediate comment on the new effort in Roseville. Andrew Arena, who recently retired as head of the FBI in Michigan, told Detroit TV station WDIV that all leads must be followed, but he would be surprised if Hoffa is buried there.
Thanks to Corey Williams.
Rudy "The Chin" Fratto Gets 1 Year and 1 Day in Federal Prison
Reputed made mob member Rudy “The Chin” Fratto wasn’t shy about his status in the Chicago Outfit, the feds say.
“I’m the f------ boss of this area around here. No one else,” Fratto was caught bragging on a secret recording made by federal agents. But Fratto, a reputed leader of the Elmwood Park crew, has publicly denied being part of the mob, once joking outside court he’s a “reputed good guy.” And on Wednesday, a federal judge declined to give Fratto more years behind bars because of his organized crime connections — as federal prosecutors requested — sentencing him instead to a year and a day behind bars for a bid-rigging scheme at McCormick Place.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, noting Fratto’s age of 68, contended that the government did not prove that organized crime was connected to the scheme.
The feds, though, contend that mob connections were an integral part of the crime. Fratto encouraged a businessman to take part in the bid-rigging scheme and said he could intercede on the man’s behalf regarding an unpaid loan he had received from mob figures in Cleveland.
Federal prosecutors John Podliska and Amarjeet Bhachu also noted in a sentencing memorandum that mob killer Nicholas Calabrese testified as a government witness in the historic Family Secrets mob trial that Fratto became a made member of the Chicago mob in 1988.
The prison sentence of a year and a day allows Fratto to qualify for time reduction for good behavior while behind bars, which could reduce his sentence to about 10 months.
Thanks to Steve Warmbir.
“I’m the f------ boss of this area around here. No one else,” Fratto was caught bragging on a secret recording made by federal agents. But Fratto, a reputed leader of the Elmwood Park crew, has publicly denied being part of the mob, once joking outside court he’s a “reputed good guy.” And on Wednesday, a federal judge declined to give Fratto more years behind bars because of his organized crime connections — as federal prosecutors requested — sentencing him instead to a year and a day behind bars for a bid-rigging scheme at McCormick Place.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, noting Fratto’s age of 68, contended that the government did not prove that organized crime was connected to the scheme.
The feds, though, contend that mob connections were an integral part of the crime. Fratto encouraged a businessman to take part in the bid-rigging scheme and said he could intercede on the man’s behalf regarding an unpaid loan he had received from mob figures in Cleveland.
Federal prosecutors John Podliska and Amarjeet Bhachu also noted in a sentencing memorandum that mob killer Nicholas Calabrese testified as a government witness in the historic Family Secrets mob trial that Fratto became a made member of the Chicago mob in 1988.
The prison sentence of a year and a day allows Fratto to qualify for time reduction for good behavior while behind bars, which could reduce his sentence to about 10 months.
Thanks to Steve Warmbir.
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