Aspiring writer Nick Carraway goes to New York City at the height of the Roaring Twenties and is drawn into the world of the super-rich and the mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby.
Monday, November 09, 2015
The Great Gatsby on Instant Video
Aspiring writer Nick Carraway goes to New York City at the height of the Roaring Twenties and is drawn into the world of the super-rich and the mysterious millionaire, Jay Gatsby.
Euripides Caguana Sentenced to 17+ Years in Prison for Plotting to Kill 2 Potential Witnesses in His Son’s Murder Trial
A Chicago father who offered to hire a hit man to execute two potential witnesses in his son’s murder trial was sentenced to 17 and a half years in federal prison.
EURIPIDES CAGUANA, 61, sought the killings of two men he believed would testify against his son in his upcoming murder trial. Caguana paid $500 to an undercover individual to purchase a gun, and he offered the individual up to $7,500 to have the two witnesses killed.
A jury in May convicted Caguana on four counts of murder for hire. U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin imposed the 210-month sentence in federal court in Chicago.
“The defendant’s conduct strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Salib argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Without witnesses, criminal cases can never be judged on the merits of the evidence.”
Caguana’s son, Travis Caguana, is charged with murder in the Circuit Court of Cook County in connection with a fatal drive-by shooting of a man on June 8, 2011. In October 2013, a cooperating individual notified law enforcement that Euripides Caguana had called him seeking to have two men killed to prevent them from testifying against Travis Caguana. Over the course of a few days, the cooperating individual and an undercover police officer—posing as a hit man—engaged in a series of secretly recorded meetings and conversations with Euripides Caguana.
During one of the meetings, Euripides Caguana provided the cooperating individual with $500 to purchase a gun, and he offered to pay up to $7,500 to have the two potential witnesses killed. He is heard on a recording telling the individual, “I want both of them, both of them.”
Caguana was arrested on Oct. 17, 2013, and the murders for hire were never carried out.
EURIPIDES CAGUANA, 61, sought the killings of two men he believed would testify against his son in his upcoming murder trial. Caguana paid $500 to an undercover individual to purchase a gun, and he offered the individual up to $7,500 to have the two witnesses killed.
A jury in May convicted Caguana on four counts of murder for hire. U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin imposed the 210-month sentence in federal court in Chicago.
“The defendant’s conduct strikes at the heart of the criminal justice system,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Salib argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Without witnesses, criminal cases can never be judged on the merits of the evidence.”
Caguana’s son, Travis Caguana, is charged with murder in the Circuit Court of Cook County in connection with a fatal drive-by shooting of a man on June 8, 2011. In October 2013, a cooperating individual notified law enforcement that Euripides Caguana had called him seeking to have two men killed to prevent them from testifying against Travis Caguana. Over the course of a few days, the cooperating individual and an undercover police officer—posing as a hit man—engaged in a series of secretly recorded meetings and conversations with Euripides Caguana.
During one of the meetings, Euripides Caguana provided the cooperating individual with $500 to purchase a gun, and he offered to pay up to $7,500 to have the two potential witnesses killed. He is heard on a recording telling the individual, “I want both of them, both of them.”
Caguana was arrested on Oct. 17, 2013, and the murders for hire were never carried out.
Olympus Has Fallen
Olympus Has Fallen.
A terrorist mastermind kidnaps the President of the United States inside the White House
, and a disgraced former Secret Service agent must save the President and take down the terrorists.
Starring: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
A terrorist mastermind kidnaps the President of the United States inside the White House
, and a disgraced former Secret Service agent must save the President and take down the terrorists.Starring: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart
Directed by: Antoine Fuqua
Courtroom Drama Spotlights The Right To Stand Your Ground - A Cry For Justice #GeorgiaJustice
Stand Your Ground: A Cry for Justice depicts the real-life drama that GA resident Jackie Carpenter and her family were thrust into after her son was arrested for an accidental shooting. Based on Jackie’s two books, Stand Your Ground runs the gamut of emotions from tragedy to triumph and has all the makings of a blockbuster hit!
No mother should have to endure the ordeal that Jackie Carpenter and her family were put through as a result of her son’s arrest after he accidentally shot a man stealing from his worksite. And never in her wildest dreams could this Georgia mom have known that she would become an author as a result of this terrifying experience, that her two books would be made into an award-winning movie, or that her son’s case would be considered “textbook” in the annals of legal cases and be taught to future first year law students!
Taking first place in the Alaska International Film Festival, Stand Your Ground: A Cry For Justice by Triple Horse Studios is the award-winning movie that tells the gripping story of Jackie Carpenter’s quest to save her family. Jackie’s idyllic life was frozen in time the day she heard her son was arrested for felony murder when all he did was defend his worksite from constant theft. Unfortunately, as he held the men at bay while waiting for the police to arrive, his gun accidentally fired and one of the men died. This is a movie that everyone needs to see because it shows how something that happens in a split second can change a life forever. While it has all the terror and tragedy of a blockbuster movie hit, this one is real life!
Stand Your Ground, tells the explosive story of the ten-month trial and how Jackie Carpenter’s faith was tested to the max. The trailer for the movie won Award of Excellence in the Best Short Competition and Award of Merit in The Accolade Competition, and has been nominated as Best Picture in the ICVM Crown Awards and entered in the Gideon Film Festival! Please watch: http://acryforjusticemovie.com to see the exciting trailer.
Feeling physically, mentally and emotionally ill through the first six months of this ordeal resulted in Jackie questioning her faith. All this loving mom knew was that she needed God on her side throughout the trial and she prayed relentlessly, asking for strength and renewed faith. Once she stopped doubting, courage replaced fear and she knew that God heard her plea.
Jackie’s first book, The Bridge: Between Cell Block A and a Miracle is Psalm 91, tells the traumatic events after her son’s arrest and how she used the prayer of protection, Psalm 91, to help face the turmoil of emotions raging through her and help her find the strength to hold her family together. Her second book, Georgia Justice, is a story of building faith. Jackie was able to overcome the grips of doubt and depression and her book acts as a guide for anyone wanting to renew and strengthen faith and hope on the road to ultimate victory.
Jackie Carpenter has been a featured guest on television, radio, and in newspaper articles. For information on Jackie and her books, or the extraordinary movie that will have audiences white-knuckled and hanging on to the edge of their seats, please visit: www.bridgetoamiracle.com.
No mother should have to endure the ordeal that Jackie Carpenter and her family were put through as a result of her son’s arrest after he accidentally shot a man stealing from his worksite. And never in her wildest dreams could this Georgia mom have known that she would become an author as a result of this terrifying experience, that her two books would be made into an award-winning movie, or that her son’s case would be considered “textbook” in the annals of legal cases and be taught to future first year law students!
Taking first place in the Alaska International Film Festival, Stand Your Ground: A Cry For Justice by Triple Horse Studios is the award-winning movie that tells the gripping story of Jackie Carpenter’s quest to save her family. Jackie’s idyllic life was frozen in time the day she heard her son was arrested for felony murder when all he did was defend his worksite from constant theft. Unfortunately, as he held the men at bay while waiting for the police to arrive, his gun accidentally fired and one of the men died. This is a movie that everyone needs to see because it shows how something that happens in a split second can change a life forever. While it has all the terror and tragedy of a blockbuster movie hit, this one is real life!
Stand Your Ground, tells the explosive story of the ten-month trial and how Jackie Carpenter’s faith was tested to the max. The trailer for the movie won Award of Excellence in the Best Short Competition and Award of Merit in The Accolade Competition, and has been nominated as Best Picture in the ICVM Crown Awards and entered in the Gideon Film Festival! Please watch: http://acryforjusticemovie.com to see the exciting trailer.
Feeling physically, mentally and emotionally ill through the first six months of this ordeal resulted in Jackie questioning her faith. All this loving mom knew was that she needed God on her side throughout the trial and she prayed relentlessly, asking for strength and renewed faith. Once she stopped doubting, courage replaced fear and she knew that God heard her plea.
Jackie’s first book, The Bridge: Between Cell Block A and a Miracle is Psalm 91, tells the traumatic events after her son’s arrest and how she used the prayer of protection, Psalm 91, to help face the turmoil of emotions raging through her and help her find the strength to hold her family together. Her second book, Georgia Justice, is a story of building faith. Jackie was able to overcome the grips of doubt and depression and her book acts as a guide for anyone wanting to renew and strengthen faith and hope on the road to ultimate victory.
Jackie Carpenter has been a featured guest on television, radio, and in newspaper articles. For information on Jackie and her books, or the extraordinary movie that will have audiences white-knuckled and hanging on to the edge of their seats, please visit: www.bridgetoamiracle.com.
Escobar versus Cali: The War of the Cartels - Chronicles Epic Struggle Between Pablo Escobar & Cali Cartel in History’s Biggest #GangWar
Escobar VS Cali: The War of the Cartels (Gangland Mysteries), chronicles the fascinating story of history’s biggest gang war. The setting
: Colombia, South America; the time: the 1980s and early 1990s. The participants were known as cartels, and they were responsible for flooding the world with billions of dollars worth of cocaine. The epic death struggle pitted Pablo Escobar, the so called “World’s Greatest Outlaw” and leader of the Medellin cartel, against the brothers Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Chess Player,” and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Boss”. the leaders of the powerful Cali cartel. The war left thousands of Colombians dead, spawned the term “narcoterrorism” and almost turned Colombia into a narcodemocracy. The gang war, moreover, had major implications for the U.S.’s War on Drug.
When the momentous battle ended, Escobar was dead and the Cali Cartel stood tall as the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organization. So who were the major players in the gangland war? How did it play out? Who took out Pablo Escobar? What role did the U.S. play? Author Ron Chepesiuk takes the reader behind the scenes of the war to the death and investigates a gangland mystery. Escobar versus Cali: The War of the Cartels is must read for anyone who enjoys true crime and a good story. D4 Entertainment has optioned the film rights to the book.
: Colombia, South America; the time: the 1980s and early 1990s. The participants were known as cartels, and they were responsible for flooding the world with billions of dollars worth of cocaine. The epic death struggle pitted Pablo Escobar, the so called “World’s Greatest Outlaw” and leader of the Medellin cartel, against the brothers Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Chess Player,” and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela, “The Boss”. the leaders of the powerful Cali cartel. The war left thousands of Colombians dead, spawned the term “narcoterrorism” and almost turned Colombia into a narcodemocracy. The gang war, moreover, had major implications for the U.S.’s War on Drug.
When the momentous battle ended, Escobar was dead and the Cali Cartel stood tall as the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organization. So who were the major players in the gangland war? How did it play out? Who took out Pablo Escobar? What role did the U.S. play? Author Ron Chepesiuk takes the reader behind the scenes of the war to the death and investigates a gangland mystery. Escobar versus Cali: The War of the Cartels is must read for anyone who enjoys true crime and a good story. D4 Entertainment has optioned the film rights to the book.
Thursday, November 05, 2015
Revisiting the Mob Career of Tony Spilotro
Tony Spilotro, who would eventually be portrayed by Joe Pesci in the Martin Scorcese film "Casino," was born and raised in “The Patch,” a near west side Chicago neighborhood that was a haven for Italian immigrants in the 1940s and 50s
. Spilotro entered high school at Steinmetz, but when his father had a stroke and died the next year, he dropped out and started a full-time life of crime. All but one of his five brothers, along with a number of neighbors, became members of the Chicago mob, and a few played starring roles.
During the 1970s, Tony Spilotro was fronted in Las Vegas by childhood friend Frank Rosenthal (portrayed by Robert DeNiro in "Casino"), who ran numerous mob-backed gambling operations, to become the enforcer for Chicago. Spilotro was already known for his brutality and quickly established an embezzling scheme that took a cut for mob families in Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Los Angeles.
Leo Foreman was the first brutal murder that Spilotro was accused of, supposedly in retribution because the loan shark (Foreman) had disrespected Chicago mob boss Sam DeStefano. Spilotro also is thought to have murdered Tamara Rand, a California real estate broker, in 1975, because she was suing over an unpaid $2 million loan to Spilotro’s Las Vegas associate Allen Glick.
When Tony was blacklisted by the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1979, which barred him from being physically present in a casino, Spilotro’s role of enforcer was curtailed. By that time, he had branched out into other activities like fencing stolen property and conducting a burglary operation with his brother Michael. The first Chicago mob informants flipped by the FBI named Spilotro in the murder of Leo Foreman, and a half dozen other close associates who accused Spilotro of ordering or carrying out mob murders.
By the early 1980s, Spilotro had already broke with Rosenthal after he had an affair with Rosenthal’s wife. When Frank Cullotta
, a childhood friend who had remained an insider, began to fear that Spilotro was going to kill him, Cullotta began talking to the FBI.
Spilotro was acquitted in Chicago on a murder charge stemming in part from Cullotta’s testimony, but by 1986 the mobster had been implicated in about 22 murders and had lots of enemies in and out of jail. Among other high-profile killings, Spilotro was suspected of being involved in the murder of his mentor Sam DeStefano and mob kingpin Sam Giancana.
There are several theories about how Tony and his brother Michael were lured to a summit meeting likely in Bensenville or North Riverside, Ill., and subsequently beaten and killed on June, 14, 1986.
About 10 days after the murders, the partially decomposed bodies of Tony and Michael Spilotro were found buried in a cornfield within the 12,000-acre Willow Slough preserve, in Newton County, Indiana. The farmer who spotted the site of the burial investigated at first because he thought a poacher had buried a deer killed out of season. The coroner noted that the bodies appeared to have been beaten to death by several people, and numerous people were eventually convicted. Of the 7-8 suspects in the Spilotro killings, several were convicted, others flipped and received lighter sentences in later cases, but everyone who was known to be at the meeting where the brothers were murdered, went to jail or died.
Thanks to Pat Collander.
. Spilotro entered high school at Steinmetz, but when his father had a stroke and died the next year, he dropped out and started a full-time life of crime. All but one of his five brothers, along with a number of neighbors, became members of the Chicago mob, and a few played starring roles.During the 1970s, Tony Spilotro was fronted in Las Vegas by childhood friend Frank Rosenthal (portrayed by Robert DeNiro in "Casino"), who ran numerous mob-backed gambling operations, to become the enforcer for Chicago. Spilotro was already known for his brutality and quickly established an embezzling scheme that took a cut for mob families in Kansas City, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Los Angeles.
Leo Foreman was the first brutal murder that Spilotro was accused of, supposedly in retribution because the loan shark (Foreman) had disrespected Chicago mob boss Sam DeStefano. Spilotro also is thought to have murdered Tamara Rand, a California real estate broker, in 1975, because she was suing over an unpaid $2 million loan to Spilotro’s Las Vegas associate Allen Glick.
When Tony was blacklisted by the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1979, which barred him from being physically present in a casino, Spilotro’s role of enforcer was curtailed. By that time, he had branched out into other activities like fencing stolen property and conducting a burglary operation with his brother Michael. The first Chicago mob informants flipped by the FBI named Spilotro in the murder of Leo Foreman, and a half dozen other close associates who accused Spilotro of ordering or carrying out mob murders.
By the early 1980s, Spilotro had already broke with Rosenthal after he had an affair with Rosenthal’s wife. When Frank Cullotta
, a childhood friend who had remained an insider, began to fear that Spilotro was going to kill him, Cullotta began talking to the FBI.Spilotro was acquitted in Chicago on a murder charge stemming in part from Cullotta’s testimony, but by 1986 the mobster had been implicated in about 22 murders and had lots of enemies in and out of jail. Among other high-profile killings, Spilotro was suspected of being involved in the murder of his mentor Sam DeStefano and mob kingpin Sam Giancana.
There are several theories about how Tony and his brother Michael were lured to a summit meeting likely in Bensenville or North Riverside, Ill., and subsequently beaten and killed on June, 14, 1986.
About 10 days after the murders, the partially decomposed bodies of Tony and Michael Spilotro were found buried in a cornfield within the 12,000-acre Willow Slough preserve, in Newton County, Indiana. The farmer who spotted the site of the burial investigated at first because he thought a poacher had buried a deer killed out of season. The coroner noted that the bodies appeared to have been beaten to death by several people, and numerous people were eventually convicted. Of the 7-8 suspects in the Spilotro killings, several were convicted, others flipped and received lighter sentences in later cases, but everyone who was known to be at the meeting where the brothers were murdered, went to jail or died.
Thanks to Pat Collander.
Wednesday, November 04, 2015
Monster Sized Mobster Trial to Begin #MafiaCapital
The biggest mob trial in modern-day Rome opens on Thursday, with a one-eyed former neo-fascist gangster and 45 other defendants in the dock accused of operating a mafia network that plundered city coffers.
The trial is the result of the "Mafia Capital" investigation, which laid bare allegations of mobsters, bureaucrats and politicians working hand-in-fist to siphon off millions of euros from services covering everything from refugee centres to trash collection.
At the heart of the scandal sits Massimo Carminati, a one-time member of Rome's notorious far-right Magliana Gang, and his sidekick Salvatore Buzzi, a convicted murderer.
Italian police allege Carminati and Buzzi infiltrated Rome's city hall and got their hands on lucrative public contracts. Police have released an array of wiretaps that they say show the defendants openly discussing their various schemes.
"Do you have any idea how much you can make from immigrants? The drugs trade brings you less money," Buzzi said in one call.
Both Buzzi and Carminati have denied the mafia charges.
As recently as 2013, the main government representative in the Rome region downplayed the existence of the mafia in the city, but the police probe, which was made public last December, suggested that much of local administration was rotten.
"Rome is unfortunately fundamentally corrupt," said Alfonso Sabella, a renowned Sicilian anti-mafia prosecutor who was drafted into the city after the Mafia Capital scandal detonated late last year.
"This is not your traditional mafia involved in drug dealing or extortion rackets. This is something original," he told Reuters, saying mobsters found accomplices in officials and politicians of all colours.
Police say the group was organised like a mob clan and have classified it as a mafia case. However, they say it was independent of the traditional southern Italian mafias.
Amongst those standing trial are Luca Gramazio, the former head of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party on the regional council, and Mirko Coratti, former head of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party on the Rome city council.
Both have denied wrongdoing.
The case will open in Rome's main courthouse but will then switch to the court bunker in the Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome, where it is easier to secure large groups of defendants. It is expected to run until at least next July.
Carminati, who lost an eye in a police shoot-out in the early 1980s, is being held in a maximum security jail and will only be allowed to follow proceedings via a video link.
An initial, fastracked trial tied to the scandal ended on Tuesday, with all four defendants, including a senior city official, found guilty and handed prison terms of between four and five years.
Prosecutors allege that mobsters flourished in Rome following the 2008 election of right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno, who is under investigation for graft, but does not face any mafia-related charges and is not involved in this trial.
Alemanno's successor, the centre-left Ignazio Marino, is not implicated in the case, but was forced to resign last week following in an unrelated expenses scandal.
Sabella says city hall has been purged over the past year.
"I would put my hand in the fire and say there is now no mafia in city hall. But I can't say the same about corruption. Even as we speak, someone is probably paying someone a bribe somewhere in the Rome city council," he said.
"That is what makes one so bitter."
Thanks to Crispian Balmer.
The trial is the result of the "Mafia Capital" investigation, which laid bare allegations of mobsters, bureaucrats and politicians working hand-in-fist to siphon off millions of euros from services covering everything from refugee centres to trash collection.
At the heart of the scandal sits Massimo Carminati, a one-time member of Rome's notorious far-right Magliana Gang, and his sidekick Salvatore Buzzi, a convicted murderer.
Italian police allege Carminati and Buzzi infiltrated Rome's city hall and got their hands on lucrative public contracts. Police have released an array of wiretaps that they say show the defendants openly discussing their various schemes.
"Do you have any idea how much you can make from immigrants? The drugs trade brings you less money," Buzzi said in one call.
Both Buzzi and Carminati have denied the mafia charges.
As recently as 2013, the main government representative in the Rome region downplayed the existence of the mafia in the city, but the police probe, which was made public last December, suggested that much of local administration was rotten.
"Rome is unfortunately fundamentally corrupt," said Alfonso Sabella, a renowned Sicilian anti-mafia prosecutor who was drafted into the city after the Mafia Capital scandal detonated late last year.
"This is not your traditional mafia involved in drug dealing or extortion rackets. This is something original," he told Reuters, saying mobsters found accomplices in officials and politicians of all colours.
Police say the group was organised like a mob clan and have classified it as a mafia case. However, they say it was independent of the traditional southern Italian mafias.
Amongst those standing trial are Luca Gramazio, the former head of Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party on the regional council, and Mirko Coratti, former head of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party on the Rome city council.
Both have denied wrongdoing.
The case will open in Rome's main courthouse but will then switch to the court bunker in the Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome, where it is easier to secure large groups of defendants. It is expected to run until at least next July.
Carminati, who lost an eye in a police shoot-out in the early 1980s, is being held in a maximum security jail and will only be allowed to follow proceedings via a video link.
An initial, fastracked trial tied to the scandal ended on Tuesday, with all four defendants, including a senior city official, found guilty and handed prison terms of between four and five years.
Prosecutors allege that mobsters flourished in Rome following the 2008 election of right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno, who is under investigation for graft, but does not face any mafia-related charges and is not involved in this trial.
Alemanno's successor, the centre-left Ignazio Marino, is not implicated in the case, but was forced to resign last week following in an unrelated expenses scandal.
Sabella says city hall has been purged over the past year.
"I would put my hand in the fire and say there is now no mafia in city hall. But I can't say the same about corruption. Even as we speak, someone is probably paying someone a bribe somewhere in the Rome city council," he said.
"That is what makes one so bitter."
Thanks to Crispian Balmer.
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Remarks by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch at 84th Interpol General Assembly
Thank you, President [Mireille] Ballestrazzi, for that kind introduction – and for your tireless work to foster greater cooperation among the world’s law enforcement agencies. Thank you also to Secretary General [Jürgen] Stock for your leadership at Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) and your dedication to justice. My thanks as well to my colleagues from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security who have committed so much to this organization, including Alan Bersin, Jolene Lauria [Sullens] and our National Central Bureau. And thank you to everyone who is here with us today – distinguished leaders, passionate citizens and committed partners in the work that is our common cause. It is an honor to address this eminent assembly and a privilege to be able to return to Rwanda – a country of unsurpassed beauty and tremendous resilience.
I first came to Rwanda 10 years ago to conduct a witness tampering investigation for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. As you can imagine, the stories I heard were heart-rending. How does one comfort a woman who describes surviving a churchyard massacre by hiding under a pile of dead bodies and who went to the priest the next day for sanctuary, only to be turned away? How does one promise justice to another woman who still bears the scars of the machete in her skull and who collapses in tears as she recounts how she was betrayed to the Interahamwe by someone who promised to smuggle her to safety? These and other witnesses shared their stories with me with a faith that, first and foremost, justice could be achieved and that others would be helped if they shared their pain.
Serving that tribunal brought me face to face with what can happen both to a country and to the soul of its people when the rule of law collapses and justice cannot be found. But it also reminded me of the fundamental human rights that our community of nations must defend and protect. It reaffirmed my unwavering belief that upholding the rule of law is a government’s foremost responsibility – a responsibility that must be stronger than the desire for expedience, power or vengeance. Individuals in every nation have the right to a government that prizes their citizens’ self-determination over its own desire for influence and power, and the right to expect that no organization or individual is above the law. That is what the tribunal signified. And through the indictment of 93 perpetrators and the uncovering of buried truths, it demonstrated what the family of nations can accomplish when we find the moral resolve and the political will to work together.
It is that same commitment to collaboration and that same understanding of universal rights that fuels this important organization today. With 190 member countries and an unshakeable devotion to the rule of law, Interpol stands as an invaluable conduit for mutual assistance between law enforcement agencies across the world and a critical facilitator for international cooperation in matters of security, opportunity and human rights. You are ensuring secure global police information systems; providing round-the-clock support and operational assistance; driving innovation and fueling improvement; and expanding international capabilities to identify crimes and pursue wrongdoers. In all of your efforts, you are focused on working collaboratively to enhance the foundations and infrastructure essential to the work we share.
That work involves action against some of the most important and complex challenges of our time. You provide a network to coordinate counterterrorism aid and a partnership to help combat the threat of foreign terrorist fighters – a resource that is invaluable as we seek to stem illicit travel by individuals moving to and from conflict zones in Syria and Afghanistan. You join nations with one another in protecting cyber-security, helping to deprive cyber criminals of their mistaken sense of impunity and ensure that wrongdoers are held accountable – an effort that becomes more important every day. You assemble information on common challenges and best practices of law enforcement, helping nations to learn from one another and strengthen our procedures. In fact, the Interpol office in the United States has begun to offer Interpol members access to files in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center, starting with data on wanted persons, firearms and stolen vehicles, in order to assist police organizations worldwide. And you are working to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our society by partnering with law enforcement agencies at all levels to exchange intelligence on human trafficking and to support action against those who exploit human beings for financial gain.
This last issue – a crime that is nothing less than modern-day slavery – is one of my highest priorities as Attorney General of the United States and one of our foremost challenges as an international community. Because human trafficking is a largely hidden crime, it is difficult to precisely estimate how many millions of women, men and children are its victims. But we do know that it occurs in countries all over the world, including the United States. It is a crime that can take many forms – from forced physical labor to forced sex to child soldiers – and whose victims range from domestic workers to schoolchildren, to farmworkers, to countless others. And with its ties to organized crime, its preying on flows of migrants and its complex financing schemes, human trafficking is a truly global problem that demands a truly global response.
Fifteen years ago, a framework for that united effort was created by two documents: the U.N. Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons and the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act, or TVPA. Together, these instruments acknowledged psychological coercion as a common factor in involuntary servitude; recognized the effectiveness of holistic approaches involving protection, prosecution and prevention; and articulated the need for international collaboration in alleviating this heinous crime.
In the new era of resolve ushered in by the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol, Interpol has been at the forefront of the global crusade against human trafficking. Whether developing tools and systems to help the global law enforcement community share intelligence, or partnering with bodies like the Organization of American States to pool resources and exchange best practices, or conducting operations like the one last June in the Ivory Coast that led to the arrest of 25 suspects and the rescue of more than 75 children, Interpol has helped dismantle trafficking networks, shut down illegal labor operations, apprehend smugglers and kidnappers and care for survivors.
Through efforts like these, the international community has come a long way in the last 15 years. But the fact that millions of individuals remain in forced labor reminds us of how far we still have to go. In addition to the persistent scope of the problem, new challenges are emerging – particularly the rise of the Internet as a forum for traffickers and criminal gangs’ reliance on child sex trafficking as a revenue stream. As we seek to develop innovative, comprehensive and nimble responses to these evolving threats, we must find ways to work even more closely together in order to end this affront to our values and stop this crime against humanity.
I am proud to say that the United States is deeply engaged in combating this devastating threat. Under my predecessor, Attorney General Eric Holder, the U.S. Department of Justice joined the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security in launching the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team Initiative to create specialized units of attorneys and agents from across the federal government, enabling us to more effectively identify, apprehend and prosecute human traffickers and those who offer them material support. I was proud to announce earlier this year that we would be expanding that initiative into new cities to bring to bear the full weight of our law enforcement capabilities and investigative expertise. Just last month, in close conjunction with state and local law enforcement agencies, the FBI conducted its ninth annual “Operation: Cross Country” initiative against those who traffic in children for sexual exploitation, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of sex traffickers. And through the department’s Enhanced Collaborative Model Program, we have been able to give municipalities throughout the United States tens of millions of dollars in grant funding to bring together law enforcement and victim services providers to not only ensure that traffickers are brought to justice, but to fully address the issues faced by survivors in a holistic, comprehensive and victim-centered environment.
These are important steps forward and I hope that in the months and years ahead, we will continue to join together to build on our achievements, in our own nations and around the world. That work will not be easy, but it is deeply necessary. This country – through its history – and this organization – through its design – understand the importance of making progress, one individual at a time, as difficult as it may be. Every trafficker brought to justice represents a victory against inhumanity and a safer world for all nations. Every survivor pulled from the clutches of a trafficking organization is a human life with a new opportunity to imagine his or her own destiny. And every achievement we make together is a validation of our common mission to protect the rule of law.
When I shared my experiences at the tribunal with friends some years ago, one told me that the images painted by my words made him despair of the human race. Surely, such evil condemned mankind to a life that was indeed “nasty, brutish and short.” But I was not discouraged and I was compelled to explore why not in order to answer him. And it is because, when we are confronted with the admittedly irrefutable evidence of man’s inhumanity to man, be it the betrayal of genocide or the scourge of human trafficking, the destructive impetus of terrorism or the corruption of cyberspace, we turn to the law. Not because the law is perfect, but because it is the instrument through which we forge justice: fairly, impartially and transparently, even in the face of horrific crimes. It is how we ensure that no one receives preferential treatment and that all receive equal protection. It is how we honor the memories of the fallen and assure survivors they are not alone. It is how we punish those responsible for unspeakable crimes and how we ensure the innocent are not falsely accused or wrongly convicted. And it is ultimately how we create a better future – not only for the powerful, but for every citizen in our own nations and around the world.
As we gather here today, let us resolve to remember our part in that effort. Let us pledge to stand together in that fight. And let us continue, every day, to pursue our mission of a safer world, to advance our vision of a more just society and to hold close our hope of a brighter future for all.
Check Out "Cocktail Noir: From Gangsters and Gin Joints to Gumshoes and Gimlets" from @Scottyyz
Catering to lovers of the well-written word and the well-mixed drink
, Cocktail Noir: From Gangsters and Gin Joints to Gumshoes and Gimlets, is a lively look at the intertwining of alcohol and the underworld―represented by authors of crime both true and fictional and their glamorously disreputable characters, as well as by real life gangsters who built Prohibition-era empires on bootlegged booze. It celebrates the potent potables they imbibed and the watering holes they frequented, including some bars that continue to provide a second home for crime writers.
Highlighting the favorite drinks of Noir scribes, the book includes recipes for cocktails such as the Gimlet described in Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye, the Mojito Mulatta T.J. English drank while writing Havana Nocturne and the Dirty Martini favored by mob chronicler Christian Cippolini.
Cocktail Noir: From Gangsters and Gin Joints to Gumshoes and Gimlets, also lets us in on the drinking habits of notorious organized crime figures, revealing Al Capone’s taste for Templeton Rye, Meyer Lansky’s preference for Dewar’s Scotch and Gambino family hit man Charles Carneglia’s habit of guzzling Cutty Sark. With black and white illustrations throughout, Cocktail Noir is as stylish and irreverent as the drinks, often larger-than-life figures and culture it explores.
Authors Quoted Extensively: Dennis Lehane Patrick Downey T.J. English Scott Burnstein Christian Cippolini Chriss Lyon Gavin Schmitt Authors Discussed: Mario Puzo Gay Talese Peter Maas Raymond Chandler Dashiel Hammet Authors Honorably Mentioned: F. Scott Fitzgerald Dorothy Parker Stephen King Truman Capote
, Cocktail Noir: From Gangsters and Gin Joints to Gumshoes and Gimlets, is a lively look at the intertwining of alcohol and the underworld―represented by authors of crime both true and fictional and their glamorously disreputable characters, as well as by real life gangsters who built Prohibition-era empires on bootlegged booze. It celebrates the potent potables they imbibed and the watering holes they frequented, including some bars that continue to provide a second home for crime writers.Highlighting the favorite drinks of Noir scribes, the book includes recipes for cocktails such as the Gimlet described in Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye, the Mojito Mulatta T.J. English drank while writing Havana Nocturne and the Dirty Martini favored by mob chronicler Christian Cippolini.
Cocktail Noir: From Gangsters and Gin Joints to Gumshoes and Gimlets, also lets us in on the drinking habits of notorious organized crime figures, revealing Al Capone’s taste for Templeton Rye, Meyer Lansky’s preference for Dewar’s Scotch and Gambino family hit man Charles Carneglia’s habit of guzzling Cutty Sark. With black and white illustrations throughout, Cocktail Noir is as stylish and irreverent as the drinks, often larger-than-life figures and culture it explores.
Authors Quoted Extensively: Dennis Lehane Patrick Downey T.J. English Scott Burnstein Christian Cippolini Chriss Lyon Gavin Schmitt Authors Discussed: Mario Puzo Gay Talese Peter Maas Raymond Chandler Dashiel Hammet Authors Honorably Mentioned: F. Scott Fitzgerald Dorothy Parker Stephen King Truman Capote
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Former U.S. House Speaker John Dennis Hastert Pleads Guilty
JOHN DENNIS HASTERT, 73, of Plano, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of illegally structuring cash withdrawals in order to evade financial reporting requirements. The Honorable U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin scheduled a sentencing hearing for February 29, 2016, at 10:00 a.m.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois issued this statement following the guilty plea:
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois issued this statement following the guilty plea:
“Now that Mr. Hastert has pled guilty, and the Court has accepted his guilty plea, the case will proceed to sentencing. As part of the sentencing process in this case, as in all cases, we will provide the Court with relevant information about the defendant’s background and the charged offenses, and the defendant will have an opportunity to do the same, so that the Court can impose an appropriate sentence taking into account all relevant factors in the case. We have no further comment about the matter at this time.”
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Japan is Bracing for War among 'Yakuza' Crime Gangs
Japan is bracing for war.
Not with other countries, but with the nation's notorious gangsters.
A 43-year-old man was gunned down in the parking lot of a hot springs resort in western Japan earlier this month in what authorities say they fear could be the start of a deadly war among the nation's largest organized crime gangs, known collectively as the yakuza.
The powerful Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate, which marked its 100th anniversary this year, split into two rival groups in September. Police arrested a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi in the hot springs shooting and identified the victim as a member of the breakaway group.
Analysts said the rupture was due to long-running disputes over succession plans and high fees that member groups were required to pay Yamaguchi-gumi leaders.
Japan’s National Police Agency warned of possible gang violence at an emergency meeting of senior officials from each of the country's 47 prefectures shortly after the split. "We don't have specific information thus far that the rift will develop into inter-gang conflicts, but there were incidents in the past which involved civilians," Takashi Kinoshita, chief of the JNPAs organized crime division, said at the meeting in early September, according to local media.
A dispute over the gang’s leadership in the early 1980s led to a two-year war that left an estimated 30 gangsters dead, 70 others wounded and more than 500 in police custody. However, there are no statistics on the number of civilians killed or injured in the violence.
Today, local news media report that yakuza groups are beginning to stockpile weapons and recruit members to carry out potential hits. The price of a handgun sold on the black market has risen from $2,500 to $10,000 in recent weeks, according to Asahi Shimbun, a leading mainstream newspaper.
Legal firearms are highly restricted in Japan. In a nation of roughly 127 million people, Japan had just 35 cases of firearm shootings in 2010, according to the most recent data available from the National Police Agency's “Crime in Japan” report.
Last month, in the western Japanese city of Toyama, one yakuza group paraded as many as 100 gangsters down a busy street in a show of strength. Two nights later, a rival group did the same nearby, Kyodo News Service reported. Authorities responded by sending scores of police to raid each group's headquarters, according to Kyodo.
Police estimate that Yamaguchi-gumi had about 10,000 core members and about 14,000 affiliated members before the split. About one-third are believed to have broken off to form a rival organization, called the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.
Atsushi Mizoguchi, a journalist and author who has written extensively on the yakuza, said it is unlikely that senior leaders would order a full-on war. But he said at least some violence is likely as rival groups fight for turf.
“If organized criminals were able to establish viable revenues by invading the domain of others … it could lead to skirmishes in various places around the country. That could expand and eventually could well lead to a (violent) struggle,” Mizoguchi said at a Tokyo press briefing this week.
Jake Adelstein, a Tokyo journalist and authority on organized crime, is less sure. He points to the case of Tadamasa Goto, a yakuza boss who was ordered to pay $1.2 million in damages to the family of a real estate agent murdered by members of his gang in 2012. Although Goto was not charged in the death, he was still held liable.
“The situation is very different from what it was in the '80s,” Adelstein said. “It's not economically wise to have a gang war. The general public is no longer tolerant of yakuza conflict. It's costly to kill people.”
Yakuza gangs, long tolerated as a “necessary evil” in Japan, have been in slow decline since organized crime countermeasures were enacted in the early 1990s. Many gangs still operate semi-openly, however, with headquarters, business cards and legitimate-appearing front companies.
Yakuza engage in a variety of “serious criminal activities, including weapons trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking, drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering,” according to a February 2012 report from the U.S. Treasury Department. Extortion, loan-sharking and “protection” rackets also are common yakuza activities in Japan.
President Obama issued an executive order in 2011 designating the yakuza as a “transnational criminal organization.” The Treasury Department has since frozen assets in the U.S. of more than a dozen yakuza bosses — including the leaders of the Yamaguchi-gumi and the breakaway Kodo-kai gang — and has forbidden Americans from doing business with them.
In a report issued in April, the Treasury Department labeled the Kodo-kai “the most violent faction within the Yamaguchi-gumi” and said the yakuza has engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering in the United States, but did not provide details. There is no indication that any yakuza violence as a result of the recent split could spread to the U.S.
Thanks to Kirk Spitzer.
Not with other countries, but with the nation's notorious gangsters.
A 43-year-old man was gunned down in the parking lot of a hot springs resort in western Japan earlier this month in what authorities say they fear could be the start of a deadly war among the nation's largest organized crime gangs, known collectively as the yakuza.
The powerful Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate, which marked its 100th anniversary this year, split into two rival groups in September. Police arrested a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi in the hot springs shooting and identified the victim as a member of the breakaway group.
Analysts said the rupture was due to long-running disputes over succession plans and high fees that member groups were required to pay Yamaguchi-gumi leaders.
Japan’s National Police Agency warned of possible gang violence at an emergency meeting of senior officials from each of the country's 47 prefectures shortly after the split. "We don't have specific information thus far that the rift will develop into inter-gang conflicts, but there were incidents in the past which involved civilians," Takashi Kinoshita, chief of the JNPAs organized crime division, said at the meeting in early September, according to local media.
A dispute over the gang’s leadership in the early 1980s led to a two-year war that left an estimated 30 gangsters dead, 70 others wounded and more than 500 in police custody. However, there are no statistics on the number of civilians killed or injured in the violence.
Today, local news media report that yakuza groups are beginning to stockpile weapons and recruit members to carry out potential hits. The price of a handgun sold on the black market has risen from $2,500 to $10,000 in recent weeks, according to Asahi Shimbun, a leading mainstream newspaper.
Legal firearms are highly restricted in Japan. In a nation of roughly 127 million people, Japan had just 35 cases of firearm shootings in 2010, according to the most recent data available from the National Police Agency's “Crime in Japan” report.
Last month, in the western Japanese city of Toyama, one yakuza group paraded as many as 100 gangsters down a busy street in a show of strength. Two nights later, a rival group did the same nearby, Kyodo News Service reported. Authorities responded by sending scores of police to raid each group's headquarters, according to Kyodo.
Police estimate that Yamaguchi-gumi had about 10,000 core members and about 14,000 affiliated members before the split. About one-third are believed to have broken off to form a rival organization, called the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.
Atsushi Mizoguchi, a journalist and author who has written extensively on the yakuza, said it is unlikely that senior leaders would order a full-on war. But he said at least some violence is likely as rival groups fight for turf.
“If organized criminals were able to establish viable revenues by invading the domain of others … it could lead to skirmishes in various places around the country. That could expand and eventually could well lead to a (violent) struggle,” Mizoguchi said at a Tokyo press briefing this week.
Jake Adelstein, a Tokyo journalist and authority on organized crime, is less sure. He points to the case of Tadamasa Goto, a yakuza boss who was ordered to pay $1.2 million in damages to the family of a real estate agent murdered by members of his gang in 2012. Although Goto was not charged in the death, he was still held liable.
“The situation is very different from what it was in the '80s,” Adelstein said. “It's not economically wise to have a gang war. The general public is no longer tolerant of yakuza conflict. It's costly to kill people.”
Yakuza gangs, long tolerated as a “necessary evil” in Japan, have been in slow decline since organized crime countermeasures were enacted in the early 1990s. Many gangs still operate semi-openly, however, with headquarters, business cards and legitimate-appearing front companies.
Yakuza engage in a variety of “serious criminal activities, including weapons trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking, drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering,” according to a February 2012 report from the U.S. Treasury Department. Extortion, loan-sharking and “protection” rackets also are common yakuza activities in Japan.
President Obama issued an executive order in 2011 designating the yakuza as a “transnational criminal organization.” The Treasury Department has since frozen assets in the U.S. of more than a dozen yakuza bosses — including the leaders of the Yamaguchi-gumi and the breakaway Kodo-kai gang — and has forbidden Americans from doing business with them.
In a report issued in April, the Treasury Department labeled the Kodo-kai “the most violent faction within the Yamaguchi-gumi” and said the yakuza has engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering in the United States, but did not provide details. There is no indication that any yakuza violence as a result of the recent split could spread to the U.S.
Thanks to Kirk Spitzer.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Chicago Calabrese Mob Family Saga Movie to Be Scripted by #BlackMass Writer
Black Label Media has set Black Mass scribe Mark Mallouk to script a film about Frank Calabrese Sr and the crime family he ran out of Chicago that was known as The Outfit. The story will be driven by Kurt Calabrese, the son who was brought into the crime game by his father, and watched as his brother, Frank Jr., volunteered to become an FBI informant — and didn’t ask for compensation or a sentence reduction — helping to bring down his father when the made man implicated himself in 13 gangland murders. Black Label Media will fully finance and Eric Shepherd and Jeff Chianakis will produce with Black Label’s Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill and Trent Luckinbill.
Frank Calabrese Sr was an extortionist, loan shark and hitman, and brought his kids into the business when Kurt was just 12 years old, his brother a year older. He was by accounts a brutal person, and that and continual threats prompted Frank Jr. to wear the wire. Frank Sr was convicted and sentence to life in prison and he died behind bars in 2012.
Frank Calabrese Sr was an extortionist, loan shark and hitman, and brought his kids into the business when Kurt was just 12 years old, his brother a year older. He was by accounts a brutal person, and that and continual threats prompted Frank Jr. to wear the wire. Frank Sr was convicted and sentence to life in prison and he died behind bars in 2012.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Did Reputed Mob Associate Sammy Galioto Hide $3 Million to Avoid Paying Taxes?
How do you hide $3 million? Federal authorities say a ranking member of a Chicago mob family siphoned that much through an intricate scheme to avoid paying taxes.
Federal prosecutors are going after Salvatore "Sammy" Galioto the old fashioned way; the maneuver they used 80 years ago to take down Al Capone - tax evasion charges.
Authorities say Galioto tried to hide a $3 million consulting fee from a downtown condo deal. Galioto is part of a family that for 20 years has been into all sorts of deals - real estate, strip clubs, labor unions, health care and gambling.
"Where's the exit?" Galioto shouted to a courthouse deputy Thursday as he walked with urgency out of the Dirksen Federal Building.
The 54-year-old Kenilworth resident had just given up DNA and posted bail on these federal charges that he evaded U.S. income taxes by concealing $3 million in personal income.
Investigators say the scheme involved a Loop high-rise known as the Pittsfield Building; in 2007 Galioto received the handsome consulting for the sale of just nine floors. Instead of reporting the income, they say he filed false paperwork to cover it up and paid no taxes.
The beefy Galioto hails from a family with deep outfit connections.
He and his father - a one-time Chicago policeman - were first listed as mob associates on a Chicago crime commission list nearly 20 years ago.
Mobologists say the Galiotos were aligned with the late Tackets boss Sam "Wings" Carlisi, and that imprisoned mob boss Little Jimmy Marcello is related by marriage to the family.
Galioto and his father William were in the middle of a West Side movie studio groundbreaking in 1995 that was torpedoed once the family's history surfaced. After initially backing the deal, once the family's mob ties were made known, the administration of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley stumbled through damage control.
A few years later in Missouri, Galioto was indicted for Medicare fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
On Thursday after court, neither Galioto nor his attorney would discuss the latest criminal charges.
While it may seem unusual that Galioto was made to give up DNA in tax evasion case, federal prosecutors and Galioto's attorney say it is normal even in white collar cases.
His lawyer Cindy Giacchetti says nothing should be read into that as significant.
If convicted of all counts, Galioto faces 12 years in jail and a $1million fine.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie.
Federal prosecutors are going after Salvatore "Sammy" Galioto the old fashioned way; the maneuver they used 80 years ago to take down Al Capone - tax evasion charges.
Authorities say Galioto tried to hide a $3 million consulting fee from a downtown condo deal. Galioto is part of a family that for 20 years has been into all sorts of deals - real estate, strip clubs, labor unions, health care and gambling.
"Where's the exit?" Galioto shouted to a courthouse deputy Thursday as he walked with urgency out of the Dirksen Federal Building.
The 54-year-old Kenilworth resident had just given up DNA and posted bail on these federal charges that he evaded U.S. income taxes by concealing $3 million in personal income.
Investigators say the scheme involved a Loop high-rise known as the Pittsfield Building; in 2007 Galioto received the handsome consulting for the sale of just nine floors. Instead of reporting the income, they say he filed false paperwork to cover it up and paid no taxes.
The beefy Galioto hails from a family with deep outfit connections.
He and his father - a one-time Chicago policeman - were first listed as mob associates on a Chicago crime commission list nearly 20 years ago.
Mobologists say the Galiotos were aligned with the late Tackets boss Sam "Wings" Carlisi, and that imprisoned mob boss Little Jimmy Marcello is related by marriage to the family.
Galioto and his father William were in the middle of a West Side movie studio groundbreaking in 1995 that was torpedoed once the family's history surfaced. After initially backing the deal, once the family's mob ties were made known, the administration of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley stumbled through damage control.
A few years later in Missouri, Galioto was indicted for Medicare fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
On Thursday after court, neither Galioto nor his attorney would discuss the latest criminal charges.
While it may seem unusual that Galioto was made to give up DNA in tax evasion case, federal prosecutors and Galioto's attorney say it is normal even in white collar cases.
His lawyer Cindy Giacchetti says nothing should be read into that as significant.
If convicted of all counts, Galioto faces 12 years in jail and a $1million fine.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Micheál Martin, Leader of @FiannaFailparty, Charges @SinnFeinIreland "is a Mafia-like Organisation"
Micheál Martin clashed with Gerry Adams yesterday after saying that Sinn Féin "is a mafia-like organisation" which "fails to expose child abusers, racketeers and murderers" The Fianna Fáil leader also said Sinn Féin is "incapable of respecting anyone outside its own ranks".
During his speech at the Wolfe Tone commemoration, Mr Martin attacked Sinn Féin saying: "How dare they claim to own Irish republicanism? No organisation which fails to expose child abusers, racketeers and murderers can call itself republican."
Mr Adams hit back, saying Mr Martin was following the example of the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in trying to "criminalise the republican struggle". "However, like Thatcher, Micheál Martin will fail. Most citizens see through his cynical opportunism in relation to the peace process, which is all to do with fear about the electoral advance of Sinn Féin in the South," the Sinn Féin president said in a statement. "Unlike Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin has a mandate in both parts of this island and in the North we have been central to the ongoing and positive transformation of society."
At the Fine Gael presidential dinner on Saturday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny warned party members about the prospect of Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil forming a government after the General Election. But Martin also believes that he can form a government after the General Election without going into coalition with either Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
Mr Martin's claim comes despite the latest opinion poll showing Fianna Fáil down a point to 19pc and Sinn Féin unchanged with the same percentage of the vote.
Fine Gael dropped three points to 24pc, while its Labour Party coalition partner is up two points to 8pc.
Speaking after Fianna Fáil's annual Wolfe Tone commemoration in Kildare, Mr Martin rejected the suggestion that his party would be unable to form a government if it did not agree to enter into a coalition with either Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
"We did well in the local elections and are fighting this campaign on our own merits, putting forward policies and issues which we think are important and central to the future of the country," he said.
"We must debate the issues and then people will decide who they are going to elect and in what numbers."
However, a Fianna Fáil spokesman later confirmed that Mr Martin was open to coalition with all other parties.
This would include the newly formed Socialist Party/Anti-Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit grouping, which is up two points to 7pc, and Shane Ross's and Michael Fitzmaurice's Independent Alliance, which is up a point to 5pc.
Lucinda Creighton's Renua Ireland is unchanged at 2pc, while the Social Democrats are at 1pc.
Independents were at 12pc in the Behaviour & Attitudes poll for the 'Sunday Times'.
However, the Irish Independent understands that some Fianna Fáil members are sceptical of Mr Martin's claim that he will lead his party into government without doing a deal with either Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
"We have to go in with someone and it's going to be an issue during the election campaign, so we may as well address it now," a senior FF TD said.
The source said it was more likely that Fianna Fáil would form a coalition with Fine Gael, as Sinn Féin has ruled out forming a government with FF.
"Reality has bypassed those who think we can't form a government with Fine Gael," the source said.
Thanks to Phillip Ryan.
During his speech at the Wolfe Tone commemoration, Mr Martin attacked Sinn Féin saying: "How dare they claim to own Irish republicanism? No organisation which fails to expose child abusers, racketeers and murderers can call itself republican."
Mr Adams hit back, saying Mr Martin was following the example of the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in trying to "criminalise the republican struggle". "However, like Thatcher, Micheál Martin will fail. Most citizens see through his cynical opportunism in relation to the peace process, which is all to do with fear about the electoral advance of Sinn Féin in the South," the Sinn Féin president said in a statement. "Unlike Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin has a mandate in both parts of this island and in the North we have been central to the ongoing and positive transformation of society."
At the Fine Gael presidential dinner on Saturday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny warned party members about the prospect of Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil forming a government after the General Election. But Martin also believes that he can form a government after the General Election without going into coalition with either Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
Mr Martin's claim comes despite the latest opinion poll showing Fianna Fáil down a point to 19pc and Sinn Féin unchanged with the same percentage of the vote.
Fine Gael dropped three points to 24pc, while its Labour Party coalition partner is up two points to 8pc.
Speaking after Fianna Fáil's annual Wolfe Tone commemoration in Kildare, Mr Martin rejected the suggestion that his party would be unable to form a government if it did not agree to enter into a coalition with either Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
"We did well in the local elections and are fighting this campaign on our own merits, putting forward policies and issues which we think are important and central to the future of the country," he said.
"We must debate the issues and then people will decide who they are going to elect and in what numbers."
However, a Fianna Fáil spokesman later confirmed that Mr Martin was open to coalition with all other parties.
This would include the newly formed Socialist Party/Anti-Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit grouping, which is up two points to 7pc, and Shane Ross's and Michael Fitzmaurice's Independent Alliance, which is up a point to 5pc.
Lucinda Creighton's Renua Ireland is unchanged at 2pc, while the Social Democrats are at 1pc.
Independents were at 12pc in the Behaviour & Attitudes poll for the 'Sunday Times'.
However, the Irish Independent understands that some Fianna Fáil members are sceptical of Mr Martin's claim that he will lead his party into government without doing a deal with either Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
"We have to go in with someone and it's going to be an issue during the election campaign, so we may as well address it now," a senior FF TD said.
The source said it was more likely that Fianna Fáil would form a coalition with Fine Gael, as Sinn Féin has ruled out forming a government with FF.
"Reality has bypassed those who think we can't form a government with Fine Gael," the source said.
Thanks to Phillip Ryan.
Sam Galioto Indicted for Failing to Report $3 Million in Personal Income from Downtown Real Estate Deal
A Kenilworth businessman has been indicted on charges he evaded federal income taxes by concealing $3 million he earned in connection with a high-rise real estate deal in downtown Chicago, federal authorities announced. SALVATORE GALIOTO earned $3 million in personal income as part of the acquisition of nine floors in a high-rise building at 55 E. Washington St. in Chicago in 2007, according to the indictment. The seller, Pittsfield Development LLC, paid the money as a consulting fee for closing the deal. Instead of reporting the money on his personal income taxes, Galioto caused false partnership tax returns to be prepared and filed, misstating that the $3 million was earned in 2008 by his company, 55 E. Washington Development LLC, according to the indictment.
The indictment was returned Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chicago. It charges Galioto with one count of corrupt interference with the administration of Internal Revenue Service laws, and three counts of willfully making false and fraudulent statements to the IRS. Galioto, 54, also known as “Sam Galioto” and “Sammy Galioto,” will be arraigned on a future date to be set by the Court.
According to the charges, Galioto entered into a consulting agreement with Pittsfield on or about March 28, 2007. The agreement called for Pittsfield to pay $3 million to Galioto when the sale was completed. On or about Dec. 28, 2007, Galioto’s company purchased floors 13-21 from Pittsfield for $22,652,876.82, the indictment states.
Galioto concealed receipt of Pittsfield’s payment by having it paid to his relative as a nominee. The relative is identified in the indictment only as “Individual C.” On or about Dec. 31, 2007, Pittsfield sent a portion of Galioto’s consulting fee to Individual C in the form of a check for $962,121.75. Shortly thereafter, Galioto caused Individual C to sign and endorse the check over to Galioto, who took possession of it, endorsed it, and deposited it for his own use, according to the indictment. Galioto failed to report that money in his individual federal income tax returns for the years 2007 and 2008, the indictment alleges.
Instead, the false partnership returns were filed, misstating that Galioto’s company had earned the $3 million in 2008, the indictment alleges. The corrupt interference charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison and a $5,000 fine. Each count of making false and fraudulent statements to the IRS is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of $100,000.
The indictment was returned Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chicago. It charges Galioto with one count of corrupt interference with the administration of Internal Revenue Service laws, and three counts of willfully making false and fraudulent statements to the IRS. Galioto, 54, also known as “Sam Galioto” and “Sammy Galioto,” will be arraigned on a future date to be set by the Court.
According to the charges, Galioto entered into a consulting agreement with Pittsfield on or about March 28, 2007. The agreement called for Pittsfield to pay $3 million to Galioto when the sale was completed. On or about Dec. 28, 2007, Galioto’s company purchased floors 13-21 from Pittsfield for $22,652,876.82, the indictment states.
Galioto concealed receipt of Pittsfield’s payment by having it paid to his relative as a nominee. The relative is identified in the indictment only as “Individual C.” On or about Dec. 31, 2007, Pittsfield sent a portion of Galioto’s consulting fee to Individual C in the form of a check for $962,121.75. Shortly thereafter, Galioto caused Individual C to sign and endorse the check over to Galioto, who took possession of it, endorsed it, and deposited it for his own use, according to the indictment. Galioto failed to report that money in his individual federal income tax returns for the years 2007 and 2008, the indictment alleges.
Instead, the false partnership returns were filed, misstating that Galioto’s company had earned the $3 million in 2008, the indictment alleges. The corrupt interference charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison and a $5,000 fine. Each count of making false and fraudulent statements to the IRS is punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of $100,000.
Vincent Asaro's Goodfellas Airport Cash and Jewelry Heist Trial to Begin Today
For nearly four decades, it remained one of America's most infamous unsolved crimes: on Dec. 11, 1978, a crew of masked men stole $6 million in cash and jewelry from a Lufthansa Airlines cargo building at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.
The brazen heist, which helped inspire the gangster movie "Goodfellas," left authorities largely frustrated until last year, when federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Vincent Asaro, a member of the Bonanno organized crime family, with participating in the theft.
His criminal trial is set to begin today in Brooklyn federal court before an anonymous jury.
Most of the other suspected participants in the robbery disappeared, were killed or died, making it difficult for authorities to piece the case together.
"Once you kill one guy, you gotta kill them all, because otherwise they'll get scared," said Howard Abadinsky, an organized crime expert and a professor at St John's University in New York. "He’s one of the few guys that's still alive."
Asaro, now 80, is accused of a litany of crimes stretching from 1968 to 2013, including murder, racketeering, arson and robbery. He was arrested alongside four other alleged members of the Bonanno family, who were charged with crimes unrelated to the Lufthansa heist.
Those defendants, Asaro's son Jerome, Jack Bonventre, Thomas DiFiore and John Ragano, all pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 21 to 90 months.
Asaro's defense lawyer, Gerald McMahon, did not respond to a request for comment but has said Asaro denies all the allegations.
The only man ever convicted for the Lufthansa heist was Louis Werner, a cargo agent and the inside man. Werner passed along the idea for the robbery in order to settle gambling debts.
The robbery's proceeds, most of which were never recovered, would be worth nearly $22 million today.
James Burke, an associate of the rival Lucchese crime family known as "Jimmy the Gent," was long considered the mastermind of the robbery; he died in prison in 1996 while serving time for murder. Burke inspired the character played by Robert De Niro in "Goodfellas."
"To pull it off at an airport – you hate to say criminals should get credit, but you have to credit them for pulling it off," Abadinsky said.
The investigation got a break in 2013, when federal agents dug up human remains from the basement of a home tied to Burke based on information from a cooperating witness. The remains were identified as Paul Katz, a former Burke associate.
Asaro and Burke strangled Katz with a dog chain in 1969 after becoming suspicious he was an informant, prosecutors said.
The evidence against Asaro includes recordings made by several cooperators, including high-ranking members of the Bonanno family, who hope to receive witness protection, according to court papers.
One expected witness at trial is Joseph Massino, a former boss of the Bonanno family who has previously testified for the government.
As recently as 2011, court filings say, Asaro was recorded complaining that he hadn’t gotten his share thanks to Burke. "We never got our right money, what we were supposed to get," he said, according to prosecutors.
The jury won't hear about the string of murders allegedly carried out in the robbery's wake to eliminate potential informants. Earlier this month, the judge overseeing the trial ruled that evidence of the killings would be too prejudicial to Asaro, who is not accused of carrying them out.
Asaro is charged with several other crimes, including setting a building on fire in Queens, robbing Federal Express of $1 million in gold salts, soliciting the murder of his cousin in the 1980s and loan sharking as recently as 2013.
Thanks to Joseph Ax.
The brazen heist, which helped inspire the gangster movie "Goodfellas," left authorities largely frustrated until last year, when federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Vincent Asaro, a member of the Bonanno organized crime family, with participating in the theft.
His criminal trial is set to begin today in Brooklyn federal court before an anonymous jury.
Most of the other suspected participants in the robbery disappeared, were killed or died, making it difficult for authorities to piece the case together.
"Once you kill one guy, you gotta kill them all, because otherwise they'll get scared," said Howard Abadinsky, an organized crime expert and a professor at St John's University in New York. "He’s one of the few guys that's still alive."
Asaro, now 80, is accused of a litany of crimes stretching from 1968 to 2013, including murder, racketeering, arson and robbery. He was arrested alongside four other alleged members of the Bonanno family, who were charged with crimes unrelated to the Lufthansa heist.
Those defendants, Asaro's son Jerome, Jack Bonventre, Thomas DiFiore and John Ragano, all pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 21 to 90 months.
Asaro's defense lawyer, Gerald McMahon, did not respond to a request for comment but has said Asaro denies all the allegations.
The only man ever convicted for the Lufthansa heist was Louis Werner, a cargo agent and the inside man. Werner passed along the idea for the robbery in order to settle gambling debts.
The robbery's proceeds, most of which were never recovered, would be worth nearly $22 million today.
James Burke, an associate of the rival Lucchese crime family known as "Jimmy the Gent," was long considered the mastermind of the robbery; he died in prison in 1996 while serving time for murder. Burke inspired the character played by Robert De Niro in "Goodfellas."
"To pull it off at an airport – you hate to say criminals should get credit, but you have to credit them for pulling it off," Abadinsky said.
The investigation got a break in 2013, when federal agents dug up human remains from the basement of a home tied to Burke based on information from a cooperating witness. The remains were identified as Paul Katz, a former Burke associate.
Asaro and Burke strangled Katz with a dog chain in 1969 after becoming suspicious he was an informant, prosecutors said.
The evidence against Asaro includes recordings made by several cooperators, including high-ranking members of the Bonanno family, who hope to receive witness protection, according to court papers.
One expected witness at trial is Joseph Massino, a former boss of the Bonanno family who has previously testified for the government.
As recently as 2011, court filings say, Asaro was recorded complaining that he hadn’t gotten his share thanks to Burke. "We never got our right money, what we were supposed to get," he said, according to prosecutors.
The jury won't hear about the string of murders allegedly carried out in the robbery's wake to eliminate potential informants. Earlier this month, the judge overseeing the trial ruled that evidence of the killings would be too prejudicial to Asaro, who is not accused of carrying them out.
Asaro is charged with several other crimes, including setting a building on fire in Queens, robbing Federal Express of $1 million in gold salts, soliciting the murder of his cousin in the 1980s and loan sharking as recently as 2013.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
New Report on CIA Cover-Up Involving JFK's Assassination
Just after noon on November 22, 1963, the US lost its 35th president to a bullet in Dallas.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy spurred numerous conspiracy theories, many of which doubted whether sniper Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and asserting that the CIA was involved. And now, a declassified 2013 report by CIA historian David Robarge details how, at the very least, the CIA knew much more than it has let on.
The report states that John McCone
, then the director of the CIA, withheld important information from President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy" — also referred to as the "Warren Commission" — and that top agency officials were part of a "benign cover-up."
The spy agency acknowledges that McCone and other high-ranking CIA officials kept "incendiary and diversionary issues" from the investigation, much of which may have shed light on how Oswald spent his time in the years before the assassination.
"For a complete nobody, Oswald certainly did seem to hang out with well-connected people," University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato, author of "The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy," told Business Insider in 2013.
According to the declassified report, the CIA decided to tell the Warren Commission only the "best truth" about Oswald. Having taken that decision, the CIA kept information from the inquiry that would almost certainly have led the inquiry down a different path.
Among the most important information McCone and other officials failed to divulge was that the CIA had spent years plotting the assassination of Fidel Castro. Not being aware of these plots, the Warren Commission could not know that was something to investigate — but the new information suggests it would have been valuable.
While living in New Orleans in 1963, for example, Oswald shared office space with a CIA-backed anti-Castro group.
Oswald had handed out pro-Castro literature with the address 544 Camp Street on it. FBI agent Guy Banister and a CIA-backed Cuban Revolutionary Council also rented space at the same location.
"One thing that I've always wondered about is [Oswald's] time in New Orleans because he was apparently associated with Guy Banister, who clearly had FBI and CIA ties, and yet he's also scuffling on the street with [the local representative of] an anti-Castro group," Sabato told Business Insider in 2013. And Sabato's book notes that "it could be that Oswald was just a Forrest Gump-like character who popped up at interesting moments wherever he happened to live." "But just as conceivably, whether related to the Kennedy assassination or not, Oswald actually had secretive contacts with the CIA or the FBI, or both," he said.
The report also reveals that in 1978, McCone lied about failing to divulge the Castro plots.
When a House committee asked him whether the spy agency had withheld information from the commission about the plots to kill Castro, McCone said he couldn't answer because he had not been told about the plots.
The report says McCone's answer "was neither frank nor accurate." According to one of the lawyers of the Warren Commission cited in the report, McCone had discussed Robert Kennedy's uneasiness about the CIA withholding that information in 1975.
The US attorney general at the time of his brother's assassination, Robert Kennedy had been overseeing the spy agency's anti-Castro actions, which included some of the assassination plots.
According to the report, McCone thought "Robert Kennedy had personal feelings of guilt because he was directly or indirectly involved with the anti-Castro planning."
The report hints at the kind of questions the president's brother might have been asking himself, namely: "Had the administration's obsession with Cuba inadvertently inspired a politicized sociopath to murder John Kennedy?"
Though the report sheds some light on the extent of a CIA cover-up, it still leaves many questions unanswered. Numerous names and mentions throughout the report have also been redacted, suggesting that some information might never be publicly disclosed. And as to whether Oswald acted alone or with accomplices, those who doubt the Warren Commission's findings might never find a satisfying answer.
"For all attempts to close the case as 'just Oswald,' fair-minded observers continue to be troubled by many aspects of eyewitness testimony and paper trails," Sabato writes.
The report concludes that McCone could be accused of being a "co-conspirator" in a cover-up surrounding Kennedy's assassination only insofar as he kept the plot to kill Castro secret after November 22, 1963.
"As far as the CIA goes … it is clear beyond question that the CIA lied repeatedly to the Warren Commission and continued lying to the House Select Committee on Assassinations," Sabato said in 2013.
"Revealing nothing about the assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. Revealing very little about the fact they kept close tabs on Oswald: They knew what he was doing — they were evaluating him. I think they had something in mind. I don't subscribe to the hidden coup within the CIA, although I don't rule it out."
The CIA recently told Politico that the agency decided to declassify the report "to highlight misconceptions about the CIA's connection to JFK's assassination," including the infamous "Grassy Knoll" theory that asserts the CIA was behind the assassination.
New details could come out when thousands of CIA documents are scheduled to be released in October 2017.
Sabato said: "The president at that time will get to rule whether anything can remain secret and redacted."
Thanks to Barbara Tasch and Michael B Kelley.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy spurred numerous conspiracy theories, many of which doubted whether sniper Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and asserting that the CIA was involved. And now, a declassified 2013 report by CIA historian David Robarge details how, at the very least, the CIA knew much more than it has let on.
The report states that John McCone
, then the director of the CIA, withheld important information from President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy" — also referred to as the "Warren Commission" — and that top agency officials were part of a "benign cover-up."The spy agency acknowledges that McCone and other high-ranking CIA officials kept "incendiary and diversionary issues" from the investigation, much of which may have shed light on how Oswald spent his time in the years before the assassination.
"For a complete nobody, Oswald certainly did seem to hang out with well-connected people," University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato, author of "The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy," told Business Insider in 2013.
According to the declassified report, the CIA decided to tell the Warren Commission only the "best truth" about Oswald. Having taken that decision, the CIA kept information from the inquiry that would almost certainly have led the inquiry down a different path.
Among the most important information McCone and other officials failed to divulge was that the CIA had spent years plotting the assassination of Fidel Castro. Not being aware of these plots, the Warren Commission could not know that was something to investigate — but the new information suggests it would have been valuable.
While living in New Orleans in 1963, for example, Oswald shared office space with a CIA-backed anti-Castro group.
Oswald had handed out pro-Castro literature with the address 544 Camp Street on it. FBI agent Guy Banister and a CIA-backed Cuban Revolutionary Council also rented space at the same location.
"One thing that I've always wondered about is [Oswald's] time in New Orleans because he was apparently associated with Guy Banister, who clearly had FBI and CIA ties, and yet he's also scuffling on the street with [the local representative of] an anti-Castro group," Sabato told Business Insider in 2013. And Sabato's book notes that "it could be that Oswald was just a Forrest Gump-like character who popped up at interesting moments wherever he happened to live." "But just as conceivably, whether related to the Kennedy assassination or not, Oswald actually had secretive contacts with the CIA or the FBI, or both," he said.
The report also reveals that in 1978, McCone lied about failing to divulge the Castro plots.
When a House committee asked him whether the spy agency had withheld information from the commission about the plots to kill Castro, McCone said he couldn't answer because he had not been told about the plots.
The report says McCone's answer "was neither frank nor accurate." According to one of the lawyers of the Warren Commission cited in the report, McCone had discussed Robert Kennedy's uneasiness about the CIA withholding that information in 1975.
The US attorney general at the time of his brother's assassination, Robert Kennedy had been overseeing the spy agency's anti-Castro actions, which included some of the assassination plots.
According to the report, McCone thought "Robert Kennedy had personal feelings of guilt because he was directly or indirectly involved with the anti-Castro planning."
The report hints at the kind of questions the president's brother might have been asking himself, namely: "Had the administration's obsession with Cuba inadvertently inspired a politicized sociopath to murder John Kennedy?"
Though the report sheds some light on the extent of a CIA cover-up, it still leaves many questions unanswered. Numerous names and mentions throughout the report have also been redacted, suggesting that some information might never be publicly disclosed. And as to whether Oswald acted alone or with accomplices, those who doubt the Warren Commission's findings might never find a satisfying answer.
"For all attempts to close the case as 'just Oswald,' fair-minded observers continue to be troubled by many aspects of eyewitness testimony and paper trails," Sabato writes.
The report concludes that McCone could be accused of being a "co-conspirator" in a cover-up surrounding Kennedy's assassination only insofar as he kept the plot to kill Castro secret after November 22, 1963.
"As far as the CIA goes … it is clear beyond question that the CIA lied repeatedly to the Warren Commission and continued lying to the House Select Committee on Assassinations," Sabato said in 2013.
"Revealing nothing about the assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. Revealing very little about the fact they kept close tabs on Oswald: They knew what he was doing — they were evaluating him. I think they had something in mind. I don't subscribe to the hidden coup within the CIA, although I don't rule it out."
The CIA recently told Politico that the agency decided to declassify the report "to highlight misconceptions about the CIA's connection to JFK's assassination," including the infamous "Grassy Knoll" theory that asserts the CIA was behind the assassination.
New details could come out when thousands of CIA documents are scheduled to be released in October 2017.
Sabato said: "The president at that time will get to rule whether anything can remain secret and redacted."
Thanks to Barbara Tasch and Michael B Kelley.
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Ex-Chicago Public Schools CEO, Pleads Guilty to Accepting Bribes and Kickbacks
BARBARA BYRD-BENNETT pleaded guilty in federal court to using her position as chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools to guide lucrative no-bid contracts to her former employer in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.
In a written plea agreement, Byrd-Bennett admitted that she steered no-bid contracts worth more than $23 million to two education-consulting firms, THE SUPES ACADEMY LLC and SYNESI ASSOCIATES LLC. In exchange, Byrd-Bennett expected to receive cash kickbacks from the companies, as well as a consulting job at SUPES upon her retirement from CPS. The kickbacks were to be paid to Byrd-Bennett in the form of a “signing bonus” on the first day of her new employment, according to the plea agreement.
Byrd-Bennett previously worked as a consultant for SUPES and Synesi before moving to CPS in May 2012. She served as CEO at CPS from Oct. 12, 2012, to June 1, 2015.
Byrd-Bennett, 66, of Solon, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, mandatory restitution, and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater. The Court will impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The Court will schedule a sentencing date at a later time. U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang scheduled a status hearing for Jan. 27, 2016, at 9:00 a.m.
In addition to the expected kickback from the contracts, Byrd-Bennett admitted in the plea agreement that the companies provided her with numerous other benefits, including meals and tickets to sporting events.
The Wilmette-based SUPES and the Evanston-based Synesi are also charged in the indictment, along with their respective former owners, GARY SOLOMON, 47, of Wilmette, and THOMAS VRANAS, 34, of Glenview. The four co-defendants are scheduled for an arraignment on Oct. 14, 2015, at 2:00 p.m., before Judge Chang.
In a written plea agreement, Byrd-Bennett admitted that she steered no-bid contracts worth more than $23 million to two education-consulting firms, THE SUPES ACADEMY LLC and SYNESI ASSOCIATES LLC. In exchange, Byrd-Bennett expected to receive cash kickbacks from the companies, as well as a consulting job at SUPES upon her retirement from CPS. The kickbacks were to be paid to Byrd-Bennett in the form of a “signing bonus” on the first day of her new employment, according to the plea agreement.
Byrd-Bennett previously worked as a consultant for SUPES and Synesi before moving to CPS in May 2012. She served as CEO at CPS from Oct. 12, 2012, to June 1, 2015.
Byrd-Bennett, 66, of Solon, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, mandatory restitution, and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater. The Court will impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The Court will schedule a sentencing date at a later time. U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang scheduled a status hearing for Jan. 27, 2016, at 9:00 a.m.
In addition to the expected kickback from the contracts, Byrd-Bennett admitted in the plea agreement that the companies provided her with numerous other benefits, including meals and tickets to sporting events.
The Wilmette-based SUPES and the Evanston-based Synesi are also charged in the indictment, along with their respective former owners, GARY SOLOMON, 47, of Wilmette, and THOMAS VRANAS, 34, of Glenview. The four co-defendants are scheduled for an arraignment on Oct. 14, 2015, at 2:00 p.m., before Judge Chang.
Monday, October 12, 2015
2008 Survey Names the Top 10 Criminal Organizations in the World
THEY trade in everything from stolen art to nuclear technology and leave rivals riddled with bullets in the streets of Moscow.
Now the worst thugs in the Russian Mafia have blasted their way to the top of the global organised crime league.
Moscow's Solntsevskaya Bratva, known as the Brotherhood, have just been named the worst criminal gang in the world in a major survey. And the planet's most famous mobsters, the "Five Families" of the New YorkMafia, barely scrape into the top 10.
The Brotherhood took over the underworld of south-west Moscow in the 1980s after godfather Sergei Mikhailov learned his criminal trade in the Siberian labour camps. Then, by linking up with other gangs, they built an empire worth tens of billions of pounds across Russia and beyond.
The survey says: "From its base in Moscow, this syndicate runs rackets in extortion, drug trafficking, car theft, stolen art, money laundering, contract killings, arms dealing, trading nuclear material, prostitution and oil deals."
Anyone who threatens the Brotherhood's business tends to end up dead.
They murdered a string of rival hoods in Moscow in the early 1990s and a bid to put Mikhailov on trial in Switzerland in 1996 had to be abandoned after several witnesses were shot or blown up.
Former FBI agent Bob Levinson says the Russian Mafia are "the most dangerous people on earth". But the survey, compiled by online men's mag AskMen, reveals that they have rivals in every corner of the world.
No 2 in the gangland top 10 are the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate, the biggest of Japan's Yakuza crime clans.
Based in the city of Kobe and run by mastermind Shinobu Tsusaka, the 40,000- strong Yamaguchi-gumi run extortion, gambling, vice, drugs and loan-sharking scams. They also take kickbacks from building projects and peddle online porn.
Third place in the poll goes to an Italian Mafia gang - but not the Sicilian Cosa Nostra or the Camorra of Naples. The little-known "'Ndrangheta", based in the southern district of Calabria, have ties to Colombian drug barons. Some believe they are responsible for 80 per cent of Europe's cocaine trade. While other Mafia gangs have been crippled by informers, the 'Ndrangheta have kept their vows of silence because the mob is built on close family ties.
Most gangs only care about cash. But the fourth mob on the list, India's D Company, have sinister ties to Islamic terror. Boss of bosses Dawood Ibrahim masterminded a wave of bombings that killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993. Ibrahim has links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and is widely believed to be hiding in Pakistan. He is rumoured to have had plastic surgery to alter his face.
Fifth on the list are the ruthless 14K triad from Hong Kong, who trade in human beings as well as drugs and assassinations.
The Sicilian Mafia only make sixth place in the poll after a string of high-profile arrests of their bosses.
Seventh are the Chinese Dai Huen Jai gang, many of whom are veterans of Chairman Mao's Red Guards.
One of the world's most violent mobs, theMexican Tijuana Cartel, take eighth place. Turf wars between the Cartel, led by Eduardo Arellano-Felix, and other gangs have killed hundreds in recent years.
Ninth spot goes to Taiwan's United Bamboo triad.
And despite their Hollywood reputation, the five New York Mafia families are left bringing up the rear.
The Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese clans have been relentlessly harried by the FBI. Many bosses are now behind bars, including Gambino godfather Nicholas Corozzo, who was held in March.
Top 10 criminal organizations
1 Solntsevskaya Bratva
2 Yamaguchi-gumi
3 'Ndrangheta
4 D Company
5 14K
6 Sicilian Mafia
7 Dai Huen Jai
8 Tijuana Cartel
9 United Bamboo
10 The US Mafia 'The Five Families'
Thanks to Ian Brandes
Now the worst thugs in the Russian Mafia have blasted their way to the top of the global organised crime league.
Moscow's Solntsevskaya Bratva, known as the Brotherhood, have just been named the worst criminal gang in the world in a major survey. And the planet's most famous mobsters, the "Five Families" of the New YorkMafia, barely scrape into the top 10.
The Brotherhood took over the underworld of south-west Moscow in the 1980s after godfather Sergei Mikhailov learned his criminal trade in the Siberian labour camps. Then, by linking up with other gangs, they built an empire worth tens of billions of pounds across Russia and beyond.
The survey says: "From its base in Moscow, this syndicate runs rackets in extortion, drug trafficking, car theft, stolen art, money laundering, contract killings, arms dealing, trading nuclear material, prostitution and oil deals."
Anyone who threatens the Brotherhood's business tends to end up dead.
They murdered a string of rival hoods in Moscow in the early 1990s and a bid to put Mikhailov on trial in Switzerland in 1996 had to be abandoned after several witnesses were shot or blown up.
Former FBI agent Bob Levinson says the Russian Mafia are "the most dangerous people on earth". But the survey, compiled by online men's mag AskMen, reveals that they have rivals in every corner of the world.
No 2 in the gangland top 10 are the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate, the biggest of Japan's Yakuza crime clans.
Based in the city of Kobe and run by mastermind Shinobu Tsusaka, the 40,000- strong Yamaguchi-gumi run extortion, gambling, vice, drugs and loan-sharking scams. They also take kickbacks from building projects and peddle online porn.
Third place in the poll goes to an Italian Mafia gang - but not the Sicilian Cosa Nostra or the Camorra of Naples. The little-known "'Ndrangheta", based in the southern district of Calabria, have ties to Colombian drug barons. Some believe they are responsible for 80 per cent of Europe's cocaine trade. While other Mafia gangs have been crippled by informers, the 'Ndrangheta have kept their vows of silence because the mob is built on close family ties.
Most gangs only care about cash. But the fourth mob on the list, India's D Company, have sinister ties to Islamic terror. Boss of bosses Dawood Ibrahim masterminded a wave of bombings that killed 257 people in Mumbai in 1993. Ibrahim has links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban and is widely believed to be hiding in Pakistan. He is rumoured to have had plastic surgery to alter his face.
Fifth on the list are the ruthless 14K triad from Hong Kong, who trade in human beings as well as drugs and assassinations.
The Sicilian Mafia only make sixth place in the poll after a string of high-profile arrests of their bosses.
Seventh are the Chinese Dai Huen Jai gang, many of whom are veterans of Chairman Mao's Red Guards.
One of the world's most violent mobs, theMexican Tijuana Cartel, take eighth place. Turf wars between the Cartel, led by Eduardo Arellano-Felix, and other gangs have killed hundreds in recent years.
Ninth spot goes to Taiwan's United Bamboo triad.
And despite their Hollywood reputation, the five New York Mafia families are left bringing up the rear.
The Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese clans have been relentlessly harried by the FBI. Many bosses are now behind bars, including Gambino godfather Nicholas Corozzo, who was held in March.
Top 10 criminal organizations
1 Solntsevskaya Bratva
2 Yamaguchi-gumi
3 'Ndrangheta
4 D Company
5 14K
6 Sicilian Mafia
7 Dai Huen Jai
8 Tijuana Cartel
9 United Bamboo
10 The US Mafia 'The Five Families'
Thanks to Ian Brandes
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