Mafia Selling Fake Antique Whiskey Online

The Italian mafia is targeting the rapidly growing fake antique whisky market in Scotland by selling counterfeit bottles for thousands of pounds online.

Though the industry has tried to clamp down on bogus bottles being sold in auction houses, The Scotsman quotes experts as saying that the trade has now moved to the Internet and describe it as a "faker's paradise".

Unwitting collectors are being fleeced after discovering the whisky they have bought is little more than modern-day spirits poured into old bottles.

Whisky enthusiast Serge Valentin has launched a website exposing the dubious trade after paying a "substantial" sum for a bottle of vintage whisky that turned out be a sophisticated forgery.

The Frenchman said the scam had been driven underground and online.

He said: "Internet auction sites like eBay have become a faker's paradise. You can buy old bottles, old labels, capsules and display boxes. There is nothing illegal about this, but obviously it can be misused by unscrupulous individuals."

Valentin said fake vintage whiskies online ranged from the downright crude to sophisticated forgeries.

His website, whiskyfun - features a rogue's gallery of dubious bottles.

Whisky writer Dave Broom says organised criminals may have put the fake whiskies on the market from Italy.

Thanks to The Cheers Magazine

Tweet

Deputy Chief of US Attorney's Organized Crime Unit Heads to Private Practice

Sidley Austin LLP announced today that Timothy Treanor has joined the firm as a partner, resident in New York. Treanor, who most recently served as the Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Unit in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, will focus his practice on white collar defense and investigations.

Treanor is an experienced prosecutor and investigator of securities, healthcare and bank fraud, wire and mail fraud, racketeering, money laundering, tax evasion and other business crimes. He has conducted a dozen significant federal criminal trials, convicting all 24 defendants. Treanor joined the U.S. Attorney's office in 1999 and held several leadership positions before his appointment, by U.S. Attorney for the SDNY, Michael Garcia, to be Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Unit in 2006.

“Tim is a highly respected trial lawyer who led the government’s efforts on a number of important white collar and criminal investigations and trials in recent years,” said Steven Bierman, a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and a global coordinator of the firm’s complex commercial litigation practice. “We look forward to working with him on the further expansion of our white collar practice in New York.”

“I am pleased to be joining a firm I have long respected,” said Treanor. “Sidley already has strength and a great reputation in white collar, securities and complex commercial litigation, and I am looking forward to expanding the depth of services we can offer to the firm’s impressive roster of clients.”

Treanor received his J.D. degree from Fordham Law School, where he was Notes and Articles Editor of the Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. He received his B.A. degree from the College of the Holy Cross. Treanor clerked for U.S. District Judge Harold Allbritton III of the Middle District of Alabama.

Tweet

Despite Recent Success in Fighting "The Outfit", Federal Prosecutors' Mob Focus Decreases

The ranks of the Chicago mob have taken some serious hits in recent years.

So have the ranks of federal prosecutors specializing in Outfit prosecutions.

The number of federal prosecutors dedicated solely to prosecuting Outfit cases has dwindled to an all-time low -- two attorneys -- just after one of the most significant victories ever by the U.S. attorney's office against the mob, the Family Secrets case.

Some prosecutors have been transferred out of the group over the years. Others have retired. And in the biggest blow to the group, its highly regarded chief, Mitchell Mars, died recently after battling cancer.

It's a fact that's causing great worry among some mob busters.

In interviews with the Chicago Sun-Times, six current or former law enforcement officials familiar with the situation said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is making a mistake by not beefing up the unit.

The Outfit may be battered, but it is far from dead, they say. It's getting more sophisticated in how it carries out and covers up its crimes.

"The lessons learned from the Family Secrets trial should tell everybody that the Outfit is alive and active in the city," said James Wagner, a retired FBI agent who battled the mob in Chicago and is now the head of the Chicago Crime Commission.

The crime commission will send a letter to Fitzgerald this week asking him to increase the number of attorneys in the group, Wagner said.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago had no comment on the matter.

The organized-crime group of prosecutors doesn't need the dozen or so lawyers it had in the early 1990s, officials say, with some suggesting that five or six attorneys would be enough these days.

"I think it's a strategic mistake," said Ken Holt, a retired FBI agent who worked on several high-profile Outfit cases.

Holt and others point to the fact that the organized-crime group has lost a great deal of institutional memory with the death of Mars and the retirement of prosecutor John Scully last year.

Mars led the prosecution of the Family Secrets case, which resulted in the convictions of Chicago mob boss James "Little Jimmy" Marcello and top mobster Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, among others.

Scully, another prosecutor on Family Secrets, also worked on the case of former Chicago Police chief of detectives William Hanhardt, who led a mobbed-up jewelry theft ring before being sent to prison.

Law enforcement officials say the group needs veteran attorneys who know the history of and the players in various Outfit street crews, attorneys who can understand, for instance, the significance of an obscure reference from a wiretapped conversation between two mobsters.

The cases are long and complex -- Family Secrets spanned activities covering nearly 40 years -- and they build upon one another, yet another reason to have dedicated attorneys there for the long haul, officials say. And even with some top mobsters behind bars, it's not going away.

"When one guy gets locked up, another guy replaces him," Holt said.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

Tweet