Not Guilty Pleas in Chicago Mob, Motorcycle Club Racketeering Case

Two men have pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering charges linked to organized crime in Chicago.

Forty-one-year-old Mark Polchan and 85-year-old Samuel Volpendesto have been in federal custody for more than a year. They appeared Tuesday before Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier.

Both men are accused of touching off a February 2003 bomb blast in Berwyn that wrecked the offices of a suburban Chicago video gaming company.

Prosecutors say it was a message from the mob warning the company to stop horning in on the video gaming business.

The two were among seven men recently charged in a sweeping racketeering indictment that outlines a wave of robberies, burglaries, arsons and other crimes.

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Highlighting Recent FBI Gangster Investigations

The U.S. is seeing a rise in gang membership across the country and as membership spreads from urban to suburban areas, so does the associated criminal activity. Gangs are involved not only in auto theft, assault, home invasions, armed robbery, and extortion, but also in fraud, identity theft, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, alien smuggling, and murder.

“As our communities are exposed to higher levels of crime and violence, the FBI, along with local, state, and federal partners, are responding with an even greater measure of significant law enforcement action,” according to Assistant Director Kenneth W. Kaiser, FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “The goal is to take these violent offenders off the streets and make our neighborhoods safer.”

A selection of recent press releases from 2009 listed below reflects how law enforcement is disrupting and dismantling these violent gangs:

• On 01/12/2009, 10 members and associates of the Florencia 13 (F13) street gang were convicted on federal criminal charges, including racketeering and narcotics distribution. They were among 102 defendants named in four indictments in 2007 as part of Operation Joker’s Wild.
• On 02/13/2009, Operation Keys to the City led to 36 defendants charged with federal racketeering conspiracy, firearm offenses and drug trafficking violations. The year-long investigation targeted the criminal activities of the Mexican Mafia, Hispanic street gangs with ties to the Mexican Mafia, and the Mexico-based Arellano-Felix drug trafficking organization.
• On 02/17/2009, a “G-Mob” gang member pled guilty in a nationwide, million-dollar bank fraud scheme.
• On 02/25/2009, 15 individuals were indicted in a Charlotte-area drug conspiracy arising from their participation in an organization with ties to the United Blood Nation.
• On 03/07/2009, over 500 law enforcement personnel executed 29 search warrants, arrested 30 gang members and associates, and seized drugs, firearms, and vehicles in a massive sweep targeting the violent East Palo Alto/Menlo Park-based Taliban gang.
• On 04/01/2009, the National President of the Devil’s Diciples [sic] Motorcycle Gang was indicted for being a violent felon in possession of body armor, and 17 other members were charged in related criminal complaints.
• On 04/08/2009, 12 alleged members of the Puro Lil Mafia (PLM) street gang operating in Wichita Falls, Texas, were indicted on federal weapons and/or narcotics charges. More Weeks later, PLM gang leader Mauricio Diaz indicted on federal weapons and narcotics charges.
• On 04/16/2009, the ringleader of a gang conspiracy to import and distribute multi-kilo quantities of methamphetamine from California to Louisiana received a life sentence in Lafayette, Louisiana.
• On 04/22/2009, Oscar Omar Lobo-Lopez was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering activity, murder in aid of racketeering activity, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death.
• On 04/22/2009, two dozen individuals associated with the Mexican Mafia and other Hispanic street gangs were charged federally for their roles in a narcotics distribution ring operating in the San Fernando Valley.
• On 04/23/2009, Raza Unida prison gang members and associates were indicted on drug trafficking and firearms charges in Operation Lunar Eclipse.
• On 05/14/2009, Bloods Street Gang members and criminal associates were arrested for narcotics and weapons violations.
• On 05/14/2009, 74 members and associates of the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club were charged in a superseding indictment with participating in the affairs of a corrupt organization through a pattern of racketeering activity (RICO), committing violent crimes in aid of racketeering, distributing controlled substances, and committing various federal gun violations.
• On 05/20/2009, Michael Vasquez was sentenced to 111 months in federal prison for his role in a gang-related shooting that left a toddler seriously injured.
• On 05/21/2009, approximately 1,400 law enforcement officers participated in the nation’s largest-ever gang sweep, arresting 88 individuals named in a federal RICO indictment that describes a war against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, as well as systematic efforts to rid the community of African-Americans with a campaign of shootings and other attacks. The investigation into the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang began after the fatal shooting of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy Jerry Ortiz. The action was part of Operation Knock Out, which has led to the indictments of 147 defendants to date.
• On 05/29/2009, eight Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation gang members pled guilty to a variety of charges, including drug conspiracy and weapons trafficking.
• On 06/01/2009, eight Bloods Street Gang members were charged in a federal indictment with conspiring to organize a sect of the Bloods in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The charges allege that, in furtherance of the conspiracy, they committed robberies affecting interstate commerce, carjacking, and weapons offenses.

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Omerta Mafia Game to Release Version 3

Omerta, a text-based MMOG about the Mafia in existence since 2003, is set to launch its newest version, and brings a host of player-requested improvements with it.

The Godfather and Mafia games might let you live out your dreams of being a hard-nosed mobster in the golden age of American organized crime in 3D, but sometimes words speak louder than polygons. For that you might want to turn to Omerta, a free-to-play text-based MMOG that takes place in the 1930's Mafia world. The game, which commands a healthy playerbase of over 3.5 million folks, has been around since 2003 and is set to launch its newest iteration, version 3.

Omerta sounds like a pretty thorough simulation of the mobster life, beyond the more action-packed aspects like riding in nice cars and shooting people with old-timey guns. Here you progress by "stealing and racketeering, by robbing banks and racing cars together with other players and eventually banding together to form Mafia families."

For the newest version of the game, Omerta's developers are responding to fan demand by implementing oft-requested features, like the ability to hire bodyguards (you get your pick of different muscle with different personalities) and alleviating the grind of having to rebuild your empire from scratch after you get knocked off the top by making it so that same aforementioned bodyguard takes your place.

"The launch of version 3 is a huge milestone in Omerta's history," said CEO Steve Biddick. "We've been doing this for nearly five years now and by listening to the player community and discussion of their suggestions, we are confident that we are presenting the players with what they want - of course, they designed most of these features themselves!"

Omerta version 3.0 will be available sometime in the next month.

Thanks to Keane Ng

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