The FBI and the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) have established a telephone hotline to report suspected Haitian earthquake relief fraud. The number is (866) 720-5721. The phone line is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also e-mail information directly to disaster@leo.gov.
The National Center for Disaster Fraud was originally established by the Department of Justice to investigate, prosecute, and deter fraud in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when billions of dollars in federal disaster relief poured into the Gulf Coast region. Its mission has expanded to include suspected fraud from any natural or man-made disaster. More than 20 federal agencies, including the FBI, participate in the NCDF, allowing it to act as a centralized clearinghouse of information related to Haitian relief fraud.
The FBI continues to remind the public to apply a critical eye and do their due diligence before giving contributions to anyone soliciting donations on behalf of Haitian victims. Solicitations can originate from e-mails, websites, door-to-door collections, mailings and telephone calls, and similar methods.
Therefore, before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, including the following:
* Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages.
* Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
* Beware of organizations with copy-cat names similar to but not exactly the same as those of reputable charities.
* Rather than following a purported link to a website, verify the legitimacy of non-profit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources that may assist in confirming the group’s existence and its non-profit status.
* Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
* To ensure contributions are received and used for intended purposes, make contributions directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
* Do not be pressured into making contributions, as reputable charities do not use such tactics.
* Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions. Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.
* Avoid cash donations if possible. Pay by debit or credit card, or write a check directly to the charity. Do not make checks payable to individuals
If you believe you have been a victim of fraud from a person or an organization soliciting relief funds on behalf of Haitian earthquake victims, contact the National Center for Disaster Fraud at (866) 720-5721. You can also fax information to (225) 334-4707 or e-mail it to disaster@leo.gov.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Public Enemies on Mafia Wars
To help promote the Dec. 8 DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of Public Enemies, Universal Studios Home Entertainment teamed with Zynga for a cross-promotion with its online Mafia Wars game.
Mafia Wars is a role-playing game accessed through social media sites such as Facebook that lets users run their own crime family, participate in various crimes and steal loot. In early December Mafia Wars staged “Public Enemies Week
,” helping to promote the gangster flick with special jobs and loot objects based on the film’s plot.
The campaign, led by appssavvy, a direct sales team for the social media space, in partnership with the Los Angeles office of Ignited, a marketing innovations agency working on behalf of Universal, was touted as the first such promotion of its kind. Mafia Wars is played by more than 25 million Facebook users.
“Public Enemies on Mafia Wars is the blockbuster social media campaign of 2009,” said Chris Cunningham, co-founder and CEO of appssavvy. “The foundation of every campaign we’re involved with is focused on relevance and delivering something the end user will find valuable. This effort with Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Zynga demonstrated these fundamentals of social media marketing to perfection.”
Zynga reported Public Enemies Loot garnered nearly 55 million interactions during the week-long campaign, and tie-ins to Public Enemies activities within the game were posted to players’ Facebook news feeds more than 7.6 million times, delivering nearly a billion viral impressions. The campaign generated nearly 25,000 ‘Likes’ and more than 26,000 comments on the Mafia Wars Facebook fan page.
“Even John Dillinger would be impressed with the scope and success of this effort,” said Mike Wokosin, VP of digital marketing for USHE. “Mafia Wars was an incredibly dynamic environment to seamlessly integrate our property and to effectively engage a significant and relevant audience.”
Thanks to John Latchem
Mafia Wars is a role-playing game accessed through social media sites such as Facebook that lets users run their own crime family, participate in various crimes and steal loot. In early December Mafia Wars staged “Public Enemies Week
,” helping to promote the gangster flick with special jobs and loot objects based on the film’s plot.The campaign, led by appssavvy, a direct sales team for the social media space, in partnership with the Los Angeles office of Ignited, a marketing innovations agency working on behalf of Universal, was touted as the first such promotion of its kind. Mafia Wars is played by more than 25 million Facebook users.
“Public Enemies on Mafia Wars is the blockbuster social media campaign of 2009,” said Chris Cunningham, co-founder and CEO of appssavvy. “The foundation of every campaign we’re involved with is focused on relevance and delivering something the end user will find valuable. This effort with Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Zynga demonstrated these fundamentals of social media marketing to perfection.”
Zynga reported Public Enemies Loot garnered nearly 55 million interactions during the week-long campaign, and tie-ins to Public Enemies activities within the game were posted to players’ Facebook news feeds more than 7.6 million times, delivering nearly a billion viral impressions. The campaign generated nearly 25,000 ‘Likes’ and more than 26,000 comments on the Mafia Wars Facebook fan page.
“Even John Dillinger would be impressed with the scope and success of this effort,” said Mike Wokosin, VP of digital marketing for USHE. “Mafia Wars was an incredibly dynamic environment to seamlessly integrate our property and to effectively engage a significant and relevant audience.”
Thanks to John Latchem
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Is Ralph DeLeo the Street Boss of the Colombo Crime Family?
In Boston, home to the New England Mafia and a string of legendary former bosses like “The Cheese Man’’ and “Cadillac Frank,’’ Ralph DeLeo was a virtual unknown.
“Here, I’m nothing,’’ DeLeo said within earshot of an FBI bug. But in New York, he said, “Everybody is holding the door for ya, helping on your coat, giving you hugs . . . kissing you, and all this type of stuff. ‘Oh, you gotta sit in front, you gotta do this, are you comfortable? Can I get you coffee?’ ’’
But to the FBI, DeLeo, 66, of Somerville was somebody.
Agents tapped his cellphone from January through November of last year, then he was indicted last month on a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. The indictment filed in US District Court in Boston alleges that he is the “street boss’’ of New York’s Colombo family and runs a small crew based in Greater Boston involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and loansharking.
DeLeo is being held in Arkansas, where he’s also facing charges of cocaine trafficking. An FBI affidavit filed last week in courts in Boston and Arkansas detailed DeLeo’s alleged position in the New York mob and offered snippets of conversations from his bugged telephone calls.
The affidavit alleges that DeLeo is the highest-ranking member of the Colombo family who is not in prison, and ran the family’s business for most of last year. He allegedly reported to its boss, Carmine “The Snake’’ Persico, and acting boss, Alphonse “Allie Boy’’ Persico, who are in prison.
During an FBI-bugged call to his sister from New York last week, DeLeo, who had allegedly presided over a mob induction ceremony, admitted that he found his job “like overwhelming a little bit,’’ the affidavit said.
He described going to the ceremony in different groups and cars to “make sure we weren’t followed,’’ and added, “it was a big deal; people picking us up, taking us somewhere else and all that type of stuff, I wasn’t ready for all that.’’
In October 1989, New England mobsters did the same thing, arriving at a Medford home in different cars and groups. But it didn’t do them much good because the FBI had planted a bug in the house and captured its first-ever recording of a Mafia induction ceremony that led to a takedown of the hierarchy of the local mob.
Before the New England family was weakened by waves of prosecution, it was unheard of for another Mafia family to encroach on its territory.
The indictment alleges that in the past year DeLeo and three other men, Franklin M. Goldman, 66, of Randolph, Edmond Kulesza, 56, of Somerville, and George Wiley Thompson, 54, of Cabot, Ark., plotted to distribute marijuana and cocaine, extort money from victims, including one in Canton, and collect loansharking debts.
DeLeo allegedly paid $50,000 for 2 kilograms of cocaine that were transported from California to Massachusetts in December 2008, according to the indictment.
It’s not DeLeo’s first brush with the law.
He served a 25- to 40-year sentence in state prison at Walpole for kidnapping and armed robbery when he escaped in 1977.
He was convicted of killing an Ohio doctor in 1977 and sentenced to 15 years to life. But the state’s governor granted him clemency in 1991 and he has been free since 1997.
Unaware that his alleged encroachment into New England last year had drawn attention, DeLeo kept talking as the FBI kept listening.
During a March call to his sister from Florida, DeLeo lamented about all of the attention he was getting from other wise guys.
“They gave me too much attention,’’ DeLeo said, according to the affidavit. “You know, too many hugs, too many kisses. You know, holding the car door for me, holding doors for me, you know all that type of stuff. And, um, I’m not into that type of stuff. I’m, uh, you know, I’m . . . at heart I’m a regular guy, you know. Uh, you know to them I’m something else, but I’m really not that something else.’’
When his sister asked if he brought his girlfriend on the Florida trip, DeLeo said he was just “with the guys’’ because he was afraid she would be suspicious if she saw the royal treatment he was getting.
“You know what I mean, cause they definitely act like Sopranos and . . . the way they [pay] attention to me is, you know, they would huh, you know she would suspect something.’
Thanks to Shelley Murphy
“Here, I’m nothing,’’ DeLeo said within earshot of an FBI bug. But in New York, he said, “Everybody is holding the door for ya, helping on your coat, giving you hugs . . . kissing you, and all this type of stuff. ‘Oh, you gotta sit in front, you gotta do this, are you comfortable? Can I get you coffee?’ ’’
But to the FBI, DeLeo, 66, of Somerville was somebody.
Agents tapped his cellphone from January through November of last year, then he was indicted last month on a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. The indictment filed in US District Court in Boston alleges that he is the “street boss’’ of New York’s Colombo family and runs a small crew based in Greater Boston involved in drug trafficking, extortion, and loansharking.
DeLeo is being held in Arkansas, where he’s also facing charges of cocaine trafficking. An FBI affidavit filed last week in courts in Boston and Arkansas detailed DeLeo’s alleged position in the New York mob and offered snippets of conversations from his bugged telephone calls.
The affidavit alleges that DeLeo is the highest-ranking member of the Colombo family who is not in prison, and ran the family’s business for most of last year. He allegedly reported to its boss, Carmine “The Snake’’ Persico, and acting boss, Alphonse “Allie Boy’’ Persico, who are in prison.
During an FBI-bugged call to his sister from New York last week, DeLeo, who had allegedly presided over a mob induction ceremony, admitted that he found his job “like overwhelming a little bit,’’ the affidavit said.
He described going to the ceremony in different groups and cars to “make sure we weren’t followed,’’ and added, “it was a big deal; people picking us up, taking us somewhere else and all that type of stuff, I wasn’t ready for all that.’’
In October 1989, New England mobsters did the same thing, arriving at a Medford home in different cars and groups. But it didn’t do them much good because the FBI had planted a bug in the house and captured its first-ever recording of a Mafia induction ceremony that led to a takedown of the hierarchy of the local mob.
Before the New England family was weakened by waves of prosecution, it was unheard of for another Mafia family to encroach on its territory.
The indictment alleges that in the past year DeLeo and three other men, Franklin M. Goldman, 66, of Randolph, Edmond Kulesza, 56, of Somerville, and George Wiley Thompson, 54, of Cabot, Ark., plotted to distribute marijuana and cocaine, extort money from victims, including one in Canton, and collect loansharking debts.
DeLeo allegedly paid $50,000 for 2 kilograms of cocaine that were transported from California to Massachusetts in December 2008, according to the indictment.
It’s not DeLeo’s first brush with the law.
He served a 25- to 40-year sentence in state prison at Walpole for kidnapping and armed robbery when he escaped in 1977.
He was convicted of killing an Ohio doctor in 1977 and sentenced to 15 years to life. But the state’s governor granted him clemency in 1991 and he has been free since 1997.
Unaware that his alleged encroachment into New England last year had drawn attention, DeLeo kept talking as the FBI kept listening.
During a March call to his sister from Florida, DeLeo lamented about all of the attention he was getting from other wise guys.
“They gave me too much attention,’’ DeLeo said, according to the affidavit. “You know, too many hugs, too many kisses. You know, holding the car door for me, holding doors for me, you know all that type of stuff. And, um, I’m not into that type of stuff. I’m, uh, you know, I’m . . . at heart I’m a regular guy, you know. Uh, you know to them I’m something else, but I’m really not that something else.’’
When his sister asked if he brought his girlfriend on the Florida trip, DeLeo said he was just “with the guys’’ because he was afraid she would be suspicious if she saw the royal treatment he was getting.
“You know what I mean, cause they definitely act like Sopranos and . . . the way they [pay] attention to me is, you know, they would huh, you know she would suspect something.’
Thanks to Shelley Murphy
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