"The Dig" Has Band Gear Stolen from Van in Chicago

First, the good news: New York City's The Dig has announced two new tour dates in support of Dashboard Confessional. Before traveling home following a five-week national tour with Thrice, Kevin Devine, and Bad Veins, the band will play Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL, on July 27th and Six Flags St. Louis in Eureka, MO, on July 28th with Dashboard.

In far less happy news, the band's van was robbed overnight in Chicago and most of their gear stolen. The Dig will be able to play the Gurnee and Eureka shows thanks to the good men of Dashboard Confessional, who have kindly offered to share their gear for the next two nights. Anyone with information on the stolen gear can please contact the Chicago Police and/or the band at thedigmusic@gmail.com. The van was parked on N. Leavitt St. and W. Evergreen Ave., and a full list of stolen items is below

The Dig's debut album Electric Toys was released June 8th and has been catching praise from the press, with Relix recently writing, "The Dig's formula combines the resonance and character of the Strokes with the sentimental uncertainty of a Charles Bukowski novel...the end result is 12 tracks of assorted musical flavors that truly encapsulate New York City rock and roll." The band has spent the majority of the past year on the road, in support of The Walkmen, White Rabbits, Editors, The Antlers, Portugal. The Man, Here We Go Magic, and Port O'Brien. The Dig has also had multiple tracks from Electric Toys featured on primetime dramas, most recently "I Just Wanna Talk To You" on ABC's Scoundrels, and previously "Carry Me Home" on NBC's Trauma and "Look Inside" on The CW's The Vampire Diaries.

The Dig tour dates:

JULY 27 GURNEE, IL SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA*
JULY 28 EUREKA, MO SIX FLAGS ST. LOUIS*

The Dig's stolen gear list:

* Bass Guitar - Fender Electric Precision - Ivory Body w/ Black Pick
Guard SN: 619368
* Guitar - PRS - McCarty - Dark Red
* Guitar - Fender Telecaster - blonde body w/ black pick guard -
double humbucker pickups - rosewood neck
* Guitar - Epiphone - 1967 Sorrento Sun burst hollow body
* Bass Amplifier - Ampeg V-4 SN: 137500
* Guitar Amplifier - Fender Deville "212" Type PR247 SN: 178888
* Custom Speaker Cabinet - 2 x 10"
* Snare Drum Ludwig 14"x 5 1/4" Steel SN: 3079825
* Rack Tom - Slingerland 13" x 8" Pearl White 1962
* Laptop Computer - Sony Vaio - 2007

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Colombo Crime Family Mobster Mickey Souza Learns the Mob is More About Money Than Honor

The Colombo crime family must really be going to the dogs if this is the type of muscle they're recruiting.

Meet Michael (Mickey) Souza.

Before legendary Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese pricked Souza's finger with a sterile diabetic needle in 2005 to make him a made man, Souza had built quite the fiasco-filled résumé.

There was the time he shot himself, Plaxico Burress-style, while tucking a handgun in his sweatpants. There's his arrest for boating while drunk. And then there was the time he injured one of his fellow goons while the two busted up a funeral parlor.

If an organization is no better than its worst guy, then the Colombos are indeed in trouble. And what thanks do they get for taking in this mopey mobster? He's now turned stool pigeon.

Souza, 42, made his debut on the witness stand last week at the racketeering trial of Genovese gangster Anthony Antico in Brooklyn Federal Court.

He was facing 30 years to life for drug trafficking when he sought a cooperation agreement from the feds.

"'Hello, John,'" he wrote to John Buretta, the chief of the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's organized-crime section, in 2008, offering to help "seal up" some federal cases.

"P.S. I am so ready to go to [the witness protection program] ... can't do this anymore," Souza concluded.

His testimony - and dramatic turn against the bosses - speaks to the Colombos' disarray and lowering of standards for supposed "men of honor."

"Their [the Colombos'] roster is getting pretty thin," conceded a law enforcement official.

Souza's troubles go way back.

He was "honorably discharged" from high school because "I baseball-batted somebody on school property," he testified. He instead graduated to loansharking, drug dealing and running a Staten Island gym called Evolution, where wiseguys and wanna-bes pumped iron. And after assaulting his own wife, he was marked for death by his mobbed-up father-in-law. But maybe worst of all was violating a previously unknown rule by exposing himself in a Staten Island bar owned by a gangster.

"You know, the rules, you don't take out your private part in a wiseguy's place," Souza said on the stand, in describing his past with the mob.

In Souza's bizarro world, "sitdowns" to settle beefs are now called "standups" - "you talk on the corner." And he paid the medical bills for a guy whose eye he popped out during a grisly fight. But Souza said he sees the Mafia more clearly now. "There's no honor in this life. It's all about the dollar," he said.

Thanks to John Marzulli

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Chicago Crime Commission's Most Wanted List

The Chicago Crime Commission, in cooperation with federal, state, county and local law enforcement authorities, has released its Most Wanted list for the Chicagoland area. The Chicago Crime Commission’s Most Wanted list is the successor of the organization’s Public Enemies list first created in the 1930s.

“The fugitives on the Chicago Crime Commission’s Most Wanted list are in hiding and are wanted by law enforcement agencies for a variety of crimes. They all have one thing in common…they should be considered armed and dangerous,” said Arthur Bilek, Executive Vice President of the Chicago Crime Commission. “A citizen should not attempt to apprehend these individuals themselves,” he added. “Many of the criminals on our list are gang members and drug dealers and are part of the culture of violence responsible for the shootings and murders that plague many of Chicago’s neighborhoods and victimize our children,” Bilek continued. “These criminals hide behind a wall of silence, where good people are fearful or choose to do nothing rather than to expose and rid their communities of this criminals,” he added.

To empower residents, the Chicago Crime Commission has developed an anonymous Most Wanted hotline and website which citizens can use to provide information on these fugitives without speaking directly to law enforcement or revealing their identities. Citizens can report information on the Most Wanted hotline at 3123720155 or www.chicagocrimecommission.org

The Chicago Crime Commission intends to partner with community organizations to distribute information on these fugitives. Additionally, the Chicago Crime Commission is utilizing social networking sites like Facebook and the Internet to digitally spread the word about the Most Wanted list.

“By working together with the community and law enforcement, I am confident that we can take a positive step to getting these criminals off the streets,” Bilek said.

The fugitives on the Chicago Crime Commission Most Wanted list are as follows:

Danny Dominguez – Wanted for Conspiracy to Possess and Distribute Cocaine – On September 24, 2008, Dominguez was one of forty members of the Latin Kings gang the FBI sought to arrest following a federal drug investigation called “Operation Pesadilla.” He is the highestranking member of Operation Pesadilla that eluded arrest that day. Dominguez is allegedly an "Inca," or a supervisor for the gang, responsible for overseeing the selling of cocaine in the district of 30th and Sawyer in Chicago, Illinois.

Eddie C. Hicks – Conspiracy, Possession and Distribution of a Controlled Substance Hicks is wanted for conspiracy, possession and distribution of a controlled substance and failure to appear. Hicks and four accomplices allegedly posed as Drug Enforcement Administration officers, prepared false search warrants, confiscated drugs, money and other valuables, and then sold the drugs to other drug dealers. Hicks was scheduled for trial on June 9, 2003 to face drug and RICO charges but failed to appear. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Hicks is the only member of the group that remains a fugitive. He is a former police sergeant, serving 30 years with the Chicago Police Department.

Erick Secundino – First Degree Murder On January 1, 2008, Secundino, an accomplice to Fernando Palomino, allegedly killed three people, leaving another victim critically injured. Investigators say what went down was not a typical drug deal but rather a drug “rip off” with the intent to rob the drug dealer. Secundino entered an apartment in the 2400 block of North Monticello, and the shooting occurred about 4:50 pm. All four victims were reportedly duct taped before the shooting. At least one weapon was recovered. Both Palomino and Secundino are alleged members of the Spanish Cobras gang and are believed to be hiding in Chicago with help from the gang.

Fernando Palomino – First Degree Murder On January 1, 2008, Palomino, an accomplice to Erick Secundino, allegedly killed three people, leaving another victim critically injured. Investigators say what went down was not a typical drug deal but rather a drug “rip off” with the intent to rob the drug dealer. Palomino entered an apartment in the 2400 block of North
Monticello, and the shooting occurred about 4:50 pm. All four victims were reportedly duct taped before the shooting. At least one weapon was recovered. Palomino was on parole from the Illinois Department of Corrections at the time of the murders. Both Palomino and Secundino are alleged members of the Spanish Cobras gang and are believed to be hiding in Chicago with help from the gang.

Jesus Sanchez – Murder, Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution Sanchez is wanted in connection with a July 14, 2003 homicide on the 6200 block of South Whipple in Chicago where he was involved in the beating death of a rival gang member. Sanchez and the others allegedly brutally beat the victim with discarded wood boards. The victim died after suffering fiftynine separate injuries. Sanchez is believed to be a member of the Latin Saints gang. He was convicted in absentia of the murder and sentenced to 27 years in prison.

Lorenzo SanchezJimenez – Conspiracy, Possession and Distribution of a Controlled Substance SanchezJimenez is wanted by the FBI for his involvement in a drug distribution operation, which smuggled kilogram quantities of cocaine into the Chicago area. He has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt coordinated by Chicago FBI since April 2009 when he was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago in violation of federal drug laws.

Miguel Martinez – Murder, Drug Conspiracy Martinez is charged with conspiracy to commit multiple shootings, homicides and other firearmsrelated violent crimes during a gang war with rival gangs in the summer of 2002. He is also wanted on Federal charges stemming from his involvement in a conspiracy to commit violent crimes and distribute illegal drugs. Martinez is a two time convicted felon and is considered the second ranking member of the Insane Deuces street gang with the title of "Lieutenant Governor" or "Second Seat" and is responsible for the Aurora, IL area. Through his position he had the power to authorize hits on rival gang members as well as have others commit any one of a number of crimes on the gang's behalf.

Muaz Haffar – Wanted for Murder, Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution On July 9, 2005 Haffar and another defendant instigated an altercation that led to the death of a University of Illinois at Chicago student. Haffar beat the victim with a metal bike lock, continuing to attack him beyond the point of consciousness. The victim’s face was disfigured beyond recognition and died after suffering more than thirty separate injuries, including six skull fractures. Haffar was charged with firstdegree murder and aggravated battery, and a judge issued an arrest warrant for him after he failed to show up in court for a preliminary hearing. Haffar may have fled to the Middle East.

Sherry Halligan – Murder, Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution – Sherry Halligan is wanted for the murder of a man in her home in LaGrange, Illinois on January 30, 2003. While arguing with the victim, Halligan allegedly shot the victim five times. The victim died of his wounds at the scene.

Sergio Mendoza – First Degree Murder On July 17, 2005, Mendoza and a codefendant were driving in a van in the 7100 block of South Lawndale in Chicago. They approached the victim, who was sitting in a car with friends. After allegedly firing over a dozen shots they fled. The victim died at the scene. The crime is believed to be gang related, although the specific motive of the shooting is unknown.

The Chicago Crime Commission was founded in 1919 by 35 members of the Chicago business community and is the oldest and most respected citizens’ crime commission in the nation. The Chicago Crime Commission is a volunteer organization comprised of more than 200 businesses and professional leaders from the Chicago metropolitan area.

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