A reputed high-ranking member of the Gambino crime family in New Jersey pleaded guilty to federal racketeering conspiracy charges today, admitting he led a crew that profited from illegal gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, identity theft, fraud and labor racketeering.
Andrew Merola of East Hanover confessed his guilt during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark. He became the 20th defendant to make a deal with prosecutors and plead guilty to charges outlined in a sweeping May 2008 racketeering indictment.
Three remaining defendants, including Martin Taccetta, a reputed former underboss of the Lucchese crime family’s New Jersey faction, are awaiting trial.
Merola, who prosecutors say enjoyed a lavish lifestyle purportedly supported by a job as a crane operator, was among 23 reputed members and associates of the Gambino and Lucchese crime families accused in 2008 if engaging in what the FBI called a “veritable smorgasbord of criminal activity.”
The defendants were accused of shaking down lunch-truck operators, putting mobsters in no-show jobs, using union muscle to collect bribes to allow non-union workers on construction sites and raking in hefty profits from bettors who wagered more than $1 million a month.
In his plea, Merola acknowledged those crimes and also admitted his crew targeted retailers, including a Lowe’s home improvement store in Paterson, where conspirators bought high-ticket power tools, wide-screen televisions and appliances by switching bar code labels from less expensive items and then returning the products for refunds or gift cards. With an insider’s help, they also attempted to steal the identities of patrons who applied for Lowe’s credit cards, Merola said.
Wearing a pin-stripped charcoal suit, Merola declined comment after the hearing, except to say that he is not cooperating with the government. Under the terms of his plea deal, he faces 10 to 12 years in prison. A sentencing date was not immediately set.
Thanks to Peter J. Sampson
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
National Crime Information Center Rundown
NCIC: A Quick Rundown of the FBI's National Crime Information Center.
- Initially created in 1967 to help find fugitives and stolen property.
- Over the years, additional capabilities and categories added (i.e., missing/unidentified persons, violent gangs/terrorist organizations, identity theft victims, immigration violators).
- Over the years, additional capabilities and categories added (i.e., missing/unidentified persons, violent gangs/terrorist organizations, identity theft victims, immigration violators).
- 11.7 million records currently in NCIC
- Records come from FBI, other federal agencies, state/local law enforcement, authorized courts.
- Accessed by more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies from squad cars, squad rooms, and increasingly, PDAs.
- First year of operation, handled 2 million transactions
- Fiscal Year 2009, handled almost 2.5 billion.
- Averages 6.7 million transactions a day.
- Average response time is 0.06 seconds.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Searching FBI Crime Records Off-Line
Almost six million times a day, law enforcement officers from around the country conduct online searches of the FBI's electronic repository of criminal justice records called the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). They’re looking for information and possible leads on fugitives, missing persons, terrorists, convicted sex offenders, violent gang members, stolen property, and more.
Sometimes, though, agencies don’t have enough data for an electronic search or need additional information no longer available. So the FBI offers another investigative tool—the off-line search—which searches information in the database a different way or looks through records no longer available on the NCIC server.
During the past fiscal year, CJIS ran more than 22,000 off-line searches for law enforcement.
Kinds of off-line searches include:
● Use of non-unique personal descriptors, like sex, height, estimated age, and hair color (these descriptors can be used in online searches but only in conjunction with other identifiers, like a person’s name and date of birth);
● Partial information searches (i.e., an officer only has three or four characters of a license plate or only half of a vehicle identification number);
● Checking purged records (records that have been removed by law enforcement, or as result of varying retention schedules); and
● Searches of NCIC’s transaction logs, which may uncover other queries on the same suspect made by another law enforcement agency (can help establish a suspect’s whereabouts).
Perhaps one of the more well-known examples of an off-line NCIC search involved Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
● After identifying McVeigh as the renter of the explosives-laden Ryder truck, investigators passed the FBI his name for all available information on him. An off-line search of NCIC’s transaction log showed that about 90 minutes after the bombing, the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol made an inquiry on McVeigh. Armed with this information, investigators contacted the highway patrol and found that McVeigh was sitting—two days after the bombing—in a nearby jail cell on unrelated weapons charges.
A more recent example of how off-line searches can make a difference:
● On September 26, 2009, a 13-year-old girl was reported missing from Daviess County, Kentucky, and her information—including details about the convicted sex offender she was last seen with—was entered into NCIC. That night, an agent from the FBI's Louisville office, working with local authorities, contacted CJIS and requested an off-line search of the suspect’s license plate. Very quickly, they discovered that the Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, Sheriff’s Office had run a check on the license plate earlier that day (before Kentucky officials had a chance to enter the suspect’s plate number into NCIC). Officials in Wisconsin were notified, and the man was located by 4 a.m. the next day in a Wisconsin hotel. The girl was recovered safely.
Both online and off-line NCIC searches are just another example of how the FBI's leveraging technology and information-sharing to track down criminals.
Sometimes, though, agencies don’t have enough data for an electronic search or need additional information no longer available. So the FBI offers another investigative tool—the off-line search—which searches information in the database a different way or looks through records no longer available on the NCIC server.
During the past fiscal year, CJIS ran more than 22,000 off-line searches for law enforcement.
Kinds of off-line searches include:
● Use of non-unique personal descriptors, like sex, height, estimated age, and hair color (these descriptors can be used in online searches but only in conjunction with other identifiers, like a person’s name and date of birth);
● Partial information searches (i.e., an officer only has three or four characters of a license plate or only half of a vehicle identification number);
● Checking purged records (records that have been removed by law enforcement, or as result of varying retention schedules); and
● Searches of NCIC’s transaction logs, which may uncover other queries on the same suspect made by another law enforcement agency (can help establish a suspect’s whereabouts).
Perhaps one of the more well-known examples of an off-line NCIC search involved Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
● After identifying McVeigh as the renter of the explosives-laden Ryder truck, investigators passed the FBI his name for all available information on him. An off-line search of NCIC’s transaction log showed that about 90 minutes after the bombing, the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol made an inquiry on McVeigh. Armed with this information, investigators contacted the highway patrol and found that McVeigh was sitting—two days after the bombing—in a nearby jail cell on unrelated weapons charges.
A more recent example of how off-line searches can make a difference:
● On September 26, 2009, a 13-year-old girl was reported missing from Daviess County, Kentucky, and her information—including details about the convicted sex offender she was last seen with—was entered into NCIC. That night, an agent from the FBI's Louisville office, working with local authorities, contacted CJIS and requested an off-line search of the suspect’s license plate. Very quickly, they discovered that the Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, Sheriff’s Office had run a check on the license plate earlier that day (before Kentucky officials had a chance to enter the suspect’s plate number into NCIC). Officials in Wisconsin were notified, and the man was located by 4 a.m. the next day in a Wisconsin hotel. The girl was recovered safely.
Both online and off-line NCIC searches are just another example of how the FBI's leveraging technology and information-sharing to track down criminals.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Al Capone's Grandniece Angered by Photo
A photograph taken long ago in La Salle County that purportedly shows Al Capone and Chicago's then mayor William "Big Bill" Thompson prompted one of the mob boss' relatives to step forward — with anger.
The photograph in question was snapped in December 1930, at St. Joseph's Health Resort in Wedron. The four-foot long, 15-inch wide panoramic shot shows several hundred people standing in front of and on top the resort, including Thompson. The occasion was Thompson's stay at the resort recovering from appendix surgery. It was the presence of another man among the other faces that caught the eye of Chicago mob researcher, author and University of Illinois at Chicago professor John Binder.
Binder said he was "99 percent plus positive" the man is Capone. Besides matching the general physical characteristics of the mob legend, the man also sported the well-known accoutrements: vest, overcoat and pearl gray fedora. One of the things that might have made it 100 percent, however, was missing: a Thompson submachine gun. Several of the men near this figure also wore similar clothes, the informal uniform of the mob under Capone.
Binder said the historical significance of the photo is it purportedly shows Big Bill Thompson and Capone together — cementing the tie between Prohibition-era City Hall and hoodlums.
The Times story about Binder and the photograph generated interest from local readers and editors at newspapers across the Midwest, including the Chicago Tribune. Binder said he showed the photo to other experts who agreed the figure was a dead ringer for Capone. Some of these experts said they also saw men in the picture with resemblances to John Torrio, who gave Capone his start in the Chicago rackets, and Capone ally Claude "Screwy" Maddox.
However, several months after the story hit the news, Binder was a bit surprised he hadn't heard from more people, considering there were several hundred people in the Wedron photo, which thinking exponentially means there would be several thousand relatives of the people pictured, a few of whom could be expected to have a copy of the photo or at least to know about it and come forward. But none did. Perhaps it has something to do with the subject matter: the underworld.
One writer challenged Binder's assertion Capone is in the photo. However, Binder described the writer as an "apologist" for Thompson who argues there was little if any link between Capone and the mayor.
However, Binder did hear from a woman apparently related to Capone, specifically the granddaughter of Capone's brother, Ralph. This woman also called The Times. In both cases she complained her family name was being smeared and she did not give approval for the Times story to be published. She further claimed the figure Binder and other researchers point to as Al Capone was instead her grandfather, Ralph. Binder dismissed this claim out of hand.
A few years ago, this grandniece of Al Capone was interviewed on NBC-Television's "Today Show" about her great uncle Al.
Despite a couple of naysayers, Binder rests comfortable the photo shows Uncle Al — so much so, his framed copy of the picture hangs prominently in an office in his home.
La Salle County is Capone crazy.
Ask just about any native and they'll tell you a Capone tale as quick as Big Al would have muscled in on a rival beer baron.
"Capone used to stay next door to my parents' house," or "my uncle was a bodyguard for Capone," or "my grandfather hauled bootleg booze for Capone."
There are too many of these stories for them all to be true, because if they're all true, then Capone must have only recruited henchmen from La Salle County. However, some are likely true, such as the case of the Wedron photo.
Chicago mob researcher John Binder spotted a cropped version of the photo in my book, "Capone's Cornfields: The Mob in the Illinois Valley." He reached out to me for more information about the photo and where he could get a copy.
Eventually getting a copy and looking at the full photo, Binder spotted a man he believes to be Al Capone — making the picture historically significant.
This was one of those stories that reached beyond the local area — and that's what folks love, seeing their part of the world put on the map.
Thanks to Dan Churney
The photograph in question was snapped in December 1930, at St. Joseph's Health Resort in Wedron. The four-foot long, 15-inch wide panoramic shot shows several hundred people standing in front of and on top the resort, including Thompson. The occasion was Thompson's stay at the resort recovering from appendix surgery. It was the presence of another man among the other faces that caught the eye of Chicago mob researcher, author and University of Illinois at Chicago professor John Binder.
Binder said he was "99 percent plus positive" the man is Capone. Besides matching the general physical characteristics of the mob legend, the man also sported the well-known accoutrements: vest, overcoat and pearl gray fedora. One of the things that might have made it 100 percent, however, was missing: a Thompson submachine gun. Several of the men near this figure also wore similar clothes, the informal uniform of the mob under Capone.
Binder said the historical significance of the photo is it purportedly shows Big Bill Thompson and Capone together — cementing the tie between Prohibition-era City Hall and hoodlums.
The Times story about Binder and the photograph generated interest from local readers and editors at newspapers across the Midwest, including the Chicago Tribune. Binder said he showed the photo to other experts who agreed the figure was a dead ringer for Capone. Some of these experts said they also saw men in the picture with resemblances to John Torrio, who gave Capone his start in the Chicago rackets, and Capone ally Claude "Screwy" Maddox.
However, several months after the story hit the news, Binder was a bit surprised he hadn't heard from more people, considering there were several hundred people in the Wedron photo, which thinking exponentially means there would be several thousand relatives of the people pictured, a few of whom could be expected to have a copy of the photo or at least to know about it and come forward. But none did. Perhaps it has something to do with the subject matter: the underworld.
One writer challenged Binder's assertion Capone is in the photo. However, Binder described the writer as an "apologist" for Thompson who argues there was little if any link between Capone and the mayor.
However, Binder did hear from a woman apparently related to Capone, specifically the granddaughter of Capone's brother, Ralph. This woman also called The Times. In both cases she complained her family name was being smeared and she did not give approval for the Times story to be published. She further claimed the figure Binder and other researchers point to as Al Capone was instead her grandfather, Ralph. Binder dismissed this claim out of hand.
A few years ago, this grandniece of Al Capone was interviewed on NBC-Television's "Today Show" about her great uncle Al.
Despite a couple of naysayers, Binder rests comfortable the photo shows Uncle Al — so much so, his framed copy of the picture hangs prominently in an office in his home.
La Salle County is Capone crazy.
Ask just about any native and they'll tell you a Capone tale as quick as Big Al would have muscled in on a rival beer baron.
"Capone used to stay next door to my parents' house," or "my uncle was a bodyguard for Capone," or "my grandfather hauled bootleg booze for Capone."
There are too many of these stories for them all to be true, because if they're all true, then Capone must have only recruited henchmen from La Salle County. However, some are likely true, such as the case of the Wedron photo.
Chicago mob researcher John Binder spotted a cropped version of the photo in my book, "Capone's Cornfields: The Mob in the Illinois Valley." He reached out to me for more information about the photo and where he could get a copy.
Eventually getting a copy and looking at the full photo, Binder spotted a man he believes to be Al Capone — making the picture historically significant.
This was one of those stories that reached beyond the local area — and that's what folks love, seeing their part of the world put on the map.
Thanks to Dan Churney
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