#JimmyHoffa Remains to be Found in Shallow Michigan Grave Today?

The FBI is planning to dig in a Detroit-area field Monday in a hunt for the remains of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, according to a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Agents on Monday morning were executing a search warrant for a field in Oakland Township, north of Detroit, based in part on information provided by Tony Zerilli, a man alleged to have been a mobster.

Earlier this year, Zerilli told New York's NBC 4 that Hoffa was buried in a Michigan field about 20 miles north of where he was last seen in 1975.

The FBI has spent months looking into Zerilli's claims before seeking court authorization to excavate the field and look for evidence of a shallow grave, according to the source.

Hoffa, then 62, was last seen on July 30, 1975, outside a Detroit-area restaurant. The FBI said at the time that the disappearance could have been linked to Hoffa's efforts to regain power in the Teamsters and to the mob's influence over the union's pension funds.

Hoffa's disappearance and presumed death has vexed investigators for almost four decades. As recently as October, soil samples were taken from a home in the suburban Detroit community after a tipster claimed he saw a body buried in the yard a day after Hoffa disappeared in 1975.

The soil samples were tested, and showed no evidence of human remains or decomposition.

Zerilli, freed in 2008 after his last prison sentence, was convicted of crimes in connection with organized crime in Detroit. Keith Corbett, a former U.S. attorney, told CNN earlier this year that Zerilli headed a Detroit organized crime family from 1970 to 1975, but was in prison when Hoffa disappeared.

Zerilli told CNN affiliate WDIV-TV that a "Mafia enforcer" informed him that Hoffa was buried in the Oakland Township field as a temporary measure, and that the remains were to be moved to another spot near a hunting lodge after the heat died down from a massive police attempt to find Hoffa.

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Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks of Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel

On June 20th, Robert Mazur discusses his book, Infiltrator: My Secret Life inside the Dirty Banks behind Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel, which is being made into a movie. Margaret McClain, Special Correspondent will report on the Bulger trial.

Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Crime Beat presents fascinating topics that bring listeners closer to the dynamic underbelly of the world of crime. Guests have included ex-mobsters, undercover law enforcement agents, sports officials, informants, prisoners, drug dealers and investigative journalists, who have provided insights and fresh information about the world’s most fascinating subject: crime.

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@TheMobMuseum Wins Project of the Year Award from American Public Works Association

The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, has been named a 2013 Public Works Project of the Year by the American Public Works Association (APWA). The project’s managing agency, the City of Las Vegas Public Works Department, as well as primary contractor APCO Construction and primary consultant Westlake Reed Keskosky, will be recognized at the awards ceremony scheduled to take place in Chicago this August.

The Mob Museum received the national Project of the Year Award in the Historic Restoration/Preservation category for projects costing $25 million - $75 million. Building renovations in preparation for the Museum’s opening comprised $42 million and encompassed 17,000 square feet of exhibition space spanning three floors.

Open as The Mob Museum in February 2012, the venue’s building was originally constructed in 1933 as a U.S. Federal courthouse and post office. Listed on both the Nevada and National Registers of Historic Places, the building is significant for its Depression-era neoclassical architecture.

“We’re proud of the recognition that the City of Las Vegas’ public works department has received,” said Jonathan Ullman, executive director and CEO, The Mob Museum. “Thanks to the City’s efforts to preserve our historic building, the public has an extraordinary place for learning about organized crime and law enforcement.”

The building itself played a prominent role in the history of organized crime and law enforcement. On Nov. 15, 1950, its courtroom was the site of a hearing by the U.S. Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce—known widely as the Kefauver Committee hearings—which proved pivotal to the nation’s fight against organized crime and Las Vegas’ development as a gaming capital.

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Pedro Espada, Jr., Former State Senate Majority Leader, Sentenced to Five Years’ Imprisonment for Theft of Federal Funds

Earlier today, Pedro Espada, Jr. was sentenced before Judge Frederic Block in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, to five years’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for theft of federal funds from Bronx-based non-profit health care clinics and lying on his 2005 personal tax return. As part of that sentence, Judge Block ordered Espada to serve 100 hours of community service, restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $118,531, restitution to the victims of his thefts in an amount to be determined, and forfeiture of $368,088. The court remanded Espada to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. Espada is a former New York state senator for the 33rd Senate District in the Bronx who served as the New York State senate majority leader from 2009 to 2010.

The sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), New York Field Office; and Toni Weirauch, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, New York.

“The people of the Bronx trusted Pedro Espada, Jr. to have their best interests at heart. Instead, he abused that trust to the tune of more than half-a-million dollars. Under obligation to use the funds he received for the benefit of people sorely in need of quality health care, he chose instead to benefit himself and his family at their expense. Espada embezzled funds to finance his personal lifestyle and lavish gifts on friends and family members at the expense of taxpayers and underprivileged members of the Bronx community who were deprived of needed health services and medical equipment. He continued his campaign of lying and fraud on his tax returns,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. “Espada has finally been held to account for his crimes.” Ms. Lynch expressed her grateful appreciation to the FBI and IRS, the agencies responsible for leading the government’s investigation, and thanked the Office of New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman for its assistance.

On May 14, 2012, a federal jury in Brooklyn returned a guilty verdict against Espada on four counts of stealing from non-profit medical clinics in the Bronx that received federal funding. On October 12, 2012, Espada pled guilty to making false statements on his 2005 personal tax return and agreed not to appeal or otherwise challenge the jury’s verdict. That same day, Espada’s son and co-defendant, Pedro Gautier Espada, pled guilty to guilty to one count of stealing federal funding from non-profit medical clinics and one count of failing to file a tax return in 2009, and his sentencing has been scheduled for June 18, 2013, also before Judge Block.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Venizelos stated, “Over 30 years ago, Pedro Espada, Jr. helped establish the Soundview Health Center, but his own greed and self-dealing undermined that good work. Espada’s embezzlement of federal funds diverted money meant to serve the health needs of the people of the South Bronx. In lining his own pockets, he betrayed those people and stole from U.S. taxpayers in the process. There is a price to pay for these betrayals.”

The successful outcome of the collaborative effort in this investigation demonstrates the government’s resolve in investigating and prosecuting public corruption. Today’s sentences mark the end of a long period of criminal activity that harmed the patients of the not-for-profit clinics, who depended on the services the clinics provided and law abiding American taxpayers, who have to pick up the slack whenever others deliberately do not pay their fair share. IRS Criminal Investigation is proud of its partnership with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” stated IRS Special Agent in Charge Weirauch.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Todd Kaminsky, Carolyn Pokorny, and Claire Kedeshian.

Defendants
Pedro Espada, Jr.
Age: 58
Mamaroneck, New York

Pedro Gautier Espada
Age: 39
Fairfield, Connecticut

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