Terrance Brown, Mastermind of Violent Robbery Crew, Convicted of Robbery Murder and Weapons Charges

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce that Terrance Brown, 41, of Miami, was convicted of Hobbs Act robbery, two counts of attempted Hobbs Act robbery, and three counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

According to the indictment and evidence presented at trial, Brown was the mastermind of a seven-man robbery crew that conspired in 2010 to rob armored Brinks trucks. In July 2010, the crew planned to rob a Brinks truck at a Bank of America in Lighthouse Point. However, that robbery did not occur because the Brinks truck did not arrive at the bank at the time that the crew planned to rob it. In September 2010, the crew attempted to rob another Brinks truck at a Bank of America in Miramar. That robbery also did not occur because a police vehicle drove through the bank parking lot just prior to the planned robbery, causing members of the crew to run from the scene. Finally, in October 2010, the crew returned to the same Bank of America in Miramar to once again rob the Brinks guard as he was delivering currency to the bank. During that robbery, the gunman fatally shot the guard in the head while Brown and his accomplices acted as lookouts. The gunman was arrested at the scene and one year later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Thereafter, in July 2013, a jury convicted Brown and three other co-defendants of several charges, including conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery. However, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on several other charges, which resulted in a retrial for the charges for which defendant Brown was just convicted.

U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer stated, “We are gratified that the jury reached a unanimous verdict finding Terrance Brown guilty of robbery murder and related weapons charges. Brown was the mastermind of a violent robbery crew that resulted in the senseless murder of a Brinks guard. Today our community can sleep sounder knowing that Brown is off our streets and that justice has been served.”

“Terrance Brown is a violent and greedy criminal who was bent on hitting armored truck couriers during their deliveries,” said George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami. “In July 2010, Brown and his robbery crew fatally shot a Brinks guard during the course of his duties. For this brutal and cowardly act, Brown is now being held accountable.”

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Ceasar Huerta Cantu Granted Clemency by President @BarackObama

President Barack Obama granted clemency to the following individual:

Ceasar Huerta Cantu, also known as Cesar Huerta Cantu – Katy, Texas

Offenses:  Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana;
money laundering (Western District of Virginia)

Sentence:  180 months’ imprisonment (as amended), five years’ supervised release
(May 11, 2006)

Commutation Grant:  Prison sentence commuted to 138 months’ imprisonment

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Shaamel "Buck" Spencer, Enforcer for #DirtyBlock Gang, Admits Participating in Heroin Trafficking Conspiracy

An Atlantic City, New Jersey man admitted to engaging in a conspiracy to distribute heroin with the Dirty Block criminal street gang that allegedly used threats, intimidation, and violence to maintain control of the illegal drug trade in Atlantic City.

Shaamel Spencer, a/k/a “Buck,” 30, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas in Camden federal court to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and one count of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

During the period of the conspiracy Spencer acted as an “enforcer” on behalf of Mykal Derry, 33, of Atlantic City, helping Dirty Block to control the heroin trafficking trade in and around the public housing apartment complexes of Stanley Holmes, Carver Hall, Schoolhouse, Adams Court, and Cedar Court in Atlantic City. Spencer assisted in the distribution of heroin to Dirty Block customers.

Spencer was arrested on October 30, 2012, and found to be in possession of a firearm at the time of the arrest. On February 12, 2013, Spencer was charged federally with being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. A search warrant executed at Spencer’s residence at the time of his arrest revealed approximately $4,500 in suspected drug proceeds, as well as a 9mm semi-automatic handgun and approximately 44 rounds of 9mm ammunition.

Spencer and other members of the Dirty Block gang—a number of them previously convicted felons—travelled to a shooting range in Lakewood, New Jersey, where they were photographed firing handguns.

As part of his guilty plea, Spencer admitted to distributing heroin. He also admitted to being a previously convicted felon who possessed firearms and ammunition and that specifically, he took a handgun to an Atlantic City casino where he believed Derry was involved in a violent fight with his rivals. Spencer also agreed to forfeit the proceeds of his drug trafficking, as well as his firearms and ammunition.

The drug conspiracy charge carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 40 years in prison, and maximum $5 million fine. The felon-in-possession charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 22, 2014.

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Village of Stone Park Place Convicted Mob Felon on Pension Board, Trustees Hide and Sneak Out Back Door, When Asked About It

Gritty Stone Park doesn't seem like the kind of place where you would find magic, but amazingly the entire Village Board vanished when FOX 32 News started asking questions about its pension fund.

Federal court documents revealed that in the 1980s and 90s, the late Chicago mob boss Anthony Centracchio handed out thousands of dollars in bribes to Stone Park officials.

"It had gone on for a long time," said Former Federal Prosecutor Scott Levine. Levine worked on the organized crime unit that nailed then-Stone Park Mayor Robert Natale, and Former Stone Park and Northlake Police Chief Seymour Sapoznik. Both men pled guilty to taking monthly payoffs to protect the mob's illegal multi-million dollar video poker business.

Levine said Sapoznik took it a step further. "He was tasked with warning his organized crime compatriots about government investigations when he learned of them in his role as police chief," added Levine.

At Sapoznik's sentencing, another former Stone Park police chief, Harry Testa, who was doing prison time for dealing coke, testified he, too, took money from the mob. So, imagine our surprise when FOX 32 discovered the three ex-cons are still drawing pensions from Stone Park, totaling more than $43,000 a year.

"It is fairly unusual," Louis Kosiba said. Kosiba runs the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, which provides pensions to virtually all village governments in Illinois. Because of its tiny size, Stone Park is not required to join IMRF and instead runs its own pension fund. Kosiba said nearly all Illinois public pensions include an important rule designed to discourage corruption. "Any felony conviction related to or arising out of your employment will terminate your pension," added Kosiba.

However, not only is Former Chief Sapoznik still receiving a pension, amazingly Stone Park Mayor Ben Mazzula and village trustees appointed Sapoznik to sit on Stone Park's pension board.

"You literally have a person who's being entrusted with the financial future of the participants of that pension plan. He or she needs to be as clean as Caesar's wife, so to speak," said Kosiba.

Mayor Mazulla wouldn't talk on camera, so FOX 32 went to a recent village board meeting to ask why they would appoint a mob-connected felon to the pension board.

"Chief please have everybody clear the room so we can have--yeah."

Trustees went into executive session to discuss personnel issues, so FOX 32's Dane Placko patiently waited outside. However, when it seemed to be going a little long, Dane asked a village official to take a peek. The trustees had disappeared. The parking lot was empty too, except for a car driven by Trustee Loretta Teets.

"Hi trustee. Why'd you guys sneak out the back door?" asked FOX 32's Dane Placko.

Teets pulled away and left without responding.

"If I was a taxpayer in Stone Park, and knew my tax dollars were going to support pensions for felons, not to mention one of these felons sits on the pension board, I'd be irate," said Patrick Rehkamp of the Better Government Association.

Only one of the ex-cons, Harry Testa, returned our calls. He declined to comment.

There's no law against putting a felon on a pension board, but experts said it's extremely unusual.

Thanks to Dane Placko.

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Federal Judge Not Interested in Being Pen Pals with Steven Mandell

Former death row inmate Steven Mandell may have been convicted of plotting to torture, murder and dismember a suburban businessman, but he wants the federal judge who oversaw his sensational trial to know he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

In an April 4 letter written from his jail cell and made public this week, Mandell claimed the only time he’d ever been remotely violent in his life was in an altercation with his girlfriend on Christmas Day in 1983 and that the domestic abuse charges were later dropped.

Mandell said in the three-page letter to U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve that prosecutors have conjured up a false picture of him as a dangerous threat to keep him in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal Loop jail.

“I have never ever bothered anyone in my entire life. No one! Not a soul!” Mandell, a Chicago police officer decades ago, wrote in neat cursive. “There is NO danger. There NEVER was a danger.”

In a court hearing last week, St. Eve called the letter inappropriate and revealed that since his conviction in February Mandell had sent several other letters, including one to the Highland Park police. While details of that letter weren’t discussed, Highland Park was the site of a spectacular 2012 fire that killed restaurateur Giacomo Ruggirello. The blaze was labeled a possible arson, and last year Mandell’s lawyers mysteriously subpoenaed records about the investigation.

Mandell also sent a letter to U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur, who is presiding over a pending lawsuit alleging the FBI framed Mandell’s alleged partner, Gary Engel, in a 1984 kidnapping in Missouri.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu has told St. Eve that some of the materials sent by Mandell in the letters violated her protective order sealing certain information in the case. Bhachu said that if Mandell continued to send such materials he could face charges.

Last month, Mandell’s attorneys alleged in a court filing that he was simply expressing his “deeply held conviction” that the key informant in his case, Northwest Side real estate mogul George Michael, was involved in criminal activities that should be investigated.

Mandell claimed in the filing that prosecutors used his letters to justify returning him to the jail’s Special Housing Unit, where he is on 24-hour lockdown and has restricted access to email and other communications.

He was first placed in solitary confinement last fall after prosecutors alleged he tried to arrange Michael’s murder while in the jail’s general population. But prosecutors have denied any involvement in Mandell’s current placement in the jail.

Mandell, 63, was convicted Feb 21 on charges he plotted to kidnap, torture, kill and dismember Riverside landlord Steven Campbell. The jury acquitted him of a separate plot to kill an associate of a reputedly mob-connected strip club. Mandell faces up to life in prison.

Michael secretly wore a wire for the feds and pretended to go along with the plan to outfit a Devon Avenue storefront with an industrial sink, butcher table and other equipment needed to drain Campbell’s body of blood and chop it to pieces.

Years ago Mandell – who then went by the name Steven Manning -- had been sent to death row for the drug-related 1990 slaying of a trucking firm owner. After his murder conviction was overturned on appeal, he won a landmark $6.5 million verdict in his suit against the FBI. A judge, however, later threw out the verdict, and Mandell never collected a penny.

Thanks to Jason Meisner.

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