A drug supplier for the Grape Street Crips street gang was sentenced to 176 months in prison for his role in distributing large quantities of crack-cocaine in and around Newark, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Jihad Coles, a/k/a “Half Dead,” 31, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to distribute 280 grams or more of crack-cocaine. Judge Salas imposed the sentence in Newark federal court.
In May 2015, over the course of three weeks, 50 alleged members and associates of the Grape Street Crips were charged in criminal complaints that alleged drug-trafficking, physical assaults, and witness intimidation. The charges were the result of a long-running investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the FBI, in conjunction with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Newark Police Department and Essex County Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Narcotics. Over the course of the entire investigation, 71 defendants have been charged with federal and state charges.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Coles admitted that between March 2012 and August 2012 he conspired with others to distribute hundreds of grams of crack-cocaine at the Mildred Terrell Homes public-housing complex located on Riverview Terrace in Newark, New Jersey. As a long-time member of the Grape Street Crips, Coles admitted that he served as an organizer and leader of the crack-cocaine distribution conspiracy.
In addition to the prison term, which will be served consecutively to a state prison term that he is currently serving, Coles was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Monday, March 14, 2016
Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror with @GenMhayden
The 1990s ushered in a new era of technological advances that changed nearly every imaginable facet of human existence. The rise of the Internet meant the world got a whole lot smaller as email and online forums facilitated communications worldwide. The proliferation of cell phones allowed calls to be made from nearly anywhere in the world.
This was a dream come true for the average Joe
, but a nightmare for America’s largest and most powerful spy agency, the National Security Agency. With funding reduced, a downsized workforce, and antiquated IT systems, the job NSA Director Michael Hayden walked into in 1999 was no walk in the park. The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 shortly thereafter made fulfilling the mission downright Herculean.
In “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror,” Hayden recounts the step-by-step journey of reinventing the NSA technologically, undertaking long overdue organizational changes, and trying to balance liberty and security in a rapidly changing world. All while carrying out the mission the NSA has had since the agency’s founding under President Truman in 1952 — “intercepting communications that contain information that would help keep Americans free and safe and advance [America’s] vital national security interests.”
Sometimes, indeed oftentimes, that mission included the development of programs that were deemed controversial. Among those detailed in “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror” is Stellarwind, a presidentially authorized program that gave the NSA the ability to access a large percentage of the calls entering and leaving the United States. The agency would only access and collect the call if it had probable cause that one or both ends were al Qaeda related. Typically under-reported is the fact that the overwhelming majority of calls intercepted were actually foreign-to-foreign, Hayden notes.
Kick-starting a program such as this was not a matter of drawing up plans within the agency and then executing them; no, it required intricately assessing the legalities, securing presidential approval, briefing a select few members of Congress, ramping up the agency’s infrastructure to be able to carry out the program, and more.
Hayden’s detailed accounts truly gives the reader a new-found appreciation for all the hoops that must be jumped through in order to instate programs that serve to keep Americans safe in a post-9/11 world, and how seriously the agency guards the privacy of U.S. persons—regardless of how it’s reported. Therein lies another issue Hayden dedicated significant portions of the book to: discussing the efforts the agency undertakes to keep these programs secret so they actually work. Inevitably, however, they are leaked to the press, and Hayden takes the reader through the process of how he handled the media once it was on to a story and what he did to manage public relations for the agency once the news broke.
During his tenure at the NSA and later as director at the CIA, calming the storm—whether on the Hill, in the media, or among the public—was commonplace. The discussions about misjudgments over WMDs in Iraq, the controversial practice of waterboarding, Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and the CIA’s black sites were just some of the more interesting segments of the book that Hayden had to address while director—and he doesn’t hold back fascinating details about each that only an insider at his level would be privy to.
The book predominately focuses on the shifting intelligence landscape in the 2000s while he was heading up the NSA and CIA, but Hayden also offers a brief glimpse into his life and background. He confronts the heavy personal, familial, and moral burdens those in the field of espionage undertake while protecting America and its national security interests.
American intelligence has undergone fascinating changes in the age of terror and Hayden’s account offers the reader a long overdue perspective to counter the often incomplete and flawed version of the story in the media, particularly after Edward Snowden’s leaks. And while the subject matter is serious and at times dense, Hayden has a knack for explaining complex programs simplistically, never bogging the reader down with extraneous detail or inundating the pages with Washington’s alphabet soup. Those interested in learning the truth about what goes on behind some of America’s most tightly sealed agencies will find tremendous value in this compelling book.
This was a dream come true for the average Joe
, but a nightmare for America’s largest and most powerful spy agency, the National Security Agency. With funding reduced, a downsized workforce, and antiquated IT systems, the job NSA Director Michael Hayden walked into in 1999 was no walk in the park. The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 shortly thereafter made fulfilling the mission downright Herculean.
In “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror,” Hayden recounts the step-by-step journey of reinventing the NSA technologically, undertaking long overdue organizational changes, and trying to balance liberty and security in a rapidly changing world. All while carrying out the mission the NSA has had since the agency’s founding under President Truman in 1952 — “intercepting communications that contain information that would help keep Americans free and safe and advance [America’s] vital national security interests.”
Sometimes, indeed oftentimes, that mission included the development of programs that were deemed controversial. Among those detailed in “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror” is Stellarwind, a presidentially authorized program that gave the NSA the ability to access a large percentage of the calls entering and leaving the United States. The agency would only access and collect the call if it had probable cause that one or both ends were al Qaeda related. Typically under-reported is the fact that the overwhelming majority of calls intercepted were actually foreign-to-foreign, Hayden notes.
Kick-starting a program such as this was not a matter of drawing up plans within the agency and then executing them; no, it required intricately assessing the legalities, securing presidential approval, briefing a select few members of Congress, ramping up the agency’s infrastructure to be able to carry out the program, and more.
Hayden’s detailed accounts truly gives the reader a new-found appreciation for all the hoops that must be jumped through in order to instate programs that serve to keep Americans safe in a post-9/11 world, and how seriously the agency guards the privacy of U.S. persons—regardless of how it’s reported. Therein lies another issue Hayden dedicated significant portions of the book to: discussing the efforts the agency undertakes to keep these programs secret so they actually work. Inevitably, however, they are leaked to the press, and Hayden takes the reader through the process of how he handled the media once it was on to a story and what he did to manage public relations for the agency once the news broke.
During his tenure at the NSA and later as director at the CIA, calming the storm—whether on the Hill, in the media, or among the public—was commonplace. The discussions about misjudgments over WMDs in Iraq, the controversial practice of waterboarding, Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and the CIA’s black sites were just some of the more interesting segments of the book that Hayden had to address while director—and he doesn’t hold back fascinating details about each that only an insider at his level would be privy to.
The book predominately focuses on the shifting intelligence landscape in the 2000s while he was heading up the NSA and CIA, but Hayden also offers a brief glimpse into his life and background. He confronts the heavy personal, familial, and moral burdens those in the field of espionage undertake while protecting America and its national security interests.
American intelligence has undergone fascinating changes in the age of terror and Hayden’s account offers the reader a long overdue perspective to counter the often incomplete and flawed version of the story in the media, particularly after Edward Snowden’s leaks. And while the subject matter is serious and at times dense, Hayden has a knack for explaining complex programs simplistically, never bogging the reader down with extraneous detail or inundating the pages with Washington’s alphabet soup. Those interested in learning the truth about what goes on behind some of America’s most tightly sealed agencies will find tremendous value in this compelling book.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster
Here is the shocking true saga of the Irish American mob
. In Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster, bestselling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and untouchable Southie legend.
Stretching from the earliest New York and New Orleans street wars through decades of bootlegging scams, union strikes, gang wars, and FBI investigations, Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster, is a riveting tour de force that restores the Irish American gangster to his rightful preeminent place in our criminal history -- and penetrates to the heart of the American experience.
. In Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster, bestselling author and organized crime expert T. J. English brings to life nearly two centuries of Irish American gangsterism, which spawned such unforgettable characters as Mike "King Mike" McDonald, Chicago's subterranean godfather; Big Bill Dwyer, New York's most notorious rumrunner during Prohibition; Mickey Featherstone, troubled Vietnam vet turned Westies gang leader; and James "Whitey" Bulger, the ruthless and untouchable Southie legend.Stretching from the earliest New York and New Orleans street wars through decades of bootlegging scams, union strikes, gang wars, and FBI investigations, Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster, is a riveting tour de force that restores the Irish American gangster to his rightful preeminent place in our criminal history -- and penetrates to the heart of the American experience.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
International Drug Trafficking Fugitive, Antonio Vottari, with Links to the Mafia Arrested
An international drug trafficking fugitive with links to the Mafia has been arrested at Rome's airport after flying from Australia, according to reports from Italy.
Antonio Vottari, 31, was apprehended by police at the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino airport on Tuesday after he stepped off a flight from Australia, according to Il Quotidiano and other Italian news reports.
Vottari has been on the run for five years, wanted on drug crimes. He was convicted in his absence and sentenced to seven-and-half years in prison for trafficking cocaine as part of a syndicate operating in South America, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Italy.
The syndicate, Rai News reports, was managed by a notorious San Luca clan of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia. The clan, which bears the surname of the former fugitive, was led by Bruno Pizzata. Pizzata, known as the king of cocaine, is serving a 30-year prison term for drug trafficking after his arrest in 2011 in Germany.
Italian Mafia experts told Fairfax Media that clans from the same area of Italy have been historically present in Australia, therefore it was "no surprise" he was arrested coming back from Australia.
The Australian Federal Police and the Department of Immigration have been contacted for comment. The Department of Immigration would not comment on whether they were aware Vottari was present in the country. An AFP spokeswoman said it was a matter for Italian authorities.
It is not clear which Australian airport he left from nor how long he had been in the country.
Thanks to Tammy Mills.
Antonio Vottari, 31, was apprehended by police at the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino airport on Tuesday after he stepped off a flight from Australia, according to Il Quotidiano and other Italian news reports.
Vottari has been on the run for five years, wanted on drug crimes. He was convicted in his absence and sentenced to seven-and-half years in prison for trafficking cocaine as part of a syndicate operating in South America, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Italy.
The syndicate, Rai News reports, was managed by a notorious San Luca clan of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia. The clan, which bears the surname of the former fugitive, was led by Bruno Pizzata. Pizzata, known as the king of cocaine, is serving a 30-year prison term for drug trafficking after his arrest in 2011 in Germany.
Italian Mafia experts told Fairfax Media that clans from the same area of Italy have been historically present in Australia, therefore it was "no surprise" he was arrested coming back from Australia.
The Australian Federal Police and the Department of Immigration have been contacted for comment. The Department of Immigration would not comment on whether they were aware Vottari was present in the country. An AFP spokeswoman said it was a matter for Italian authorities.
It is not clear which Australian airport he left from nor how long he had been in the country.
Thanks to Tammy Mills.
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
President of Hells Angels Convicted
U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. announced that Richard W. Mar, 64, of Monterey, California, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa. The charge carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, and a $2,000,000 fine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who is handling the case, stated that, from 2002 through July 2010, Mar – the President of the Hell’s Angels, Monterey (California) Charter at the time – supplied significant quantities of methamphetamine to a methamphetamine trafficking network operating in the Western District of New York. The leader of the network was James H. McAuley, Jr. – a member and Vice President of the Rochester Hell’s Angels. During the conspiracy, McAuley and other members of the conspiracy traveled to the Monterey, California, on numerous occasions to obtain pound-size quantities of methamphetamine from Mar, in exchange for cash. The methamphetamine was be transported and/or shipped from California to the Rochester area, where other members of the conspiracy would sell and distribute it to their customers.
In April 2007, McAuley was arrested on federal racketeering charges in the Northern District of New York. After his arrest and incarceration, McAuley continued to maintain control over the methamphetamine trafficking operation. Mar, acting at the direction of McAuley, distributed pound-size quantities of methamphetamine to McAuley’s wife, Donna Boon. Boon and other members of the conspiracy sold and distributed the methamphetamine to individuals in the Rochester area, Genesee County, and other locales. Mar, who admitted to trafficking up to 15 kilograms of methamphetamine during the course of the conspiracy, continued to supply the methamphetamine trafficking network until July 2010.
The plea is part of a larger investigation that resulted in the indictment and arrest of members and associates of the Rochester and Monterey (California) Hell's Angels for drug trafficking and racketeering-related offenses in February 2012. Seven defendants – including Mar – were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. All of the defendants – Mar; McAuley, Boon; Gordon L. Montgomery; Jeffrey A. Tyler; Richard E. Riedman; and Paul Griffin, have been convicted. Judge Siragusa sentenced Griffin to probation and Riedman to 37 months in prison; the remaining defendants are awaiting sentencing.
Rochester Hell's Angels member Robert W. Moran, Jr., a/k/a Bugsy, was convicted of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity. Gina Tata was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity. Defendant Timothy M. Stone was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the assault.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett A. Harvey, who is handling the case, stated that, from 2002 through July 2010, Mar – the President of the Hell’s Angels, Monterey (California) Charter at the time – supplied significant quantities of methamphetamine to a methamphetamine trafficking network operating in the Western District of New York. The leader of the network was James H. McAuley, Jr. – a member and Vice President of the Rochester Hell’s Angels. During the conspiracy, McAuley and other members of the conspiracy traveled to the Monterey, California, on numerous occasions to obtain pound-size quantities of methamphetamine from Mar, in exchange for cash. The methamphetamine was be transported and/or shipped from California to the Rochester area, where other members of the conspiracy would sell and distribute it to their customers.
In April 2007, McAuley was arrested on federal racketeering charges in the Northern District of New York. After his arrest and incarceration, McAuley continued to maintain control over the methamphetamine trafficking operation. Mar, acting at the direction of McAuley, distributed pound-size quantities of methamphetamine to McAuley’s wife, Donna Boon. Boon and other members of the conspiracy sold and distributed the methamphetamine to individuals in the Rochester area, Genesee County, and other locales. Mar, who admitted to trafficking up to 15 kilograms of methamphetamine during the course of the conspiracy, continued to supply the methamphetamine trafficking network until July 2010.
The plea is part of a larger investigation that resulted in the indictment and arrest of members and associates of the Rochester and Monterey (California) Hell's Angels for drug trafficking and racketeering-related offenses in February 2012. Seven defendants – including Mar – were charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. All of the defendants – Mar; McAuley, Boon; Gordon L. Montgomery; Jeffrey A. Tyler; Richard E. Riedman; and Paul Griffin, have been convicted. Judge Siragusa sentenced Griffin to probation and Riedman to 37 months in prison; the remaining defendants are awaiting sentencing.
Rochester Hell's Angels member Robert W. Moran, Jr., a/k/a Bugsy, was convicted of conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity. Gina Tata was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity. Defendant Timothy M. Stone was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the assault.
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