Organized Crime Ring Sold Cocaine Out of Pizza Shop

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has charged five people in an alleged organized crime ring that reportedly sold cocaine out of a local restaurant.

Gilbert Davalos Gonzalez, 44, of Harrisburg; George Velez-Ayala, 31, of Steelton; Sergio Becerra Santiago, 30, of Harrisburg; Carlos Javier Mendoza, 52, of Harrisburg; and Emmanuel Rodriguez Dejesus, 35, of Harrisburg, have all been charged with felony racketeering and conspiracy to commit felony racketeering, as well varying counts of felony drug manufacturing charges after police say they were selling cocaine out of Mendoza’s restaurant, M&J Pizza Shop.

The six-month investigation, which began with an arrest in State College in September, involved numerous controlled purchases, wiretaps and a search of Velez-Ayala’s home, which uncovered about 500 grams of cocaine, according court records.

On Sept. 24, State College Police apprehended a man referred to as T.H. who had been selling cocaine from his apartment, a grand jury finding of facts stated.

T.H. told police he had purchased numerous ounces of cocaine from Mendoza and Gonzalez at Mendoza’s restaurant, police said.

Over the next six months, T.H. assisted police in conducting multiple controlled purchases of cocaine from the group, sometimes in excess of 50 grams each and costing nearly $2,000, according to the grand jury report.

Several of the purchases were allegedly conducted in an office inside M&J Pizza Shop, which is located in the Cedar Cliff Mall.

Through surveillance and court-approved wiretaps, investigators with the Attorney General’s Office were able to connect all five men to the operation, the grand jury report stated.

During some of the phone conversations, the men used automotive language in an attempt to conceal their illicit behavior, court records showed.

In one conversation, the cocaine was referred to as an engine and referred to lower quality cocaine as the “little engine,” according to the grand jury.

Santiago and Gonzalez were denied bail and are currently in Cumberland County Prison.

Mendoza is in Cumberland County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Dejesus was released on $75,000 unsecured bail, and Velez-Ayala was released from prison after posting $100,000 bail, according to court records.

All five men are schedule to appear in court for preliminary hearings on May 25.

Thanks to The Sentinel.

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Mass Mafia Bust #ProjectClemenza

The RCMP is carrying out a series of arrests in the Montreal area in what the Mounties are calling the third and last phase of an investigation into the Mafia in Montreal that began several years ago.

Included among the people the RCMP arrested Wednesday is Liborio (Pancho) Cuntrera, 47, a man who police sources have described as a potential leader within what remain's of the Rizzuto organization.

Cuntrera is the son of Agostino Cuntrera, a member of the Rizzuto organization who was gunned down in St-Leonard in 2010 when the Mafia clan was under pressure from rivals. While the Rizzuto organization was under pressure to relinquish control of the mob in Montreal, the older Cuntrera remained loyal to the Rizzutos. Liborio Cuntrera also represents the second generation of a group of well known wealthy international drug smugglers known in many parts of the world as the Cuntrera-Caruana organization.

Cuntrera was not arrested on Wednesday because he is currently on vacation. According to sources familiar with the investigation, Cuntrera is currently in Italy, has been in contact with the RCMP and has agreed to turn himself in when he returns to Canada in a few days, one source said.

One man named as a target in the investigation is Martino Caputo, a 42-year-old man who is serving a 12-year prison term in Kingston for his role in a cocaine smuggling conspiracy to bring a tonne of the narcotic into Canada once a month. Caputo also faces charges in Ontario related to a murder carried out in that province back in 2012.

In February 2004, Crivello was sentenced to a three-year prison term for holding a person against their will and aggravated assault.

According to decisions made by the Parole Board of Canada, Crivello hired a group of men to collect $60,000 that he believed had been stolen from him. Three men were held against their will and beaten while Crivello watched and demanded to know what happened to his money. One of the victims suffered injuries that required surgery.

While he was before the parole board, in 2005, Crivello admitted that he had been involved in drug trafficking from the age of 17.

Another man who was arrested Wednesday, Frank Iaconetti, 48, has also done time in a federal penitentiary. In 1999, he pleaded guilty, in a U.S. District court in Massachusetts, to being part of a conspiracy to distribute cocaine. According to court documents filed in that case, on March 15, 1998, Iaconetti brought $250,000 in cash to undercover agents for what what supposed to be a down payment 100 kilograms of cocaine destined for Canada. When he was sentenced in 1999, a judge was told there was very little evidence that Iaconetti knew details about the actual drug transaction. At the time, Iaconetti said he agreed to deliver the money to deal with a serious addiction to gambling that caused him to ask that he be banned from the Montreal casino.

According to a statement issued by the RCMP Wednesday morning, the arrests are the third part of Project Clemenza, an investigation into the drug trafficking activities of various Mafia clans. Project Clemenza had to be put on hold because while it was underway the RCMP uncovered evidence related to the murder of Salvatore Montagna, a Mafia leader from New York who was one of the leaders in the attempt to wrestle power away from the Rizzuto organization about six years ago.

In a sign of how long Project Clemenza was delayed because of Montagna's murder, the charges filed at the Montreal courthouse against Liborio Cuntrera and Marco Pizzi, 46, of Montreal North, date back to 2011. Both men are alleged to have been involved in a conspiracy to traffick in cocaine between Sept. 28, 2011 and Oct. 6, 2011.

An RCMP spokesperson told reporters that 15 people were targeted in Wednesday's operation and that the investigation probed drug smuggling and drug trafficking.

"The network imported cocaine through the United States and used its contacts in the commercial ground transport industry," the spokesperson said. "The investigation demonstrated that this (network) transported large quantities of cocaine. The American and Canadian authorities have seized more than 220 kilos of cocaine and placed their hands on (more than $2 million). The impact of this operation on organized crime is significant and will have an affect on drug smuggling activities in the Greater Montreal region."

Another of the men arrested Wednesday was Hansley Joseph, 36, a wel-known member of a Montreal street gang who was often seen interacting with Mafia-tied drug traffickers during Project Colisee, a major investigation into the Mafia that had a huge impact on the Rizzuto organization a decade ago. In 2007, Joseph received a two-year prison term for his role in a drug trafficking network that operated in northern Montreal.

The case brought against Joseph and about two dozen other men in 2005, was significant because it represented one of the first times in Canada that gangsterism charges were brought against street gang members.

According to a decision made in the case in 2007, Joseph was part of a group known as the "Dope Squad" and frequently supplied cocaine to a group known as the Pelletier St. gang that sold crack on Pelletier St., near the corner of Henri Bourassa Blvd.

Thanks to Paul Cherry.

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State Senator and @TheDemocrats Official Charged in Vote Buying Scheme

A Pennsylvania State Senator and a Pennsylvania Democratic Party Official were charged in a federal indictment for their involvement in a bribery and fraud scheme related to the 2011 election for Democratic Ward Leader for Philadelphia’s Eighth Ward.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.

Lawrence “Larry” Farnese, 47, and Ellen Chapman, 62, both of Philadelphia, were charged with conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and violations of the Travel Act.  According to the indictment, at the time of the alleged illegal conduct, Farnese was a Pennsylvania State Senator and a candidate for Democratic Ward Leader of the Eighth Ward and Chapman was a member of the Eighth Ward Democratic Committee.

The indictment alleges that from May to December 2011, Farnese and Chapman devised a bribe scheme in which Farnese paid $6,000 to a college study-abroad program for Chapman’s daughter in exchange for Chapman’s agreement to use her position with the Eighth Ward Democratic Committee to support Farnese in the upcoming ward leader election.  According to the indictment, Chapman had originally intended to support a different candidate in the ward leader election.  The indictment also alleges that Farnese made the $6,000 payment using campaign funds and disguised the true purpose of the payment by falsely listing it as a “donation” on the campaign’s finance report.

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18 Genovese Crime Family Members Arrested on 8-Count Indictment including Conspiracy to Commit Murder

Eighteen members and associates of the Genovese crime family — one of New York’s most notorious organized crime syndicates — were charged Thursday with an eight-count indictment that includes conspiracy to commit murder, federal officials said.

Robert Debello (aka “Old Man”), Steven Pastore, Ryan Ellis (aka “Baldy”), Salvatore Delligatti (aka “Jay” or “Fat Sal”), Luigi Romano (aka “Louie Sunoco”) and Betram Duke (aka “Birdy”) were among those arrested in the law enforcement sweep carried out in Nassau County and New York City, officials said.

Of the 18 defendants charged in the indictment, 17 were in custody late Thursday, including 13 who were arrested as part of a coordinated takedown by FBI agents, NYPD detectives and members of the Nassau County Police Department earlier in the day, federal officials said.

“This racket was as old as La Cosa Nostra,” NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said in a written statement. “From murder for hire to extortion and gambling, there wasn’t a scheme that was off limits to these soldiers and associates of the Genovese family. The mob may be diminished, but it’s not dead, and it requires our continued vigilance.”

Among their numerous alleged crimes, the defendants are accused of extorting businesses, running protection rackets, and operating a sports betting and bookmaking operation that earned thousands of dollars a day, officials said.

In 2014, several of the men conspired to murder an unidentified victim “for the purpose of gaining entry to and maintaining and increasing position” in the Genovese family, court records show.

Officials did not release any details about the murder for hire plot or the attempted murder charge, nor did they specify who were the targets.

The indictment — unsealed Thursday in Manhattan federal court — charges several of those arrested with racketeering conspiracy, attempted murder, extortion conspiracy, operating an illegal gambling business, illegal use of firearms, and other crimes, officials said.

The charges stem from the Genovese family’s alleged involvement in a racketeering scheme carried out between 2008 and 2016, court records show.

Several of the men charged Thursday are from Long Island, including Scott Jacobson, 31, of Old Bethpage, Frank Celso, 50, of West Hempstead, Michael Vigorito, 35, of Massapequa, Spyro Antonakopoulos, 31, of Elmont, and Jonathan Desimone, 34, of Huntington, officials said.

Attorneys for the accused, who were to be arraigned in federal court Thursday, were not identified.

Nassau County police and prosecutors also helped with the investigation, officials said.

“With today’s charges, we strike an important blow against the Genovese Crime Family,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a written statement. “Whether you are an old school made member of the mob or a young street criminal looking to join it, the message today is clear: the life of a mobster is a dead-end street that ends nowhere good.”

Thanks to Kevin Deutsch.

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"Grandpa," "Lazy Eye," "Fat Sal," "Baldy," and "Birdie," among 17 Reputed Members of Genovese Crime Family Arrested

More than a dozen members and associates of the Genovese crime family were arrested early Thursday on federal criminal charges, sources told NBC 4 New York.

Seventeen defendants, with nicknames like "Grandpa," "Lazy Eye," "Fat Sal" and "Birdie," were named in an eight-count indictment accusing them of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, operating an illegal gambling business and illegal use of firearms.

The suspects charged Thursday allegedly ran an illegal gambling operation, made murder threats and conspired to commit murder to futher the illegal operation, the indictment alleges.

The alleged mobsters known as Grandpa, Baldy and Fat Sal conspired together to kill someone in 2014, the indictment states. They did so, according to the charges, to be welcomed into the Genovese family and to increase their positions in the ranks of the operation.

Defendants known as Fat Sal, Lazy Eye, Grandpa, Zeus and others also allegedly ran a large-scale illegal bookmaking and sports betting operation, the indictment states. The gambling operation raked in more than $2,000 a day, the suit says.

Sources said 14 of the suspects were arrested Thursday as FBI agents, NYPD detectives and Nassau County police conducted raids in Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx and Nassau County.

Those arrested were expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan later Thursday.

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