That New York’s strip clubs have been inhabited by entrepreneurial mobsters is nothing new. But the latest suspected criminal enterprise involving a band of Mafia members, soldiers and associates has expanded the business model to international levels, in a scheme the authorities say was designed to dominate an empire of strip clubs across Manhattan, Queens and Long Island.
At its core, the operation centered on men with nicknames like the Grandfather, Perry Como and Tommy D. pushing an enterprise to recruit women from Russia and other Eastern European countries to enter the United States illegally to work as exotic dancers.
In all, 20 people were arrested on Wednesday and accused of criminal activity that included racketeering, extortion and immigration and marriage fraud. The defendants included seven men said to be linked to the Gambino and Bonnano crime families, the authorities said.
The suspected enterprise helped the women fraudulently obtain non-immigrant visas, often provided housing and transportation, and then set them up to dance at the topless clubs in violation of those visas. The women — who worked at places including Cheetahs in Midtown Manhattan; Rouge in Maspeth, Queens; and the Scene in Commack, Suffolk County — became “personal profit centers” for the defendants, according to Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.
An indictment outlined the accusations in four of the strip clubs, but did not name them. A federal law enforcement official said that nine strip clubs in the metropolitan area were involved, including Gallagher’s and Perfection, both in Queens.
At times, the enterprise drew money from the clubs by threatening violence, court papers said. At other times, they offered protection from others in the stripper industry or mob underworld, they said. Sometimes, the organized crime members, or others, were stationed at the clubs. The members of the enterprise also resolved disputes about which clubs the women would work in, the court papers said, and which members would control or receive payments from which clubs.
At times, “several of the defendants also arranged for many of the women to enter into sham marriages with U.S. citizens,” according to a statement from Mr. Bharara’s office.
The arrests were announced by Mr. Bharara and by the New York offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service.
“Today’s arrests bring to an end a longstanding criminal enterprise operated by colluding organized crime entities that profited wildly through a combination of extortion and fraud,” said James T. Hayes Jr., the immigration agency’s special agent in charge. “As alleged, the defendants controlled their business and protected their turf through intimidation and threats of physical and economic harm. Today, that business model has been extinguished.”
It was not immediately clear how many women were entangled with the enterprise, or what would happen to them. The defendants appeared Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, officials said. The case, they said, had been assigned to Federal District Judge Victor Marrero.
Thanks to Al Baker
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
The Man Who Saved Jimi Hendrix from the Mafia
Jon Roberts, the convicted cocaine trafficker who masterminded the Medellin Cartel's rise in the 1980s and the importation of as much as 15 billion dollars worth of cocaine for them, told a few stories that strained credulity when we first sat down for the interviews that would form the basis of our book, 'American Desperado' (Crown, published November 1st, 2011). Among them, he claimed that as a young New York Mafia soldier in the late 1960s – nearly a decade before he got into the "cocaine industry," as he refers to it – he rescued Jimi Hendrix from a kidnapping attempt. The tale seemed patently absurd until I began to look into the twisted history of the New York club scene in the late 1960s. Based on research and interviews I conducted, it turns out that not only does Roberts' story appear to be true, he solves a mystery that has intrigued Hendrix biographers for more than three decades.
Shortly after Hendrix's death in 1970, members of his inner circle revealed that about a year earlier, just after Woodstock, Hendrix had been abducted by Mafia gunmen and held in upstate New York in a dispute involving a recording deal. One version of the story named his abductors as "John Riccobono." As it happens, that was Roberts' name in the late 1960s (before he changed it and fled a murder investigation for which he was a prime suspect). As "Riccobono" he had served as point man in a successful Mafia effort to take control of Salvation, a top Manhattan nightclub. According to independent research for our book, far from kidnapping Hendrix, Roberts and his Mafia partner Andy Benfante, helped rescue him two times – not just from a bungled, amateurish kidnapping plot, but from an ill-advised rock star foray onto water-skis.
As Roberts relates it in 'American Desperado':
When you run a nightclub, you will always get heat from the cops. The liquor license gives them an automatic reason to come into your place and snoop. Within a year of getting into the business, Andy and I started to draw real heat – not from the New York cops, who could always be bought, but from the FBI. Two incidents made them nosy about us.
The first was the kidnapping of Jim Hendrix. Jimi and I were never great friends. He was so far gone, I don't think he was truly friends with anybody. Jimi was a bad junkie. Jimi had people around him all the time, too. He was suffocating from these hangers-on. After we met at Salvation, he came to our house on Fire Island so he could get away from it all. We'd make sure nobody would bother him except for his real friends. Jimi really liked [blues guitarist] Leslie West, and one night the two of them played our living room all night long. Jimi had to shoot speed in his arm to keep up with Leslie. That's how good Leslie West was. A few times, we took Jimi water-skiing off the back of my Donzi. He liked getting out and doing things physically, even when he was stoned.
He nearly drowned one time. Jimi's out there – no life vest on – and he falls off the skis. He's in the water thrashing around. I swing the boat past and throw him the rope. It's floating a couple feet from his hands, but he's waving his arms like crazy. Suddenly, I'm wondering if he can even swim. Andy has to jump in the water and swim the rope over to him, because Jesus Christ, if this guy dies while out with us, what a headache that would be.
I had some good times with Jimi, but he was a disaster on water skis.
I got involved in Jimi's so-called kidnapping after he was grabbed by some guys out of Salvation. Later on some people accused me of being involved in kidnapping him. They said I was involved with kidnappers who tied Jimi to a chair and forced him to shoot heroin. Please. Nobody would have had to force Jimi to shoot anything. Just give him the heroin and he'd inject it himself. It was Jimi going out searching for drugs that got him into trouble. Andy and I were the ones who helped get him out of it.
Jimi had people who would usually buy dope for him. But sometimes he'd get so sick, he'd come into our clubs looking for drugs on his own. One night two Italian kids at our club – not Mafia but wiseguy wannabes – saw Jimi in there looking for dope and decided, "Hey, that's Jimi Hendrix. Let's grab him and see what we can get."
These guys were morons. They promised Jimi some dope and took him to a house out of the city. I don't know if they wanted money or a piece of his record contract, but they called Jimi's manager demanding something. Next thing I knew the club manager called me and said Jimi had been taken from our club by some Italians.
It took me and Andy two or three phone calls to get the names of the kids who were holding Jimi. We reached out to these kids and made it clear, "You let Jimi go, or you are dead. Do not harm a hair of his Afro."
They let Jimi go. The whole thing lasted maybe two days. Jimi was so stoned, he probably didn't even know he was ever kidnapped. Andy and I waited a week or so and went after these kids. We gave them a beating they would never forget.
Here I was, the Good Samaritan, but unfortunately, when Jimi was grabbed, some of his people contacted the FBI. Even after he was safely returned, the FBI started poking around our business. This later led them to tie Andy Benfante and me to the murder of Robert Wood. That one good deed for Jimi Hendrix was resulted in me having to flee New York for Miami. Who knows? If it hadn't been for me saving Jimi Hendrix, I might never have hooked up with the Medellin Cartel and Pablo Escobar in Miami and started in the cocaine smuggling business. Wherever you are Jimi, thank you.
Reprinted from the book 'American Desperado: My Life--From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset' by Jon Roberts and Evan Wright.
Shortly after Hendrix's death in 1970, members of his inner circle revealed that about a year earlier, just after Woodstock, Hendrix had been abducted by Mafia gunmen and held in upstate New York in a dispute involving a recording deal. One version of the story named his abductors as "John Riccobono." As it happens, that was Roberts' name in the late 1960s (before he changed it and fled a murder investigation for which he was a prime suspect). As "Riccobono" he had served as point man in a successful Mafia effort to take control of Salvation, a top Manhattan nightclub. According to independent research for our book, far from kidnapping Hendrix, Roberts and his Mafia partner Andy Benfante, helped rescue him two times – not just from a bungled, amateurish kidnapping plot, but from an ill-advised rock star foray onto water-skis.
As Roberts relates it in 'American Desperado':
When you run a nightclub, you will always get heat from the cops. The liquor license gives them an automatic reason to come into your place and snoop. Within a year of getting into the business, Andy and I started to draw real heat – not from the New York cops, who could always be bought, but from the FBI. Two incidents made them nosy about us.
The first was the kidnapping of Jim Hendrix. Jimi and I were never great friends. He was so far gone, I don't think he was truly friends with anybody. Jimi was a bad junkie. Jimi had people around him all the time, too. He was suffocating from these hangers-on. After we met at Salvation, he came to our house on Fire Island so he could get away from it all. We'd make sure nobody would bother him except for his real friends. Jimi really liked [blues guitarist] Leslie West, and one night the two of them played our living room all night long. Jimi had to shoot speed in his arm to keep up with Leslie. That's how good Leslie West was. A few times, we took Jimi water-skiing off the back of my Donzi. He liked getting out and doing things physically, even when he was stoned.
He nearly drowned one time. Jimi's out there – no life vest on – and he falls off the skis. He's in the water thrashing around. I swing the boat past and throw him the rope. It's floating a couple feet from his hands, but he's waving his arms like crazy. Suddenly, I'm wondering if he can even swim. Andy has to jump in the water and swim the rope over to him, because Jesus Christ, if this guy dies while out with us, what a headache that would be.
I had some good times with Jimi, but he was a disaster on water skis.
I got involved in Jimi's so-called kidnapping after he was grabbed by some guys out of Salvation. Later on some people accused me of being involved in kidnapping him. They said I was involved with kidnappers who tied Jimi to a chair and forced him to shoot heroin. Please. Nobody would have had to force Jimi to shoot anything. Just give him the heroin and he'd inject it himself. It was Jimi going out searching for drugs that got him into trouble. Andy and I were the ones who helped get him out of it.
Jimi had people who would usually buy dope for him. But sometimes he'd get so sick, he'd come into our clubs looking for drugs on his own. One night two Italian kids at our club – not Mafia but wiseguy wannabes – saw Jimi in there looking for dope and decided, "Hey, that's Jimi Hendrix. Let's grab him and see what we can get."
These guys were morons. They promised Jimi some dope and took him to a house out of the city. I don't know if they wanted money or a piece of his record contract, but they called Jimi's manager demanding something. Next thing I knew the club manager called me and said Jimi had been taken from our club by some Italians.
It took me and Andy two or three phone calls to get the names of the kids who were holding Jimi. We reached out to these kids and made it clear, "You let Jimi go, or you are dead. Do not harm a hair of his Afro."
They let Jimi go. The whole thing lasted maybe two days. Jimi was so stoned, he probably didn't even know he was ever kidnapped. Andy and I waited a week or so and went after these kids. We gave them a beating they would never forget.
Here I was, the Good Samaritan, but unfortunately, when Jimi was grabbed, some of his people contacted the FBI. Even after he was safely returned, the FBI started poking around our business. This later led them to tie Andy Benfante and me to the murder of Robert Wood. That one good deed for Jimi Hendrix was resulted in me having to flee New York for Miami. Who knows? If it hadn't been for me saving Jimi Hendrix, I might never have hooked up with the Medellin Cartel and Pablo Escobar in Miami and started in the cocaine smuggling business. Wherever you are Jimi, thank you.
Reprinted from the book 'American Desperado: My Life--From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset' by Jon Roberts and Evan Wright.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Meet Frank Calabrese Jr in Person, Author of Operation: Familiy Secrets How a Mobster’s Son & The FBI Brought Down the Murderous Chicago Family
Chicago Celebrity Book Author Event
Mob-Writer Frank Calabrese Jr.
Author of the New York Times Best Seller
Operation: Family Secrets How a Mobster’s Son & The FBI Brought Down the Murderous Chicago Family
With Special Guests: jon-david Chicago author of Mafia Hairdresser, &, The Glow Stick Gods
Anthony Serritella Chicago author of Book Joint For Sale: Memoirs of a Bookie
Date of event: December 16, 2011 6-10pm
Place of event: Bella Luna Cafe 731 N Dearborn Chicago IL 312-751-2552
Producer: Dwana De La Cerna
Eventbrite Ticketing $35 Ticket includes Bella Luna Food and One Drink PLUS Signed Books from all 3 Authors. "Operation Family Secrets" http://operationfamilysecrets.eventbrite.com
A once in a lifetime event where Chicago gets to rub elbows with mob & mafia insider book authors. Picture ops, mingling, book signing.
Bella Luna Cafe is featured in in the book Operation Family Secrets, and the owner, Danny Alberga, stood up to mob boss Frank Calabrese Sr. which make Bella Luna the perfect historical old work Italy cafe to host this is the holiday with the mob event.
- Operation Family Secrets: How a Mobster's Son and the FBI Brought Down Chicago's Murderous Crime Family
--Frank Calabrese Jr’s inside story of a notable organized-crime prosecution, in which a son turned on his ferocious father. "This is an undeniably engaging tale, capturing the nitty-gritty of daily life in the “crews” of the Outfit." Kirkus Reviews
- Mafia Hairdresser
--jon-david’s 1st novel based on the author's experience as a hairdresser to a mob family in the 80s.“This is a fascinating story and an unbelievable provocative title.” - Rick Kogan WGN*Tribune*Chicago Live!*Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan
- Book Joint for Sale: Memoirs of a Bookie
--Anthony Serritella’s takes readers on a story about his childhood experience with a book-maker. From taking $2 horse bets at his uncle's newsstand in Chicago's downtown district as a nine-year-old in the 1940s, to taking $20,000 Super Bowl.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Mr. CSI: How a Vegas Dreamer Made a Killing in Hollywood, One Body at a Time by Anthony E. Zuiker
The creator of CSI delves into the mysteries of his father’s tragic death and his own unlikely rise in Hollywood using the very techniques he has honed by working on his hit shows, CSI, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York. Deeply felt and insightful, Anthony Zuiker’s searing memoir of dreams and losses, successes and heartbreaks, is not only a behind-the-scenes look at television’s most-watched drama, but an essential guide for aspiring script writers and filmmakers, featuring practical tips and inspiring lessons to help tomorrow’s writers succeed today. Fans of crime dramas, anyone who dreams of unraveling the mysteries of their own story, and everyone who dreams of making it big will find themselves immediately drawn in by the one-of-a-kind story of the man who made it: Mr. CSI: How a Vegas Dreamer Made a Killing in Hollywood, One Body at a Time.
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