New York @Giants Super Fan, @LicensePlateGuy, Joe Ruback Arrested on Loan Sharking Charge

Joseph Ruback, the athletic director at Biondi School in Yonkers and former Spring Valley High School football coach, was arrested Thursday morning as part of an investigation into organized crime gambling rings and those who use violence to collect debts, authorities said.

Joseph Ruback, 46, a New City resident who has received acclaim as the "License Plate Guy" Giants fan, and Luigi Sessa, 63, of Suffern, face felony charges. Ruback, who has a previous conviction for stealing, faces fourth-degree grand larceny, while Sessa is charged with second-degree criminal usury and has a history of gambling-related charges.

Ruback, the athletic director at the Biondi School in Yonkers,  is charged with running his own loan-sharking operation, lending money and collecting at illegal interest rates, using violence and threats at times, authorities said.

Sessa has been connected to a large-scale gambling enterprise in Rockland and Westchester counties, New York City, Long Island, Pennsylvania and Florida, authorities said. His arrest was part of a 16-month undercover investigation into illegal loansharking and gambling linked to organized crime.

Eight other alleged players were arrested in June by the Rockland District Attorney's Office Organized Crime Unit through "Operation Rock Bottom," which focused on an Internet off-shore gambling website. Investigators seized illegal gambling records, computers and more than $750,000. The unit comprises district attorney's detectives, Clarkstown police, state police, and the FBI.

District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said Thursday that Ruback and Sessa separately "used threats, intimidation and even physical force to collect debts and charged usurious interest rates on outstanding debts." Ruback was being arraigned in Clarkstown Town Court. Sessa was scheduled to surrender Thursday, Zugibe said.

The June arrests and those made Thursday came on the heels of similar operations late last year that led to 21 people charged in connection with multimillion-dollar operations. In March, a Rockland investigation led to federal charges against a mob captain, Daniel Pagano of Ramapo, and Michael Palazzolo of Suffern. Pagano, the son of late mob kingpin Joseph Pagano, has pleaded guilty in the case and has been sentenced to federal prison.

Ruback has gained local notoriety as a New York Giants super fan, called the “License Plate Guy” for wearing Giants-themed placards to Big Blue games. Ruback, who claims to have not missed a game in 14 years, recently took part in a friendly wager on the Giants-Patriots game with the Rockland Jewish Community Center executive to provide Thanksgiving turkeys to People to People.

Ruback has experienced both sides of the law.

On Dec. 9, 1998, he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, and was sentenced Feb. 3 to five years probation and 6 months of community service. Ruback and a former Spring Valley High School quarterback, then 19, were charged with the theft of about $14,000 from the J.C. Penney at the Palisades Center mall.

In 1999, Ruback, while on probation, helped chase some suspects involved in an afternoon robbery at Marty's Sporting Center in Clarkstown. On March 27, 1997, he spotted someone breaking into his truck and gave chase. He tackled and held the suspect for police.

Ruback was hired as the Spring Valley High varsity football coach in May 1996, after coaching the school's junior varsity team for five years. He was then a physical education teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School. He led the Spring Valley team to a 10-1 record in 1997 and the state semifinals.

He had resigned two months before his 1998 arrest, stating he was about to get married and wanted to return to school to further his education.

Thanks to Steve Lieberman.

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Cosa Nostra "Godmother", Teresa Marino, is Arrested for 'Running Mafia Gang's Cocaine Smuggling Network

Italian police have arrested a woman who is accused of taking over the infamous Cosa Nostra mafia after her husband was jailed.

Prosecutors claim mother of five Teresa Marino, 38, seized control of the gang's drug trafficking network and managed its cocaine shipments after her husband was arrested in April last year. With Tommaso Lo Presti behind bars, Marino is said to have become a more central part of the mafia, at a time when women are controlling more prominent roles in the crime family.

Traditionally, only men become 'mafioso' but there is believed to have been a seismic shift in the way the Cosa Nostra is run.

Marino 'directed all criminal activities of the mafia group', said police, who admitted her husband may still be leaking orders to her from prison. She is also accused of acting as its treasurer and dishing out cash gifts to other wives whose husbands were also in prison, the Telegraph reported.

She and the other 37 people arrested across Italy were charged with extortion, mafia association, drug trafficking, trading in weapons and fraud associated with the bidding of public work contracts.

Palermo prosecutor Leonardo Agueci said: 'The role she assumed as head of the clan shows that times have changed. 'These days there is equality of the sexes even within Cosa Nostra. But this is certainly not the first case of its kind.'

Marino is also accused of being a confidant to other mafia wives who had to give evidence in court. 'She would tell them not to cry in the court room, telling them: "show them you're proud Mafiosi, you must only show your pain at home",' said police colonel Giuseppe De Riggi who was part of the investigation that brought her down.

He added: 'Teresa Marino is an important figure in Cosa Nostra. She exercised power with great authority.'

Police seized around 10kg of cocaine during the arrests made in Palermo, Rome, Naples and Milan.

With Italy cracking down on the Cosa Nostra mafia in recent years, and dozens of senior members now in prison, it has been left to their wives to keep the gang running. Women are also a more dominant force in the country's other big organised crime families, the Naples based Camorra and 'Ndrangheta in Calabria. In 2009, police arrested 11 women who were alleged members of the Camorra and involved in drug trafficking.

Police general Gaetano Maruccia said at the time: 'There is a growing number of women who hold executive roles. 'They are either widows or wives of husbands who have been put in prison. They hold the reins. They're very good at mapping out strategy, even sharper (than the men).'

Thanks to Jay Akbar.

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Mafia Fugitive, Pasquale Brunese, Arrested while Running Pizza Parlor

Officers on Wednesday arrested 44-year-old Pasquale Brunese who is originally from Naples, home of the Camorra, one Italy's biggest mafia groups, a local police spokesman said.

Brunese was detained in May 2007 in Italy for possession of cocaine and heroin but the authorities lost track of him. He was then sentenced in absentia to nine years and nine months in jail for drug trafficking, extortion and membership in an organised crime group.

Italy issued an international warrant for his arrest and has requested his extradition.

Brunese will on Friday appear before Spain's top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional.

Italy's three main mafia groups the Camorra, Sicily's Cosa Nostra and Calabria's 'Ndrangheta, have a joint annual turnover of €116 billion ($126.8 billion), according to a United Nations estimate.

Spanish police announced last week they had detained one of Europe's most wanted drug lords, 44-year-old British national Robert Dawes, in his luxury villa on the Costa del Sol after an eight-year probe that allegedly linked him to the Italian mafia and South American cartels.

He was arrested at the "A mi Manera" pizzeria restaurant in Puerto de Segunto, Valencia, which he owned under an assumed name.

Thanks to The Local.

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29 Members of the #TexasSyndicate Sentenced to Federal Prison

In Del Rio, a federal judge sentenced 29 Uvalde/Hondo-area Texas Syndicate (TS) members over the past two weeks to federal prison, including four defendants to life imprisonment, for various racketeering and drug trafficking offenses committed in Uvalde, San Antonio and the surrounding areas announced United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs of the FBI’s San Antonio Division.

United States District Judge Alia Moses sentenced TS members and Uvalde residents George “Curious” Sanchez, age 40; Raul “Fatboy” Rodriquez, age 42; Mike “Big Mike” Cassiano, age 39; and, Cristobal “Little Cris” Velasquez, age 37, to life in federal prison for conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute.

On April 2, 2015, jurors in Del Rio convicted Sanchez of conspiracy to violate the RICO statute. Evidence presented during his trial revealed that Sanchez, along with fourteen other TS members and associates, conspired since 2002 to commit three murders and distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, 100 kilograms of marijuana and three ounces of methamphetamine. Jurors also found Sanchez guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering and murder in aid of racketeering for the murder of Rogelio Mata on October 13, 2002, in Uvalde. Mr. Mata was murdered for his failure to follow TS rules.

On July 1, 2013, in a separate jury trial in Del Rio, Sanchez’s co-defendants Raul Rodriquez, Mike Cassiano and Cristobal Velasquez were convicted of conspiracy to violate the RICO statute. Rodriquez also was convicted of the substantive charge of violent crime in aid of racketeering for his role in the murder of Rogelio Mata. Velasquez was found guilty of conspiracy to commit violent crime in aid of racketeering and the substantive charge of violent crime in aid of racketeering for the murder of Jose Guadalupe de la Garza on December 25, 2005 in Uvalde. Cassiano also was found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit violent crime in aid of racketeering for his role in the murder of Jose Guadalupe de la Garza and the November 9, 2009, murder of Jesse James Polanco in Uvalde. Judge Moses sentenced the remaining ten defendants, all of whom pleaded guilty prior to jury selection to conspiracy to violate the RICO statute, to prison terms ranging from five years to life. A 15th defendant, Inez Mata, pleaded guilty to the RICO conspiracy charge prior to jury selection. He died of natural causes in Uvalde in March 2015 while awaiting sentencing in this case.

In addition to the RICO defendants, 15 other TS members and associates were sentenced to federal prison for their roles in a drug trafficking enterprise. Eli Torres, age 39, of Uvalde, and Alfredo Tapia, III (aka “Naco”), age 44, of Hondo, were sentenced to 300 months and 240 months’ imprisonment, respectively, after a jury convicted them of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

Jurors found that Torres participated in this drug distribution ring as a member of the TS prison gang using the gang’s drug distribution connections to aid him in obtaining cocaine to sell on the streets of Uvalde from August 1, 2009, until September 28, 2011. Torres was also found guilty of possession with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine within 1,000 feet of the Sacred Heart Parish School in Uvalde.

Jurors also found Tapia guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana during that same time period. Drug transactions were conducted at Tapia’s home and on one occasion a person was held at gun point in Tapia’s backyard until that person paid his drug debt. Tapia was associated with members of the Texas Syndicate prison gang and facilitated their distribution of cocaine and marijuana.

The remaining 13 defendants, including former Bandera County Sheriff’s Deputy Thomas Cuellar, pleaded guilty prior to trial to conspiring to distribute controlled substances in the Uvalde and Hondo areas. In addition to the narcotics charges, Cuellar also pleaded guilty to unlawfully accessing a police department computer in order to obtain law enforcement information regarding the co-conspirators. Judge Moses sentenced Cuellar to 40 months’ incarceration while sentencing the others to federal prison terms ranging from 48 months to 151 months.

According to testimony at trial, the Texas Syndicate is a violent prison gang that has spread its influence into Texas cities and towns. Members of the Texas Syndicate are bound by a set of rules that ensure loyalty and participation in the enterprise’s criminal activities and are subject to strict and harsh discipline, including death, for violating the rules. The rules require that a member continue his participation in the organization even after his release from prison. Membership is for life and the gang comes first above all else, to include family.

The case resulted from a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the Texas Department of Public Safety—Criminal Investigations Division, San Antonio Police Department, Medina County Sheriff’s Office and the Bandera County Sheriff’s Office. Also assisting in the investigation was the 38th Judicial District Adult Probation Gang Unit, Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. The U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Customs and Border Protection and the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Department assisted in making the arrests. Assistant United States Attorneys Patrick Burke, Ralph Paradiso, Erica Giese and Matthew Watters handled this matter on behalf of the Government.

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Star Wars Fans: History of the Force: New York Times Headlines From Far, Far Away

Star Wars Fans: History of the Force: New York Times Headlines From Far, Far Away.

This special collection takes you on a journey from the release of the first “Star Wars” movie in 1977 to the saga’s newest installment, “Episode VII: The Force Awakens,” set to be released later this year. Completely personalize it with a name on the cover and a choice of three different colors options.

The phenomenally successful series has captured the imaginations of sci-fi buffs for generations, and this keepsake book chronicles the public and critical reception of the film and its historical and cultural impact.

This comprehensive book includes New York Times article about the “Star Wars” films and their legacy, from reviews, news articles, graphics, photos and behind-the-scenes exclusives to profiles of director George Lucas and key actors. There are more than 25 color pages.

An epic gift for the diehard Star Wars enthusiast, the hardcover book is bound in a stately leatherette binding that is personalized with the recipient’s name. On the slate gray cover, you get to choose from three foil stamp colors and edition names.

- Green & Gold is the Light Edition
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- Slate Gray & Silver is the Master Edition

The contents are the same for each edition and each one has a companion “Star Wars” wallet -- Stormtroopers, "Star Wars" logo or Hans Solo and Chewbecca. Each wallet is made of DuPont™ Tyvek®, a plastic micro fiber that is tear resistant and water resistant. Super strong and compact, the wallets expand to hold everything you need.

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