A Bonanno Mafia Crime Family Christmas

It was a "family" Christmas.

The newly minted Bonanno boss Joseph Cammarano Jr., hosted the crime family's annual Christmas party at an Italian restaurant on Staten Island that was voted one of the best eateries in the city by the Zagat guide.

The six-hour food fest was held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 16 at Bocelli Restaurant on Hylan Blvd. under the watchful eyes and cameras of the FBI and the NYPD, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

It was mandatory attendance for the crime family's administration, which included reputed consigliere Anthony Rabito and more than a dozen capos and soldiers, the court filings say.

The Old World-style restaurant is located in a strip mall, but the Zagat guide praised the upscale food at Manhattan prices.

A Mafia family Christmas party is held so the mob minions make a pilgrimage to the boss and give him an envelope stuffed with cash.

Former boss Joseph Massino used to hold the party in his restaurant, Casablanca, in Queens.

Cammarano, 56, controls the family's "day-to-day criminal activities," according to court papers.
Cammarano's promotion to acting underboss and street boss, exclusively reported Monday in The Daily News, is a sign that the beleaguered family is trying to rebuild after the prosecutions and defections of its members in recent years.

Bocelli's owner did not return a call seeking comment about the Christmas party.

Thanks to John Marzulli.

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2 School Board Members and Middleman Plead Guilty to Attempted Extortion

Two elected members of the School Board of Donna pleaded guilty for accepting bribes in connection with a services contract held by the Donna Independent School District (DISD). A private citizen who served as a middleman in the scheme also pleaded guilty, announced U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson and Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Eloy Infante, 54, Elpidio Yanez Jr., 45, and Adrian Guerrero, 50, all from Donna, pleaded guilty today to attempted interference with commerce by extortion. Infante and Yanez are both members of the Donna School Board and Guerrero is a private citizen. Sentencing is set for March 22, 2016.

In connection with their pleas, the defendants admitted that from February to May 2015, they attempted to extort, and solicited and accepted bribes from, an individual whose company provided services to the DISD. Specifically, the defendants informed the individual that in order for his company to keep its services contract with the DISD, he needed to pay Infante and Yanez $10,000 each. Both Infante and Yanez admitted that they accepted partial payment of the bribes, and Guerrero admitted that he served as the middleman for one of the payments.

The charges are the result of an investigation by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo J. Leo III and Trial Attorney Monique Abrishami of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.

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Former Drug Kingpin, Plotted Jailbreak with Helicopter, Receives Additional 20-Year Sentence on Conspiracy Charges

Jamal Shakir, 42, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Nashville, to conspiracy and attempting to conduct a continuing criminal enterprise and was sentenced to twenty years in prison, announced David Rivera, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.  Shakir is already serving multiple, consecutive life sentences which were imposed in 2009.

This sentence stems from an indictment returned in September 2014 alleging that Shakir, while incarcerated at Nashville’s Criminal Justice Center and awaiting sentencing, attempted to engage in another continuing criminal enterprise and solicited further crimes, including planning his escape with the use of a helicopter, the murder of witnesses who testified against him, armed robberies, fire-bombings, and continued drug trafficking.

Shakir was convicted in 2008 after a lengthy jury trial in U.S. District Court in Nashville, Tenn., which involved a long and complex investigation and prosecution.  The crimes for which Shakir was convicted date back to 1994 and included several murders; conducting a continuing criminal enterprise; drug trafficking; money laundering; obstruction of justice; and firearms offenses.  In 2009 Shakir was sentenced to 16 terms of life in prison.

The Shakir investigation also led to an investigation of the Rollin’ 60s Crips Gang which resulted in convictions of about 30 individuals for various violent crime offenses.

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#WhiteDevil: The True Story of the First White Asian Crime Boss

White Devil: The True Story of the First White Asian Crime Boss. In August 2013, “Bac Guai” John Willis, also known as the “White Devil” because of his notorious ferocity, was sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficking and money laundering. Willis, according to prosecutors, was “the kingpin, organizer and leader of a vast conspiracy,” all within the legendarily insular and vicious Chinese mafia.

It started when John Willis was 16 years old . . . his life seemed hopeless. His father had abandoned his family years earlier, his older brother had just died of a heart attack, and his mother was dying. John was alone, sleeping on the floor of his deceased brother’s home. Desperate, John reached out to Woping, a young Chinese man Willis had rescued from a bar fight weeks before. Woping literally picks him up off the street, taking him home to live among his own brothers and sisters. Soon, Willis is accompanying Woping to meet his Chinese mobster friends, and starts working for them.

Journalist Bob Halloran tells the tale of John Willis, aka White Devil, the only white man to ever rise through the ranks in the Chinese mafia. Willis began as an enforcer, riding around with other gang members to “encourage” people to pay their debts. He soon graduated to even more dangerous work as a full-fledged gang member, barely escaping with his life on several occasions.

As a white man navigating an otherwise exclusively Asian world, Willis was at first an interesting anomaly, but his ruthless devotion to his adopted culture eventually led to him emerging as a leader. He organized his own gang of co-conspirators and began an extremely lucrative criminal venture selling tens of thousands of oxycodone pills. A year-long FBI investigation brought him down, and John pleaded guilty to save the love of his life from prosecution. He has no regrets.

White Devil explores the workings of the Chinese mafia, and he speaks frankly about his relationships with other gang members, the crimes he committed, and why he’ll never rat out any of his brothers to the cops.

Told to Halloran from Willis’s prison cell, White Devil is a shocking portrait of a man who was allowed access into a secret world, and who is paying the price for his hardened life.

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Three Sinaloa Cartel Distributors Sentenced to Lengthy Federal Prison Terms

Three men who were sent by the Sinaloa Cartel to Lubbock, Texas, to distribute methamphetamine for the cartel were sentenced to lengthy federal prison sentences, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Senior U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings sentenced Juan Carlos Pinales, 23, to 151 months in federal prison, Ramon Osvaldo Escobar-Robles, 25, to 78 months in federal prison, and Jesus Mario Moreno-Perez, 24, to 120 months in federal prison. Each pleaded guilty last year to one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and aiding and abetting.  Escobar-Robles and Moreno-Perez are in the U.S. illegally.

According to documents filed in the case, a joint investigation by the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office and the Lubbock Police Department revealed that the Sinaloa cartel had sent three individuals to Lubbock to distribute methamphetamine for the cartel. In June 2015, a search warrant was executed at their residence on Birch Avenue in Lubbock.

At the time the warrant was executed, the three defendants were home. The search by law enforcement yielded several containers or bags of suspected methamphetamine in the attic, to include:  two red Tupperware containers that contained a total of approximately 5.06 pounds of suspected methamphetamine, 19 clear plastic bags that contained a total of approximately 1.42 pounds of suspected methamphetamine, two clear plastic bags that contained a total of approximately 17.2 grams of suspected methamphetamine, and one clear plastic bag that contained approximately 31.2 grams of suspected methamphetamine; as well as a black pouch that contained approximately $3,783 in cash; numerous cell phones; money transfer receipts; and a spiral notebook that contained writings consistent with a drug ledger, showing amounts distributed to and owed by various persons.                                                

A DPS crime laboratory analysis confirmed that the substance in the two red Tupperware containers was, in fact, methamphetamine with a net weight of 1,797.92 grams and a purity level of at least 91.7%. All three defendants admitted they jointly possessed the methamphetamine found in the attic.

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The Mafia: A Cultural History

What is it about Tony Soprano that makes him so amiable? For that matter, how is it that many of us secretly want Scarface to succeed or see Michael Corleone as, ultimately, a hero? What draws us into the otherwise horrifically violent world of the mafia? In The Mafia: A Cultural History, Roberto Dainotto explores the irresistible appeal of this particular brand of organized crime, its history, and the mythology we have developed around it.
         
Dainotto traces the development of the mafia from its rural beginnings in Western Sicily to its growth into a global crime organization alongside a parallel examination of its evolution in music, print, and on the big screen. He probes the tension between the real mafia—its violent, often brutal reality—and how we imagine it to be: a mythical potpourri of codes of honor, family values, and chivalry. But rather than dismiss our collective imagining of the mafia as a complete fiction, Dainetto instead sets out to understand what needs and desires or material and psychic longing our fantasies about the mafia—the best kind of the bad life—are meant to satisfy.

Exploring the rich array of films, books, television programs, music, and even video games portraying and inspired by the mafia, this book offers not only a social, economic, and political history of one of the most iconic underground cultures, but a new way of understanding our enduring fascination with the complex society that lurks behind the sinister Omertà of the family business.

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Very Rare Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Line Poster

A spectacular and very rare display poster, advertising the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific line and its connections with the newly completed transcontinental railroad.



Antique Railroad Poster - Circa 1880

The Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was formed in 1866 and by 1870 was a key part of the first trans-continental rail route, connecting with the Union Pacific Railroad at Omaha and Kansas City. The focal point is a vibrant three-color panel at top bearing the title and a map of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific network. Below this many lines of colored type list destinations served by the railway and its connections, and there is a delightful cutaway view of a Palace Dining Car. The varied and energetic design communicates the excitement of a time when comfortable, high-speed transcontinental travel was still a novelty. This original antique poster, usually found only in museums, comes archivally matted and measures 21" x 13" at the printed border. This poster, a distinguished piece of history, is for a connoisseur of fine antique items. There may be some other minor repairs, staining or discoloration, which are commonly found on prints from the 19th century. The poster is nonetheless in extraordinary condition for such a rarity, with vibrant color and a dramatic appearance. Comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from The Caren Archive.

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