Mob Fest '29: The True Story Behind the Birth of Organized Crime

Bill Tonelli arrives on the scene with his brilliantly subversive Byliner Mob Fest ’29: The True Story Behind the Birth of Organized Crime. Tonelli investigates the long-standing myth of the mob’s founding—a legendary week in May 1929 in which a who’s who of American crime (Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Frank Costello, among many others) were said to have assembled in Atlantic City, the hedonistic Playground of America, to make peace and divvy up the country’s illegal enterprises. But what really happened that criminally star-studded week on the Jersey Shore?

At this informal summit, mobster bosses allegedly gathered to invent the concept of “organized crime” in America. Prohibition had transformed all of them from two-bit thugs into underworld bigwigs, and they had a vested interest in keeping illicit booze flowing easily across state lines. In Atlantic City, these hoods played as hard as they worked—if indeed they worked at all. “As legend has it,” writes Tonelli, “as many as thirty top gangsters [enjoyed] wild parties and heroic feasts, with fancy ladies provided for any who hadn’t brought his own. In short, this was nothing like the office meetings you and I have been made to attend.”

How many of these accounts are actually true, and why do they vary wildly in their retelling? Did the mobsters really wheel around the Boardwalk in rolling chairs, smoking cigars and cutting deals? Did they threaten one another in swank conference rooms in the Ritz-Carlton? Did they force Al Capone, fresh from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago, to turn himself in to the cops in order to take the heat off everyone else? And what about the infamous photo of Nucky Johnson—“the benevolent but undisputed king” of Atlantic City, better known as Nucky Thompson on Boardwalk Empire—strolling the boards arm in arm with Capone? Was this a staged shoot caught by early paparazzi or a Prohibition-era Photoshop job designed to ignite conspiracy theories that would thrive for years to come?

At a time when the early mob days are all the rage, Tonelli sifts the facts from the malarkey and in so doing shows that when it comes to the birth of organized crime, a good lie is hard to beat.

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Member of #MS13, "Street Danger", Pleads Guilty to RICO Conspiracy Involving Murder of 15 Year Old

An MS-13 member pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to racketeering conspiracy involving the murder of a 15-year-old boy in East Boston.

Henry Josue Parada Martinez, a/k/a “Street Danger,” 22, a Salvadoran national formerly of East Boston and Montgomery County, Md., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, more commonly referred to as RICO conspiracy. U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for March 1, 2018.

During an investigation of MS-13 in Massachusetts, Parada Martinez was identified as a member of MS-13’s Molinos clique, which operated in East Boston and other parts of Massachusetts. Parada Martinez admitted that on Sept. 7, 2015, he was one of four individuals who murdered a 15-year-old boy on Constitution Beach in East Boston. Agents subsequently recorded conversations with Parada Martinez in which he acknowledged being a member of MS-13, admitted that he was one of the men who murdered the victim, and identified other MS-13 members who committed the murder with him.

After a three-year investigation, Parada Martinez was one of 61 individuals named in a superseding indictment targeting the criminal activities of alleged leaders, members, and associates of MS-13 in Massachusetts. Parada Martinez is the 26th defendant to plead guilty in this case.

Parada Martinez faces up to life in prison, five years of supervised release, and will be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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Coordinated U.S.-Canadian Takedown Results in Arrests of Members and Associates of Gambino and Bonanno Organized Crime Families

Earlier, three indictments were unsealed in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging four defendants with narcotics trafficking, loansharking and firearms offenses.  The defendants—Damiano Zummo, an acting captain in the Bonanno crime family; Salvatore Russo, an associate of the Bonanno crime family; Paul Semplice, a member of the Gambino crime family; and Paul Ragusa, an associate of the Bonanno and Gambino crime families—were arrested.  In a coordinated operation, Canadian law enforcement authorities arrested nine organized crime members and associates in Canada, including members of the Todaro organized crime family, who are charged with, among other crimes, narcotics trafficking.

Bridget M. Rohde, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), announced the charges.

“Today’s arrests send a powerful message that this Office and our law enforcement partners here and abroad are committed to dismantling organized crime groups wherever they are located — whether local or international in scope,” stated Acting United States Attorney Rohde.  “The recording of a secret induction ceremony is an extraordinary achievement for law enforcement and deals a significant blow to La Cosa Nostra.”  Ms. Rohde praised the exceptional investigative efforts of the FBI, and extended special thanks to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the New York City Police Department (NYPD).  Ms. Rohde also expressed her thanks to the Office’s law enforcement partners in Canada, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the GTA Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit Public Prosecution Service of Canada, Ontario Regional Office.

“Criminal enterprises, both national and international, contribute to the breakdown of a lawful society,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.  “And yet, the allure of this gangland culture is often embraced and glamorized in movies and on television, where the threats posed to our economic and national security are seldom displayed. Dismantling and disrupting major international and national organized criminal enterprises is a longstanding area of FBI expertise, which is significantly enhanced through collaboration with our law enforcement partners and our Canadian partners. While we have more work to do, this operation is a giant step in the right direction.”

The coordinated investigation lasted more than two years and revealed criminal activity spanning the United States and Canada.  As detailed in court filings, in 2015, one of the defendants sponsored a confidential informant to become a full-fledged member of the Bonanno crime family and as part of the investigation, law enforcement secretly video- and audio-recorded the induction ceremony, which occurred in Canada.

As detailed in the indictment and other court filings, Zummo, an acting captain in the Bonanno crime family, engaged in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy with Bonanno associate Salvatore Russo and others introduced by the confidential informant.  In one transaction, on September 14, 2017, Zummo and Russo sold over a kilogram of cocaine inside a Manhattan gelato store.  Zummo is also charged with laundering over $250,000 in cash by providing business checks issued to a fictitious consulting company that purported to bill the company for consulting services.  Zummo took a fee of approximately 10 percent for each money laundering transaction.

As also detailed in the indictments and other court filings, Semplice, a member of the Gambino crime family, is charged with conducting a loansharking scheme in which he and others extended extortionate loans with interest rates of up to 54% per year.  The alleged scheme generated thousands of dollars per week for Semplice and others.  Paul Ragusa, a long-standing associate of the Bonanno and Gambino organized crime families, is charged with being a felon in possession of nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and one silencer.  As alleged, Ragusa transported the firearms in exchange for $2,000 in cash.

If convicted, Zummo and Russo each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment; Semplice faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on each of three loansharking charges; and Ragusa faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

The charges in the indictments are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section.  Assistant United States Attorneys M. Kristin Mace, Tanya Hajjar and Drew Rolle are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendants:

DAMIANO ZUMMO
Age: 44
Residence: Roslyn Heights, New York

SALVATORE RUSSO
Age: 45
Residence: Bellmore, New York

PAUL SEMPLICE
Age: 54
Residence: Brooklyn, New York

PAUL RAGUSA
Age: 46
Residence: Brooklyn, New York

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Leader of #MS13 East Coast Program Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy

The leader of the MS-13 East Coast Program pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to racketeering conspiracy.

Jose Adan Martinez Castro, a/k/a “Chucky,” 28, a Salvadoran national formerly residing in Richmond, Va., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, more commonly referred to as RICO conspiracy.  U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Feb. 26, 2018.

After a three-year investigation, Castro was one of 61 persons named in a superseding indictment targeting the criminal activities of alleged leaders, members, and associates of MS-13 in Massachusetts.

MS-13 leaders incarcerated in El Salvador oversee individual branches, or “cliques,” that are grouped into “programs” throughout the United States. During the investigation, Castro was identified as the leader of MS-13’s East Coast Program. On Dec. 13, 2015, Castro was recorded as he ran a meeting of East Coast Program clique leaders in Richmond, Va. During the meeting, Castro and others discussed sending money to El Salvador to support MS-13, the need to work together to increase the gang’s strength and control, and the need to violently retaliate against anyone who provided information against the gang.

Castro is the 25th defendant to be convicted.

Castro faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and will be subject to deportation upon the completion of his sentence.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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John F. Kennedy Assassination a Mafia Conspiracy

Deputy Sheriff Harry Weatherford, the best shot in the department, was assigned to the top of the County Records Building by Sheriff Decker to protect the president. When Oswald's first shot struck Kennedy, Officer Weatherford saw the pigeons fly from the School Book Depository Building. But he had no target.

When Oswald fired his second shot, Weatherford saw the muzzle flash from the sixth floor window. Jacquelyn was scrambling from the limousine to escape the hail of bullets as Oswald's finger tightened on the trigger for his third shot, which was intended for her.

Just a micro-second before Oswald fired, Weatherford's bullet passed in front of Oswald causing his third shot to go high over Jacquelyn and hitting the curb on the south side of Elm Street.

John F. Kennedy Assassination a Mafia Conspiracy.

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