Chicago Cop Examines Connections Between The @Innocence Project and Convicted Killers in #CrookedCity

In his second collection of connected essays, Chicago cop Martin Preib takes on seemingly unrelated murder cases, all dating from one year, 1982, including some in which offenders were released as part of the wrongful conviction movement.

The murder case against James Ealy haunts Preib. Ealy, a 17-year-old in the west side projects, is convicted of strangling a family of four, but later released on appeal. Ealy eventually strikes again. As Preib researches the case, he struggles to understand how and why the city released Ealy from the original conviction.

The Ealy case leads Preib into the grisly underground of other 1982 murders, especially the case against Anthony Porter, sent to death row for killing a couple in a park and then 16 years later released, with the help of The Innocence Project at Northwestern University, when another man was said to have confessed to the crime. The media frenzy attending Porter’s release did not follow him into his civil case for damages against the city, a case the police officers pressed to have tried, and which Porter lost after the defense convinced the jury that the case for Porter’s innocence was, at best, fatally flawed.

In Crooked City, Preib always walks a tightrope between self-deprecating humor and stark revelations told in powerful language as he takes readers along on his journey through incredulity and doubt to conviction that killers are being turned loose on the streets of Chicago, and ultimately to his sense of the disturbing way the city works, and why.

This book shatters reader assumptions—about the workings of justice, the objectivity of the media, and the role of the police in the city of Chicago, even calling into question allegations of police torture in the notorious cases against Jon Burge. Told in the gripping tension of a crime novel, Preib strives for the highest language as he wanders these brutal, controversial killings.

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3 Missing Students Have Body Dissolved in Acid After Mexican Gangsters Beat Them to Death

Three missing students are dead after criminals in Mexico beat them to death and dissolved their bodies in acid, according to police.

Mexican authorities in Jalisco state announced that the mystery around the three students’ fate had finally been solved weeks after their disappearance triggered massive protests. The film students went missing in the municipality of Tonala after they were forced into a car by between six and eight gang members.

“Subsequently their bodies were dissolved in acid so that no trace of them remained," the state prosecutors office said, according to Reuters.

Drug cartels have used the violent tactic to erase evidence in the past and police believe gang members falsely assumed the three victims were from a rival gang.

According to witnesses, heavily armed men posing as police officers accosted the students after their car broke down. They were never seen again, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The victims—Salomon Aceves Gastelum, Daniel Diaz and Marco Avalos—journeyed outside the city of Guadalajara to shoot a project for the University of Audiovisual Media, AFP reported. Police have stressed that the students had no known link to organized crime.

Police believe that Gastelum, Diaz and Avalos were taken to a property outside Guadalajara for interrogation, during which at least one of them was being beaten to death. The fact that the other two had witnessed a homicide could have convinced the kidnappers to execute them.

Authorities have arrested two suspects in connection with the crime. The investigation is continuing as more potential culprits may be at large, the Jalisco state attorney general, Raul Sanchez said in a news conference.

More than 33,000 people are currently missing in Mexico and organized crime is expected to be a major issue in the current presidential campaign.

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Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme Jury Selection Will Begin for The Trial of the Former #Mafia Boss

Attorneys are preparing for trial in the case of a former New England mafia boss accused of killing a nightclub owner in 1993.

Jury selection in Boston’s federal court will begin Tuesday for the trial of ex-mafia boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme.

Salemme and co-defendant Paul Weadick are accused of killing federal witness Steven DiSarro to prevent him from talking to authorities about illegal activities by Salemme and others. DiSarro’s remains were found in March 2016 behind a mill in Providence, Rhode Island. The men have denied participating in DiSarro’s killing.

The trial is scheduled to begin May 9.

Salemme led the New England family of La Cosa Nostra in the early 1990s and entered witness protection in 1999.

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Gang Member Indicted for Murder and Racketeering for Shooting Victim at Strip Club #Bloods

A seven-count indictment was unsealed in federal court in Central Islip charging Bloods gang member Lawrence Lewis, also known as “L Boogs,” with the July 29, 2017 murder of John Birt, firearms offenses, and narcotics possession and distribution.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in-Charge, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New York, Timothy D. Sini, District Attorney for Suffolk County, and Geraldine Hart, Acting Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD), announced the charges.

“As alleged, this Bloods member committed a senseless murder in furtherance of his violent gang,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “The defendant’s arrest should send a loud and clear message that this Office, working collaboratively with our federal and local law enforcement partners, is committed to eradicating gang violence on Long Island and throughout our district, to make our communities safer.”

“The simple act of taking a photo ended in a man losing his life, all because a gang member was allegedly offended and decided to retaliate,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney. “It’s hard to fathom how the suspect in this case weighed exposing his illegal drug trade, and his illegal weapons because he wanted to prove how tough he is to his rivals. The FBI Long Island Gang Task Force is committed to rooting out the violent gangs and their destructive behavior in our communities.”

“Once murder is added to the list of allegations against Lewis, it is evident that the alleged distribution of large amounts of cocaine and heroin in Long Island neighborhoods was only the tip of his criminal activity,” stated HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Melendez. “We will not stand by while violent gang members roam free in our communities. Lewis had little regard for the life he took or the lives he affected by dealing drugs, and he will now need to face the consequences of his crimes.”

“It is a top priority of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office to prosecute members of dangerous, violent street gangs to the fullest extent of the law,” stated Suffolk County District Attorney Sini. “This individual showed a total disregard for human life and for the law, which will not be tolerated. Today’s indictment is a reinforcement of our Office’s commitment to combating gang violence in our communities and our dedication to working collaboratively with our law enforcement partners to keep Suffolk County residents safe.”

“The Suffolk County Police Department will continue working with our law enforcement partners to bring criminal gang members and their associates to justice,” stated SCPD Acting Commissioner Hart. “The arrest of this murderer will send yet another powerful message to gangs across Long Island that illegal activities will not be tolerated.”

According to the indictment and statements made during the arraignment, between January 2016 and March 2018, Lewis utilized his membership in the Bloods street gang to distribute large quantities of cocaine base and heroin in Suffolk County. In order to protect his supply of narcotics and secure his ability to distribute his narcotics, Lewis possessed a number of firearms, including a Mossberg .22 caliber rifle and a Ruger .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol.

On July 29, 2017, Birt and several friends were posing for a photo at the Illusions Gentlemen’s Club in Deer Park when they were approached by an associate of Lewis who was also a member of the Bloods. The associate attempted to display a Bloods gang hand signal in the photo and a dispute ensued. Lewis pulled out a handgun and fatally shot Birt.

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Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate

Bada-bing. For some people, The Godfather is no mere movie but a manual – a guide to living the gangster's life. They lap up all that stuff about going to the mattresses and sleeping with the fishes. The famous scene in which a mafia refusenik wakes up next to a horse's head may be macabre make-believe, but in some quarters it's treated like a tutorial.

So who are these apparent innocents taking their cues from Hollywood? None other than the mafia themselves, writes Diego Gambetta in his new book, Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate. The Oxford sociologist offers example upon example of gangsters apeing Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece – or what he calls "lowlife imitating art".

There's the Don who took over a Sicilian aristocrat's villa for his daughter's wedding – with 500 guests revelling to the film's soundtrack; the building contractors of Palermo who receive severed horse's heads if they get in the mob's way; and John Gotti's former lieutenant, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, who confessed that plagiarism ranked among his (lesser) crimes: "I would always tell people, just like in The Godfather, 'If you have an enemy, that enemy becomes my enemy.'"

Yet Mario Puzo, The Godfather's inventor, admitted that he "never met a real honest-to-God gangster", while many of the film's most quotable lines (remember "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli"?) were improvised. So what accounts for its influence not just among the mafia but with Hong Kong triads, Japanese yakuza and Russian mobsters?

Well, strip away the mystique and organised crime is a business – one with big handicaps. It may be called "the Firm", but managing a poorly educated, violent workforce is a challenge, advertising job vacancies only attracts the law, and appraisals for underperforming staff can err on the brusque side. The Godfather and other gangster movies plug those holes, says Gambetta. They give criminals an easy-to-follow protocol and a glamour that serves as both corporate feelgood and marketing tool. Uncomfortable though it may be to acknowledge, the underworld is not above taking its cues from the upperworld.

Thanks to Aditya Chakrabortty

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