Jimmy "The Man" Marcello, Imprisoned Chicago Mob Boss, Claims Sentence is Unconstitutional Based on #SCOTUS Decision

The highest ranking Chicago mob boss now in prison, Jimmy "The Man" Marcello, filed a petition in federal court to have his sentence tossed out.

Marcello, 76, is now challenging his sentence based on the U.S. Supreme Court Davis ruling one year ago today. In that Davis decision, the court narrowly held that enhancements for crimes of violence committed with guns are unconstitutionally vague.

Marcello was one of five top hoodlums convicted in the 2007 Family Secrets racketeering case. Authorities said Marcello delivered Tony "Ant" Spilotro to his death -- found with his brother Michael Spilotro in an Indiana cornfield in June 1986.


James Marcello was sentenced to life in 2009 and is imprisoned at the fed's Supermax facility in Colorado.

"It's one of the least appealing cases and sets of facts for a court to consider in giving somebody a break but the analysis is going to be a legal one. Was he convicted under the statute that Davis was talking about, the Supreme Court was talking about, and can it be applied retroactively, and would it make any difference to him anyway because the crimes were so serious they could have easily have yielded a life in prison sentence even without this," said former federal prosecutor and ABC 7 Legal Analyst Gil Soffer.

Thanks to Chuck Goudie, Barb Markoff, Christine Tressel and Ross Weidner.

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Released Today: The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir by Donald Trump's National Security Advisor, John Bolton

The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir.

As President Trump’s National Security Advisor, John Bolton spent many of his 453 days in the room where it happened, and the facts speak for themselves.

The result is a White House memoir that is the most comprehensive and substantial account of the Trump Administration, and one of the few to date by a top-level official. With almost daily access to the President, John Bolton has produced a precise rendering of his days in and around the Oval Office. What Bolton saw astonished him: a President for whom getting reelected was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant endangering or weakening the nation. “I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations,” he writes. In fact, he argues that the House committed impeachment malpractice by keeping their prosecution focused narrowly on Ukraine when Trump’s Ukraine-like transgressions existed across the full range of his foreign policy—and Bolton documents exactly what those were, and attempts by him and others in the Administration to raise alarms about them.

He shows a President addicted to chaos, who embraced our enemies and spurned our friends, and was deeply suspicious of his own government. In Bolton’s telling, all this helped put Trump on the bizarre road to impeachment. “The differences between this presidency and previous ones I had served were stunning,” writes Bolton, who worked for Reagan, Bush 41, and Bush 43. He discovered a President who thought foreign policy is like closing a real estate deal—about personal relationships, made-for-TV showmanship, and advancing his own interests. As a result, the US lost an opportunity to confront its deepening threats, and in cases like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea ended up in a more vulnerable place.

Bolton’s account starts with his long march to the West Wing as Trump and others woo him for the National Security job. The minute he lands, he has to deal with Syria’s chemical attack on the city of Douma, and the crises after that never stop. As he writes in the opening pages, “If you don’t like turmoil, uncertainty, and risk—all the while being constantly overwhelmed with information, decisions to be made, and sheer amount of work—and enlivened by international and domestic personality and ego conflicts beyond description, try something else.”

The turmoil, conflicts, and egos are all there—from the upheaval in Venezuela, to the erratic and manipulative moves of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, to the showdowns at the G7 summits, the calculated warmongering by Iran, the crazy plan to bring the Taliban to Camp David, and the placating of an authoritarian China that ultimately exposed the world to its lethal lies. But this seasoned public servant also has a great eye for the Washington inside game, and his story is full of wit and wry humor about how he saw it played.

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Operation Blue Heat Results in MS-13 Members Sentenced to Prison for Violent 2018 Attack

Two MS-13 members were sentenced to over a combined 28 years in prison for their roles in a December 2018 shooting and stabbing that occurred in Four Mile Run Park.

“Yes, Northern Virginia has a gang problem,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “I have personally handled the prosecution of MS-13 members in Alexandria for over a decade. By burying their heads in the sand and lacking courage to address a problem because they mistakenly deem it to be politically incorrect, various community leaders in Northern Virginia simply refuse to acknowledge the gang problem to the detriment of the same Hispanic community they claim to be defending. No one suffers more at the hands of MS-13 than other individuals of Central American birth or ancestry. MS-13 gang members extort minority owned businesses in their own communities, sexually traffic first generation American juveniles, and brutally assault and even murder Hispanic boys and girls who they believe have disrespected the gang. This case is proof positive of the need for community leaders in Northern Virginia to acknowledge this reality and work to be part of the solution. We cannot prosecute MS-13 out of existence. The community must play a significant role to protect our youth from joining the gang in the first place. I believe that together we can eliminate the gang problem in Northern Virginia.”

According to court documents, Juan Francisco Rivera-Pineda, 25, and Jefferson Noe Amaya, 25, both of Alexandria, are members of the Pinos Locos Salvatrucha (PLS) clique of MS-13, which operates in Chirilagua, an area in Alexandria near the border of Arlington.

On Dec. 30, 2018, Rivera-Pineda and Amaya shot and stabbed a 40-year-old victim while the victim and his two friends were in Four Mile Run Park. The victim’s nephew had been warned by PLS not to sell drugs in PLS territory without paying rent. On the night of the shooting, Rivera-Pineda, Amaya, and a third unidentified suspect confronted the victim in the park, shooting him in the throat and arm, and stabbing him in the torso. The victim was transported to the hospital where he underwent surgery and survived.

“Today's sentencings send a clear message that the FBI and the Safe Streets Task Force remain aggressive in investigating and dismantling gang activity that brings violence and fear into our communities,” said James A. Dawson, Special Agent in Charge of the Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office. “The FBI will continue steadfastly in its goal to take these violent offenders off the street and ultimately bring justice to the victims of these brutal acts.”

Rivera-Pineda and Amaya each pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon in aid of racketeering activity, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. Rivera-Pineda was sentenced to 161 months in prison, and Amaya was sentenced to 177 months. Each sentence included a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years.

The case was investigated as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), Operation Blue Heat. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.

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Chris Meloni, @Chris_Meloni, Confirmed for Law & Order: Organized Crime

Chris Meloni of Law & Order: Organized Crime

NBC made it official on Tuesday: Det. Elliot Stabler is coming back to TVs everywhere sometime this fall. The character, once again played by Christopher Meloni, will head up a new Law & Order spinoff, titled Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Rumors of Meloni's return to the procedural mega-franchise has been talked about since February, nearly a decade after he departed from Law & Order: SVU after Season 12. Although fans never stopped hoping he'd return to the show, and for good reason. When SVU premiered in 1999, Meloni's portrayal of Stabler was one of the things that drew viewers in those early episodes, along with his rapport with co-star Mariska Hargitay, who played Captain Olivia Benson.

While SVU managed to succeed in the wake of Meloni's absence, Season 22 will be premiering sometime this fall, the show's dedicated viewers never let go of the possibility of his character's eventual return. Even though the actor previously insisted he had "no plans" to return to the Law & Order fold, that appears to have changed. Other than the fact that Organized Crime will follow SVU on Thursday nights, there aren't a lot of details at the moment, including a premiere date for the show. However, here's a rundown of what we do know about Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Law & Order: SVU premiered in September of 1999, and was itself a spinoff of Dick Wolf's drama Law & Order. Meloni's Elliot Stabler was a dedicated family man who often took his department's grim cases to heart, oftentimes complicating the investigations along the way. This was regularly at odds with Hargitay's Captain Benson, who often took the opposite perspective, and created a dynamic that drove the show for more than a decade.

After helping anchor SVU for 12 seasons, Stabler's absence was casually explained away in an off-screen retirement. Given that he never received a proper send-off, which is why so many fans have been yearning to see him come back. It turns out, the actor left the show simply because he was unable to reach terms with NBC on a contract extension.

In an interview with PEOPLE back in February, Hargitay mentioned there had been "conversations" about Stabler being brought out of retirement, though she was also scarce on the details. "I can't tell you that; I'm taking the Fifth!" Hargitay said. "There have been conversations, many a conversation." Back in August of last year, showrunner Warren Leight told TVLine that he was hopeful that Stabler would return, though he pointed out that the decision was "above my pay grade."

After rumors started gaining steam in March, Meloni himself confirmed the news on Twitter, albeit indirectly. He did have a "small quibble" about the announcement, which was just that he's "not on Facebook." While the actor does have a verified page on the platform, he later clarified that someone else runs it. Regardless, fans were beside themselves over the news.

Law & Order: Organized Crime will see Stabler return to the NYPD to battle organized crime, which comes with some extra motivation due to a personal loss. His triumphant comeback also comes during dramatic changes in the city's police department, not to mention the city at large. The series will follow Stabler as he attempts to rebuild his life as he leads a new elite task force tasked with taking apart the city's most powerful crime syndicates. In addition to the new series, Stabler will also appear in SVU's Season 22 premiere.

Along with Tuesday's announcement, NBC Entertainment Chairman Paul Telegdy addressed how Organized Crime, as well as the rest of its cop dramas and comedies, will fit into a world being reframed by Civil Rights protests. Telegdy stated that "the events of this year have allowed us the time to take pause, examine our business with a new lens and take some immediate action."

He added that they're using the temporary shutdown as an "opportunity to offer all of this season's showrunners the chance to enrich their team with an additional diverse writer at any level." While he admits that it's "not the solution by any means, but it is something we can do right now to take a positive step."

Thanks to Christian Long.

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DEA Domestic Cartel Initiative Arrests 12 in Operation Mad Hatter

Twelve defendants are in custody after a DEA operation led to several arrests this morning as part of a federal drug investigation. Operation Mad Hatter has resulted in the identification of multiple drug traffickers and the seizure of large quantities of cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, and heroin.

Operation Mad Hatter, run by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, is an ongoing DEA Domestic Cartel Initiative investigation. Today’s arrests follow the unsealing of indictments of 13 individuals who were charged by a federal grand jury on March 3, 2020. Of those, eight were taken into custody this morning, four were already in police custody, and one has made arrangements to turn herself in.

The investigation was initiated in June 2018 to target violent drug trafficking organizations operating in central Arkansas and, in particular, Pine Bluff. The investigation revealed that the Stuttgart Police Department was responding to drug and violence caused by a local gang organization called Porter Block Mafia, or PBM. Detectives reported this particular organization was responsible for several shootings and other violent crimes in Stuttgart. The organization was also known for selling crack cocaine, marijuana and illegally-obtained pills. Stuttgart police reported there have been several drug robberies in their city suspected to be carried out by the PBM organization.

The Pine Bluff Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office advised investigators that the main violent gang organization in their community is known as Murder Gang and Murder MOB, or MOB. Local investigators advised that these violent organizations were responsible for three to four shootings a night in their community as well as several murders. Both agencies advised that the killings were related to narcotics and gang rivalries. Additionally, over 120 firearms had been stolen from a pawn shop in Pine Bluff, and police advised that they suspected MOB has been using these stolen weapons to commit crimes in their community.

In response to the drug and gun violence in Pine Bluff and Stuttgart, DEA launched Operation Mad Hatter in 2019. In February 2019, DEA made the first arrests related to the operation, and in August 2019, additional arrests resulted from activity uncovered during the ongoing investigation. Today’s arrests mark the third phase of the operation, which has resulted in a total of 43 arrests to date.

On March 3, 2020, the grand jury for the Eastern District of Arkansas returned an indictment charging Kendrick Thorn and 11 codefendants in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, as well as firearms offenses. Thorn and three codefendants are charged with enhanced penalties based on prior convictions for drug trafficking and crimes of violence. Four additional defendants are indicted with drug trafficking and firearm offenses in separate indictments.

During the course of Operation Mad Hatter, investigators have seized 29 kilograms of methamphetamine, four kilograms of cocaine, one kilogram of MDMA (commonly known as ecstasy), 1.5 kilograms of heroin, 82 grams of fentanyl, over 200 diverted prescription pills, more than $107,000 in assets, and seven firearms. During today’s arrests, officers recovered an additional 600 grams of methamphetamine, approximately one pound of marijuana, three firearms, and approximately $6,000 in U.S. currency.

“Today’s arrests demonstrate that law enforcement is working hard to eradicate drugs and violence from our communities,” stated Cody Hiland, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “This third phase of Operation Mad Hatter is an example of the continued pressure we will apply to drug trafficking organizations. We appreciate the efforts of our many law enforcement partners who were instrumental in carrying out this investigation.”

Shirley Washington, Mayor of Pine Bluff, stated, “The City of Pine Bluff is committed to revitalizing our community and making this a place of destination for families, students, and businesses to thrive. We support all efforts to make this a safe environment for such progress to grow and flourish.”

“Nothing is more important than the safety and security of our communities. This Domestic Cartel Initiative operation is a powerful attack against a violent drug trafficking organization and will have an immediate impact in this region of Arkansas and beyond,” DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Justin King said. “The resulting arrests demonstrate the combined strength local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies bring to bear in the fight against these domestic cartels and strike a substantial blow to their drug trafficking operations. By working together, we are leveraging our respective resources to achieve results that we could not accomplish on our own.”

“These arrests represent a lengthy investigation and send a clear message to drug traffickers. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service will defend the nation’s mail system from illegal use, and stopping the flow of dangerous drugs to our cities is a high priority,” said D. Glen Henderson, Acting Inspector in Charge of the Fort Worth Division. “Removing drugs from the streets and taking guns from criminals is always a victory for the community. We thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and all county, state and local law enforcement officers who worked together with Postal Inspectors to make this investigation a success.”

Operation Mad Hatter is a joint investigation with participation from the DEA Little Rock District Office; FBI; United States Postal Inspection Service; United States Marshals Service; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives; Arkansas State Police; Pine Bluff Police Department and the Narcotics Unit; Little Rock Police Department; North Little Rock Police Department; Benton Police Department; Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office; Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office; Saline County Sheriff’s Office; Central Arkansas Drug Task Force; and Arkansas Community Corrections.

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