The Chicago Syndicate
The Mission Impossible Backpack

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin'

In The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', author Bill Zehme presents a masterful assembly of the most personal details and gorgeous minutiae of Frank Sinatra's way of livingmatters of the heart and heartbreak, friendship and leadership, drinking and cavorting, brawling and wooing, tuxedos and snap-brimsall crafted from rare interviews with Sinatra himself as well as many other intimates, including Tony Bennett, Don Rickles, Angie Dickinson, Tony Curtis, and Robert Wagner, in addition to daughters Nancy and Tina Sinatra.


Capturing the timeless romance and classic style of the fifties and the loose sixties, The Way You Wear Your Hat is a stunning exploration of the Sinatra mystique.

Frank Sinatra is that rare American icon whose lifestyle has walked hand-in-hand with his art, the one impossible without the other. Like Elvis, he has seemed intent on living out the dreams his songs inspire, capturing the American public's imagination along the way.

Sinatra's irresistibly romantic sensibility is the subject of this effusive book by Zehme, coauthor of memoirs by Jay Leno and Regis Philbin. Sinatra, who is famous for his hatred of the press, allowed Zehme to ask him a number of questions about his philosophy of life, such as ""How stiff should a stiff drink be?"" and ""What is the most important thing to look for in a woman?"" Zehme sprinkles the questions and Sinatra's frank answers throughout chapters with titles like ""Broads,"" ""Pallies"" and ""Ring-a-Ding-Ding."" The result is a charming, entertaining look at Sinatra's life (which only incidentally involves music here) in the guise of a straight man's guide to living well.

The book begins in a rush, with a Sinatra epigram (""Let's start the action!""); the final chapters deal with family, heartbreak and aging. Zehme does here what other, music-centered biographies of Sinatra do not do: he suggests the pattern behind something as seemingly unpredictable as the events of a man's life. Zehme seems to say that, no matter what has befallen him, Sinatra has acted and reacted his way.


Tuesday, April 25, 2023

High-Ranking Fugitive La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Leader Arrested on Terrorism and Racketeering Charges #MS13

Last week, in federal court in Houston, Jose Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara, also known as “Indio de Hollywood,” a high-ranking leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as “MS-13,” was transferred to the Eastern District of New York where he, together with 12 other high-ranking MS-13 leaders, are charged with directing the transnational criminal organization’s criminal activities in the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, and elsewhere over the past two decades. Ayala-Alcantara was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the United States Marshals Service (USMS) on April 18, 2023 when he arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. The day before, Ayala-Alcantara had been located by Mexican authorities, who determined that he was an El Salvadoran citizen with no valid status in Mexico. He was expelled from Mexico to El Salvador but arrested while transiting through the United States. Specifically, Ayala-Alcantara is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to provide or conceal material support to terrorists, and narco-terrorism conspiracy.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY); Donald Alway, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Los Angeles Field Office; Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI); and John J. Durham, Director of Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV), announced Ayala-Alcantara’s arrest and initial appearance.

“Jose Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara’s abominable MS-13 career has come full circle — having joined the transnational gang when he lived in the United States, he was deported to El Salvador where he ascended to a leadership position, he is returning to face justice in the Eastern District of New York where MS-13 has wrought so much violence in our communities,” stated United States Attorney Peace.

“As most Angelenos know too well, MS-13 is a criminal enterprise that has wreaked havoc on communities in the United States and beyond for decades,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Alway. “The FBI is dedicated to dismantling this scourge on society and will work with our local and international partners to do so, regardless of where they hide. There is no safe haven for criminals who do the bidding of transnational gangs.”

“As alleged, Jose Wilfredo Ayala-Alcantara has led a life of violence and crime, which propelled him to a leadership position within the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 street gang,” stated HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Arvelo. “Ayala-Alcantara is accused of leading MS-13, directing the gang’s vicious appetite for power through carnage and bloodshed. HSI New York will exhaust every resource at our disposal to ensure criminals like Ayala-Alcantara are located and brought to justice. I commend the unified efforts of Homeland Security Investigations New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Houston, and Mexico City, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation Los Angeles Field Division for locating and apprehending Ayala-Alcantara.”

“For over two decades, Ayala-Alcantara has been a zealous member and leader of MS-13, who directed violence and criminal activity across the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, and beyond,” said JTFV Director Durham. “This arrest marks an important step towards holding Ayala-Alcantara accountable for decades of terrorist and criminal acts that he and his MS-13 co-conspirators have carried out internationally.”


Ayala-Alcantara’s indictment was unsealed on February 23, 2023, following the arrests of three of his co-defendants, Vladimir Antonio Arevalo-Chavez, also known as “Vampiro de Monserrat Criminales,” Walter Yovani Hernandez-Rivera, also known as “Baxter de Park View” and “Bastard de Park View,” and Marlon Antonio Menjivar-Portillo, also known as “Rojo de Park View,” but he remained a fugitive until earlier this week. As set forth in court filings, Ayala-Alcantara and his co-defendants are part of MS-13’s command and control structure, consisting of the Ranfla Nacional, Ranfla en Las Calles, and Ranfla en Los Penales, and play significant leadership roles in the organization’s operations in El Salvador, Mexico, the United States, and throughout the world. In total, 27 of the highest-ranking leaders of MS-13 have been charged in this indictment and the related case of United States v. Henriquez, et al. A grand jury in the Eastern District of New York previously indicted 14 members of the Ranfla Nacional, who functioned as MS-13’s “Board of Directors.”

As further alleged, Ayala-Alcantara, who was one of the founding members of the Hollywood clique of the MS-13 in Los Angeles, California, and later rose to become one of the criminal organization’s highest-ranking leaders, and his co-defendants have engaged in numerous violent terrorist activities aimed at influencing the government of El Salvador (GOES). The defendants have used terrorist violence to obtain benefits and concessions from the GOES and to target GOES law enforcement and military officials. The defendants have actively engaged in public displays of violence to threaten and intimidate civilian populations, to obtain and control territory and to manipulate the electoral process in El Salvador. Several of these defendants have played prominent roles in MS-13’s past and current negotiations with the GOES.

Further, these defendants are alleged to have authorized and directed violence in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere as part of a concerted effort to expand MS-13’s influence and territorial control. As the leaders of the MS-13 transnational criminal organization, these defendants were an integral part of the leadership chain responsible for supervising MS-13 cliques in the United States that engaged in extreme violence, including numerous murders, attempted murders, assaults, and related offenses. For example, this Office’s Long Island Criminal Division has prosecuted hundreds of MS-13 leaders, members, and associates for carrying out more than 65 murders in the Eastern District of New York between 2009 and the present.

Three co-defendants, Jorge Alexander De La Cruz, also known as “Cruger de Peatonales,” Juan Antonio Martinez-Abrego, also known as “Mary Jane de Hollywood,” and Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, also known as “Veterano de Tribus,” remain at large. Members of the public with information concerning their whereabouts are strongly encouraged to contact the FBI’s toll-free MS-13 tip line, 1-866-STP-MS13 (1-866-787-6713), or HSI’s tip line at (866) 347-2423 or https://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form. Together, FBI and HSI have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the fugitives. Six other co-defendants, Edwin Ernesto Cedillos-Rodriguez, also known as “Renuente de Abriles Dangers,” Carlos Tiberio Ramirez-Valladares, also known as “Snayder de Pasadena,” Dany Fredy Ramos-Mejia, also known as “Cisco de Teclas,” Dany Balmore Romero-Garcia, also known as “Big Boy de Normandies,” “Dig Boy de Normandies,” and “D Boy de Normandies,” Ruben Antonio Rosa-Lovo, also known as “Chivo de Centrales,” and Miguel Angel Serrano-Medina, also known as “Cabro de Park View,” are believed to be in custody in El Salvador.

Since its creation in August 2019, JTFV has successfully implemented a whole-of-government approach to combatting MS-13, including increasing coordination and collaboration with foreign law enforcement partners, including El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. JTFV has also identified and targeted for prosecution the MS-13 programs, cliques and individuals that have had the most violent impact in the United States, and it has coordinated significant MS-13 indictments in U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country, including the first use of national security charges against MS-13 leaders.


Tuesday, April 11, 2023

The Cigar: Carmine Galante, Mafia Terror #NewYork #MobBoss

From the godfathers of American Mafia history, the brutal and blood-stained biography of Carmine Galante, the ruthless Bonnano boss who rose from tenement street thug to masterminding the legendary global heroin trafficking network, the French Connection – always with a cigar in his mouth.

The Cigar: Carmine Galante, Mafia Terror.

HIS WAR CRY: “I RULE EVERYTHING.”
FOR HALF A CENTURY HE ALMOST DID.


The son of Sicilian immigrants, Camillo Carmine Galante was raised in Manhattan’s Little Italy and by all accounts born bad. At age ten his home away from home was juvenile detention. By fifteen he was terrorizing the streets of New York’s Lower East Side, scoring high marks for the “errands” he was running for his La Cosa Nostra elders. When he turned twenty, Galante was already one of the mob’s top enforcers­–a sadistic thrill killer and clinically diagnosed psychopath with big dreams: whack his way into controlling organized crime the world over, vowing to kill Mafia chieftains Tommy Lucchese and Carlo Gambino and take control of their mob families.

Carmine “Lilo” Galante’s rise to Mafia star was infamous: hit man for the Luciano and Genovese crime families; named consigliere by Joseph Bonnano; he wiped out eight members of the Gambinos; on behalf of Benito Mussolini he assassinated the publisher of an anti-Fascist newspaper. “The biggest dope peddler in the country” according to law enforcement, Galante helped orchestrate one of the largest heroin trafficking operations on record—a power move too dangerous for his rivals in the narcotics trade. The heads of the five New York families decided that the psychotic Galante had to be stopped. On July 12, 1979, finishing his lunch in a Brooklyn restaurant, Galante got what he’d dished out his whole life: a shotgun blast to the face, his trademark cigar still clenched in his teeth…


Monday, April 10, 2023

Mafia Mamma Movie - From Suburban Mom to Mafia Don #MafiaMamma

Mafia Mamma


While seeing to her long estranged (and now deceased) grandfather’s affairs in Italy, Toni Collette, a mild mannered suburban mom, unexpectedly inherits his mafia empire and finds herself stuck in the middle of a deadly mob war.

Guided by the firm’s trusted consigliere (Monica Bellucci), she hilariously defies everyone’s expectations, including her own, as the new head of the family business.

Friday, April 07, 2023

Member of Mexican Mafia Arrested by US Border Patrol #Laredo #MexicanMafia

Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Laredo South Station arrested a gang member with an extensive criminal history in Laredo, Texas.

U.S. Border Patrol agents while working their assigned duties apprehended several individuals near the Rio Grande. Border Patrol agents proceeded to transport the individuals to the Laredo South Station for processing. After record checks were conducted it was determined that all the individuals were in the country illegally.

In the group, a 44-year-old male Mexican national, Julian Duarte-Cazares, was identified as a Mexican Mafia gang member. Duarte-Cazares has an extensive criminal history that includes prior felony convictions for Aggravated Assault with a Weapon, Robbery, and several immigration violations.

Duarte-Cazares will be held pending processing for felony Re-Entry.


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