In a Mafia induction ceremony in 1989, Robert Deluca drew blood from his trigger finger as fellow alleged mobsters burned a Madonna prayer card and vowed to never betray the mob’s code of silence.
“As burn this Saint, so will burn my soul. I enter into this organization alive, and I will have to get out dead,’’ Deluca recited in Italian as he became a “made man” in the mob at the Medford initiation that was secretly bugged by the FBI.
Newscenter 5 has learned that Deluca, who is a reputed capo in the New England crime family, has betrayed the blood oath. He has agreed to cooperate with the FBI and act as a star witness in the James “Whitey” Bulger case, several sources said.
In 1995, DeLuca was indicted along with Bulger, Steven “The Rifleman” Flemmi, James “Jimmy the Bear” Martorano and Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme in a plethora of racketeering charges. But, by the time Deluca and his codefendants were arrested, Whitey Bulger was gone. He was tipped off to the pending indictment and went on the lam until his arrest in Santa Monica this June.
While Whitey Bulger was on the run, Deluca pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy, racketeering and interference with commerce by threats of violence charges and served 34 months in a federal prison, according to court documents.
By the time Bulger – who topped the FBI’s Most Wanted List – was captured, law enforcement sources said Deluca was losing his Rhode Island power base as the Mafia’s leadership roles shifted back to Boston.
In recent months, Deluca vanished from his base on Federal Hill and has not been seen in the North End. His North Providence home has been sold. His wife and two kids have vanished. “We saw the moving truck there and they were gone,’’ said Grace Olsen, Deluca’s next-door neighbor.
Deluca is one of several mob bosses to “flip” in recent years. In New York, Bonanno crime family boss Joseph “Big Joey” Messina cooperated with the government to avoid a death sentence. The Philadelphia Mafia’s boss, Ralph Natale, also made a deal.
“Historically it was very rare,’’ retired Massachusetts State Police Det. Lt. Bob Long said of Mafia leaders becoming cooperators. “Now rumors are that Deluca is doing the same thing…
“It appears that the old days of following the code of silence, the omerta, of this thing of ours is crumbled. It’s like a bygone era,” said Long.
Deluca’s neighbor said living next to a mob boss had its benefits. “We were very sad to see him go,’’ Olsen said.
When asked if she knew about his cooperation agreement, she nodded. “Knowing him and having broken bread with him,’’ she said, “I think that he did what he had to do to protect his young family.”
Thanks to Michele McPhee
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI's Reputation Soared with High-Profile Arrests of Gangsters
It is fitting to begin in the heart of Washington D.C., where J. Edgar Hoover lies at rest.
He was a local kid who grew up on Capitol Hill, just a few blocks away.
He's buried in his family plot
, but Rebecca Roberts, program director at Congressional Cemetery, says former FBI agents built the fence and added a bench - creating a memorial that draws new recruits. "Every now and then some young men in dark suits with little wires coming out of their ears come in the front gate of the cemetery, coming to pay their respects to the director," Roberts said.
The director for an astonishing 48 years, starting in 1924, J. Edgar Hoover became one of the most powerful men in American history - a man who collected secrets and knew how to use them.
He made the FBI a symbol of professional law enforcement and a source of pride for Americans: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is as close to you as your nearest telephone," Lowell Thomas said in a 1930s newsreel. "It seeks to be your protector in all matters in its jurisdiction. It belongs to you." But Hoover also turned the Bureau into his personal fiefdom: "Presidents were afraid of firing Hoover," said author Ron Kessler. "Congress didn't want to do any oversight. The FBI was a law unto itself."
Kessler has written three books about the FBI. He says that, ironically, in the beginning Hoover, a young Justice Dept. lawyer, was charged with cleaning up a corrupt division. "Hoover emphasized the need for professionalism, not hiring people just because they were friends of someone or family members," Kessler said. "He established the fingerprint operation, he established the indexing system with files."
He also established the FBI Academy, to train agents in crime-busting techniques - making sure he got the credit. In fact, the Bureau's reputation (and Hoover's) soared with high-profile arrests of gangsters like John Dillinger. But out of the spotlight, the director was consolidating his power in another way - collecting dirt. "Hoover, for one thing, would tell for example the head of the Washington field office, 'I want material on Congressmen,' and that would include affairs that they might be having, or they were picked up for seeing a prostitute the night before," said Kessler. "And then he would make sure that they knew that he knew what they had done."
Hoover kept files on celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, and even Albert Einstein - "In part because he wanted to have little gossip items to impart to presidents," said Kessler, "or on the other hand, just to maintain his aura as being this powerful person who knew everything."
"That is complete fabrication," said Cartha "Deke" Deloach, now 91, who was one of Hoover's top lieutenants. He insists that if the FBI kept files on public figures, it was for legitimate reasons.
Case in point: The information that President John F. Kennedy was sharing a girlfriend, Judith Campbell Exner, with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. "That came to our attention because of a wiretap and microphone that the Attorney General approved, the White House knew about them, that we had on Giancana," said Deloach. "As a result, the White House sometimes would call Exner and it would be overheard by a wiretap."
As for the bugging of Martin Luther King Jr., who feuded with Hoover over the Bureau's enforcement of civil rights, the FBI's alleged justification for tapping King was an investigation into two of his advisers who were said to be Communists. But the taps ended up recording evidence of King's extramarital affairs.
"Hoover was outraged that King was having affairs and projecting himself as a minister, but at the same time Hoover also was jealous of King because he got the Nobel Prize, and that really infuriated Hoover," said Kessler. "Hoover just totally went after him. He would even write letters to people who wanted to give awards to King saying, "You know, we shouldn't do that.'"
Hoover may have amassed information on the sex lives of many prominent figures, but his own personal life has long been the subject of speculation. "There were for years reports and rumors that Hoover used to cross-dress," said Braver.
"Yeah, the rumor that Hoover cross-dressed and wore a red dress to the Plaza was a concoction of someone who actually had been convicted of perjury and was quoted in a book," said Kessler. "It didn't happen."
But how about Hoover's relationship with his top deputy, Clyde Tolson? "Tolson and Hoover would go on vacations together, would take adoring pictures of each other, would have lunch and dinner together almost every single day," said Kessler. "There is no actual evidence of a sexual relationship, but I believe he was homosexual, and that he had a spousal relationship with Tolson."
"Deke" Deloach says he never saw anything other than friendship between the two men, but that Hoover was aware of rumors. "He's actually said to have agents go and visit people and say 'I understand you're talking about the director,'" said Braver.
"I did," Deloach said. "I was told to do it, saying, 'You have made remarks concerning Mr. Hoover being a homosexual. Give me the evidence.' And they'd always back down."
Through the years, under eight presidents, Hoover became so entrenched that he was all but untouchable.
LBJ allowed Hoover to serve beyond the 70-year age limit. He signed an executive order exempting him from compulsory retirement for an indefinite period of time. And Richard Nixon didn't fire him, either. "Nixon was afraid to do it," Deloach said.
"Were people afraid to do it because they were afraid Hoover would go ballistic on them and start leaking out bad stuff about them?" Braver asked. "That was part of it. They were afraid of him."
Hoover died in 1972 at age 77.
His funeral was a state occasion. But shortly after his death, details began leaking of a controversial domestic spying program, known as COINTELPRO, and of Hoover's own personal abuses - for example, using FBI agents to work on his home.
"What do you think happened to Hoover along the way?" asked Braver.
"Hoover, being as powerful as he was and having all this adulation all the time, did think he was God," said Kessler. "Initially he was very far-sighted. He did create this great organization. But as time went on, he became a despot."
Shortly after Hoover's burial, Clyde Tolson, who inherited Hoover's entire estate, bought the closest available plot. And almost 40 years after J. Edgar Hoover's death, we are still wondering about his secrets - Those he used, and those he kept.
Thanks to Rita Braver
He was a local kid who grew up on Capitol Hill, just a few blocks away.
He's buried in his family plot
, but Rebecca Roberts, program director at Congressional Cemetery, says former FBI agents built the fence and added a bench - creating a memorial that draws new recruits. "Every now and then some young men in dark suits with little wires coming out of their ears come in the front gate of the cemetery, coming to pay their respects to the director," Roberts said.The director for an astonishing 48 years, starting in 1924, J. Edgar Hoover became one of the most powerful men in American history - a man who collected secrets and knew how to use them.
He made the FBI a symbol of professional law enforcement and a source of pride for Americans: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is as close to you as your nearest telephone," Lowell Thomas said in a 1930s newsreel. "It seeks to be your protector in all matters in its jurisdiction. It belongs to you." But Hoover also turned the Bureau into his personal fiefdom: "Presidents were afraid of firing Hoover," said author Ron Kessler. "Congress didn't want to do any oversight. The FBI was a law unto itself."
Kessler has written three books about the FBI. He says that, ironically, in the beginning Hoover, a young Justice Dept. lawyer, was charged with cleaning up a corrupt division. "Hoover emphasized the need for professionalism, not hiring people just because they were friends of someone or family members," Kessler said. "He established the fingerprint operation, he established the indexing system with files."
He also established the FBI Academy, to train agents in crime-busting techniques - making sure he got the credit. In fact, the Bureau's reputation (and Hoover's) soared with high-profile arrests of gangsters like John Dillinger. But out of the spotlight, the director was consolidating his power in another way - collecting dirt. "Hoover, for one thing, would tell for example the head of the Washington field office, 'I want material on Congressmen,' and that would include affairs that they might be having, or they were picked up for seeing a prostitute the night before," said Kessler. "And then he would make sure that they knew that he knew what they had done."
Hoover kept files on celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, and even Albert Einstein - "In part because he wanted to have little gossip items to impart to presidents," said Kessler, "or on the other hand, just to maintain his aura as being this powerful person who knew everything."
"That is complete fabrication," said Cartha "Deke" Deloach, now 91, who was one of Hoover's top lieutenants. He insists that if the FBI kept files on public figures, it was for legitimate reasons.
Case in point: The information that President John F. Kennedy was sharing a girlfriend, Judith Campbell Exner, with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. "That came to our attention because of a wiretap and microphone that the Attorney General approved, the White House knew about them, that we had on Giancana," said Deloach. "As a result, the White House sometimes would call Exner and it would be overheard by a wiretap."
As for the bugging of Martin Luther King Jr., who feuded with Hoover over the Bureau's enforcement of civil rights, the FBI's alleged justification for tapping King was an investigation into two of his advisers who were said to be Communists. But the taps ended up recording evidence of King's extramarital affairs.
"Hoover was outraged that King was having affairs and projecting himself as a minister, but at the same time Hoover also was jealous of King because he got the Nobel Prize, and that really infuriated Hoover," said Kessler. "Hoover just totally went after him. He would even write letters to people who wanted to give awards to King saying, "You know, we shouldn't do that.'"
Hoover may have amassed information on the sex lives of many prominent figures, but his own personal life has long been the subject of speculation. "There were for years reports and rumors that Hoover used to cross-dress," said Braver.
"Yeah, the rumor that Hoover cross-dressed and wore a red dress to the Plaza was a concoction of someone who actually had been convicted of perjury and was quoted in a book," said Kessler. "It didn't happen."
But how about Hoover's relationship with his top deputy, Clyde Tolson? "Tolson and Hoover would go on vacations together, would take adoring pictures of each other, would have lunch and dinner together almost every single day," said Kessler. "There is no actual evidence of a sexual relationship, but I believe he was homosexual, and that he had a spousal relationship with Tolson."
"Deke" Deloach says he never saw anything other than friendship between the two men, but that Hoover was aware of rumors. "He's actually said to have agents go and visit people and say 'I understand you're talking about the director,'" said Braver.
"I did," Deloach said. "I was told to do it, saying, 'You have made remarks concerning Mr. Hoover being a homosexual. Give me the evidence.' And they'd always back down."
Through the years, under eight presidents, Hoover became so entrenched that he was all but untouchable.
LBJ allowed Hoover to serve beyond the 70-year age limit. He signed an executive order exempting him from compulsory retirement for an indefinite period of time. And Richard Nixon didn't fire him, either. "Nixon was afraid to do it," Deloach said.
"Were people afraid to do it because they were afraid Hoover would go ballistic on them and start leaking out bad stuff about them?" Braver asked. "That was part of it. They were afraid of him."
Hoover died in 1972 at age 77.
His funeral was a state occasion. But shortly after his death, details began leaking of a controversial domestic spying program, known as COINTELPRO, and of Hoover's own personal abuses - for example, using FBI agents to work on his home.
"What do you think happened to Hoover along the way?" asked Braver.
"Hoover, being as powerful as he was and having all this adulation all the time, did think he was God," said Kessler. "Initially he was very far-sighted. He did create this great organization. But as time went on, he became a despot."
Shortly after Hoover's burial, Clyde Tolson, who inherited Hoover's entire estate, bought the closest available plot. And almost 40 years after J. Edgar Hoover's death, we are still wondering about his secrets - Those he used, and those he kept.
Thanks to Rita Braver
Monday, November 14, 2011
Chicago Mob Hangouts in Wisconsin
Members of the U.S. temperance movement believed that eliminating the demon alcohol would cure society of many ills. It would solidify family life, get people back to work, and make society more respectable. Little did they suspect that Prohibition would create effects quite the opposite.
Banning the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol from 1920 to 1933 did not cure Americans' thirst for it. In effect, Prohibition forced the supply chain underground. With liquor no longer legally available, gangsters stepped in to fulfill the public's craving.
Chicago was well-known as a gangster city, with mob figures such as Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, "Polack Joe" Saltis and others. When pressure from the law got hot in Chicago, some gangsters found remote, wooded northern Wisconsin the perfect place to hide out.
Scattered throughout the North Woods are the old haunts of the Capone brothers Al and Ralph, Saltis, Nelson and John Dillinger.
A recent road trip took me back to the remnants of that time when the Roaring '20s, followed by the Great Depression, accentuated the "sin" in Wisconsin. A tour of these historical places is a great way to see the state and learn about an era that affected the development of many small towns of the North Woods.
Among the most well-known stops along the way:
Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters: Once a resort where the FBI botched a shootout with John Dillinger's gang and Baby Face Nelson, and recently immortalized by the movie "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, it's now a restaurant still called Little Bohemia. The rooms where Dillinger stayed have been turned into a little museum and left mainly as they were, with bullet holes intact.
Dillman's Bay Resort in Lac du Flambeau: Cabin No. 5 is where Baby Face Nelson holed up after the shootout at Little Bohemia, holding an Ojibwe couple hostage for three days.
Minocqua still has several places once allegedly frequented by gangsters, including Norwood Pines Supper Club, which had gambling and a brothel upstairs. BJ's Sportshop on U.S. Highway 51 used to house "Trixies," the most famous whorehouse in the North Woods. The Belle Isle Sports Bar and Grill had a direct line to Arlington Race Track near Chicago. Bosacki's Boat House restaurant also was a popular hangout for the Chicago mob.
Couderay : Al Capone's home on Cranberry Lake was privately operated and open to the public but closed in 2009. Capone used to fly alcohol in from Canada and unload it at his dock. Not far away at Barker's Lake Lodge near Winter, Saltis built a log lodge with cabins for his friends and fellow gangsters. Saltis was a mob boss from Chicago who operated speakeasies. The resort is still open for business and has a nine-hole golf course built by Saltis.
Garmisch USA near Cable: Was built as a lodge by wealthy Chicago businessman Jacob Loeb, who hired the famous attorney Clarence Darrow to represent his teenage nephew after the youth killed another young boy for the thrill. Garmisch still has the beautiful old lodge and now has many cabins as well.
Hurley, Hayward and hell made up what locals called the Devil's Triangle: They were rough logging towns that became notorious for their speakeasies and brothels during Prohibition and were often frequented by the likes of Capone and his cronies. Brothels and bars lined Silver St. in Hurley, where many establishments had tunnels connecting each other, and one allegedly ran under the Montreal River into Michigan. One block of Silver St. still houses strip clubs.
What is now Dawn's Never Inn has the rooms of an old brothel upstairs where Al Capone used to stay.
Mercer : Located on Highway 51 between Hurley and Minocqua, Mercer was the longtime home of Al Capone's older brother Ralph, who ran a couple of taverns. Mitch Babic, now in his 90s, was a fishing and hunting guide for the rich and famous and chronicled Mercer's history over his lifetime with photographs. He knew Ralph well and claims to have been at Little Bohemia on the night of the shootout with Dillinger as a teenager.
Thanks to Gary Porter
Banning the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol from 1920 to 1933 did not cure Americans' thirst for it. In effect, Prohibition forced the supply chain underground. With liquor no longer legally available, gangsters stepped in to fulfill the public's craving.
Chicago was well-known as a gangster city, with mob figures such as Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, "Polack Joe" Saltis and others. When pressure from the law got hot in Chicago, some gangsters found remote, wooded northern Wisconsin the perfect place to hide out.
Scattered throughout the North Woods are the old haunts of the Capone brothers Al and Ralph, Saltis, Nelson and John Dillinger.
A recent road trip took me back to the remnants of that time when the Roaring '20s, followed by the Great Depression, accentuated the "sin" in Wisconsin. A tour of these historical places is a great way to see the state and learn about an era that affected the development of many small towns of the North Woods.
Among the most well-known stops along the way:
Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters: Once a resort where the FBI botched a shootout with John Dillinger's gang and Baby Face Nelson, and recently immortalized by the movie "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, it's now a restaurant still called Little Bohemia. The rooms where Dillinger stayed have been turned into a little museum and left mainly as they were, with bullet holes intact.
Dillman's Bay Resort in Lac du Flambeau: Cabin No. 5 is where Baby Face Nelson holed up after the shootout at Little Bohemia, holding an Ojibwe couple hostage for three days.
Minocqua still has several places once allegedly frequented by gangsters, including Norwood Pines Supper Club, which had gambling and a brothel upstairs. BJ's Sportshop on U.S. Highway 51 used to house "Trixies," the most famous whorehouse in the North Woods. The Belle Isle Sports Bar and Grill had a direct line to Arlington Race Track near Chicago. Bosacki's Boat House restaurant also was a popular hangout for the Chicago mob.
Couderay : Al Capone's home on Cranberry Lake was privately operated and open to the public but closed in 2009. Capone used to fly alcohol in from Canada and unload it at his dock. Not far away at Barker's Lake Lodge near Winter, Saltis built a log lodge with cabins for his friends and fellow gangsters. Saltis was a mob boss from Chicago who operated speakeasies. The resort is still open for business and has a nine-hole golf course built by Saltis.
Garmisch USA near Cable: Was built as a lodge by wealthy Chicago businessman Jacob Loeb, who hired the famous attorney Clarence Darrow to represent his teenage nephew after the youth killed another young boy for the thrill. Garmisch still has the beautiful old lodge and now has many cabins as well.
Hurley, Hayward and hell made up what locals called the Devil's Triangle: They were rough logging towns that became notorious for their speakeasies and brothels during Prohibition and were often frequented by the likes of Capone and his cronies. Brothels and bars lined Silver St. in Hurley, where many establishments had tunnels connecting each other, and one allegedly ran under the Montreal River into Michigan. One block of Silver St. still houses strip clubs.
What is now Dawn's Never Inn has the rooms of an old brothel upstairs where Al Capone used to stay.
Mercer : Located on Highway 51 between Hurley and Minocqua, Mercer was the longtime home of Al Capone's older brother Ralph, who ran a couple of taverns. Mitch Babic, now in his 90s, was a fishing and hunting guide for the rich and famous and chronicled Mercer's history over his lifetime with photographs. He knew Ralph well and claims to have been at Little Bohemia on the night of the shootout with Dillinger as a teenager.
Thanks to Gary Porter
Sunday, November 13, 2011
The Russian Mafia's Pakhan
In the Russian Mafia, the equivalent of the Don is called the Pakhan. This boss controls four operating "cells" through his second in command. The number two man is called the Brigadier. Given that this organized crime family structure originated in Russia, where secret police once ruled with terror and fostered a paranoid environment, the Pakhan employs spies to keep an eye on the Brigadier. The cells are made up of the usual suspects - soldiers who deal in drugs, prostitution, extortion, bribery and all manner of criminality. The members of the individual cells do not know members of the other cells, though they all report to the Pakhan. Just as the American Mafia mirrors the legitimate capitalistic world, the Russian Mafia reflects the communist regime where it was spawned.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Mafia Inc.: The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada’s Sicilian Clan by André Cédilot and André Noël
As with its actors and professional football players, Canada’s Mafia families were long considered to be little more than farm teams for their many big brothers to the south. Montreal journalists André Cédilot and André Noël turn this notion on its ear to show that, perversely, this country’s organized crime underworld is arguably deeper, darker and more violent than the goings-on in New York’s five boroughs or elsewhere.
Cédilot and Noël, veteran crime reporters for La Presse, spin an exhaustive and compelling read. Much like the mob itself, Mafia Inc.’s narrative tendrils are long and widespread, and converge on an imposing subject: Montreal’s Rizzuto clan. Hailing from Sicily, Nick Rizzuto arrived in Montreal and in short order usurped the Cotroni clan to become patriarch of the country’s most important crime family. His son Vito, who helped cement the deal with bullets pumped into the bodies of rivals, eventually took over.
For whatever reason—luck of the devil, the RCMP’s zealous ineptitude, or what Cédilot and Noël call “Canadian judicial authorities’ incomprehensible indolence” toward the mob—Vito stayed out of jail, and his decades-long reign expanded the family’s influence to New York, Italy and beyond. The book is larded with keen details. For example: who knew that the Lebanese civil war was the reason why Montreal organized crime moved from hashish to cocaine, or that leaders of Quebec’s biker gangs had a childlike adoration of Montreal’s Mafia types?
The genius of Mafia Inc. is its all-important connections between organized crime, legitimate business and government. The chapter on the alleged cozy relationship between former Liberal minister Alfonso Gagliano and the Rizzuto clan (Gagliano denies any Mafia ties) is alone worth the price of admission. And the authors show how the Rizzutos, like any big and violent Mafia clan worth its salt, were crippled much as they started: with hubris and a hail of bullets.
Thanks to Martin Patriquin
Cédilot and Noël, veteran crime reporters for La Presse, spin an exhaustive and compelling read. Much like the mob itself, Mafia Inc.’s narrative tendrils are long and widespread, and converge on an imposing subject: Montreal’s Rizzuto clan. Hailing from Sicily, Nick Rizzuto arrived in Montreal and in short order usurped the Cotroni clan to become patriarch of the country’s most important crime family. His son Vito, who helped cement the deal with bullets pumped into the bodies of rivals, eventually took over.
For whatever reason—luck of the devil, the RCMP’s zealous ineptitude, or what Cédilot and Noël call “Canadian judicial authorities’ incomprehensible indolence” toward the mob—Vito stayed out of jail, and his decades-long reign expanded the family’s influence to New York, Italy and beyond. The book is larded with keen details. For example: who knew that the Lebanese civil war was the reason why Montreal organized crime moved from hashish to cocaine, or that leaders of Quebec’s biker gangs had a childlike adoration of Montreal’s Mafia types?
The genius of Mafia Inc. is its all-important connections between organized crime, legitimate business and government. The chapter on the alleged cozy relationship between former Liberal minister Alfonso Gagliano and the Rizzuto clan (Gagliano denies any Mafia ties) is alone worth the price of admission. And the authors show how the Rizzutos, like any big and violent Mafia clan worth its salt, were crippled much as they started: with hubris and a hail of bullets.
Thanks to Martin Patriquin
Friday, November 11, 2011
Is the Russian Mafia Now the Strongest in the World?
Officials with the US State Department believe that the Russian mafia is the mafia of all mafias. World-known mafia brands such as Cosa Nostra and Yakuza pale in comparison with the great and terrible Russian gangsters. What does that mean?
In July, Barack Obama signed a decree to introduce tough sanctions against transnational criminal groups. If US authorities suspect you of having any relation to these dark forces, they may deny you entry to the United States, block your bank accounts, and so on and so forth.
The US Department for Treasury included Russian citizens on the Brothers' Circle black lists. Officials with the ministry said that the circle operates in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and, of course, poses a strategic danger to the interests of the United States. Thus, it just so happens that Russian gangsters rule the world.
It appears that Russia is supposed to be eternally grateful to US experts for their struggle against our mafia. However, it also appears that it is very easy to get into this mafia and very hard to get out of it. It is not the gangsters, but American officials that make you stay in the mafia.
One of the prominent members of the Russian mafia (as US officials say), Anzori Aksentyev-Kikalishvili said: "In 1994, I wrote an open letter to then-President Clinton, in which I urged him to stop the escalation of the new ideological weapon called the "Russian mafia." That letter made me a mafia mob once and for all. Now I am a dreadful mob, even more dreadful than Soviet singer Joseph Kobzon (the Americans labeled the singer a mafia mob too -ed.). He even wondered once what was so special about me that made me more dreadful for the Americans than him."
For fairness sake, we have to admit that the Americans are not alone with their opinion about it. Britain's the Daily News wrote a year ago that the Russian mafia controlled 70 percent of the Russian economy, as well as the prostitution business in Macao, China and Germany. According to British reporters, the Russian mafia controls drug trafficking in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the money-laundering business in Cyprus, Israel, Belgium and England. The list continues with car theft and nuclear materials smuggle.
This is very impressive indeed! How large a criminal group must be to control prostitution in China alone?
Russian criminals are highly sophisticated and uncatchable for the West. As soon as the Soviet Union collapsed, Russian criminals started to look for new homes far away from the motherland. Vyacheslav Ivankov, for example, bought a ticket to the United States as soon as he came out of prison in Russia. That was a perfect opportunity for him to change his image. In Russia, he was known as a jailbird. In the States, he earned the reputation of Robin Hood; US newspapers referred to him as the new Solzhenitsyn. Afterwards, Mr. Ivankov showed the States how to love freedom.
The deeds of Mr. Ivankov in particular and the Russian mafia in general are dramatized and demonized in the West. The Russian mafia definitely exists, but it does not stand out from others of the ilk, such as Cosa Nostra, Yakuza, Ndrangheta, etc. The myth that has been created is much more profitable. Special departments were created and colossal funds were allocated to struggle against the Russian mafia. Reporters would make attention-catching headlines, and politicians would earn their scores.
The Russian mafia has thus become a brand. We have to acknowledge that Russian godfathers would often add more fuel to the fire as they decide to share their stories with the world every now and then. It is impossible to imagine a member of Cosa Nostra or Yakuza arranging a news conference. Russian mafia mobs do not hesitate to give interviews.
As a result, in 1993, the FBI headquarters in Washington established a special department for the struggle against Russian organized crime. A similar department was subsequently established in New York. It is about time the Americans should thank the Russian gangsters for creating jobs.
A typical news story about the Russian mafia is as follows: "A criminal group fraudulently appropriated $3.4 million having staged a car accident." How can the Russian mafia be the richest and the most powerful if it is the drugs that bring the largest income in the criminal world? The Russians do not produce drugs - they can only transit them. Agents can never leave suppliers behind. For example, the incomes of Colombian drug lords let them maintain a whole army, with helicopters, that can resist the attacks from US regular forces. Russian gangsters are nowhere near.
Thanks to Mikhail Sinelnikov
In July, Barack Obama signed a decree to introduce tough sanctions against transnational criminal groups. If US authorities suspect you of having any relation to these dark forces, they may deny you entry to the United States, block your bank accounts, and so on and so forth.
The US Department for Treasury included Russian citizens on the Brothers' Circle black lists. Officials with the ministry said that the circle operates in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and, of course, poses a strategic danger to the interests of the United States. Thus, it just so happens that Russian gangsters rule the world.
It appears that Russia is supposed to be eternally grateful to US experts for their struggle against our mafia. However, it also appears that it is very easy to get into this mafia and very hard to get out of it. It is not the gangsters, but American officials that make you stay in the mafia.
One of the prominent members of the Russian mafia (as US officials say), Anzori Aksentyev-Kikalishvili said: "In 1994, I wrote an open letter to then-President Clinton, in which I urged him to stop the escalation of the new ideological weapon called the "Russian mafia." That letter made me a mafia mob once and for all. Now I am a dreadful mob, even more dreadful than Soviet singer Joseph Kobzon (the Americans labeled the singer a mafia mob too -ed.). He even wondered once what was so special about me that made me more dreadful for the Americans than him."
For fairness sake, we have to admit that the Americans are not alone with their opinion about it. Britain's the Daily News wrote a year ago that the Russian mafia controlled 70 percent of the Russian economy, as well as the prostitution business in Macao, China and Germany. According to British reporters, the Russian mafia controls drug trafficking in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the money-laundering business in Cyprus, Israel, Belgium and England. The list continues with car theft and nuclear materials smuggle.
This is very impressive indeed! How large a criminal group must be to control prostitution in China alone?
Russian criminals are highly sophisticated and uncatchable for the West. As soon as the Soviet Union collapsed, Russian criminals started to look for new homes far away from the motherland. Vyacheslav Ivankov, for example, bought a ticket to the United States as soon as he came out of prison in Russia. That was a perfect opportunity for him to change his image. In Russia, he was known as a jailbird. In the States, he earned the reputation of Robin Hood; US newspapers referred to him as the new Solzhenitsyn. Afterwards, Mr. Ivankov showed the States how to love freedom.
The deeds of Mr. Ivankov in particular and the Russian mafia in general are dramatized and demonized in the West. The Russian mafia definitely exists, but it does not stand out from others of the ilk, such as Cosa Nostra, Yakuza, Ndrangheta, etc. The myth that has been created is much more profitable. Special departments were created and colossal funds were allocated to struggle against the Russian mafia. Reporters would make attention-catching headlines, and politicians would earn their scores.
The Russian mafia has thus become a brand. We have to acknowledge that Russian godfathers would often add more fuel to the fire as they decide to share their stories with the world every now and then. It is impossible to imagine a member of Cosa Nostra or Yakuza arranging a news conference. Russian mafia mobs do not hesitate to give interviews.
As a result, in 1993, the FBI headquarters in Washington established a special department for the struggle against Russian organized crime. A similar department was subsequently established in New York. It is about time the Americans should thank the Russian gangsters for creating jobs.
A typical news story about the Russian mafia is as follows: "A criminal group fraudulently appropriated $3.4 million having staged a car accident." How can the Russian mafia be the richest and the most powerful if it is the drugs that bring the largest income in the criminal world? The Russians do not produce drugs - they can only transit them. Agents can never leave suppliers behind. For example, the incomes of Colombian drug lords let them maintain a whole army, with helicopters, that can resist the attacks from US regular forces. Russian gangsters are nowhere near.
Thanks to Mikhail Sinelnikov
Thursday, November 10, 2011
CRIME BEAT RADIO SHOW’S UPCOMING SCHEDULE FOR NOV 10, 2011, THROUGH JANUARY 5, 2012, FEATURES HIT MEN, MANHUNTS, JFK ASSASSINATION, AND MAFIA LESSONS FOR LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES
CRIME BEAT: ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE DARKSIDE on Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule for November 10, 2011, through January 5, 2012.:Topics covered include hit men, a sensational Canadian murder investigation, Mafia lessons for legitimate business, the JFK Assassination, manhunts, and more. Here is the lineup:
- November 10—David Gibb, investigative journalist and author of Camouflaged Killer: The Shocking Double Life of Canadian Air Force Colonel Russell Williams.
- November 17—John Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters.
- November 24—Rick Porrello, author of To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia, which has recently been made into the Hollywood movie, Kill an Irishman. A command appearance.
- December 1—Benjamin Runkle, Author of Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden.
- December 8—Larry Mazza, Tommy Dades and Bob Mladnich discuss the Colombo Mafia war of the early 1990s...Dades was a detective during that period and Larry Mazza, a hitman. Mladinich is writing a book on the topic.
- December 15—Anthony Amore and Tom Mashberg authors of Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists, and Eric Rasmussen, author of The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios.
- December 22— Lou Ferrante, author of Mob Rules: What the Mafia Can Teach the Legitimate Businessman.
- December 29— Tim Donaghy, former NBA referee and author of Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal that Rocked the NBA. A command appearance.
- January 5— Wahida Clark, best-selling urban fiction author and entrepreneur who honed her writing skills behind bars. A command appearance.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Anti-Mafia Tourism Comes to Sicily
In pop culture, the mafia may enjoy an image romanticized by the Sopranos, the Godfather and tabloid coverage of dapper dons. Dealing with organized crime in the real world, however, is as much fun as living down the street from the Crips and Bloods.
In Italy, groups like Sicily’s Cosa Nostra are destructive as well as economically vexing. Mob operatives routinely extort protection money from businesses, intimidating and inflicting violence on those that don’t cooperate.
These days, tourists and specialized travel agencies in Southern Italy are fighting back, by supporting business that defy the mafia. It’s a burgeoning form of responsible or ethical tourism in a region with much to offer: splendid Mediterranean countryside, stunning shorelines, hearty wines and cuisine that’s superlative even by Italy’s standards — influenced by the Greeks, Arabs, Spanish and French who invaded the island.
“There is a strong demand for [anti-mafia tourism],” said Francesca Vannini Parenti, the founder of Addiopizzo Travel, a Palermo-based agency that offers mafia-free holidays. “People want to know which shops, restaurants and hotels don’t pay protection money to the mafia.”
The addio pizzo — literally “goodbye protection money” — network of businesses was created in 2004 by a few young locals outraged that they couldn’t open a bar without paying up. Back then, organizing the mafia resistance movement was revolutionary. Today, about 700 local businesses in the Palermo region are part of the network — an encouraging if small number in an area with about 25,000 retailers. In Sicily about 70 percent of 50,000 retailers pay the protection money, according to the 2010 statistics of SOS Impresa, the anti-racketeering office of Confesercenti, the national retailers’ association.
Addiopizzo directs tourists to the shops, restaurants and hotels where it is certain none of their money will go to the mob. Addiopizzo can make reservations and publishes a map of Palermo indicating these establishments. The group offers holiday packages to discover the "hot spots" in the fight against the mafia in Palermo and its surroundings. These include meetings with locals on the frontlines of the resistance. Participants in their tours say these are crucial to increasing their understanding of the mafia and what fighting it entails.
“I was very moved” said one German student on the tour, after meeting with Ignazio Cutro, a businessman who is under police protection after exposing men who tried to extort money from him. “He and his family live in complete isolation now. Afterward, his children lost all their friends at school – even his brother doesn’t speak to him anymore.”
So far, Addiopizzo mainly offers guided tours for schools and university students but it hopes to attract larger crowds. In September, Addiopizzo launched a one-day tour of Palermo which includes stops at the mafia victims square, the courthouse, police headquarters and the home of Paolo Borsellino, a leading anti-mafia prosecutor, assassinated in 1992.
Through the tour, participants learn the history of the resistance to the mafia, as old as the mafia itself, dating back to the end of the 19th century. They hear details about the legal fight against the mafia over the years led by prosecutors and the difficulties faced by police officers charged with tracking the mafiosi.
The guides also detail the collusion between the mafia and political elites, and they recount the Catholic Church's attitude toward the Cosa Nostra: mostly silence for decades, except for the resistance of a couple of isolated priests. And to illustrate how film has portrayed the mafia, the tour visits the steps of Palermo’s opera house where one of the famous and final scenes of Godfather III was shot. In that scene, Mary, the daughter of Michael Corleone, the Godfather, is killed in front of him by a rival clan.
Meanwhile, the tour stops for lunch at the Focacceria San Francesco. The restaurant, which offers a celebrated veal spleen and ricotta sandwich, is also well known for its owner, Vincenzo Conticello. He was one of the first in Palermo to expose his extortionists.
In 2005, a man came to the Focacceria to ask him to pay a regular fee. He refused and reported the incident to the police. The man and two accomplices were arrested and in 2008, received prison sentences of 10 to 16 years for extortion. Conticello has been living under police protection since then. “This is one of the very publicized cases, the majority of the ones who (report the mafia) today face limited risks," said Valerio d’Antoni, a lawyer affiliated with Addiopizzo who provides support to businesses to resist the mafia. "When the businessman is very determined, the mafia understands it is better to let it go.”
Still, there can be repercussions, says Parenti.
Last year about 50 acts of intimidation occurred in Palermo, according to SOS Impresa. These included arson, vandalism and “glue attacks” in which a shop’s locks are glued shut, a sign that the property doesn’t really belong to the owner. “Often the ones who (resist) become isolated," Parenti said. "One of our members, a bar owner in a small town, lost all his clients after [resisting]. If everybody would stand up against the mafia, we wouldn’t need heroes anymore.”
Addiopizzo is not alone in using tourism to fight the mob. Another organization, Libera Terra (Free land), specializes in finding socially productive uses of assets seized from the mafia. In Italy, more than 11,500 assets have been seized from the mafia half of that in Sicily, according to government estimates.
Libera Terra, offers similar "ethical" travel packages, shows visitors how socially conscious organizations are currently producing organic pasta, wine, and traditional preserves on the land once owned by Cosa Nostra. In the stunning Sicilian hinterlands close to Corleone, a small town made famous by The Godfather and home of famous mafia bosses, Libera Terra farms about 300 hectares of land.
It also runs a bed and breakfast on the “Corleone lands” nearby. The charming stone farmhouse with a beautiful view of the surrounding hills once belonged to top mafia boss Toto Riina in the 1980s and the mastermind behind the assassinations of the famous anti-mafia prosecutors Falcone and Borsellino in 1992. He is currently in prison.
Since its inception 10 years ago, Libera Terra has pushed to create businesses that are run legally, respecting labor laws, worker’s rights and the environment. It offers higher wages, benefits and dignity to its employees, say officials. “Our message is that one can work legally and make a decent living out of it, that there is an alternative to the mafia," said Francesco Galante, Libera Terra communication director. In Sicily, the unemployment rate reaches 14.7 percent. That gives the mafia a powerful lure.
“At the beginning we felt very isolated," said Galante. "Nobody wanted to work with us or commit to it. But things changed when workers understood that we offered better working conditions and also that there was no danger.”
In the early years, the organization's crops were vandalized or set on fire and their agricultural tools were stolen. A decade later, that type of intimidation has ceased. “The mafia knows that if they attack us, we will get lots of media attention and official support," Galante said. "With this visibility, they will have more difficulties doing business.”
Today, Libera employs 30 people and is flooded with job applications. It sells its own brands of organic wine, olive oil and pasta throughout Italy and visitors are starting to crowd the scenic bed and breakfast and its restaurant.
“The campaigns for responsible consumer behavior have had a notable impact," said Umberto Santino, author of a book on the anti-mafia movement and director the Giuseppe Impastato Sicilian Information Center on the mafia. "They have received a lot of support from consumers.”
“However, if we look at how many businesses participate, this is still a very small minority," he added. "We have made progress since the 1990’s but there is still a long way to go.”
Thanks to Caroline Chaumont
In Italy, groups like Sicily’s Cosa Nostra are destructive as well as economically vexing. Mob operatives routinely extort protection money from businesses, intimidating and inflicting violence on those that don’t cooperate.
These days, tourists and specialized travel agencies in Southern Italy are fighting back, by supporting business that defy the mafia. It’s a burgeoning form of responsible or ethical tourism in a region with much to offer: splendid Mediterranean countryside, stunning shorelines, hearty wines and cuisine that’s superlative even by Italy’s standards — influenced by the Greeks, Arabs, Spanish and French who invaded the island.
“There is a strong demand for [anti-mafia tourism],” said Francesca Vannini Parenti, the founder of Addiopizzo Travel, a Palermo-based agency that offers mafia-free holidays. “People want to know which shops, restaurants and hotels don’t pay protection money to the mafia.”
The addio pizzo — literally “goodbye protection money” — network of businesses was created in 2004 by a few young locals outraged that they couldn’t open a bar without paying up. Back then, organizing the mafia resistance movement was revolutionary. Today, about 700 local businesses in the Palermo region are part of the network — an encouraging if small number in an area with about 25,000 retailers. In Sicily about 70 percent of 50,000 retailers pay the protection money, according to the 2010 statistics of SOS Impresa, the anti-racketeering office of Confesercenti, the national retailers’ association.
Addiopizzo directs tourists to the shops, restaurants and hotels where it is certain none of their money will go to the mob. Addiopizzo can make reservations and publishes a map of Palermo indicating these establishments. The group offers holiday packages to discover the "hot spots" in the fight against the mafia in Palermo and its surroundings. These include meetings with locals on the frontlines of the resistance. Participants in their tours say these are crucial to increasing their understanding of the mafia and what fighting it entails.
“I was very moved” said one German student on the tour, after meeting with Ignazio Cutro, a businessman who is under police protection after exposing men who tried to extort money from him. “He and his family live in complete isolation now. Afterward, his children lost all their friends at school – even his brother doesn’t speak to him anymore.”
So far, Addiopizzo mainly offers guided tours for schools and university students but it hopes to attract larger crowds. In September, Addiopizzo launched a one-day tour of Palermo which includes stops at the mafia victims square, the courthouse, police headquarters and the home of Paolo Borsellino, a leading anti-mafia prosecutor, assassinated in 1992.
Through the tour, participants learn the history of the resistance to the mafia, as old as the mafia itself, dating back to the end of the 19th century. They hear details about the legal fight against the mafia over the years led by prosecutors and the difficulties faced by police officers charged with tracking the mafiosi.
The guides also detail the collusion between the mafia and political elites, and they recount the Catholic Church's attitude toward the Cosa Nostra: mostly silence for decades, except for the resistance of a couple of isolated priests. And to illustrate how film has portrayed the mafia, the tour visits the steps of Palermo’s opera house where one of the famous and final scenes of Godfather III was shot. In that scene, Mary, the daughter of Michael Corleone, the Godfather, is killed in front of him by a rival clan.
Meanwhile, the tour stops for lunch at the Focacceria San Francesco. The restaurant, which offers a celebrated veal spleen and ricotta sandwich, is also well known for its owner, Vincenzo Conticello. He was one of the first in Palermo to expose his extortionists.
In 2005, a man came to the Focacceria to ask him to pay a regular fee. He refused and reported the incident to the police. The man and two accomplices were arrested and in 2008, received prison sentences of 10 to 16 years for extortion. Conticello has been living under police protection since then. “This is one of the very publicized cases, the majority of the ones who (report the mafia) today face limited risks," said Valerio d’Antoni, a lawyer affiliated with Addiopizzo who provides support to businesses to resist the mafia. "When the businessman is very determined, the mafia understands it is better to let it go.”
Still, there can be repercussions, says Parenti.
Last year about 50 acts of intimidation occurred in Palermo, according to SOS Impresa. These included arson, vandalism and “glue attacks” in which a shop’s locks are glued shut, a sign that the property doesn’t really belong to the owner. “Often the ones who (resist) become isolated," Parenti said. "One of our members, a bar owner in a small town, lost all his clients after [resisting]. If everybody would stand up against the mafia, we wouldn’t need heroes anymore.”
Addiopizzo is not alone in using tourism to fight the mob. Another organization, Libera Terra (Free land), specializes in finding socially productive uses of assets seized from the mafia. In Italy, more than 11,500 assets have been seized from the mafia half of that in Sicily, according to government estimates.
Libera Terra, offers similar "ethical" travel packages, shows visitors how socially conscious organizations are currently producing organic pasta, wine, and traditional preserves on the land once owned by Cosa Nostra. In the stunning Sicilian hinterlands close to Corleone, a small town made famous by The Godfather and home of famous mafia bosses, Libera Terra farms about 300 hectares of land.
It also runs a bed and breakfast on the “Corleone lands” nearby. The charming stone farmhouse with a beautiful view of the surrounding hills once belonged to top mafia boss Toto Riina in the 1980s and the mastermind behind the assassinations of the famous anti-mafia prosecutors Falcone and Borsellino in 1992. He is currently in prison.
Since its inception 10 years ago, Libera Terra has pushed to create businesses that are run legally, respecting labor laws, worker’s rights and the environment. It offers higher wages, benefits and dignity to its employees, say officials. “Our message is that one can work legally and make a decent living out of it, that there is an alternative to the mafia," said Francesco Galante, Libera Terra communication director. In Sicily, the unemployment rate reaches 14.7 percent. That gives the mafia a powerful lure.
“At the beginning we felt very isolated," said Galante. "Nobody wanted to work with us or commit to it. But things changed when workers understood that we offered better working conditions and also that there was no danger.”
In the early years, the organization's crops were vandalized or set on fire and their agricultural tools were stolen. A decade later, that type of intimidation has ceased. “The mafia knows that if they attack us, we will get lots of media attention and official support," Galante said. "With this visibility, they will have more difficulties doing business.”
Today, Libera employs 30 people and is flooded with job applications. It sells its own brands of organic wine, olive oil and pasta throughout Italy and visitors are starting to crowd the scenic bed and breakfast and its restaurant.
“The campaigns for responsible consumer behavior have had a notable impact," said Umberto Santino, author of a book on the anti-mafia movement and director the Giuseppe Impastato Sicilian Information Center on the mafia. "They have received a lot of support from consumers.”
“However, if we look at how many businesses participate, this is still a very small minority," he added. "We have made progress since the 1990’s but there is still a long way to go.”
Thanks to Caroline Chaumont
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Uncle Al Capone…The Untold Story From Inside His Family – By The Last Of The Capones
Deirdre Marie Capone lived in the house of the infamous Al Capone, her uncle. He taught her to swim, ride a bike, and play the mandolin. In her tell-all memoir, Uncle Al Capone - The Untold Story from Inside His Family, Deirdre, the last member of the family born with the name Capone, shares what it was really like growing up a Capone – definitely not the way most people would have imagined it to be. It is the only book ever written about America’s most notorious mobster by someone who knew him well.
Already a best-seller on Amazon, Deirdre’s fascinating memoir tells what really happened in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, what the ‘outfit’ was really all about, and what the ‘family’ were really like, especially the one person she confided in more than anyone – her Aunt Maffie (short for Mafalda – the Italian princess she was named after); a strong woman with whom she shared a close bond as one of the only two girls in the Capone family.
Uncle Al Capone is packed with absorbing stories about Al and his family, along with never-before-published photos and authentic Capone family recipes for the food that Al and his family enjoyed. Simply stated, there is no one else left who could ever share this piece of history with the world.
Deirdre relates what life was like growing up the grand niece of Public Enemy #1, Al Capone. Her own life had been saddened by the fact that her father, who had tried to live a more legitimate lifestyle than the rest of the family, couldn’t shake the shame of the Capone name and ended up taking his own life when Deirdre was just ten years-old. For most of her life she too had made every effort to hide the fact that she was a Capone and in 1972, in her early thirties, she left Chicago and her family history behind to reinvent herself in Minnesota, making sure that no one other than her husband knew her ancestry. She succeeded.
That is, until her past caught up with her on the day her nine year-old son came home from school and announced they were studying Al Capone in a class project. She and her husband agreed it was time to tell the kids but she was afraid for them – she had not wanted them growing up shunned by others or not having other kids to play with once they knew her name. She need not have worried – her kids thought it was totally ‘cool.’ So, at age 34, she finally accepted herself as Deirdre Marie Capone and today her 14 grandchildren are proud to tell the story of their ancestry.
Uncle Al Capone grabs the reader’s attention right from the start with its true life dialogue of the Capone family - from their ancestral roots in Angri, Italy to Brooklyn, New York, and later to Chicago. Deirdre offers a true portrait of an American family and gives a decidedly different look at her favorite uncle, endlessly depicted as the iconic mastermind behind some of the century’s most brutal killings.
For all the dissension, for all the pain, there comes a moment in our lives where we have to stand up and say: This - the good and the bad – is who I am, says Deirdre Marie Capone.
Already a best-seller on Amazon, Deirdre’s fascinating memoir tells what really happened in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, what the ‘outfit’ was really all about, and what the ‘family’ were really like, especially the one person she confided in more than anyone – her Aunt Maffie (short for Mafalda – the Italian princess she was named after); a strong woman with whom she shared a close bond as one of the only two girls in the Capone family.
Uncle Al Capone is packed with absorbing stories about Al and his family, along with never-before-published photos and authentic Capone family recipes for the food that Al and his family enjoyed. Simply stated, there is no one else left who could ever share this piece of history with the world.
Deirdre relates what life was like growing up the grand niece of Public Enemy #1, Al Capone. Her own life had been saddened by the fact that her father, who had tried to live a more legitimate lifestyle than the rest of the family, couldn’t shake the shame of the Capone name and ended up taking his own life when Deirdre was just ten years-old. For most of her life she too had made every effort to hide the fact that she was a Capone and in 1972, in her early thirties, she left Chicago and her family history behind to reinvent herself in Minnesota, making sure that no one other than her husband knew her ancestry. She succeeded.
That is, until her past caught up with her on the day her nine year-old son came home from school and announced they were studying Al Capone in a class project. She and her husband agreed it was time to tell the kids but she was afraid for them – she had not wanted them growing up shunned by others or not having other kids to play with once they knew her name. She need not have worried – her kids thought it was totally ‘cool.’ So, at age 34, she finally accepted herself as Deirdre Marie Capone and today her 14 grandchildren are proud to tell the story of their ancestry.
Uncle Al Capone grabs the reader’s attention right from the start with its true life dialogue of the Capone family - from their ancestral roots in Angri, Italy to Brooklyn, New York, and later to Chicago. Deirdre offers a true portrait of an American family and gives a decidedly different look at her favorite uncle, endlessly depicted as the iconic mastermind behind some of the century’s most brutal killings.
For all the dissension, for all the pain, there comes a moment in our lives where we have to stand up and say: This - the good and the bad – is who I am, says Deirdre Marie Capone.
Monday, November 07, 2011
“Figuring Out How to Do What’s Right…" Keynote Address by Michael Franzese
Ever wonder what it’s like to be in the mafia? What about being at a corporation when an ethical scandal is discovered? What do you do when you’re at work and a baseball player is shooting up behind you?
Ethical dilemmas are a part of everyone’s life, both personal and professional. You will be faced with a range of ethical questions here at Bryant, at home, and in the workplace. So how do you know what decision to make? When are you crossing the line?
On Tuesday, November 8th, the Interfaith Center is sponsoring “Figuring Out How to Do What’s Right…” featuring a panel discussion and keynote speaker Michael Franzese. The panel will consist of Gina Spencer, an ombudsman at Covidien who worked at Tyco when a scandal was uncovered in 2002, Professor Tom Roach, who teaches the ethics-based classes here at Bryant, and Kevin McNamara, a writer for the sports section of the Providence Journal. The panel will discuss where values come from, how to find the courage to make the right decision, and examples of ethical dilemmas that come up with their work.
Following the panel, keynote speaker Michael Franzese will take the stage. Franzese, a former member of the Colombo family, will discuss life in organized crime and working with the Russian Mafia. He will talk about leaving a life of crime, deciding between right and wrong, and how his life has improved since leaving the Mafia.
The event will be hosted by Professor Mike Roberto, and takes place on November 8th in the MAC. The panel discussion will begin at 2PM, with Franzese to follow at 3PM. For more information, please contact John Nesbitt, Program Coordinator of the Ronald K. & Kati C. Machtley Interfaith Center at jnesbitt@bryant.edu.
Thanks to Katie Colton
Ethical dilemmas are a part of everyone’s life, both personal and professional. You will be faced with a range of ethical questions here at Bryant, at home, and in the workplace. So how do you know what decision to make? When are you crossing the line?
On Tuesday, November 8th, the Interfaith Center is sponsoring “Figuring Out How to Do What’s Right…” featuring a panel discussion and keynote speaker Michael Franzese. The panel will consist of Gina Spencer, an ombudsman at Covidien who worked at Tyco when a scandal was uncovered in 2002, Professor Tom Roach, who teaches the ethics-based classes here at Bryant, and Kevin McNamara, a writer for the sports section of the Providence Journal. The panel will discuss where values come from, how to find the courage to make the right decision, and examples of ethical dilemmas that come up with their work.
Following the panel, keynote speaker Michael Franzese will take the stage. Franzese, a former member of the Colombo family, will discuss life in organized crime and working with the Russian Mafia. He will talk about leaving a life of crime, deciding between right and wrong, and how his life has improved since leaving the Mafia.
The event will be hosted by Professor Mike Roberto, and takes place on November 8th in the MAC. The panel discussion will begin at 2PM, with Franzese to follow at 3PM. For more information, please contact John Nesbitt, Program Coordinator of the Ronald K. & Kati C. Machtley Interfaith Center at jnesbitt@bryant.edu.
Thanks to Katie Colton
Catherine Greig, Girlfriend of Whitey Bulger, Denied Bail
Catherine Greig, charged with aiding her fugitive boyfriend, notorious mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, was denied bail on Friday by a federal judge who ruled she was a serious flight risk.
Greig's lawyers had requested that she be released on bail to home confinement and electronic monitoring, with her own house and the home of her identical twin sister as additional collateral. But the judge denied that request.
"She walked away from both 16 years ago when she left Massachusetts with Bulger, demonstrating a willingness to leave everything and everyone behind," U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal said in a written ruling.
Greig, 60, is scheduled to go on trial in April 2012 on federal charges that she conspired with Bulger and others to conceal and harbor the aging gangster during the 16 years the pair hid from authorities.
Bulger, 82, fled Boston in late 1994 after receiving a tip from a corrupt FBI agent that federal charges were pending. Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including over 19 killings from the 1970s and 1980s.
Greig, who joined Bulger in hiding, faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Bulger and Greig were arrested in California in June with a stash of about 30 firearms and $822,000 in cash hidden in holes in the wall of their apartment.
The judge said she had considered Greig's skill in eluding authorities for 16 years while aiding Bulger on the run, including her use of assumed names and false identification documents.
In denying bail, the judge also said the brutal nature of the crimes that Bulger was accused of committing added weight to Greig's charges. "While the crime of harboring a fugitive is not normally considered a crime of violence, the court cannot ignore the fact that Greig is charged with harboring a fugitive who is accused of 19 murders," Boal wrote.
Bulger for years led the Winter Hill Gang, a mostly Irish-American organized crime operation that operated in Boston.
Greig's lawyers had requested that she be released on bail to home confinement and electronic monitoring, with her own house and the home of her identical twin sister as additional collateral. But the judge denied that request."She walked away from both 16 years ago when she left Massachusetts with Bulger, demonstrating a willingness to leave everything and everyone behind," U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal said in a written ruling.
Greig, 60, is scheduled to go on trial in April 2012 on federal charges that she conspired with Bulger and others to conceal and harbor the aging gangster during the 16 years the pair hid from authorities.
Bulger, 82, fled Boston in late 1994 after receiving a tip from a corrupt FBI agent that federal charges were pending. Bulger has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including over 19 killings from the 1970s and 1980s.
Greig, who joined Bulger in hiding, faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
Bulger and Greig were arrested in California in June with a stash of about 30 firearms and $822,000 in cash hidden in holes in the wall of their apartment.
The judge said she had considered Greig's skill in eluding authorities for 16 years while aiding Bulger on the run, including her use of assumed names and false identification documents.
In denying bail, the judge also said the brutal nature of the crimes that Bulger was accused of committing added weight to Greig's charges. "While the crime of harboring a fugitive is not normally considered a crime of violence, the court cannot ignore the fact that Greig is charged with harboring a fugitive who is accused of 19 murders," Boal wrote.
Bulger for years led the Winter Hill Gang, a mostly Irish-American organized crime operation that operated in Boston.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Crime in Chicago Seminar
Join The Chicago History Museum for an exploration of Chicago crime from historical and contemporary perspectives. Programs begin at 7:00 p.m.
Lecture - The Chicago “Outfit:” Traditional Chicago Organized Crime from its Earliest Roots to Operation Family Secrets
Tuesday, November 8, 7:00 p.m.
Arthur Bilek is the Executive Director of the Chicago Crime Commission, a civilian “watchdog” agency that has monitored organized crime activity in Chicago since 1919. Art served under Cook County Sheriff Richard B. Ogilvie in a key investigative role from 1962-1966, and is the author of two books “The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee", and “St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone.” A recognized authority on the mob and its inner workings, Art will discuss the history of the Outfit from its earliest days through the defining government prosecutions of the 1990s and the recent Operation Family Secrets that has significantly crippled operations locally.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: North by Northwest
Saturday, November 12, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous North Side and Northwest side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
History Pub Crawl - Booze, Bars, and Bootlegging! Prohibition Era Chicago
Sunday, November 13, 1:00 p.m.-4p.m.
Find out what makes Chicago untouchable. Get a taste of infamous speakeasies frequented by some of Chicago’s infamous gangsters like Capone, Moran, and Dillinger. On this trolley tour, learn how prohibition came to be, some fascinating facts about the era, and how it ultimately shaped the city and its image.
Cost: $30, $25 members
Film - Madness In The White City
Sunday, November 13, 1:30 p.m.
It’s 1893 and the Columbian Exposition is taking center stage in Chicago. Amidst all the new and wonderful buildings and innovations at the fair, was an evil predator that threatened the lives of many. This film takes a closer looks at the life of H.H. Holmes, one of America's first serial killers. In collaboration with Kurtis Productions. 50 Minutes.
Cost: Free with Museum admission
Lecture - Street Gangs in Chicago
Tuesday, November 15, 7:00 p.m.
John M. Hagedorn is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois and a subject matter expert on contemporary inner-city street gangs. He is the author of “A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture (Globalization and Community),” and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute. Assisted by historian and author Richard Lindberg, Professor Hagedorn’s discussion will be framed around the historical roots of gangs in Gaslight Era Chicago; contemporary gangs and who they are what they represent today.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: South and West
Saturday, November 19, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous South Side and West side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
Walking Tour - Crime of the Century: Leopold & Loeb and the Murder of Bobby Franks
Saturday, November 19, 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
On May 21, 1924, in the city of Chicago, a young boy went missing. The next morning his father, Jacob Franks, received a phone call informing him that his son, Bobby, had been beaten to death. This gruesome and senseless murder has stained Chicago history and still leaves many baffled. Join us as we return to the scene of the crime and tour the Kenwood neighborhood where we will visit sites relevant to Leopold and Loeb’s murder of Bobby Franks.
Cost: $15, $10 members
Lecture - The Chicago “Outfit:” Traditional Chicago Organized Crime from its Earliest Roots to Operation Family Secrets
Tuesday, November 8, 7:00 p.m.
Arthur Bilek is the Executive Director of the Chicago Crime Commission, a civilian “watchdog” agency that has monitored organized crime activity in Chicago since 1919. Art served under Cook County Sheriff Richard B. Ogilvie in a key investigative role from 1962-1966, and is the author of two books “The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee", and “St. Valentine's Day Massacre: The Untold Story of the Gangland Bloodbath That Brought Down Al Capone.” A recognized authority on the mob and its inner workings, Art will discuss the history of the Outfit from its earliest days through the defining government prosecutions of the 1990s and the recent Operation Family Secrets that has significantly crippled operations locally.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: North by Northwest
Saturday, November 12, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous North Side and Northwest side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
History Pub Crawl - Booze, Bars, and Bootlegging! Prohibition Era Chicago
Sunday, November 13, 1:00 p.m.-4p.m.
Find out what makes Chicago untouchable. Get a taste of infamous speakeasies frequented by some of Chicago’s infamous gangsters like Capone, Moran, and Dillinger. On this trolley tour, learn how prohibition came to be, some fascinating facts about the era, and how it ultimately shaped the city and its image.
Cost: $30, $25 members
Film - Madness In The White City
Sunday, November 13, 1:30 p.m.
It’s 1893 and the Columbian Exposition is taking center stage in Chicago. Amidst all the new and wonderful buildings and innovations at the fair, was an evil predator that threatened the lives of many. This film takes a closer looks at the life of H.H. Holmes, one of America's first serial killers. In collaboration with Kurtis Productions. 50 Minutes.
Cost: Free with Museum admission
Lecture - Street Gangs in Chicago
Tuesday, November 15, 7:00 p.m.
John M. Hagedorn is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois and a subject matter expert on contemporary inner-city street gangs. He is the author of “A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture (Globalization and Community),” and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute. Assisted by historian and author Richard Lindberg, Professor Hagedorn’s discussion will be framed around the historical roots of gangs in Gaslight Era Chicago; contemporary gangs and who they are what they represent today.
Cost: $10, $8 members
Bus Tour - Murder and Mayhem in Chicago: South and West
Saturday, November 19, 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
We’ll visit famous South Side and West side crime scene locales and discuss what happened, the aftermath, and their historical implications on life in Chicago and the city’s identity.
Cost: $45, $40 members
Walking Tour - Crime of the Century: Leopold & Loeb and the Murder of Bobby Franks
Saturday, November 19, 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
On May 21, 1924, in the city of Chicago, a young boy went missing. The next morning his father, Jacob Franks, received a phone call informing him that his son, Bobby, had been beaten to death. This gruesome and senseless murder has stained Chicago history and still leaves many baffled. Join us as we return to the scene of the crime and tour the Kenwood neighborhood where we will visit sites relevant to Leopold and Loeb’s murder of Bobby Franks.
Cost: $15, $10 members
Twenty-Two Alleged Members of Violent “Dead Man Incorporated” Gang Indicted on Federal Racketeering, Murder, and Drug Charges That May Bring Life in Federal Prison
A federal grand jury has charged 22 defendants with conspiracy to participate in a violent racketeering enterprise known as the Dead Man Incorporated (DMI). All but one defendant are also charged with conspiring to distribute drugs. The indictment was returned on October 6, 2011 and unsealed upon the arrests of seven defendants and the execution of seven search warrants. Eleven defendants were previously in custody and four defendants are still at large.
The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III; Anne Arundel County Police Chief James Teare, Sr.; Secretary Gary D. Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee.
“This case is another in a series of federal racketeering prosecutions in which federal, state, and local agencies have joined to target leaders and key members of violent gangs in Maryland,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Today’s indictment alleges that the Dead Man Incorporated gang is an organized criminal enterprise with leaders and members who deal drugs and commit violent crimes. Federal racketeering cases have been filed recently in Maryland against Black Guerilla Family (BGF), South Side Brims (SSB) Bloods, Pasadena Denver Lanes (PDL) Bloods, Tree Top Piru (TTP) Bloods, Latin Kings, 18th Street, and MS-13, and additional gang investigations are ongoing. Anyone who joins a criminal gang should be on notice that they can be held accountable for all crimes committed by fellow gang members.”
“This investigation was extremely challenging, not just from the level of organization DMI displays, but the level of violence that this indictment alleges,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely. “But the investigators and attorneys that formed this task force were even better organized and over a three year period, left department insignia at the door and leveraged almost every investigative tool available to stem the flow of violence allegedly committed by this group. Today’s indictment is a testament to the success of that strategy and the commitment by Maryland’s law enforcement agencies to come together and stop the violence against our citizens.”
“We are pleased to have worked such a successful operation with our law enforcement partners,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait. “Together, we worked a strategic and methodical investigation against a group of violent offenders, whose actions have brought fear to our communities. We have dismantled the DMI organization with today’s arrests, and we are confident that we have made a significant impact on violent crime. We want the members of the DMI gang or any criminal gang to know that membership may earn you a lifetime in federal prison.”
According to the 27-count indictment, 18 men and four women are members and associates of the DMI. DMI was created originally in 2000 as a prison gang in Maryland. From the beginning, defendant Perry Roark was the “Supreme Commander.” Also at its inception and for several years thereafter, DMI was closely allied to the Black Guerilla Family (BGF), another prison gang. By 2006, DMI expanded its membership by recruiting members outside prison, including women.
DMI members operated in and out of prisons throughout Maryland, as well as Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Texas. DMI is active in numerous prison facilities in Maryland, including the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, Baltimore City Detention Center, Baltimore City Correctional Center, Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center, Eastern Correctional Institution, Metropolitan Transition Center, Roxbury Correctional Institution, Patuxent Correctional Institution, Maryland Correctional Institution - Hagerstown, Western Correctional Institution, Central Maryland Correctional Facility, Maryland Correctional Institution - Jessup, Jessup Correctional Institution, Brockbridge Correctional Facility; Maryland Correctional Training Center; Anne Arundel County Detention Center; and Baltimore County Detention Center. Units operating outside the prisons are identified by the region they cover, such as Brooklyn, South Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Dundalk, Westminster, Glen Burnie, etc.
The indictment alleges that all 22 defendants conspired to conduct the affairs of DMI through a pattern of criminal activity from 2000 to the present, including: murder and threats to commit murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking and extortion. The defendants are alleged to have smuggled drugs, tobacco, cell phones and other contraband into prisons, by concealing them on the persons of visitors to the prisons. Twenty-one of the defendants are charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, crack, oxycodone, Suboxone, heroin, and marijuana.
According to the indictment, gang members used contraband cell phones in prisons to coordinate the smuggling of contraband into prisons, disseminate information about arrests and releases of members and associates, to warn of investigations, to publicize the identities of persons believed to be cooperating with law enforcement, and to order assaults and murders of such persons, as well as enemies of DMI.
Specific acts of violence alleged in the indictment include four murders in Maryland, as follows: the February 16, 2009 murder of James Flanary; the June 2, 2009 murder of Tony Geiger; the September 18, 2009 murder of Eugene Chambers; and the September 19, 2009 murder of Walter Milewski.
Additionally, the indictment alleges that several of the defendants planned to murder four other individuals, and ordered assaults on, and/or assaulted, over 10 individuals, six of whom were incarcerated in a Maryland detention facility. Four defendants allegedly fired weapons into a house, wounding an occupant. Another defendant committed a home invasion robbery in Glen Burnie, Maryland and assaulted the occupants.
The following defendants are charged in the indictment:
All of the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison on the racketeering conspiracy. All but one defendant, Gary Horton, also face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison on the drug conspiracy. Roark, Adams, Mitchell, Forame, Mueller, Treas, Mixter, Ingram, Hartman, and Zion face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder and/or an assault in aid of racketeering.
Roark, Adams, Mitchell, Gray, Forame, Jarriel, and Mueller face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury. Cash and Holquist face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for being accessories after the fact of an assault; Witter, Holquist, Zion, Mixter and Treas face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for distributing drugs; and Treas and Mixter face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a gun.
Initial appearances for the defendants began this morning in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
Mr. Rosenstein praised the FBI, ATF, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Department; Baltimore City Police Department; the Maryland State Police; Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office; Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office for their assistance in this investigation and prosecution.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Robert R. Harding and Christopher J. Romano, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.
The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - Baltimore Field Division; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III; Anne Arundel County Police Chief James Teare, Sr.; Secretary Gary D. Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger; Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Frank R. Weathersbee.
“This case is another in a series of federal racketeering prosecutions in which federal, state, and local agencies have joined to target leaders and key members of violent gangs in Maryland,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Today’s indictment alleges that the Dead Man Incorporated gang is an organized criminal enterprise with leaders and members who deal drugs and commit violent crimes. Federal racketeering cases have been filed recently in Maryland against Black Guerilla Family (BGF), South Side Brims (SSB) Bloods, Pasadena Denver Lanes (PDL) Bloods, Tree Top Piru (TTP) Bloods, Latin Kings, 18th Street, and MS-13, and additional gang investigations are ongoing. Anyone who joins a criminal gang should be on notice that they can be held accountable for all crimes committed by fellow gang members.”
“This investigation was extremely challenging, not just from the level of organization DMI displays, but the level of violence that this indictment alleges,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely. “But the investigators and attorneys that formed this task force were even better organized and over a three year period, left department insignia at the door and leveraged almost every investigative tool available to stem the flow of violence allegedly committed by this group. Today’s indictment is a testament to the success of that strategy and the commitment by Maryland’s law enforcement agencies to come together and stop the violence against our citizens.”
“We are pleased to have worked such a successful operation with our law enforcement partners,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait. “Together, we worked a strategic and methodical investigation against a group of violent offenders, whose actions have brought fear to our communities. We have dismantled the DMI organization with today’s arrests, and we are confident that we have made a significant impact on violent crime. We want the members of the DMI gang or any criminal gang to know that membership may earn you a lifetime in federal prison.”
According to the 27-count indictment, 18 men and four women are members and associates of the DMI. DMI was created originally in 2000 as a prison gang in Maryland. From the beginning, defendant Perry Roark was the “Supreme Commander.” Also at its inception and for several years thereafter, DMI was closely allied to the Black Guerilla Family (BGF), another prison gang. By 2006, DMI expanded its membership by recruiting members outside prison, including women.
DMI members operated in and out of prisons throughout Maryland, as well as Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Texas. DMI is active in numerous prison facilities in Maryland, including the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, Baltimore City Detention Center, Baltimore City Correctional Center, Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center, Eastern Correctional Institution, Metropolitan Transition Center, Roxbury Correctional Institution, Patuxent Correctional Institution, Maryland Correctional Institution - Hagerstown, Western Correctional Institution, Central Maryland Correctional Facility, Maryland Correctional Institution - Jessup, Jessup Correctional Institution, Brockbridge Correctional Facility; Maryland Correctional Training Center; Anne Arundel County Detention Center; and Baltimore County Detention Center. Units operating outside the prisons are identified by the region they cover, such as Brooklyn, South Baltimore, Southwest Baltimore, Southeast Baltimore, Dundalk, Westminster, Glen Burnie, etc.
The indictment alleges that all 22 defendants conspired to conduct the affairs of DMI through a pattern of criminal activity from 2000 to the present, including: murder and threats to commit murder, armed robbery, drug trafficking and extortion. The defendants are alleged to have smuggled drugs, tobacco, cell phones and other contraband into prisons, by concealing them on the persons of visitors to the prisons. Twenty-one of the defendants are charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine, crack, oxycodone, Suboxone, heroin, and marijuana.
According to the indictment, gang members used contraband cell phones in prisons to coordinate the smuggling of contraband into prisons, disseminate information about arrests and releases of members and associates, to warn of investigations, to publicize the identities of persons believed to be cooperating with law enforcement, and to order assaults and murders of such persons, as well as enemies of DMI.
Specific acts of violence alleged in the indictment include four murders in Maryland, as follows: the February 16, 2009 murder of James Flanary; the June 2, 2009 murder of Tony Geiger; the September 18, 2009 murder of Eugene Chambers; and the September 19, 2009 murder of Walter Milewski.
Additionally, the indictment alleges that several of the defendants planned to murder four other individuals, and ordered assaults on, and/or assaulted, over 10 individuals, six of whom were incarcerated in a Maryland detention facility. Four defendants allegedly fired weapons into a house, wounding an occupant. Another defendant committed a home invasion robbery in Glen Burnie, Maryland and assaulted the occupants.
The following defendants are charged in the indictment:
- Perry Roark, a/k/a Rock, “Pops,” “Slim,” “Saho the Ghost,” age 42;
- James Sweeney, age 34;
- Nicky Cash, a/k/a “Mom,” age 46, of Baltimore;
- George Treas, a/k/a “Georgie,” “Fat Boy;” age 28, of Baltimore;
- Dane Shives, age 22;
- Michael Quinn, a/k/a “Mikey,” age 28;
- Michael Forame, a/k/a “Skinny,” “Skinny Pimp,” age 40, of Sykesville, Maryland;
- Brian Mitchell, a/k/a “Carlito,” age 40;
- Richard Ingram, a/k/a “Ricky,” “Hades,” age 45;
- Timothy Mixter, a/k/a “Fuhrer,” age 35, of Essex, Maryland;
- John Henry Adams, a/k/a “L.J.,” “Little Johnny,” age 25;
- Gregory Cook, age 36;
- Jeremy Ridgeway, a/k/a “J-Rock,” age 22;
- John Zion, a/k/a “John John,” age 27;
- Russell Hartman, a/k/a “Busy,” age 29, of Baltimore;
- Bonnie Rice, age 35, of Baltimore;
- Kelly Witter, age 26;
- Charles Gray, a/k/a “Bud,”“Budrow;” age 31;
- Edward Mueller, a/k/a “Dusty,” age 31, of Baltimore;
- Melanie Holquist, age 28; of Baltimore;
- Scott Jarriel, a/k/a “Scotty J.,” age 28; and
- Gary Horton, age 26.
All of the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison on the racketeering conspiracy. All but one defendant, Gary Horton, also face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison on the drug conspiracy. Roark, Adams, Mitchell, Forame, Mueller, Treas, Mixter, Ingram, Hartman, and Zion face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder and/or an assault in aid of racketeering.
Roark, Adams, Mitchell, Gray, Forame, Jarriel, and Mueller face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury. Cash and Holquist face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for being accessories after the fact of an assault; Witter, Holquist, Zion, Mixter and Treas face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for distributing drugs; and Treas and Mixter face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a gun.
Initial appearances for the defendants began this morning in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
Mr. Rosenstein praised the FBI, ATF, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; Baltimore County Police Department; Anne Arundel County Police Department; Baltimore City Police Department; the Maryland State Police; Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office; Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office; and Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office for their assistance in this investigation and prosecution.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys Robert R. Harding and Christopher J. Romano, who are prosecuting this Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Is Jaquin "Chapo" Guzman Chicago's New Scarface?
Chicago’s new Scarface is a shadowy Mexican drug kingpin nicknamed Chapo — “Shorty” in Spanish. His cash crop is marijuana, which his cartel sells by the ton and protects with horrific violence.
If you thought Chicago’s Italian mob was the worst of the worst in organized crime, think again, federal agents say. “Chapo Guzman would eat them alive,” said Jack Riley, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Chicago.
The 5-foot-6 Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman rules the Sinaloa Cartel, which allegedly smuggles marijuana and other narcotics in planes, trains, ships, trucks, cars and even submarines.
Most of Guzman’s leafy product comes from Mexico, but some is grown alarmingly nearby — deep in Wisconsin’s North Woods, whose pristine lakes and pine forests are a paradise for weekend campers, hunters and anglers. Authorities suspect much of that Wisconsin-grown pot is destined for here.
Although Chicago is in the U.S. heartland, in the marijuana trade, “We are on the Mexican border,” Riley said.
Mexican marijuana dominates the Chicago market at a time when local police and prosecutors are trying to devise a better way to deal with the tens of thousands of people arrested here every year for possession of small amounts of pot. Most of those cases get dismissed in court, so several Chicago aldermen recently proposed an ordinance to allow officers to write tickets for minor marijuana possession.
Whatever the outcome, police and prosecutors say they won’t stop trying to prevent cartels like Guzman’s from shipping their huge loads of marijuana to Chicago. “The Mexican cartels have totally taken over the majority of the marijuana trafficking here,” Riley said. “It’s their cash crop. It’s the drug that really allows them to do all of their other criminal enterprises: heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine. That’s why it’s so important to us.”
A man scouting locations to hunt bears near the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest stumbled upon one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s secret North Woods marijuana operations. The hunter called authorities, who notified the DEA. A federal probe found about 10 grow sites that ranged in size from a suburban backyard to a football field in the forest and other remote areas of northern Wisconsin. Suspected cartel workers were tending to about 10,000 plants that would have been worth millions of dollars on the street. Twelve men were nabbed last year and all the plants were destroyed. Agents also recovered an AK-47 and other weapons.
These backwoods pot farms — first discovered about three years ago — are more sophisticated than what local cops there have encountered in the past. Trees were clear-cut to 3 feet high and marijuana was planted between the stumps. Workers dug water wells and ran irrigation hoses to the plants. The men slept and cooked under plastic tarps where they stored their pots and pans, sleeping bags, fertilizers, pesticides and trash. “Luncheros,” or supply workers, brought them food and growing supplies.
National Forest Service district ranger Jeff Seefeldt said he has suggested that fellow employees bring along law enforcement on visits to remote areas of the 130,000 acres of forest he oversees. Oconto County Sheriff Michael Jansen said he doesn’t know of any cartel-related violence in his community, yet. But he’s worried that other heavily armed marijuana grow operations might move into his backyard.
“The national forests in the mountainous states — Oregon and California — have been dealing with this for years,” he said. “They’re looking at a map and seeing other national forests besides those out West. And they’ve put their finger on Wisconsin.”
Mexican drug cartels are growing marijuana in the Chicago area, too, but on a lesser scale, said Larry Lindenman, executive director of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group. He suspects a cartel was to blame for a marijuana field found in 2008 in Waukegan across the street from property owned by Abbott Laboratories. “They had tents. They would work and live on the site. They even made a building out of plastic bags and used a generator-powered heater to dry the harvested plants before shipping,” he said.
The operations the feds have busted in Wisconsin and northern Illinois are proof Mexican cartels will grow marijuana anywhere they can to ensure an uninterrupted supply of marijuana makes it their best-selling markets, including Chicago.
Still, their local grow operations are a sideline — just a “small part of the pie” — in the drug business, Riley said.
In recent years, Chicago and Atlanta have become key transportation hubs for the cartels, Riley said. Most of their pot comes to Chicago in trains and semi trucks.
A lot of that marijuana is being shipped here by the Sinaloa Cartel and protected with unthinkable violence, Riley said. “Chapo Guzman, now that Osama is dead, is in my opinion the most dangerous criminal in the world and probably the most wealthy criminal in the world,” he said. “Guzman was in the Forbes Top 100 most wealthy people in the world. His ability to produce revenue off marijuana, we’ve never seen it before. We’ve never seen a criminal organization so well-focused and with such business sense, and so vicious and violent.”
In Mexico, feuding cartels are suspected of tens of thousands of murders, some gruesome beyond compare. They have been known to kidnap, torture, kill and mutilate. Here’s an example: The Juarez Cartel got blamed for what happened to a kidnapping victim whose skinned face was stitched onto a soccer ball in Sinaloa, Mexico, in 2010. Cartel members, including a hit squad called the Scorpions, are believed responsible for murders in Chicago, too, a police source said.
Fear of cartel violence, as well as rampant bribery, has prompted many officials in Mexico to look the other way while tons of marijuana and other drugs cross the border. But the cartel bosses aren’t just ruthless killers. They’re also businessmen who run their operations with a logistical know-how that rivals corporate giants.
Cartels have even secretly hired students attending elite U.S. universities to engineer their marijuana for increased potency, a police source said.
Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the alleged head of logistics for the Sinaloa Cartel, claims the DEA allowed the cartel to operate without interference for years in return for providing DEA agents with details about rival cartels, including the location of their leaders. He says the DEA offered him immunity in exchange for information, which the agency vehemently denies.
Zambada-Niebla, Guzman and their co-defendants are charged with smuggling tons of heroin and cocaine to Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S. Zambada-Niebla is in a federal lockup in Chicago, but Guzman remains a fugitive.
Although that federal case focused on cocaine and heroin, authorities believe the Sinaloa Cartel and rival drug cartels are also responsible for tons of marijuana that police and federal agents have seized in recent years. From 2005 through 2009, Chicago Police officers interdicted 29 tons of marijuana suspected of coming from Mexican cartels. In 2010 alone, police seized another 19 tons.
Last year, DEA agents in Chicago Heights stopped a delivery of nearly 11 tons of marijuana packed in six rail cars from Mexico. And in August, Chicago Police conducted surveillance on a West Side warehouse and saw workers preparing to move large containers from a tractor-trailer to six white vans. Hiding on rooftops and in weeds, the officers watched workers pull the six containers from the semi truck. Each container contained a ton of marijuana. Some bore the label “AK-47.”
“You will see people getting shot, being beheaded back in Mexico because of this,” said one undercover narcotics officer involved in the bust. “But for every truck you stop, 12 get through.”
The high season for shipping cartel marijuana to Chicago is in January, February and March — the key harvest times in Mexico.
Marijuana is often hidden under fruit or other food in a tractor-trailer. If a truck hauls a ton of pot to Chicago, the dealer who bought it from the cartel might earmark four 500-pound packages for particular customers. Once the truck is unloaded in Chicago, the weed doesn’t sit in a warehouse long — an hour or two, tops.
“Now it’s up to the independent dealers in the area with their own customer base that might supply the local guys with 50 pounds here and 50 pounds there,” an undercover narcotics officer said.
The cartels deal almost exclusively with high-level, Spanish-speaking smugglers in Chicago.
There are rules for how the pot is distributed here, authorities said. A guy who buys a ton won’t sell less than 500 pounds to anyone. A guy who buys 500 pounds won’t sell less than 50 at a time. And the guy who buys 50 pounds will “pound out” 5- or 10-pound amounts to his customers. At the bottom of the pot-dealer chain, low-level Hispanic drug dealers sell marijuana to the street corner salesmen who deal in ounces and grams.
“It’s Basic Narcotics 101,” said Chicago Police Cmdr. James O’Grady of the narcotics unit. “Don’t try to buy a kilo from a guy who sells ounces.”
A guy who sells ounces will think you’re stupid and rob you. Or he’ll think you’re an undercover cop and avoid you — or worse, O’Grady said.
Certainly, a pot dealer selling ounces would never negotiate with someone like Saul Rodriguez, a ruthless drug trafficker near the top of the supply chain in Chicago.
Rodriguez played a dangerous game. He ripped off the Mexican cartels and sold the drugs he stole. He has also admitted to being involved in the murders of three people.
In 1996, the former La Raza gang member became an informant for Chicago Police, earning $807,000 for his tips about high-level drug dealers.
Glenn Lewellen was the narcotics officer who recruited Rodriguez as an informant. They became partners in crime, federal prosecutors allege.
Rodriguez got his start as a big-time marijuana dealer before moving into more lucrative cocaine deals, law enforcement sources say. In 1996, for example, the DEA seized 154 pounds of marijuana from one of Rodriguez’s cars. But Lewellen persuaded the feds to drop their case, prosecutors said.
Rodriguez’s crew continued to operate until 2009 when he was arrested. He has pleaded guilty to running a drug enterprise and arranging the murders of three men in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Riley, the head of the DEA here, said he thinks a lot of pot smokers are unaware the bag of weed they buy is directly connected to the violence and corruption of Mexican drug cartels and their local associates, Rodriguez among them. “The guy sitting on the patio in Hinsdale — smoking a joint with his friend and having a drink — better think twice,” Riley said. “Because he’s part of the problem.”
Thanks to Frank Main
If you thought Chicago’s Italian mob was the worst of the worst in organized crime, think again, federal agents say. “Chapo Guzman would eat them alive,” said Jack Riley, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Chicago.
The 5-foot-6 Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman rules the Sinaloa Cartel, which allegedly smuggles marijuana and other narcotics in planes, trains, ships, trucks, cars and even submarines.
Most of Guzman’s leafy product comes from Mexico, but some is grown alarmingly nearby — deep in Wisconsin’s North Woods, whose pristine lakes and pine forests are a paradise for weekend campers, hunters and anglers. Authorities suspect much of that Wisconsin-grown pot is destined for here.
Although Chicago is in the U.S. heartland, in the marijuana trade, “We are on the Mexican border,” Riley said.
Mexican marijuana dominates the Chicago market at a time when local police and prosecutors are trying to devise a better way to deal with the tens of thousands of people arrested here every year for possession of small amounts of pot. Most of those cases get dismissed in court, so several Chicago aldermen recently proposed an ordinance to allow officers to write tickets for minor marijuana possession.
Whatever the outcome, police and prosecutors say they won’t stop trying to prevent cartels like Guzman’s from shipping their huge loads of marijuana to Chicago. “The Mexican cartels have totally taken over the majority of the marijuana trafficking here,” Riley said. “It’s their cash crop. It’s the drug that really allows them to do all of their other criminal enterprises: heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine. That’s why it’s so important to us.”
A man scouting locations to hunt bears near the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest stumbled upon one of the Sinaloa Cartel’s secret North Woods marijuana operations. The hunter called authorities, who notified the DEA. A federal probe found about 10 grow sites that ranged in size from a suburban backyard to a football field in the forest and other remote areas of northern Wisconsin. Suspected cartel workers were tending to about 10,000 plants that would have been worth millions of dollars on the street. Twelve men were nabbed last year and all the plants were destroyed. Agents also recovered an AK-47 and other weapons.
These backwoods pot farms — first discovered about three years ago — are more sophisticated than what local cops there have encountered in the past. Trees were clear-cut to 3 feet high and marijuana was planted between the stumps. Workers dug water wells and ran irrigation hoses to the plants. The men slept and cooked under plastic tarps where they stored their pots and pans, sleeping bags, fertilizers, pesticides and trash. “Luncheros,” or supply workers, brought them food and growing supplies.
National Forest Service district ranger Jeff Seefeldt said he has suggested that fellow employees bring along law enforcement on visits to remote areas of the 130,000 acres of forest he oversees. Oconto County Sheriff Michael Jansen said he doesn’t know of any cartel-related violence in his community, yet. But he’s worried that other heavily armed marijuana grow operations might move into his backyard.
“The national forests in the mountainous states — Oregon and California — have been dealing with this for years,” he said. “They’re looking at a map and seeing other national forests besides those out West. And they’ve put their finger on Wisconsin.”
Mexican drug cartels are growing marijuana in the Chicago area, too, but on a lesser scale, said Larry Lindenman, executive director of the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group. He suspects a cartel was to blame for a marijuana field found in 2008 in Waukegan across the street from property owned by Abbott Laboratories. “They had tents. They would work and live on the site. They even made a building out of plastic bags and used a generator-powered heater to dry the harvested plants before shipping,” he said.
The operations the feds have busted in Wisconsin and northern Illinois are proof Mexican cartels will grow marijuana anywhere they can to ensure an uninterrupted supply of marijuana makes it their best-selling markets, including Chicago.
Still, their local grow operations are a sideline — just a “small part of the pie” — in the drug business, Riley said.
In recent years, Chicago and Atlanta have become key transportation hubs for the cartels, Riley said. Most of their pot comes to Chicago in trains and semi trucks.
A lot of that marijuana is being shipped here by the Sinaloa Cartel and protected with unthinkable violence, Riley said. “Chapo Guzman, now that Osama is dead, is in my opinion the most dangerous criminal in the world and probably the most wealthy criminal in the world,” he said. “Guzman was in the Forbes Top 100 most wealthy people in the world. His ability to produce revenue off marijuana, we’ve never seen it before. We’ve never seen a criminal organization so well-focused and with such business sense, and so vicious and violent.”
In Mexico, feuding cartels are suspected of tens of thousands of murders, some gruesome beyond compare. They have been known to kidnap, torture, kill and mutilate. Here’s an example: The Juarez Cartel got blamed for what happened to a kidnapping victim whose skinned face was stitched onto a soccer ball in Sinaloa, Mexico, in 2010. Cartel members, including a hit squad called the Scorpions, are believed responsible for murders in Chicago, too, a police source said.
Fear of cartel violence, as well as rampant bribery, has prompted many officials in Mexico to look the other way while tons of marijuana and other drugs cross the border. But the cartel bosses aren’t just ruthless killers. They’re also businessmen who run their operations with a logistical know-how that rivals corporate giants.
Cartels have even secretly hired students attending elite U.S. universities to engineer their marijuana for increased potency, a police source said.
Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the alleged head of logistics for the Sinaloa Cartel, claims the DEA allowed the cartel to operate without interference for years in return for providing DEA agents with details about rival cartels, including the location of their leaders. He says the DEA offered him immunity in exchange for information, which the agency vehemently denies.
Zambada-Niebla, Guzman and their co-defendants are charged with smuggling tons of heroin and cocaine to Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S. Zambada-Niebla is in a federal lockup in Chicago, but Guzman remains a fugitive.
Although that federal case focused on cocaine and heroin, authorities believe the Sinaloa Cartel and rival drug cartels are also responsible for tons of marijuana that police and federal agents have seized in recent years. From 2005 through 2009, Chicago Police officers interdicted 29 tons of marijuana suspected of coming from Mexican cartels. In 2010 alone, police seized another 19 tons.
Last year, DEA agents in Chicago Heights stopped a delivery of nearly 11 tons of marijuana packed in six rail cars from Mexico. And in August, Chicago Police conducted surveillance on a West Side warehouse and saw workers preparing to move large containers from a tractor-trailer to six white vans. Hiding on rooftops and in weeds, the officers watched workers pull the six containers from the semi truck. Each container contained a ton of marijuana. Some bore the label “AK-47.”
“You will see people getting shot, being beheaded back in Mexico because of this,” said one undercover narcotics officer involved in the bust. “But for every truck you stop, 12 get through.”
The high season for shipping cartel marijuana to Chicago is in January, February and March — the key harvest times in Mexico.
Marijuana is often hidden under fruit or other food in a tractor-trailer. If a truck hauls a ton of pot to Chicago, the dealer who bought it from the cartel might earmark four 500-pound packages for particular customers. Once the truck is unloaded in Chicago, the weed doesn’t sit in a warehouse long — an hour or two, tops.
“Now it’s up to the independent dealers in the area with their own customer base that might supply the local guys with 50 pounds here and 50 pounds there,” an undercover narcotics officer said.
The cartels deal almost exclusively with high-level, Spanish-speaking smugglers in Chicago.
There are rules for how the pot is distributed here, authorities said. A guy who buys a ton won’t sell less than 500 pounds to anyone. A guy who buys 500 pounds won’t sell less than 50 at a time. And the guy who buys 50 pounds will “pound out” 5- or 10-pound amounts to his customers. At the bottom of the pot-dealer chain, low-level Hispanic drug dealers sell marijuana to the street corner salesmen who deal in ounces and grams.
“It’s Basic Narcotics 101,” said Chicago Police Cmdr. James O’Grady of the narcotics unit. “Don’t try to buy a kilo from a guy who sells ounces.”
A guy who sells ounces will think you’re stupid and rob you. Or he’ll think you’re an undercover cop and avoid you — or worse, O’Grady said.
Certainly, a pot dealer selling ounces would never negotiate with someone like Saul Rodriguez, a ruthless drug trafficker near the top of the supply chain in Chicago.
Rodriguez played a dangerous game. He ripped off the Mexican cartels and sold the drugs he stole. He has also admitted to being involved in the murders of three people.
In 1996, the former La Raza gang member became an informant for Chicago Police, earning $807,000 for his tips about high-level drug dealers.
Glenn Lewellen was the narcotics officer who recruited Rodriguez as an informant. They became partners in crime, federal prosecutors allege.
Rodriguez got his start as a big-time marijuana dealer before moving into more lucrative cocaine deals, law enforcement sources say. In 1996, for example, the DEA seized 154 pounds of marijuana from one of Rodriguez’s cars. But Lewellen persuaded the feds to drop their case, prosecutors said.
Rodriguez’s crew continued to operate until 2009 when he was arrested. He has pleaded guilty to running a drug enterprise and arranging the murders of three men in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Riley, the head of the DEA here, said he thinks a lot of pot smokers are unaware the bag of weed they buy is directly connected to the violence and corruption of Mexican drug cartels and their local associates, Rodriguez among them. “The guy sitting on the patio in Hinsdale — smoking a joint with his friend and having a drink — better think twice,” Riley said. “Because he’s part of the problem.”
Thanks to Frank Main
Friday, November 04, 2011
Chili Pimping in Atlantic City: The Memoir of a Small-Time Pimp and Hustler
Chili Pimping in Atlantic City: The Memoir of a Small-Time Pimp and Hustler is the controversial autobiography of Michael Mick-Man Gourdine, AKA the Candyman, as he was known on the street. The book pulls no punches and provides an honest and sometimes shocking look at what one man from the wrong side of tracks felt compelled to do to achieve the American Dream. Gourdine became a pimp who operated primarily on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey, while working as a corrupt NYPD cop who specialized in narcotics trafficking and prostitution. Employed as a police officer from 1990 to 2000, Gourdine reportedly made an estimated $2.5 to 3 million dollars in illegal graft, bribes, prostitution and drug dealing before being fired.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Two Dozen Members and Associates of Belizean Bloods Street Gang Facing Federal Narcotics and Passport Fraud Charges
A federal investigation of alleged passport fraud and narcotics trafficking by members and associates of the Belizean Bloods street gang operating in Evanston and Chicago has resulted in charges against two dozen defendants, most of whom were arrested here this week, law enforcement officials announced today. One defendant, Jerry Johnson, who allegedly directed the Belizean Bloods drug trafficking organization in Chicago, was arrested yesterday in Salt Lake City and is facing federal charges in Chicago. Five other defendants were arrested, and three guns were seized, Tuesday afternoon in Lyons where they had gathered as part of an alleged conspiracy to rob what they believed was 50 kilograms of cocaine from a different drug organization but which, in fact, was a ruse in an undercover sting operation.
Overall, 10 separate federal complaints were filed and unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago after search and arrest warrants were executed Tuesday and yesterday, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. The charges arise from two coordinated investigations, Operation Blood Hound and Operation Black Orchid, which brought together agents from multiple federal law enforcement agencies, as well as the Chicago and Evanston Police Departments and other local partners. In 2009, the Chicago Field Office of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service began investigating alleged passport fraud by Belizean nationals, while at the same time the FBI and Evanston and Chicago police were investigating alleged narcotics trafficking by suspected members of the Belizean Bloods.
Previously, during the course of the investigations, bulk amounts of powder and crack cocaine, firearms and assault rifles and cash were seized. Eight additional Belizean nationals were prosecuted for passport fraud and eight others for illegally re-entering the country within the past year in Federal Court in Chicago. Another Belizean national was arrested yesterday in Chicago on passport fraud charges filed in the Southern District of Florida.
“These coordinated efforts demonstrate the commitment and teamwork of all law enforcement agencies in the Chicago area to combat the dangerous combination of gangs, guns and drugs in our community,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.
Mr. Fitzgerald announced the arrests and charges with Scott Collins, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service Chicago Field Office; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Andrew L. Traver, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago; Gary J. Hartwig, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago; Alvin Patton, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; and Darryl McPherson, the U.S. Marshal in Chicago. The Chicago and Evanston Police Departments played significant roles in the investigation along with other local agencies. The investigations were conducted under the umbrella of U.S. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), and with significant assistance from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA.)
The investigation, which is continuing, relied on undercover purchases of narcotics, surveillance, consensual audio and video recordings, and court-authorized wiretaps of telephone conversations, as well as information provided by multiple cooperating witnesses, including former members and associates of the Belizean Bloods.
According to the charges against Johnson and three others, Johnson’s sources of supply included quantities of narcotics from Belize. He allegedly directed the distribution of powder and crack cocaine and “cooked” powder cocaine to produce crack, which was distributed in wholesale quantities. A cooperating former Belizean Bloods member told agents that Johnson had inherited his father’s drug connections when his father was deported to Belize. The Belizean Bloods narcotics distribution route allegedly included Illinois, Utah, Ohio, Indiana, New York and California.
Johnson, approximately 30, of Chicago and Evanston, also known as “Kaiden Bennett” and “Kalvin Howell,” appeared in Federal Court in Salt Lake City and remains in custody pending a detention hearing tomorrow. Other defendants arrested yesterday in Chicago were scheduled to appear this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys in Federal Court in Chicago.
The five defendants arrested Tuesday afternoon in Chicago appeared before Magistrate Keys yesterday and remain in custody pending detention and preliminary hearings at 9:30 a.m. next Tuesday. Three of them, Myreon Flowers, 39, of Chicago, aka “Diesel;” Anward Trapp, 31, of Chicago, aka “Bernard Gillett,” “Herman Flowers,” and “Smash;” and Rudy Space, 30, of Chicago; were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine for allegedly planning to rob a purported 50 kilograms of cocaine from a purported “stash” garage in Berwyn. The complaint alleges that they were involved in conversations and planning with an undercover agent and a cooperating witness to engage in a purported armed robbery, and shooting if necessary, of three members of a Mexican drug cartel on Tuesday. They were arrested at meeting spot in Lyons as they prepared to descend upon the fictitious stash location. (United States v. Myreon Flowers, et al., 11 CR 779.) Arrested with them were David Flowers, 34, of Chicago, and Duane Jones, 28, of Chicago, aka “Duane Tillett,” and “Dido,” who are facing separate charges of distributing crack cocaine, together with Myreon Flowers and Eric Burnett, 24, of Chicago. (United States v. David Flowers, et al., 11 CR 770.)
Summaries of the remaining cases follow:
United States v. Johnson, et al., (11 CR 763)
Jerry Johnson, together with Sheldon Morales, 30,of Wheeling, an alleged member of the Gangster Disciples street gang who supplied Johnson with powder cocaine; Douglas Wilson, 57,of Evanston; and Tyrita Myers, approximately 24,of Chicago; were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute wholesale quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine between August 2010 and March 2011.
United States v. Ward, (11 CR 764)
Anderson Ward, 29, of Chicago, was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in March 2011.
United States v. Gentle and Ellis, (11 CR 766)
William Gentle, 30, of Chicago, and Richard Ellis, 18, of Evanston, were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute crack cocaine between May and July this year.
United States v. Gadson and Walker, (11 CR 767)
Gilbert Gadson, 45, of Chicago, aka “Gilbert Gatson,” and Roy Walker, 52, of Chicago, were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute crack cocaine in January and February this year.
United States v. Glen Flowers, (11 CR 768)
Glen Flowers, 40, of Skokie, aka “Glen Gillett,” “William Powell,” and “Herbert Williams, Jr.” was charged with passport fraud for attempting in December 2010 to fraudulently renew a U.S. passport in the name of Herbert Williams, Jr.
United States v. Gibson and Glen Flowers, (11 CR 769)
The same Glen Flowers was charged with distributing powder cocaine, and Harrington Gibson, 63, of Chicago, aka “Uncle Harry,” was charged with distributing crack cocaine on June 29, 2011.
United States v. Perez, et al., (11 CR 771)
Carlos Perez, 41, of Chicago; Alfredo Castro, age and residence unavailable; and Jonathan Vaughan, 26, of Chicago, were charged with distributing cocaine on Oct. 20, 2011.
United States v. Trapp, et al., (11 CR 772)
Anwar Trapp, together with Wilton Bennett, 29, of Chicago; Marlon Conorquie, 36, of Chicago, aka “Dread;” and Alix Aurele, 37, of Dolton, were charged with distributing crack cocaine or heroin in September and October this year.
The defendants are facing various maximum penalties on the narcotics charges, ranging from a maximum of 20 years in prison to mandatory minimum sentences of either 5 or 10 years to a maximum of 40 years or life in prison, together with maximum fines of $250,000, $2 million or $4 million. The passport fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is being represented by a combination of Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Romero, Meghan Morrissey, Christopher Grohman and Kate Zell.
Overall, 10 separate federal complaints were filed and unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago after search and arrest warrants were executed Tuesday and yesterday, announced Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. The charges arise from two coordinated investigations, Operation Blood Hound and Operation Black Orchid, which brought together agents from multiple federal law enforcement agencies, as well as the Chicago and Evanston Police Departments and other local partners. In 2009, the Chicago Field Office of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service began investigating alleged passport fraud by Belizean nationals, while at the same time the FBI and Evanston and Chicago police were investigating alleged narcotics trafficking by suspected members of the Belizean Bloods.
Previously, during the course of the investigations, bulk amounts of powder and crack cocaine, firearms and assault rifles and cash were seized. Eight additional Belizean nationals were prosecuted for passport fraud and eight others for illegally re-entering the country within the past year in Federal Court in Chicago. Another Belizean national was arrested yesterday in Chicago on passport fraud charges filed in the Southern District of Florida.
“These coordinated efforts demonstrate the commitment and teamwork of all law enforcement agencies in the Chicago area to combat the dangerous combination of gangs, guns and drugs in our community,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.
Mr. Fitzgerald announced the arrests and charges with Scott Collins, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service Chicago Field Office; Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Andrew L. Traver, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago; Gary J. Hartwig, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago; Alvin Patton, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; and Darryl McPherson, the U.S. Marshal in Chicago. The Chicago and Evanston Police Departments played significant roles in the investigation along with other local agencies. The investigations were conducted under the umbrella of U.S. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), and with significant assistance from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA.)
The investigation, which is continuing, relied on undercover purchases of narcotics, surveillance, consensual audio and video recordings, and court-authorized wiretaps of telephone conversations, as well as information provided by multiple cooperating witnesses, including former members and associates of the Belizean Bloods.
According to the charges against Johnson and three others, Johnson’s sources of supply included quantities of narcotics from Belize. He allegedly directed the distribution of powder and crack cocaine and “cooked” powder cocaine to produce crack, which was distributed in wholesale quantities. A cooperating former Belizean Bloods member told agents that Johnson had inherited his father’s drug connections when his father was deported to Belize. The Belizean Bloods narcotics distribution route allegedly included Illinois, Utah, Ohio, Indiana, New York and California.
Johnson, approximately 30, of Chicago and Evanston, also known as “Kaiden Bennett” and “Kalvin Howell,” appeared in Federal Court in Salt Lake City and remains in custody pending a detention hearing tomorrow. Other defendants arrested yesterday in Chicago were scheduled to appear this morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys in Federal Court in Chicago.
The five defendants arrested Tuesday afternoon in Chicago appeared before Magistrate Keys yesterday and remain in custody pending detention and preliminary hearings at 9:30 a.m. next Tuesday. Three of them, Myreon Flowers, 39, of Chicago, aka “Diesel;” Anward Trapp, 31, of Chicago, aka “Bernard Gillett,” “Herman Flowers,” and “Smash;” and Rudy Space, 30, of Chicago; were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine for allegedly planning to rob a purported 50 kilograms of cocaine from a purported “stash” garage in Berwyn. The complaint alleges that they were involved in conversations and planning with an undercover agent and a cooperating witness to engage in a purported armed robbery, and shooting if necessary, of three members of a Mexican drug cartel on Tuesday. They were arrested at meeting spot in Lyons as they prepared to descend upon the fictitious stash location. (United States v. Myreon Flowers, et al., 11 CR 779.) Arrested with them were David Flowers, 34, of Chicago, and Duane Jones, 28, of Chicago, aka “Duane Tillett,” and “Dido,” who are facing separate charges of distributing crack cocaine, together with Myreon Flowers and Eric Burnett, 24, of Chicago. (United States v. David Flowers, et al., 11 CR 770.)
Summaries of the remaining cases follow:
United States v. Johnson, et al., (11 CR 763)
Jerry Johnson, together with Sheldon Morales, 30,of Wheeling, an alleged member of the Gangster Disciples street gang who supplied Johnson with powder cocaine; Douglas Wilson, 57,of Evanston; and Tyrita Myers, approximately 24,of Chicago; were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute wholesale quantities of cocaine and crack cocaine between August 2010 and March 2011.
United States v. Ward, (11 CR 764)
Anderson Ward, 29, of Chicago, was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute in March 2011.
United States v. Gentle and Ellis, (11 CR 766)
William Gentle, 30, of Chicago, and Richard Ellis, 18, of Evanston, were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute crack cocaine between May and July this year.
United States v. Gadson and Walker, (11 CR 767)
Gilbert Gadson, 45, of Chicago, aka “Gilbert Gatson,” and Roy Walker, 52, of Chicago, were charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute crack cocaine in January and February this year.
United States v. Glen Flowers, (11 CR 768)
Glen Flowers, 40, of Skokie, aka “Glen Gillett,” “William Powell,” and “Herbert Williams, Jr.” was charged with passport fraud for attempting in December 2010 to fraudulently renew a U.S. passport in the name of Herbert Williams, Jr.
United States v. Gibson and Glen Flowers, (11 CR 769)
The same Glen Flowers was charged with distributing powder cocaine, and Harrington Gibson, 63, of Chicago, aka “Uncle Harry,” was charged with distributing crack cocaine on June 29, 2011.
United States v. Perez, et al., (11 CR 771)
Carlos Perez, 41, of Chicago; Alfredo Castro, age and residence unavailable; and Jonathan Vaughan, 26, of Chicago, were charged with distributing cocaine on Oct. 20, 2011.
United States v. Trapp, et al., (11 CR 772)
Anwar Trapp, together with Wilton Bennett, 29, of Chicago; Marlon Conorquie, 36, of Chicago, aka “Dread;” and Alix Aurele, 37, of Dolton, were charged with distributing crack cocaine or heroin in September and October this year.
The defendants are facing various maximum penalties on the narcotics charges, ranging from a maximum of 20 years in prison to mandatory minimum sentences of either 5 or 10 years to a maximum of 40 years or life in prison, together with maximum fines of $250,000, $2 million or $4 million. The passport fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.
The government is being represented by a combination of Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Romero, Meghan Morrissey, Christopher Grohman and Kate Zell.
Todd Stark, Reputed Mob Associate of Nicodemo S. Scarfo, Pleads Guilty
A former bartender and reputed mob associate pleaded not guilty Wednesday to supplying boxes of bullets to mobster Nicodemo S. Scarfo, a convicted felon barred by law from possessing guns or ammunition.
Todd Stark, 43, of Ocean City, N.J., entered the plea during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden.
Stark is among 12 defendants indicted with Scarfo, 46, in a multimillion-dollar financial-fraud case. He is the only one not charged with involvement in what prosecutors allege was the systematic looting of the FirstPlus Financial Group, a Texas company that authorities allege Scarfo secretly took control of in 2007.
Stark, Scarfo, and five other defendants were charged with conspiracy to provide firearms or ammunition to a convicted felon.
Scarfo, who has been held without bail pending a detention hearing and arraignment Friday, also is charged with illegal possession of a weapon.
Most of the defendants have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.
Others, including Scarfo, have not yet entered pleas.
The weapons charges, while not directly connected to the financial fraud, underscore allegations that the looting of FirstPlus was based, in part, on Scarfo's organized-crime connections.
Authorities allege that Scarfo, of Galloway Township, N.J., and defendant Salvatore Pelullo, 44, of Elkins Park, used threats of violence and their ties to the mob to intimidate officials with the firm and eventually take control of the company.
The 25-count indictment charges that proceeds from the scam, estimated at more than $12 million, were "distributed to members and associates of LCN (La Cosa Nostra)."
Pelullo, described by associates as a "wannabe wiseguy," is identified in court documents as an associate of the Philadelphia crime family formerly headed by Scarfo's father, "Little Nicky" Scarfo, and the Lucchese crime family in New York.
The indictment alleges that Scarfo and Pelullo kept a "cache of weapons."
They included two rifles, a shotgun, two pistols, a revolver, and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition found on a yacht owned by Scarfo and Pelullo during an FBI raid in May 2008.
The yacht, christened "Priceless," was purchased for $850,000 by the pair with funds taken from FirstPlus, authorities said. Docked in Miami, it was used by the men and their associates to cruise the Bahamas.
It was seized by authorities during the investigation.
Authorities found a .38-caliber pistol in Pelullo's business office in Philadelphia; a .32-caliber pistol in his home; and a 9mm pistol, a .357 revolver, and more than 100 rounds of ammunition in Scarfo's home, according to Tuesday's indictment.
Stark is charged with purchasing two boxes of 9mm bullets from an Atlantic County gun shop in December 2007 and passing them to Scarfo.
John Maxwell, the former CEO of FirstPlus and a defendant in the pending case, is charged with buying a .357 revolver from a pawn shop in Dallas in September 2007 and driving "for approximately 48 hours from Texas to Atlantic City . . . where he delivered the revolver" to Scarfo.
At a news conference Tuesday, FBI Agent Michael B. Ward said the case was an example of the evolution of organized crime from "the back alleys to the board room."
No matter the locale, Ward said, the mob continues to use "physical threats and intimidation to gain leverage."
Thanks to George Anastasia
Todd Stark, 43, of Ocean City, N.J., entered the plea during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden.
Stark is among 12 defendants indicted with Scarfo, 46, in a multimillion-dollar financial-fraud case. He is the only one not charged with involvement in what prosecutors allege was the systematic looting of the FirstPlus Financial Group, a Texas company that authorities allege Scarfo secretly took control of in 2007.
Stark, Scarfo, and five other defendants were charged with conspiracy to provide firearms or ammunition to a convicted felon.
Scarfo, who has been held without bail pending a detention hearing and arraignment Friday, also is charged with illegal possession of a weapon.
Most of the defendants have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail.
Others, including Scarfo, have not yet entered pleas.
The weapons charges, while not directly connected to the financial fraud, underscore allegations that the looting of FirstPlus was based, in part, on Scarfo's organized-crime connections.
Authorities allege that Scarfo, of Galloway Township, N.J., and defendant Salvatore Pelullo, 44, of Elkins Park, used threats of violence and their ties to the mob to intimidate officials with the firm and eventually take control of the company.
The 25-count indictment charges that proceeds from the scam, estimated at more than $12 million, were "distributed to members and associates of LCN (La Cosa Nostra)."
Pelullo, described by associates as a "wannabe wiseguy," is identified in court documents as an associate of the Philadelphia crime family formerly headed by Scarfo's father, "Little Nicky" Scarfo, and the Lucchese crime family in New York.
The indictment alleges that Scarfo and Pelullo kept a "cache of weapons."
They included two rifles, a shotgun, two pistols, a revolver, and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition found on a yacht owned by Scarfo and Pelullo during an FBI raid in May 2008.
The yacht, christened "Priceless," was purchased for $850,000 by the pair with funds taken from FirstPlus, authorities said. Docked in Miami, it was used by the men and their associates to cruise the Bahamas.
It was seized by authorities during the investigation.
Authorities found a .38-caliber pistol in Pelullo's business office in Philadelphia; a .32-caliber pistol in his home; and a 9mm pistol, a .357 revolver, and more than 100 rounds of ammunition in Scarfo's home, according to Tuesday's indictment.
Stark is charged with purchasing two boxes of 9mm bullets from an Atlantic County gun shop in December 2007 and passing them to Scarfo.
John Maxwell, the former CEO of FirstPlus and a defendant in the pending case, is charged with buying a .357 revolver from a pawn shop in Dallas in September 2007 and driving "for approximately 48 hours from Texas to Atlantic City . . . where he delivered the revolver" to Scarfo.
At a news conference Tuesday, FBI Agent Michael B. Ward said the case was an example of the evolution of organized crime from "the back alleys to the board room."
No matter the locale, Ward said, the mob continues to use "physical threats and intimidation to gain leverage."
Thanks to George Anastasia
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Little Nicky Scarfo Jr's Son Among 12 Arrested and Charged with Racketeering
The son of a Philadelphia mob boss, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo Jr., and 12 others, are charged with racketeering and other offenses in an indictment handed down Tuesday morning. And Federal prosecutors say members of that mob have turned to a modern crime -- pillaging the assets of a mortgage company -- in a sign that organized crime is evolving to include more white-collar crime.
Thirteen people -- including lawyers and an accountant -- were charged in a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. Most of them were arrested in raids throughout the morning in New Jersey, Florida and Texas.
Among them were Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of imprisoned Lucchese crime family boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky'' Scarfo, five lawyers and a certified public accountant. Eight of them were due in court Tuesday afternoon.
They face charges including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, false statements on a loan application, securities fraud. Maximum penalties range from five years in prison to decades. "The criminal activity is evolving,'' said Michael Ward, agent-in-charge of the FBI in Newark. "It's going from the back alleys to the boardrooms.''
Authorities say the plot started in April 2007, when the younger Scarfo and his associate Salvatore Pelullo, who has previously been convicted of financial crimes, decided to take over FirstPlus Financial Group, a publicly traded mortgage company based in Irving, Texas. Authorities said it was a company with a lot of cash but not much sophistication.
The indictment charges Scarfo and Pelullo used threats to help wrest control of the company. Pelullo is accused of telling a member of the FirstPlus' board that if he didn't go along with the plan, "your kids will be sold off as prostitutes.''
The indictment says he later told others who were charged in the scheme to get the company's board to agree to hand control to his and Scarfo's new directors -- and he wanted it done immediately. He allegedly told them: "I don't care if they're in a funeral parlor, I don't care if they're in a (expletive) hospital on a respirator, we'll send somebody there. I want their vote, I want their signature, and I want it done by the close of the day today.''
Authorities say the elder Scarfo, serving in a federal prison in Atlanta, was apprised of the plot, but that he was not charged because he's expected never to be released.
After getting control of FirstPlus, Scarfo and Pelullo are accused of having it buy shell companies they owned so they could take out money. After that, authorities said, they signed a series of consulting contracts to pay themselves even more.
In less than a year, authorities said, they took $12 million and spent it on multiple homes, including one for Scarfo's ex-wife; weapons and ammunition, a plane, an Audi, a Bentley, $30,000 in jewelry and an 83-foot, $850,000 yacht they named "Priceless.'' U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman wouldn't say exactly how authorities got onto the plot, but he said it ended with a series of raids in 2008.
Since then, FirstPlus has filed for bankruptcy, blaming the alleged criminals for wrecking the firm.
Fishman said the alleged conspirators were planning one more "piece de resistance:'' They wanted to pump up the stock price of FirstPlus and sell off the company. He said that was their exit strategy. "We had a different exit strategy.''
Thanks to NBC40
Thirteen people -- including lawyers and an accountant -- were charged in a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. Most of them were arrested in raids throughout the morning in New Jersey, Florida and Texas.
Among them were Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of imprisoned Lucchese crime family boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky'' Scarfo, five lawyers and a certified public accountant. Eight of them were due in court Tuesday afternoon.
They face charges including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, false statements on a loan application, securities fraud. Maximum penalties range from five years in prison to decades. "The criminal activity is evolving,'' said Michael Ward, agent-in-charge of the FBI in Newark. "It's going from the back alleys to the boardrooms.''
Authorities say the plot started in April 2007, when the younger Scarfo and his associate Salvatore Pelullo, who has previously been convicted of financial crimes, decided to take over FirstPlus Financial Group, a publicly traded mortgage company based in Irving, Texas. Authorities said it was a company with a lot of cash but not much sophistication.
The indictment charges Scarfo and Pelullo used threats to help wrest control of the company. Pelullo is accused of telling a member of the FirstPlus' board that if he didn't go along with the plan, "your kids will be sold off as prostitutes.''
The indictment says he later told others who were charged in the scheme to get the company's board to agree to hand control to his and Scarfo's new directors -- and he wanted it done immediately. He allegedly told them: "I don't care if they're in a funeral parlor, I don't care if they're in a (expletive) hospital on a respirator, we'll send somebody there. I want their vote, I want their signature, and I want it done by the close of the day today.''
Authorities say the elder Scarfo, serving in a federal prison in Atlanta, was apprised of the plot, but that he was not charged because he's expected never to be released.
After getting control of FirstPlus, Scarfo and Pelullo are accused of having it buy shell companies they owned so they could take out money. After that, authorities said, they signed a series of consulting contracts to pay themselves even more.
In less than a year, authorities said, they took $12 million and spent it on multiple homes, including one for Scarfo's ex-wife; weapons and ammunition, a plane, an Audi, a Bentley, $30,000 in jewelry and an 83-foot, $850,000 yacht they named "Priceless.'' U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman wouldn't say exactly how authorities got onto the plot, but he said it ended with a series of raids in 2008.
Since then, FirstPlus has filed for bankruptcy, blaming the alleged criminals for wrecking the firm.
Fishman said the alleged conspirators were planning one more "piece de resistance:'' They wanted to pump up the stock price of FirstPlus and sell off the company. He said that was their exit strategy. "We had a different exit strategy.''
Thanks to NBC40
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
NCAA Compared to Al Capone's Mafia
A Democratic congressman compared the NCAA to the Mafia over how it controls the lives of student athletes.
"I think they're just one of the most vicious, most ruthless organizations ever created by mankind," Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said of the NCAA at a congressional forum on college sports Tuesday. "I think you would compare the NCAA to Al Capone and to the Mafia."
Rush made the accusations at the forum called to look at the impact of "back-room deals, payoffs and scandals" in college sports. The congressman spoke after hearing from a couple of mothers of former student-athletes who complained of ill treatment by schools after their sons suffered injuries.
"Congressman Rush obviously doesn't know the NCAA," Bob Williams, a spokesman for the organization, said in an email Tuesday night. "The NCAA and its member institutions provide over $2 billion per year in scholarships, financial assistance and academic support to student-athletes ... second only to the federal government. Student-athlete success is our mission."
"I think they're just one of the most vicious, most ruthless organizations ever created by mankind," Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said of the NCAA at a congressional forum on college sports Tuesday. "I think you would compare the NCAA to Al Capone and to the Mafia."
Rush made the accusations at the forum called to look at the impact of "back-room deals, payoffs and scandals" in college sports. The congressman spoke after hearing from a couple of mothers of former student-athletes who complained of ill treatment by schools after their sons suffered injuries.
"Congressman Rush obviously doesn't know the NCAA," Bob Williams, a spokesman for the organization, said in an email Tuesday night. "The NCAA and its member institutions provide over $2 billion per year in scholarships, financial assistance and academic support to student-athletes ... second only to the federal government. Student-athlete success is our mission."
"Mafia: The Glamour of Crime" by Fien Mynendonckx
“As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a gangster. To me, being a gangster was better than being President of the United States.“–Ray Liotta, Good Fellas
One look at the cover of Mafia: The glamour of crime and one knows it’s an important book. It’s big, it’s classy, and it’s riddled with bullet holes. Fans of gangster movies, mob movies, and The Sopranos will be indebted to their benefactors if this handsome volume finds its way to their piles of holiday gifts.
Filled with both black and white and color photos, and many two-page spreads, Mafia: The Glamour of Crime, authored by Fien Mynendonckx, is a stunning resource that mixes true-crime memories with Hollywood fantasy. There are numerous photographs of real-life mobsters and gangsters and even more stills from the most famous gangster films--The Godfather franchise, Good Fellas, Bugsy, The Untouchables, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Scarface and many others.
Mafia: The Glamour of Crime begins with a short introduction and then introduces “Mafia In America,” a chapter that includes the Cosa Nostra, the Irish Mob, and the Kosher Nostra. The following chapter also focuses on history, “Brief History of the Mafia in America,” which looks at a Mafia timeline that starts in 1910 and continues through 1990, finally asking “What now?”
For those unfamiliar with “consigliere,” “waste management business,” “sit-down,” “omerta,” and “Shylock,” there is a glossary that translates mob-talk into English, French and German. And really…you never know when it might come in handy.
“The Stereotype of the Gangster,” a chapter that includes “Real Gangsters,” “Gangster Actors” and “The Gangster Film” leads us into the world of entertainment, where we find “The Mafia in Hollywood.” Film buffs will think they’re in heaven when they browse through the fantastic photos (my personal favorite? A two-page spread for Good Fellas).
The book closes with chapters on the Mafia throughout the world, the reality of the Mafia, an epilogue, and clever quotes from both real-life and celluloid mobsters. Mafia: The Glamour of Crime is more a history of the Mafia on film than it is of the Mafia, and it addresses the romance that Hollywood (and other places throughout the world) has created from Mafia legends, but it is also a very satisfying scrapbook of anecdotes.
Thanks to Bob Etier
Monday, October 31, 2011
Gangsters Expand to White-Collar Crime and Cyber Attacks
When is credit-card theft a good thing? When the culprits might otherwise be killing you.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation says national gangs like the Bloods and Crips are becoming more sophisticated, turning to white-collar financial crime and cyber attacks that threaten Corporate America and, well, everyone.
The evolving criminal schemes, which include mortgage fraud, counterfeiting, bank and credit card fraud and identity theft, are attractive because they are much less risky than traditional gang-related crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and robbery, and have the potential to yield much greater profits, according to a new national gang threat assessment from the FBI.
“In sort of a macro-sense, if they are hacking into people’s computers rather than killing them in cold blood, that’s a good thing, in some respects,” said Jonathan Armstrong, a partner at Duane Morris who practices Internet law. However, these gangs, which also include the Latin Kings, Aryan Brotherhood and Texas Syndicate, are growing in size, with membership up 30% to 1.4 million compared with 2009, and the FBI says they are becoming more dangerous.
“Gangs are more adaptable, organized, sophisticated, and opportunistic, exploiting new and advanced technology as a means to recruit, communicate discretely, target their rivals, and perpetuate their criminal activity,” the FBI said.
This heightened threat among U.S. gangs brings to light the increased volume of financial crimes and hacking seen across all industries over the last few years, which have already cost corporations, retailers and innocent people billions of dollars. “It’s an issue and I think it’s one that’s definitely accelerating,” Armstrong said. “I think we ought to be worried.”
Financial crime has picked up significantly over the last few years amid financial turmoil and technological advances. Ponzi and other high-yield investment fraud schemes surged when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged from a high of 14,164 in October 2007 to 6,547 in March 2009, the FBI said in its 2009 Financial Crimes Report.
While authorities have cracked down, the development of new schemes, such as securities market manipulation via cyber intrusion, has put fraud on the rise, the FBI said. From 2004 through 2009, fraud investigations increased by 33%, bringing losses associated with those schemes into the billions of dollars.
Of course, U.S. street gangs aren’t at the crux of financial crime in the U.S. just yet, which is typically led by professionals and swindlers within the banking system or high-tech cyber hackers. However, the gangs’ sophistication offers yet another impediment to authorities trying to suffocate white-collar crime and a sign these groups may continue to evolve into high-yielding complex schemes, forming much more lucrative enterprises.
Gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and La Nuestra Familia that are undertaking white-collar crime are recruiting members that possess the necessary high-tech skill sets, according to the FBI.
Some that run these criminal gangs could run corporations,” Armstrong said. “They push out less profitable businesses and build up the more profitable (ones), just as a corporation would.”
The FBI says gang members are exploiting vulnerabilities in the banking and mortgage industries for profit. They are turning to counterfeit and identity theft, using methods such as skimming to steal account numbers from ATMs or retail card readers.
Mortgage fraud is also on the rise, and gangs, such as the Gangster Disciples, are purchasing properties with the intent to receive seller assistance loans, only to retain proceeds from the loans or co mingle illicit funds through mortgage payments.
In April 2009, members of the Bloods in San Diego were charged with mortgage fraud, and in August 2010, members of the Black Guerilla Family in Maryland used pre-paid retail debit cards as virtual currency inside Maryland to buy drugs and further the gangs’ interests, according to the FBI.
“Wall Street has a brilliant system for pushing money around the world. So does organized crime,” Armstrong said, liking the underground profit-driving activities to an “underworld banking system.”
Earlier this month, authorities in New York arrested more than 100 service-sector employees in the city and dismantled five separate criminal enterprises operating out of Queens in a multi-million dollar counterfeiting scheme. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had said that while those crimes weren't holdups at gunpoint, the impact on victims was just as bad.
Robert Rebhan, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who later directed a credit card fraud prevention program for American Express (AXP: 52.10, +0.29, +0.56%), notes that those are the kind of stunts, which are less risky and more profitable than traditional street crimes, that gangs are likely pursuing.
“If I have dirty money from a drug steal I need the underwater market to clean it up, so I might only get 20% return,” Armstrong said. “But if I can make it credit card fraud, then I can probably get better than a 20% return rate, particularly if I can use the compromised credit card to buy real goods and turn over those goods on an auction site.”
Cyber criminals typically steal a smaller amount of money from a large number of victims. Since, credit card companies and banks aren’t reporting minor counterfeiting cases to the Federal Trade Commission, it becomes the responsibility of victims.
Rebhan, who is a financial crimes expert, says 95% of those are never reported – making web-based fraud tougher to identity. “It’s not a critical step in recovering your identity - it’s a pain,” he said. “So when you hear crime is down – don’t believe that’s true of financial crimes.”
U.S street gangs are likely a ways off from operating botnets and siphoning massive funds from corporations, Rebhan said, noting the FBI is probably using “cyber crime” in a broader sense. However, criminal groups are becoming increasingly savvy and embracing advanced technology to enhance operations, according to the FBI.
Gangs are using social networking like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to recruit new members and communicate globally and more discreetly without the proximity once needed for communication. “The proliferation of social networking websites has made gang activity more prevalent and lethal—moving gangs from the streets into cyber space,” the FBI said.
Many also use the Internet to carry out crimes such as computer hacking, cyber attacks and phishing schemes, which are used to illegally acquire personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card information. But besides the attractive profits, gangs are also finding the web more enticing because of the less-stringent punishment faced by cyber criminals, at least compared with robbery and murder. Where a robbery can lead to a seven-year sentence, counterfeiting or identity fraud using the web could lead to just a few months of jail time, Rebhan said.
Of course, there are some exceptions, including Tien Truong Nguyen, who was sentenced last year to more than 12 years in prison for his role in a phishing scam that impacted more than 38,000 victims, and Albert Gonzalez, who was sentenced to 20 years for the Heartland Payment Systems (HPY: 21.62, +0.37, +1.74%) data breach. But for the most part, catching and punishing cyber criminals takes a certain skill set that many in law enforcement and judiciaries just don’t have yet, the experts say. Because of that, white-collar crime is slated to grow among street gangs.
“There’s no formal education given to the judiciary on cyber crimes – the jury is perplexed by these crimes and the judge is also – (they) don’t have a clue of bytes, bits or how malware is written,” Rebhan said.
Thanks to Jennifer Booton
The Federal Bureau of Investigation says national gangs like the Bloods and Crips are becoming more sophisticated, turning to white-collar financial crime and cyber attacks that threaten Corporate America and, well, everyone.
The evolving criminal schemes, which include mortgage fraud, counterfeiting, bank and credit card fraud and identity theft, are attractive because they are much less risky than traditional gang-related crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and robbery, and have the potential to yield much greater profits, according to a new national gang threat assessment from the FBI.
“In sort of a macro-sense, if they are hacking into people’s computers rather than killing them in cold blood, that’s a good thing, in some respects,” said Jonathan Armstrong, a partner at Duane Morris who practices Internet law. However, these gangs, which also include the Latin Kings, Aryan Brotherhood and Texas Syndicate, are growing in size, with membership up 30% to 1.4 million compared with 2009, and the FBI says they are becoming more dangerous.
“Gangs are more adaptable, organized, sophisticated, and opportunistic, exploiting new and advanced technology as a means to recruit, communicate discretely, target their rivals, and perpetuate their criminal activity,” the FBI said.
This heightened threat among U.S. gangs brings to light the increased volume of financial crimes and hacking seen across all industries over the last few years, which have already cost corporations, retailers and innocent people billions of dollars. “It’s an issue and I think it’s one that’s definitely accelerating,” Armstrong said. “I think we ought to be worried.”
Financial crime has picked up significantly over the last few years amid financial turmoil and technological advances. Ponzi and other high-yield investment fraud schemes surged when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged from a high of 14,164 in October 2007 to 6,547 in March 2009, the FBI said in its 2009 Financial Crimes Report.
While authorities have cracked down, the development of new schemes, such as securities market manipulation via cyber intrusion, has put fraud on the rise, the FBI said. From 2004 through 2009, fraud investigations increased by 33%, bringing losses associated with those schemes into the billions of dollars.
Of course, U.S. street gangs aren’t at the crux of financial crime in the U.S. just yet, which is typically led by professionals and swindlers within the banking system or high-tech cyber hackers. However, the gangs’ sophistication offers yet another impediment to authorities trying to suffocate white-collar crime and a sign these groups may continue to evolve into high-yielding complex schemes, forming much more lucrative enterprises.
Gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and La Nuestra Familia that are undertaking white-collar crime are recruiting members that possess the necessary high-tech skill sets, according to the FBI.
Some that run these criminal gangs could run corporations,” Armstrong said. “They push out less profitable businesses and build up the more profitable (ones), just as a corporation would.”
The FBI says gang members are exploiting vulnerabilities in the banking and mortgage industries for profit. They are turning to counterfeit and identity theft, using methods such as skimming to steal account numbers from ATMs or retail card readers.
Mortgage fraud is also on the rise, and gangs, such as the Gangster Disciples, are purchasing properties with the intent to receive seller assistance loans, only to retain proceeds from the loans or co mingle illicit funds through mortgage payments.
In April 2009, members of the Bloods in San Diego were charged with mortgage fraud, and in August 2010, members of the Black Guerilla Family in Maryland used pre-paid retail debit cards as virtual currency inside Maryland to buy drugs and further the gangs’ interests, according to the FBI.
“Wall Street has a brilliant system for pushing money around the world. So does organized crime,” Armstrong said, liking the underground profit-driving activities to an “underworld banking system.”
Earlier this month, authorities in New York arrested more than 100 service-sector employees in the city and dismantled five separate criminal enterprises operating out of Queens in a multi-million dollar counterfeiting scheme. New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had said that while those crimes weren't holdups at gunpoint, the impact on victims was just as bad.
Robert Rebhan, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who later directed a credit card fraud prevention program for American Express (AXP: 52.10, +0.29, +0.56%), notes that those are the kind of stunts, which are less risky and more profitable than traditional street crimes, that gangs are likely pursuing.
“If I have dirty money from a drug steal I need the underwater market to clean it up, so I might only get 20% return,” Armstrong said. “But if I can make it credit card fraud, then I can probably get better than a 20% return rate, particularly if I can use the compromised credit card to buy real goods and turn over those goods on an auction site.”
Cyber criminals typically steal a smaller amount of money from a large number of victims. Since, credit card companies and banks aren’t reporting minor counterfeiting cases to the Federal Trade Commission, it becomes the responsibility of victims.
Rebhan, who is a financial crimes expert, says 95% of those are never reported – making web-based fraud tougher to identity. “It’s not a critical step in recovering your identity - it’s a pain,” he said. “So when you hear crime is down – don’t believe that’s true of financial crimes.”
U.S street gangs are likely a ways off from operating botnets and siphoning massive funds from corporations, Rebhan said, noting the FBI is probably using “cyber crime” in a broader sense. However, criminal groups are becoming increasingly savvy and embracing advanced technology to enhance operations, according to the FBI.
Gangs are using social networking like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to recruit new members and communicate globally and more discreetly without the proximity once needed for communication. “The proliferation of social networking websites has made gang activity more prevalent and lethal—moving gangs from the streets into cyber space,” the FBI said.
Many also use the Internet to carry out crimes such as computer hacking, cyber attacks and phishing schemes, which are used to illegally acquire personal information such as usernames, passwords and credit card information. But besides the attractive profits, gangs are also finding the web more enticing because of the less-stringent punishment faced by cyber criminals, at least compared with robbery and murder. Where a robbery can lead to a seven-year sentence, counterfeiting or identity fraud using the web could lead to just a few months of jail time, Rebhan said.
Of course, there are some exceptions, including Tien Truong Nguyen, who was sentenced last year to more than 12 years in prison for his role in a phishing scam that impacted more than 38,000 victims, and Albert Gonzalez, who was sentenced to 20 years for the Heartland Payment Systems (HPY: 21.62, +0.37, +1.74%) data breach. But for the most part, catching and punishing cyber criminals takes a certain skill set that many in law enforcement and judiciaries just don’t have yet, the experts say. Because of that, white-collar crime is slated to grow among street gangs.
“There’s no formal education given to the judiciary on cyber crimes – the jury is perplexed by these crimes and the judge is also – (they) don’t have a clue of bytes, bits or how malware is written,” Rebhan said.
Thanks to Jennifer Booton
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero
A new portrait of John F. Kennedy based on interviews with those who knew him best, by Chris Matthews, bestselling Kennedy expert and host of Hardball.
By following the journey of Jack Kennedy’s life from his school days to the White House, through war and illness and his greatest triumphs, Chris Matthews brings us much closer to the man Jack Kennedy really was.
We know so much about President John F. Kennedy, yet even his wife Jacqueline described him as “that elusive man.” To MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews, Kennedy has long been both an avatar and a puzzle, a beacon and a conundrum. “Whenever I spot the name in print, I stop to read. Anytime I’ve ever met a person who knew him—someone who was there with JFK in real time—I crave hearing their first-person narrative.”
For years, Matthews has been collecting those stories. In Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, the bestselling author and Kennedy expert has woven those firsthand encounters with JFK into a great American Bildungsroman, telling the tale of how Kennedy grew from a child of privilege into a war hero and finally President of the United States, all the while coping with a life-threatening disease.
“In searching for Jack Kennedy my own way,” Matthews writes, “I found a fighting prince never free from pain, never far from trouble, never accepting the world he found, never wanting to be his father’s son. He was a far greater hero than he ever wished us to know.”
By following the journey of Jack Kennedy’s life from his school days to the White House, through war and illness and his greatest triumphs, Chris Matthews brings us much closer to the man Jack Kennedy really was.
We know so much about President John F. Kennedy, yet even his wife Jacqueline described him as “that elusive man.” To MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews, Kennedy has long been both an avatar and a puzzle, a beacon and a conundrum. “Whenever I spot the name in print, I stop to read. Anytime I’ve ever met a person who knew him—someone who was there with JFK in real time—I crave hearing their first-person narrative.”
For years, Matthews has been collecting those stories. In Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero, the bestselling author and Kennedy expert has woven those firsthand encounters with JFK into a great American Bildungsroman, telling the tale of how Kennedy grew from a child of privilege into a war hero and finally President of the United States, all the while coping with a life-threatening disease.
“In searching for Jack Kennedy my own way,” Matthews writes, “I found a fighting prince never free from pain, never far from trouble, never accepting the world he found, never wanting to be his father’s son. He was a far greater hero than he ever wished us to know.”
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