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Canadian 'godfather' held in big Mafia arrest sweep
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MONTREAL - The slayings of three Mafia captains in 1981 led to racketeering and murder charges today against the reputed head of the Canadian Mafia, who now faces extradition to New York.
Vito Rizzuto, known in media reports as the "godfather" of the Montreal mob who wields enormous influence from coast to coast, was among nearly 30 suspected mobsters nabbed today in a sweep that U.S. prosecutors called a decisive blow against a weakened Bonanno crime organization.
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Raid linked to organized crime
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A weekend raid on the B.C. legislature stemmed from a 20-month probe into international drug trafficking, organized crime and police corruption, RCMP and Victoria police revealed Monday.
One ministerial assistant was fired and another was suspended with pay after police swept into their offices Sunday afternoon and carted away boxes of files.
Police arrested nine people in Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto allegedly involved in an organized crime network that sold B.C. marijuana in the United States in exchange for cocaine, which in turn was being distributed in Canada, said RCMP spokesman Sgt. John Ward.
"Organized crime has stretched into every corner of B.C. and onto most city streets," Ward said. "It is not an exaggeration to say that organized crime is a cancer eating away at the social and moral fabric of British Columbia. And it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better."
Ward said police searched the offices of two non-elected officials at the legislature Sunday based on information directly related to the drug and organized crime investigation, as well as "unrelated information that was recently discovered as a byproduct" of the initial probe.
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Spam, virus writing may come under mafia control
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Will the recent introduction of antispam legislation result in the creation of a "spam underworld"? Eugene Kaspersky, cofounder of Kaspersky Lab and head of its antivirus research thinks so. While people in the United States generally associate the word "mafia" with Godfather and Soprano style gangsters, Kaspersky used the words "organized crime" with no reference to any specific gangs, but as a general term. However, the Russian researcher fears that modern Internet criminals may fall under control of traditional organized crime or worse yet, become organized into a new style of mafia -- virus writers and hackers who work for spammers to provide illegal proxy-servers.
But Stephen Cobb, Senior VP of Research & Education at ePolicy, argues that "by definition, people who work together to send spam that violates provisions of either the recently passed federal CAN SPAM Act or the many state antispam laws, or the Federal Trade Commission Act (which outlaws deceptive business practices in general) constitutes organized crime."
However, whether or not the people that the general public views as the "mafia" are adding spam and other unpleasant Internet activities to their portfolio of crime isn't clear at this point. But Cobb thinks it would make perfect sense for them because spamming remains, despite antispam laws and lawsuits, a relative low risk activity with plenty of upside in terms of profit.
Kaspersky's predictions aren't a short-term forecast that can be confirmed with facts and figures, but a long-term prediction, which may happen in 5-10 years. He believes it too difficult and too inaccurate at this point to speculate about who's going to control cybercriminals.
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Posted by cwdedes on Thursday, December 18 @ 16:52:36 EST (83 reads)
(comments? | Score: 0)
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Mafia men net £32bn in Italian drugs boom
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Italy's Mafia gangs have earned £32 billion and killed almost 700 people in the past four years, a report by the Eurispes research study unit says
It contradicts claims that the crime syndicates have been all but defeated.
The most recent figures show that drug trafficking accounted for more than £18 billion, or more than half of total gangland turnover. Of that, £7 billion went to the 'Ndrangheta', as organised crime in Calabria is known.
The report said Cosa Nostra turned over £6 billion in drugs, and the Camorra in Naples £5 billion. Almost half the 666 murders recorded between 1999 and 2003 were linked to the Camorra.
"The figures are cause for reflection," said Giuseppe Lumia, the former president of the Italian parliament's anti-Mafia committee.
"The Mafias continue to kill at an unacceptable rate for a country wanting to call itself civilised. They condition both its economy and politics."
Pietro Grasso, the chief prosecutor in Palermo, said: "It is estimated that in Sicily 5,000 people are part of Cosa Nostra. Hundreds of thousands are not members but have dealings with it."
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Posted by cwdedes on Sunday, December 14 @ 13:03:18 EST (91 reads)
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Italian Americans Successful in Campaign to Ban 'Mafia Movie Madness' from U.S.
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Italian Americans working together scored a major victory against defamation when Coca-Cola agreed yesterday to permanently retire the film clip Mafia Movie Madness, reports the Sons of Italy Commission for Social Justice (CSJ).The two-minute film by Jordan Ross, won the 2003 Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker Award for young filmmakers. It features a movie theater taken over by the Mafia, who intimidate and threaten its customers.
The film was shown before the main feature in movie theaters all over the country, prompting the CSJ, UNICO National, the National Italian American Foundation and other concerned groups as well as private individuals to contact Coca-Cola to complain.
After receiving a letter from CSJ National President Albert DeNapoli, Coca-Cola agreed to remove the film from circulation. "We sincerely regret that anyone was offended," said Coca-Cola spokeswoman Maria Perez. "We are removing the film from theaters effective Friday, December 5, and it will no longer be screened as a pre-feature film."
The CSJ also wrote and telephoned the CEOs of the two major movie chains, Loews Cineplex Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group, that were airing the film in their theaters nationwide. They agreed with Coca-Cola's decision and will no longer show the film.
Collectively, Loews and Regal operate more than 8,900 screens in nearly 850 locations in the U.S. and abroad. Their empires include Cineplex Odeon, Cinemax and Star Theaters. "After viewing the film I could understand why you objected to it," Loews CEO Travis Reid told the CSJ by telephone Dec. 2.
The CSJ also circulated to several email activist networks a contact sheet with the names and addresses of the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Regal Entertainment Group and Loews Cineplex Theatres.
"We are gratified in the extreme that these three corporate giants have taken such swift and decisive action in addressing our concerns," said DeNapoli." And we commend all the Italian American organizations and individuals who helped make this victory possible."
The Sons of Italy CSJ is the anti-defamation arm of the Order Sons of Italy in America, the largest and oldest national organization in the U.S. for men and women of Italian heritage
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Posted by cwdedes on Thursday, December 04 @ 14:26:22 EST (114 reads)
(comments? | Score: 5)
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The Russian Mafia is targeting third party credit card merchants. They are mostly going after the online casino merchants. What they are doing is attacking the servers with a DOS ( denial of service) attack. This prevents the legitmate customers access to the credit card processors. They will hold the merchant account servers for days until they receive cash in amounts upto $50,000 USD. Is this new Mafia warfare? Instead of bothering brick and mortar stores will we see more Mafia activity online? The attacks took place this last weekend as well as a few weeks ago.
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Posted by cwdedes on Tuesday, December 02 @ 16:54:21 EST (106 reads)
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Organized crime figure shot dead in Philadelphia
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Published November 24, 2003 SHT124
PHILADELPHIA -- A Philadelphia crime figure who spent nearly seven years in prison for racketeering died Sunday after he was shot in the head and the back inside his row house.
Relatives found John Casasanto slumped in his kitchen Saturday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at a hospital early Sunday.
Casasanto, 35, had been released from prison about three years ago. He had been arrested in 1994 in a racketeering indictment against members of the John Stanfa organized crime family and pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy.
More recently, Casasanto had been charged with assault in the Oct. 23 stabbing of dance-band singer Jonathan (Chico) DeBarge outside a Philadelphia nightclub. Casasanto was to have appeared in court in December on the assault charge.
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Posted by cwdedes on Friday, November 28 @ 22:56:56 EST (183 reads)
(comments? | Score: 2)
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Chicago's 1st Ward and the Mafia
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Back in 1988, the 1st Ward's southern border extended to 26th Street, "except for one small peninsula" which extended to 31st Street. Do you know what the reason was for the creation of that "small peninsula"? And the role the Chicago Mafia played in it?
According to David K. Fremon (on pages 25/26 of his 1988 book, Chicago Politics Ward By Ward):
"Nowadays when the 1st Ward is mentioned two words come into mind: crime syndicate. Many have charged that reputed crime syndicate boss Tony Accardo is the real ruler of the ward. Even the ward's boundaries reflect the syndicate's influence. The southern border extends to 26th Street except for one small peninsula which extends to 31st Street—and not coincidentally, takes in the fortresslike home of reputed mob boss Angelo LaPietra at 30th and Princeton.
"Nor has Committeeman John D'Arco done much to discourage speculation of links between 1st Ward Democrats and organized crime. Committeeman since 1952, he has frequently been seen in the company of gentlemen routinely described with the word 'reputed' prefacing their occupations and names. 'D'Arco has never bothered to deny that he is a political appendage of the Mafia, probably because he knows that nobody would believe him,' wrote Mike Royko in his 1971 book Boss.
"D'Arco served as a state representative in the 1940s, as part of the 'West Side bloc' of lawmakers which opposed reform and anticrime legislation. He became alderman in 1951. Following in a 1st Ward tradition that dated back to Hinky Dink and Bathhouse, he also owned a lucrative Loop insurance business on the side.
"His reputed Mafia connections may have caused D'Arco to lose his alderman job—but not for the reasons one might think. D'Arco and mob boss Sam 'Momo' Giancana were eating lunch together in late 1962. A less-than-subtle FBI agent approached them. 'Ho ho ho, it's Moe,' he said to Giancana. Then he turned to D'Arco, saying, 'And good afternoon to you, John.' A startled D'Arco instinctively shook the agent's hand, and Giancana immediately stormed out of the restaurant. The following day, D'Arco checked himself into a local hospital and announced that he would not seek re-election as alderman."
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By the way, Chicago's wards keep getting re-mapped, in order to better help the reelection of whoever happens to be in power at the time and/or to provide a given ethnic group with a "super-majority" at election time. Back in 1988, the 1st Ward covered most of downtown Chicago. That's no longer true. What used to be the 1st Ward then is now the 42nd Ward. Or rather, part of what used to be the 1st Ward, since ward boundaries change even more often than their numbers. Confused? For a clearer look at what the different Chicago wards look like now, please visit the "Find Your Alderman" page in the City Clerk of Chicago's Web site.
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Posted by cwdedes on Friday, November 28 @ 13:11:27 EST (131 reads)
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Mafia Gangs Putting Public Health at Risk with Illegal Meat
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Mafia-like criminal gangs are generating huge profits from illegally trading meat and putting public health at risk, a conference was being told today.
Wales is becoming a centre for the illegal production of smokies, an ethnic delicacy made by using a blow-torch on the skin of a sheep or goat to give a charred flavour, delegates were told at the conference staged in Cardiff today by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).
It warned that the gangs, which it likened to the Mafia, would put at risk Wales’s farming community if left unchecked.
CIEH director for Wales Julie Barratt said: “The illegal meat trade has a stronghold in Wales. Individuals have resorted to meat crime, in particular producing smokies, as a means of supplementing their incomes.
“This has a number of serious implications for Wales, including the loss of its worldwide reputation for the production of high quality lamb and may put the European Protected Status for Welsh lamb into jeopardy.
“The foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 propelled the dangers of illegal meat on to the national agenda for the first time. Since then some steps have been taken to address the challenges presented by meat crime, but they are not enough.
“This conference is designed to highlight the full seriousness of meat crime, to encourage a more co-ordinated approach by government and enforcement agencies to tackle it, and to look at ways of ensuring that the punishment handed down fits the crime.
“The food chain is a long and complicated one and no single organisation, agency or government department can stamp out this criminality on its own. We need to build strategic partnerships where all parties adopt the same level of responsibility and commitment in order to prevent criminal gangs from exploiting enforcement loopholes.”
Among changes the CIEH wants to see in a bid to tackle the crime is the creation of a specific offence relating to introducing unfit food into the food chain, as well as the introduction of more stringent penalties including instant seizure of the profits of the criminal activity.
The Farmers’ Union of Wales has been working with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and other organisations in a bid to find a legal way of producing smokies.
The illegal trade usually uses older sheep to make smokies, with specified risk material not removed from the carcasses.
“There is a demand for it in African communities in London and other cities and we are trying to see if there is a way they can be produced in a licensed slaughter-house to the highest possible standards of hygiene,” said a union spokesman. “The FSA is still investigating it.
“If we can find ways of producing them hygienically we think that will kill the illegal trade. We think that is the best way to deal with it. The aim is to drive the gangs out of business.”
It is believed that a van-full of smokies could be worth between £5,000 and £10,000, said the spokesman.
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Posted by cwdedes on Wednesday, November 26 @ 12:18:44 EST (101 reads)
(comments? | Score: 0)
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Sicilian village wants to lose Mafia connections
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Residents of a Sicilian village famous for its Mafia connections are
campaigning to change its name.
They want to change the image of Corleone village which was made
famous in The Godfather.
Campaign chairman Antonio Di Lorenzo said: ''We are collecting
signatures and hope to present a petition to the council in the New
Year.
''With 2004 just around the corner its no longer acceptable that the
name of Corleone should be associated with the Mafia.''
The town is the birthplace of two major Mafia bosses - Salvatore
Riina and Bernardo 'The Bulldozer' Provenzano.
Riina is currently serving multiple life sentences while Provenzano
has been on the run from police for more than 40 years.
Proposals include the original name of the town - Cour di Leone - and
the idea has won support among local politicians.
But Mayor Nicolo Nicolosi is against the idea. He said: ''It's utter
madness. You can't get rid of the Mafia associations just by changing
the name.
''We all have to work together so that Corleone can be appreciated
for other things such as administrative efficiency and the fight against
the Mafia.''
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Posted by cwdedes on Wednesday, November 26 @ 12:15:07 EST (127 reads)
(comments? | Score: 5)
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