Godfather's Luxury Villa Converted to Restaurant and Bed and Breakfast

A LUXURY villa once owned by one of the Mafia's most ruthless godfathers reopened yesterday as a restaurant after being seized by the police.

Lovers of traditional Sicilian cuisine are expected to flock to the three-acre estate that used to belong to Salvatore 'the Beast' Riina.

The lavish property and its grounds have been turned into a farm-holiday restaurant and bed and breakfast.

Roberto Maroni, the interior minister, said the villa's transformation would boost the fight to convert not just property but also "consciences".

He added: "I hope this will be the start of a reaction in hearts and minds to achieve the final objective of definitively defeating the Mafia and giving this magnificent land back to honest citizens."

Almost £480 million worth of property has been confiscated in the province of Palermo this year alone, he said.

The villa was converted by the Pio La Torre Co-operative, named after a famous anti-Mafia land reformer shot dead in 1982. The manager, Floriana Di Leonardo, said it would be able to feed 90 people and had 16 rooms for anyone to stay over "if they've had a bit too much".

Riina unleashed a bloody assault on the state in the early 1990s, killing two anti-Mafia judges. He was caught in 1993.

Thanks to Nick Pisa

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Simple Resume Error Costs Chicago's Organized Crime Division Head Consideration for Police Chief

The newly appointed acting head of the organized crime division for Chicago Police has been dropped from consideration for a top police job in Arizona because of inconsistencies on his resume.

Lt. Ernest Brown, who had applied for the job of police chief in Buckeye, Ariz., insists the resume flap was a simple error on his part.

Brown said he submitted an old resume that listed him as assistant deputy superintendent, a title he lost last spring when Supt. Jody Weis made several command-level changes.

"I was working off a [computer] disc with several resumes,'' Brown said. "I applied electronically."

Brown, a 26-year veteran, was demoted to lieutenant of Area 1's robbery and burglary division under the changes Weis made.

He said when Buckeye officials came to Chicago to interview him, he did not hide his new position. He told them he was a commanding officer in the detective division and brought them to Area 1.

"I have an exemplary career,'' Brown said. "Everything on my resume is 1,000-percent legit.''

Officials from the city of Buckeye did not return calls late Friday.

Chicago Police officials defended Brown's new position, saying he had a proven track record of working with the community and as an innovative crime-fighter.

Steve Peterson, deputy superintendent of investigative services, said Brown reduced gas station holdups as commander of the Grand Crossing district by helping to get better lighting, video surveillance and wrought iron fencing for owners.

"He is a competent, dedicated member of the department . . . with a keen awareness of gang, gun and drug issues affecting the city,'' Peterson said.

Peterson refused to discuss Brown's job application in Arizona or whether officials knew about it.

Thanks to Annie Sweeney

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FBI Cleans Up the "Trash Czar" and The Waste Management Industry

He was dubbed the “trash czar” by the media—James Galante, businessman and majority owner of 25 trash companies that controlled about 80 percent of the trash, or carting, industry in Connecticut and parts of eastern New York. But earlier this summer, Galante’s reign ended when he pled guilty in federal court after a long-term multi-agency investigation of wrongdoing in the waste-hauling industry. Thirty-two others—including Galante’s employees, his accountant, a silent partner with ties to New York organized crime, and a high-ranking member of the Genovese crime family—were also charged in the case and have all pled guilty.

Galante was operating what’s known as an illegal “property rights system”—when carting companies affiliated with organized crime groups assert they have a monopoly over certain “stops,” or customer accounts (mostly commercial and municipal customers in this case). These companies collude with one another to divvy up the stops, fix prices, and rig contract bids. They also pay a so-called “mob tax” to keep their piece of the action.

The result is a loss of competition and higher prices for customers. And woe to the carting companies that try to compete legally in this type of marketplace. They find their trucks and other equipment vandalized, their employees threatened or assaulted by mob muscle, and their economic livelihood at stake.

The FBI's case began in February 2003, after Galante sent a threatening note to another trash company over a disputed contract. The company contacted the FBI's New Haven office, and they decided to introduce an undercover agent into the mix. The agent started working as the victim company’s “strategic marketing planner,” with oversight over new trash hauling contracts that put him in direct contact with Galante and his people. Later, the undercover agent was actually hired by Galante as a salesman.

During the operation, which also included extensive use of court-authorized wiretaps, the FBI discovered more than 40 refuse companies working within the property rights system. They identified links between Galante’s enterprise and organized crime. They collected mounds of evidence against Galante and other members of his criminal enterprise. And because they intercepted phone calls containing threats against individuals and companies, they were able to warn intended victims.

Public corruption also reared its ugly head. For a property rights system to work, a criminal enterprise needs the help of corrupt local government and/or law enforcement officials. And so it was in this case—also charged were a former mayor, a federal drug agent, and a Connecticut state trooper who unlawfully accessed the FBI's National Crime Information Center database to check a license plate for Galante.

Special thanks to the FBI's partners who worked with them on this case—the Ansonia, Milford, and New Haven police departments; the Connecticut State Police; the Connecticut Department of Corrections; the Internal Revenue Service; the Department of Labor; the Drug Enforcement Administration; and the Marshals Service.

Part of Galante’s plea agreement involves the full forfeiture of his companies, which were valued at up to $100 million. The federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who worked with the FBI will be receiving millions of dollars in forfeiture proceeds. And one other note: because of the case, a new state agency in Connecticut now oversees the refuse hauling industry and requires background checks on trash companies.

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American's Most Wanted on The Chicago Syndicate - 11/08/08 Episode

Roy “Bubba” Massey
Cops say notorious bad boy Roy "Bubba" Massey led Arkansas State Police on a high speed chase that ended in a fiery crash before he was taken into custody.

Russell McCollum
Police say Russell Victor McCollum appears to be a responsible, straight-laced guy; cops in Tennessee say he's anything but.

Joseph Roman
New York City Det. Kenny Kearns had mixed feelings about pursuing his latest fugitive, Joseph Roman, because Roman once worked in his family's restaurant in the Bronx. "The streets got him," Kearns says, and in turn, cops say Roman got involved in a murder.

Candido Peraza
Cops in Ontario, Calif. are determined to bring Candido Renteria Peraza to justice for the fatal hit-and-run of 7-year-old Nathan Sitompul. Cops say a drunken Peraza struck Nathan, who was riding his bike at the time. Peraza stopped, but when he saw Nathan struggling to get to his feet, Peraza took off, running over Nathan again.

James Perry
Cops want accused North Carolina drug slinger James Ricky Perry off the streets and back behind bars. They say Perry has been dealing since the 1980s, and not even a stint in the slammer could change his ways.

Humberto Fortanelli
Police say Humberto Fontanelli and his cellmate David Ray escaped from a Fordyce, Ark. prison on New Year's Eve 2007. Cops picked up Shannon Ray four days later, but say that Fortanelli is still on the run. AMW sat down with Ray and got a first-hand look at exactly how the escape went down, and where his co-partner in crime, Humberto Fortanelli, could be hiding out.

Shannon Ray
Dental floss and razors might have gotten David Ray out of jail, but they weren't enough to keep him out. Ray was arrested in the early morning hours of January 4, 2008 by cops in Memphis, Tenn.

Unknown Melissa Witt Killer
On January 13, 1995, cops in Arkansas made a gruesome discovery in the Ozark Mountains: the body of beloved Forth Smith teenager Melissa "Missy" Witt, brutally murdered. Now, John Walsh and the AMW team are working to hunt down a killer.

Unknown Ann Pressly Killer
Cops in Arkansas are searching for the unknown suspect who beat a television anchorwoman to death. Anne Pressly, 26, died nearly a week after she was beaten in her home, and as a precautionary measure, cops have distributed pepper spray to local television news personalities who may be targeted as well. Police say the pepper spray was donated by an anonymous donor.


Anthony Forgione
Okaloosa County Sheriff's Deputy Anthony Forgione, 33, was shot and killed by a suspect who had barricaded himself inside a Fort Walton Beach home. Cops say the suspect, Mark Rohlman, was committed for a mental evaluation, but left and hid inside his childhood home with a shotgun. Deputy Forgione entered the home with the Sheriff's Office Special Response Team when he was fatally wounded by the suspect's gunfire, according to police.

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Has the Russian Mafia Stolen Over 500,000 Bank and Credit Card Accounts?

Researchers at RSA's FraudAction Research Lab discovered one of the largest stolen data caches ever. Over the last 30 months a trojan virus, known as Sinowal, Torpig and Mebroot by various anti-virus companies, has stolen 270,000 online banking account credentials and 240,000 credit and debit account numbers. The virus is so sophisticated that it changes constantly to avoid detection by anti-virus programs, in fact, a test of the most recent virus showed that only 10 out of 35 security applications were able to detect it.

Sinowal works by hiding in the Master Boot Record of computers waiting till its victims visit one of 2700 bank and e-commerce sites where it displays new fields in to the existing website to capture personal and private information such as Social Security numbers, account numbers and passwords.

At this point it is not apparent who is behind the attacks but there is some interesting, if not revealing, evidence that suggests the Russian Mafia may be behind this crime.

Sinowal was tied to the Russian Business Network in its early days. The Russian Business Network was a hosting company in St. Petersburg, Russia that was disbanded last year after media pressure due to thier cyber-crime friendly policies and clients. With 500,000 stolen identities and accounts from at least 27 countries it is interesting that none were from Russia. Additionally, one of the Sinowal web servers also contained a spoof of the U.S. Marshals Web Site with bogus wanted posters for famous Russian people such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Leonid Brezhnev, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Vladimir Putin. What's more interesting is that these names were also the user names for gang members that logged in to this illegal web server.

Is all this proof? No, but that will be difficult to obtain. It does lead to a high level of suspicion though. Identity Theft Labs has stated previously that we fully expect large criminal organizations to become involved in identity theft, if they haven't already, because it is profitable and low risk. The Russian Mafia has already taken their operations in the U.S. in to other non-traditional income streams such as insurance fraud and personal injury lawsuits. Can identity theft really be far behind or have they already entered this criminal market? It may not be proven but the odds say that they have already hatched their master plan.

Thanks to Identity Theft Labs

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