Playstations Used by Organized Crime Bosses Behind Bars to Maintain Control of Their Empires

The Serious Organized Crime Agency in the U.K. says jailed crime bosses are using PlayStations and "interactive internet games" to maintain control of their criminal organizations from behind bars.

Bill Hughes, the director-general of the agency, said criminals are using coded messages in chat rooms to pass on their orders and that PlayStations are being used to play interactive games with people on the outside as well as to charge cellphones that were being smuggled into prisons.

"We know that one of the issues is that if you are locked up, how do you communicate with others? And we have been highlighting the fact it is not always with mobile telephones," Hughes said. "There is other technology used - people are using PlayStations to charge their mobile phones and are playing games interactively with others, so are able to communicate with them."

"The Prison Service is concerned that prisoners are using interactive games to talk to people outside the prison," he continued. "Communication is the name of the game and criminals are looking to exploit new technologies. Prisoners have rights and they have access to the internet."

The accusation resulted from a report by SOCA that it is currently monitoring 5000 "crime bosses" in the U.K. and elsewhere. "Many of the 5,000 are not in the U.K. but are impacting on the U.K. from overseas. Some are in prison running their organizations and we are working with colleagues in the Prison Service," said outgoing SOCA Chairman Sir Stephen Lander. "Recidivism among organized criminals is high. These are lifestyle choices for these people. They will go to prison and we need to find a way of making it more difficult for them to re-engage."

But Her Majesty's Prison Service strongly denied the allegations, claiming that prisoners did not have access to the "wireless enabled technology" available in some consoles. "A decision was taken some years ago that the then-current generation of games consoles should be barred because the capability to send or receive radio signals is an integral part of the equipment," a representative said.

I'm not sure which side of the console wars the U.K. prison system has taken but the use of the term "PlayStation" in this context sounds rather generic and not necessarily a reference to any of Sony's consoles. Regardless, it's comforting to know that even though I have no idea how to apply prison tattoos or make toilet wine, I now apparently possess a skill set that will help me survive if I ever land in the Big House.

Thanks to Andy Chalk

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Foreclosure for The Mafia Princess, Victoria Gotti?

The Mafia Princess may soon be thrown out of her castle.

Victoria Gotti is a deadbeat on the mortgage for her mansion in Old Westbury, L.I., which was prominently featured in the TV series "Growing Up Gotti."

The daughter of the late Gambino crime boss owes JPMorgan Chase about $650,000 and hasn't made a payment in two years, court papers say.

A four-judge panel of the Brooklyn Appellate Division has granted the lender's motion for summary judgment on the foreclosure and the appointment of a referee to report whether the six-acre property can be sold in one parcel.

Gotti blamed the financial mess on her ex-husband Carmine Agnello, who she says took a $856,000 loan against the home without her knowledge.

She became the sole owner of the home in 2004 and the mortgage went into default while she and Agnello "were involved in a bitter matrimonial action," court papers say. Agnello pleaded guilty to racketeering in 2004. "I won a house that was a booby prize riddled with debt," Gotti told the Daily News.

Agnello was sprung from prison earlier this year after serving about eight years .

Gotti said he still hasn't paid court-ordered alimony or child support for his three sons although he's living large with his new wife in a tony suburb in Ohio. "He still owes the federal government nearly $10 million and yet they still allow him to live this way?" she said.

When their middle son expressed a desire to attend law school, Agnello responded, "'Wow, I'm proud of him, but I have no money,'" Gotti said.

The Long Island mansion, with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, is on the market for $3 million - marked down from $4 million. It's an eyesore in the exclusive enclave, in need of a fresh paint job and landscaping. The yearly tax bill for the compound, which includes a stable and pond, is $92,000.

Gotti says she staved off a scheduled foreclosure sale in 2005 by agreeing to pay JPMorgan Chase $50,000 up front and $25,000 a month. Gotti made several payments and then stopped, which prompted the bank to declare her in default again.

The appellate court's decision reversed a lower court decision in 2007 that said foreclosure proceedings were premature at the time.

Agnello's lawyer, Scott Leemon, declined comment.

Victoria's brother John Jr., who is facing trial in the fall on murder and racketeering charges, is also beset by money woes. A federal judge shot down the mob scion's bid for taxpayer money for his legal defense.

Thanks to Lisa Colangelo and John Marzulli

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Is the Mafia on the Rise or on the Run?

Two themes have emerged from recent media coverage of organized crime. On the one hand, protests like those held in Naples two months ago and sweeping arrests are said to signal the decline of the Mob. On the other, the international financial crisis is said to present new opportunities for mafiosi to take advantage of credit-constrained conditions to seize control of businesses and gain ground against the law.

As to the first point, this sort of give-and-take between the forces of order and disorder has been going on for most of a century. Mussolini near broke them but the US occupation put them back in business. Corruption is ingrained in certain parts of the world; see the municipal scandal in Naples and a medical scam in Sicily. As to the second, cash is king and the mafia has cash.

Stepping back, the larger issue is that organized crime is not a problem, for problems can be solved. It is a condition with which one deals. The last major round of globalization (1870-1914) saw the large local mobs — Sicilian Mafia, Neapolitan Camorra, Chinese Tongs, Corse Unione, etc. — all go worldwide. Today, as in the past, globalization offers new vistas for such groups. Two points:

1. Drugs and people are huge businesses for smugglers and illegal local dealers. The failure of the First World to be serious about either of these things creates quite rich transnational networks. Such networks can be used to move terrorists, weapons, restricted nuclear technologies, etc. The smart ones won’t do it — brings down too much scrutiny from the police — but enough of the players are undereducated thugs with attitude who will deal in anything for a short-term profit. As these crews tend to be linked but mostly independent, rather than the top-down Godfather-type empires, one can always find some wild boy who will do your deal.

2. Cultural “diversity” means demographic replacement in many areas. This, in turn, creates situations of social chaos and lack of cohension which, again, leave openings on the internal security front. Italy and Spain, for example, are both in the process of becoming national states that lack a clearly defined national population as immigrants with little interest in becoming genuine socio-cultural nations, dilute the native population.

Thanks to Bellum

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Nobody Does a Funeral Quite like the Mafia

The local chapter of La Cosa Nostra may be a hapless shell of its former self. But when it comes to staging a funeral, nobody does it quite like the Mafia.

“Three flower cars, wow!” said a pilgrim from Wisconsin who was just about to chomp down on a chocolate cannoli from Mike’s Pastry yesterday morning. The cheesehead was momentarily spellbound by the stately procession of black Cadillacs gliding toward him up Hanover Street, coming to rest at the venerable gates of St. Leonard’s Church. “Wonder who that is?” the tourist said to his wife.

Standing within earshot was a slight gentleman wrapped in a tailored black suit, black tie, black sunglasses and a perfectly coiffed head of white hair that seemed to glow in the sun.

The dapper gent studied the rube for a moment, then made his way across Hanover Street, where he began kissing the family and friends of Donato “Danny” Angiulo, a capo regime in brother Jerry’s mob franchise, who expired Sunday night at the ripe age of 86.

Inside St. Leonard’s, a Franciscan Friar told the congregation that “death comes to all of us. Yes, we think we are going to live forever . . . that death will never touch us . . . it’s not a part of our future . . . but sooner or later . . .”

In a consoling gesture, the priest went on to remind the mourners that fate had actually smiled upon the old capo they called “Smiley.”

“Donato’s death was a peaceful death,” the priest noted, “whereas other deaths can be violent, horrible.” The words just hung in the incensed silence, floating among the statues of the saints and the chorus of angels swirling in vast murals across the domed ceiling.

“Danny was always the muscle in the (Angiulo) family,” recalled one law enforcement source, who studied the kid brother who enforced the Angiulo family will on the street.

“Where Jerry was always the yeller and the screamer, Danny was the guy who carried out the assignments. He was the brother that functioned where the rubber met the road. As result, he was respected on the street.”

There was a strange clash of cultures seeing that long black train of Cadillacs choke traffic in a North End where tourists and yuppie condo-dwellers now exert far more sway than bookies and leg-breakers.

Smiley Angiulo died peacefully surrounded by his family, which, in the end, is all any aging Mafioso could ask given the range of alternatives.

As the flower cars headed north, a certain nostalgia took hold. Could it be the end of an era? Or will there be four . . . maybe five flower cars, for brother Jerry, the tempestuous old don who stayed largely out of sight yesterday.

Thanks to Peter Gelzinis

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Six Indicted in Organized Crime Bust

The statewide Grand Jury has handed up an indictment Thursday naming six local men in connection with an organized crime bust.

Donald St. Germain , of West Warwick, Joseph Montuori, of Cranston, Michael Sherman of West Warwick, Michael Lillie of West Warwick, and Jeremy Lavoie also of West Warwick are charged with one count each of conspiracy and extortion. Police say the five men conspired together to extort money in West Warwick back in January. Officials also say the men threatened to injure someone with the intent of extorting cash.

St. Germain is facing several additional charges, including bookmaking, as well as drug possession and intent to deliver drugs, including Oxycodone and Hydrocodone. All of the incidents were witnessed by an undercover West Warwick Police officer.

Montouri is also named on one count of bookmaking, and involvement in an organized crime business. Sherman is named on four additional drug charges, as well as possessing a pistol while delivering a controlled substance.

Lillie and Richard Crowley are also facing charges involving the delivery of drugs.

All six men will be arraigned in Providence County Superior Court.

Thanks to Amanda Mathias

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