Last month, a Kentucky cardiologist and his ex-wife pled guilty to recruiting a Bolivian woman to work as their domestic servant and holding her unlawfully for nearly 15 years. The couple took her passport, threatened her with deportation, and falsely promised that her wages were being put in a bank account.
Trafficking in persons is a widespread form of modern-day slavery, and as we observe National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we’d like to update you on what the FBI—with its partners—is doing to go after the traffickers and help the victims.
Human trafficking is a top investigative priority of the Bureau’s civil rights program.
During fiscal year 2012, they opened 306 human trafficking investigations around the nation involving forced labor or forced household service as well as sex trafficking of international victims (young and old) and adult U.S. citizen victims.
Along the same lines, the sex trafficking of U.S. children is also a priority within their crimes against children program. During fiscal year 2012, they opened 363 investigations into the commercial sexploitation of domestic minors. Fortunately, they were also able to locate more than 500 young victims of sex traffickers.
They participate in 88 human trafficking task forces and working groups around the country. Their efforts include not only investigating cases where they find them, but also proactively using intelligence to drive and support these cases, looking at known areas of human trafficking activities, and developing liaison relationships within communities to promote awareness of these crimes.
Help for victims.
The Bureau also has a robust assistance program in place for victims of human trafficking—as well as other federal crimes investigated by the FBI. Their Office for Victim Assistance (OVA) oversees the work of victim specialists located throughout our 56 field offices.
These specialists—experienced in crisis intervention, social services, and victim assistance—work closely with agents to ensure that potential victims of trafficking are rescued, transferred to safe locations, and provided with referrals for medical, mental health, housing, legal, and other necessary services. And this past year, representatives from OVA and their civil rights program developed a protocol for human trafficking investigations that was implemented in all FBI field offices. The protocol highlights a victim-centered approach and the need for collaboration between the investigating agent, the local victim specialist, non-governmental agencies, and other law enforcement partners.
OVA oversees their child/adolescent forensic interviewers who work with Crimes Against Children task forces and provide training for agents and task force officers working human trafficking cases. These interviewers also collaborated with partner agencies to develop an interview protocol for minor victims of sexploitation for use by professionals working against human trafficking.
Their training and awareness efforts were significant.
During fiscal year 2012, they conducted training around the country focused on defining, detecting, and investigating human trafficking cases. The audiences included law enforcement—both U.S. and international—along with government employees, religious and civic organizations, ethnic advocacy groups, schools, social service agencies, medical personnel, legal aid agencies, domestic violence services, etc.—in short, anyone in a position to make a difference in the life of a trafficking victim.
Multi-agency investigations, intelligence, victim assistance, training - the FBI's putting their tools and capabilities to work to help combat the scourge of human trafficking.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Sunday, January 06, 2013
The Dollar Cost of a Single Gun Death
Gun violence takes an economic toll as well as an emotional one. The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation used 2010 data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to estimate the dollar cost of a single gun death. The amount exceeded $5.1 Million dollars!
- $3,100,000 in relatives pain and suffering
- $1,600,000 in lost wages
- $395,000 in criminal justice expenses
- $29,000 in medical care for the victim
- $11,000 in mental health treatment for relatives
- $9,000 in losses to the victim's employers
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Mob Kingpin Mickey Cohen Played by Sean Penn in Gangster Squad
Public enemy number one, Mickey Cohen, is brought to life on the big screen by two-time Oscar-winner Sean Penn in Warner Bros.’ epic, action-thriller, “Gangster Squad.”
“I thought it would be a fun old-school gangster picture with a cast I have great admiration for,” Penn says on what drew him to the film. “And upon meeting director Ruben Fleischer, I was sold.”
Set in Los Angeles, 1949, “Gangster Squad” revolves around ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen who runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians he has under his thumb. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
Mickey Cohen may be an underworld figure, but his very public image and commanding presence make him a man not to be crossed…in business or pleasure. He goes beyond merciless; any breach is a betrayal for which one pays the ultimate price. But he also has the undeniable charisma that comes with great power.
According to producer Dan Lin, “Cohen, in real life, was over the top. He was a gangster, but a Hollywood gangster. He was funny, he loved talking to reporters and, in public, he really wanted to entertain people, as if he were one of the movie stars he was always trying to woo. Of course, in private, he was doing dark, evil things.”
Fleischer cites, “When I imagined bringing the movie to the screen, the one character that everything seemed to hinge on was Cohen, the villain, this larger-than-life personality. I immediately thought of Sean Penn, so having him in the role was huge. Mickey is such a dynamic, memorable, menacing character and Sean has the gravitas, the intensity and the humor to pull it off.”
Though only remotely familiar with the real man, Penn says that for his interpretation of the character, “I tried to ignore the literal. The real Mickey Cohen so resembled Al Capone, who I thought De Niro had done so indelibly in ‘The Untouchables,’ that I felt, for a wide audience who largely would not have been aware of Mickey Cohen, mimicking Cohen in looks or behavior would have been unnecessarily burdened with baggage. I thought it was interesting to approach it and let it grow from just a few pieces of Cohen’s background. He was a prize fighter, but the style of fighting was more primitive than today, and Cohen was more primitive in many ways.”
“Sean really brought to life this guy who, in reality and in our somewhat fictionalized account of him, has a huge ego and is very colorful,” producer Kevin McCormick relates. “Cohen had his own publicists, spreads in Life Magazine, owned his own haberdashery and never wore the same suit twice, and had a collection of beautiful, statuesque ladies on his arm all the time. Sean’s interpretation of the man is fascinating. In the heyday of gangster movies, those guys were always such seductive characters, and I think Sean has that same ability to mesmerize us.”
“There’s something very appealing about the way Sean plays Mickey Cohen,” co-star Josh Brolin echoes. “Watching him during a scene, I couldn’t help but like him, even though my character despises him and everything he stands for. Sean really brought out the charm in him, even when he was doing something deadly.”
“Gangster Squad” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
“I thought it would be a fun old-school gangster picture with a cast I have great admiration for,” Penn says on what drew him to the film. “And upon meeting director Ruben Fleischer, I was sold.”
Set in Los Angeles, 1949, “Gangster Squad” revolves around ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen who runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians he has under his thumb. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
Mickey Cohen may be an underworld figure, but his very public image and commanding presence make him a man not to be crossed…in business or pleasure. He goes beyond merciless; any breach is a betrayal for which one pays the ultimate price. But he also has the undeniable charisma that comes with great power.
According to producer Dan Lin, “Cohen, in real life, was over the top. He was a gangster, but a Hollywood gangster. He was funny, he loved talking to reporters and, in public, he really wanted to entertain people, as if he were one of the movie stars he was always trying to woo. Of course, in private, he was doing dark, evil things.”
Fleischer cites, “When I imagined bringing the movie to the screen, the one character that everything seemed to hinge on was Cohen, the villain, this larger-than-life personality. I immediately thought of Sean Penn, so having him in the role was huge. Mickey is such a dynamic, memorable, menacing character and Sean has the gravitas, the intensity and the humor to pull it off.”
Though only remotely familiar with the real man, Penn says that for his interpretation of the character, “I tried to ignore the literal. The real Mickey Cohen so resembled Al Capone, who I thought De Niro had done so indelibly in ‘The Untouchables,’ that I felt, for a wide audience who largely would not have been aware of Mickey Cohen, mimicking Cohen in looks or behavior would have been unnecessarily burdened with baggage. I thought it was interesting to approach it and let it grow from just a few pieces of Cohen’s background. He was a prize fighter, but the style of fighting was more primitive than today, and Cohen was more primitive in many ways.”
“Sean really brought to life this guy who, in reality and in our somewhat fictionalized account of him, has a huge ego and is very colorful,” producer Kevin McCormick relates. “Cohen had his own publicists, spreads in Life Magazine, owned his own haberdashery and never wore the same suit twice, and had a collection of beautiful, statuesque ladies on his arm all the time. Sean’s interpretation of the man is fascinating. In the heyday of gangster movies, those guys were always such seductive characters, and I think Sean has that same ability to mesmerize us.”
“There’s something very appealing about the way Sean plays Mickey Cohen,” co-star Josh Brolin echoes. “Watching him during a scene, I couldn’t help but like him, even though my character despises him and everything he stands for. Sean really brought out the charm in him, even when he was doing something deadly.”
“Gangster Squad” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
Friday, January 04, 2013
HBO's Profugos - Fugitives from the Law and Mafia
A FAILED drug trafficking operation that sparks a frantic pursuit of four men in Chile as they flee both the Mafia and the law is the gripping premise of new 13-episode actioner Profugos which will premiere on Astro’s Cinemax channel 412 on Jan 4 at 11pm.
The four ‘profugos’, which means fugitive, had been contracted to transport a liquid cocaine shipment from the border of Bolivia to the Chilean port of Iquique but in the midst of the final delivery, a shot rings out from a nearby terrace, unleashing a violent ambush.
This brand new original series produced by HBO Latin America, was filmed over six months entirely in Chile, and heading the cast as the four fugitives are Nestor Cantillana, Benjamin Vicuna, Francisco Reyes and Luis Gnecco.
A complex web of ambitions, interests and corruption move the threads of this story where no one is who they appear to be, everyone hides a past and sheer desperation unites the foursome who flee without knowing exactly who’s pursuing them while doing everything possible to protect their loved ones.
Scenic locations in Chile serving as backdrop include Iquique, Valparaiso, Santiago, Farellones, Puerto Montt and desert regions bordering Bolivia.
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