Attend a One-Day Conference "The Summit" to Discuss the Mob in Las Vegas at the @TheMobMuseum

THE SUMMIT: THE MOB IN LAS VEGAS

Date: September 21, 2019
Time: 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Oscar B. Goodman Room
Cost: Regular price $225. Member price $180 (20% off).

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Join us for a one-day conference that centers on the Mob’s four-decade-long reign in Las Vegas. Engage in conversations with historians, journalists, agents, regulators and others on the Mob’s arrival in Las Vegas, its control of the Strip and its eventual dislodging from the casino industry. Dig deep into subject matter involving mobsters such as Meyer Lansky, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and Tony Spilotro.

Breakfast, lunch, a tour of The Mob Museum’s distillery, and a gift bag are all included.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Oscar Goodman, author of Being Oscar: From Mob Lawyer to Mayor of Las Vegas, keynote speaker

Known for his trademark, no-nonsense tell-it-like-it-is style, Oscar B. Goodman, the 19th mayor of Las Vegas, served for 12 years before swearing in his wife, Carolyn G. Goodman, as mayor in 2011. Passionate about downtown revitalization, Oscar Goodman is the primary visionary of The Mob Museum. As former chairman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Oscar Goodman worked feverishly to promote Las Vegas as one of the most exciting destinations in the world. Today, he is still formally engaged with the LVCVA, promoting Las Vegas as the city’s official ambassador. This self-proclaimed “happiest mayor in the universe,” Oscar Goodman is one of the nation’s best criminal defense attorneys and was named one of the “15 Best Trial Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal. He spent more than 35 years defending some of the most notorious alleged Mob figures, including Meyer Lansky, Frank Rosenthal, Anthony Spilotro and others. In 1995, he appeared as himself in the movie, Casino. Oscar Goodman has been honored with the Public Leadership in the Arts Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Leadership Award for Public Service from the International Economic Development Council.

George Knapp, journalist

George Knapp moved to Las Vegas in 1979. He has progressed from part-time studio cameraman to investigative reporter and is currently chief reporter for Channel 8’s I-Team investigative unit. During his career, Knapp has been the recipient of countless journalism awards—including the DuPont Award from Columbia University and the Peabody Award.

John L. Smith, journalist and Mob historian

John L. Smith is a longtime Las Vegas journalist and author of more than a dozen books on Nevada subjects, including:

• Running Scared: The Life and Treacherous Times of Las Vegas Casino King Steve Wynn,
• Of Rats and Men: Oscar Goodman's Life from Mob Mouthpiece to Mayor of Las Vegas,
• Sharks in the Desert,
• No Limit: The Rise and Fall of Bob Stupak and Las Vegas' Stratosphere Tower,

The Nevada Press Association inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2016. That same year, Northwestern University awarded him the James Foley-Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism and he also received the National Society of Professional Journalists Ethics in Journalism Award and the Ancil Payne Award for Ethics from the University of Oregon. Smith’s biography of Las Vegas civil rights activist and politician Joe Neal is scheduled for publication in the spring of 2019. As a freelance writer, his work regularly appears in the Nevada Independent and CDC Gaming Reports, and he contributes commentary for Nevada Public Radio.

Herm Groman, retired FBI agent

Herman Groman, is a retired FBI Special Agent and former director of security at a large Las Vegas hotel/casino.  While in the FBI, he specialized in deep, long-term undercover operations as an undercover operative in the areas of organized crime and narcotics. Herman also served as the agent in charge of several high-profile public corruption investigations. Later, he worked as a team leader of an FBI Special Operations Group that conducted surveillances of major terrorist cells and their associates throughout the United States. Prior to his extensive FBI experience, Herman served in the infantry in Vietnam. He was awarded both the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for valor. He resides in Las Vegas with his wife. They have two daughters and four grandchildren. His first novel Pigeon Spring, a Nevada thriller mystery, was released in the summer of 2010 and is selling all over the U.S, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. He is writing his second action packed Nevada based novel, Yucca Pointe, which will be published by Total Recall Publishing. He can be contacted on line at his website www.hermangroman.com.

Larry Gragg, historian

Larry Gragg is curators’ teaching professor of history at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Missouri. He has made more than 40 research trips to Las Vegas. Among his eight books is Bright Light City: Las Vegas in Popular Culture (2013) and Benjamin Bugsy Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and The Making of Modern Las Vegas (2015).

Michael Green, historian

Michael Green, Ph.D., is a noted historian and associate professor in UNLV’s Department of History. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNLV and obtained his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. Green is the author of nine books about the history of Las Vegas and Nevada as well as broader topics in American history.

His books on the Civil War era include:

• Freedom, Union, and Power: Lincoln and His Party in the Civil War (The North's Civil War),
• Lincoln and the Election of 1860 (Concise Lincoln Library).

His works on Nevada include:

• Las Vegas: A Centennial History (Shepperson Series in Nevada History),

His college-level textbook, Nevada: A History of the Silver State, is near publication and he is writing a history of the Great Basin in the twentieth century. Green is also active in writing and speaking in the community. He writes the Politics column and blog for Vegas Seven, Nevada Yesterdays for Nevada Humanities and KNPR, and Inside the Beltway and Books for a newsletter, Nevada’s Washington Watch.

Geoff Schumacher, Senior director of content, The Mob Museum

As the senior director of content, Geoff Schumacher is responsible for exhibits, artifacts and public programs. Schumacher earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno, and his master’s degree in history from Arizona State University. He started his 25-year journalism career at the Las Vegas Sun, where he was a reporter, editorial writer and city editor. He was the editor of Las Vegas CityLife and founded and edited the Las Vegas Mercury. He served as director of community publications for the Las Vegas Review-Journal for 10 years and also wrote a weekly public affairs column for the Review-Journal. He culminated his newspaper career by serving as publisher of the Ames (Iowa) Tribune.

Schumacher is the author of two books:

• Sun, Sin & Suburbia: The History of Modern Las Vegas, Revised and Expanded, 
• Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue. 

He served as editor of Nevada: 150 Years in the Silver State, the official book commemorating the state’s sesquicentennial.

Jeff Burbank, Content development specialist, The Mob Museum

Jeff Burbank is content development specialist for The Mob Museum. He is the author of four books, including:

• Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed,
• License To Steal: Nevada'S Gaming Control System In The Megaresort Age (Gambling Studies Series),
• Lost Las Vegas.

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While #Antifa Groups May Soon be Formally Declared #DomesticTerrorists, @TheJusticeDept Weighs Using RICO Racketeering Tools to Investigate Them #Mafia

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently requested an organized crime investigation of the masked militant group Antifa, which he called “a left-wing anarchist terrorist organization that routinely relies on violence to intimidate and punish its political opponents.”

Cruz made his request for a probe of Antifa in a letter to Attorney General William Barr, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and FBI Director Christopher Wray. The letter details a path to prosecuting members of Antifa under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Broadly targeting those they claim are far-right and racist, Antifa members have repeatedly engaged in criminal activity ranging from destroying property to attacking a reporter. The group is best known for fighting those it labels “fascists” with tactics borrowed from Adolf Hitler's early followers, known as Brownshirts.

Antifa came to national attention in 2017 when its violent protests of President Trump’s inauguration led to hundreds of arrests. Antifa protesters in Washington destroyed storefronts, set trash cans and a limousine on fire, and attacked police officers with rocks and bricks.

In New York City, Dallas, Chicago and Portland, Ore., club-wielding Antifa protesters threw bricks and unknown liquids at police officers.

The University of California at Berkeley was Antifa’s next headline-making stage. Wearing their signature black garb and face masks, Antifa members threw fireworks, rocks and bricks at police to protest a speech on Berkeley’s campus by political provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. They also set fire to buildings, smashed windows and pepper-sprayed a woman wearing a hat expressing support for President Trump.

Antifa has been particularly active in Portland. During a 2017 May Day riot, the group set bonfires in the streets, destroyed storefronts, and vandalized police cars. Recently Antifa attacks have become more violent.

Antifa protesters in Portland robbed and attacked journalist Andy Ngo and others with fists, sticks, pepper spray and milkshakes that local police say may have been mixed with cement in June. The attacks sent several people to the hospital with serious injuries – in Ngo’s case, a brain hemorrhage. Police stood on the sidelines and did nothing.

The violence escalated further in July. After sending his friends a manifesto declaring “I am Antifa,” a 69-year-old man attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Tacoma, Wash.

Armed with a rifle and improvised incendiary devices, the man set cars on fire, threw firebombs at the facility and attempted to ignite a large propane tank. Police confronted him and then shot and killed him. 

The Tacoma attack could have easily produced mass casualties – and Seattle Antifascist Action seems OK with that. Hailing the attacker as “another martyr in the struggle against fascism,” the group added: “May his death serve as a call to protest and direct action.”

In response to Antifa’s increasing violence and – at least in Portland – local law enforcement’s inability or unwillingness to protect the community, commentators including Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky, have called for federal action.

Von Spakovsky argues that Antifa members should be prosecuted under civil rights laws like the Ku Klux Klan Act, which makes it illegal for masked thugs to deprive others of their civil liberties.

Cruz has upped the ante by urging the Department of Justice to investigate Antifa members under RICO, a law enacted to combat organized crime. Originally RICO was intended to take on the Mafia. Today it’s used more broadly – sometimes too broadly. But Antifa has made itself a fair target.

RICO makes it illegal for a person to participate in the affairs of an enterprise that engages in "racketeering activities." Racketeering activities include crimes like arson, robbery, fraud and money laundering.

Cruz lays out the RICO case against Rose City Antifa, the group based in Portland. For one, the group is an association of people or "enterprise" within the meaning of the statute. For another, its acts of arson and robbery are well-documented, extensive and ongoing.

What’s more, the group remains active and declares its intention to commit more – and increasingly violent – crimes in the future.

RICO makes it illegal for a person to participate in the affairs of an enterprise that engages in "racketeering activities." Racketeering activities include crimes like arson, robbery, fraud and money laundering.

If the Justice Department takes Cruz’s advice and opens an investigation, Portland would be a good place to start. But Antifa groups are perpetrating similar crimes all over the country in violation of state and federal laws.

The Justice Department and Antifa’s victims should use every tool at their disposal, including civil rights laws, to stop this modern-day Brownshirt mob.

Thanks to GianCarlo Canaparo and Christina Eastman.

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Details on the Indictment of Illinois State Senator Thomas Cullerton for Allegedly Fraudulently Receiving Salary and Benefits from the Teamsters Labor Union #Corruption

A federal grand jury in Chicago has indicted Illinois State Sen. THOMAS E. CULLERTON on embezzlement charges for allegedly fraudulently receiving salary and benefits from a labor union for which he did little or no work.

Cullerton, 49, of Villa Park, is charged with one count of conspiracy to embezzle from a labor union and employee benefit plans, 39 counts of embezzlement from a labor union, and one count of making false statements in a health care matter, according to an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Arraignment in federal court has not yet been scheduled.

The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Jeffrey S. Sallet, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI; and Irene Lindow, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General in Chicago. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amarjeet S. Bhachu and Abigail Peluso.

According to the indictment, Cullerton was a member of Teamsters Local Union 734 prior to assuming office as an Illinois State Senator. After his election in November 2012, Cullerton was no longer an eligible participant in Local 734’s health and pension funds. In March 2013, while Cullerton was serving in the Illinois Senate, the president of Teamsters Joint Council 25 hired him as a purported union organizer. The full-time, salaried position included benefits from Local 734’s health and pension funds, due to an agreement Joint Council 25 entered into with Local 734 that same month, the indictment states.

The charges allege that for the next three years Cullerton did little or no work as an organizer. When Joint Council 25 supervisors requested that he perform his job duties, Cullerton routinely ignored them, the indictment states. From March 2013 to February 2016, Cullerton fraudulently obtained from Joint Council 25 and its members approximately $188,320 in salary, bonuses, and cellphone and vehicle allowances, as well as approximately $64,068 in health and pension contributions, according to the indictment. Cullerton used the proceeds of the payments to pay personal expenses, such as his mortgage, utilities and groceries, the charges allege.

The indictment alleges that Cullerton also fraudulently obtained approximately $21,678 in reimbursed medical claims from Local 734’s Health and Welfare Fund. Cullerton submitted or caused to be submitted to medical providers information that made it appear he was a “route salesman” for Local 734, the indictment states. The false information concealed and covered up the fact that Cullerton was not eligible for participation in the fund since he was not regularly scheduled to work at least 30 hours per week for Local 734, Joint Council 25, or any other employer that participated in the fund, according to the indictment.

The charges in the indictment are each punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

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Martin Scorsese's Latest Mob Movie #TheIrishman Set for World Premiere at @TheNYFF

Film at Lincoln Center announces Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman as Opening Night of the 57th New York Film Festival (September 27 – October 13), making its World Premiere at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, September 27, 2019. The Irishman will be released in select theaters and on Netflix later this year.



The Irishman is a richly textured epic of American crime, a dense, complex story told with astonishing fluidity. Based on Charles Brandt’s nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa, it is a film about friendship and loyalty between men who commit unspeakable acts and turn on a dime against each other, and the possibility of redemption in a world where it seems as distant as the moon. The roster of talent behind and in front of the camera is astonishing, and at the core of The Irishman are four great artists collectively hitting a new peak: Joe Pesci as Pennsylvania mob boss Russell Bufalino, Al Pacino as Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa, and Robert De Niro as their right-hand man, Frank Sheeran, each working in the closest harmony imaginable with the film’s incomparable creator, Martin Scorsese.

“The Irishman is so many things: rich, funny, troubling, entertaining and, like all great movies, absolutely singular,” said New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones. “It’s the work of masters, made with a command of the art of cinema that I’ve seen very rarely in my lifetime, and it plays out at a level of subtlety and human intimacy that truly stunned me. All I can say is that the minute it was over my immediate reaction was that I wanted to watch it all over again.”

“It’s an incredible honor that The Irishman has been selected as the Opening Night of the New York Film Festival. I greatly admire the bold and visionary selections that the festival presents to audiences year after year,” said Martin Scorsese. “The festival is critical to bringing awareness to cinema from around the world. I am grateful to have the opportunity to premiere my new picture in New York alongside my wonderful cast and crew.”

Campari is the exclusive spirits partner for the 57th New York Film Festival and the presenting partner of Opening Night, extending its long-standing commitment to the world of film and art.

Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, the 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring works from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FLC Director of Programming, and Florence Almozini, FLC Associate Director of Programming.

Tickets for the 57th New York Film Festival will go on sale to the general public on September 8. Festival and VIP passes are on sale now and offer one of the earliest opportunities to purchase tickets and secure seats at some of the festival’s biggest events, including Opening Night. Support for Opening Night of the New York Film Festival benefits Film at Lincoln Center in its non-profit mission to support the art and craft of cinema.

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Suspect in Mob Boss Assassination Said to Have Killed in Order to Support @RealDonaldTrump, & the #MAGA Agenda while Under the Influence of #QAnon - Per His Attorney

A 24-year-old man who has been charged with shooting to death a reputed New York mob boss earlier this year thought he was under the influence of QAnon, pro-Trump Internet postings about the president supposedly battling a cabal of liberal elites, his lawyer wrote in a recent submission to New York state court.

Prosecutors have charged Anthony Comello with murder over the fatal shooting Francesco Cali, the alleged leader of the Gambino crime family who was gunned down outside of his Staten Island home in March. But in a new court filing, Comello's attorney argues that he became so engrossed with unsupported QAnon theories that on the night of Cali's death, he was acting under a delusion, which included that Democratic politicians, celebrities and people associated with organized crime were part of the "deep state," according to Comello's lawyer. He wrote that his client believed he was on a mission "to save the American way of life."

"Beginning with the election of President Donald Trump in November 2016, Anthony Comello's family began to notice changes to his personality," attorney Robert Gottlieb wrote. "Mr. Comello's support for QAnon went beyond mere participation in a radical political organization, it evolved into a delusional obsession."

When Comello arrived at Cali's home, according to the filing, the plan was to stage a citizen's arrest of Cali, not shoot him. But after a heated exchange with Cali, Comello says the alleged mob boss made a "furtive action with his hand," which made Comello afraid for his life. He then reached into his pickup truck, grabbed a gun and fired at Cali, killing him.

"Because of his self-perceived status in QAnon, Mr. Comello became certain that he was enjoying the protection of President Trump himself, and that he had the president's full support," Gottlieb wrote to the court.

The details contained in the filing are part of Comello's planned "mental disease or defect" defense, Gottlieb said.

News of Cali's death ignited speculation about a possible restart of duels among New York's Mafia families. The New York Daily News reported shortly after Cali's death that investigators initially suspected an underling of Cali, or someone who had a beef with him.

But neither theory turned out to be true, and what really happened, according to Comello's lawyer, was even stranger: Comello carried out his violent act as a way of fighting against the deep state to "expose the entire conspiracy and ensure that every criminal is brought to justice," the filing says.

At a court hearing shortly after his arrest, Comello held up his palms, which had ink scribbling of MAGA, for Make America Great Again, and the letter Q, possibly a QAnon symbol.

Comello had a history of bizarre stunts, according to the filing. He attempted to arrest New York Mayor Bill de Blasio at his official residence, Gracie Mansion, but was thwarted by police. In another instance, Comello went to a federal district courthouse in Manhattan, believing that U.S. Reps. Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff were there. His lawyer said he planned to "arrest and detain" the two Democrats from California. He then went to a U.S. Marshals Service office nearby "but was unsuccessful in securing their assistance in his attempt to arrest both representatives."

A spokesman for the Staten Island District Attorney's Office declined to comment to NPR about the filing.

Thanks to Bobby Allyn.

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Union Leader with Reputed Mob Ties “The only reason I’m standing here today is because my name is John Matassa.” Federal Judge “You pled guilty to a felony...That’s why you’re here"

Five months after he pleaded guilty to embezzlement, a onetime union leader with reputed mob ties told a federal judge, “The only reason I’m standing here today is because my name is John Matassa.”

Matassa faced sentencing Monday, more than two years after being hit with a 10-count federal indictment. He explained that he’d been targeted by the U.S. Department of Labor. But U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly saw things differently.

“You pled guilty to a felony to avoid going to trial,” Kennelly said. “That’s why you’re here right now. Not because your name is John Matassa.”

Then, the judge handed Matassa a six-month prison sentence and added six months of home confinement. The case stemmed from Matassa’s job as the secretary-treasurer of the Independent Union of Amalgamated Workers Local 711.

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Kennelly described that organization as “the weirdest union that I’ve ever seen.” He repeatedly mentioned that it collected barely enough dues to pay Matassa’s salary and expenses.

Matassa admitted last February to an embezzlement scheme in which he began in 2013 to split his weekly paycheck from the union with his wife. Prosecutors said she became the union’s highest-paid employee — despite not actually working for it. Matassa’s attorneys said she helped him do his job.

In 2014 and 2015, Matassa raised his wife’s salary without the approval of the union’s president or its executive board. Meanwhile, Matassa had applied for old-age insurance benefits from the Social Security Administration in 2013.

Those benefits would have been reduced if he made too much money. However, as a result of the arrangement with his wife, Matassa collected $75,108 in insurance benefits to which he was not entitled, according to his plea agreement.

The charges against Matassa followed a long career in which his name notably surfaced during the 2009 trial of John Ambrose, a deputy U.S. marshal who leaked details about mob hitman Nicholas Calabrese.

Calabrese became a key cooperator with federal investigators and was under the protection of the marshals. Matassa allegedly functioned as a go-between for the information that eventually made its way to then-imprisoned Chicago mob boss, James “Little Jimmy” Marcello.

Thanks to Jon Seidel.

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LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination

The explosive true story of how a deranged Lyndon Johnson conspired to murder the President of the United States.

LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination, aims to prove that Vice President Johnson played an active role in the assassination of President Kennedy and that he began planning his takeover of the US presidency even before being named the vice-presidential nominee in 1960. Lyndon B. Johnson’s flawed personality and character traits, formed as a child, grew unchecked for the rest of his life as he suffered severe bouts of manic-depressive illness. He successfully hid this disorder from the public as he bartered, stole, and finessed his way through the corridors of power on Capitol Hill, though it’s recorded that some of his aides knew of his struggle with bipolar disorder.

After years of researching Johnson and the JFK assassination, Phillip F. Nelson conclusively shows that LBJ had an active role in JFK’s assassination, and he includes newly-uncovered photographic evidence proving that Johnson knew when and where Kennedy’s assassination would take place. Nelson’s careful and meticulous research has led him to uncover secrets from one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in our country’s history.

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Job Opening for Intelligence Specialist in Key West for the @USArmy to Fight #OrganizedCrime

The United States government is a massive employer, and is always looking for qualified candidates to fill a wide variety of open employment positions in locations across the country. Below you’ll find a Qualification Summary for an active, open job listing from the Department of the Army. The opening is for an Intelligence Specialist in Key West, Florida

Intelligence Specialist – Key West, Florida
Joint Activities, Department of the Army
Job ID: 117253
Start Date: 07/08/2019
End Date: 07/15/2019

If you’d like to submit a resume or apply for this position, please contact Premier Veterans at abjobs@premierveterans.com.

Qualification Summary

Who May Apply:

Only applicants who meet one of the employment authority categories below are eligible to apply for this job. You will be asked to identify which category or categories you meet, and to provide documents which prove you meet the category or categories you selected. See Proof of Eligibility for an extensive list of document requirements for all employment authorities. 10-Point Other Veterans? Rating 30 Percent or More Disabled Veterans 5-Point Veterans’ Preference Current Army Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS) Employee Current Department of Army Civilian Employees Current DoD Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS) Employee (non-Army)Current Permanent Department of Defense (DOD) Civilian Employee (non-Army)Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System (DCIPS) Interchange Agreement Disabled Veteran w/ a Service-Connected Disability, More than 10%, Less than 30%Non-Department of Defense (DoD) Transfer Prior Federal Service Employee United States Citizen Applying to a DCIPS Position Army DCIPS positions apply Veteran’s Preference to preference eligible candidates as defined by Section 2108 of Title 5 U.S.C., in accordance with the procedures provided in DoD Instruction 1400.25, Volume 2005, DCIPS Employment and Placement. In order to qualify, you must meet the experience requirements described below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. To qualify based on your experience, your resume must describe at least one (1) year of experience which prepared you to do the work in this job. Specialized Experience: specialized experience is defined as experience with 1.) performing all-source intelligence analysis, reporting and/or production related to counter narco-terrorist and/or counter-transnational organized crime activities AND 2.) coordinating with local, state, federal, and/or foreign governments involved in tactical intelligence operations. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level in the federal service (GG/GS-12). Creditable experience may include previous military experience, experience gained in the private sector or in another government agency as long as it was at a level at least equivalent to the next lower band in the series. You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency in the following areas:
All-Source Intelligence Analysis Oral Communication Planning and Evaluating Progressively responsible experience is that which has included intelligence-related research, analysis, collections and /or operations. This experience should have included intelligence analysis and/or production, intelligence collection and/or operations, counterintelligence, or threat support directly related to the position to be filled.This experience should demonstrate: Knowledge of intelligence processes, cycle and organizations; Knowledge of and/or ability to use research tools such as library holdings, photographs, statistics, graphics and maps; Knowledge of the systems, procedures and methods of analyzing, compiling, reporting and disseminating intelligence data; and/or Knowledge of organization(s) for and methods of collecting and analyzing intelligence data.

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Get the Discontinued PlayStation 4 Slim 1TB Console - Marvel's Spider-Man Bundle #PrimeDayAmazon

PlayStation 4 Slim 1TB Console - Marvel's Spider-Man Bundle [Discontinued]

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89 Hells Angels Members Charged with Attempted Murder, Robbery, Drug Trafficking, Extortion #OrganizedCrime

Portuguese prosecutors have charged 89 members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club with involvement in organized crime, attempted murder, robbery and drug trafficking, the public prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.

The indictments follow a long investigation that has already led to dozens of arrests of Portuguese and foreign bikers.

The prosecutor’s indictment alleges that in March last year, armed with knives, axes and batons, the accused attempted to kill four people and seriously injured others at a restaurant on the outskirts of Portugal’s capital Lisbon. The restaurant was destroyed in the attack.

“According to the indictment, the accused belong to Hells Angels Motorcycle Club,” the statement said. Of the 89, 37 are in pre-trial detention, five are at home under electronic surveillance and two are detained in Germany awaiting extradition to Portugal, the prosecutors said.

The authorities said at the time the attacks were part of a turf war for control of illicit guns and drug trade. The bikers were also charged with qualified extortion, possession of illegal weapons and ammunition.

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was formed in the United States in 1948 and has branches around the world, including in Portugal since 2002. The US-based club nor their lawyers in Portugal could not immediately be reached for comment.

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Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence--and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets by @Abt_Thomas

From a Harvard scholar and a Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School, a powerful proposal for curtailing violent crime in America

Urban violence is one of the most divisive and allegedly intractable issues of our time. But as Harvard scholar Thomas Abt shows in Bleeding Out: The Devastating Consequences of Urban Violence--and a Bold New Plan for Peace in the Streets, we actually possess all the tools necessary to stem violence in our cities.

Coupling the latest social science with firsthand experience as a crime-fighter, Abt proposes a relentless focus on violence itself -- not drugs, gangs, or guns. Because violence is "sticky," clustering among small groups of people and places, it can be predicted and prevented using a series of smart-on-crime strategies that do not require new laws or big budgets. Bringing these strategies together, Abt offers a concrete, cost-effective plan to reduce homicides by over 50 percent in eight years, saving more than 12,000 lives nationally. Violence acts as a linchpin for urban poverty, so curbing such crime can unlock the untapped potential of our cities' most disadvantaged communities and help us to bridge the nation's larger economic and social divides.

Urgent yet hopeful, Bleeding Out offers practical solutions to the national emergency of urban violence -- and challenges readers to demand action.

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Gang Member Felon Pleads Guilty to Federal Firearm Offense #ProjectSafeNeighborhoods

A Boston man affiliated with the Vine/Forest Street and Orchard Park gangs pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition.

Quantae Elmore, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for Oct. 10, 2019. Elmore was arrested and charged federally in July 2018 and has been in custody since.

On May 4, 2018, police officers encountered Elmore with a loaded firearm in his waistband on Zeigler Street in the Orchard Gardens neighborhood, in the company of other Vine/Forest Street and Orchard Park gang members. Elmore had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison and was therefore prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm and ammunition.

The charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Kelly D. Brady, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross made the announcement today.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. PSN is part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

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Italian Lira Makes a Comeback Due to Organized Crime

While the Italian government considers issuing a second form of paper money for the nation, to co-circulate alongside the euro notes, an age-old Italian institution, organized crime, is looking in another direction — backward.

Bloomberg reported on June 15 that another parallel currency, the old Italian lira, is once again circulating in Italy, at least among its domestic criminal enterprises. The business news service says that the police find that even though the lira stopped being legal tender in February 2002, it is still being used for illegal transactions. This is even though they are no longer redeemable, even at the Bank of Italy.

A representative of the national financial police is quoted as saying at a parliamentary hearing, “We still discover big amounts of liras,” and that they “still constitute parts of illicit transactions.’’ He added, “When a banknote is accepted by an organization internally, even if it is outside the law as a legal value, it can settle transactions. We are obviously talking about illicit organizations.’’

Running away from the euro may be becoming an Italian preoccupation. As reported in the July 8 issue of Coin World, a proposal before Parliament calls for the establishment of a currency, for domestic use only, called mini bills of treasury, or minibots. The proposal would allow the government to use them for the arrears it owes to commercial businesses and to pay social benefits, and citizens could pay their taxes with them. Private businesses would have the option to accept them.

Thanks to Arthur Friedberg.

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The 5 Best Mafia Movies That You May Have Missed

Mafia and gangster movies have always been a big part of Hollywood’s culture and have been around for as much as the industry itself. Most movie lovers have seen classic mafia masterpieces such as GoodFellas, The Godfather or Scarface. But, there are many other movie gems you most likely didn’t get a chance to see. Here are the best mafia movies you’ve probably missed out on.

The Musketeers of Pig Alley.

Today, you can gamble from the comfort of your own home and browse the best legal NJ online casinos to look up and compare casinos and find the one that suits you the most. But, in the past, gambling wasn’t as widely accepted in the US as it is nowadays. Set in pre-depression New York, The Musketeers of Pig Alley is one of the first mafia movies ever made. It is loosely based on the events surrounding the fate of gambler Herman Rosenthal and is inspired by themes such as gambling, street hoods and gangsters.

Director D.W. Griffith actually used local gangsters, known gamblers and gang members as film extras to make his movie feel more authentic. Filmed and released in 1912, this American gangster classic is just 17 minutes long, but is one of the most influential movies of the early US cinematography. In 2016, The Musketeers of Pig Alley was added in the US National Film Registry due to its cultural and historical significance.

Get Carter.

Even after nearly five decades after it came out, Get Carter is still one of the best crime thriller movies ever created. What makes this movie so unique and immersive is that at times, you will feel like it’s a real-life scene, even though the world has changed so much since 1971, when this movie was made. The sets, the background and the extras in the betting shops and pubs all perfectly depict the everyday struggle of the impoverished lower class.

Taking the centre spot of Get Carter is Michael Caine, who brilliantly managed to carry out every brutal and chilly scene his iconic character goes through during the movie. Get Carter is considered one of the great British masterpieces and has garnered a massive cult following and helped propel Michael Caine into superstardom.

The Long Good Friday.

The Long Good Friday is another British cult classic set in roughly the same period as Get Carter. Although fictionalized, the main storyline of the movie is a direct metaphor to the events and concerns that occurred in Great Britain during the late 1970s, weaving together topics that concern political and police corruption, the free-market economy in the UK and all of the social problems that Britain was facing at the time.

You could argue that this movie is anything but unknown, as it’s voted at number 21 on the list of BFI top 100 British films and provided Bob Hoskins with his breakout role, but this movie is criminally underrated and not that familiar among casual movie fans, especially outside of the UK.

Casino.

Gambling has always been a big and very important business for the mafia, and it’s a well-known fact that some of the biggest mafia families in the US were involved in some type of gambling or betting. No movie illustrates this connection better than the 1995 three-hour epic Casino. Set in Las Vegas, the main storyline of the movie is inherently fascinating on its own. With the main cast consisting of Sharon Stone, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci, Casino is a dazzling display of the rise and collapse of a gambling empire.

This Scorsese movie was also one of our top picks for best casino movies you can watch if you’re looking for some great casino mafia movies and is definitely one of Hollywood’s best mafia movies, worth rewatching several times.

Eastern Promises.

After collaborating with Viggo Mortensen on A History of Violence in 2005, David Cronenberg signed up the experienced actor for another gripping gangster film two years later, called Eastern Promises. To many critics surprise, this was one of Mortensen’s best performances, as he perfectly pulled off his role as Nikolai Luzhin, a tatted-out driver of the Russian mafia boss, who also serves as the family ‘cleaner’.

The movie is known for its plot twist, which puts a whole other perspective on the London underground. Despite winning several awards and garnering an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for Mortensen, the movie has passed relatively unnoticed among the general public, grossing just slightly over $56 million on a $50 million budget.

Thanks to RJ Frometa.

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Tonight, @TheMobMuseum with @Alex_Hortis to Host Stonewall and the Mob: 50th Anniversary of the Gay Rights Movement

On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, learn about the Mob’s role in the control of many gay clubs in New York and other cities at the time. The Stonewall uprising, in which New York gay club patrons protested police raids and harassment for five days in late June 1969, marked the beginning of the gay rights movement in America. Historian Alex Hortis will discuss how the results of the riots changed the course of history for the LGBTQ community.

WHO: Alex Hortis has written extensively on organized crime and public corruption including "The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York". His articles have been published in New York University Law Review and New York Law School Review.

WHEN: Thursday, June 27, 7 p.m.

WHERE: Historic Courtroom, The Mob Museum, 300 Stewart Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89101

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The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York

Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime.

Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s.  Based on exhaustive research of archives and secret files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, author and attorney C. Alexander Hortis draws on the deepest collection of primary sources, many newly discovered, of any history of the modern mob.

Shattering myths, Hortis reveals how Cosa Nostra actually obtained power at the inception.  The author goes beyond conventional who-shot-who mob stories, providing answers to fresh questions such as:   

* Why did the Sicilian gangs come out on top of the criminal underworld? 
* Can economics explain how the Mafia families operated? 
* What was the Mafia's real role in the drug trade? 
* Why was Cosa Nostra involved in gay bars in New York since the 1930s?

Drawing on an unprecedented array of primary sources, The Mob and the City is the most thorough and authentic history of the Mafia's rise to power in the early-to-mid twentieth century.

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Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America’s Largest Criminal Court

Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve’s "Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court" offers new insight into the processes of everyday “colorblind racism” within one of the largest court systems in the United States. This well-written and engaging book offers a remarkably relevant and important analysis of the U.S. criminal justice system by focusing on attorneys, judges, and the courtrooms in which they practice and adjudicate the law. While more attention has been focused on race and policing, criminal courts are a central actor in perpetuating the racialized outcomes evident in U.S. jails and prisons. Gonzalez Van Cleve documents and analyzes how powerful, disproportionately white male decisionmakers create and shape an extraordinarily corrupt and systemically racist system.

Crook County is based on over 1,000 hours of ethnographic observations of court proceedings, as well as interviews with judges and lawyers, giving the reader a truly original and path-breaking sense of how racism is embedded in the “inside” of the criminal justice system. The findings reveal a frankly heartbreaking account of a complicated habitus where race and class are continually reinforced in the negative assumptions about the poor and people of color that lawyers and judges make, and how the treatment of these accused individuals affirms “racialized rules” and color-blind racism.

What sets Gonzalez Van Cleve’s work apart from numerous accounts of racial inequality in arrests, sentencing, and treatment of the poor and people of color is her analysis of the everyday workings of the criminal justice system. Her research reveals everyday racial microaggressions articulated and practiced by lawyers and judges before a judgement is even rendered through racialized rules and scripts that routinely disorient and subjugate low-income people of color. Throughout the book, Gonzalez Van Cleve cracks open the door not only of courtrooms, but also of judge’s chambers and attorney’s offices, to show how prosecutors, judges, and public defendants regularly engage in racist practices that abuse both defendants and their families.

Beginning with her entrance into the Gang Crimes Unit where the white state attorneys bore such names as “Beast-Man Miller,” the author entered a world that denies the humanity of African American and Latinos through racialized cultural practices that demean the defendants and facilitate wrongful convictions. The ethnography provides numerous examples of how this system operates, such as when an elderly African American woman, leaning on her oxygen tank for support appeared before the judge to plead for her life saying she did not mean to kill her husband who had abused her for years. She was berated by the judge for being a “bad person” with little reference to the crime for which she was charged. Using Garfinkel’s work as a point of departure alongside of research on colorblind racism, Gonzalez Van Cleve argues this is but one example of racial degradation ceremonies pervasive in the courtroom that focus on judgments of immorality directed at defendants of color and the poor.

Such stories are analyzed in dialogue with relevant research but with a level of detail that is rarely found in other work on the topic and reflects the countless hours of ethnographic observation and interviews she and her research assistants undertook. Throughout this book, Gonzalez Van Cleve gives additional breadth and depth to Malcolm Feeley's notion that the “process is the punishment.” This book is impressive for the rigor of the data collection and analysis, poignancy of the narratives, and beautifully written observations that deepen our understanding of the ways in which racialized punishment operates in our legal system.

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Robert Panozzo, Reputed Chicago Outfit Mob Soldier, Pleads Guilty to Extortion Conspiracy

Reputed Chicago Outfit Mob soldier Robert Panozzo pleaded guilty Wednesday to threatening and beating a suburban businessman he claimed owed him $100,000 and then hiring a goon to torch the debtor’s car and house when he wouldn’t pay.

“This is serious. I want my money,” Robert Panozzo Sr. allegedly told the victim in 2005 before embarking on a four-year effort to collect the juice-loan debt.

Panozzo, a reputed member of the Outfit’s Grand Avenue crew, entered his guilty plea to one count of extortion conspiracy in the federal courthouse in Rockford. His plea agreement calls for up to 14 years in prison, but Panozzo’s attorneys have disputed prosecutors’ calculation of the sentencing guidelines and are free to ask U.S. District Judge Philip Reinhard for a lesser sentence.

Whatever time Panozzo receives in the extortion case will be served concurrently with his 18-year prison term handed down earlier this year for his conviction in a sweeping racketeering conspiracy brought in Cook County court.

In that case, Panozzo and longtime associate Paul Koroluk admitted to heading a crew that participated in wide-ranging crimes, including home invasions, armed robberies, burglaries, insurance fraud and prostitution. Panozzo, Koroluk and several other members of the crew were arrested in 2014 during the attempted robbery of a drug stash house on Chicago’s Southeast Side. That turned out to be a law enforcement ruse, however.

Panozzo was a longtime soldier for Albert “Little Guy” Vena, the reputed Grand Avenue boss, according to prosecution testimony at a mob-related trial in 2014.

Panozzo’s 17-page plea agreement entered Wednesday does not call on him to cooperate in any other investigations.

According to the document, Panozzo loaned the McHenry County businessman — identified only as Victim 1 — $40,000 in 2005 and then followed up with “additional loans.”

At a meeting at a restaurant in Palatine in 2006, the businessman handed Panozzo an envelope with $25,000 in cash, according to the agreement. He believed that was his final payment, but Panozzo let him know he still owed $100,000 in interest on the loans.

That October, after the victim had not paid, Panozzo and his associate, Joseph Abbott, confronted the businessman at work and beat him, causing “injuries and contusions to Victim 1′s head,” the plea agreement said.

Panozzo was later sentenced to prison for a burglary conviction and couldn’t collect on the debt. Once he was released in 2008, though, Panozzo began calling Victim 1 demanding repayment, the plea agreement said.

In February 2009, Panozzo paid Abbott $1,000 to set fire to a Dodge Caravan that was parked in the victim’s driveway, according to the agreement. Two months later, Abbott “used an incendiary device” to set fire to the victim’s garage and several nearby trash cans, the plea said. Panozzo acknowledged in the plea agreement that he paid Abbott about $4,000 or $5,000 to “blow up” the victim’s residence.

Abbott has pleaded guilty to extortion and is awaiting sentencing, court records show.

Raised in the old Italian American enclave known as “the Patch” on the Near West Side, Panozzo and Koroluk have criminal histories that stretch back decades, court records show.

In 2006 they were both sentenced to seven years in prison for a string of burglaries targeting tony north suburban homes that netted millions of dollars in jewelry and other luxury items. Police at the time described the burglars as some of the most sophisticated they’d ever seen, from disabling state-of-the-art alarm systems to cutting phone lines.

Panozzo and Koroluk were arrested in a dramatic sting in 2014 after the two posed as cops to rob what they thought was a cartel stash house on the Southeast Side. They kicked in the door and grabbed stacks of drugs — only to be arrested by Chicago police and federal agents who had wired the house for audio and video surveillance and watched from above with an FBI spy plane. Koroluk wore a police star dangling from his neck, authorities said.

Prosecutors allege the crew participated in several other elaborate schemes targeting drug dealers, many of which involved tracking their targets with GPS to find where they stashed their narcotics.

Koroluk was also sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Thanks to Jason Meisner.

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In Keeping with a Presidential Executive Order by Donald Trump to #MAGA, the United States, Colombia and Mexico Strengthen Their Commitment to Dismantling Transnational Criminal Organizations

In Cartagena, Colombia, prosecutors from Colombia, Mexico, and the United States came together for the second Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) Working Group. The mission of the Working Group is to engage in specialized training and to develop joint strategies and best practices to dismantle the transnational criminal organizations that threaten the three nations.

During the Working Group, experienced prosecutors from the three nations benefited from trainings on international judicial cooperation and money laundering, and began developing a road map for the development or dissemination of best practices and effective strategies to dismantle these dangerous enterprises. This effort is all the more critical given the increasing interconnectedness between Mexican cartels and Colombian drug trafficking organizations, which collaborate to improve their profits and ability to traffic narcotics, humans, weapons and other contraband into the United States, threatening its national security.

The TCO Working Group is a direct outgrowth of Presidential Executive Order 13773 – Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and Preventing International Trafficking – which recognized the threat that transnational criminal organizations, including transnational drug cartels, pose to the national security of the United States. In the Executive Order, President Trump prioritized the need to increase cooperation and information sharing with foreign counterparts, and to enhance their operational capabilities via increased security sector assistance, all with the goal of dismantling TCO. Since the 2017 Executive Order was issued, the President has continually reiterated the need to immediately attack the ability of these organizations to traffic narcotics and other criminality into the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT), which is housed under the Department’s Criminal Division, seized on the momentum from the Dec. 6 to 7, 2017 “Trilateral Summit Against Transnational Organized Crime,” to spearhead the TCO Working Group. The Attorneys General from the United States, Mexico and Colombia converged at the Trilateral Summit to strengthen their commitment to international judicial cooperation and to reinforce joint strategies to dismantle transnational organized crime, such as narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and public corruption. Via a Joint Declaration, the three Attorneys General called on their respective institutions to increase the exchange of best practices to effectively dismantle TCO and to develop joint capacity building and training programs for those charged with investigating and prosecuting TCO. With this clear mandate, OPDAT Colombia and OPDAT Mexico sponsored the first TCO Working Group in August 2018 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Participating in the TCO Working Group meeting was U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida; representatives of the Fiscalía General de la Nación (FGN) of Colombia including Claudia Carrasquilla, head of the National Organized Crime Unit and Ricardo Carriazo, head of the National Drug Trafficking Unit of FGN; representatives of the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) of Mexico, OPDAT Resident Legal Advisors (RLAs) in Colombia and México and Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the federal districts of Arizona, Southern District of California, Middle District of Florida, Southern District of Florida, Northern District of Georgia, District of New Jersey, District of New Mexico, Eastern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas, Western District of Texas and District of Utah; trial attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and representatives from the Criminal Division’s International Criminal Investigative Training and Assistance Program (ICITAP); the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Colombian National Police.

“Global cooperation is the key to mitigating threats to our national security and thwarting borderless crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida. “The OPDAT Program continues to provide us, and our international partners, with the vital tools, information, and resolve necessary to defeat criminals, wherever they operate.”

"We held the trilateral meeting between the U.S., Colombian and Mexican prosecutors, where we've discussed issues of absolute importance for the dismantling of transnational criminal organizations that affect the national security of our countries,” said Ricardo Carriazo, Director of the Special Unit against Drug Trafficking for the Colombian Attorney General’s Office. “The results in this exchange of experiences and good practices will be seen soon in the development of international judicial operations. "

OPDAT spearheads and organizes this critical event in coordination with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

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Donald Schupek, Former Village of Posen President, Pleads Guilty of Embezzlement to Gamble at Casinos #Corruption

The former president of the village of Posen pleaded guilty in federal court to charges he embezzled money from the south suburb and spent it at casinos.

DONALD W. SCHUPEK, 79, of Posen, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement. The conviction carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, plus mandatory restitution. U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman set sentencing for Sept. 12, 2019, at 10:30 a.m.

The guilty plea was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Jeffrey S. Sallet, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the FBI.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Terry Kinney.

According to his plea agreement, Schupek, while serving as Posen president, directed the village bookkeeper to issue checks on the village’s checking account made payable to Schupek. From June 2014 to August 2016, Schupek directed the issuance of nine checks, totaling $27,000, the plea agreement states. At the time, Schupek did not inform the village treasurer nor the village board that he had issued these checks to himself.

Schupek admitted in the plea agreement that he converted the funds to his own use, including gambling expenses at two casinos in Joliet.

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Coming in 2020 @EmpireOfSinGame ‏from the #Godfather of 1st Person Shooters, @Romero #EmpireofSin

Organized Crime Runs Rampant in 1920s Chicago with this Character-Driven Strategy Game

The wise guys at Paradox Interactive and Romero Games have made a big commotion today announcing the much anticipated strategy joint, Empire of Sin.

Set in the golden years (1920s Chicago), the game has players build their own ruthless criminal empire as one of 14 distinct bosses vying to run the seedy underworld of organized crime in the city. With randomly generated starting conditions, players will have to adapt to survive and do whatever it takes to outsmart, out-gun and outlast their opponents.

Empire of Sin will be coming to PC, Mac Switch, Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2020.

Get in on the action with a cinematic trailer here: https://youtu.be/YqC0Pp6V6oc

EMPIRE OF SIN, THE STRATEGY GAME FROM ROMERO GAMES AND PARADOX INTERACTIVE, PUTS YOU AT THE HEART OF THE RUTHLESS CRIMINAL UNDERWORLD OF 1920S PROHIBITION-ERA CHICAGO.

It’s up to you to hustle, charm and intimidate your way to the top of the pile and do whatever it takes to stay there. This character-driven, noir-inspired game puts players smack dab in the glitz and glamor of roaring 20s all while working behind the scenes in the gritty underbelly of organized crime.

• BUILD A CRIME EMPIRE: Raise your criminal empire from the ground up by selecting your racket of choice (be it speakeasies, union protection, or casinos) and building a team of loyal mobsters to make your mark on the streets. Once you make a name for yourself, expand your influence by taking over rival territory and adding more ventures to your repertoire.
• DEFEND AND EXPAND TERRITORY: If it comes to blows, hypothetically of course, and your posse needs to send a message, face off in brutal turn-based combat. Recruit your goons strategically to build a strong chemistry within your crew to maximize combat damage and help secure your hold on the city.
• EXPLORE A LIVING, BREATHING CITY: Explore the streets of vibrant 1920s Chicago and interact with a full cast of living, breathing characters each with lives of their own that inform how they react to what you do (or don’t do). Schmooze, coerce, seduce, threaten, or kill them to get your way.
• WIELD YOUR INFLUENCE: Make and break alliances, bribe cops, and trade on the black market to gain an edge and expand the influence of your crime family. But always keep your enemies close and ensure you have a mole on the inside and eyes everywhere.
• PURSUE MULTIPLE VICTORY STRATEGIES: Whether you make it to the top with violence, business smarts, or city-wide notoriety, there are a number of ways to become King or Queen of Chicago. With various starting conditions and constantly changing crew dynamics, no two playthroughs will ever be the same.

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Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness

From burglary to armed robbery and murder, infamous bad guy Frank Cullotta not only did it all, in Cullotta: The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness, he admits to it--and in graphic detail.

This no-holds-barred biography chronicles the life of a career criminal who started out as a thug on the streets of Chicago and became a trusted lieutenant in Tony Spilotro's gang of organized lawbreakers in Las Vegas. Cullotta's was a world of high-profile heists, street muscle, and information--lots of it--about many of the FBI's most wanted. In the end, that information was his ticket out of crime, as he turned government witness and became one of a handful of mob insiders to enter the Witness Protection Program.

"Frank Cullotta is the real thing," says Nicholas Pileggi in the book's Foreword, and in these pages, Cullotta sets the record straight on organized crime, witness protection, and life and death in mobbed-up Las Vegas.

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Frank Lucas, Hollywood´s "American Gangster," and La Cosa Nostra Connection

Special to The Chicago Syndicate by Ron Chepesiuk

Hollywood has been hard at work molding the image of former 1970s Harlem drug trafficker Frank ¨Superfly¨ Lucas into the prototype of the modern American gangster. The image of the Lucas character, played by Denzel Washington, has some shades of Edgar G. Robinson´s Little Caesar and Al Pacino´s Scarface, but while ruthless, the character is also African American, entrepreneurial, independent and even visionary. As part of the creation, Universal, the movie´s maker, would have us believe that Lucas was so entrepreneurial and independent that he became the first black gangster to break free of La Cosa Nostra´s iron grip on the American heroin trade and develop his own independent heroin trafficking network.

In the 2000 New York magazine article upon which the ¨American Gangster¨ movie is based, author Mark Jacobson wrote that if he (Lucas) really wanted to become "white-boy rich, Donald Trump rich," Lucas thought, he'd have to ´cut out the guineas (Italian American mafia). He'd learned as much working for Bumpy (Johnson) , picking up "packages" from Fat Tony Salerno's Pleasant Avenue guys, men with names like Joey Farts and Kid Blast.¨

Jacobson quotes Lucas as saying, ¨I needed my own supply. That's when I decided to go to Southeast Asia. Because the war was on, and people were talking about GIs getting strung out over there. I knew if the shit is good enough to string out GIs, then I can make myself a killing."

In the movie, the Italian American mafia is represented by the character Dominic Cattano. Played by Amand Assante, Cattano works out a deal in which Superfly becomes the white Mob´s major supplier of potent Number 4 heroin from Southeast Asia. At the end of the ¨historic¨ meeting, Lucas dramatically tells his wife: ¨ They (the Mob) work for me now.¨

So how accurate is Hollywood´s depiction of the Lucas--La Cosa relationship? Not very. It´s one of many inaccuracies that make the movie largely a work of fiction. Frank Lucas did not have any independent source of Asian heroin, and he was never in any position to dictate business terms to the Mob. In fact, for most of his career, Lucas got his smack the old fashion way: from La Cosa Nostra.

First some historical background. From the 1950s through the 1960s, the old reliable French Connection dominated the heroin drug trade. It was an efficient network in which Corsican gangsters transported the morphine base from the poppy fields grown in Turkey to Marseille, France. The morphine base was then refined into heroin and smuggled into the U.S., the connection´s biggest market, via Sicily, Italy, and Montreal, Canada.

It was efficient network that, according to the U.S. government reports, accounted for as much as 80 percent of the heroin smuggled into the U.S. By the early 1970s, however, international law enforcement was having great success against the French Connection and taking down its key mobsters. Meanwhile, the U.S persuaded the Turkish government to tighten surveillance of the country´s poppy fields, purchase the poppy crop from its farmers and institute procedures to encourage crop substitution. By 1972, the French Connection was in shambles.

Up until law enforcement began having success against Lucas, he, like other New York city heroin dealers, was getting his heroin supply from La Cosa Nostra. My research shows that Lucas did not come to Bangkok, Thailand until about 1974. Joe Sullivan a retired DEA agent who worked drug cases in East Harlem in the 1970s, recalled: ¨The French Connection was in the process of being dismantled and the supply was tight and expensive,. All the big drug traffickers, including Lucas, was getting their heroin supply from the Italians. Lucas was getting it for about $200,000 a kilo.¨

It didn´t mean that Lucas wasn´t making a lot of money in getting his heroin from the Mob. As Sullivan revealed.¨They (La Cosa Nostra) trusted their foreign contacts and were satisfied with bringing their heroin into the country. But the Italians thought it beneath them to whack the heroin, mix it, put it in glassine envelopes and hawk in the street. They preferred to sell their heroin to the black dealers. A few black dealers, such as Frank Lucas and Nicky Barnes, became successful controlling the drug business on the street while insulating themselves from the actual distributor.¨

When this author asked Lucas if he had ever worked with the Italian mob, the mere suggestion was enough to set off the old drug trafficker. ¨I was not going to have no fucking fat guy leaning back in the chair, smoking a $20 cigar and bragging how he had another nigger in Harlem working for him,¨Superfly roared. ¨I don´t play that game. The Italians were charging $50,000 to 75,000 a kilo, and I was getting it for $4,000 a kilo (from Asia). My junk traveled from the Mekong Valley to the Ho Chi Minh trail to the U.S.¨

The historical record, however, suggests that for most of Superfly´s criminal career it was otherwise. In June 1974, Lucas went to trial with 12 others for conspiracy to traffic heroin. It was just seven months before the authorities raided his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, and busted him for good. And still at that late date, no mention is made in the court records and in the press of any Asian connection in his drug trafficking plan. That didn´t happen until 1977 when Lucas was in prison and got busted again for trying to keep his heroin network operating.

One defendant in that 1974 trial was prominent Italian American mobster Ralph Tutino, aka ¨The General.¨ Lucas, Tutino and the other defendants were accused of involvement in a heroin smuggling conspiracy. The prosecutor identified Tutino as the principle heroin supplier, and Lucas, along with Robert Stepeney, another heroin drug dealer, as the major distributors.

According to the indictment, La Cosa Nostra mobster Antonio DeLutro delivered a package of about 11 pounds of heroin to Anthony Verzino in November1973 and received, as payment, $250,000 in two installments. Then in December 1973, Mario Perna, and Ernest Maliza, two other La Cosa mobsters, delivered a package containing 22 pounds of heroin to Lucas at the Van Cortlandt Motel in the Bronx. As these transactions clearly show, Lucas was getting his dope from La Cosa Nostra.

Tutino, who lived in the Bronx but had his headquarters in East Harlem, was a big-time heroin trafficker during the French Connection´s heyday. When the authorities busted the French Connection in 1972, many La Cosa Nostra godfathers who had thrived in the old days were now having trouble finding sources of heroin supply. But not Tutino. The authorities suspected him of having a direct connection to Mexican and Asian suppliers.

Lew Rice, a former DEA agent, interrogated Lucas when he decided to become an informant after facing 70 years in jail. According to Rice, after being busted for heroin trafficking, Lucas readily acknowledged to Rice that La Cosa Nostra was his major source of supply. ¨Lucas told me he was getting his heroin from Tutino, The General,¨ Rice recalled.

Lucas´ relationship with La Cosa Nostra could only be described as a rocky marriage of convenience, for Superfly, according to DEA sources, was constantly in deep financial trouble with La Cosa Nostra. He even owed two well-connected mafioso from the Gambino crime family $300,000 and only managed to avoid ending up buried in cement because the two Gambino crime family mobsters were arrested and carted off to jail in 1974.

The mobsters faced the prospect of long prison sentences, so they began singing like the proverbial canary. They revealed that one of their biggest customers for heroin was a prominent and flamboyant black drug dealer named Frank Lucas, who liked to call himself "Superfly." The informants' information allowed the authorities to obtain a search warrant, which authorized the raid on Lucas's house on Sheffield Road in Teaneck, New Jersey, in late January, 1975. This was the beginning of the end of Frank Lucas´s big-time criminal career, thanks to La Cosa Nostra.

Leslie Ike¨ Atkinson, a former U.S. army master sergeant and prominent black American drug dealer of the 1960s to mid 1970s, not Lucas, was the one who pioneered the Asian heroin connection. It is Atkinson, DEA sources confirm, who supplied Superfly with his Asian heroin, making him, not Lucas, deserving of the title, ¨American Gangster.¨

Atkinson, whom the DEA dubbed ¨Sergeant Smack,¨ got a close up look at Lucas´ dealings with La Cosa Nostra. In a recent interview, he remembered the time he was imprisoned in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in the mid 1970s and two members of the Italian American mob paid him a visit. ¨´Frank Lucas said to come see you,´ one of the gangsters told me. ´He did what?´ I said. The mobsters said: ´Frank owes us $80,000 and he said you would take care of it.¨ Atkinson laughed. ¨Frank actually thought he could send two wise guys to me and I would pay off his debt."

Atkinson recalled another occasion when he went to New Jersey to pick up some money Lucas owed him. When he arrived at his destination, Lucas had men posted outside his residence. Superfly was in deep trouble with the Mob again.

So, yes, La Cosa Nostra did come to Frank ¨Superfly¨ Lucas. But it was to collect money owed him, not to get its heroin supply.

Investigative journalist Ron Chepesiuk is a consultant to the History Channel´s ¨Gangland¨ series and the co-author and co-producer of the book and DVD titled SUPERFLY: THE TRUE-UNTOLD STORY OF FRANK LUCAS THE AMERICANGANGSTER
(www.franklucasamericangangster.com.)

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Prison for Coaches from @GamecockMBB, @OSUMBB, @APlayersProgram + Probation for @USC_Hoops Coach for NCAA Bribery Scheme #Corruption

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that LAMONT EVANS, a former assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina (“South Carolina”) and Oklahoma State University (“OSU”), and EMANUEL RICHARDSON, a/k/a “Book,” a former assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Arizona (“Arizona”), were each sentenced to three months in prison, and that ANTHONY BLAND, a/k/a “Tony,” a former assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Southern California (“USC”), was sentenced to a term of probation, each for accepting cash bribes from athlete advisers in exchange for using their influence over the student-athletes they coached to retain the services of the advisers paying the bribes. The defendants were sentenced in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Anthony Bland, Emanuel Richardson, and Lamont Evans, all former men’s basketball coaches at NCAA Division I universities, abused their positions as mentors and coaches for personal gain. They took bribes from unscrupulous agents and financial advisers to steer their players to those agents and advisers. For their crimes, Richardson and Evans will serve time in federal prison, while Bland will serve a sentence of probation. These convictions and sentencings send a strong message that bribery in the world of college basketball is a crime, and that those who participate in such crimes will be held accountable for their corrupt actions.”

According to the allegations contained in the Complaint, Indictment, Superseding Indictment, evidence presented during the trial, and statements made in Manhattan federal court:

Overview of the Scheme

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) have been investigating the criminal influence of money on coaches and student-athletes who participate in intercollegiate basketball governed by the NCAA. The investigation revealed that numerous basketball coaches at NCAA Division I universities, including EVANS, RICHARDSON, and BLAND, received bribes and agreed to receive bribes in exchange for agreeing to pressure and exert influence over student-athletes under their control to retain the services of the bribe payers, including Christian Dawkins, Merl Code, and Munish Sood, once the athletes entered the National Basketball Association (“NBA”).

Beginning in 2016, and continuing into September 2017, when EVANS was arrested, EVANS received approximately $22,000 in cash bribes from current and aspiring financial advisers and/or managers, including Dawkins and Sood, in exchange for EVANS’s agreement to exert his influence over certain student-athletes EVANS coached at South Carolina and OSU to retain the services of the bribe payers once those players entered the NBA. In one meeting recorded during the investigation, EVANS explained how “every guy I recruit and get is my personal kid,” and that “the parents believe in me and what I do . . . that’s why I say, if I need X, so if I do take X for that, it’s going to generate [business] toward you guys,” referring to the bribe payers. EVANS also stated in a call recorded during the investigation how this arrangement was “generating more wealth” for the scheme participants, because they were “able to scratch my back, scratch yours, and help each other with different things and . . . at the same time get compensated and then . . . just go from there.” In return for the cash bribes EVANS received, EVANS, including at in-person meetings, attempted to pressure a player at OSU, and a relative of a different player attending South Carolina, into retaining the financial services of the bribe payers.

Beginning in or around February 2017, and continuing into September 2017, when RICHARDSON was arrested, RICHARDSON received approximately $20,000 in cash bribes from Dawkins and Sood in exchange for RICHARDSON’s agreement to exert his influence over certain student-athletes RICHARDSON coached at Arizona to retain the services of Dawkins and Sood once those players entered the NBA. For example, in discussing his commitment to steering Arizona players to retain the bribe payers upon entering the NBA, RICHARDSON told an undercover FBI agent and others, during a recorded meeting, “I used to let kids talk to three or four guys, but I was like, why would you do that? You know that’s like taking a kid to a BMW dealer, a Benz dealer, and a Porsche dealer.  They like them all . . . You have to pick for them.” In return for the cash bribes RICHARDSON received, RICHARDSON facilitated a meeting between the bribe payers, including Dawkins and Sood, and a relative of a player attending Arizona for the purpose of pressuring that player to retain the financial services of the bribe payers.

Beginning in or around July 2017, and continuing into September 2017, when BLAND was arrested, Dawkins paid a cash bribe to BLAND in exchange for BLAND’s agreement to exert his influence over certain student-athletes BLAND coached at USC, and to retain Dawkins’s and Sood’s business management and/or financial advisory services once those players entered the NBA. In particular, as BLAND told Dawkins and Sood during a recorded meeting, in return for their bribe payment, “I definitely can get the players. . . .  And I can definitely mold the players and put them in the lap of you guys.” As part of the scheme, BLAND facilitated a meeting between Dawkins and Sood and a relative of a player attending USC, and a meeting between Dawkins and Sood and a relative of a USC recruit, both for the purpose of pressuring those players to retain the financial services of Dawkins and Sood.

In addition to the prison sentences, Judge Ramos ordered LAMONT EVANS, 41, of Deerfield Beach, Florida, to pay forfeiture in the amount of $22,000, EMANUEL RICHARDSON, 46, of Tucson, Arizona, to pay forfeiture in the amount of $20,000, and ANTHONY BLAND, 39, of Gardena, California, to pay forfeiture in the amount of $4,100. Each of the three defendants was sentenced to two years of supervised release, and EVANS and BLAND were also each sentenced to 100 hours of community service.

Christian Dawkins and Merl Code were each found guilty by a unanimous jury on May 8, 2019, of one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Dawkins was also convicted of an additional count of bribery, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for August 15, 2019, before Judge Ramos.

Munish Sood, a financial adviser, previously pled guilty, pursuant to a cooperation agreement with the Government, in connection with this scheme and is awaiting sentence.

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Check out True Crime Addict by @JamesRenner

When an eleven year old James Renner fell in love with Amy Mihaljevic, the missing girl seen on posters all over his neighborhood, it was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with true crime. That obsession leads James to a successful career as an investigative journalist. It also gave him PTSD. In 2011, James began researching the strange disappearance of Maura Murray, a UMass student who went missing after wrecking her car in rural New Hampshire in 2004. Over the course of his investigation, he uncovers numerous important and shocking new clues about what may have happened to Maura, but also finds himself in increasingly dangerous situations with little regard for his own well-being. As his quest to find Maura deepens, the case starts taking a toll on his personal life, which begins to spiral out of control. The result is an absorbing dual investigation of the complicated story of the All-American girl who went missing and James’s own equally complicated true crime addiction.

James Renner’s True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray, is the story of his spellbinding investigation of the missing person’s case of Maura Murray, which has taken on a life of its own for armchair sleuths across the web. In the spirit of David Fincher’s Zodiac, it is a fascinating look at a case that has eluded authorities and one man’s obsessive quest for the answers.

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Former High-Ranking Member of Sinaloa Drug Cartel Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

A former high-ranking member of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in trafficking large amounts of illegal drugs to the Chicago area.

VICENTE ZAMBADA-NIEBLA conspired with other Sinaloa members to import and distribute large quantities of illegal drugs into the United States. From approximately 1996 to 2008, Zambada-Niebla oversaw shipments of narcotics from Central and South America into Mexico and eventually into the U.S. The cartel covertly transported the drugs via private aircraft, submarines, container ships, fishing vessels, buses, tractor-trailers, automobiles, and other methods. Zambada-Niebla also oversaw the corresponding transfer of drug proceeds back to Mexico.

Zambada-Niebla, 44, has been in law enforcement custody since March 2009. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to a drug conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with the U.S. government in its efforts to dismantle the Sinaloa Cartel and one of its rivals, the Beltran-Leyva organization, and hold their leaders accountable in U.S. courts.

U.S. District Chief Judge Ruben Castillo imposed the 15-year sentence in federal court in Chicago.

The sentence was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Brian McKnight, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  Valuable assistance was provided by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago, and the Chicago Police Department.

“Zambada-Niebla played a major role in flooding the streets of Chicago with dangerous narcotics,” said U.S. Attorney Lausch. “Not only has he been brought to justice for his actions, but his extensive cooperation led to charges against dozens of other high-level drug traffickers in courts throughout the United States.”

“The DEA law enforcement team and prosecutorial partnerships continue to thrive and this sentencing is just one result of those great partnerships,” said SAC McKnight. “Members of the Sinaloa Cartel’s leadership have been held accountable for their actions. DEA will continue to focus investigative efforts to arrest the remainder of the Sinaloa Cartel leaders who are operating in Mexico to face justice in the United States.”

Zambada-Niebla is one of more than 20 members of the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva cartels to be indicted in federal court in Chicago. The investigation has resulted in seizures of approximately $30.8 million, approximately eleven tons of cocaine, 265 kilograms of methamphetamines, and 78 kilograms of heroin.

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