Deconstructing the Rat Pack: Joey, The Mob, and the Summit #LasVegas

In celebration of the Rat Pack's 60th anniversary comes an amazing, historical, and wild ride of a tome called "Deconstructing The Rat Pack: Joey, The Mob and the Summit."

For 28 consecutive nights in February 1960, a dusty town called Las Vegas became the epicenter of the world. All eyes were on the party happening at the Sands Hotel and Casino, the new headquarters for the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra. Dubbed by many as “The Rat Pack,” “The Clan” and “The Summit”—Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford gave those lucky audiences an entertainment experience, the likes of which will never be seen again.

This explosive tell-all book brings the inside scoop of how the mob, the future president, and five popular performers took the world (Las Vegas and Hollywood with the film Ocean’s 11 ) by storm.

You will read exclusive interviews with the participants themselves, including assorted wise guys Moe Dalitz, Carl Cohen (a relative of the author’s), Mickey Cohen, and Max Diamond (a longtime employee of the author’s liquidation business)—and show business luminaries Jack Entratter, Nancy Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Buddy Hackett, and many, many more.

And what makes this story of the Rat Pack so unique is that it is taken from the perspective of the group’s last surviving member, Joey Bishop, who sat for numerous interviews with the author.

The New York Post, Closer Magazine, and the London Daily Express are among those already singing the praises of “Deconstructing the Rat Pack” by calling it a “A Book That Busts The Rat Pack Myth and a “Must Have.”

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Top 10 Articles in The Mob Mafia Magazine #FRIDAYFLASHBACK #TopTen

Top Ten Articles In The Mob Mafia Magazine (2008 Edition)

10. How To Get Abs Like Tony Soprano

9. What Your Tracksuit Says About You

8. Lemon Bars: The Perfect Post-Hit Snack

7. Queens, Staten Island, and Other Great Mob Vacation Spots

6. Is Your Kitty Wearing a Wire?

5. Did You Take Care of That Thing?

4. 8 Foods That Should Be "Parm'd"

3. No Number 3 -- writer disappeared

2. Put The "Organized" Back in Organized Crime with Our Closet Makeover

1. Thug of The Year: Dick Cheney

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11 Charged in Federal Indictment for Alleged Supplying Fentanyl, Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, Heroin and Marijuana to Baltimore Drug Dealers #TheWire #Baltimore

A 16-month investigation by the Baltimore OCDETF Strike Force into drug dealing in Baltimore has led to eleven alleged wholesale drug suppliers being charged in a federal indictment for conspiracy, drug distribution, and firearms charges. The indictment was returned under seal on July 29, 2021 and was unsealed upon the arrests of the defendants. Charged in the indictment are:

• Rigby Dukes, a/k/a “Panama,” age 54, of Baltimore;
• Kevin Fuller, age 55, of Baltimore;
• Jimmye Howard, age 32, of Baltimore;
• Thomas Jones, a/k/a “Pooda,” age 52, of Baltimore;
• Eugene Link, age 40, of Baltimore;
• Khyle Paige, age 30, of Baltimore;
• Fred Primus, age 47, of Washington, D.C.;
• Keith Smith, a/k/a “Fat Keith,” age 39, of Gwynn Oak, Maryland;
• Phillip Washington, age 53, of Windsor Mill, Maryland;
• Ronald White, a/k/a “Ron,” age 53, of Towson, Maryland;
• Eric Wilson, a/k/a “E” and “Remy,” age 50, of Owings Mills, Maryland.

The indictment was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; Chief Melissa R. Hyatt of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Tom Carr, Executive Director of the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Administration.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner stated, “The Baltimore OCDETF Strike Force will continue to target large scale drug distributors and areas where violence is fueled by armed drug dealers. We are committed to working with our law enforcement partners to prosecute the suppliers and street level drug dealers to get them off of our streets, and to reducing violent crime in our neighborhoods. This indictment focuses on those importing bulk quantities of dangerous drugs into Baltimore, and is an important step in our efforts to make our communities safer.”

“Today’s charges serve as a great example of the effective partnerships we’ve forged and, our commitment to protecting the residents of this great city. These 11 individuals represent the top tier of drug traffickers here in the city of Baltimore,” said DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Orville O. Greene. “They were responsible for supplying a vast number of drug shops across the city, and fueling addiction and violence across the Baltimore Metropolitan area. Taking these prolific criminals off of our streets is a step toward making Baltimore a safer place.”

“This indictment comes as the result of a continued regional commitment to reduce violence and protect our communities,” said Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt. “The significant amounts of weapons and drugs seized during this multi-jurisdictional operation will help keep our neighborhoods safe and prevent future violence.”

“The Baltimore OCDETF Strike Force program exemplifies multi-agency collaboration and our shared commitment to creating a safer, stronger Baltimore,” said Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby. “As drug organizations become more sophisticated in the way they operate, we will continue to elevate our data-driven tactics, superior collaboration and consistent partnership among local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to work together to fight the violence on our streets.”

Over the course of this investigation, law enforcement executed 55 search warrants on people, locations and vehicles, seized approximately $722,334 in cash; more than four kilograms of fentanyl—enough to kill 200,000 people; more than 10 kilograms of cocaine; more than a kilogram of a heroin/fentanyl mixture; 914 grams of crack cocaine; a total of 258 grams of a crack or cocaine/fentanyl mixture; a quantity of marijuana; as well as six firearms, three magazines, ammunition, and a silencer; and more than 62 cell phones used to facilitate the business. Law enforcement also seized drug packaging material, digital scales, cutting agents, and money counters.

According to the 11-count indictment and information provided to the Court, the defendants distributed heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana to customers, including to each other. The indictment alleges that members of the conspiracy sold bulk quantities of narcotics to other drug traffickers who, in turn, redistributed the narcotics in and around Baltimore. The conspirators allegedly cut the heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and crack cocaine with other substances to maximize their profits, and used residences in and around Baltimore to process, repackage, and prepare heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana for distribution. Further, the indictment alleges that the members of the conspiracy possessed firearms in furtherance of their drug trafficking activities, including this conspiracy.

The defendants face a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison for the conspiracy; Dukes face a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years in prison for the count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and Smith, White, and Wilson face a mandatory maximum of 10 years in federal prison for each count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances; Link and Paige face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances; Paige faces a maximum of five years in federal prison for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; and Jones faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. All of the defendants have had an initial appearance. White was ordered to be detained, pending a detention hearing on August 11, 2021, and the remaining defendants were released with conditions, under the supervision of U.S. Pretrial Services.

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. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The specific mission of the Baltimore OCDETF Strike Force is to reduce violent, drug-related, and gang crime in the Baltimore area and surrounding region.

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended the DEA, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, the Baltimore Police Department, the Baltimore County Police Department, and the Washington-Baltimore HIDTA for their work in the investigation and thanked the Baltimore City and Baltimore County State’s Attorneys’ Offices for their assistance. Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys LaRai Everett and James T. Wallner, who are prosecuting the case.

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4 Members of the “Ninedee Gang” Indicted for Racketeering and the Murder of a Former Federal Witness #Brooklyn #Gangs

Yesterday, a nine-count superseding indictment was unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn charging four members of the Ninedee Gang, a violent street gang based at the Louis H. Pink Houses (“Pink Houses”) in East New York, with racketeering, murder in-aid-of racketeering, drug trafficking, firearms offenses and robbery. The new charges were announced against defendants Quintin Green, Chayanne Fernandez, Maliek Miller and Kevin Wint. Green and Wint were arrested this morning and will be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. Fernandez and Miller were already in federal custody as a result of prior charges and will be arraigned at later date.

Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Jacqueline Maguire, Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Dermot F. Shea, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the arrests and charges.

“It is our hope that today’s charges against members of the Ninedee Gang bring some solace to the family of Shatavia Walls as we seek justice for her senseless, cold-blooded murder,” stated Acting United States Attorney Kasulis. “This Office and its law enforcement partners are committed to ending the brutality that violent gangs so wantonly inflict on citizens in our communities. I commend the FBI special agents and the NYPD detectives for their relentless investigative work on the case.”

“This investigation serves as a warning to criminals who behave as if there are no consequences to their actions. We have the ability in the federal criminal justice system to put these violent gang members away for a long time, and we will persist in our efforts to get them off the streets. Our outstanding partnership with the NYPD allows us to pursue the most violent and persistent offenders and hold them accountable for their blatant disregard for human life and safe communities,” stated FBI Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge Maguire.

“The NYPD remains committed to providing every resource possible to dismantling the violent gangs and crews that prey on New Yorkers. I commend our police investigators and the prosecutors in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York for leading us to justice with this federal indictment,” stated NYPD Commissioner Shea.

As detailed in the superseding indictment and court filings, the Ninedee Gang is a criminal enterprise operating in East New York, Brooklyn. The gang’s leaders, including Wint, promoted the gang on social media and in rap videos, highlighting its violence, drug sales and fraudulent activities.

The plan to kill Walls was allegedly hatched by Green, Fernandez, Miller and others following a dispute on the Fourth of July 2020 over the lighting of fireworks. During a confrontation with the victim, Miller called her a “snitch” and fired a gunshot into the air. Walls had been called as a government witness one year earlier during a federal criminal trial in Brooklyn and testified that she had been shot by another Pink Houses gang member.

On the evening of July 7, 2020, Ninedee Gang members, including Green and a juvenile male, opened fire on Walls as she walked through a courtyard at the Pink Houses. Walls was shot multiple times and succumbed to the gunshot wounds on July 17, 2020. Ballistic evidence recovered from the scene of the fatal shooting showed that one of the handguns used to kill Walls matched the firearm used by Miller on the Fourth of July. In the days following Walls’ murder, the defendants posted on Facebook a newspaper article about the murder and claimed credit on behalf of the Ninedee Gang.

Additionally, Green is charged with the Hobbs Act robbery of a Target store on Staten Island on November 3, 2020; Wint with access device fraud; Fernandez, Miller and Wint with conspiracy to distribute marijuana; and Green, Fernandez and Miller with unlawful use and possession of firearms.

If convicted of murder in-aid-of racketeering, Green, Fernandez and Miller face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment and are eligible for the death penalty. If convicted of racketeering, Wint faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment, and up to 15 years’ imprisonment for accessory after the fact to Walls’s murder.

The Defendants:

QUINTIN GREEN (also known as “Wild Child”) Age: 20, Brooklyn, New York

CHAYANNE FERNANDEZ (also known as “White Boy”) Age: 21, Brooklyn, New York

MALIEK MILLER (also known as “Leak”) Age: 27, Brooklyn, New York

KEVIN WINT (also known as “Kev G”) Age: 27, Brooklyn, New York

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Murder in Canaryville: The True Story Behind a Cold Case and a Chicago Cover-Up

Murder in Canaryville: The True Story Behind a Cold Case and a Chicago Cover-Up

The cold-case murder of John Hughes, the son of a Chicago Outfit member suspected of pulling the trigger, and the efforts of a determined detective to unravel a cover-up.

The grandson and great-grandson of Chicago police officers, Chicago Police Detective James Sherlock was CPD through-and-through. His career had seen its share of twists and turns, from his time working undercover to thwart robberies on Chicago's L trains to his years as a homicide detective. He thought he had seen it all.

But on this day, he was at the records center to see the case file for the murder of John Hughes, who was seventeen years old when he was gunned down on Chicago's Southwest Side in 1976. The case's threads led everywhere: Police corruption. Hints of the Chicago Outfit. A crooked judge. Even the belief that the cover-up extended to "hizzoner" himself—legendary Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley.

A murder that had roiled the city and had been investigated for years had been reduced to a few reports and photographs. What should have been a massive file with notes and transcripts from dozens of interviews was nowhere to be found. Sherlock could have left the records center without the folder and cruised into retirement, and no one would have noticed.

Instead, he tucked the envelope under his arm and carried it outside.

"A real-life crime drama with vivid individuals and neighborhoods. A murder unsolved until now after forty years. It portrays the unvarnished Chicago of yesterday...absolutely a must read." —Dick Simpson, author of The Good Fight

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With the Street Gangs Shooting Out of Control throughout the City, would Chicago Be Safer if the Mafia was Again in Charge?

When I was a kid and told people not from Chicago, the city of my birth and upbringing, where I was from, it wasn’t uncommon for them to raise their arms as if holding a machine gun, murmur ratatatatatat, then utter “ Al Capone. ” Capone died in 1947, but Chicago and violence have ever after been linked. And now that link is more firmly established than ever, given the murder and shooting statistics announced at the end of every weekend in the city.

After Prohibition, crime in Chicago moved from bootlegging to gambling, prostitution, and loan-sharking. These operations were run by a group of mostly Italian and some Jewish gangsters known variously as the Syndicate, the Mob, the Boys, the Outfit, never for some reason called the Mafia.

Under the Syndicate such crime tended to be perpetrated on those who couldn’t pay their gambling or loan debts or attempted to step into territory thought to be exclusively the Syndicate’s. A friend of mine whose father had a strong taste for corruption bought a controlling interest in a few prizefighters. One thing leading to another, soon he found himself being simultaneously pursued by a murderous thug named Felix “Milwaukee Phil” Alderisio and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Fortunately, the FBI got to him first.

Occasionally the body of someone with the hubris to betray the Syndicate would be found in the trunk of a car in a church or hotel parking lot. These crimes were horrendous but controlled, their victims carefully targeted, everyone else in the city left to go about his business.

With the uncontrolled and ubiquitous nature of current crime in Chicago, one almost feels nostalgia for old Syndicate figures such as Tony “Big Tuna” Accardo, Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik and Sam “Momo” Giancana. They might bully someone on a golf course, or take over the best tables at city steakhouses, but they didn’t shoot into crowds, hijack your car, or wantonly kill children. In their day, the local television news didn’t open with yet another mother weeping over her murdered child.

For a time much of the violence in Chicago was confined to a small number of neighborhoods on the city’s south and west sides. More than 80% of such crimes in Chicago are said to be perpetrated by young black men, most of them members of rivaling gangs. Living outside those neighborhoods, one felt sad for the scores of innocent people killed but felt relatively safe oneself.

That has now changed. Muggings and murders in Chicago are now taking place in once quiet middle-class neighborhoods such as Rogers Park and even in swanky ones such as Streeterville. A new crime du jour in the city is the hit-and-run, the perpetrator as often as not driving a stolen car.

Such has been the spread of crime in Chicago, I now find I lock my door as soon as I get in my car; I leave a full space between my car and the car in front of me at stoplights, allowing room to swerve away from any potential carjackers. I don’t check my phone at stoplights. I walk the streets of Chicago warily, even in relatively safe neighborhoods, and seldom go out at night.

Meanwhile, the city’s officials—Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Police Chief David Brown, Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx —pass the buck. The mayor appears to believe that the chief problem is getting the guns off the street, but she is more likely to eliminate mosquitoes than guns from Chicago. The police chief blames Ms. Foxx for releasing people brought in for gun crimes without bail, while Ms. Foxx reports that owing to Covid her office has a backlog of some 35,000 felony cases. So the unmerry-go-round goes, where it stops nobody knows.

Where it ought to stop is at the doubtless difficult but necessary task of breaking up the city’s street gangs. Some argue that gangs are the only refuge for young black men in a country where systemic racism reigns and they are its primary victims. These young men have no jobs, it is said; education for them is a dead end, it is argued. Progress in race relations, they are told, is nonexistent. The people who propagate this nonsense call for more programs: in mentoring, in psychotherapy, in advanced French, in whatever else you’ve got.

One wonders, though, if a start might be made by banishing all such talk, from charges of systemic racism to the cry for more programs, and to back it up by enforcing heavy penalties for gun crimes as a way of letting their perpetrators know that stiff jail sentences remain the best program on record for putting a stop to violent and vicious crime.

Thanks to Joseph Epstein.

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Boss of Huge Sinaloa Cartel-Linked Fentanyl and Heroin Trafficking Network Put Away for 33 Years #OperationCookout

The ringleader behind an extensive drug trafficking ring was sentenced to 33 years in prison for distributing large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine in Newport News and North Carolina.

“This defendant served in a significant leadership role as the regional distributor of heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine for the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most prolific and violent cartels in the world,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “EDVA will continue working with our law enforcement partners to combat these transnational criminal organizations in order to protect the health and safety of our communities.”

According to court documents, Ramiro Ramirez-Barreto, 44, from the Mexican State of Morelos, operated a continuing criminal enterprise with ties to Virginia, North Carolina, and California. Ramirez-Barreto was linked to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, as were his drug sources, and his operation supplied cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl to numerous drug trafficking organizations in Newport News, Virginia, and in Henderson and Greensboro, North Carolina. According to one of Ramirez-Barreto’s many North Carolina customers, Ramirez-Barreto supplied him with 60 kilograms of heroin from early 2018 to mid-2019. Another one of Ramirez-Barreto’s customers was an inmate in federal prison operating a drug trafficking organization in Henderson, North Carolina, using a bootleg mobile phone.

In addition to his sentence, Ramirez-Barreto was ordered to pay a forfeiture money judgment of $4,200,000 and forfeit his house in Lawrenceville. Barreto was arrested in 2019 as a result of Operation Cookout.

Background on Operation Cookout

In August 2019, over 120 law enforcement officers from 30 law enforcement agencies in Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas executed a major operation, known as Operation Cookout, which resulted in 35 defendants being arrested for their respective roles in the conspiracy, along with the seizure of 24 firearms, 30 kilograms of fentanyl, 30 kilograms of heroin, 5 kilograms of cocaine, and over $700,000 in cash.
To date, 45 total defendants have been charged in Operation Cookout. All 45 defendants have admitted their criminal conduct and pleaded guilty. Thus far, 41 defendants have been sentenced, with the majority being sentenced to prisons terms ranging from two to ten years, and five defendants sentenced between 15 to 25 years in prison.

These prosecutions are part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

The following law enforcement agencies provided significant assistance during the investigation and arrest operation: U.S. Marshals Service, Newport News Sheriff’s Office, Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office, York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Amarillo Police, and Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office. Approximately 30 law enforcement agencies assisted in the arrest operation in Virginia, North Carolina, and Texas.

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GOP Mob Buster who Initiated the #1 Rated Organized Crime Investigation in the Country Seeks Political Office

William P. Ready has announced his intention to run for the Board of Selectmen ahead of the Tuesday, July 20, GOP Caucus.

Skills developed during Mr. Ready’s 30 years in the FBI as both field agent and supervisor are directly transferable to public office, he noted. “I have led teams investigating complex, criminal organizations in New York City, Fairfield and New Haven counties. To achieve our objectives, I had to be proficient in problem resolution, community relations, personnel coordination and budget oversight. The job demanded I be ethical and confidential. I feel these abilities are invaluable to a town official.”

Mr. Ready and his wife, Barbara, moved to Southbury in 2003. As their three boys grew up, he became involved with coaching in Southbury Youth Baseball and volunteering in the local Boy Scouts of America program. He has held positions of assistant scoutmaster for Troop 5 in Middlebury, assistant scoutmaster for Troop 1607 and scoutmaster for Troop 60 in Southbury.

During his tenure as scoutmaster for Troop 60, seven young men achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. His troops participated in dozens of service projects at the Audubon Center, Platt Farm and Phillips Farm. Bill and his family attend Cornerstone Church in Oxford.

Most recently, Mr. Ready organized the Law Enforcement Appreciation Rally held May 15 at Playhouse Corner. “I felt strongly that the local, state and federal law enforcement officials in our community deserved our recognition and support. I also wanted to honor those officers across the country who have recently lost their lives in the line of duty.

“It was a well-attended event, and I think we raised awareness of the dramatically increasing number of officers lost each year.”

In early 1996, Mr. Ready initiated a RICO investigation into the Gambino crime family. After considerable effort and development, the investigation became the number-one rated organized crime investigation in the country. By mid-1999 the investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of Gambino family boss John “Junior” Gotti and more than 40 members and associates of the Gambino and Genovese crime families.

In 2002, Mr. Ready initiated and ran the investigation now known as “Operation Last Camp.” This became the number-one rated organized crime investigation in the country in 2004. By 2005, the investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction of then Gambino family boss Arnold “The Beast” Squitieri and 39 members and associates of the Gambino, Luchese and Genovese families. “Operation Last Camp” in the end dismantled several family crews and caused a significant disruption to the hierarchy of the Gambino family.

Each investigation was heralded in different episodes of the television show “60 Minutes” and written about in two different books.

After 9-11 occurred, Mr. Ready, who was serving in Manhattan Division, became a counter-terrorism agent working on the “Penttbom” investigation. After transferring to the New Haven Division, Mr. Ready participated in the FBI investigations into the murder of Yale University grad student Anne Le in 2009 and the Sandy Hook School massacre in 2012.

Following his retirement from the FBI, Mr. Ready briefly served as adjunct professor at the University of New Haven, Criminal Justice Program.

Mr. Ready holds a juris doctor from Western New England University, B.A. in economics and sociology from Fairfield University with additional training in navigating strategic change from Northwestern University and money laundering and asset forfeiture, surveillance photography from John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

He graduated from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., and maintained secret and top secret security clearances throughout his career. He is the recipient of the Award for Excellence from the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement and 11 FBI Incentive Awards for conducting and completing major successful investigations.

“I look forward to volunteering my time and talents on the Board of Selectmen for the betterment of Southbury,” Mr. Ready said.

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Oath Keepers Member Arrested on Conspiracy Charges Related to the January 6th Insurrection and Attack on the US Capitol

A Florida man and member of the Oath Keepers was arrested for crimes related to the Insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress that was in the process of ascertaining and counting the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

David Moerschel, 43, of Punta Gorda, is charged with federal offenses that include conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. The Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are affiliated with militias.

According to court documents, Moerschel and others planned and participated in an operation to interfere with the certification of the electoral college vote on Jan. 6, and coordinated with others in advance, using websites and social media to recruit other participants before traveling to Washington. As alleged, Moerschel joined and participated in an invitation-only encrypted Signal message group titled “OK FL DC OP Jan 6.” Moerschel also attended GoToMeetings with individuals affiliated with the Oath Keepers, with session names such as “ok florida,” “florida dc op planning chat” and “dc planning call.”

On Jan. 6, Moerschel was captured on surveillance footage with other Oath Keepers, including charged defendant Kelly Meggs, walking towards the eastern façade of the Capitol at 2:27 p.m. Moerschel joined in a military-stack formation of individuals moving up through the crowd toward the east doors of the Capitol. Moerschel and others from the stack were captured on surveillance video inside the Capitol shortly after the Capitol’s east Rotunda doors were breached around 2:40 p.m.

In the six months since Jan. 6, more than 535 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 165 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

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Former Enforcer of Latin Kings Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison

A former Enforcer for the New Bedford Chapter of the Massachusetts Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (Latin Kings) was sentenced on drug charges.

Jeremia Medina, a/k/a “King Sweepy,” 33, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel to eight years in prison and three years of supervised release. On March 10, 2021, Medina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, manufacture and possess with intent to distribute cocaine base.

Medina was a former Enforcer of the New Bedford Chapter of the Latin Kings and conspired with other gang members to distribute, manufacture and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base. As Enforcer, Medina was a leader of the New Bedford Chapter charged with organizing violent acts by the gang and administering violations and other violence. Medina also conspired with other Latin Kings members and leaders to operate a vast drug trafficking network throughout New Bedford, using a number of multi-unit apartment buildings controlled by the Latin Kings, known as trap houses. Medina was also recorded on video participating in multiple beatings of individuals targeted by the gang.

The Latin Kings are a violent criminal enterprise comprised of thousands of members across the United States. The Latin Kings adhere to a national manifesto, employ an internal judiciary and use a sophisticated system of communication to maintain the hierarchy of the organization. As alleged in court documents, the gang uses drug distribution to generate revenue, and engages in violence against witnesses and rival gangs to further its influence and to protect its turf.

In December 2019, a federal grand jury returned an indictment alleging racketeering conspiracy, drug conspiracy and firearms charges against 62 leaders, members and associates of the Latin Kings. Medina is the 32nd defendant to be sentenced in the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.

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Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws: My Infiltration of America's Deadliest Biker Gangs

Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws: My Infiltration of America's Deadliest Biker Gangs.

The basis for the hit TV series Gangland Undercover!

The gripping account from an ex-con who went undercover to help the ATF infiltrate three of America's most violent biker gangs.

Despite lacking any experience with motorcycle gangs, Charles Falco infiltrated three of America's deadliest biker gangs: the Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws. In separate investigations that spanned years and coasts, Falco risked his life, suffering a fractured neck and a severely torn shoulder, working deep under cover to bring violent sociopaths to justice.

His dedication was profound; Falco spent almost three years infiltrating the Vagos gang and rose to second in command of the Victorville, California chapter. He even served time in San Bernardino's Murder Unit and endured solitary confinement to protect his cover and the investigations. Falco recorded confessions of gangland-style killings and nearly became a target himself before he sought refuge in the Witness Protection Program. But discontent to remain on the sidelines and motivated by a strong sense of duty, Falco eventually left the Program and volunteer his talents again to infiltrate the Mongols and Outlaws, rising in rank to Vice President of the Petersburg, Virginia Outlaws chapter.

His efforts culminated in sixty two arrests of members for various crimes, including assault and murder. Executing one of this country's most successful RICO prosecutions and effectively crippling the criminal enterprise, Falco's engrossing narrative of the dangers of the biker underworld harkens back to Hunter S. Thompson's classic Hell's Angels, vividly recounting a life undercover.

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Emma Coronel Aispuro, Wife of Notorious Former Drug Lord Joaquin Guzman "El Chapo", expected to Plead Guilty to helping #ELChapo run his Multi-billion Dollar Drug Empire

The wife of notorious Mexican drug kingpin "El Chapo" is expected to plead guilty this week to charges stemming from her alleged assistance in helping him run his multi-billion dollar empire, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News Investigative Unit senior producer Pat Milton.

Her anticipated plea was first reported by The New York Times, which also cites a person familiar with the matter. It was also confirmed by Agence France-Presse.

The Times says she'll also plead guilty to helping him escape from a high-security Mexican prison after one of his arrests. The newspaper says Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, is expected to enter her plea on Thursday in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C.

Aispuro was arrested by U.S. authorities at Dulles International Airport outside Washington in February on suspicion of aiding her husband's drug trafficking business. The former beauty queen was slapped with one charge of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana for importation into the United States.

A guilty plea could help reduce her sentence.

Joaquin Guzman was the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's most notorious drug trafficking groups. He ran an operation that delivered hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States and was behind multiple murders of those who crossed him, according to court filings. He was extradited to the United States in 2017 to stand trial and convicted and sentenced to life in prison two years later.

Coronel, according to the Justice Department, took part in cartel activities and also allegedly assisted in two plots to help Guzman escape from Mexican prison, including the successful first one in 2015. Guzman is now in the highest-security prison in the United States, the ADX federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

A dual US-Mexico citizen and the mother of twins by Guzman, Coronel, 32 years younger than her husband, appeared in court nearly every day of his three-month trial in New York. She had been barred from all contact with him during more than two years of pre-trial detention. But during the trial, each day as he entered and left the courtroom, Guzman touched his heart and blew her a kiss. During the trial, there were suggestions that she was involved in his business and prison escape, but authorities let her come and go freely.

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Biker Gangs and Transnational Organized Crime

Biker Gangs and Transnational Organized Crime, Second Edition, describes and analyzes a rapidly expanding global problem: criminal acts committed by motorcycle gangs. Thomas Barker, one of the world's top experts on outlaw biker gangs, offers fascinating details about the Bandidos, the Vagos, the Mongols, and other "one percenters" (criminal biker gangs, as opposed to the vast majority of motorcycle enthusiasts). He combines this data with a strengthened conceptual framework that makes sense of this complicated picture. U.S.-based motorcycle gangs like the Hells Angels have proliferated, especially in Canada and Europe, to the point where these gangs have more members in other countries than in the United States. More and more often in recent years their crimes are not limited to rumbles or drug use-these gangs challenge the dominance of organized crime, leading to violent conflicts between the rivals. Germany, Scandinavia, the UK, the Netherlands, and Canada are particularly hard-hit by this rising violence.

One of Barker's unique contributions is his Criminal Organization Continuum, building on the groundbreaking Network Approach to organized crime proposed by Klaus von Lampe. Introduced in the first edition, Barker elaborates his continuum tool and makes it more multi-dimensional to help refine the definition of adult criminal gangs. The product of years of research, Biker Gangs and Transnational Organized Crime, Second Edition, lays the groundwork for further study by offering students, police, and researchers the most thorough account available of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

• Delves into the secretive culture of each of the major outlaw motorcycle gangs from the Warlocks to the Sons of Silence 
• Analyzes whether biker gangs are really an organized crime threat nationally and transnationally
• Debunks the major myths surrounding outlaw motorcycle clubs/gangs

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Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America by the Award Winning @BillOReilly

Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America, is the tenth book in Bill O'Reilly's #1 New York Times bestselling series of popular narrative histories, with sales of nearly 18 million copies worldwide, and over 320 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Instant #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestseller!

In the tenth book in the multimillion-selling Killing series, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard take on their most controversial subject yet: The Mob.

O’Reilly and co-author Martin Dugard trace the brutal history of 20th Century organized crime in the United States, and expertly plumb the history of this nation’s most notorious serial robbers, conmen, murderers, and especially, mob family bosses. Covering the period from the 1930s to the 1980s, O’Reilly and Dugard trace the prohibition-busting bank robbers of the Depression Era, such as John Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby-Face Nelson. In addition, the authors highlight the creation of the Mafia Commission, the power struggles within the “Five Families,” the growth of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover, the mob battles to control Cuba, Las Vegas and Hollywood, as well as the personal war between the U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and legendary Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.

O’Reilly and Dugard turn these legendary criminals and their true-life escapades into a read that rivals the most riveting crime novel. With Killing the Mob, their hit series is primed for its greatest success yet.

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Is the Trump Organization a Mafia Family? #RICO #OrganizedCrime #Trump

Prosecutors appear to be treating their investigation of former President Donald Trump's business empire as if it were a mafia family, according to several reports out this week.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance is likely considering criminal charges centered around the idea that the Trump Organization is a "corrupt enterprise" under a New York state racketeering statute resembling the federal RICO law — an abbreviation for the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which was passed in 1970 to crack down on pervasive organized crime — several legal experts and former prosecutors told Politico.

"No self-respecting state white-collar prosecutor would forgo considering the enterprise corruption charge," longtime New York City defense attorney Robert Anello said. "I'm sure they're thinking about that."

The law, known colloquially as "little RICO," kicks in if prosecutors can establish that an organization or business has committed at least three separate crimes — a "pattern of criminal behavior," in legal parlance. A sentence under the statute can result in up to 25 years in prison — with a mandatory minimum of one year.

Vance has even hired a veteran mob prosecutor and expert in white-collar crime, Mark Pomerantz, to bolster his team, the New York Times reported in February.

Trump himself has a long history with several prominent New York City mob families — building his signature Trump Tower in Manhattan with help from a concrete company run by Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno and Paul Castellano, who at the time were bosses of the Genovese and Gambino families, Business Insider reported.

And just like in the investigations that put Salerno and Castellano behind bars, it appears prosecutors are hoping to rely on the testimony of "family" members like Trump Organization CFO Alan Weisselberg, one of the company's longest-tenured employees. His former daughter-in-law, Jennifer Weisselberg, is cooperating with Vance's investigation and says she believes her ex-husband's father will flip on Trump due to his age and aversion to spending any time in prison.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who recently agreed to join forces with Vance on her separate investigation of Trump's business dealings, has also forced Trump's son, Eric, to sit for a deposition interview, according to the New York Times. But the decision to pursue racketeering charges carries its own risks, and many legal experts say prosecutors are better off seeking straightforward indictments on specific crimes that are easier to litigate.

"Why overcharge and complicate something that could be fairly simple?" Jeremy Saland, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office, told Politico. "Why muddy up the water? Why give a defense attorney something that could confuse a jury and be able to crow that they beat a charge in a motion to dismiss?"

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and blasted the investigations as politically inspired "witch hunts."

Thanks to Brett Bachman.

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The Bomber Mafia by @Gladwell #TheBomberMafia

In The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.

Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the “Bomber Mafia,” asked: What if precision bombing could cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal?

In contrast, the bombing of Tokyo on the deadliest night of the war was the brainchild of General Curtis LeMay, whose brutal pragmatism and scorched-earth tactics in Japan cost thousands of civilian lives, but may have spared even more by averting a planned US invasion. In The Bomber Mafia, Gladwell asks, “Was it worth it?”

Things might have gone differently had LeMay’s predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. Hansell believed in precision bombing, but when he and Curtis LeMay squared off for a leadership handover in the jungles of Guam, LeMay emerged victorious, leading to the darkest night of World War II. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war.

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Multiple Chicago Shooting Weapons Traced to 3 Fort Campbell Army Soldiers Connected to Illegal Gun Pipeline

Federal agents arrested three Fort Campbell soldiers in connection to an illegal gun pipeline to Chicago after guns found at a mass shooting scene in Chicago were traced to Middle Tennessee purchases, the Nashville U.S. Attorney's office announced.

Demarcus Adams, 21; Jarius Brunson, 22; and Brandon Miller, 22, all enlisted members of the U.S. Army stationed in Clarksville face multiple federal charges in the case. Guns traced to the trio have been connected to multiple shootings including a late March attack that left one person dead and multiple other people wounded in Chicago’s Southwest Side.

All three soldiers were arrested by ATF agents and agents of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, said Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Each solider is charged with transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident; making false statements during the purchase of a firearm; engaging in the business without a firearms license; wire fraud; money laundering; and conspiracy to commit Title 18 offenses, according to a criminal complaint.

Investigation of the firearms began March 26 when Chicago police responded to the mass shooting incident. The shooting took place on the 2500 block of W. 79th Street, court documents show.

Multiple firearms were recovered from the shooting scene and five of the firearms were found to have been recently purchased from Federal Firearms Licensed dealers in Clarksville, court documents show.

Further investigation, the complaint continues, identified Adams, Brunson and Miller as the majority purchasers of these firearms.

A broader investigation into firearms transaction records determined that since September 2019, the three men had purchased 91 firearms from multiple federal firearms dealers in Clarksville; Oak Grove, Kentucky; Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; and Paducah, Kentucky.

The majority of the firearms, the complaint continues, were purchased over the last five months.

After the firearms were purchased, Miller would provide them to people he was associated with in Chicago, investigators claim in the criminal complaint. On Friday, prosecutors say, a federal search warrant was executed at the Clarksville home of Miller and Adams.

There, 49 empty firearms cases were discovered — many of them matched to firearms recovered by the Chicago Police Department at the scene of recent shootings and homicides, the complaint noted.

All three soldiers were slated to appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Nashville.

The government has asked that at least one, Miller, be detained pending trial, court documents show.

Prosecutors claim Miller led the effort to transport the guns and noted he is currently facing court martial proceedings through the military base related to an alleged sexual assault.

Court documents go onto show agents noted on April 7, Miller and a different Chicago area code phone number had the following text exchange:

 

• From Miller: “We gotta hold this shit together ima still play the back role g I ain’t never turning my back on gang whatever got going on y’all ina door wit me stand on business ima stand on my business to make sure mfs got what they need.” 
• From Chicago phone number: “Sayless." 
• Later on the same day; from Miller: “We gone win this *war* we losing the battle but this a marathon not a race.” 

Miller "faces significant civilian and military justice charges and has very few, if any, connections to the Middle District of Tennessee, the defendant would pose a significant flight risk if he were released," they argued in the motion to detail.

If convicted, under federal law, the men each face up to 20 years in prison.

Thanks to Natalie Neysa Alund.

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The Vatican Creates Working Group to Study Expelling the Mafia from the Catholic Church

The Vatican’s human development office has created a working group on the topic of the expulsion of criminal organizations from the Catholic Church.

The group was created in honor of Rosario Livatino, a Catholic judge killed by the mafia in Sicily in 1990, who was beatified in the Cathedral of Agrigento May 9.

The eight-member group will study the excommunication of the mafia, offering support to bishops around the world, according to a press release announcing the initiative from the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development.

Giuseppe Pignatone, president of the Vatican City State Tribunal, will be a member of the group. Pignatone is an Italian magistrate who served as deputy public prosecutor in Palermo and then public prosecutor in the cities of Reggio Calabria and Rome, where he oversaw the arrests and trials of a large number of people belonging to organized crime organizations.

Other members of the anti-mafia working group are philosopher Vittorio V. Alberti; Italian politician and former president of the Antimafia Commission Rosy Bindi; anti-mafia activist Fr. Luigi Ciotti; author and ex-mafia rehabilitation activist Fr. Marcello Cozzi; Greek Catholic priest Fr. Ioan Alexandru Pop; and prison chaplain Fr. Raffaele Grimaldi.

Grimaldi has served as a prison chaplain for more than 20 years and helped rehabilitate the man behind the 1990 murder of Bl. Rosario Livatino. Antonio Gallea, then 20 years old and a leader of the Agrigento-based Stidda, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.

In 2015, the court granted Gallea parole for good behavior and Grimaldi supported the ex-mafia boss’ reform and reintegration into society.

Gallea also gave testimony during the diocesan phase of Livatino’s beatification cause but was arrested in February on accusations that he is again leading the Stidda.

Grimaldi was saddened to learn that the man he had known for 11 years may have returned to criminal activity. “It is a great disappointment, I had given him all my trust,” Grimaldi said, according to Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops’ conference. “But that doesn’t change our mission. I do not give up. Paths to rehabilitation and reintegration must always be offered to inmates. A story like this cannot put all those who really want to make a path of change in a bad light,” he said.

The priest said: “I followed him spiritually, he came to Mass and to prayer meetings. He asked me for advice and I as a spiritual father did everything for him. I am a priest, I must give strength to resume the journey. That’s why I’m so disappointed now. But I’m praying for him.”

On the day of Rosario Livatino’s beatification, May 9, Pope Francis called the young judge “a martyr of justice and faith.”

“He always placed his work ‘under the protection of God’; for this, he became a witness of the Gospel until his heroic death. May his example be for everyone, especially magistrates, an incentive to be loyal defenders of the law and liberty,” the pope said at the end of his Regina Caeli address.

Livatino worked as a prosecutor in Sicily dealing with the criminal activity of the mafia throughout the 1980s. He confronted what Italians later called the “Tangentopoli,” the system of mafia bribes and kickbacks given for public works contracts.

At the age of 37, he served as a judge at the Court of Agrigento.

He was driving unescorted toward the Agrigento courthouse when another car hit his vehicle, sending him off the road. He ran from the crashed vehicle into a field, but was shot in the back and then killed by more gunshots.

Today a plaque on the highway marks the spot where Livatino was killed. It reads: “Martyr of justice.” On Dec. 21, Pope Francis elevated this title when he recognized the judge as a martyr killed “in hatred of the faith.”

Thanks to Hannah Brockhaus.

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#OnThisDay in 1995, Domestic Terrorists and Anti-government Extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, Bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on Wednesday, April 19, 1995.

Perpetrated by anti-government extremists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing happened at 9:02 am and killed at least 168 people, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed more than one-third of the building, which had to be demolished. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage. Local, state, federal, and worldwide agencies engaged in extensive rescue efforts in the wake of the bombing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency activated 11 of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, consisting of 665 rescue workers who assisted in rescue and recovery operations. Until the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Oklahoma City bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United States other than the Tulsa race massacre. It remains one of the deadliest acts of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

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Sopranos star Joseph Siravo, who played Tony Soprano's father, has died

“Sopranos” star Joseph Siravo, who played Tony Soprano’s father, has died following a battle with cancer. He was 66.

Siravo’s agent confirmed the actor’s death to Variety, noting that he died on Sunday following a “long, courageous” battle with colon cancer.

Siravo is best known for work in television as well as theater. On HBO’s “Sopranos,” he played Johnny Soprano — featuring prominently in flashback episodes to the 1960s — and later portrayed Fred Goldman, father of Ron Goldman, in FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.”

Other recent credits include TV series such as “For Life,” “The Blacklist,” “Made in Jersey,” “Dirty Sexy Money” and “Law and Order.” In film, he appeared in the Adam Driver-led “The Report” and Meera Menon’s 2016 film “Equity, as well as “Motherless Brooklyn,” “The Wannabe,” “Shark Tale” and “Night Falls on Manhattan.”

Born and raised in Washington D.C., the actor did his BA at Stanford before completing an MFA at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts theatre program. He made his screen debut in “Carlito’s Way” (1993) and soon landed the Johnny Soprano role in HBO hit “The Sopranos,” which ran for six seasons.

Siravo also starred in Broadway productions of the Tony Award-winning “Oslo” and “The Light in the Piazza.” Earlier in his career, he performed in a national tour of “Jersey Boys.” The actor has countless off-Broadway and regional theater credits to his name, including Off-Broadway New York productions of “Mad Forest” and “Up Against the Wind,” as well as “My Night With Reg” and “The Root.” Regional credits include “Hamlet” at the Long Wharf, “Anthony & Cleopatra” at Berkeley Rep and “Last of the Boys” at the McCarter Theatre.

Siravo was also highly regarded as a teacher at various actor training programs in New York. After studying at NYU, where he trained under Ron Van Lieu, Olympia Dukakis and Nora Dunfee, he eventually joined the faculty of NYU Grad Acting, where he taught Shakespeare.

Siravo is survived by his daughter Allegra Okarmus; son-in-law Aaron Okarmus; grandson Atticus Okarmus; his sister Maria Siravo; and brothers Mario Siravo, Ernest Siravo and Michael Siravo.

A memorial service will soon be held for the actor.

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7th Member of Violent MS-13 Street Gang Indicted for Murder #MS13

Another member of the violent international street gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) is set to appear in federal court for his alleged role in a 2018 murder, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery.

Carlos Elias Henriquez-Torres, 20, an El Salvadorian national who illegally resided in Houston, was previously in state custody on related charges. He is set to appear at 2 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison on the charges in the superseding indictment returned March 31.

Previously indicted were Wilson Jose Venture-Mejia, 24, Jimmy Villalobos-Gomez, 24, Angel Miguel Aguilar-Ochoa, 35, Walter Antonio Chicas-Garcia, 24, and Marlon Miranda-Moran, 21, all El Salvadorian nationals. Villalobos-Gomez is a legal permanent resident but the remaining men unlawfully resided in Houston. The charges against all of them remain pending.

Also named in the indictment is Franklin Trejo-Chavarria, 23. He is currently in custody in El Salvador.

The indictment alleges they committed a 2018 murder in furtherance of the MS-13 enterprise. The victim was allegedly beaten to death with machetes in order for the defendants to further their positions in the enterprise.

All are charged with conspiracy and murder in aid of racketeering.

If convicted, they face a potential death sentence.

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Who Rode the Most Expensive Bike On Sons Of Anarchy and How Much Did it Cost?

The winning formula for creator Kurt Sutter's Sons of Anarchy consists of a few key things: murder, mayhem, and motorcycles. Sure, there are other facets of the show that begin with different letters of the alphabet, but much of the series chronicling the goings-on in an outlaw motorcycle club revolved around those three concepts. Murder? Many of the personal relationships and conflicts ended in death, namely those surrounding series protagonist Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), whose father was murdered by his future stepdad Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman); whose wife Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff) was murdered by his own mother, Gemma Morrow (Katey Sagal); and who, in turn, murdered his own mother and stepfather, thus completing the circle of death. Wait, should we have included a spoiler warning? Because, like, that's pretty much the show.

Onto mayhem; obviously crazy action factored prominently into the show's plot points, when it came to conceptualizing seasons as a whole. The Sons had dealings with the Galindo cartel, the Cacuzza crime family, the Irish Republican Army, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Lin Triad, the Russian mafia, and the militia movement, most of which ended badly and ended big.

And, of course, motorcycles are central to the premise of a show about the fictional motorcycle club from which the series takes its name, and Sons of Anarchy featured some sweet bikes. Most members favored a version of the Harley-Davidson Dyna line, like Jax's 2003 H-D Dyna Super Glide Sport (via HotCars), for which the National Automobile Dealers Association's guide lists a suggested price of $14,510. But that pales in comparison to the price tag — and honestly, the bike itself — for one of the other cast member's rides.


One might think that the best, most expensive bike on Sons of Anarchy would be reserved for the club's president, in which case one would be wrong. Clay Morrow rode a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide, like Jax. In fact, the Son with the sickest ride isn't even a member of the SAMCRO chapter when we first meet him. That distinction goes to Rane Quinn, introduced as president of the Nomad chapter of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club. And why, we ask, would a Nomad have the best, most expensive bike on the show? The answer is simple: the actor who played Quinn built the bike himself.

Quinn rocked a 2013 custom Hellrazor, built in real life by Illusion Motorsports, the custom cycle shop co-owned by actor Rusty Coones, who plays Quinn on Sons of Anarchy. If that's all starting to make sense, here's a bit more context: Coones is a real-life member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and, according to the OC Register, was at one point president of the San Fernando Valley and Orange County chapters. So, when you know all the details, Quinn having the baddest bike on the show actually makes perfect sense.

Price-wise, reports conflict, but the Hellrazor is valued at $80,000 on the low end, a figure which comes courtesy of the OC Register. According to HotCars, Coones' motorcycle was valued at $90,000. The Hellrazor was the featured item at the inaugural Street Vibrations Motorcycle Auction in 2018, one of 65 lots at the event, the proceeds of which went to charity. According to auctioneer Hudson Stremmel of Stremmel Auctions (via BikeBound), the Hellrazor was expected to fetch more than $100,000 (the winning bid was not disclosed), a sum that almost would have allowed Jax to buy seven of his Harleys.

Thanks to Andrew Jameson.

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Peter Gotti, the brother of the Legendary John Gotti, and Elder Statesman of Gambino Crime Family Has Died in Prison

Mobster Peter Gotti, the brother of notorious Gambino crime boss John Gotti, has died while serving a federal prison sentence, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press Thursday.

Gotti, 81, died of natural causes while incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, said the person, who could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Gotti was sentenced to a 25-year term for his conviction in 2003 on racketeering and other charges alleging he took command of the Gambino Crime Family after his brother was locked up.

He had sought an early release, citing his poor health and his rejection of the gangster life, in an effort to avoid dying in prison. He served more than 17 years behind bars.

John Gotti, who was known as both the “Dapper Don” because of his expensive suits and silvery swept-back hair, and the “Teflon Don” after a series of acquittals, was serving a life term for racketeering and murder when he died of cancer in 2002.

Peter Gotti had been sick for some time, suffering from thyroid problems, and was blind in one eye, said Lewis Kasman, a former mobster and close confidant of John Gotti.

Kasman recalled Peter Gotti, a former sanitation worker, as a “regular knockaround guy who didn’t let his title go to his head.” His kindness, however, made him ill-suited to lead the Gambino crime family, Kasman said. “He was trying to do his brother’s bidding and he had a tough task,” he said. “A lot of the captains were very upset with him because he wasn’t a strong boss. The Lucchese family walked all over him.”

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Details on the arrest of the Emma Corone Aispuro, the Wife of Drug Kingpin Joaquin Guzman Loera #ELCHAPO

The wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera, leader of a Mexican drug trafficking organization known as the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested yesterday in Virginia on charges related to her alleged involvement in international drug trafficking.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, was arrested yesterday at Dulles International Airport. She is scheduled to make her initial appearance in federal court today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia via video conference.

According to court documents, Aispuro is charged with participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana for importation into the U.S. Additionally, Coronel Aispuro is alleged to have conspired with others to assist Guzman in his July 11, 2015 escape from Altiplano prison, located in Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico. After Guzman was re-arrested in Mexico in January 2016, Coronel Aispuro is alleged to have engaged in planning yet another prison escape with others prior to Guzman’s extradition to the U.S. in January 2017.

Guzman Loera was convicted by a jury in the Eastern District of New York in 2019 for his role as a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Cornel Aispuro is charged in a one count criminal complaint with a conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, five kilograms or more of cocaine, 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, and 500 grams or more of methamphetamines for unlawful importation into the U.S.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Assistant Director in Charge Steven D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

Acting Deputy Chief Anthony Nardozzi and Trial Attorney Kate Wagner of the Justice Department’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section are prosecuting the case.

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The Three Daughters of Malcolm X say Letter implicates the FBI and New York City Police Department in his Assassination #ConspiracyTheory #BlackLivesMatter

The three daughters of Malcolm X joined civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to reveal what they say is evidence that proves the NYPD and the FBI conspired to have him assassinated.

The civil rights activist and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam was killed at the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan in February 1965.

The family members and Crump said the allegations were in a deathbed letter by a former police officer, Raymond Wood.

In the January 25, 2011 letter, Wood, who was on duty the day of Malcolm X's death, said he "participated in actions that in hindsight were deplorable and detrimental to the advancement of my own black people."

"Under the direction of my handlers, I was told to encourage leaders and members of the civil rights groups to commit felonious acts," Wood said in the letter.

Wood stated he was coerced by his NYPD supervisors to entice members of Malcolm X's security detail into committing crimes that resulted in their arrest days before the deadly shooting. "It was my assignment to draw the two men into a felonious federal crime so that they could be arrested by the FBI and kept away from managing Malcolm X's door security on February 21, 1965," Wood wrote. "At that time, I was not aware that Malcolm X was the target."

Those arrests were a part of conspiracy between the NYPD and FBI to have Malcolm X killed, according to the letter.

Malcolm X was a human rights activist and prominent Black nationalist leader who served as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam, an African-American Muslim group that embraced Black separatism, during the 1950s and 1960s. A skilled orator, Malcolm X encouraged Black people to fight against racism by any means necessary.

The civil rights leader broke with the Nation of Islam shortly before his assassination at the ballroom, where he was preparing to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted in the shooting.

The office of Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance started reviewing the convictions last year.

After the news conference, Vance's office released a statement saying its "review of this matter is active and ongoing." The NYPD also provided a statement saying it has "provided all available records relevant to that case to the District Attorney" and "remains committed to assist with that review in any way."

Malcolm X's daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz, said she has always had uncertainty in regards to her father's death. "Any evidence that provides greater insight into the truth behind that terrible tragedy should be thoroughly investigated," she said at the news conference.

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Pablo Escobar: My Father

Until now, we believed that everything had been said about the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, the most infamous drug kingpin of all time, but these versions have always been told from the outside, never from the intimacy of his own home.

More than two decades after the full-fledged manhunt finally caught up with the king of cocaine, Juan Pablo Escobar travels to the past to reveal an unabridged version of his father―a man capable of committing the most extreme acts of cruelty while simultaneously professing infinite love for his family.

Pablo Escobar: My Father, is not the story of a child seeking redemption for his father, but a shocking look at the consequences of violence and the overwhelming need for peace and forgiveness.

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Former Operator of Suburban Chicago Strip Club Charged With Underreporting Corporate Income Taxes #IRS

The former operator of a suburban Chicago nightclub has been charged in federal court with assisting in the preparation and submission of false corporate income tax returns for six years.

Alicia Arnold willfully assisted in the preparation and submission of false and fraudulent income tax returns for the calendar years 2012 to 2017 for Arnie’s Idle Hour, the nightclub Arnold operated in Harvey, Ill., according to a criminal information filed Feb. 5, 2021, in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Each of the false tax returns substantially underreported the nightclub’s gross receipts and sales, the information states.

Arnold, 51, of Las Vegas, Nev., and formerly of Homer Glen, Ill., pleaded not guilty today at her arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert. A status hearing was set for March 3, 2021, at 10:30 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso.

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Sam McCann, @mccann_sam, Former Illinois State Senator, Gubernatorial Candidate, Indicted for Alleged Fraudulent Use of Campaign Funds, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion

Sam McCann

A grand jury indicted former Illinois State Senator Sam McCann on charges of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion related to his alleged misuse of campaign money for personal expenses. The indictment alleges that from May 2015 to June 2020, McCann engaged in a scheme to convert more than $200,000 in contributions and donations made to his campaign committees to pay himself and make personal purchases, and that he concealed his fraud from donors, the public, the Illinois State Board of Elections and law enforcement authorities.

The indictment was announced by Central District of Illinois U.S. Attorney John C. Milhiser; FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean M. Cox, Springfield Division; and, IRS Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge David Talcott, St. Louis Field Office.

William Samuel McCann, Jr., 51, of Plainview, Ill., served as a state senator for the 49th District of Illinois from 2011 to 2013, and for the redrawn 50th District from 2013 to January 2019. McCann formed the Conservative Party of Illinois and in 2018, launched an unsuccessful bid for Illinois Governor. McCann previously lived in Carlinville, Ill., and owned and operated two construction related businesses.

McCann organized multiple political committees that were registered with the Illinois State Board of Elections: Sam McCann for Senate; Sam McCann for Senate Committee; McCann for Illinois; and, Conservative Party of Illinois. According to the indictment, from April 2011 to November 2018, McCann and his political committees received more than $5 million in campaign donations.

The indictment alleges multiple instances when McCann used campaign funds to purchase personal vehicles, pay personal debts, make mortgage payments, and pay himself, including the following:

• McCann allegedly used more than $60,000 in campaign funds to partially fund the purchases of a 2017 Ford Expedition in April 2017 and a 2018 Ford F-250 truck in July 2018, which he titled in his own name and used for his personal travel. McCann then used campaign funds for loan payments on the F-250 and for fuel and insurance expenses for both vehicles, while at the same time using campaign funds to reimburse mileage expense claims which he did not incur.
• In April 2018, McCann allegedly used $18,000 in campaign funds to purchase a 2018 recreational travel trailer, and in May 2018, used $25,000 in campaign funds to buy a 2006 recreational motor home, both of which McCann titled in his personal name.
• McCann established an online account with a recreational vehicle rental business in Ohio and listed the vehicles for rent identifying Sam McCann as the owner. McCann then established a second account with the same rental business and identified himself as William McCann, a potential renter, with a different residential address and email than those he listed as the owner. From approximately May 2018 to June 2018, McCann, while representing himself as the renter, William, rented both the travel trailer and motor home from Sam, the owner, through the RV rental business. McCann caused a total of approximately $62,666 in campaign funds be used to pay the rental cost of the vehicles. The rental business retained approximately $9,838 for commission and paid McCann, as the owner, approximately $52,827 by direct deposit to McCann’s personal checking account. McCann reimbursed the campaign accounts $18,000, resulting in more than $77,000 in campaign funds used to buy and rent from himself.
• On or about Oct. 4, 2016, McCann allegedly used a $20,000 cashier’s check funded by a campaign account and issued to himself to pay off a personal loan, including legal fees, that had originally been issued to him as an equipment loan in 2011 and was in collection by the bank due to non-payment.
• From May 2015 to August 2020, McCann allegedly used campaign funds to pay approximately $64,750 on two separate personal mortgage loans that were secured by his former residence in Carlinville and an adjoining property used as an office for his construction business.
• In November 2018, after an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Illinois, when he was no longer a candidate for office and did not financially support any other candidate, and continuing to June 2020, McCann allegedly caused the Conservative Party of Illinois to issue approximately $187,000 in payments to himself personally and an additional $52,282 in payments for payroll taxes. Using a payroll service, McCann was allegedly able to conceal himself as the payee for the expenditures from the campaign account.
• The indictment also alleges that approximately $50,000 in campaign funds were used for personal expenses including Green Dot credit card payments related to a family vacation in Colorado and other personal expenses, charges from Apple iTunes, Amazon, a skeet and trap club, Cabela’s, Scheels, Best Buy, a gun store, and cash withdrawals.

In addition to wire fraud and money laundering, the indictment charges McCann with one count of tax evasion related to his joint return for calendar year 2018. McCann allegedly failed to report income from his 2018 rental payments to himself for the RV trailer and motor home. In addition, in March 2018, McCann used a $10,000 check issued by a campaign account to make a down payment to a Shipman, Ill., business for a motor home. When the purchase was not completed, the business issued a $10,000 refund check payable to William McCann, which he deposited to his personal checking account and failed to report as income received.

McCann is scheduled to appear via telephone conference on Feb. 16, 2021, at 2:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tom Schanzle-Haskins for arraignment.

For the period of the alleged fraud scheme, from May 2015 to June 2020, the estimated loss is more than $200,000. If convicted, the statutory penalty for each count of wire fraud (seven counts) and one count of money laundering is up to 20 years in prison. For tax evasion, the statutory penalty is up to five years in prison.

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A @USMarshalsHQ Deputy Was Shot and the Suspect was Killed by Return Fire #BREAKING

A U.S. Marshals Service deputy was shot and wounded and a suspect was killed Thursday morning while law enforcement officers served an arrest warrant in Baltimore, authorities said.

The suspect was shot by return fire and died after the shooting, which occurred about 6:15 a.m., Baltimore police spokeswoman Lindsey Eldridge said in an email.

The Marshals Service tweeted that the deputy was taken to a Baltimore hospital with serious injuries and was recovering from surgery. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the deputy and his family during this tragic time," the agency said.

The shooting occurred while members of the U.S. Marshals Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force were serving an arrest warrant on a suspect wanted for armed robbery and attempted murder, the Marshals Service said.

No other details were immediately available. The Marshals Service did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking additional information.

"We are gathering more details and will have further updates later," the agency tweeted.

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