Assassin - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-28T21:44:29Z
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“King of the Night” – Profile of Greek crime boss Vassilis Stefanakos
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/king-of-the-night-profile-of-greek-crime-boss-vassilis-stefanakos
2020-02-20T17:37:41.000Z
2020-02-20T17:37:41.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/king-of-the-night-profile-of-greek-crime-boss-vassilis-stefanakos" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149081,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149081?profile=original" /></a>By Milko for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Vassilis Stefanakos (photo above) was born in 1961 in a suburb of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Athens" target="_blank">Athens</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Greece" target="_blank">Greece</a>. He was involved in smuggling oil and cigarettes, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug trafficking</a>, and protection rackets. After the death of his boss at the start of the 21<sup>st</sup> century, he became one of the new leaders of his organization, alongside Aristidis Lakiotis and Ioannis Skaftouros.</p>
<p>It is alleged that Stefanakos ordered the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a> of rival crime boss Themis Kalapotharakos, but he was never convicted. However, in 2006, the law did find him guilty in absentia of assault, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Smuggling" target="_blank">smuggling</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Racketeering" target="_blank">racketeering</a>, and sentenced him to 14,5 years in prison. Thanks to false identities given to him by corrupt police, he managed to evade justice.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-alexandros-angelopoulos" target="_blank"><strong>Greek crime boss "The Greek Escobar" Angelopoulos</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Until January 2008, when he was arrested in the vicinity of his residence in the Athens suburb of Haïdari. Later, he was also sentenced to 21 years behind bars for his involvement in a murder committed by Alket Rizai and for helping Rizai and Vassilis Palaiocostas during a prison break in 2006.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149870,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149870?profile=original" /></a>He was released from prison in August of 2016 thanks to an early release law passed by the Greek government in 2015. He didn’t get to enjoy his freedom for long. On January 17, 2018, Stefanakos was shot dead in Haïdari, Athens. He was 57 years old.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-panagiotis-vlastos" target="_blank"><strong>Greek crime boss Panagiotis Vlastos</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Assassins used at least one AK-47 and police found at least 22 bullet casings at the murder scene. They were waiting for Stefanakos and ambushed him when he exited his home. He wasn’t an easy target because he always moved around in an armored car and with a bodyguard.</p>
<p>As he was about to get into his car, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hitman" target="_blank">hitmen</a> came riding in on a motorcycle. One of the men opened the passenger door and sprayed bullets at the defenseless crime boss.</p>
<p><em><strong>Milko (a pseudonym) is a Dutchman who has studied organized crime in the Netherlands, its history, and its offshoots in foreign countries for over two decades. He is also very knowledgeable about crime in other European countries and is eager to share his information.</strong></em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Profile of Moroccan drug boss Ridouan Taghi - “He who talks, goes. And everyone around him goes to sleep”
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-of-moroccan-drug-boss-ridouan-taghi-he-who-talks-goes-and
2019-12-17T10:00:00.000Z
2019-12-17T10:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-moroccan-drug-boss-ridouan-taghi-he-who-talks-goes-and" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237106866,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237106866?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Some criminal masterminds appear out of nowhere. Ridouan Taghi is that type of gangster. The Moroccan-Dutch drug boss wasn’t known to the public or police until he had already flooded Europe with drugs and littered the streets with bullet-riddled bodies. It wasn't long before he became one of Europe's most wanted fugitives.</p>
<p>Born on December 20, 1977, in Morocco and raised in the small Dutch city of Vianen, Taghi allegedly eased into his role as one of Europe’s biggest narcotics traffickers by inheriting the routes his grandpa used to smuggle hashish from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Morocco" target="_blank">Morocco</a> to Europe. This is vehemently denied by Taghi’s lawyer, however, who says Taghi’s grandfather was a respected mayor until his retirement.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-narcos-profile-of-miguel-angel-felix-gallardo-mexico-s-e" target="_blank">The Real Narcos</a>: Profile of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexico’s “El Padrino” of drug lords</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>If this is how Taghi got his start in the underworld then he was able to keep an extremely low profile for a very long time. The first time his name is mentioned in a police report is in 2015 when authorities bust a hit team which committed murders ordered by organized crime bosses. Taghi was never charged in that investigation.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The Moroccan Keyser Söze</strong></span></p>
<p>Still, he was finally on police’s radar. Not that it helped them build a case, though. Just like the fictional Keyser Söze, Taghi had already vanished without a trace. In 2009 he officially left <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a> to move somewhere abroad. Where? Nobody knows. Police believe he is traveling under several false identities and might be staying anywhere from Mexico and Colombia to Dubai.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-dea-agents-of-narcos-javier-pena-and-steve-murphy-talk-a" target="_blank"><strong>The Real DEA Agents of Narcos Talk Fact & Fiction</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>After 2015, investigators step up their game and with the help of several informants, they are able to paint a more complete picture of Taghi’s personality and career. One turncoat says Taghi gets his <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Panama" target="_blank">Panama</a> and ships it via Morocco into Europe.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237107663,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237107663?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Everyone around him goes to sleep”</strong></span></p>
<p>What stuns investigators most is how much violence Taghi uses to run his organization. Even against his own inner circle. He allegedly had a relative killed in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a> in 2013 due to a disagreement over a drug shipment, one informant tells investigators.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/iran-allegedly-protects-moroccan-dutch-drug-gangsters-it-used-to" target="_blank">Iran allegedly protects Moroccan Dutch gangsters</a> it used to murder its “enemies of the state” abroad</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>By talking about these crimes, the informant earns himself and his family a death sentence as well, he confides in police. “He who talks, goes. And everyone around him goes to sleep,” Taghi allegedly told him.</p>
<p>Six days after his cooperation agreement is made public, an assassin murders the informant’s brother at his legitimate company in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a>. The killer had made an appointment for an internship, but instead shot the man for the life choices of his brother. He was caught on security cameras and arrested shortly thereafter.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Attacking his enemies and the media</strong></span></p>
<p>If the rumors and testimony are to be believed, Taghi is a man who rules by sheer force and terror. Dutch authorities believe he is also behind the attacks on the offices of newspaper <em>De Telegraaf</em> and weekly magazine <em>Panorama</em>, after both outlets published stories about his activities.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237108053,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237108053?profile=original" /></a>More proof of his Taghi’s lust for violence came in 2016 when authorities cracked the Canadian servers of Ennetcom, a company that provided encryption software for mobile phones used by Taghi and members of his organization. The text messages were encrypted with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) but, once decoded, gave investigators an inside look at Taghi’s aggressive leadership style.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Patrón</strong></span></p>
<p>Taghi’s brothers are also part of his criminal enterprise and frequently send texts on his behalf. Taghi is called Pat, short for “Patrón” or boss, by his underlings during these chats about <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a> and mayhem.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/smirking-and-laughing-as-his-victims-died-violent-deaths-profile" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Irish mob hitman “Fat Freddie” Thompson</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>“Pat just told me that he’s gonna pay you guys handsomely, sir,” Taghi’s brother Morad writes to a member of a murder team. “Pat even said that if you do him in broad daylight you will get paid even better. You deserve it. You show more than any of my crews ever did. You’ve got balls and know what you have to do. You work well together. I love it. That’s working.”</p>
<p>After the 2016 killing of Samir Erraghib, who was shot to death in front of his little daughter, Taghi himself writes to one of his underlings: “Serves that son of a bitch right. Giving up information on our group.”</p>
<p>The man agrees, replying: “He’s a first-class snitch.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Mistaken identity</strong></span></p>
<p>Taghi loves murder. Investigators claim he is involved in at least twenty hits in the past few years. But his eagerness causes his hitmen to make fatal errors. On two different occasions in 2017 they murdered the wrong man. One innocent man was shot to death in Utrecht, the Netherlands, while a second man was blasted to death in Marrakech in Morocco.</p>
<p>The Moroccan victim turned out to be the son of a judge and authorities there began a vicious hunt for the killers. They arrested a slew of men. Police in Morocco have a reputation for using torture to get the information they desire and it didn’t take them long to flip one assassin and get him to spill the beans on Taghi and his brothers, who were arrested soon after.</p>
<p>The big boss man, though, remained elusive. In November of 2018, Dutch police offered the highest reward in the country’s history: €100,000 euros for information leading to his capture or the arrest of his second-in-command Said Razzouki. Taghi was also placed on <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Europol" target="_blank">Europol</a>’s list of Most Wanted criminals.</p>
<p>Far away, out of reach from the law, operating in the shadows, he continued to haunt his enemies.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Busted in Dubai</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE - December 17, 2019:</strong></span></p>
<p>Until the night of December 16, 2019. In cooperation with Dutch police, authorities in Dubai had been able to find the elusive crime boss. While Taghi was asleep at his villa in Dubai, where he had been living under a false identity, they raided his residence and placed him under arrest.</p>
<p>After Dutch authorities put up a $100,000 reward for his capture, Taghi had upped the ante as well. After allegedly ordering the murder of the brother of a witness against him, he had already shocked the Netherlands to its core. But in September of this year, he allegedly went even further.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Killing a lawyer</strong></span></p>
<p>A hit team had been following attorney Derk Wiersum's every move for several weeks. Then, on the early morning of September 18, they pounced. The 44-year-old lawyer had just exited his home in Amsterdam when an assassin shot and killed him. The hitman then jumped in a getaway car driven by a second culprit.</p>
<p>Before his murder, Wiersum was working as the attorney of the witness against Taghi. The same witness whose brother had been assassinated. All fingers pointed to the fugitive crime boss. Especially when police began making arrests in the murder case and busted Taghi's 26-year-old cousin Anouar Taghi.</p>
<p>With the big boss himself in handcuffs, we will find out in a court of law whether or not he was the criminal mastermind behind a wave of vicious gangland killings that rocked Europe. More importantly, we will find out if justice will be served. Either way, with Taghi behind bars, a lot of people will sleep a lot better.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Life in prison</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE - February 27, 2024:</strong></span> Moroccan-Dutch crime boss Ridouan Taghi was sentenced to life in prison today in a court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He was found guilty of six murders, four attempted murders, and several murder plots. Full story: <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/moroccan-dutch-crime-boss-ridouan-taghi-gets-life-in-prison">Moroccan-Dutch crime boss Ridouan Taghi gets life in prison</a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
The Real John Wick: Separating fact from fiction in Hollywood’s violent gangster vengeance blockbuster
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-real-john-wick-separating-fact-from-fiction-in-hollywood-s-vi
2019-05-18T08:15:32.000Z
2019-05-18T08:15:32.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-john-wick-separating-fact-from-fiction-in-hollywood-s-vi" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237129492,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237129492?profile=original" /></a></strong>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Is John Wick indestructible? It sure seems so after watching every chapter of the blockbuster movie franchise starring Keanu Reeves as the skilled assassin placed on a universal hit list by the Italian and Russian Mafias, the Chinese Triads, and the Japanese Yakuza. But how realistic is this highly coordinated underworld?</p>
<p>The world of John Wick is one dominated by a shadow government consisting of powerful crime syndicates, merciless hitmen, and a gangland economy based on the business of murder, with parties offering safe haven, weaponry, armory, communications and intel, and a financial system that runs on gold coins. It’s clear to the viewer that this is a world steeped in tradition. Its inhabitants follow ancient rules and those who don’t get killed.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:14pt;">The Real World</span></strong></p>
<p>The real world of organized crime is diverse and ever changing. Each decade new groups and crime bosses rise and fall to disappear forever. Several organizations, however, have managed to survive and hold on to century-old traditions and rituals. These groups can provide us with an answer regarding the realism of John Wick’s underworld.</p>
<p>In the United States, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in" target="_blank">Italian-American Mafia</a>, known as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>, is the organization that comes closest to the all-powerful octopus we see in the John Wick franchise. After its members got rich during <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Prohibition" target="_blank">Prohibition</a>, they were able to infiltrate legitimate businesses and politics at the highest levels.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-narcos-profile-of-miguel-angel-felix-gallardo-mexico-s-e" target="_blank">The Real Narcos</a>: Profile of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexico’s “El Padrino” of drug lords</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>They managed to do so while also bringing structure and a strict hierarchy to their criminal organization. In the 1930s, the various crime clans in New York City officially organized themselves into five separate families, each with its own boss, laying the foundation for the decades to come.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">T<strong>he Commission versus the High Table</strong></span></p>
<p>Making sure all these clans from across the nation would remain safe, the mob formed the Commission, a governing body which settled disputes between various families to ensure no wars would break out between them. As Selwyn Raab wrote in his book <em>Five Families</em>: “The survival of each family and the combined national Mafia overshadowed the needs and safety of the individual Mafioso.”</p>
<p>The Commission in John Wick’s world is known as the High Table, which is comprised of 12 seats, each belonging to a crime clan. Unlike the Commission, the High Table also offers a seat to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> syndicates from other countries. This makes it a global powerhouse, whereas the Commission primarily held sway in the United States.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mU-4_UPDbrw?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>As a governing body, the Commission was used by the Mafia to approve high-level murders and crimes affecting all crime families. Anyone deemed a threat to its safety or sovereignty would meet his or her maker.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Whacking a boss</strong></span></p>
<p>In the film, John Wick is an outlaw, hunted for breaking the rules set by the High Table. He murdered one of its 12 members and thus must pay with his life. Not to mention that he committed murder at The Continental, which functions as a safe haven for traveling assassins. As we settle into our theater seats to watch John Wick 3, our dog-loving hitman must fight a full army of killers out to murder him.</p>
<p>In reality, however, the murder of a member of the Commission never resulted in such harsh penalties. More frequently, the Commission was used by its members as a tool to acquire more power and influence. It’s how bosses like Albert Anastasia and Joseph Bonanno met their demise. One by cold-blooded murder, the other when an intricate power play blew up in his face and saw him stripped of his influence and position and living in exile in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Arizona" target="_blank">Arizona</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-irishman-teamsters-boss-jimmy-hoffa-s-friend-and-the-man-who" target="_blank">The Irishman</a>: Jimmy Hoffa’s friend and the man who put two bullets in the back of his skull</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Also, when families decide to oust their own boss from the inside, the Commission rarely punishes the masterminds. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gotti" target="_blank">John Gotti</a> orchestrated the execution of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino crime family</a> boss Paul Castellano and his underboss Tommy Bilotti, but felt secure knowing he had the backing of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese</a> crime families.</p>
<p>Though he openly broke the founding principles that one was not to murder a boss, the Commission let it slide. Only <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese crime family</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin" target="_blank">Vincent Gigante</a> felt Gotti had gone too far and began plotting his murder without he himself seeking the Commission’s approval. All of this illustrates how power and influence outrank rules and codes.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Snitches get stitches or worse</strong></span></p>
<p>So killing a boss who holds a seat on the Commission is an offence that can be overlooked. No army of mob hitmen will come looking for you. But what about the biggest rule breaker? Which, in the real world of organized crime, is the rule of silence, omerta. It is strictly forbidden to violate this rule. There is to be no snitching. Snitches get stitches. So much so that the rule is universal, from the United States to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sicily" target="_blank">Sicily</a> and from Europe to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Asia" target="_blank">Asia</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131054,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131054?profile=original" /></a>In <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=China" target="_blank">China</a>, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview" target="_blank">Triads</a> have been around for several centuries. Their code and structure are steeped in tradition. New members take oaths on a variety of topics, several of which relate to the code of silence. “I shall not disclose the secrets of the Hung society to my parents, brother or wife,” one such oath begins. “I shall not disclose the secrets for money. I must never reveal Hung society secrets or signs when speaking to outsiders.”</p>
<p>The penalty for breaking one’s oath is clear: “I will be killed by a myriad of swords if I do so.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Slit his throat</strong></span></p>
<p>The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian Mafia</a>, known as the Vory v zakone, also adhere to a strict code when it comes to cooperating – or even dealing – with authorities. One thief who had sold out his comrades was simply given the choice of “by cutting or by hanging” by senior mobsters inside a Russian prison, author Mark Galeotti wrote in his book <em>The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia</em>. One of the bosses then slit the informant’s throat and calmly alerted the guards to accept his own fate.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “For him, I am a god” – Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone" target="_blank"><strong>Russian Mafia boss, and vor v zakone, Razhden Shulaya</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Omerta or burn</strong></span></p>
<p>The Italian Mafia’s loyalty to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Omerta" target="_blank">omerta</a>, the code of silence, is widely known. It is driven home when youngsters show an eagerness to join that lifestyle and reiterated once they join the organization as a made member. During their induction ceremony they hold a burning card of a saint in their hands and are told to obey all the rules set by the organization and its leaders and that if they disobey or break these rules that their “flesh would burn like this saint”.</p>
<p>Those that do break omerta are sentenced to death and spend their lives looking over their shoulders. In Italy, even women and children were harmed when a father, brother or son had decided to become an informant. Though less common, in the United States there have also been instances where female relatives of a snitch were targeted in order to get him to recant his testimony.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Postcards from the Yakuza</strong></span></p>
<p>In <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Japan" target="_blank">Japan</a>, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/yakuza-overview" target="_blank">Yakuza</a> also has a way of dealing with those who break the rules of their organization. “Short of death, the heaviest punishment was expulsion” Alex Dubro and David Kaplan wrote in <em>Yakuza: The Explosive Account of Japan’s Criminal Underworld</em>. “After banishing the transgressor, the [Yakuza boss] notified other [gangs] that the [person] was no longer welcome in his group. By general agreement, the outcast could not then join a rival [clan].”</p>
<p>To make certain other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/yakuza-overview" target="_blank">Yakuza</a> groups don’t let this person into their inner circle, “the gang sends a volley of open-faced postcards via regular mail to the various underworld families. The cards comprise a formal notice of expulsion and ask that the gangs reject any association with the formal member.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/norman-s-cay-from-notorious-cocaine-pipeline-of-the-medellin-cart" target="_blank">Norman’s Cay</a>: From cocaine pipeline of the Medellin Cartel to a fraudulent festival for rich millennials</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Such strict adherence to the code combined with the fact it is spread among other clans is eerily similar to the world of John Wick. Though all the rules are in place to paint a very organized and violent picture, the reality is a lot more chaotic.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Killing rats or making them boss</strong></span></p>
<p>It is undeniable that snitching on organized crime is bad for your health. Especially back in the old days when a hit squad like <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-did-the-infamous-mafia-hit-squad-murder-inc-get-its-name" target="_blank">Murder Inc.</a> roamed the streets and made it its full-time occupation to hunt and kill those who were placed on its list. But for those expecting that the underworld would pull out all the John Wick splendor in its hatred for snitches: You are about to be disappointed.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Willie the Pimp</strong></span></p>
<p>More often than not, the murder of a snitch happens by a combination of pure luck and stupidity. Take the case of “Willie the Pimp” Bioff, a union racketeer who testified against a long line of powerful Chicago mobsters, including bosses Frank Nitti and Paul Ricca. His words earned them a guilty verdict and several years in prison after they had <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-the-chicago-outfit-made" target="_blank">extorted millions of dollars from Hollywood</a>’s biggest movie studios in the 1930s and 40s.</p>
<p>Despite getting a new identity, Bioff decided not to seek new surroundings. Instead of avoiding areas and regions with a heavy Mafia presence, he settled in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/las-vegas-sin-city" target="_blank">Las Vegas</a>. Of all places he decided that Sin City, with its mob casinos and glitter and glamor, was the place to law low and start a new life.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sometimes-the-most-obvious-is-the-best-way-the-kansas-city-mob-an" target="_blank"><strong>The Kansas City Mob and the skimming of Las Vegas casinos</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Known as William Nelson he got himself a job at the Flamingo Hotel and Casino run by his friend Gus Greenbaum, managing workers and trying to help keep their salaries down. Greenbaum had taken over operations at the casino after the murder of the Flamingo’s former manager, crime boss Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.</p>
<p>How they expected to keep this a secret remains a mystery, but despite the lack of Instagram and Facebook it didn’t take long for people to start recognizing the man who ratted out the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Mafia</a>’s leadership.</p>
<p>On November 4, 1955 “Willie the Pimp” got in his car. When he turned the ignition, a bomb ripped his body apart and blew it all over the driveway of his Phoenix home. Three years later, Greenbaum and his wife were found with their throats slashed, bleeding all over the floor of their Phoenix residence.</p>
<p>It’s what you call a typical John Wick ending to a gangster flick.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Sammy the Bull</strong></span></p>
<p>Informants don’t always end up as Hollywood as that though. Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano is probably the most famous rat alive. After turning on his boss, Gambino family leader John Gotti, he made all the front pages and primetime news shows. His testimony got him an extremely lenient sentence and a shot at a new life under the name of Jimmy Moran in sunny Arizona with his family.</p>
<p>But what’s a shot at a new life when you can’t flaunt it in people’s face? Hell, what’s the use of your old life if you can’t use it to impress people? So, the former New York Mafia underboss didn’t try to hide who he was and pretty soon was outed by the press.</p>
<p>When word got back to his old stomping grounds, his former associates were incensed. John Gotti had already made it crystal clear how he felt about his former colleague. “That’s a bill that’s gotta be paid some day, just like every other bill, you know what I mean,” he told his brother Peter in a taped conversation in prison.</p>
<p>Peter Gotti knew what his brother meant and remembered those words when the news of Gravano’s life in Arizona surfaced in the media. With the imprisonment of John and recent legal troubles of John Junior, Peter had become head of the crime family. As such he now had the authority to set in motion the murder machine.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sammy-the-bull-gravano-is-a-free-man-but-more-importantly-a-poste" target="_blank">Sammy the Bull Gravano is a free man</a>, but also a poster boy for the dangers of dealing with gangsters</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In 1999, he ordered Gambino family soldiers Thomas “Huck” Carbonaro and Edward “Cousin Eddie” Garafola to go to Arizona and whack Gravano. He gave them unlimited funds to handle this problem. For over six months, the mobsters surveilled Gravano and scouted for locations to take him out. Carbonaro even began dressing up as an outlaw biker as to not draw attention to himself as a Mafioso, growing a beard and getting tattoos.</p>
<p>All the efforts turned out to be in vain when Gravano was taken down by law enforcement in February of 2000 for his involvement in running a multi-million-dollar <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ecstasy" target="_blank">ecstasy</a> ring with a local youth gang called The Devil Dogs. He was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison and was recently released.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Shrimp Boy</strong></span></p>
<p>Still, though the Mafia didn’t get their guy, they spared no expenses and went hunting, right? Just like in John Wick. Though that is technically true, recent events show that things have changed.</p>
<p>Take the case of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-rat-who-became-king-triad-boss-raymond-chow" target="_blank">Raymond Chow</a>. In the 1970s and 1980s he made a big name for himself in the underworld of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Under the wing of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triad-boss-peter-chong" target="_blank">Triad boss Peter Chong</a>, he had big plans for creating a nationwide criminal organization that was comprised of all Asian Triad gangs. But when it was time to face the music in the 1990s, Chow opted to testify against his former partner-in-crime instead.</p>
<p>Thanks to his testimony, Chow was released from prison in 2003. He claimed he was a reformed man and turned his focus on helping young kids stay away from gangs and crime. To do so he went back to the same streets in San Francisco’s Chinatown. A pretty ballsy move for someone who had snitched. One would expect him to be welcomed by a volley of bullets.</p>
<p>In a John Wick movie, perhaps. But in reality it was Chow doing the firing. Rather than being shunned, his old gang welcomed him back. Apparently, there is no “stop snitchin’” movement in Chinatown. Using their muscle, he even took back his spot atop of the throne by arranging the murder of his successor.</p>
<p>Once again, it came down to authorities to take the snitch down. In 2016, he was sentenced to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/san-francisco-crime-boss-shrimp-boy-chow-gets-two-life-terms-in-p" target="_blank">two life sentences</a> for various racketeering charges.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>My old hometown</strong></span></p>
<p>Though it totally contradicts the mantra of organized crime – as well as many of the gangster movies made in Hollywood – snitches tend to get away quite often nowadays. In 2017, former Genovese family mobster Anthony Arillotta chose to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-family-turncoat-returns-to-old-stomping-grounds-in-s" target="_blank">return to his old stomping grounds</a> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Springfield" target="_blank">Springfield</a>, Massachusetts. After climbing to the top of the city’s mob crew by arranging the 2003 murder of his predecessor, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-hit-how-the-genovese" target="_blank">capo Adolfo Bruno</a>, he left town with his tail between his legs after he became a witness for the government and testified against the Springfield and New York mobsters below and above him. But apparently, that does not mean he needs to keep a low profile or pick a new hometown.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Welcome, Mr. Wick</strong></span></p>
<p>In the world of John Wick there is a highly structured underworld with connections around the world and all particles moving as one. In the real world things don’t work like that. As the Bioff hit illustrates, despite there being a formidable organization, these groups rely on the right people making the right connections. Someone needs to recognize the snitch and communicate it up the chain. And even then, it remains within that chain.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131296,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131296?profile=original" /></a>If a member of the Yakuza is branded as a rat and is blacklisted in Japan, what stops him from setting up shop in the United States? Or other parts of Asia even? There is no global communications hotline that these groups check in on. They rather not communicate about sensitive subjects for fear of authorities listening in.</p>
<p>And if shit does hit the fan, and someone needs to be taken out, most of these groups tend to weigh the pros and cons first. Going hunting or fighting a war costs a lot of money and hinders business. Money is why these groups do what they do. If you make them money, then they tend to overlook stuff like you breaking certain rules. If you cost them money, however, you end up dead quicker than you can ask for the check after a nice dinner.</p>
<p>In the real world of organized crime money comes first. Honor comes second. If honor was placed first, then there is no doubt that a person placed on a hit list would be in a very dire situation and would need all the skills of a John Wick to survive for the end of the film – let alone two sequels.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-showbiz">Showbiz section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Trafficking drugs and dismembering bodies with the Graewe brothers, associates of the Cleveland Mafia
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/trafficking-drugs-and-dismembering-bodies-with-the-graewe-brother
2019-03-21T18:55:56.000Z
2019-03-21T18:55:56.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/trafficking-drugs-and-dismembering-bodies-with-the-graewe-brother" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237122300,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237122300?profile=original" /></a>By Robert Sberna</p>
<p>The recent death of Frederick “Fritz” Graewe (photo above), a feared mob associate in Cleveland, Ohio, shows that it’s possible to live by the sword but not die by the sword. Graewe, 66, seemingly enjoyed a peaceful suburban lifestyle until passing away of natural causes in February. He had been at home since 1992, when he was released from prison after serving 10 years of a 42-year sentence for mob-related activities. </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Making a killing</strong></span></p>
<p>Frederick, along with his brother, Hartmut, were key figures in a $15 million-a-year drug ring during the 1970s and early 1980s. As enforcers for the ring, the Graewes doggedly protected and expanded their high-stakes business. According to law enforcement documents, they were responsible for the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murders</a> of a half-dozen mobster rivals and police informers.</p>
<p>In his post-prison years, Frederick had eschewed crime, turning his attention instead to more mundane pursuits. According to his Cleveland Plain Dealer obituary, he was an artist and he enjoyed hunting, fishing, gardening and spending time with his family. </p>
<p>Despite the tranquility of Frederick’s golden years, it would be difficult to overlook his colorful past.</p>
<p>Frederick and Hartmut (known as “Hans the Surgeon” for his affinity for dismembering his victims) were known as merciless killers, whether in protection of their drug turf or as hired guns. As testament to their skills, efficiency and discretion, the German-born <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Graewes" target="_blank">Graewes</a> were closely associated with both the Italian and Irish mob factions in Cleveland--two groups that were locked in a bitter fight over <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cleveland" target="_blank">Cleveland</a>’s rackets.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>War profiteers</strong></span></p>
<p>From 1976 to 1982, Cleveland’s underworld was in turmoil, trigged by the unexpected death of long-time <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scalish" target="_blank">John Scalish</a>. Because he hadn’t formally named a successor, Scalish left a leadership void that triggered a bloody war between the established Mafia, led by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Licavoli" target="_blank">James “Jack White” Licavoli</a>; and the Irish gang, headed by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Greene" target="_blank">Danny Greene</a>, a cocky former longshoreman.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: </strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-uneasy-accord-of-a-mobster-and-a-cop-in-cleveland-ohio-in-the" target="_blank"><strong>The Uneasy Accord of Mobster Danny Greene and a Cop</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Greene began his career on the docks as a worker and a tenacious labor organizer. Eventually, he muscled his way into the presidency of the local longshoremen’s union. Intensely proud of his Celtic heritage, he wore green jackets, drove a green Cadillac and often handed out green pens to strangers. Shortly after Green was elected longshoremen president, he had the union office painted green and he installed plush green carpeting.</p>
<p>Dozens of underworld figures were killed during the Italian-Irish mob war, oftentimes by car bombing. In fact, the deadly explosions were so prevalent that federal authorities nicknamed Cleveland <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-uneasy-accord-of-a-mobster-and-a-cop-in-cleveland-ohio-in-the" target="_blank">“Bomb City, U.S.A.”</a> in 1976.</p>
<p>The gangland conflict ended on Oct. 6, 1977 when Greene was killed by a car bomb after leaving his dentist’s office. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a>-orchestrated explosion tore Greene’s clothing from his body, except for his brown zip-up boots. According to a police report, his left arm was ripped off and thrown 90 feet from the blast. A gold ring with five green stones remained on his finger.</p>
<p>The brothers Graewe not only survived the Italian-Irish conflict, they thrived—primarily by maintaining neutrality and also by earning millions in profits for their various gangland colleagues. The Graewes’ main criminal enterprises were drug trafficking and freelance killings. At some point, they combined those interests and focused their activities on bumping off drug dealers and stealing their stashes. </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Falling down</strong></span></p>
<p>The Graewes crime spree came to an end in 1982 when they were indicted for murder, narcotics distribution and gambling. Indicted with them were Kevin McTaggart, who was a nephew and lieutenant of Danny Greene; Cleveland Mafia capo Joseph Gallo; and Mafia acting boss Angelo “Big Ange” Lonardo, who financed the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug ring</a>.</p>
<p>At their 1983 federal trial, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Zagaria" target="_blank">Carmen Zagaria</a>, a close associate of the Graewes who had turned government witness, provided chilling testimony about the brothers to the spellbound jury. Zagaria, who coordinated the drug ring and served as an intermediary between the Mafia and the Graewes, noted that the drug operation at one time supplied 40 percent of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> distributed in Cleveland.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-italian-mafia-irish-gangs-chinese-tongs-bootleggers-gamblers" target="_blank">The Italian Mafia, Irish gangs, Chinese Tongs</a>: Welcome to Gangland Boston</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Murders became commonplace for Zagaria and his cohorts. At first, they killed to avenge wrongdoings and to silence suspected rats. Other murders were motivated by greed: If they believed a fellow drug dealer was vulnerable, it’s likely he would be bumped off.</p>
<p>In one situation, Zagaria heard that a competitor named David Hardwicke was trying to sell a kilogram of cocaine in the Cleveland area. At a meeting between Zagaria, the Graewes and McTaggart, the crew decided to steal the kilogram (worth about $40,000 in today’s dollars) and kill Hardwicke. He was lured into a car where Frederick Graewe used a coathanger to strangle him. Hardwicke’s cocaine was sold and the proceeds split among the murder participants. Later, one of Hardwicke’s former drug partners gave Zagaria a $5000 discount on a kilo of cocaine for his service in disposing of Hardwicke.</p>
<p>By 1980, the Graewes and Zagaria had become so emboldened that they were unafraid to rip off and murder their principal drug suppliers—even men who had strong Mafia connections. One of those victims, Florida-based Joseph Giaimo, supplied large amounts of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">marijuana</a>, cocaine and Quaaludes to Zagaria’s crew and other distributors. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/don-king-from-street-thug-to-street-name" target="_blank"><strong>Don King: From street thug to street name?</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p> In early January 1981, they arranged to purchase a ton of marijuana from Giaimo. Runners were sent to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Florida" target="_blank">Florida</a> to pick up the drugs. Two weeks later, Giaimo traveled to Cleveland to get his money. He was instructed to meet Zagaria and the Graewes at Zagaria’s pet fish store on Cleveland’s west side.</p>
<p>At the store, he was shot twice in the back of the head by Frederick Graewe. His body was bricked into a basement wall of the pet store, then later dumped in a quarry pond.</p>
<p>After Giaimo was missing for a week, representatives of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Miami" target="_blank">Miami</a>, New York and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Mafia</a> came to Cleveland to talk to local mob leaders. Because Giaimo was one of the mob’s largest narcotics conduits in the Southern U.S., his disappearance was a serious concern. The out-of-towners also talked to Zagaria, who was able to convince them that Giaimo had not been seen in Cleveland.</p>
<p>The Giaimo rip-off netted $500,000 ($1.5 million in current dollars) for Zagaria, the Graewes, and their associates.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Bring me my surgical tools”</strong></span></p>
<p>At one point in the Graewes’ trial, Zagaria’s testimony brought horrified gasps from the courtroom when he revealed gruesome details of the murder of William Bostic, a mob affiliate.</p>
<p>Bostic, who was suspected of stealing from a gambling operation run by Zagaria and the Graewes, was lured to Zagaria’s pet store in June 1980. He was then shot twice in the head by McTaggart and taken to the store’s basement. Later, Zagaria said he saw Hartmut bending over Bostic’s body.</p>
<p>In testimony recounted by the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, Zagaria said that Hartmut told Frederick to bring him his “surgical tools,” a meat cleaver 18 to 20 inches long and a knife with a 20-inch blade. Hartmut used the cleaver to chop off Bostic’s left hand. He then went upstairs where the other men were gathered and asked, “You guys want to see a turkey? I took off his helmet and gloves” (meaning his head and hands). Hartmut then said, “I learned you can’t chop off a man’s head from the back, you have to flip him over and slit his throat.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mobster-and-brother-of-youngstown-mafia-boss-dies" target="_blank"><strong>Ohio mobster and brother of Youngstown Mafia boss dies</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>While Hartmut joked about being sued for malpractice, the men loaded Bostic’s headless body into the Graewes’ Volkswagen, dubbed the “Ambulance.” Zagaria then testified: “Hans grabbed my hand, stuck it in a bucket (which contained Bostic’s hands) and said, ‘Carmen, why don’t you shake hands with your friend before he leaves.’”</p>
<p>Zagaria recalled that his hand touched one of Bostic’s hands and he quickly drew his own hand out of the bucket. Bostic’s body was dumped in a rural area, and his head and hands were thrown in a swamp.</p>
<p>Several days after Bostic’s murder, his family notified police that he was missing. Police searched Hartmut Graewe’s residence and found a ring and watch worn by Bostic on the last day he was seen.</p>
<p>Two years later, the Graewes and their confederates would be arrested, bringing an end to an immensely profitable criminal enterprise. Frederick is now gone, as is Angelo Lonardo, who died in 2006. In 1985, Lonardo flipped, becoming the first sitting Mafia boss to cooperate with the government. Gallo died in prison in 2013. Harmut Graewe and Kevin McTaggart are serving life sentences, with Graewe in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, and McTaggart in a federal facility in Milan, Michigan. </p>
<p><em><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sberna" target="_blank">Robert Sberna</a> is a Cleveland-based journalist who contributes to several national publications. His first book, House of Horrors: The Shocking True Story of Anthony Sowell, was named 2012 True Crime “Book of the Year” by Foreword Reviews. His most recent book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Badge-387-Simone-Americas-Decorated/dp/1726605639/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=J8M6HWK4QZSYTMGVM50K" target="_blank">Badge 387</a>: The Jim Simone Story, was released in August 2016. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.robertsberna.com" target="_blank">www.robertsberna.com</a><br /> </em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">Organized Crime in North America section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
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Professional hitman wanted by police for murders in three countries
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/professional-hitman-wanted-by-police-for-murders-in-three-countri
2019-02-20T10:44:38.000Z
2019-02-20T10:44:38.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/professional-hitman-wanted-by-police-for-murders-in-three-countri" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115101,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115101?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>False identities, elaborate disguises, and a deadly assassin. No, this isn’t a James Bond or Jason Bourne plot, this is real life. 38-year-old professional hitman Čaba Der is wanted by Dutch authorities for a gangland killing that occurred in July of 2018 and is a suspect in two more slayings across Europe.</p>
<p>Der was placed on the Dutch most wanted list yesterday. To emphasize, authorities added a €20,000-euro reward for information leading to his arrest. He was already wanted by other international agencies. Der was caught on security cameras wearing a disguise while entering a café in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a> on July 30, 2018. Inside, he shot to death a 62-year-old Croatian man before rushing out.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115495,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115495?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237116068,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237116068?profile=original" /></a>Trained and deadly</strong></span></p>
<p>Authorities have established he entered <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a> several weeks before the killing on July 8. On other security cameras, Der can be seen without his disguise. Though small in terms of height, he shows a muscled physique.</p>
<p>Der holds dual citizenship in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Serbia" target="_blank">Serbia</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hungary" target="_blank">Hungary</a> and was released from a Serbian prison in February of 2017 after being convicted of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a> in 2004. Authorities believbe he uses several false identities to travel around the world. Police claim that after the hit in Amsterdam, Der went on to commit two more murders in other European countries. One in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Budapest" target="_blank">Budapest</a>, Hungary, and one in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Belgrade" target="_blank">Belgrade</a>, Serbia. </p>
<p>Perhaps, since then, he has added even more kills to his hitlist. Perhaps, the old man standing behind you in the supermarket, isn’t who he seems. Perhaps, Der is getting ready for another assignment.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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Smirking and laughing as his victims died violent deaths - Profile: Irish mob hitman “Fat Freddie” Thompson
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/smirking-and-laughing-as-his-victims-died-violent-deaths-profile
2018-09-08T11:44:11.000Z
2018-09-08T11:44:11.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/smirking-and-laughing-as-his-victims-died-violent-deaths-profile" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237112072,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237112072?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Irish gangster Frederick “Fat Freddie” Thompson’s name is notorious in and around Dublin, Ireland. As leader of a squad of hitmen he orchestrated countless bloody murders in two gang wars that ravaged not just the Irish city, but Europe’s mainland as well.</p>
<p>Thompson was born in 1980 in South <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Dublin" target="_blank">Dublin</a>. Growing up he had quite the reputation for being aggressive and violent. At age 16, he was convicted for the first time. His crimes centered around the theft of a car. Once, he even drove a car at an Irish cop who was trying to arrest a friend of his.</p>
<p>“Freddie has always been a mouthy type – most big players play a game with gardai, they are polite and businesslike in their dealings but not [him],” one Dublin cop told <a href="https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/crime/freddie-thompson-david-douglas-murder-13167548" target="_blank">The Irish Mirror</a>. “[He] always became aggressive – there’s a famous story of him as a young fella telling guards he was going to be the next John Gilligan [one of Ireland’s most famous crime bosses].”</p>
<p>“He wasn’t just involved in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">killings</a>,” former detective Con Cronin told newspaper <a href="https://www.thesun.ie/news/3063617/freddie-thompson-untouchable-al-cappone-top-cop/" target="_blank">The Sun</a>. “He would often slash drug addicts who owed money and attack people with machetes if they looked at him the wrong way. He was an animal.”</p>
<p>Though police might not have appreciated his behavior, he was welcomed with open arms by those inhabiting Dublin’s underworld. Pretty quickly he moved from stealing cars to dealing <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drugs</a> and making connections to established gangsters like George “The Penguin” Mitchell.</p>
<p>While honing his skills as a teenager, Thompson came into his own as a gang leader by the late 1990s. At that time, Dublin was flooded with drugs and there were untold riches at stake for those with the balls to grab it.</p>
<p>The city’s various gangs fought deadly wars over the spoils of the drug trade and Thompson found himself in the thick of it. He and his gang went to war with Brian “King Rat” Rattigan and his crew after Rattigan stabbed Declan Gavin, one of Thompson’s friends, to death outside a kebab shop in Crumlin, South Dublin, in 2001.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/irish-godfather-eamon-kelly-gunned-down-in-dublin" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Irish mob boss Eamon "The Godfather" Kelly</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Sixteen murders followed as members of the two gangs were gunning for each other. Sources claim Thompson pulled the trigger in at least four of them, including the killings of 18-year-old Joseph Rattigan, who was shot dead in July 2002, and Gary Bryan, an armed robber and suspected hitman, who was shot in front of his girlfriend as he fixed a car in September 2006.</p>
<p>“[Thompson] was seen smirking and laughing in the area shortly after Bryan was killed. That is what he is known for,” a source told <a href="https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/jailed-gangster-fat-freddie-thompson-13179097" target="_blank">The Irish Mirror</a> newspaper.</p>
<p>The dust settled in 2013 when “King Rat” Rattigan was convicted of murder and sent to prison.</p>
<p>With his reputation for murder well-established, Thompson hooked up with the big drug trafficking organizations, mainly the Kinahan cartel led by Christy Kinahan, whose son Daniel is close to Thompson. The Kinahans have close ties to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">drug cartels</a> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mexico" target="_blank">Mexico</a> and are one of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/europe-overview" target="_blank">Europe</a>’s most prolific narcotics trafficking groups.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ufc-champion-conor-mcgregor-s-fascination-with-gangsters" target="_blank"><strong>UFC Champion Conor McGregor's fascination with gangsters</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>His successes fighting a gang war didn’t translate into a successful run as a drug trafficker, however. It was hit and miss. He was arrested in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a> when he arrived to collect a drug shipment and narrowly escaped a prison sentence after the case against him there collapsed.</p>
<p>Daniel Kinahan then brought him to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a>, where he worked as a chauffeur and bodyguard. He was also put in charge of organizing material – cars and guns – and hitmen for assassination plots.</p>
<p>When a feud erupted between Daniel Kinahan and Gary Hutch, the nephew of drug boss Gerry “Monk” Hutch, the two groups went to war and Thompson found himself back at home doing what he did best: Organizing murders.</p>
<p>“Freddie loves the whole killing thing,” one source told <a href="https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/jailed-gangster-fat-freddie-thompson-13179097" target="_blank">The Irish Mirror</a>. “Organizing the cars, guns, shooters: that was his job for nearly 20 years, and he was always in the vicinity of the murders.”</p>
<p>Thompson was indeed all too willing to participate. Especially when rival gunmen targeted his cousins Liam and David Byrne. David was shot dead during a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxing</a> match weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in 2016, an audacious hit that was plastered on the frontpage of many newspapers. Both brothers worked closely with Thompson and the Kinahans and were considered to be amongst the organization’s hierarchy.</p>
<p>The murder of David Byrne caused a fiery rage within the Kinahan cartel as its hitmen went on a killing spree that left thirteen dead. “Thompson was […] the leader of the Kinahan murder squad,” a source told The Irish Mirror. “He never had the balls to pull the trigger himself but instead sat around nearby sniggering and laughing as the attacks were carried out. He enjoyed the murder and enjoyed being part of it – he never thought he would be caught because he was simply the organizer.”</p>
<p>His assumption turned out to be wrong.</p>
<p>On a summer day on July 1, 2016, 55-year-old David Douglas, a former member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=IRA" target="_blank">IRA</a> now working with the Hutch gang, was shot dead when a gunman fired six bullets in his head, chest and arm while Douglas was standing at the entrance of his wife’s business in South Dublin eating a microwaved curry. The man’s teenage daughter was in another room and found her dad lying dead in a pool of his own blood.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/irish-gang-has-its-own-supermarket-with-dope-guns" target="_blank"><strong>Irish gang had its own "supermarket" with dope and guns</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Thompson’s crew had been surveilling Douglas that day and knew his daughter was present but still went ahead with the hit. A few hours later, Thompson and his associates enjoyed a good meal at Little Caesar’s restaurant in Dublin’s city center to celebrate another successful killing operation.</p>
<p>But they hadn’t been as successful as they thought. Irish detectives were able to piece the puzzle together when they found the getaway car used in the murder. Using CCTV footage they were able to pinpoint other cars and the movements of the men involved.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237112654,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237112654?profile=original" width="600" /></a><em>Mugshot of "Fat Freddie" Thompson</em></p>
<p>Once they identified the cars used in the murder plot, they found more evidence, such as fingerprints and DNA samples which placed Thompson in the vehicles used on the day. He was even caught on CCTV driving one of the cars.</p>
<p>Armed with this evidence, authorities finally arrested Thompson in November 2017 when he visited Ireland to meet with other crime leaders. On August 30, 2018, a non-jury Special Criminal Court in Dublin found him guilty of Douglas’ murder – stating that though he himself did not pull the trigger he was directly involved as the leader of the operation - and sentenced him to life in prison.</p>
<p>As he heard the verdict, Thompson smirked and rolled his eyes, just as he had done after committing many of his most heinous crimes.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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British career criminal shot in head and left for dead in Amsterdam
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/british-career-criminal-shot-in-head-and-left-for-dead-in-amsterd
2018-05-21T16:00:00.000Z
2018-05-21T16:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/british-career-criminal-shot-in-head-and-left-for-dead-in-amsterd" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237106478,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237106478?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>A British career criminal was shot in the head and left for dead on the streets of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a>, the Netherlands, on Saturday night. 55-year-old Allan P. (his last name has not been released by Dutch authorities) was seriously injured and is currently in the hospital.</p>
<p>The attempted hit occurred around 23:30 p.m. While P. was walking on the Stromarkt, an unknown assassin wearing a dark sweater with a hoody <a href="https://www.parool.nl/amsterdam/slachtoffer-schietpartij-stromarkt-is-brits-amsterdamse-crimineel~a4598609/" target="_blank">aimed a gun</a> at his head and fired one bullet. P. then crumpled to the ground where he was found in a pool of his own blood by passersby.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangster-turned-cage-fighter-lee-murray" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Gangster-turned-MMA fighter Lee Murray</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Though a British citizen, P. has resided in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a> since 1979 and has had frequent run ins with law enforcement. He was convicted of several drug and gun offenses and spent two months in prison after showing a fake South African passport to a Dutch police officer.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/british-secret-agents-have-a-license-to-commit-crime" target="_blank"><strong>British secret agents have a license to commit crime</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>In 2015, he was charged in the notorious case targeting One2Spy, a shop in Amsterdam where one could buy hidden cameras, bugs, GPS-tracers, encrypted mobile phones and the like. In this case “the like” also meant guns. P. was charged with showing a firearm to two British undercover agents who were investigating the spy shop. He was acquitted in court after prosecutors were unable to prove the gun functioned properly.</p>
<p>It is unknown why he was the target of a hit and police are still searching for the gunman.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
The Blood Life: How robbery led to double homicide earning two United Blood Nation leaders life in prison
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-blood-life-how-robbery-led-to-double-homicide-earning-two-uni
2018-05-18T08:28:16.000Z
2018-05-18T08:28:16.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-blood-life-how-robbery-led-to-double-homicide-earning-two-uni" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237111079,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237111079?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>It was to be a simple robbery. When three members of the United Blood Nation robbed The Mattress Warehouse in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 25, 2014, it was just another day at the office. But things escalated quickly once law enforcement picked up a scent.</p>
<p>The trail led them to Jamell “Assassin” Cureton (photo above, left), Nana “Ratchet” Adoma, and David “Flames” Fudge. All three are members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=UBN" target="_blank">United Blood Nation</a>, a nationwide criminal organization with a strong hierarchy and strict code. Once the three <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bloods" target="_blank">Bloods</a> gangsters were charged in connection with that robbery, they began using the group’s long reach and ability to use deadly force to silence opponents.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/united-blood-nation-godfather-says-he-is-part-of-the-last-ones-th" target="_blank">United Blood Nation Godfather</a> says he is part of the last ones that God put in power</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>As a 5-Star General in the gang, Cureton, especially, held enough sway to set in motion a violent plot. According to court records, Cureton and other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bloods" target="_blank">Bloods</a> gang members discussed that Mattress Warehouse owner Douglas London was the only eye witness that could identify Cureton. As such they saw no other option than to kill him.</p>
<p>Over the next months, the gangsters exchanged correspondence and conducted numerous in-person and telephonic meetings, during which they discussed and planned the murder of London. The gang picked Malcolm Jarrel Hartley, who goes by the nickname “Silent,” as the hitman. On October 23, 2014, he was driven to South Carolina, where he shot and killed not just Douglas London, but also his wife who was at home as well.</p>
<p>Collateral damage, Cureton would later call her death.</p>
<p>Upon returning to Charlotte, Hartley (photo above, right) stopped at the house of Rahkeem “Hitman” McDonald, another Blood, to dispose of the gun. Afterwards, Hartley returned to his apartment, where he met with other gang members to celebrate the couple’s murders. </p>
<p>After successfully carrying out the gang leadership’s orders, Hartley was “ranked up” or promoted to a 2-Star General. Shortly after the murders, Cureton ordered the gang to remain silent about the Londons’ murders and authorized action against any person who talked about it. During a telephone gang meeting with other United Blood Nation members, Ibn Rashaan Kornegay also directed them to lay low to avoid contact with law enforcement.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/american-gangster-myth" target="_blank">American Gangster Myth</a>: The True Story Behind Frank Lucas</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Over the course of the investigation into The Mattress Store robbery and the Londons’ murders, authorities determined that Cureton, Adoma, and Ahkeem “Lil Keem” McDonald were responsible for the August 2013 murder of Kwamne Clyburn, who was killed for “false claiming.” He falsely claimed to be a Bloods member and subsequently failed a “DNA check,” meaning the gang members could not verify Clyburn’s claim to be a Blood.</p>
<p>For their roles in this organized orgy of violence and death, a jury found some of those charged guilty, while others had already pleaded guilty. A judge then handed down heavy sentences. Adoma was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and 25 years in prison, Akheem McDonald is to serve two consecutive life sentences, Jamell Lamon Cureton, Malcolm Jarrel Hartley and Rahkeem Lee McDonald were each sentenced to life in prison, David Lee Fudge was sentenced to 26 years, and Ibn Rashaan Kornegay was sentenced to 23 years.</p>
<p>“Jamell Cureton and Malcolm Hartley are violent and ruthless men who used their gang affiliations to commit heinous crimes against innocent victims,” John Strong, the Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a>, told reporters. “Due to the incredible cooperation and coordination between the FBI and our local law enforcement partners, they had no choice except to admit their crimes and accept their fate to spend the rest of their lives in federal prison.”</p>
<p>Despite the long prison sentences, one can be certain that all the men involved have already been replaced by the United Blood Nation. With a vast pool of disgruntled youngsters growing up in poverty surrounded by drugs and violence and lacking options, groups like the Bloods will never have a shortage of willing soldiers.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">Street Gangs section</a> or <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime" target="_blank">Black organized crime</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
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Blacklisted: Albanian mob boss Naser Kelmendi built a criminal business empire on white heroin and ecstasy
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/blacklisted-albanian-mob-boss-naser-kelmendi-built-a-criminal-bus
2018-02-03T15:33:39.000Z
2018-02-03T15:33:39.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/blacklisted-albanian-mob-boss-naser-kelmendi-built-a-criminal-bus" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237098093,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237098093?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Authorities have Naser Kelmendi’s number. The United States government blacklisted him under the Kingpin Act in 2012 because, it claims, he heads a crime family responsible for trafficking drugs through Afghanistan to Turkey and into Europe. Still, moving throughout Eastern Europe, Kelmendi proved an elusive target as he expanded his Mafia empire in the Balkans.</p>
<p>Born on February 15, 1957, in Peja, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Kosovo" target="_blank">Kosovo</a>, Kelmendi, an ethnic Albanian, is alleged to be running one of the most powerful crime families in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Balkans" target="_blank">Balkans</a>, a region that stretches from the Serbian-Bulgarian border to the Black Sea and is known for its ancient smuggling routes. He began his career in Sarajevo in the early 1990s and would later use his sons Elvis, Liridon, and Besnik as loyal henchmen.</p>
<p>According to Bosnia's State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and Interpol records, he runs a large criminal network that is involved in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking" target="_blank">loan sharking</a> and lots of smuggling through the Balkans, trafficking <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a>, weapons, and cigarettes from countries like <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Afghanistan" target="_blank">Afghanistan</a> and Turkey into <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/europe-overview" target="_blank">Europe</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-turkish-drug-boss-cetin-goren" target="_blank">Profile of Turkish drug boss Cetin Gören</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>His ill-gotten gains were invested in countless legitimate businesses. He owns hotels, a trucking business. You can buy a lot of property when you traffic narcotics across Europe. Authorities say that from at least 2000 through 2012, Kelmendi, as the head of his mob clan “managed and directed the purchase, preparation, transport, sale and distribution, of large amounts of heroin, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ecstasy" target="_blank">ecstasy</a>, speed, and other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drugs</a>, as well as drug precursors such as acetic anhydride acid, through a well-established organized criminal network.”</p>
<p>His network included someone who worked as a drug manager and mixer, a person who was a manager directing shipments between <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Turkey" target="_blank">Turkey</a>, the Balkan region, and the Netherlands, and an individual who was a distributor in Serbia. All three would later turn against Kelmendi and testify about the crimes they committed on his orders. </p>
<p>Before that happened, they worked alongside Kelmendi’s son Liridon, who was a distribution manager of drugs to Serbia and other European countries, Mehanovic Haris, who functioned as driver and bodyguard, Sead Akelic was another driver, Zeljko Bozic was an auto mechanic who created hidden car compartments for narcotics, Hakija Krlic and Ilijier Jastrati were the group’s contacts in Turkey, and Asmir Kalac coordinated drug shipments.</p>
<p>Much of the smuggling was done using hidden car compartments such as specially modified chambers in gas tanks, hollowed-out furniture, false bottom trucks, hidden in fruits or in clothing, and by using a variety of other methods.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/albanian-organized-crime-gangs-are-taking-increasing-control-over" target="_blank">Albanian gangs taking increasing control over Europe's drug markets</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Through well-coordinated drug trafficking routes, large shipments of ecstasy pills were picked up in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a> and transported to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, where they were repackaged and transported onwards to the city of Istanbul in Turkey where the ecstasy was exchanged for heroin and other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drugs</a>. The drugs received in Istanbul were then transported back through Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and then delivered and sold to dealers and distributors throughout Europe.</p>
<p>As his success grew so did the stature of his connections. He is alleged to have close ties to some of Kosovo's leading politicians and several powerful businessmen, including Fahrudin Radoncic, who owns Bosnia's largest newspaper.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237098858,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237098858?profile=original" width="600" /></a>At that point, a simple mob boss turns into something much more dangerous: A player in the world of global business and politics. It is no wonder then that the United States Department of Treasury added Kelmendi (photo above) to its Kingpin list in 2012.</p>
<p>Shortly thereafter, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a warrant for Kelmendi’s arrest. The indictment charged him with drug trafficking and the 2007 murder of Bosnian crime boss Ramiz “Celo” Delalic, who was beefing with Kelmendi and other members of the nation’s underworld.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-alexandros-angelopoulos" target="_blank">Profile of Greek crime boss Alexandros Angelopoulos</a>, nicknamed "The Greek Escobar"</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Delalic was a Bosnian Muslim warlord who started a career in organized crime after the wars in the Balkans. Prosecutors say Delalic was interfering with Kelmendi’s international drug trafficking operations in Sarajevo and throughout the region by giving Bosnian law enforcement authorities information about Kelmendi’s criminal activities. Kelmendi also held Delalic responsible for the murder of close associate Sever Lekic.</p>
<p>If that wasn’t enough, Delalic allegedly used old war resentments and events to publicly discredit other crime groups, led by gangsters of other ethnicities such as the one led by Darko Elez. Despite all the ethnic tensions and violence during the Balkan wars, the areas mob clans always managed to function. War is bad for business and, business, is what everyone is there for. With Delalic trying to stir up old beefs based on ethnicity, everyone agreed he had to be eliminated.</p>
<p>According to the indictment, in 2006 Kelmendi hired two notorious Serbian hitmen, Strahinja Raseta and Nebojsa Vukomanovic, to murder Delalic. He and several other crime figures paid them €100,000 euro. To make sure things went according to plan, Kelmendi personally travelled to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Serbia" target="_blank">Serbia</a> to hand over the money to a middle-man who was to forward it to the assassins once the job had been completed.</p>
<p>It was almost certain the execution would go according to plan. How could it not? Raseta and Vukomanovic were stone-cold killers and part of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Raseta" target="_blank">Raseta crime family</a>. They belonged to a crew led by Milan “Sandokan” Ostojic operating out of the town of Sabac in Serbia. Murdering people was their core business, informants told police. Raseta usually was the man who pulled the trigger, with Vukamanovic close by assisting when necessarily. Ostojic would take requests and hand out the assignments.</p>
<p>Experienced and cold blooded, the men fulfilled their contractual obligations. On a summer night in June 2007, at around 23:30, Raseta fired 27 bullets into Delalic with his Heckler & Koch. To make sure, he walked over and fired several more bullets into the fallen crime boss’ head.</p>
<p>It took several years, but in late 2012 authorities had hit Kelmendi with charges that he was behind this brutal gangland slaying. They had him. Of course, with an influential man like Kelmendi things are never that easy.</p>
<p>When authorities went looking for him, they found out their target had already fled the country. They issued an international arrest warrant, which resulted in the capture of Kelmendi on May 6, 2013, by police in Pristina, Kosovo. Because the two countries don’t have an extradition agreement, however, Kelmendi was out on the streets the next day. Yet another warrant was issued, this time finally leading to Kelmendi’s imprisonment while awaiting his trial.</p>
<p>The 61-year-old mob boss strenuously denied all charges against him. In court he found people who believed him. They acquitted him of organized crime and murder charges. Still, they found him guilty of narcotics trafficking. How could they not, seeing the mountain of evidence? On Thursday February 1, 2018, he was sentenced to 6 years in a Kosovar prison.</p>
<p>It is highly doubtful that his story ends here.</p>
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The two sides of New York mob boss Joe Colombo and how his murder remains unsolved for over forty years
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-two-sides-of-new-york-mob-boss-joe-colombo-and-how-his-murder
2017-03-11T12:07:50.000Z
2017-03-11T12:07:50.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-two-sides-of-new-york-mob-boss-joe-colombo-and-how-his-murder" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237081270,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237081270?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The 1971 hit on New York Mafia boss Joseph Colombo – in public at the second Italian Unity Day rally - was one of the most infamous of its kind. Though the hitman was killed on the scene, questions remained. Four decades later, Colombo’s son Anthony reached a point where he didn’t want to keep the story in anymore. In his book <em><a href="http://amzn.to/2jArVEK" target="_blank">Colombo: The Unsolved Murder</a></em>, he and author Don Capria detail Colombo’s rise in the mob and the conspiracy that led to his death.</p>
<p>As leader of the troubled <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo crime family</a> he had plenty of men gunning for his life, but no one expected the attack to go down the way it did. The shooting that brought down Colombo did not occur in some back alley or basement. When assassin Jerome Johnson fired several bullets at Colombo it happened in full view of the public and members of law enforcement.</p>
<p>Why Johnson did what he did remains unknown – he was shot to death at the scene of the crime - as is the person who ordered the murder. Though there is no shortage of conspiracy theories. Countless newspapers and books have covered the assassination, with each offering its own twist to the conspiracy story.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237081475,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237081475?profile=original" width="550" /></a><em>Joseph Colombo, on one knee, with Anthony standing ahead of him.</em></p>
<p>Most of these accounts, however, were so far off the mark that they agitated one man who was present when the whole thing went down. That man was Joseph Colombo’s son Anthony, who himself allegedly followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a captain in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">crime family</a> that bears his name, and walked next to his dad in the years leading up to his death.</p>
<p>“After 40 years, Anthony had reached a point where he didn’t want to keep the story in anymore,” Don Capria, who co-authored the <a href="http://amzn.to/2jArVEK" target="_blank">book</a> with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/anthony-colombo-son-of-mafia-boss-dead-at-71" target="_blank">Anthony Colombo</a>, tells Gangsters Inc. When that moment arrived, Capria was there to offer a helping hand.</p>
<p>“I think Anthony had many reasons to get this story told, but the one that he was most vocal about was the false stories that came out about the shooting of his father,” Capria says. “Anthony knew information that did not match up to what the press printed.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/this-is-for-you-frank-profile-of-mafia-boss-frank-costello" target="_blank">Profile of Genovese family boss Frank Costello</a>, The Prime Minister of the Underworld</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>A mutual friend set up a meet on Sunday at a diner in Upstate New York. Capria: “I took the drive up and met with Anthony, his son, and a few close friends of the family. We ate breakfast and he was asking what I knew about his father and why I wanted to write the story. I think I came pretty prepared and I know I left with him interested in another meet.”</p>
<p>Besides meeting Colombo at the right time in his life, Capria also thinks he and Anthony had an immediate connection. “I think there is a level of immediate trust he had for me and as we talked more during the interviews that trust built more and more.”</p>
<p>For the next few months, Capria and Colombo would meet at the Mafia son’s house four days a week. “We began with a lot of the story from Anthony’s perspective,” Capria explains. “We would go over everything from his childhood to his father’s and ancestry. After I had the bulk of that story archived I researched dates and events in the news media and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NYPD" target="_blank">NYPD</a> files.”</p>
<p>For several years, Capria devoted most of his time and effort to this book. “It was the most difficult, interesting, satisfying and intriguing project I ever worked on,” he says. “It challenged me every day for two and a half years and still does today.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237082452,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237082452?profile=original" width="500" /></a><em>Author Don Capria</em></p>
<p>While researching, Capria went through each and every true crime book that covered Colombo’s shooting. He was astounded by the amount of writers who rehashed the popular belief behind the murder conspiracy. “It was like authors were writing the same passage but dressing it up with different adjectives and verbs. Once I started digging and investigating it was easy for me to see the popular belief is actually the most unlikely story,” he says.</p>
<p>The story he is referring to is the one that says Jerome Johnson was hired by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-rebel-crazy-joey-gallo" target="_blank">Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo</a> and his crew to whack Colombo. The Gallos had waged war on Colombo’s predecessor, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-original-new-york-mafia-family-boss-giuseppe-profaci" target="_blank">Joseph Profaci</a>, and continued their fight against the established powers when “Crazy Joe” was released from prison. Inside, Gallo had allegedly made connections with black inmates, setting up what some reports called a “Sixth Mafia Family” made up out of members of all ethnicities. This, sources claimed, would explain Gallo’s use of Johnson as a hitman.</p>
<p>Capria is having none of it. And neither was Anthony Colombo.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237080065,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237080065?profile=original" width="520" /></a><em>Anthony Colombo</em></p>
<p>What makes the conspiracy behind Joseph Colombo’s murder such a difficult puzzle to solve is the fact that this man wore so many hats. He headed one of the country’s most powerful <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> families, involved in everything from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> to labor racketeering, while also founding and leading the Italian-American Civil Rights League, which stood up for Italian-Americans’ civil rights.</p>
<p>Colombo was not just a simple mob boss, he had become much more. He was of a different breed than most of the crime leaders of today. Capria agrees with that assessment, adding: “I think the era itself bred different men and leaders.”</p>
<p>He then continues with an anecdote that fits perfectly. Capria: “I was interviewing Al Ruddy, producer of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Godfather" target="_blank">The Godfather</a> film, and he told me a story about an FBI agent that would check in on him from time to time after they met in 1971. After Joe Colombo’s death, Ruddy spoke the agent again. When asked about his relationship with Joe, Ruddy said that he enjoyed the brief time and would have liked to have gotten to know him better. In describing the difference between these two eras of organized crime, the agent said to Ruddy, ‘You lived through the salad days of organized crime. These were business men that had certain codes they lived by. They are not like the halfwits that are out there today, murdering everyone.’ He told Ruddy ‘You saw the best of those guys.’” </p>
<p>His son Anthony showed he had inherited his father’s intelligence, Capria tells us. “His knowledge of Italian-American history surprised me. Anthony was a very smart man when it came to civil rights studies and especially those from the plight of the Italian-American immigrant.”</p>
<p>It was Joseph Colombo’s work as a civil rights leader that brought him in even greater conflict with the FBI than he already was. By the 1960, the Feds had increased their surveillance and, Colombo and other mobsters said, harassment of suspected members of the Mafia.</p>
<p>“The FBI was breaking the law to stop men from breaking the law,” Capria explains. “This is why Joe was so obsessed with bringing their wrongs to light. He felt there should be a standard that law enforcement is held to and they should not attack or harass innocent people to catch criminals.”</p>
<p>By bringing to light the FBI’s harsh – some would say illegal – tactics, Colombo placed himself on the Bureau’s list of top targets. While some might read this target list as one filled with criminal to arrest, Anthony Colombo and Don Capria read it simply as a hit list, one filled with enemies of the FBI that needed to disappear. Chief among them Joe Colombo.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-fbi-s-secret-thirty-year-relationship-with-a-mafia-killer" target="_blank">The FBI's secret 30-year relationship with a Mafia killer</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In their book <em><a href="http://amzn.to/2jArVEK" target="_blank">Colombo: The Unsolved Murder</a></em>, Colombo and Capria extensively detail the theories behind the murder conspiracy. While Anthony gives insight into his father’s – and grandfather’s – life in and outside the Mafia, Capria delves into the archives and details the facts that accompany the story. Still, he did not manage to produce a smoking gun, a theory to end all theories.</p>
<p>“I don’t think this project will ever be complete for me,” he says. “I think opening up this cold case file and not finding concrete evidence on who was behind Joe's shooting has left me feeling a lack of closure in my life.”</p>
<p>That is not to say he is uncertain about who was behind the hit. “I have to go with the most powerful boss and gang in the country at that time. That would be J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI,” he says.</p>
<p>What is left are the lessons we can learn from a decade-old story. The primary lesson is simple, Capria tells us. “Power to the people,” he says with a smile. “Colombo showed that organizing small and large groups and protesting a specific problem can make a great difference. He also used the power of boycott. He used Italian Unity Day as a major example of that. They told business to close down, and those that didn’t support the strike were told: ‘If you do not support the Italian-American community today, do not ask them to support you every other.’ This was a power we do not use today. Americans have no standards and communities are so far segregated they do not support each other.”</p>
<p>With the <a href="http://amzn.to/2jArVEK" target="_blank">book</a> in stores near you, Capria now has his eyes set on turning his writings into a motion picture or television series. “We hope someone in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-showbiz" target="_blank">Hollywood</a> reads this story,” he tells. “It has all the elements of an epic crime tale. We are working on getting the documentary side of this story built first and hopefully that will lead to a major motion picture or TV series.”</p>
<p>If it does make it to the silver screen, it will do so without <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/anthony-colombo-son-of-mafia-boss-dead-at-71" target="_blank">Anthony Colombo</a>, who passed away of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/anthony-colombo-son-of-mafia-boss-dead-at-71" target="_blank">natural causes</a> at the beginning of this year. He was 71.</p>
<p>“He was a great friend,” Capria says. “We continued to speak on a weekly basis for years after the book was completed. He is on my mind daily and will be missed dearly. They don’t make men like Anthony anymore.”</p>
<p><strong>You can buy <em><a href="http://amzn.to/2jArVEK" target="_blank">Colombo: The Unsolved Murder</a></em> at <a href="http://amzn.to/2jArVEK" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a> and book stores near you.</strong></p>
<p><em>Photo credits: Photos of Don Capria and Anthony Colombo are by Estevan Oriol, cover photo is by Bob D’Alssandro, Joe on car with Anthony is by Corbis Images. Photos courtesy of Unity Press.</em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Profile: Camorra boss Pasquale Scotti
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-camorra-boss-pasquale-scotti
2015-05-27T19:00:00.000Z
2015-05-27T19:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-camorra-boss-pasquale-scotti"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237052263,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237052263?profile=original" width="540" /></a></p>
<p>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Francisco de Castro Visconti seemed like the perfect example of an upstanding hardworking citizen. A resident of the tropical city of Recife on the north-eastern coast of Brazil, he ran a nightclub and food import business and was happily married with two beautiful kids.</p>
<p>Yet, he never really existed. Francisco de Castro Visconti was just an identity used by Camorra hitman Pasquale Scotti (photo above.) During his 31 years as a fugitive, Scotti established a new life in Brazil while a bloody war raged through Naples.</p>
<p>To manage to not only evade justice for almost 31 years, but to also set up a brand new life – complete with voting rights and successful businesses – is evidence of Scotti’s street smarts and savvy, behavior he first displayed back in the 1980s as a hitman for Raffaele Cutolo, boss of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO) or “New” Camorra Organization.</p>
<p>Though the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a> had been active in the Campania region of Italy for decades earlier, Cutolo felt it had deviated from its origins and needed a return to its old ways. While in prison, he began recruiting young inmates into his organization. Once a member, the NCO took care of you and your family, in a good way. If you were sent to prison – again – the NCO would make regular payments to your relatives.</p>
<p>Cutolo’s leadership and power inside prison and his organization’s control outside it guaranteed a quick growth of the NCO, something the other, traditional, Camorra clans eyed with extreme suspicion.</p>
<p>As the NCO grew in numbers and strength, it became bold enough to make its move. In 1979, Cutolo demanded a cut from traditional Camorra boss Luigi Vollaro’s illegal gambling centers and lottery in Portici. Vollaro sought help from the more powerful Giuliano clan – which he got. A squad of assassins was assembled resulting in dozens of gangland murders related to this dispute that year.</p>
<p>After NCO members shot and wounded clan leader Luigi Giuliano on Christmas Eve 1980, the traditional Camorra clans came together in one major alliance called the Nuova Famiglia (NF) or New Family.</p>
<p>In the ensuing war mobsters of both groups were killed, bombs were detonated, and bookmakers offered Neapolitans bets on whether the murder rate would go up or down. It peaked in 1982 when 264 people lost their lives in the carnage.</p>
<p>It was during this time that Pasquale Scotti made his mark as a capable hitman - authorities suspect Scotti’s involvement in more than two dozen murders. He was one of Raffaele Cutolo’s most feared assassins and also one of his most loyal friends. He commanded Cutolo’s military wing.</p>
<p>The hostilities between the NCO and NF ended after authorities cracked down hard on the warring groups. In 1983, during several “maxi blitzes,” hundreds of Camorristi were arrested and sent to prison. Cutolo was moved to a maximum security prison on an island near Sardinia to prevent him from communicating with his underlings.</p>
<p>After Cutolo’s move to a maximum security prison, Scotti tried to reorganize the ranks of the NCO. But within a short time he too was arrested. On December 17, 1983, after a bloody shootout with police in which he was wounded, Scotti was brought in. After his arrest, he played an extremely dangerous game when he told authorities he wanted to cooperate and become a “<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">pentito</a>,” <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">turncoat</a>. It was a ruse. While at a hospital in Caserta to receive treatment for the injuries sustained in the gunfight with police, he escaped and disappeared for the next three decades.</p>
<p>He was like a ghost. His presence was reported in Lombardy and various countries in Eastern Europe and South America. Renato Natale, the anti-mafia mayor of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-casalesi-clan-of-the">Casal di Principe</a>, told <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/26/italian-mafia-boss-pasquale-scotti-arrested-brazil" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> newspaper: “In the early 1980s [Scotti] was a big fish, but after that, when he became a fugitive, no one heard of him anymore.” There were rumors he had died, was murdered or had switched to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-overview">‘Ndrangheta</a>. An international warrant for his arrest was issued in 1990 and he was also placed on Italy’s most wanted list.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237052290,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237052290?profile=original" width="272" /></a>By then he had already been living in Brazil for four years. He settled in Recife, a city (right) surrounded by tropical rainforests and sunny beaches. In 1995, he married his Brazilian wife with whom he has two sons. They lived in the Recife’s Sancho district.</p>
<p>Ten years later, back in Italy, Scotti received a life sentence in absentia for 26 murders.</p>
<p>Despite his seemingly permanent disappearance, Italian authorities never quit looking for him. Some Italian media are saying police received information about his current whereabouts from pentiti, turncoat mobsters. Whether this information is true has yet to be confirmed.</p>
<p>What is true, however, is that the law was on to him. Yesterday, after 56-year-old Scotti - or Francisco de Castro Visconti - dropped off his two sons at school, four police officers swooped in and placed him under arrest.</p>
<p>At first he denied being the NCO hitman and loyal henchman of Cutolo, but then surrendered saying, “It's me, you've got me. Pasquale Scotti no longer exists, he died in the eighties.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237052692,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237052692?profile=original" width="300" /></a>Perhaps he did. Maybe he buried his old self much like Viggo Mortensen’s character in the 2005 film A History of Violence. But there is no denying he once was that person. A man who committed horrendous crimes. You can’t run from your past.</p>
<p>Of which his new family apparently knew nothing. “He told us in a statement that his family was not aware of anything,” said Giovani Santoro, the communications officer of the Pernambuco federal police force.</p>
<p>Scotti could be protecting his family from prosecution, but he is probably telling the truth. Not telling his new wife about his past was the smart thing to do. It’s one of the reasons he stayed hidden for so long.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for him, he now faces justice in Italy. As a member of the New Camorra Organization he is going back to the place where the seed of his organization was planted. In a small concrete room with bars. No doubt he’ll see a lot of old faces he hasn’t seen in a long time.</p>
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