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2024-03-28T20:21:08Z
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IN PICTURES: Scampia neighborhood made famous by TV series Gomorra to be demolished
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/in-pictures-scampia-neighborhood-made-famous-by-tv-series-gomorra
2020-02-22T12:53:54.000Z
2020-02-22T12:53:54.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/in-pictures-scampia-neighborhood-made-famous-by-tv-series-gomorra" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149673?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>The Sails of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scampia" target="_blank">Scampia</a> (<em>Vele di Scampia</em>) in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Naples" target="_blank">Naples</a>, Italy, are coming down. Demolition of three of the buildings that have become the epitome of poverty and crime began on Thursday. The Scampia neighborhood is dominated by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra" target="_blank">Camorra</a> and is one of the biggest <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug</a> markets in Italy. Then, in its final years, it became famous thanks to the critically acclaimed hit tv show <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gomorra" target="_blank">Gomorra</a>.</p>
<p>Created by architect Francesco di Salvo and built in the 1960s up until 1980, they had planned a bright future for “le Vele” like city builders had done for so many other affordable urban housing projects around the world. Likewise, the plans never quite came to fruition in Scampia either. Rampant corruption and an influx of poor squatters made the buildings a perfect breeding ground for <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime" target="_blank">organized crime</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237150290,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237150290?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Camorra clans fight over Scampia</strong></span></p>
<p>In Scampia, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Camorra</a> boss Paolo di Lauro ruled supreme. His troops moved tons of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> through “le Vele” and made untold millions, while the place continued to break down. Despite its squalor appearance, it was an area worth dying for.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149900,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149900?profile=original" /></a>In 2004 and into 2005, the Di Lauro clan fought a fierce battle against a separatist clan, aptly labeled the “scissionisti” or “secessionists”, led by Raffaele Amato. While the war raged, and over 130 people were slaughtered, Amato fled to Spain, earning his group the derogatory nickname “Spaniards” in Scampia.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/naples-camorra-mafia-boss-marco-di-lauro-s-days-as-a-super-fugiti" target="_blank"><strong>Camorra boss Marco Di Lauro’s days as a fugitive come to an end</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Paolo di Lauro was arrested in a simple apartment in the Secondigliano neighborhood of Naples in September of 2005. He received a 30-year prison sentence for narcotics trafficking.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237150896,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237150896?profile=original" /></a>Raffaele Amato was arrested while leaving a casino in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Barcelona" target="_blank">Barcelona</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a>, in February of 2005. He was extradited to Italy and eventually sentenced in 2010 to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering, and various other charges.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Gomorra brings the (in)fame</strong></span></p>
<p>Italian journalist <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Saviano" target="_blank">Roberto Saviano</a> detailed the Camorra war over Scampia in his outstanding book Gomorra (Gomorrah), published in 2006. Due to his writings, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra" target="_blank">Camorra</a> put a murder contract on his life. Saviano has been in hiding and under constant state protection ever since.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: "Camorra dei bimbi" -</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fugitive-camorra-boss-pasquale-sibillo-captured" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Camorra boss Pasquale Sibillo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>His book was turned into a motion picture in 2008, followed by a television series in 2014. All titled Gomorra, both offer a raw look inside Scampia, with much of the filming during both projects done on location.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237152284,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237152284?profile=original" /></a>The photos shown here were posted on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/salvatoreesposito/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> by actor <a href="https://www.instagram.com/salvatoreesposito/" target="_blank">Salvatore Esposito</a>, who plays Gennaro, the son of Camorra boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Savastano" target="_blank">Pietro Savastano</a>. The Savastanos are loosely based on Paolo di Lauro and his <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/naples-camorra-mafia-boss-marco-di-lauro-s-days-as-a-super-fugiti" target="_blank">sons</a>, who followed in his footsteps.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237152853,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237152853?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Dignity</strong></span></p>
<p>Only one of the four buildings that are part of “le Vele” will remain standing. This building will be renovated. “I lived in one of these buildings in Scampia for 20 years and, believe me, we had enough of all the people who slandered us, saying we were the inhabitants of Gomorrah,” Lorenzo Liparulo, one of the leaders of the residents’ association, told newspaper <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/scampia-residents-mourn-homes-as-razing-of-gomorrah-begins" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. “There are people here who lived with dignity, despite everything.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237152677,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237152677?profile=original" /></a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra 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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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
The King of Heroin: Profile of drug boss Sadullah Unnu, who flooded Europe with dope
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-king-of-heroin-profile-of-drug-boss-sadullah-unnu-who-flooded
2019-06-16T11:08:38.000Z
2019-06-16T11:08:38.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-king-of-heroin-profile-of-drug-boss-sadullah-unnu-who-flooded" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237126890,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237126890?profile=original" /></a>By Milko</p>
<p>Turkish-Dutch drug boss Sadullah Unnu is nicknamed “The King of Heroin.” A pretty clear indication of his chosen occupation and top selling product. Born in Turkey and raised in the Netherlands, he roamed through Europe as he built an expansive network that pushed dope into the veins of European addicts.</p>
<p>Unnu was born in 1958 in Turkey. He spent most of his early years in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a>, a country with a large Turkish population, but by the 1990s operated primarily out of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a>. In December of 1994, he was arrested in connection with a shipment of 118 kilos of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a> which was seized in the city of Madrid.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Biggest heroin bust in history of Spain</strong></span></p>
<p>After he was sentenced for his role in the caper, Unnu served out the remainder of his prison time in the Netherlands, only to return to Spain once he was released. This time, he made his stay there permanent, allegedly setting up a large-scale heroin network.</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>, one of Europe's biggest cocaine traffickers</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>On July 31, 2008, Spanish police busted him once again. This time for his involvement in a shipment of 316 kilos of heroin through the port of Sitges, near the Spanish city of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Barcelona" target="_blank">Barcelona</a>. The narcotics was smuggled via a sailing yacht named “The Alper,” which sailed under an American flag.</p>
<p>The shipment was divided into 633 packages. When the smugglers offloaded the product into a van and drove the vehicle to a building, police pounced and arrested the men involved – three Turkish nationals and one Romanian. The bust was part of Operation Teide and resulted in the biggest heroin seizure ever in Spain.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Back at it</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aC2LaYEVHgc?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> </strong></span></p>
<p>This week, Unnu, now 61 years old, was arrested again. On June 12, 2019, the King of Heroin was caught in Pontevedra, a city in Spain’s Galician region <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-spanish-drug-boss-sito-minanco-who-can-t-stop-smugglin" target="_blank">infamous for drug smuggling</a>. Police found 7 kilos of heroin in his car. They allege he was supplying a network of traffickers in Galicia.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-spanish-drug-boss-sito-minanco-who-can-t-stop-smugglin" target="_blank">Profile of Spanish drug boss Sito Miñanco</a>, who can’t stop smuggling tons of cocaine despite his fame</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The investigation into his drug ring began in January of this year when authorities noticed a spike in heroin transactions taking place. Sixteen others were also arrested and 66 kilos of speed and thousands of euros in cash were seized.</p>
<p>Unnu was allegedly on his way to deliver the heroin to Francisco Javier Janeiro Rodriguez known as “Javillo”. He was arrested along with relatives. Spanish media report that Unnu never stayed in one place long and traveled extensively between <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Galicia" target="_blank">Galicia</a>, the Costa Del Sol and the Netherlands, practically living in his car. He also is reported to never use a phone.</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>
Spanish money laundering network fronting as kebab meat supplier busted by police
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/spanish-money-laundering-network-fronting-as-kebab-meat-supplier
2018-03-10T08:47:48.000Z
2018-03-10T08:47:48.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/spanish-money-laundering-network-fronting-as-kebab-meat-supplier" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237100069,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237100069?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>The Spanish Guardia Civil busted a criminal enterprise operating in Spain and Germany this week, which used a network of food establishments, including kebab meat suppliers, to conceal their activities and launder €36 million of its ill-gotten gains.</p>
<p>Five individuals were arrested, while more face charges. The Guardia Civil’s investigations, supported by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Europol" target="_blank">Europol</a>, began in the summer of 2015 when police agents from the Barcelona-El Prat airport discovered that money was a being sent from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a> to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Germany" target="_blank">Germany</a> on a weekly basis. Running its activities from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Barcelona" target="_blank">Barcelona</a> and Alicante, the criminal organization was transferring large sums of money between the two countries, ranging from €90,000 to €300,000 euros.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-gangs-invade" target="_blank">Organized crime gangs invade Spain</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The money laundering criminal structure justified the transfers to the airport authorities as payments of Spanish companies to a German company for kebab meat supply. The investigation revealed that the Spanish companies did not even run real commercial activities.</p>
<p>In the course of the investigation it was established that the organization, operating since 2012, had built up a network of front companies involved in money laundering. It is possible that some companies were not even aware that their data was being used to justify false invoices.</p>
<p>Spanish authorities estimate that around €36 million euros have been transferred and laundered by the criminal network justified as payments for trade activities which were not accounted for and reported to the National Treasury.</p>
<p>As a result of the operation, the Spanish Guardia Civil blocked 36 bank accounts and financial products and 35 credit cards and seized 5 properties in the province of Alicante worth approximately €470,000 euros.</p>
<p>“This investigation shows once again that criminal business is still largely done in cash,” Simon Riondet, Head of Financial Intelligence at Europol, explained. “Professional money laundering syndicates offer cash courier and compensation laundering services for illicit proceeds. Very often networks of front and shell companies are established in order to facilitate the movement of the money and to provide justification for the proceeds. These activities are further enabled by the lack of cash payment restrictions in some EU countries which allow justifying large cash amounts as payments for trade activities.”</p>
<p>Action needs to be taken, Riondet adds. “The continued law enforcement seizures of bulk large denomination banknotes and the prevailing trade-based money laundering schemes reinforce the need to discontinue the production and circulation of 500 and 200-euro banknotes and set an EU-wide framework for restricting or setting a common limit for cash payments.”</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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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Thief who sold two Van Gogh paintings to Camorra Mafia says he hid at mansion of FC Barcelona player Patrick Kluivert
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi
2017-03-22T11:30:00.000Z
2017-03-22T11:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237088253,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237088253?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The thief behind one of the biggest art heists in history stepped into the spotlight yesterday as he went on various Dutch talk shows to discuss how he stole two Van Gogh paintings worth millions from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002 and eventually sold them to a Camorra drug boss. In between, he also claims to have stayed at the home of then-FC Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert while on the run from police.</p>
<p>Burglar Octave “Okkie” Durham is now the subject of a documentary titled <em>The Man Who Stole Two Van Goghs</em> by Dutch news show <em>Brandpunt</em>. In it, he tells reporters and the public everything he did leading up to, during, and after the infamous art heist. It is clear he revels in the attention and he is anything but remorseful, better yet, he is proud of his criminal accomplishment.</p>
<p>The Van Gogh Museum heist in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a> in 2002 went down with relative ease. Durham and Henk, a good friend of his, had been casing the place for some time before they finally decided to go ahead and execute their plan. Using a stolen ladder, some rope, and a hammer the two men entered the museum filled with hundreds of millions worth’ of exclusive art. They grabbed Vincent van Gogh’s <em>View of the Sea at Scheveningen</em> and <em>Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen</em>.</p>
<p>While they stole the paintings, they monitored police radios to stay up to date on last minute movements. As cops arrived at their place of entry, the ladder at the front of the museum, the two thieves escaped at the back of the museum using a simple rope. They then get away in a stolen car.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-math-calculating-italian-organized-crime-s-illicit-income" target="_blank">Mafia Math: Calculating Italian organized crime's illicit income</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>As professional as “Okkie” may claim to have been, he left behind a baseball cap with his DNA in it, putting authorities on his tail almost immediately. A lack of evidence and urgency, however, kept police from searching the burglar’s residence or other locations, giving him enough time to move the paintings to a safe location.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237088467,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237088467?profile=original" width="223" /></a>He then tried to sell the paintings to his contacts in the Amsterdam underworld. Many criminals are interested in obtaining famous artwork as they can use it as a bargaining chip in court. Dutch drug boss Cor van Hout was eager to buy the paintings but was shot to death before he and Durham could reach an official deal. Crime boss Mink Kok, currently residing in Beirut, Lebanon, was also offered the Van Goghs but nothing came of it.</p>
<p>Durham then received a call from a man known as “Pinocchio,” who quickly closed the deal and purchased the two Van Gogh paintings. “Pinocchio” was an old acquaintance of Durham and a friend of his partner-in-crime Henk. Authorities only managed to pick up his nickname and were in the dark about his criminal pedigree.</p>
<p>“Pinocchio” nonetheless was an important player in the Amsterdam underworld. He lived there for twelve years and owned Coffeeshop Rockland, where tourists enjoyed smoking some weed. The man behind the nickname is <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-bust-drug-trafficking-camorra-clan-and-retrieve-st" target="_blank">Raffaele Imperiale</a> (photo right), an Italian drug boss with close links to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Neapolitan Camorra</a>.</p>
<p>Durham refuses to say how much Imperiale paid for the paintings, but Imperiale is the one who held onto the works of art until September of 2016 when he offered them up to Italian authorities in exchange for lowering his prison sentence. Prosecutors initially recommended Imperiale to be sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, but he managed to negotiate an 8-year reduction. He has yet to serve a day of his sentence as he remains a fugitive, living a life of luxury in Dubai.</p>
<p>Life wasn’t so sweet for Durham, though. When police are hot on his tail he manages to flee to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a> where he eventually runs into Patrick Kluivert, star player of FC Barcelona. The two men knew each other from the old neighborhood back in Amsterdam.</p>
<p>Durham tells Kluivert he is staying at a hotel and Kluivert asks him to crash with him at his mansion instead. The fugitive art thief is hesitant and tells Kluivert he is on the run from police and his presence might cause Kluivert some unwanted media attention. The Barcelona striker is dismissive however, telling “Okkie” he is in the media every day anyway. (<strong>See the video clip below in which Durham tells the Kluivert story himself.</strong>)</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iYomm-EQzSA?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>Kluivert denies Durham’s story and has filed a defamation suit against the burglar. The documentary makers say they have two other sources that confirm Durham’s stay at Kluivert’s Barcelona residence.</p>
<p>Durham, who was so worried about Kluivert getting bad press back in the day, now apparently has no issue throwing him under the bus. This despite the fact he considers him a “great guy.”</p>
<p>Unremorseful and proud, Durham is now enjoying his 15 minutes of fame as the star of his own documentary, a guest on primetime talk shows, and the father of a female artist signed to one of the Netherlands’ biggest record labels.</p>
<p>It makes one doubt the saying that crime does not pay.</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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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Russian Mafia money laundering ring busted in Spain
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-money-laundering-ring-in-spain-busted
2016-06-28T17:33:52.000Z
2016-06-28T17:33:52.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-money-laundering-ring-in-spain-busted"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237074873,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237074873?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>Spanish police dismantled a money laundering ring today that was run by two well-known <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian Mafia</a> groups, who in turn have strong links to the party of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Authorities estimate that the ring laundered around €62 million euros through property investments in Spain in the last few years.</p>
<p>The bust is the conclusion of operation “Usura,” which has resulted in the arrests of eight suspects and the seizure of 191 real estate properties, alongside 142 financial products such as bank accounts, around €120,000 euros, including several €500 euro banknotes, numerous mobile phones, IT devices, and business-related documents.</p>
<p>The money laundering ring was operated by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-russian-mafia-in-spain">Tambovskaya</a> and Taganskaya <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Mafia groups</a>. Members of these organizations regularly traveled to Spain to manage the network. The investigation showed that they maintained good contacts with Russian politicians, particularly with leaders of the United Russia party of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-dark-knight-of-mother">Vladimir Putin</a>.</p>
<p>Two of those arrested are considered leaders of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Russia">Russian Mafia</a> and had just arrived in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain">Spain</a> to spend their holidays on the coast. Sources told Spanish newspapers that some of the detainees had links with Colombian <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cartel">drug cartels</a>.</p>
<p>In total, 19 searches were carried out at various locations in the Tarragona province and Barcelona, which involved over 180 Guardia Civil officers.</p>
<ul>
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Chinese network of people smugglers dismantled in Spain
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chinese-network-of-people-smugglers-dismantled-in-spain
2015-10-12T09:46:22.000Z
2015-10-12T09:46:22.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237047666,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237047666?profile=original" width="320" /></a>David Amoruso </p>
<p>Spanish National Police arrested 89 people in a coordinated operation targeting a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview">Chinese organized crime</a> group specialized in smuggling people into Spain, as a transit country on the way to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and the United States by using forged identity documents or travel documents belonging to someone else.</p>
<p>Four property searches were carried out simultaneously in Barcelona. During the searches, 116 forged passports, 9 mobile phones, 71 SIM cards, 3 laptops, 4 tablet computers, 4 external hard drives and €4,000 were found and seized.</p>
<p>These actions are the culmination of Operation TIJA, an investigation by the Spanish police with support from Europol and other European law enforcement agencies.</p>
<p>The investigation began in June 2013, after several Chinese citizens had attempted to enter Spain by using forged passports or passports that belonged to other individuals. The documents found were from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.</p>
<p>After a preliminary investigation, Spanish law enforcement officers uncovered a very active organized group of Chinese and Pakistani criminals based in Barcelona. Having first smuggled the migrants into Spain, the facilitators lodged them in safe houses until the next stage of the journey was arranged (booking the flight, receiving the travel documents from China). Once in Spain, the migrants were provided with various options to illegally enter their favored destination country: land routes through Turkey and Greece, direct or indirect flights, and ferries.</p>
<p>The average cost of the journey was €20,000. The migrants had to pay half up front before starting the journey, and the remaining half after arriving at the destination. If the migrants failed to pay the fee, the criminals would keep their genuine travel documents and would extort their families in China. A common practice among people smugglers the world over.</p>
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Mafia boss Messina Denaro’s identikit has been updated
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-s-identikit-has-been-updated
2014-03-27T15:30:00.000Z
2014-03-27T15:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-s-identikit-has-been-updated"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237032474,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237032474?profile=original" width="511" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Italian authorities released an updated identikit of Sicilian boss of bosses Matteo Messina Denaro, today. New digitally created images show the 52-year-old mob boss with a little bit more weight, his receding hairline advanced, and without his glasses. The update comes after an informant who had recently met with Messina Denaro had given information about his appearance to police.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-matteo"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237033082,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237033082?profile=original" width="247" /></a>In every available photo of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-matteo">Messina Denaro</a> he can be seen wearing thick spectacles. He needed those due to a serious retina illness. He apparently sought treatment for his illness in Spain where a specialist treated him in the city of Barcelona. The specialist later confirmed the Mafia boss’ grave condition to police, saying he believed that Sicily’s boss of bosses had gone blind in one eye since he last saw him.</p>
<p>It was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">pentito</a>, or informant, Vincenzo Sinacori who <a href="http://www.rainews.it/dl/rainews/articoli/Il-nuovo-volto-di-Matteo-Messina-Denaro-identikit-della-Guardia-di-Finanza-c4b40172-82d3-472c-818d-782b824b5aa5.html?refresh_ce" target="_blank">told investigators</a> about Messina Denaro’s trip to Spain. At the clinic the boss provided his true birth date and place of birth, Castelvetrano, but said his name was Matteo Messina, leaving out his second surname, Denaro.</p>
<p>And now a new informant has given police help with identifying what the elusive Mafia boss currently looks like. After being sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1993 Mafia bombings in Florence, Milan, and Rome, Messina Denaro became a fugitive and has been running his billion dollar criminal empire from the shadows ever since.</p>
<p>Recent arrests have brought down many of his <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-are-closing-in">close associates</a> and relatives, but he himself has managed to remain at large. Italian police are confident, however, that they will capture Sicily’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-boss-messina-denaro-intimidates-prosecutor">current boss of bosses</a> sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>After the arrest of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview">Cosa Nostra</a>'s longtime boss of bosses <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-bernardo">Bernardo Provenzano</a> there is no Mafioso who is too big or elusive to capture. They can run, they can hide, but eventually the law will burst through the door, guns drawn, and handcuffs at the ready.</p>
<p>Until that day, Messina Denaro continues to do what he has done for the past 21 years. But perhaps he’ll make some slight changes in his appearance. Just to be sure. Digital simulation or not, all it takes is one person to recognize the billionaire gangster and one phone call to the right people. Nothing more.</p>
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Profile of Russian Mafia boss Tariel Oniani
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-tariel-oniani
2010-11-03T18:49:45.000Z
2010-11-03T18:49:45.000Z
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<p><br /> By "Hollander" (Hollander is a pseudonym)<br /> Posted on March 6, 2009<br /> <br /> In July last year Russian police used a dramatic helicopter raid to detain dozens of reputed crime bosses known as “thieves-in-law,” gathered on a yacht at a reservoir outside Moscow. Some of them attempted to flee from police and jumped overboard, but the water was too cold for swimming that day and the criminals preferred to return to the captured craft. The Russian news media covered showed scenes of commandos marching the handcuffed gangsters single file to waiting buses. Most of the more than three dozen suspected gang leaders detained in the raid were later released because of a lack of evidence. Among those detained, according to media reports, was Tariel Oniani, an ethnic Georgian with a reputation as one of the most powerful crime bosses in the Soviet Union.<br /> <br /> Some speculated that Tariel Oniani, had organized the meeting to discuss a conflict with a rival crime boss, Aslan Usoyan. The dispute could develop into a bloody conflict reminiscent of the gang wars of the 1990s. Usoyan gathered his supporters, including Vyacheslav Ivankov, known as Yaponchik, for a May 2 meeting in Krasnodar, newspaper Kommersant reported. In an interview with a local newspaper, Aslan Usoyan denied rumors of impending violence. “We are peaceful people and don’t bother anybody,” he said. “We are for peace, in order to prevent lawlessness.” In fact the thieves-in-law have been linked to numerous murders in the post-Soviet period. Authorities have accused them of ordering contract killings and carrying out kidnappings and innumerable financial crimes.<br /> <br /> Tariel Oniani was born in the miner’s town of Tkibuli in 1952. His father died in a mine. Tariel was first convicted of robbery and theft at the age of 17. He served the total of 8 terms in prison, An influential “thief-in-law” in the Moscow of the 1980s, he moved to Paris in the 1990s and later to Spain, when criminal charges were brought against him in France. He ran a construction business on the Mediterranean coast, apparently employing an illegal Georgian work force and investing in real estate for money-laundering purposes. After the police failed to arrest Oniani in Spain in the summer of 2005, an international warrant was issued against him. The Spanish police undertook a large-scale operation but he managed to escape. They conducted some 50 searches in Barcelona, Alicante, and at the resorts of Marbella and Torremolinos where offices of Tariel Oniani’s companies were situated. In September of 2005, hardly three months after the operation, intelligence services were alerted that Oriani had issued an order to assassinate the ones in charge of the investigation, the judge and the public prosecutor.<br /> </p>
<p style="text-align:right;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236988677,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" align="right" /></p>
<p>Months later, in May, Oniani’s business partner Zakhar Knyazevich Kalashov (photo right), the man considered to be the leader of the Russian mafia in Spain, was arrested in Dubai. Knyazevich well known as Shakro Junior arrived on the Costa Blanca at the end of the 1990s, then later spent time on the Costa del Sol and in Cataluña. The criminals had established a network of bars and restaurant chains on Spain's Mediterranean coast, and also trafficked luxury cars to launder money from criminal activities in the former Soviet Union. Knyazevich who was brought back onto Spanish soil on board a military aircraft, fled Spain, when 28 members of his organisation were arrested, and 800 bank accounts were frozen. Several international arrest warrants have been issued for the man linked to killings and drug trafficking. In november 2006 Spanish police arrested nine other gang members including Ukrainian national Oleg Vorontsov, a former advisor to ex-president Boris Yeltsin, who led the crime ring after the arrest of Knyazevich.<br /> <br /> “I knew this man [Tariel Oniani]. I met him in Paris a long time ago,” businessman Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov told Kommersant “I would not say he’s a bad man. He is a businessman with good connections. I think this is a provocation, the same as was directed at me. You see, it’s summer in Europe now. It’s dead boring there in summer, and they need to amuse people, their voters, and, at the same time, show they earn the voters’ salt."<br /> <br /> In the last 15 years the thieves-in-law have spread around the world, from Moscow to Madrid to Berlin and Brooklyn. They are involved in everything from petty theft to billion-dollar money laundering schemes, while also acting as unofficial jurists among conflicting Russian criminal factions. When the Soviet Union fell, they emerged from the broken country’s peripheries to exploit the legal chaos. By all accounts, they infiltrated the top political and economic circles.</p>
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