Billions - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-28T13:07:50Z
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Britain’s biggest ever drugs pipeline busted by National Crime Agency – Billions worth’ of drugs smuggled
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/britain-s-biggest-ever-drugs-pipeline-busted-by-national-crime-ag
2019-10-10T20:30:00.000Z
2019-10-10T20:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/britain-s-biggest-ever-drugs-pipeline-busted-by-national-crime-ag" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237126087,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237126087?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) calls it “an industrial-scale operation – the biggest ever uncovered in the United Kingdom” involving the importation of over 50 tons of drugs worth billions of pounds from the Netherlands into the UK.</p>
<p>Thirteen men, aged between 24 and 59, were apprehended during dawn raids on Tuesday, in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=London" target="_blank">London</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manchester" target="_blank">Manchester</a>, Stockport, St Helens, Warrington, Bolton, Dewsbury, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Leeds" target="_blank">Leeds</a>. They are believed to be part of the British arm of a well-established organized crime group that used Dutch and British front companies to import <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">cannabis</a> – secreted within lorry loads of vegetables and juice – through United Kingdom ports over an 18-month period.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-untouchables-how-britain-s-top-gangsters-rich-off-armed-robbe" target="_blank">The Untouchables</a>: How Britain’s top gangsters got rich off armed robberies and smuggling tons of drugs</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Four men and two women from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a> were also arrested in April by the Dutch National Police on European Arrest Warrants. They are currently awaiting extradition to the Britain.</p>
<p>“We suspect these men were involved in an industrial-scale operation – the biggest ever uncovered in the UK – bringing in tons of deadly drugs that were distributed to crime groups throughout the country,” Jayne Lloyd, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NCA" target="_blank">NCA</a> Regional Head of Investigations, said. “By working closely with partners here and overseas, in particular the Dutch National Police, we believe we have dismantled a well-established drug supply route.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Start of investigation</strong></span></p>
<p>The full extent of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug trafficking</a> operation the NCA allege these men were involved in was uncovered following the interception of three consignments in September 2018. They contained 351 kilos of cocaine, 92 kilos of heroin, 250 kilos of cannabis and 1,850 kilos of hemp/hashish, with a total street value of more than £38 million.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237125889,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237125889?profile=original" /></a>Subsequent enquiries led officers to believe they had imported drugs on numerous occasions between February 2017 and October 2018. This investigation linked to an NCA operation, where 13 individuals were jailed for a total of 176 years, after the seizure of more than 100kg of heroin in 2015.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-british-drug-boss-robert-the-voice-dawes-he-was-prepar" target="_blank"><strong>British drug boss Robert “The Voice” Dawes</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Europol, Eurojust, Police of Finland National Bureau of Investigation, Border Force, HMRC and numerous police forces have also supported the NCA with the investigation.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The accused</strong></span></p>
<p>The following men have been remanded to custody: Paul Green (DoB 26/03/65), of Eccleston, St Helens; Sohail Quereshi (DoB 08/07/60), Wood Crescent, White City, London; Mohammed Ovais (DoB 18/01/78), of Bournlee Avenue, Burnage, Manchester; Khaleed Vazeer (DoB 09/11/62), of Westwood Avenue, Timperley, Manchester; Steven Martin (DoB 12/04/71), of Chorley Old Road, Bolton; Mark Peers (DoB 07/02/64), of Norbeck Close, Warrington; Oliver Penter (DoB 01/07/82), of Gladstone Street, Stockport.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237127056,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237127056?profile=original" /></a>Andrew Reilly (DoB 24/11/81) of Grange Park Road, St Helens; Paul Ruane (DoB 25/01/65), of Bewsey Rd, Warrington; Ghazanfar Mahmood (DoB 03/12/70), of Green Lane, Bolton; Ifthikar Hussain (DoB 26/08/73) of Upland Grove, Leeds, West Yorkshire; Vojtech Dano (DoB 23/09/81), of Vulcan Gardens, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire; and Ivan Turtak (DoB 30/08/85), of Vulcan Gardens, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, have been released on bail.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/london-based-albanian-cocaine-gang-sent-to-prison" target="_blank"><strong>London-based Albanian cocaine gang sent to prison</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>All are due to appear at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square, on November 7, 2019.</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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<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>
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Jumping Bail: How legendary drug kingpin Frank “Black Caesar” Matthews disappeared forever
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/jumping-bail-how-legendary-drug-kingpin-frank-black-caesar-matthe
2019-06-08T13:06:29.000Z
2019-06-08T13:06:29.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/jumping-bail-how-legendary-drug-kingpin-frank-black-caesar-matthe" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237119672,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237119672?profile=original" /></a>By Ron Chepesiuk</p>
<p><em>“Mr. Deary, am I going to get that life count they’ve been talking about?” -</em> <strong>Frank Matthews</strong></p>
<p>July, 2, 1973, a typical hot, muggy day in New York City. Frank Matthews, alleged drug kingpin, is scheduled to appear in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. He is already facing six charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy, but the new indictment will add charges and supersede the first one. On December 20, 1972, federal prosecutors swore out a warrant for Matthews’ arrest, accusing him of possessing 15 kilos of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> worth an estimated $3.6 million at street prices. About two weeks later, the authorities finally arrested Matthews in Las Vegas, one of his favorite haunts, as he prepared to leave the city and fly to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LA" target="_blank">Los Angeles</a> for the Super Bowl VII game between the Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Making bail while being a kingpin</strong></span></p>
<p>After being extradited from Las Vegas to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NY" target="_blank">New York City</a>, Matthews had managed to secure bail despite the claim of the federal government that he is the U.S.’s biggest drug trafficker. Federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials who investigated the Matthews organization considered the bail of $325,000 a bad joke, and they worried that Matthews would skip town. After all, investigators had evidence that Matthews may be been quietly stashing $1 million a month for the past several months. So why, they wondered, would the drug kingpin be doing that unless he was preparing for his imminent flight? All Matthews had to do to meet the bond requirements was to report regularly to the U.S. Attorney’s office and stay within the jurisdiction of the Eastern District of New York. Being short of manpower, law enforcement had no way of keeping tabs on Matthews.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>King of New York City</strong></span></p>
<p>The suspect’s attitude and demeanor reinforced the authorities’ concern. The charismatic and handsome <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Matthews" target="_blank">Matthews</a> swaggered into the federal courthouse and greeting everyone he met with a broad smile and a friendly nod, while flirting with the ladies. Law enforcement officials could only look on and marvel. “Frank looked and acted like the King of New York City,” said Ray Deary, the Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District who had served in the Appeals Division since 1971. “He walked around our turf like he owned it.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/elusive-drug-boss-frank-matthews-to-hit-the-big-screen-from-narco" target="_blank">Elusive drug boss Frank Matthews to hit the big screen</a>: From narco billionaire at 28 to mysterious phantom</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Deary was right. Frank Matthews is no ordinary criminal. On the mean streets of the urban jungles of America Matthews’ exploits have earned him the moniker of “Black Caesar.” He is charismatic as well as dangerous and even his adversaries, the authorities, have a grudging respect for him.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-kingpin-freeway-rick-ross-moving-tons-of-cocaine-with-a-nod" target="_blank">Drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross</a>: Moving tons of cocaine with a nod of approval from the Reagan White House</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Matthews seemingly unconcern about the serious charges that could put him in jail for several decades baffled the authorities. They could not tail him, but they had received reports that Matthews has been conducting business with his associates even before securing bail. Sources within the West Street Detention Center, where Matthews had been detained after his arrest, observed that top lieutenants of his organization, as well as his lawyer, Gino Gallina, were visiting him frequently, and it seemed to the sources that Matthews was giving instructions and orders.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Bad company</strong></span></p>
<p>After his release on bond, Black Caesar was seen in the company of several leading drug dealers and gamblers. Moreover, Matthews was in the constant company of Cheryl Denise Brown, a beautiful light-skinned black woman who turned heads wherever she went. It should have been an embarrassment to the alleged drug kingpin since he had a common law wife, Barbara Hinton, and three kids waiting for him at home. But Hinton, herself an attractive woman, did not seem to be bothered or embarrassed by Matthews’ apparent public infidelity, even after the family was forced to leave their luxurious surroundings for a more modest apartment at 2785 Ocean Parkway in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>. In better days, Matthews had used the Ocean Parkway apartment as a getaway and a place to stash his many paramours. In their effort to nail Matthews, prosecutors hauled Hinton before a grand jury, offering her immunity if she would cooperate with their case against her husband. Hinton refused, even though she faced a possible conspiracy charge herself.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237119882,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237119882?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Am I gonna get that life count?”</strong></span></p>
<p>Then a few days before his scheduled court appearance, Matthews arrived in the Brooklyn federal court building with his lawyer, Gino Gallina, when he bumped into Federal Prosecutor Raymond Deary as Deary was leaving a room. Matthews said to Deary, “Mr. Deary, am I gonna get that life count they been talking about?” Matthews was referring to part of section 848 of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970: “Any person who engages in a continuing criminal enterprise shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 20 years and which may be up to life imprisonment.” The thought of Section 848 terrified many traffickers because they feared that, if convicted under the statue, they would spend the rest of their lives in prison.</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 says he is part</a> of “the last ones that God put in power”</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Deary looked at Matthews and said, “It’s very possible, Frank...very possible.” Later, Deary said he was joking, but for Matthews, spending his life in jail was no joking matter. “Frank knew what the 848 could do to him,” recalled Liddy Jones, a former drug kingpin and an associate of Matthews. “No way was he going to spend the rest of his life in jail.”</p>
<p>Inside the steamy courthouse on this sweltering July day in 1973, the electric fans whirred as the judge, federal prosecutors and the defense team waited patiently for Frank Matthews to appear. But he never did.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Fugitive</strong></span></p>
<p>Instead, he became a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fugitive" target="_blank">fugitive</a> from justice. In the coming weeks, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=DEA" target="_blank">DEA</a>), the lead agency in the investigation of Frank Matthews, is confident they will apprehend the fugitive. After all, don’t law enforcement officials always get their man? The weeks turned into months and the months into years, and law enforcement did not catch him. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-life-of-a-u-s-marshal-hunting-down-fugitive-mobsters-and-alwa" target="_blank">U.S. Marshal Service</a> took over the hunt for Matthews from the DEA. There were alleged sightings of Matthews in more than 50 countries. Cheryl Brown, Matthews’ mistress disappeared the same time he did, and her whereabouts were just as mysterious. No informant stepped forward. No bodies were ever found. No fingerprints were discovered. No solid leads appeared. Nothing.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/american-gangster-frank-lucas-dead-at-88" target="_blank"><strong>“American Gangster” Frank Lucas dead at 88</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>With time, law enforcement moved on to other priorities. New generations of law enforcement officials replaced the old guard and they knew little about Matthews. Periodically, Matthews’ story appeared briefly in the press and rekindled speculation. Is he alive or is he dead? The public wondered. But then the reports faded from public consciousness and people focused on other crime stories.</p>
<p>What follows is the remarkable story of the legendary Frank Matthews, one of organized crime’s most original gangsters. It is the story of the biggest gangster mystery of all time. It is a story with an improbable beginning and a story with no conclusive ending.</p>
<p><em>Author <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Chepesiuk" target="_blank">Ron Chepesiuk</a> details this story in his book Black Caesar: The Rise and Disappearance of Frank Matthews, Kingpin of which the above is an excerpt. The book will be made into a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/elusive-drug-boss-frank-matthews-to-hit-the-big-screen-from-narco" target="_blank">movie</a>. Gangsters Inc. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/elusive-drug-boss-frank-matthews-to-hit-the-big-screen-from-narco" target="_blank">interviewed</a> Chepesiuk about the project, which is sure to be a major blockbuster.</em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime">Black organized crime</a> section 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>
Mafia Math: Calculating Italian organized crime’s illicit income
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/mafia-math-calculating-italian-organized-crime-s-illicit-income
2016-09-06T10:42:53.000Z
2016-09-06T10:42:53.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-math-calculating-italian-organized-crime-s-illicit-income"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237064899,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237064899?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>How much money does the Italian Mafia make? How many billions of dollars go up the chain through the organizations of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra, Campania’s Camorra, and Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta? Criminology professor Francesco Calderoni did the math and came up with some very interesting numbers, numbers that many deem the most accurate so far.</p>
<p>It’s an almost impossible task. How does one calculate the revenue of a group that is as secretive as the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime">Italian Mafia</a>? A group involved in various illegal businesses in which no records are kept or shared with authorities or the public. Where one hand usually has no clue what the other hand is doing. Also, a group that frequently uses bagmen to hide the interest Mafia bosses hold in certain companies.</p>
<p>Still, despite all the obstacles and unknowns when trying to figure out how much money Italian organized crime groups make on a yearly basis, people continue to put out their estimates. Some going as high <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/crime-does-pay-how-italian">as €150 billion</a> for all four major <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia">Mafia</a> groups (<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview">Cosa Nostra</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview">Camorra</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-overview">‘Ndrangheta</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=SCU">Sacra Corona Unita</a>) while others claim one group alone makes €53 billion a year.</p>
<p>Impressive figures, but unfortunately none of the organizations putting out these figures can explain exactly how they came up with this number. They analyzed police documents, sure, but nowhere is explained how they turned that information into their estimate.</p>
<p>This bothered investigators at Transcrime, a research center on transnational crime part of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy. <a href="https://twitter.com/fracalderoni" target="_blank">Francesco Calderoni</a>, a criminology professor at the university and researcher at <a href="http://www.transcrime.it/en" target="_blank">Transcrime</a>, explained some of the negative consequences of these “mythical numbers,” as he calls them.</p>
<p>“These numbers may disseminate stereotypes in the population, stimulate xenophobia, heighten the fear of crime, and distort perceptions of what the real problems are,” he tells <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/">Gangsters Inc</a>. “They may ultimately affect the establishment of effective and efficient policies to reduce organized crime.”</p>
<p>As an Italian, Calderoni knows all too well what happens when the government ends up on the losing side of the battle against the Mafia. “I still remember the days of 1992 when Cosa Nostra murdered judges <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Falcone">Falcone</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Borsellino">Borsellino</a> and the members of their detail,” he says. “Many in my generation felt that we had to do something about it.”</p>
<p>As a researcher at <a href="http://www.transcrime.it/en" target="_blank">Transcrime</a> he focuses on organized crime and the Mafia, illicit markets, and policies against organized crime. Calderoni: “I have been researching organized crime and the Mafias for more than 12 years now. I have been working on several projects funded by local, national and international agencies.”</p>
<p>Though he is critical of many of the current studies on the proceeds of Italian organized crime, he understands the difficulties that arise during research. “Measuring criminal revenues is hard,” he admits. “Studying organized crime requires particular care in handling sources and data. You always need to check the reliability of anything. This is a very good practice for a scholar, although it requires a lot of effort. This, in turn, creates opportunities for the birth of mythical numbers, figures about crime that are produced with no scientific credibility but which gain authority by repetition.”</p>
<p>The media love big numbers, as is evidenced by The Guardian’s headline <em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/26/ndrangheta-mafia-mcdonalds-deutsche-bank-study" target="_blank">'Ndrangheta mafia 'made more last year than McDonald's and Deutsche Bank'</a></em> or Reuters’ headline <em><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-mafia-drugs-idUSKCN0W42H3" target="_blank">Italian mafia earnings from drugs rival Fiat with cars</a></em>. They love them because readers love them as well. Studies that provide the media with interesting information will almost always gain a lot of exposure in national and international media outlets.</p>
<p>“In time, I have realized that reality is often very different from what we normally hear from the media and from policy makers,” Calderoni says. “Organized crime is an easy scapegoat to justify poor performance, lack of results, and limited advancement in the society.”</p>
<p>That is why he felt he needed to make his study as accurate as possible – this, after all, is still the dark, secretive underworld we’re talking about. His study is inspired by a research project conducted by <a href="http://www.transcrime.it/en" target="_blank">Transcrime</a> for the Italian Ministry of Interior analyzing investments by Mafias in Italy and abroad, and focuses on several questions: What is the income of the mafias in Italy? How is it distributed across Italian regions and types of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mob">Mafia</a>?</p>
<p>The research furthermore made a selection of criminal activities it would focus on. These were selected by applying two main criteria. “The first was the frequent association in the literature and official sources of a criminal activity with the Mafias,” Calderoni says. “The second criterion was the availability of information and data enabling estimation of the revenues generated by each activity in a transparent, reliable and replicable way.”</p>
<p>As a result of the selection, the analysis focused on:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Prostitution">sexual exploitation of women</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Weapons">illicit firearms trafficking</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs">drug trafficking</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Counterfeit">counterfeiting of goods</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cigarettes">illicit cigarette trade</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling">illicit gambling</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Waste">illicit waste disposal</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking">loan sharking</a></li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion">extortion racketeering</a></li>
</ol>
<p>“In general, most studies adopt a top down approach,” Calderoni explains. “They select, let’s say, an econometric model, they consider some proxy variables for criminal activities and they get an output. The problem with these works is that they rarely check whether the final figure ‘makes sense,’ for example when compared to the economy in general or to other developed countries.”</p>
<p>That is why <a href="https://twitter.com/fracalderoni" target="_blank">Calderoni</a> chose a bottom up approach. “We measured criminal activities separately. In some studies, we preliminarily measured mafia presence and then we estimated the revenues. For each activity we developed a specific methodology, in most cases starting from empirical evidence, for example drug consumption or illicit cigarettes. We then attributed a share of the total criminal revenues to the Mafias. I think our estimates are probably on the lower bound but at the same time I am confident that we have avoided the creation of any mythical number.”</p>
<p>Calderoni’s results estimate yearly Mafia proceeds at approximately €10.7 billion (0.7% of the Italian GDP), with extortion racketeering as the main source of income. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Camorra">Camorra</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta">‘Ndrangheta</a> are the Mafia groups with the highest revenues (€3,3 billion and nearly €3 billion, respectively), totaling more than 68% of total Mafia proceeds. Also, the ‘Ndrangheta has successfully diversified its source of income, with only 28% of the revenues coming from its native region <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Calabria">Calabria</a>.</p>
<p>“In Italy, the Mafias have a strong presence in their mother regions: Western Sicily and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Catania">Catania</a> for <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=CosaNostra">Cosa Nostra</a>, the provinces of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Naples">Naples</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Caserta">Caserta</a> for the Camorra, southern Calabria for the 'Ndrangheta,” Calderoni tells Gangsters Inc. “Furthermore, we have found a significant, established presence also in other regions, especially in the area of Rome and nearby areas to the south and in the North-West of Italy (around the three industrial cities of Milan, Turin and Genoa).”</p>
<p>But Italian organized crime is anything but a national problem. Its tentacles spread across the globe. Calderoni quickly sums up the list. “In the world, the Italian Mafias concentrate primarily in several countries: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain">Spain</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Germany">Germany</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands">the Netherlands</a>. Together with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia">Colombia</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Albania">Albania</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Belgium">Belgium</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Switzerland">Switzerland</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada">Canada</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=France">France</a>, they account for two thirds of the references to foreign country in our sources. I would also add <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in-australia">Australia</a> and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">United States</a>. This gives an idea of the diffusion across continents.”</p>
<p>Why is the Italian Mafia so successful at expanding abroad? “Well I think that developed countries provide a wealth of criminal opportunities along with established (Southern) Italian communities which may provide contacts and resources,” Calderoni says. “At the same time, the development of the Mafias abroad is not an automatic, natural, process. Maybe the dictatorships in Argentina and Brazil prevented the establishment of Mafia groups, just as during the first years of fascism the state enacted a strong contrast against the Sicilian Mafia (although it ultimately stopped at the higher levels and probably allied with them).”</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, Calderoni found that most of the countries with a significant Mafia presence are advanced democracies with strong rule of law, low corruption, and efficient criminal justice systems. Calderoni: “I think that this may question the stereotype that the Mafias proliferate in poor socio-economic conditions. Furthermore, whereas most of the countries have or have had significant inflows of Italian migrants in the past, some traditional destinations like Brazil and Argentina do not show a strong Mafia presence.”</p>
<p>Perhaps this is because of the competition Italian crime groups face from local drug gangs, which have grown more wealthy and powerful in the last decades. The idea that the Italian Mafias hold any kind of monopoly over any criminal market is one of the biggest misconceptions published frequently in books, Calderoni tells us.</p>
<p>“Criminal activities are normally undertaken by a wide array of actors, and it would be incorrect to assume that Mafias control or monopolize any of them,” he says. “Studies have highlighted that, with the exception of extortion racketeering, criminal activities at the national and regional level are not monopolized by Mafias. The most significant example is provided by the drugs market. The literature has constantly rejected the hypothesis of monopoly and oligopoly by large structured Mafias. These results have been confirmed also in Italy, except for some small areas, villages or city neighborhoods, where elements of Mafia monopoly have been observed,” he concludes.</p>
<p>“In Italy, I think most of the revenues of the Mafias come from extortion racketeering, private protection, and loan sharking,” Calderoni adds. “These activities are closely associated to the area where a Mafia group is present. Also, they thrive wherever the rule of law and transparency are scarce. The Mafia group’s connections with politics and businesses ensure that they maintain a hold on these territories. After that I would include the illegal markets like drugs, cigarettes, gambling, and counterfeited goods. In these markets however, the Mafia groups are not the only player. They have to compete with other criminals and they have no monopoly whatsoever at the national or regional level.”</p>
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Profile of Montreal Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto (1946 - 2013)
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/montreal-mafia-boss-vito-rizzuto-1946-2013
2013-12-23T19:30:00.000Z
2013-12-23T19:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/montreal-mafia-boss-vito-rizzuto-1946-2013"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237026288,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237026288?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>“And like that, poof. He's gone.”</p>
<p>Vito Rizzuto, leader of the Mafia in Montreal, passed away today at age 67. He was hospitalized on Sunday for heart problems and was suffering from lung cancer. His death, of natural causes no less, comes as a huge surprise. Rizzuto was an enigma throughout his criminal career and had a knack for not just surviving the treacherous North American underworld, but emerging as its most powerful boss.</p>
<p>“The man known as the Teflon Don dies quietly? [It was] quite a surprise to many, many people,” Julian Sher, the senior producer of CBC's the fifth estate and an investigative journalist who has covered the Montreal Mafia extensively, told <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/vito-rizzuto-montreal-mafia-s-teflon-don-dies-1.2474011" target="_blank">CBC News</a>.</p>
<p>It’s an unnatural end for Vito Rizzuto, a man who was at the center of a war for underworld supremacy. A man who lost his son and his father to the violence that ripped through Montreal since his arrest for a triple murder made famous by the movie Donnie Brasco.</p>
<p>It was more than just a triple homicide, more than just a power play, for Vito Rizzuto though. It was meant to strengthen the ties between the New York <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno Family</a> led by “Rusty” Rastelli and its Montreal faction led by Vito’s father Nicolo, who had seized control in 1978 when he arranged the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-of-montreal-a-short">violent death of Paolo Violi</a>.</p>
<p>Three years later, it was Vito’s turn to show that he was truly mob royalty destined for a distinguished career in the Mafia. He did not disappoint. As a member of a four-man hit squad, he hid in a closet with a shotgun in his hands awaiting the arrival of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/aftermath-of-a-hit-the-murder">three Bonanno Family captains</a> who planned to overthrow Rastelli as boss.</p>
<p>As the men arrived, Rizzuto jumped out of the closet, aimed his shotgun and yelled “It’s a holdup!”</p>
<p>They didn’t stand a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/aftermath-of-a-hit-the-murder">chance</a>.</p>
<p>Before the smoke-filled room cleared, only two men remained standing: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-boss-joseph-massino">Joseph Massino</a> and his brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale. All the others, including Rizzuto, had fled the scene. Yet, he’d find out that he could not run fast enough to escape what had just occurred. Massino would eventually become the new Bonanno Family boss, with Vitale as his underboss. When both men flipped and became government witnesses, it wasn’t long before Rizzuto heard a knock on his door.</p>
<p>But that was all in the future. That day, Rizzuto had done good. He had proven himself. With his father in firm control of the Montreal faction and the ties with New York stronger than ever, Rizzuto’s career looked golden.</p>
<p>In Montreal, Vito brokered deals and peaceful partnerships with and between the city’s various criminal groups. Mafiosi, Hells Angels, South American drug cartel guys, the Irish mob: They all respected and listened to Vito Rizzuto, who was fluent in English, Italian, Spanish, and French. There was no doubt there was a criminal hierarchy and that Rizzuto sat at the top of the food chain.</p>
<p>Hundreds of millions were pouring in from narcotics trafficking. The money was laundered through various companies in exotic locations before it came home to Montreal where it was invested in real estate and legitimate businesses.</p>
<p>Business was booming, but it was never enough. In the Mafia you come in alive and you go out dead. You are in it for the long haul, till they close your casket. And so father and son Rizzuto kept stacking millions on millions and participated in newer and bigger investments.</p>
<p>By the late 1990s, the Montreal faction had significantly outgrown the New York Bonanno Family. The student had become the master. While the New York mobsters were getting by on loansharking, gambling, and extortion, the Rizzuto Clan was involved in the prestigious construction project that would create a bridge between Sicily and Italy’s mainland Calabria. It was worth billions. Using his connections, Vito was looking to launder some of his ill-gotten gains through the project.</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1bMrLhx" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237027071,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237027071?profile=original" width="184" /></a>The Rizzutos had established contacts with everyone, ranging from Mafiosi and politicians to Italy’s Royal family. And their influence didn’t stop in North America and Italy. They were involved in far-away places like Chile and Singapore as well.</p>
<p>Smart, smooth, and silent, the Rizzutos kept expanding their criminal empire. Nobody could stop them it seemed.</p>
<p>Until that that long awaited and much feared moment finally arrived. In the United States, Bonanno underboss Salvatore Vitale had spilled the beans and fingered Vito in the killing of the three Bonanno captains. The Feds hit Vito with an indictment and on January 20, 2004, members of the Anti-gang Squad of the Montreal Police knocked at the front door of Rizzuto's luxurious mansion in the Northwest of Montreal.</p>
<p>Three years later, standing in front of an American judge, Rizzuto pleaded guilty to participating in the hit on the three captains. He was sentenced to ten years, which he was to serve in the United States.</p>
<p>As Vito sat in prison, his Clan was experiencing quite a few setbacks. The first came in 2006 and was named <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/montreal-mafia-bust-project">Project Colisée</a>, a huge police operation which saw the entire Rizzuto leadership under indictment and behind bars, including Vito’s father Nicolo.</p>
<p>The arrests left a large void on the streets of Montreal where gangsters now operated without the law and order that Rizzuto’s reputation provided them. Some even got ideas of becoming the new Vito Rizzuto. It was a recipe for disaster and Vito couldn’t do a thing about it as he sat in his cell.</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1bMrLhx" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237027285,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237027285?profile=original" width="280" /></a>Weakened by Vito’s absence and the indictments of Project Colisée, the Rizzuto Clan was facing a hostile environment made up out of ambitious gangsters from various groups who had their eyes on the top spot.</p>
<p>Slowly but surely, the streets turned red with blood.</p>
<p>Fire bombings, kidnappings, and hits in broad daylight: Montreal was becoming the set of a movie produced by Quintin Tarantino and directed by Martin Scorsese. The peace maintained by Vito had disappeared and been replaced by all-out war.</p>
<p>One by one, people close to Vito were taken out of the equation. Two men on this list stand out. In 2009, a few days before Christmas, Vito’s son Nick Jr. was murdered in broad daylight. Almost a year later, in November of 2010, Vito’s father was killed as he was sitting down for dinner with his family at his mansion in Montreal, located next to the home of his imprisoned son. A sniper fired a round through the window, killing the 86-year-old mob boss as his family watched in horror.</p>
<p>As the media and public screamed outrage over the brazen killings and authorities were scrambling to find information about the assassins, Vito sat in his prison cell. Powerless.</p>
<p>In the months after, the general consensus was that Vito was finished as boss. He had no allies, he had lost his power, hell, would he even be up to the task after experiencing such a loss? Wouldn’t he prefer to simply retire and fade into the shadows rather than risk the death of his relatives or that of himself?</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1bMrLhx" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237027658,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237027658?profile=original" width="345" /></a>We got our answer in October of 2012 when Vito (right) was released from his American cell and put on a plane back to Canada. He did not pack his bags, nor did he take the first flight to South America. He went home to his Montreal mansion and settled back in.</p>
<p>Within a month of his return, Vito began exacting his revenge. It was swift, silent, ruthless, and bloody.</p>
<p>72-year-old Joe Di Maulo was shot to death in the driveway of his suburban Montreal home. He was once a friend of the Rizzutos but had switched sides when Rizzuto was in prison.</p>
<p>At the time of Di Maulo's murder, a police officer told newspaper the Star: “It's a clear message that there is no peace. There is no conciliation. It's a war: kill or be killed.”</p>
<p>“He was able to reassert power very brutally in Montreal and we saw, I think, something like close to a dozen murders and deaths related to that gang war. In fact, there was one shooting in Montreal just four days ago,” Julian Sher told <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/vito-rizzuto-montreal-mafia-s-teflon-don-dies-1.2474011" target="_blank">CBC News</a>.</p>
<p>Last month, wealthy Montreal baker Moreno Gallo was shot dead in front of a crowd of witnesses at an Acapulco pizzeria. The 68-year-old was executed three years to the day after Rizzuto’s father, Nicolo, was shot dead by a sniper in the kitchen of his mansion, in front of his wife and daughter.</p>
<p>“He wasn’t the very forgiving kind,” said <a href="http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-mobster-vito-rizzuto-dead-at-67-1.1605065" target="_blank">CTV Montreal</a>’s Stephane Giroux.</p>
<p>Not very forgiving indeed. And with a long list of enemies he wished dead. Hence the surprise when the news broke that Vito Rizzuto, boss of the Montreal Mafia, had died of natural causes at a hospital. No shotgun blast. No sniper round. No bomb explosion. His heart just stopped ticking.</p>
<p>His death signals an uneasy and unclear future for a Montreal underworld already shaking from an ongoing mob war.</p>
<p>“Now that [Vito’s] gone it's going to unleash a lot of unprecedented jockeying for the - for his position, his power his financial empire - it's all going to be played out on the streets across Canada,” author Adrian Humphreys, who wrote a book about the rise of the Rizzuto family titled <a href="http://amzn.to/J9nDSN" target="_blank">The Sixth Family</a>, told <a href="http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/montreal-mobster-vito-rizzuto-dead-at-67-1.1605065" target="_blank">CTV News</a>.</p>
<p>Former RCMP organized-crime analyst Pierre De Champlain agrees, telling the <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/montreal-mob-boss-vito-rizzuto-dead-at-67-report/article16088523/" target="_blank">Globe and Mail newspaper</a>, “It’s news no one was expecting. This will trigger a lot of upheaval.”</p>
<p>The king is dead, long live the king!</p>
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