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2024-03-28T21:55:46Z
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The Guys That Do More Than Killing: Gambino Mafia family mobsters busted for large variety of crimes
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-guys-that-do-more-than-killing-gambino-mafia-family-mobsters
2021-01-17T12:12:10.000Z
2021-01-17T12:12:10.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-guys-that-do-more-than-killing-gambino-mafia-family-mobsters" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237136270,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237136270?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p><em>Published December 2019 - Updated January 2021</em>: Two mobsters once praised by Mafia boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gotti" target="_blank">John Gotti</a> are among twelve <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino Mafia family</a> gangsters and associates who were indicted in federal court in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a> on Thursday and charged with racketeering conspiracy, bribery, loansharking, fraud, obstruction of justice and related offenses. The biggest fish caught up in this bust is alleged Gambino family capo Andrew Campos.</p>
<p>Along with Campos, agents arrested <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino crime family</a> soldiers James Ciaccia, George Campos, Vincent Fiore and Richard Martino; and alleged Gambino associates Renato Barca, Jr., Benito DiZenzo, Mark Kocaj, Frank Tarul and Michael Tarul. They are charged with crimes that occurred “throughout the New York metropolitan area since February 2013”.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237136665,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237136665?profile=original" /></a><em>Photo: Richard Martino and Andrew Campos while in prison.</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“[Mob crew] ran the gamut of criminal activity”</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237137055,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237137055?profile=original" /></a>“The Gambino members arrested in this case ran the gamut of criminal activity,” stated <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. “Everything from the usual thuggish behavior of beating people up, forcing people to take the fall for their crimes, all the way to defrauding the federal government. Several suspects even went to prison, were released, and allegedly went right back to breaking the law. At some point, these crime families should realize we see what they're doing, and their actions are going to lead them right back to the same prison cells.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-gambino-family-mobster-shows-his-soft-side" target="_blank"><strong>Former Gambino family mobster shows his soft side</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Prosecutors allege that 50-year-old Andrew Campos and members of his crew used <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bribe" target="_blank">bribery</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fraud" target="_blank">fraud</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> schemes to infiltrate the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Construction" target="_blank">construction industry</a> and earn millions of dollars in criminal proceeds. Campos and 60-year-old Richard Martino were seen as the cream of the crop of the Gambino family. Mob boss John Gotti (right) himself said they would make the family proud after he had inducted them into <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Gotti: “I want guys that done more than killing”</strong></span></p>
<p>“I want guys that done more than killing,” Gotti was caught saying on tape. “I like the Richies. […] They’re young – twenty-something, thirty-something – […] They’re beautiful guys. […] Ten years from now, these young guys we straightened out, they’re going to be really proud of them.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237137071,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237137071?profile=original" /></a>Turned out Gotti was right. They did hit the jackpot, but their success was interrupted by law enforcement. In 2005, Campos and Martino (right) were convicted for their role in a massive multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud users of adult entertainment services. Martino was ultimately sentenced to 108 months’ imprisonment and ordered by the court to pay $9.1 million in forfeiture.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/interview-john-gotti-jr-sits-down-with-gangsters-inc" target="_blank">Former Mafia boss John Gotti Jr. sits down with Gangsters Inc.</a> for an exclusive interview</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Upon their release, prosecutors claim, the two went straight back to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambino" target="_blank">Gambino family</a> and resumed their activities. Albeit, while taking a lot of precautions. According to the indictment, once Martino got out of prison, he worked with 45-year-old Gambino associate Frank Tarul and others to conceal his substantial wealth and income, falsely reporting that he had limited assets and worked for Tarul’s flooring company.</p>
<p>Court-authorized wiretaps, however, revealed that Martino operated multiple companies that earned millions of dollars, including construction work, investments in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Pizza" target="_blank">pizzerias</a> and other business ventures.</p>
<p>Andrew Campos, meanwhile, also was hard at work after getting out. Together with 57-year-old Gambino soldier Vincent Fiore, 49-year-old Mark Kocaj, and 53-year-old Benito DiZenzo, he operated a carpentry company named CWC Contracting Corp. Prosecutors allege the company got an edge on the competition by paying bribes and kickbacks to employees of numerous construction companies and real estate developers. In exchange, these employees took steps to benefit CWC, including awarding contracts and approving change orders to add or delete from the original scope of a contract.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Punched in the face and your teeth get knocked out”</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237137278,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237137278?profile=original" /></a>All the front companies aside, gangsters will always do gangster things, of course. Various Gambino wiseguys were charged with using extortionate means to collect money. In one case, Campos (right) and Fiore used threats of violence to collect at least $100,000 from one victim.</p>
<p>In a wiretapped phone conversation on March 13, 2019, Fiore warned the victim: “When you get punched in the face and your teeth get knocked out [...] you’re not going to laugh no more, okay? […] At the end of the day, when you’re upside down [DA: Unable to make certain payments], you deal with him,” referring to the victim having to take things up with the powerful Campos.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-mafia-family-boss-frank-cali-shot-dead-in-front-of-his-st" target="_blank">Gambino crime family boss Frank Cali shot dead</a> in front of his Staten Island mansion</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Chances are the victim would have caved long before then, thanks to muscle men like Kocaj and 56-year-old Adrial Lopez, a former professional <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxer</a>. Both men are charged with loansharking. When law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Lopez’s home, they seized $25,000 in cash, brass knuckles and several large knives.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“A couple of my Albanian guys”</strong></span></p>
<p>Kocaj’s charges include his recovery of tens of thousands of dollars of a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> debt on behalf of an <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Albania" target="_blank">Albanian organized crime figure</a>. Kocaj bragged about his ability to violently collect money, stating that he could send “a couple of my Albanian guys” and have somebody “grab [a potential victim] by the fucking neck.” Kocaj helped collect over $30,000, threatening that if the victim did not pay, “[h]e’s going to get his head split open […] These are not the guys to fuck around with […] These Albanians, you know what they’ll do.”</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 more importantly a poster boy for the dangers of dealing with gangsters</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Omerta above all</strong></span></p>
<p>Mafiosi adhere to one cardinal rule: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Omerta" target="_blank">Omerta</a>, the code of silence. As someone who was inducted by John Gotti, the ultimate standup gangster, Andrew Campos knew this intimately. When he believed that a worker at CWC had testified before the grand jury, he allegedly ordered that he be fired. Subsequently, during a recorded conversation by authorities on November 22, 2019, Fiore directed that the CWC worker be fired as “a personal favor to Andrew,” because the worker “could’ve pled the Fifth,” meaning refuse to testify.</p>
<p>In La Cosa Nostra, you can lie, you can cheat, you can steal, and you can kill. But you don’t talk.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE - January 17, 2021</strong></span>: Eleven of the Gambino mobsters pleaded guilty on Friday to a variety of charges ranging from racketeering conspiracy, fraud, obstruction of justice, tax evasion and offenses related to organized criminal activities. <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/01/15/11-gambino-family-associates-plead-guilty-to-crimes/" target="_blank">The New York Post</a> reported that, Campos, Cobos, DiZenzo, Fiore, Kocaj, Martino and Frank Tarul each face 20 years in prison. Barca, George Campos, Ciaccia and Michael Tarul each face up to 5 years in prison. Simonlacaj faces up to 3 years in prison. </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE - February 11, 2022:</strong></span> <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/smart-gambino-mafia-family-capo-gets-3-years-in-prison-for-multim" target="_blank">Andrew Campos was sentenced to 3 years in prison</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino crime family 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>
Money launderer of powerful US-based Russian Mafia boss pleads guilty
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/money-launderer-of-powerful-us-based-russian-mafia-boss-pleads-gu
2020-12-11T16:33:45.000Z
2020-12-11T16:33:45.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/money-launderer-of-powerful-us-based-russian-mafia-boss-pleads-gu" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115687?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>A man who laundered money for the Russian Mafia pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday. Daniel Daniel admitted conspiring with US-based <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">Russian mob boss Razhden Shulaya</a> (photo above) to launder illicit proceeds through a purported vodka import-export business.</p>
<p><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">Shulaya</a> was considered untouchable. As a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian Mafia</a>, a “Vor v Zakone”, known as a “Thief-in-Law”, he had risen to a leading position in the United States operating in and around the New York City area, including in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>, as well as in other parts of the country, including Las Vegas, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LA" target="_blank">Los Angeles</a>, and Southern <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Florida" target="_blank">Florida</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <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">“For him, I am a god”</a> – Profile of Russian Mafia boss, and vor v zakone,</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>Razhden Shulaya</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>His organization engaged in widespread criminal activities, including the transportation and sale of stolen property, wire and bank fraud, illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> operations, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> of debtors to its gambling operation, and the use of false identification documents and counterfeit credit cards in order to illegally purchase merchandise.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Import-export</strong></span></p>
<p>Daniel facilitated the activities of the Shulaya organization by conspiring with Shulaya and others to launder proceeds of the group’s illicit activities. He assisted Shulaya in establishing a purported <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Vodka" target="_blank">vodka</a> import-export business referred to as “Tropport” and related Tropport bank accounts that he knew were being used as fronts for laundering criminal proceeds.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Porsches and Yeezys – Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/porsches-and-yeezys-profile-of-new-york-crime-boss-aleksey-tsvetk" target="_blank"><strong>New York crime boss Aleksey Tsvetkov</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>As Shulaya’s money laundering consultant, Daniel explained that Tropport would provide “a cover for where [Shulaya obtained his] money”; advised Shulaya on the details of fabricating documents to reflect nonexistent corporate debt in order to falsely lower Tropport’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Tax" target="_blank">tax liability</a>; and described how this sham company and false documentation would allow the vor to plausibly deny any potential money laundering allegations.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Nexus of legitimate world of finance and international network of crime</strong></span></p>
<p>Daniel is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30, 2021 and faces a maximum term of twenty years in prison. His boss and over 25 other members of the organization were arrested in June of 2017. Shulaya was sentenced to 45 years in prison on December 19, 2018.</p>
<p>“Money launderers like Daniel sit at the nexus of the legitimate world of finance and an international network of criminal activity,” Manhattan Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said. “They embolden, enrich, and facilitate pernicious criminal actors, and seek to place well-heeled criminals like Razhden Shulaya beyond accountability. Today’s plea is another example of this Office’s dedication to uprooting and prosecuting these criminal facilitators.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian Mafia 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 Dark Side of “Ljuba Zemunac” - Profile of Yugoslavian crime boss Ljubomir Magas
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-dark-side-of-ljuba-zemunac-profile-of-yugoslavian-crime-boss
2019-11-10T09:20:50.000Z
2019-11-10T09:20:50.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-dark-side-of-ljuba-zemunac-profile-of-yugoslavian-crime-boss" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131262,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131262?profile=original" /></a>By Milko for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Ljubomir Magas (photo above) was born in Zemun, a municipality in the district of Belgrade, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Serbia" target="_blank">Serbia</a>, formerly known as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Yugoslavia" target="_blank">Yugoslavia</a>, on May 27, 1948. For a while he worked at a tractor factory, but it wasn’t long before his dark side came to the front. In 1964 he was said to have been involved in a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a>. In the following years, he was frequently arrested for various crimes ranging from making threats to committing robberies. He was convicted of one such robbery in 1965 and sent to a juvenile detention facility in Nis. A year later he added another robbery conviction to his record.</p>
<p>As an amateur <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxer</a> Magas liked to fight and he was involved in countless street fights. In one such fight in 1967, he beat up a student. Fearing another stint in prison, he fled to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Austria" target="_blank">Austria</a> until things cooled off. By then he had built a reputation on the streets for being a strong, aggressive, and vindictive gangster who was feared by his peers in the underworld.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Humiliating fellow inmates</strong></span></p>
<p>In the fall of 1967, the then 19-year-old Magas was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months behind bars for rape. His future right-hand man, Rade “Centa” Caldovic, was also a suspect in this rape, but was acquitted in court. During his stay in prison Magas developed himself into a leader who would dominate the world inside the concrete walls. He frequently assaulted and humiliated other inmates.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/blacklisted-albanian-mob-boss-naser-kelmendi-built-a-criminal-bus" target="_blank"><strong>Albanian mob boss Naser Kelmendi built a criminal business empire on white heroin and ecstasy</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>In March of 1971, Magas was again on the move. This time he fled to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Italy" target="_blank">Italy</a> so he wouldn’t get arrested for car theft. He settled in Milan. Italian police quickly had him in their sights for several armed robberies and deported him to West-Germany, this being during the Cold War with the Berlin wall still separating much of Eastern Europe, including Yugoslavia, from the West.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Dominating the Frankfurt underworld</strong></span></p>
<p>He then settled in Frankfurt, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Germany" target="_blank">Germany</a>, and began working as a bouncer. He recruited a gang of Yugoslavian criminals around him and began doing armed robberies. He eventually expanded into other criminal activities such as extortion and trafficking young women from Yugoslavia to Germany, where they were forced to work in prostitution. He became known as one of the most influential figures in the underworld of Frankfurt in the 1970s and 1980s.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chappi-and-the-medellin-cartel-profile-of-german-crime-boss-heinz" target="_blank">“Chappi” and the Medellin Cartel</a>: Profile of German crime boss Heinz Bernhard Chapuis</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In 1974, Magas was arrested and charged with extortion, making threats, and assault. Around that same time, he was also wanted in Yugoslavia for rape. Yugoslavia asked for his extradition, but Germany refused, only to agree when the Yugoslavs asked again a year later. He was deported to Yugoslavia in September of 1975 where he was subsequently sentenced to 4,5 years in prison.</p>
<p>In the fall of 1978, he fled to Germany again to avoid a rape charge. He stayed there under the alias Giovanni Angelis. Magas was also a suspect in the murder of Veljko Krivokapic in Vienna, Austria, on October 27, 1978. Krivokapic was said to have a conflict with “Centa” Caldovic over <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> debts resulting in his death.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/czech-mob-boss-threatens-judge-gets-35-years-for-torture-and-murd" target="_blank"><strong>Czech mob boss threatens judge, gets 35 years for torture & murder</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Magas was seen as one of the most powerful gangsters in Germany and had close ties to infamous Yugoslavian criminals like Dorde Bozovic and future war lord <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Arkan" target="_blank">Zeljko “Arkan” Raznatovic</a>. According to some sources, Magas worked closely with the Yugoslavian intelligence service UDBA in the 1970s.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Rape charge</strong></span></p>
<p>In January of 1980, an international arrest warrant was issued for Magas in Yugoslavia where he was still sought for the 1978 rape accusation. West German police arrested him and deport him on February 20, 1981. He is sentenced to a 5-year term and is released on bail in October of 1982. Like clockwork he escapes and flees to Germany again.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Come at the King</strong></span></p>
<p>During a big operation by West German police in 1983, twenty individuals are arrested and charged with extortion and armed robberies. Among them is Magas. While he is locked up other Yugoslavian gangsters feel strong enough to challenge his power.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank"><strong>The Russian Mafia: From Moscow to New York</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>One of them is Goran “The Ape” Vukovic. He began doing armed <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Robbery" target="_blank">robberies</a> by himself without Magas’ approval. When Magas found out, he and two associates, Slobodan Savic and Vlada Bacar, attempted to murder Vukovic in January 1985. Vukovic was wounded, but survived. Magas was arrested, but released due to insufficient evidence.</p>
<p>The pair had a face-to-face showdown almost two years later. On November 10, 1986, shortly before 10.30 a.m. Magas and Vukovic run into each other in front of the regional courthouse in Frankfurt. Vukovic pulled out a gun and shot Magas twice in the chest. He died several hours later.</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>According to Norbert Mappes-Niediek, author of the book “<em>Balkan-Mafia, staaten in der hand der verbrechens</em>”, at the time of his death, Magas was at the height of his power. He was at the head of an organization of 250 Yugoslavians all involved in various criminal activities.</p>
<p><strong><em>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.</em></strong></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>
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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
The Hook: Life and bloody crimes of feared Chicago Mafia enforcer Harry Aleman
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-hook-life-and-bloody-crimes-of-feared-chicago-mafia-enforcer
2018-12-26T13:30:00.000Z
2018-12-26T13:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-life-and-bloody-crimes-of-feared-chicago-mafia-enforcer" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237107455,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237107455?profile=original" /></a>By Gary Jenkins</p>
<p>Harry “The Hook” Aleman was one of the Chicago Outfit’s most feared mobsters. In the first of a 4-part series documenting the life and violent crimes of this notorious thief, enforcer, juice loan collector, and hitman I recount how Aleman’s criminal career began.</p>
<p>He was born Harry Peralt Aleman on January 19, 1939 in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Chicago" target="_blank">Chicago</a>. He has been accused of as many as 18 murders by the Chicago Crime Commission and most folks believe that number is way low. He was an important tool in the Outfit’s enforcement of street tax on bookmakers and other gray area businesses like porn shops and the bar business. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit</a> associate and government agent Red Wemette described <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Schweisch" target="_blank">Frank “the Geman” Schweisch</a> as the collector and enforcer for <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-joseph-lombardo" target="_blank">Joe Lombardo</a> and the Grand Avenue Crew. Well, Harry “The Hook” Aleman was a similar collector and enforcer for <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ferriola" target="_blank">Joe Ferrolia</a> and the Taylor Street Crew. </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Bloodlines of “The Hook”</strong></span></p>
<p>Aleman’s mother was Italian, his Mexican father was a native of Durango, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mexico" target="_blank">Mexico</a>. Aleman’s maternal grandmother was of Sicilian heritage and she owed a 3-floor brownstone style building at 917 S. Bishop Street in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Chicago" target="_blank">Chicago</a>. All her extended family of uncles, aunts and cousins lived in and around this house in a neighborhood just west and south of Chicago’s Loop. Years later in a probation interview Harry Aleman described his father Louis Aleman as "sort of a Mexican godfather" who was allegedly involved in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">narcotics</a> trafficking. His mother Mary was an abused wife and Harry would become the target of his father’s angry fists as he grew up. Harry once stated, "My father was hard on me, extremely hard. He beat me every day until I left home. He used his fist or a horsewhip. If I looked at him the wrong way, he beat me. If my mother stepped in, she got hit herself."</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237107274,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237107274?profile=original" /></a>Gangster of fine arts</strong></span></p>
<p>Harry was given a respite from his father’s abuse when Louis Aleman went to prison for a 4-year <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Robbery" target="_blank">robbery</a> bit from about 1946 to 1950. Young Harry Aleman excelled at Crane Tech high school from 1951-1955. He was a halfback on the football team, a member of the physics club and took up boxing at the North Side Duncan YMCA club. His <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxing</a> career gave him his nickname “The Hook” because he had a devastating left hook. He graduated in 1955, rare for a hoodlum of that generation, and enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and graduated in 1958 with a commercial art diploma. It seems that Harry Aleman had displayed skill at painting and this ability will provide him with something do during his subsequent incarcerations.</p>
<p>Aleman’s official police record starts after graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts. He told a probation officer that during this time he sold race track tout sheets and worked at the produce markets on the Near West Side, where he sold produce and was able to sell some of his drawings. In 1960, Chicago police arrested Aleman for malicious mischief; in 1961 for gambling; in 1962 for possession of burglary tools, assault and criminal damage. In 1965 police arrested Aleman for aggravated assault. In 1966, he was charged with grand theft auto and armed robbery. In 1968, the police arrested him for criminal damage to property and in 1969 for aggravated <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Kidnapping" target="_blank">kidnapping</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Untouchable "Little Jimmy" -</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/untouchable-little-jimmy-profile-of-chicago-mafia-boss-james-marc" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Chicago Mafia boss James Marcello</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Falling in love</strong></span></p>
<p>In 1960, Harry became infatuated with a beautiful young spunky widow named Ruth Mustari who worked at a Rush street bar. When he first met Ruth, she was having trouble with a former boyfriend named Richard Fanning. On December 10, 1960, Mr Fanning was found beaten and stabbed to death near his South Side home. In 1964, Aleman married Ruth Mustari, a widow with four children. Ruth's first husband, Frank Mustari, had been an Outfit connected mobster as well. He was killed in 1957 in an attempted murder of a hijacker and tavern owner. In this case, his victim was armed and shot first. The man was killed a few months later. Ruth was the ultimate mob wife. She always stood by her husband’s story that he was a commercial artist and she always maintained that the family was dead broke most of the time. A great story showing how Ruth was the classic mob wife happened in 1976. Harry Aleman was indicted for the murder of Billy Logan, Ruth came to the Cook County Jail with a suitcase containing $350,000 to bail him out, not realizing that she needed only $35,000.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-the-chicago-outfit-made" target="_blank"><strong>How the Chicago Outfit made its Hollywood dreams come true</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>In later years a friend of Harry’s named Lou Almeida went into the witness protection. Almeida who has served time for armed robbery, grand theft, burglary, and bond jumping, recalled that he and Aleman grew up together near Taylor Street and Racine. He remembered how Aleman met his wife, Ruth. She was working in a State Street nightclub club and all the neighborhood guys loved Ruth because she was so beautiful. He remembered Harry as a very slim physically fit guy who wore sharp suits and skinny little ties in the fashion of the times and they called him "The Sheik" because he dressed nice. Almeida recalled. "Everybody looked up to him because his family was supposed to be in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a>.” The two young hoodlums hung around in the neighborhood pool hall on Taylor Street. He remembered Harry liked to bet on the horses and he always had money and nice jewelry and clothes. Almeida said He remembered that Aleman was a strict father to his adopted children. On one occasion Almeida remembers that Harry asked him to give one of his adopted sons a good beating because the kid was getting drunk and staying out late. Harry didn't want to beat him up because Ruth would be angry.</p>
<p>The couple had no biological children, and in later years Ruth Aleman once said, "He was wonderful to my children, He took the kids to Kiddieland, to dinner, on picnics, camping. He always had time for the kids. In the Cook county probation interview Harry said of his step children, "I raised them, I consider them my own. I couldn't be any closer if they were my own blood. I love my kids. I love my wife. I have six grandkids--this gives me hope." She would say that Harry always came home for dinner and asked the children about their day and how they were doing.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The vicious Hook</strong></span></p>
<p>In his 20s, Harry Aleman was well known on the near north side of Chicago as a vicious guy who had no fear and did not back down. In 1962 Aleman, his brother Freddie and two other men were in a bar on North Rush Street and became involved in an altercation. Witnesses saw Aleman push a woman through a plate glass window. This witness was Howard Pierson, the 23-year-old son of the commander of the Chicago police robbery section. Pierson claimed he chased Aleman and his friends out of the bar and flagged down a police car. The passing officers caught up with Aleman and were questioning them when Howard Pierson caught up. Knowing that Pierson was the guy who told the cops, Aleman, without warning, sucker punched Pierson with his famous left hand and broke his jaw. For that incident, Aleman received two years' probation.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Married to the Mob</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237108065,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237108065?profile=original" /></a>Joe Ferriola, a man who would eventually rise to become the boss of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">the Outfit</a>, had married the sister of Aleman's mother. Ferriola took the young Aleman under his wing and as Ferriola continued to rise in the mob, so did Aleman. He joined up with the so-called Taylor Street crew with Butch Petrocelli, Louis Almeida, Leonard Foresta and James Inendino. The group made their headquarters the Survivor's Social and Athletic Club, on Taylor Street just west of Racine Avenue in Chicago’s Little Italy. In the 1970s, Ferriola instructed his Taylor Street crew "to organize Chicago the way it was back in the '30s and '40s.” What he meant was he wanted them to identify and contact all known neighborhood gamblers who earned a living at sports booking, off track race betting or any other forms of gambling. As an added source of income, Aleman and the others started to commit home invasions and burglaries. The crew turned all proceeds over to Ferriola and he paid each crew member $500 for his work. During this time Joe Ferriola became the Outfit’s underboss, he instructed all Outfit crews to extract a street tax from all independent bookmakers for the right to operate.</p>
<p>Although he was slightly built, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 145 pounds, Aleman became so feared in underworld circles in the 1970s that small time hoodlums trying to collect <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> debts simply invoked his name to collect. Two Chicago loan sharks were convicted of extortion and sent to prison in 1978 for collecting a $6,500.00 debt from a South Side tavern owner by saying that Aleman would come after him if he didn't pay. Prosecutors said it was a ruse and Aleman was not involved in any way.</p>
<p>Harry the Hook teamed up with a childhood friend named Butch Petrocelli. The team hung out at the Survivors Athletic Club on Taylor street. This was the kind of mobster social club you see in the movies. The cappuccino machine was always going. In the winter the men sat around tables and talked or played cards. As the weather warmed up, by summertime, the dangerous looking inhabitants were standing out front wearing wife beaters or polo shirts and sansabelt slacks. Inside Petrocelli and Aleman developed skills as bombmakers by packing 2-inch pipes with black powder and a little nitroglycerine. These were used to get the attention of any businessman who refused to cooperate with the gang.</p>
<p>This duo first came to the attention of law enforcement in 1969. A painting contractor told <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> agents that he had lost $6,000.00 to an Outfit bookmaker and he had been threatened with death if he did not pay the “Vig” on the debt because they converted this debt to a juice loan. He had been accosted by two men who beat him up, threatened to bomb his house and kill his wife. The contractor planned to meet these two extortionists and make a payment and alert nearby agents. When he arrived at the preselected meeting spot, the agents caught Harry Aleman and Butch Petrocelli parked nearby. The victim identified them as the two men who had beat and threatened him. A grand jury was presented this evidence and no indictment was ever returned. This would not be the first case against Harry Aleman that just disappeared inside the Cook county judicial system.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: The Message:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-message-dont-fuck-with" target="_blank"><strong>Don't Fuck With Mob Boss Antonino Accardo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Harry Aleman will never be a made guy and never be a boss, but he will become the leader of home invasion crews, hit teams, keep the Taylor Street’s Crew’s bookies in line and collect from loan shark victims who were behind.</p>
<p><em>The Chicago Tribune, Everybody Pays by Maurice Possley and Rick Kogan provided many of the material for this article.</em></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;font-size:12pt;"><strong>Also read:</strong></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-life-and-bloody-crimes-of-feared-chicago-mafia-enforcer" target="_blank">The Hook: Life and bloody crimes of feared Chicago Mafia enforcer Harry Aleman</a></strong><br /> <strong>The Hook – Part 2: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-part-2-chicago-outfit-mobster-harry-aleman-murders-his-w" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit mobster Harry Aleman murders his way to power</a></strong><br /> <strong>The Hook – Part 3: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-part-3-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-vicious-chicago-outf" target="_blank">The beginning of the end</a> for vicious Chicago Outfit hitman Harry Aleman</strong><br /> <strong>The Hook – Part 4: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-part-4-the-downfall-of-harry-aleman-chicago-s-most-feare" target="_blank">The downfall of Harry Aleman</a>, Chicago’s most feared hitman</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong>About the author:</strong></span></p>
<p><em>Gary Jenkins retired from the Kansas City Police Department in 1996 after a 25-year career. He then attended the UMKC School of Law and graduated in 2000. He was admitted to the Missouri Bar and continues to practice law today. He is a Board member of the Kansas City Police Pension System and The Jackson County Historical Society. During the past 10 years, he produced three documentary films. The first two were <a href="http://undergroundrailroadkansas.com/">Negroes To Hire: Slave Life in Antebellum Missouri</a> and <a href="http://undergroundrailroadkansas.com/">Freedom Seekers: Stories From the Western Underground Railroad</a>.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://ganglandwire.com/about-2/">Gangland Wire</a> is Jenkin's third documentary film. During Gary's KCPD career, he was assigned to the KCPD Intelligence Unit, investigating organized crime. In the 1970s, a grass roots development in the City Market area, became known as the River Quay. A Mafia dispute over parking rights and strip clubs would destroy the area. The resulting investigation will allow FBI agents to convict La Cosa Nostra leaders in Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee.</em></p>
<p><em>Additionally, Jenkins created a smartphone app titled <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kansas-city-mob-tour/id958652599?mt=8">Kansas City Mob Tour.</a> This app utilizing maps, text, photos and video conducts the user on a tour of famous Kansas City mob sites.</em></p>
<p><em>He produces and co-hosts a podcast titled <a href="https://ganglandwire.com/">Gangland Wire Crime Stories.</a> Using the audio podcast format, Jenkins tells true crime stories from his experience and obtains guests who have either committed crimes, investigated crimes or reported on criminals. </em></p>
<p><em>His most recent project is his book documenting the investigation into Las Vegas skimming activities. Jenkins uses actual wiretap transcripts to tell the story of this investigation. The book is titled</em> <a href="https://ganglandwire.com/store/"><em>Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How the F.B.I. Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos.</em></a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit 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>
“For him, I am a god” – Profile of Russian Mafia boss, and vor v zakone, Razhden Shulaya
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone
2018-12-22T10:26:18.000Z
2018-12-22T10:26:18.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><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"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115687?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>As a vor v zakone, mob boss Razhden Shulaya (above) was an official member of a century-old criminal tradition. As such, he was treated as Russian Mafia royalty. He used that position to run a sprawling organization involved in kidnapping, assault, fraud, extortion, and money laundering throughout the United States.</p>
<p>It was on the streets of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Petersburg" target="_blank">St. Petersburg</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Russia" target="_blank">Russia</a>, that Shulaya earned his stripes in the Russian underworld fraternity of the vory v zakone, or thieves-in-law. Welcomed into this brotherhood, he enjoyed its protection and influence.</p>
<p>As a member, he now too could offer the same to other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian gangsters</a> seeking his guidance. His powerful position also enabled him to demand tribute payments from low-level criminals. More importantly, his title traveled along with him everywhere he went - even to the United States of America.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Russian Mafia has no boundaries</strong></span></p>
<p>Shulaya’s center of operations was based in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NYC" target="_blank">New York City</a>, but he set up various crews with its members operating in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Florida" target="_blank">Florida</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Nevada" target="_blank">Nevada</a>. Of course, as an international Russian Mafia boss his organization knew no boundaries.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Spanish court rules investments of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/spanish-court-rules-that-investments-of-tambovskaya-malyshevskaya" target="_blank">Tambovskaya-Malyshevskaya Russian Mafia clan</a> not criminal</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Most of his underlings were born in Russia and countries once part of the Soviet Union and many maintained substantial ties to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Georgia" target="_blank">Georgia</a>, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation. They traveled there regularly, communicated with associates in those countries, and transferred criminal proceeds to individuals there.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>From bribes to brothels: Business was booming</strong></span></p>
<p>There were enough proceeds to transfer. Business was booming in the United States. Shulaya liked to be on top things and personally oversaw the various illicit activities his associates were involved in. Whether it was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a>, trafficking stolen goods, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bribery" target="_blank">bribing</a> corrupt police officers or running <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling businesses</a> and a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brothel" target="_blank">brothel</a> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>, Shulaya kept a close eye on his interests.</p>
<p>White collar crime also was a favorite. His crews engaged in identity theft, credit card fraud, and laundered their ill-gotten gains through a fraudulently established vodka import-export company. Shulaya also created a scheme to defraud <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Casino" target="_blank">casinos</a> by targeting particular models of electronic slot machines using a complicated algorithm designed to predict the behavior of those machines. </p>
<p>To obtain the technology needed to commit that fraud, he kidnapped a software engineer in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Vegas" target="_blank">Las Vegas</a> in 2014. Shulaya then refined the technology by training lower-level members to execute this casino scam using smartphones and software developed by his organization.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115887,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115887?profile=original" /></a>“For him, I am a god”</strong></span></p>
<p>As the kidnapping showed, Shulaya (right) had no qualms about using force or violence – against anyone. He pistol-whipped a relative and gave a public beating to a disrespectful member of his gang. He even showed around photographs of the badly disfigured face of his former lieutenant Mamuka Chaganava, who he had beaten to a pulp. He took pride in his brutal work and was unafraid of retribution or Chaganava perhaps turning to police, saying: “For him, I am a god.”</p>
<p>Perhaps, but it also helped that he was usually flanked by Avtandil Khurtsidze, a former middleweight <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxing</a> champion and his chief enforcer and debt collector. Khurtsidze was captured on video twice assaulting others on orders of Shulaya and planned additional acts of violence with his boss targeting fellow members whom they perceived as having disrespected Shulaya’s status as a vor.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Downfall</strong></span></p>
<p>As the threats and beatings continued, the feds had found their target. On June 7, 2017, Shulaya and 32 members of his enterprise were hit with three indictments and one complaint charging them with a variety of racketeering charges.</p>
<p>A year later, following a two-week trial, Shulaya was found guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of conspiring to traffic in stolen goods such as luxury watches, one count of conspiracy to traffic in contraband tobacco, one count of identification document fraud, and one count of wire fraud conspiracy.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-two-russian-mobsters-got-caught-up-in-the-iraqi-civil-war" target="_blank"><strong>How two Russian mobsters got caught up in the Iraqi civil war</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Khurtsidze was also found guilty on racketeering and related charges and was subsequently sentenced on September 7, 2018 to 10 years behind bars. </p>
<p>41-year-old Shulaya was sentenced to 45 years in prison on December 19. In addition to the prison term, the Russian vor was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,169,270 in forfeiture and restitution in the amount of $550,000.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian Mafia 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>
Hardened gangster told child actor: “You are the only person who has said that to me and lived to tell the tale”
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/hardened-gangster-told-child-actor-you-are-the-only-person-who-ha
2018-09-03T18:00:00.000Z
2018-09-03T18:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/hardened-gangster-told-child-actor-you-are-the-only-person-who-ha" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237107275,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237107275?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Acting is a funny business. You have weak-hearted actors portraying stone-cold killers and making the violence believable. And then you have guys who are the real deal, who play themselves. Like “The Hardest Man in Britain” did in the classic gangster flick Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lenny “The Guv’nor” McLean held the title “hardest man in Britain” and earned every letter. As a bare-knuckle boxer in the swinging sixties in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=London" target="_blank">London</a>, England, he was a well-known figure in the city’s underworld. He hung out with notorious gangsters such as the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Krays" target="_blank">Kray twins</a>, Ronnie Biggs and Charles Bronson.</p>
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal"><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/exclusive-the-art-of-smuggling-by-britain-s-first-drug-baron" target="_blank">The Art of Smuggling: Britain's first drug baron</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal">His fighting prowess and killer instinct were soon put to good use when he went to work as a bouncer at London’s nightclubs. His job put him in some hazardous situations. He was stabbed, shot, and had plenty of fights.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One night, he said, he gave a man “a backhander.” The man was found dead later that evening with a broken jawbone and severe neck injuries. Police arrested McLean, who denied any wrongdoing, and he ended up doing 18 months in prison for grievous bodily harm.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With his reputation for violence firmly established, McLean was perfectly casted for a role in up and coming British film director Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, a movie about London’s seedy underworld.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">McLean starred as an enforcer named <em>Barry The Baptist</em>. While hanging around on the set, he took child actor Peter McNicholl under his muscled wing. McNicholl was 11 years old at the time and starred as the son of <em>Big Chris</em>, a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking" target="_blank">loanshark</a> played by former football star Vinnie Jones.</p>
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal"><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangster-turned-cage-fighter-lee-murray" target="_blank">Gangster-turned-UFC fighter Lee Murray</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p class="MsoNormal">“At first I was thinking, ‘That geezer is enormous and very scary looking’,” McNicholl told British tabloid <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/film/lock-stock-two-smoking-barrels-13176787" target="_blank">The Mirror</a> about the time when he first met McLean. “In our scene I said, ‘Piss off you nonce.’ Afterwards he pulled me aside and said in that low powerful voice: ‘You are the only person who has said that to me and lived to tell the tale.’”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">McNicholl was too young to understand the meaning at that time and it was difficult for him to think of McLean as anything but a sweet old fella. “I had no idea of his history or reputation. He was the only actor allowed a TV in his Winnebago on set and he allowed only [me and my mother] to watch it on breaks. […] He would make us a cup of tea and hand out sweets and biscuits. He must have felt really at home with us.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was released it was a huge hit and a gangster classic. Film critics praised McLean’s performance, but he never got to enjoy the kind words and reviews. He passed away weeks before the movie premiere, succumbing to lung and brain cancer at age 49.</p>
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Don King: From street thug to street name?
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/don-king-from-street-thug-to-street-name
2016-10-26T13:33:17.000Z
2016-10-26T13:33:17.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/don-king-from-street-thug-to-street-name"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237075462,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237075462?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Robert Sberna - <a href="http://www.robertsberna.com">www.robertsberna.com</a></p>
<p>With two killings under his belt and a long record of exploiting boxers in his employ, some might say that legendary promoter Don King exemplifies the type of character that has historically populated the fight game. At the professional level, the so-called “sweet science” is generally a grimy business. And King, perhaps more than anyone else in boxing, set the standard for dirty, low-down dealing.</p>
<p>During his career, King represented a string of boxing greats, including <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-shook-up-the-world-how-muhammad-ali-took-the-heavyweight-boxing">Muhammad Ali</a>, George Foreman, Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes, all of whom would file lawsuits against him. King’s early years were spent in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cleveland">Cleveland</a>, Ohio as a feared numbers runner and loan shark with ties to the city’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mob">mob</a>. While still in his teens, King gained a reputation for dealing severely with transgressors. In 1954, he shot a man in the back when he discovered him allegedly trying to rob one of his illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling">gambling</a> parlors. A police review ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide. In 1966, he encountered an employee, Sam Garrett, outside of the Manhattan Tap Room on Cleveland’s Cedar Avenue. Angered over an unpaid $600 gambling debt, King stomped the smaller Garrett to death on the sidewalk. King was convicted of manslaughter and served four years in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Prison">prison</a>.</p>
<p>Now, some members of Cleveland City Council are proposing to honor their native son by renaming a stretch of Cedar Avenue, near where Garrett was killed, as “Don King Way.”</p>
<p>To use King’s own catchphrase: “Only in America.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237076052,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237076052?profile=original" width="498" /></a>Born in Cleveland in 1931, King (photo above) was a numbers runner, loanshark, bookmaker, and an amateur boxer before becoming a boxing promoter and manager. While serving time for the Garrett murder, King listened to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-shook-up-the-world-how-muhammad-ali-took-the-heavyweight-boxing">Muhammad Ali</a> and Joe Frazier’s “Fight of the Century” in 1971. King was inspired by the historic event and one year later, convinced Ali to come to Cleveland to participate in a charity boxing match to support a local hospital. However, an investigative report compiled years later by ESPN revealed that the hospital only received $1500 of the $85,000 collected in ticket sales. </p>
<p>King’s association with Ali would lead to him winning the rights to promote the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire between Ali and then-heavyweight champ George Foreman. The next year, he promoted the "Thrilla in Manila" between Ali and Joe Frazier in the Philippines.</p>
<p>King would go on to promote many world championship bouts and represent dozens of top boxers. However, he was strongly criticized for his practice of representing both opponents in a title fight. He did this through the use of a contractual clause that required a boxer who wished to challenge a fighter belonging to King to agree to be promoted by King in the future if he won. Thus, no matter which boxer was victorious, King represented the winner. Those who balked at King’s terms would find it very difficult to obtain fights, especially title fights, with boxers who were promoted by King.</p>
<p>King’s early career was marked by his violent response to anyone who cheated him. But he didn’t seem to have any compunction against defrauding others. King would frequently deliver a one-two punch to boxers—cheating them and then, when sued, dragging out the litigation for years until agreeing to settle for a paltry amount. In 1982, he was sued by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-shook-up-the-world-how-muhammad-ali-took-the-heavyweight-boxing">Muhammad Ali</a> for underpaying him $1.2 million from a fight purse years earlier. After a legal battle, he settled with Ali (who was, at that time, hospitalized and in financial straits) for $50,000 in cash.</p>
<p>Larry Holmes, Tim Witherspoon, Terry Wayne Norris, Meldrick Taylor, and many others would accuse King of shortchanging them. They would eventually settle for a fraction of the amount they were owed. He paid Witherspoon only $90,000 of a $500,000 purse, explaining that his stepson, Carl King (who was Witherspoon’s manager), was contractually owed 50 percent of the boxer’s purse, or $250,000.</p>
<p>In some cases, King would use his mob connections to threaten violence to a disgruntled fighter. In Meldrick Taylor’s case, he was warned to drop a legal action or he would be killed.</p>
<p>Former heavyweight champ Larry Holmes, who claims King cheated him out of $20-$30 million over his career, famously likened the promoter to Satan, saying, “His hair sticks up to hide his horns.” Holmes sued King after King deducted an inexplicable $300,000 ‘finder's fee’ from his fight purse against Mike Tyson. Holmes settled for $150,000 and also signed a legal agreement promising not to disclose negative information about King. When Holmes’s manager, Richie Giachetti, also a Cleveland native, wanted to report King to the FBI, Holmes declined to help, reportedly saying, “King has a lot of bad friends…I’m scared for my family. I’ve got to be careful. He can hurt me.”</p>
<p>King’s intimidation tactics didn’t always work though. In 1998, boxing champ Mike Tyson sued King, claiming the promoter bilked him out of $100 million. The case was settled out of court for $14 million. But not before Tyson tracked down King in Los Angeles and thrashed him outside of a hotel.</p>
<p>Explaining why he beat up King, Tyson told an interviewer, “[I was angry] that he refused to admit any wrongdoing. I confronted him. He basically denied it and I attacked him in front of these old decrepit white women. King is a wretched, slimy, reptilian motherfucker. This is supposed to be my ‘black brother’, right? He's just a bad man, a real bad man. He would kill his own mother for a dollar. He’s ruthless, he’s deplorable, he’s greedy...and he doesn't know how to love anybody.”</p>
<p>King’s ties to organized crime have long been suspected. During the 1980s, an FBI investigation led by agent Joe Spinelli, conducted a four-year probe into corruption in boxing. Spinelli would later write about the investigation in an issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. In the Nov. 3, 1991 New York Times, Dave Anderson wrote about Spinelli’s investigation and his revelations in the Sports Illustrated article.</p>
<p>“Acording to Spinelli,” wrote Anderson, “An undercover agent using the name Victor Quintana pretended to be a multimillionaire drug dealer who hoped to launder money as a boxing promotional partner. Quintana met with King early in 1983 after being ushered into the promoter's office by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Franzese">Michael Franzese</a>, then a capo in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo crime family</a>, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who acknowledges having been a FBI informant later but not at the time of the meeting. Shortly afterwards, Spinelli recalls, the FBI abruptly canceled its investigation. Two months earlier, South Korean lightweight Duk Koo Kim died after being knocked out by Ray Mancini in a title bout. According to Spinelli, the FBI office in Washington did not want to risk being involved in a boxing promotion that could possibly result in a boxer's death. Two months later, Quintana met <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-capo-pagano-hit-with-racketeering-charges">Danny Pagano</a>, a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese crime family</a> soldier. When Pagano found out that Quintana had met King through Franzese, Pagano said, ‘What did you go to Michael for? King’s with us.’”</p>
<p>King was even called before a 1992 U.S. Senate committee to discuss his connection to mob boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gotti">John Gotti</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-matthew-matty">Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianniello</a>. King invoked the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer any questions. He was charged with tax evasion, but the case was dropped.</p>
<p>In 1983, Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes pardoned King’s 1966 manslaughter conviction (a move that was rumored to have been spurred by a King bribe).</p>
<p>In September of this year, when Cleveland City Council proposed the naming of Don King Way, some members noted that King, now 85, had turned his life around. Without explaining why that particular stretch was chosen, they pointed out that King, who is worth an estimated $150 million, has donated millions of dollars to various charities in his hometown.</p>
<p>But other members questioned the wisdom of the street renaming, noting the proximity to King’s murder of Garrett.</p>
<p>However, even when reminded of Garret’s brutal beating, a Cleveland council member argued in support of the renaming, saying that many street names can be considered controversial. “Some of the streets in America are named after, if you look at the history, former slave owners,” he said, according to a Cleveland Plain Dealer article.</p>
<p>A 1966 police report written by Cleveland Police detective Robert Tonne detailed Garret’s death. Tonne stated that, two cops driving past the scene saw the 6-foot-2, 230-pound King beating Garrett. In Tonne’s report, he noted that King, who had a gun in his right hand, was kicking Garrett in the face and head. When the cops ordered King to drop his gun, he threw the pistol on a nearby car and kicked Garret once more in the face.</p>
<p>The unconscious Garrett, 34, was transported to a hospital where he died. Doctors reported that he had a punctured ear drum, fractured jaw and a skull fracture.</p>
<p>Witnesses who saw Garrett being beaten told police that King pistol-whipped him and repeatedly kicked him. One witness reported that just before Garrett fell unconscious, he pleaded with King to stop, screaming, “I’ll give you the money, Don!”</p>
<p><strong><em><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sberna">Robert Sberna</a> is a Cleveland-based journalist who contributes to several national publications. His first book, <a href="http://amzn.to/2eAhLTQ" target="_blank">House of Horrors</a>: 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="http://amzn.to/2e3QhX4" 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></em></strong></p>
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Profile: Genovese crime family boss: Vincent
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236984267,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236984267?profile=original" width="467" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Vincent “Chin” Gigante was one of the weirdest and oddest Mafia bosses in American history. Famous for wandering through the streets in his bathrobe, mumbling and talking to himself, for over 30 years, he even fooled medical professionals into thinking he had lost his mind. But on the streets, his friends and enemies knew the truth: That he was the most powerful gangster in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">United States</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236984669,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236984669?profile=original" width="139" /></a>Vincent Gigante (right) was born on March 29, 1928, in New York and grew up in Greenwich Village, in Lower Manhattan. He had a good start in life with two loving parents, completing 9th grade and attending a vocational textile high school after that. But something was missing. It was not the job for him. He quit school and got a variety of odd jobs.</p>
<p>To blow off steam, in 1946, he began boxing. His fight career was pretty solid, winning 23 of his 24 fights, only one by knockout. Whether he was a great boxer or whether he got some help from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-shook-up-the-world-how-muhammad-ali-took-the-heavyweight-boxing">mobbed up boxing promoters</a> is not that known, but judging from the crowd he would surround himself with in later years it would not come as a surprise.</p>
<p>While working those odd jobs in between boxing fights, Gigante became associated with a crew in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">family</a> once headed by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/luckys-luck-how-charlie">Charles “Lucky” Luciano</a>. He showed he was capable of controlled violence and not afraid for anyone. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mob">Mob</a> leader <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/get-the-right-man-how-the-fbn">Vito Genovese</a> took an immediate liking to him. Gigante became one of his most trusted and loyal soldiers, his go-to guy for serious business.</p>
<p>Serious as in the 1957 clandestine hit on an official Mafia boss, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/this-is-for-you-frank-profile-of-mafia-boss-frank-costello">Frank Costello</a>, the man in charge of Gigante’s family.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236985288,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236985288?profile=original" width="143" /></a>Gigante spent hours every day target shooting in a secure Greenwich Village basement to practice for the hit. Despite all this preparation things still didn’t go as planned. As <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/this-is-for-you-frank-profile-of-mafia-boss-frank-costello">Costello</a> (left) entered the hotel lobby where he was staying, Gigante lay in waiting. When the boss passed him by, Gigante yelled out, “This is for you, Frank!” Costello turned his head the exact moment Gigante fired a bullet his way. The shot grazed Costello’s head and knocked him to the floor. Gigante thought he’d done his job and fled the scene in a getaway car.</p>
<p>He was wrong.</p>
<p>Costello was only wounded and survived the hit. But the result was still satisfactory for Vito Genovese, the man who ordered it. He wanted the power and needed Costello out of the way. After the botched hit, Costello decided to step down and retire. Genovese became the new boss of the family and Gigante was on the fast track to becoming a bigtime gangster.</p>
<p>After starting out as a soldier in the crew of capo Thomas Eboli, by the 1970s he was a capo himself. A decade later, he moved up to the rank of consigliere, advising boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-boss-fat-tony-s-crazy-christmas-card">Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno</a> on mob business.</p>
<p>When Salerno suffered a stroke, he retired to his farm to recuperate for six months. When he returned it is alleged Gigante was appointed as official boss while Salerno would serve as a front to fool law enforcement agencies. He would continue to do so until he was convicted in the Commission Trial targeting all the leaders of the five New York families. He died in prison in 1992.</p>
<p>With Salerno’s conviction and death, Gigante was forced out into the open. Luckily he had been working on a routine that would help conceal his true identity in full view of the public and the glaring eyes of the FBI.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236985883,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236985883?profile=original" width="184" /></a>Since the 1960s, Gigante had been feigning a mental illness, checking himself in and out of hospitals. When, in 1970, he stood trial for bribing the police force of Old Tappan, New Jersey, several psychiatrists testified in court that Gigante was a “paranoid schizophrenic, suffering from hallucinations.” The bribery charges were subsequently dropped.</p>
<p>The success of his crazy act encouraged Gigante to use his mental frailty as a device to confuse, fool, and allude the law. He booked himself into St. Vincent’s Psychiatric Hospital in Harrison, Westchester County, 22 times between 1969 and 1990. As he grew older, he became a familiar sight, wandering around the streets of Greenwich Village, a shabby, demented old man. Usually dressed in striped pajamas, slippers, and a royal blue robe, grinning and talking to himself.</p>
<p>“God is my lawyer,” he told a psychiatrist. “He will defend me.”</p>
<p>His brother, reverend Louis Gigante, told reporters on one occasion, “Vincent is a paranoid schizophrenic. He hallucinates. He’s been that way since 1968 or 1969. Look at the medication he takes each day.” Louis Gigante showed a list that he said was his brother’s daily intake: five milligrams of Valium; 100 milligrams of Thorazine; and 30 milligrams of Dalmare.</p>
<p>When told that her son was being indicted for being the boss of the biggest, most powerful Cosa Nostra family in America, his then 88-year-old mother shouted, “Vincenzo? He is the boss of the toilet!”</p>
<p>Still, some people weren’t so sure his crazy act was worth it. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-boss-fat-tony-s-crazy-christmas-card">Anthony Salerno</a> said it best one time when he was caught on an FBI tape. “If ‘Chin' gets pinched, all those years in that fuckin’ asylum would be for nothing.”</p>
<p>Indeed.</p>
<p>At first, Gigante’s acting seemed to pay off. The feds just couldn't convict him. When they arrested him in 1990 he was charged with 41 different racketeering and conspiracy charges, yet he would not be convicted until 1997.</p>
<p>As he was being closely monitored by the FBI and prison guards, Gigante sometimes stopped acting. He apparently looked after himself in prison. He made his own bed, shadowboxed in his cell, and despite his advancing years, commanded respect from the other inmates. During one conversation with a prison guard, he was asked if other inmates were harassing him. “Gigante looked at me,” the guard said, “and replied, ‘Nobody fucks with me.’”</p>
<p>Not a smart thing to say, especially not when you’re crazy act is working like a charm. However, it wasn't Gigante's shadowboxing or normal behavior that did him in. Several turncoat mobsters, among which <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino family</a> underboss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-underboss-salvatore">Salvatore Gravano</a>, testified that Gigante wasn't crazy and that he in fact was the boss of the Genovese crime family. After that, Gigante was found guilty and convicted.</p>
<p>Locked up, away from his relatives and mob family, Gigante remained in firm control of his criminal empire. This became clear on January 23, 2002, when Gigante's son <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-associate-andrew">Andrew</a> and six others were indicted. Since his conviction, Gigante dropped the crazy man act and used his son and others to carry out his directives. In April of 2003, he finally pleaded guilty to faking mental incapacity to obstruct justice. As a result, three years were added to his twelve year sentence.</p>
<p>It was Gigante’s final appearance. On December 19, 2005, the 77-year-old mob boss died in the U.S. Medical Center in Springfield, Mo. According to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/son-of-new-york-mafia-boss-vincent-chin-gigante-pleads-guilty-to" target="_blank">Gigante’s son Vincent Esposito</a>, his condition was worsening, but this was ignored by Missouri prison officials. Esposito visited his father on October 16 and 17, and found him asleep or unconscious most of the time. “When he was awake, he remained slumped in his wheelchair and appeared disoriented and confused as to his surroundings” Esposito said. “In addition, his breathing was labored and he was drooling. His lower body appeared to be grossly swollen, and he had involuntary tremors of his lips and hands.”</p>
<p>Authorities apparently were unsure whether Gigante’s condition was real or whether the old fox was fooling them one last time. </p>
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