Cigarette - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T09:31:50Z
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Cocaine and Gelato: Profile of Bonanno Mafia family mobster Salvatore Russo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cocaine-and-gelato-profile-of-bonanno-mafia-family-mobster-salvat
2019-09-19T08:30:00.000Z
2019-09-19T08:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cocaine-and-gelato-profile-of-bonanno-mafia-family-mobster-salvat" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131655,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131655?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a> associate Salvatore Russo is considered trustworthy by his peers in the organization. He went on to prove himself after being caught up in a wide-ranging law enforcement operation aimed at <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> groups in New York and Canada.</p>
<p>Born in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sicily" target="_blank">Sicily</a>, Russo became a naturalized United States citizen. Instead of making a life for himself as a legitimate businessman and contribute to society, he decided to hook up with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">New York’s Bonanno family</a>. He is close to Bonanno capo <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Zummo" target="_blank">Damiano Zummo</a>, who introduces Russo as his cousin.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Selling coke from a Manhattan ice cream parlor</strong></span></p>
<p>He made one such introduction during a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> deal. Zummo wanted to emphasize that Russo had his full backing, before putting him in charge of future <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug sales</a>. “I'll just bring the kid Sal, that's it,” Zummo said during a recorded conversation. “He's the one that brings it.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-the-sicilian-mafia-flooded" target="_blank"><strong>How the Sicilian Mafia flooded the US with heroin</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>And bring it, they did. The two mobsters planned to sell over five kilograms of cocaine between July and October 2017. Their distribution center was a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a> store that sold gelato, Italian-style ice cream. On September 14, 2017, one kilo of cocaine was sold there for nearly $40,000.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Bust</strong></span></p>
<p>Unbeknownst to Russo and Zummo, the feds were listening and watching after having placed a confidential informant in their midst. On November 9, 2017, members and associates of the Bonanno and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino</a> crime families were arrested by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> agents. Across the border in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a>, officers made arrests in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ontario" target="_blank">Ontario</a>, where mobsters of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Todaro" target="_blank">Todaro family</a> in Hamilton were charged with large-scale drug trafficking.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">Operation OTremens</a>: How Mafia families in New York and Canada continue cooperating in global drug trade</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Guilty</strong></span></p>
<p>Russo was charged with the coke deal in the ice cream store. He pleaded guilty to the crime on September 5, 2019. The 46-year-old Sicilian-American Mafioso agreed to serve the mandatory minimum sentence of five years and faces a fine of up to $5 million.</p>
<p>He is currently out on $500,000 bail as he awaits his sentencing, which, as of this writing, has not been scheduled yet.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno 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>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
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New York Mafia associate Paul Ragusa sentenced to 6 years in prison on gun charges
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-york-mafia-associate-paul-ragusa-sentenced-to-6-years-in-pris
2019-07-11T08:00:00.000Z
2019-07-11T08:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-mafia-associate-paul-ragusa-sentenced-to-6-years-in-pris" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237124687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237124687?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Alleged New York Mafia associate Paul Ragusa was sentenced to 6 years in prison on Tuesday for possessing nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and a silencer. 48-year-old Ragusa was busted in Operation OTremens, a joint investigation which unearthed a partnership between Mafia families in New York City and Hamilton, Canada.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">Operation OTremens</a> lasted more than two years and targeted a mob crew in Hamilton, Ontario, which was especially active in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug trafficking</a>, dealing in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fentanyl" target="_blank">fentanyl</a>, carfentanil, <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>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a>, MDMA, MDA, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LSD" target="_blank">LSD</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi" target="_blank"><strong>Toronto ‘Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe “Pino” Ursino</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The crew was led by brothers Domenico Paolo Violi and Giuseppe Violi, grandsons of the late Giacomo Luppino, who was known to be a founding member of the crimine, a governing body for members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">’Ndrangheta</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>FBI joins the party</strong></span></p>
<p>At the same time as authorities in Canada began <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">their investigation</a> into Mafia activities, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> in New York conducted a parallel, but separate investigation into members of the city’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino</a> crime families. Chief among them Damiano Zummo, an acting captain in the Bonanno family, and Paul Semplice, a member of the Gambino family. Paul Ragusa also popped up on the radar as a man working for both the Bonanno and the Gambino crime families.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">Operation OTremens</a>: How Mafia families in New York and Canada continue cooperating in global drug trade</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The two investigations were linked when one of the defendants sponsored a man secretly working confidential informant to become a full-fledged member of the Bonanno crime family and as part of the investigation, law enforcement secretly video- and audio-recorded the induction ceremony, which occurred in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Stick an ice pick through his head</strong></span></p>
<p>Surrounded by snitches it is impossible to get away with anything without law enforcement knowing about it. So authorities not only knew about Ragusa’s meetings with a cooperating witness between July and October of 2017, but were listening in as well.</p>
<p>During one such conversation, Ragusa agreed to commit a murder-for-hire, stating that he did not need a gun, because he would stick an “ice pick” through the victim’s head. On October 25, 2017, the witness asked Ragusa if he knew anyone who could transport firearms. Ragusa responded, “Yeah, me! I’ll do it!” </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>$2,000 for a job well done</strong></span></p>
<p>When the eager Ragusa showed up for the job on November 2, 2017, he was met by an undercover FBI agent who drove him to a warehouse in Nassau County, where Ragusa packed nine firearms, including two AK-47 assault rifles and one M16 rifle, into a large bag. Ragusa and the agent drove to a parking lot in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Queens" target="_blank">Queens</a>, where Ragusa loaded the firearms into a waiting undercover <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> vehicle.</p>
<p>For his hard work Ragusa was paid $2,000 in cash. Unbeknownst to him, the firearms were the property of the FBI and had been rendered inoperable.</p>
<p>Faced with overwhelming evidence, Ragusa pleaded guilty to the firearms charge in October 2018, and will have plenty of time to reevaluate his career decisions.</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>
Profile of Spanish drug boss Sito Miñanco, who can’t stop smuggling tons of cocaine despite his fame
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-of-spanish-drug-boss-sito-minanco-who-can-t-stop-smugglin
2019-05-19T17:19:09.000Z
2019-05-19T17:19:09.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-spanish-drug-boss-sito-minanco-who-can-t-stop-smugglin" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237120673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237120673?profile=original" /></a></strong>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Sito Miñanco is one of Spain’s most infamous drug bosses, with international contacts from the Medellin cartel to Panamanian dictator Noriega. His exploits were turned into a Netflix tv show while he himself was still actively smuggling thousands of kilos of cocaine.</p>
<p>José Ramón Prado Bugallo was born on September 23, 1955, in Pontevedra in the Galician region of Spain. He became known as Sito Miñanco and started out smuggling <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Tobacco" target="_blank">tobacco</a>. The Spanish coastline offered fishermen in the towns that dotted the area multiple opportunities to add to their meager income and trafficking cigarettes was a golden ticket for many of them. Even though, officially, it was a crime.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Smoking</strong></span></p>
<p>But back in those days, the 1970s, everyone smoked. Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, teachers and priests. People even smoked indoors! Ashtrays were just as standard as a salt and pepper set on a dinner table. If you were among the men helping to smuggle this product across the border so it could be sold at a cheaper price, then you weren’t viewed as a criminal, no, you were just as beloved by the community as the thing you trafficked in. Miñanco was no exception and could count on the support of many of the area’s inhabitants.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237121063,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237121063?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Meeting the Medellin Cartel</strong></span></p>
<p>Though he had the support of most of the people, authorities were trying their hardest to bring him down. In the early 1980s, they succeeded, and Miñanco was sent to prison for tobacco smuggling. Inside a penitentiary in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a>’s capital <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Madrid" target="_blank">Madrid</a>, he met a man that would change his life: Colombian drug lord <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ochoa" target="_blank">Jorge Luis Ochoa</a>, a man that wasted no time on cigarettes, but made it snow around the world as he and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Medellin" target="_blank">Medellin cartel</a> showered the globe with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/pablo-escobars-war-on-colombia" target="_blank"><strong>Pablo Escobar's War on Colombia</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The main force behind the Medellin cartel was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Escobar" target="_blank">Pablo Escobar</a>. In those days he was already fast becoming a household name that stood synonymous for death, violence, and drug addiction. Ochoa was one of Escobar’s most trusted and respected partners and as such offered Miñanco a direct connection to the biggest cocaine source in the world.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Dating the niece of a dictator</strong></span></p>
<p>Miñanco, however, found more ways into the coke boom. He traveled to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Panama" target="_blank">Panama</a> and fell in love with Odalys Rivera, the niece of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Noriega" target="_blank">Manuel Noriega</a>, the country’s dictator. Panama was used by Escobar and other Colombian drug lords as a place where they could stash their illicit income. Noriega was paid handsomely to turn a blind eye towards any of the activities the narco kingpins explored in his nation.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-dea-agents-of-narcos-javier-pena-and-steve-murphy-talk-a" target="_blank"><strong>The Real DEA Agents of Narcos Talk Fact & Fiction</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Dating the niece of Panama’s dictator and having done time with one of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a>’s biggest drug lords, Miñanco established a firm place in a global cocaine pipeline that saw drugs flow from South America and Panama into Spain’s Galician coastal region.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237121478,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237121478?profile=original" /></a>Buying a football club</strong></span></p>
<p>He made millions and began acting in much the same way Pablo Escobar did in Colombia. In 1986, he bought Pontevedra football (soccer) club Juventud Cambados and helped them climb from the bottom leagues up to the Segunda División B. To celebrate the club’s promotion, Miñanco treated all the players and staff to a tour through Panama and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Venezuela" target="_blank">Venezuela</a>. When the club’s old and dilapidated stadium needed a renovation, Miñanco stepped in with cash and built a new stand that could hold 2,000 fans.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Smuggle, bust and rewind</strong></span></p>
<p>Spending money like water on his own football club, big yachts and luxurious cars and mansions annoyed those in law enforcement. In 1990, he was busted smuggling 2.5 tons of cocaine and sentenced to 20 years in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Prison" target="_blank">prison</a>. He got out early and was arrested again in 1997, this time for smuggling 6,000 kilos of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hashish" target="_blank">hashish</a>. He was also indicted for his role in smuggling 5,000 kilos of cocaine. That shipment earned him a prison sentence of almost 17 years in 2004. He was also fined nearly €400 million euros.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangster-pets-animal-tales-from-the-american-mafia-to-pablo-escob" target="_blank"><strong>Pablo Escobar and his personal zoo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Each time he was sentenced, Miñanco kept his mouth shut and did his time. Each time, he was released early and went right back into the world of fast money. In February of 2018, he was arrested again. Authorities allege that he ran an international <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug organization</a> - with members from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Italy" target="_blank">Italy</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Albania" target="_blank">Albania</a>, and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">Netherlands</a> - from his prison cell.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237121881,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237121881?profile=original" /></a>Prison bars could not stop Miñanco’s influence. In 2011 it became known he had bribed the warden at Huelva prison where he was locked up. Director Francisco Sanz had received two Mercedes-Benz cars in exchange for favorable treatment inside his penitentiary.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Fame</strong></span></p>
<p>Such exploits intrigued producers of Netflix television series <em>Fariña</em>. They wrote a screenplay which they sent to the imprisoned drug boss. Police agents discovered the play inside his cell during a search. <em>Fariña</em> aired in 2018 on <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netflix" target="_blank">Netflix</a>, starring Javier Rey as Miñanco. The series was released under the English title <em>Cocaine Coast</em>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/norman-s-cay-from-notorious-cocaine-pipeline-of-the-medellin-cart" target="_blank">Norman’s Cay</a>: From cocaine pipeline of the Medellin Cartel to a fraudulent festival for rich millennials</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Despite the Hollywood fame, Miñanco continued his criminal activities. He’s operating on an international level and has a brand name built on decades of experience and a solid reputation carved in stone. Whether he will be able to undertake such activities while breathing fresh air as a free man is an outcome that is a lot less certain.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Operation OTremens: How Mafia families in New York and Canada continue cooperating in global drug trade
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont
2017-11-10T11:37:40.000Z
2017-11-10T11:37:40.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237102100,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237102100?profile=original" width="650" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p><em>“Always the dollars. Always the fuckin' dollars.” – Nicky Santoro, movie Casino</em></p>
<p>Authorities in the United States and Canada arrested a total of thirteen alleged members of the Mafia yesterday for their involvement in a largescale drug trafficking pipeline spanning both countries. Among those arrested are mobsters of New York’s Bonanno and Gambino crime families and the Todaro crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario.</p>
<p>“[This investigation] unearthed and dug up the roots of a partnership extending from New York City to Buffalo and Toronto to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Montreal" target="_blank">Montreal</a>, proving once again that Italian organized crime groups have evolved far beyond the neighborhood cliques of days gone by,” Michael McGarrity of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> told the media.</p>
<p>The takedown is the latest example of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> groups in the United States and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a> working together in the lucrative narcotics trade. When dealing with huge sums of cash and tons of drugs it helps to be part of <em>our thing</em>, mobsters can trust one another – or at least, trust that since they are part of the same type of organization that everyone is playing by the same rulebook.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>THE ‘NDRANGHETA IN HAMILTON</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237101896,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237101896?profile=original" width="600" /></a></strong></span>The coordinated investigation called Operation OTremens lasted more than two years and revealed criminal activity spanning the United States and Canada. The mob crew in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hamilton" target="_blank">Hamilton</a>, Ontario, was especially active in drug trafficking. Nine indivuduals are charged with 75 offences including trafficking in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fentanyl" target="_blank">fentanyl</a>, carfentanil, <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>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a>, MDMA, MDA, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LSD" target="_blank">LSD</a>.</p>
<p>Undercover operations during this project saw police purchase 6 kilograms of fentanyl and carfentanil over six transactions. These drugs could have been diluted several times, meaning three times the seized drug volume would have been distributed to the streets of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ontario" target="_blank">Ontario</a> today, authorities said.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-canadian-connection-flooding-the-u-s-with-dope" target="_blank">The Canadian Connection: Flooding the U.S. with dope</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>If the dope wasn’t enough, they were also involved in bookmaking and the trafficking of weapons and contraband tobacco. The Contraband Tobacco Enforcement Team in Ontario seized over 3,000,000 cigarettes, which represents a loss tax revenue in excess of $550,000.</p>
<p>Two integral members of the Hamilton group are 51-year-old Domenico Paolo Violi (above, left) and his brother Giuseppe Violi (above, right). They are grandsons of the late Giacomo Luppino, who was known to be a founding member of the <em>crimine</em>, a governing body for members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">’Ndrangheta</a> and a longstanding associate of the Buffalo crime family. According to Canadian police the Violis have “an international reach.”</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>A SNITCH IN THEIR MIDST</strong></span></p>
<p>The takedown was set off when one mobster flipped and began working with the cops. “We had an opportunity to infiltrate some higher level traditional organized crime members,” RCMP Supt. Chris Leather told the media, adding that they had a source “who was respected by traditional organized crime in both Canada and the United States.”</p>
<p>At the same time as authorities in Canada began their investigation into mob activities, the FBI in New York conducted a parallel, but separate investigation into members of the city’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino</a> crime families.</p>
<p>The two were linked when, in 2015, one of the defendants sponsored a confidential informant to become a full-fledged member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a> and as part of the investigation, law enforcement secretly video- and audio-recorded the induction ceremony, which occurred in Canada.</p>
<p>With such an insider, authorities had unprecedented access to ongoing criminal activities. Or, as stated by Acting United States Attorney Rohde: “The recording of a secret induction ceremony is an extraordinary achievement for law enforcement and deals a significant blow to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>.”</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>BUSTING THE NEW YORK BONANNOS & GAMBINOS</strong></span></p>
<p>The results of that blow came yesterday, when 44-year-old Damiano Zummo, an acting captain in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno family</a>; 45-year-old Salvatore Russo, an associate of the Bonanno family; 54-year-old Paul Semplice, a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino family</a>; and 46-year-old Paul Ragusa, an associate of the Bonanno and Gambino families were arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking, loansharking, extortion, and money laundering.</p>
<p>According to the indictment and other court filings, Zummo was involved in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy with Bonanno associate Salvatore Russo and others introduced by the confidential informant. In one deal, on September 14, 2017, Zummo and Russo sold over a kilogram of cocaine inside a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a> gelato store.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-map-shows-mob-social-clubs-in-new-york" target="_blank">Map shows Mafia social clubs in New York City</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Zummo is also charged with laundering over $250,000 in cash by providing business checks issued to a fictitious consulting company that purported to bill the company for consulting services. The Bonanno capo took a fee of approximately 10 percent for each money laundering transaction.</p>
<p>Gambino soldier Semplice is charged with conducting a loansharking scheme in which he and others extended extortionate loans with interest rates of up to 54% per year. The alleged scheme generated thousands of dollars per week for Semplice and his associates. </p>
<p>Paul Ragusa is charged with being a felon in possession of nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and one silencer. He allegedly transported the firearms in exchange for $2,000 in cash.</p>
<p>If convicted, Zummo and Russo each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment; Semplice faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on each of three loansharking charges; and Ragusa faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under the Armed Career Criminal Act. </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>“A GIANT STEP”</strong></span></p>
<p>“Criminal enterprises, both national and international, contribute to the breakdown of a lawful society,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. “And yet, the allure of this gangland culture is often embraced and glamorized in movies and on television, where the threats posed to our economic and national security are seldom displayed. Dismantling and disrupting major international and national organized criminal enterprises is a longstanding area of FBI expertise, which is significantly enhanced through collaboration with our law enforcement partners and our Canadian partners. While we have more work to do, this operation is a giant step in the right direction.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-and-gambino-crime-family-in-global-drug-bust" target="_blank">'Ndrangheta and New York Gambino family in global drug bust</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“Those who traffic in illicit drugs and participate in other organized crime activities destroy lives and impact the safety and security of our communities, and we will continue to work to eradicate those dangers.” said Michael LeSage, Criminal Operations Officer for the “O” Division RCMP. “Project OTremens demonstrates how the combined efforts and cooperation of law enforcement agencies and other government departments, here and internationally, can work effectively to combat organized crime.”</p>
<ul>
<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>
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Henchmen of convicted San Francisco crime boss Raymond Chow reach plea deals
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/henchmen-of-convicted-san-francisco-crime-boss-raymond-chow-reach
2017-01-07T12:23:36.000Z
2017-01-07T12:23:36.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/henchmen-of-convicted-san-francisco-crime-boss-raymond-chow-reach"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237085494,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237085494?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>Five members of the San Francisco Tong organization led by convicted crime boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-rat-who-became-king-triad-boss-raymond-chow">Raymond Chow</a> pleaded guilty to reduced charges yesterday. Gary Kwong Yiu Chen, Anthony John Lai, and Xiu Ying Ling Liang pleaded guilty to money laundering charges; Tong Zao Zhang pleaded guilty to dealing in contraband cigarettes; and Bryan Tilton pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport stolen goods in interstate commerce.</p>
<p>Their sentencing is scheduled for April.</p>
<p>All were caught up in the undercover sting operation by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI">FBI</a> aimed at their leader, Raymond Chow, a notorious and high profile crime boss with a criminal record dating back decades. You can read <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-rat-who-became-king-triad-boss-raymond-chow">an extensive profile of Chow here</a>. While Chow opted to take his case to trial resulting in a guilty verdict – though he continues to claim his innocence - and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/san-francisco-crime-boss-shrimp-boy-chow-gets-two-life-terms-in-p">subsequent life prison sentence</a>, his henchmen plea bargained instead.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-deadly-battle-for-control-over-new-york-s-chinatown">The deadly battle for control over New York City's Chinatown</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Bryan Tilton gave the FBI an in when he conspired with Chow to purchase $30,000 worth of purportedly stolen Hennessy XO alcohol from a salesman, who, in reality, was an undercover FBI agent. Tilton admitted to this crime as part of his plea deal.</p>
<p>Chen and Lai admitted laundering over $635,000 from October to December 2013 that was used to disguise the cross-county flow of illicit drug money. Zhang admitted distributing contraband cigarettes on the black market without paying taxes that would have totaled almost $300,000 according to prosecutors.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/triads-overview">Triads 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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Undercover FBI agents share for first time how they took down international cigarette smuggling ring
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/undercover-fbi-agents-share-for-first-time-how-they-took-down-int
2014-05-28T19:00:00.000Z
2014-05-28T19:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/undercover-fbi-agents-share-for-first-time-how-they-took-down-int" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237116884,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237116884?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Smuggling is a lucrative business. Always has, always will be. And where there’s smugglers, there’s cops trying to take them down. Undercover FBI agents Lou Calvarese, Jack Garcia, and Tom Zyckowski now share their story of how they infiltrated and took down a Chinese smuggling ring responsible for trafficking over a billion fake <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cigarette" target="_blank">cigarettes</a>.</p>
<p>“Over the course of some 1,000 meetings, their investigation — dubbed “Operation Royal Charm” — would pull the agents deep into a tangled <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview" target="_blank">Chinese underworld</a> spanning coasts and continents. Together with a parallel <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=California" target="_blank">California</a> case, “Operation Smoking Dragon,” the twin investigations would result in 10 indictments, with 87 individuals charged, mostly ethnic Chinese,” journalist Te-Ping Chen writes in <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2008/10/20/6358/smoking-dragon-royal-charm" target="_blank">his article</a> for investigative news organization The Center for Public Integrity.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-sits-down-with-fbi-agent-jack-garcia" target="_blank"><strong>Gangsters Inc. sits down with undercover FBI agent Jack Garcia</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Peng sat down with all three (retired) <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> agents as they talk him through their successful investigation. “We really got to see a network of cigarette smugglers up close,” <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-sits-down-with-fbi-agent-jack-garcia" target="_blank">Joaquin Garcia</a> tells him. “It’s sophisticated, the way it works. And these guys are like hookers. There’s a lot of them.”</p>
<p><strong><em>You can read the full story at</em></strong> <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2008/10/20/6358/smoking-dragon-royal-charm" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Center for Public Integrity</em></strong></a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/triads-overview">Triads 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>
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<p> </p></div>