Documentary - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T15:42:03Z
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VIDEO: Up close and personal as VICE films initiation of Crips gang member in Brooklyn
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/video-up-close-and-personal-as-vice-films-initiation-of-crips-gan
2017-11-18T13:30:00.000Z
2017-11-18T13:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/video-up-close-and-personal-as-vice-films-initiation-of-crips-gan" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237103879,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237103879?profile=original" width="570" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>Becoming a gang member isn’t easy. And most gangsters are forced into the gang life because of poverty and a troublesome situation at home. They take to the streets to find a new family and find it in the older guys wearing colors that identify them as part of something bigger.</p>
<p>VICE followed JT, a youngster trying to become a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Crips" target="_blank">Crips</a> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>. The film crew finds out what it took for the wannabe gangster to get this far and why he’s willing to become an official Crip.</p>
<p><strong>Watch the documentary below:</strong></p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H0iSh9A7rLI?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">Street Gangs section</a> or <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime" target="_blank">Black organized crime</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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Thief who sold two Van Gogh paintings to Camorra Mafia says he hid at mansion of FC Barcelona player Patrick Kluivert
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi
2017-03-22T11:30:00.000Z
2017-03-22T11:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/thief-who-sold-two-van-gogh-paintings-to-camorra-mafia-says-he-hi" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237088253,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237088253?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The thief behind one of the biggest art heists in history stepped into the spotlight yesterday as he went on various Dutch talk shows to discuss how he stole two Van Gogh paintings worth millions from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2002 and eventually sold them to a Camorra drug boss. In between, he also claims to have stayed at the home of then-FC Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert while on the run from police.</p>
<p>Burglar Octave “Okkie” Durham is now the subject of a documentary titled <em>The Man Who Stole Two Van Goghs</em> by Dutch news show <em>Brandpunt</em>. In it, he tells reporters and the public everything he did leading up to, during, and after the infamous art heist. It is clear he revels in the attention and he is anything but remorseful, better yet, he is proud of his criminal accomplishment.</p>
<p>The Van Gogh Museum heist in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a> in 2002 went down with relative ease. Durham and Henk, a good friend of his, had been casing the place for some time before they finally decided to go ahead and execute their plan. Using a stolen ladder, some rope, and a hammer the two men entered the museum filled with hundreds of millions worth’ of exclusive art. They grabbed Vincent van Gogh’s <em>View of the Sea at Scheveningen</em> and <em>Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church at Nuenen</em>.</p>
<p>While they stole the paintings, they monitored police radios to stay up to date on last minute movements. As cops arrived at their place of entry, the ladder at the front of the museum, the two thieves escaped at the back of the museum using a simple rope. They then get away in a stolen car.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-math-calculating-italian-organized-crime-s-illicit-income" target="_blank">Mafia Math: Calculating Italian organized crime's illicit income</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>As professional as “Okkie” may claim to have been, he left behind a baseball cap with his DNA in it, putting authorities on his tail almost immediately. A lack of evidence and urgency, however, kept police from searching the burglar’s residence or other locations, giving him enough time to move the paintings to a safe location.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237088467,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237088467?profile=original" width="223" /></a>He then tried to sell the paintings to his contacts in the Amsterdam underworld. Many criminals are interested in obtaining famous artwork as they can use it as a bargaining chip in court. Dutch drug boss Cor van Hout was eager to buy the paintings but was shot to death before he and Durham could reach an official deal. Crime boss Mink Kok, currently residing in Beirut, Lebanon, was also offered the Van Goghs but nothing came of it.</p>
<p>Durham then received a call from a man known as “Pinocchio,” who quickly closed the deal and purchased the two Van Gogh paintings. “Pinocchio” was an old acquaintance of Durham and a friend of his partner-in-crime Henk. Authorities only managed to pick up his nickname and were in the dark about his criminal pedigree.</p>
<p>“Pinocchio” nonetheless was an important player in the Amsterdam underworld. He lived there for twelve years and owned Coffeeshop Rockland, where tourists enjoyed smoking some weed. The man behind the nickname is <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-police-bust-drug-trafficking-camorra-clan-and-retrieve-st" target="_blank">Raffaele Imperiale</a> (photo right), an Italian drug boss with close links to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/camorra-overview" target="_blank">Neapolitan Camorra</a>.</p>
<p>Durham refuses to say how much Imperiale paid for the paintings, but Imperiale is the one who held onto the works of art until September of 2016 when he offered them up to Italian authorities in exchange for lowering his prison sentence. Prosecutors initially recommended Imperiale to be sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking, but he managed to negotiate an 8-year reduction. He has yet to serve a day of his sentence as he remains a fugitive, living a life of luxury in Dubai.</p>
<p>Life wasn’t so sweet for Durham, though. When police are hot on his tail he manages to flee to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a> where he eventually runs into Patrick Kluivert, star player of FC Barcelona. The two men knew each other from the old neighborhood back in Amsterdam.</p>
<p>Durham tells Kluivert he is staying at a hotel and Kluivert asks him to crash with him at his mansion instead. The fugitive art thief is hesitant and tells Kluivert he is on the run from police and his presence might cause Kluivert some unwanted media attention. The Barcelona striker is dismissive however, telling “Okkie” he is in the media every day anyway. (<strong>See the video clip below in which Durham tells the Kluivert story himself.</strong>)</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iYomm-EQzSA?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>Kluivert denies Durham’s story and has filed a defamation suit against the burglar. The documentary makers say they have two other sources that confirm Durham’s stay at Kluivert’s Barcelona residence.</p>
<p>Durham, who was so worried about Kluivert getting bad press back in the day, now apparently has no issue throwing him under the bus. This despite the fact he considers him a “great guy.”</p>
<p>Unremorseful and proud, Durham is now enjoying his 15 minutes of fame as the star of his own documentary, a guest on primetime talk shows, and the father of a female artist signed to one of the Netherlands’ biggest record labels.</p>
<p>It makes one doubt the saying that crime does not pay.</p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Cleveland drug boss Keith Ricks: From selfies in the gym to trafficking heroin
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/drug-boss-ricks-from-selfies-in-the-gym-to-trafficking-heroin
2015-09-17T07:59:38.000Z
2015-09-17T07:59:38.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-boss-ricks-from-selfies-in-the-gym-to-trafficking-heroin"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237051669,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237051669?profile=original" width="500" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Crime boss Keith Ricks liked to stay busy. Moving bricks of heroin, robbing rival dope dealers from their hard earned product, and pumping iron in the gym were among his favorites. He surrounded himself by likeminded men. But each one craved attention. On Twitter, on Instagram, in self-made movies. While they felt like they were on top of the food chain, the FBI thought different and began stalking its prey. </p>
<p>For many years, a rapper by the name of <a href="https://twitter.com/117chase" target="_blank">Chase</a> was trying to make it big. Born and raised on the rough streets of Cleveland, his main claim to fame was <em>keeping it real</em>. When he rapped about slanging dope and riding around in expensive cars he wasn’t lying. That’s what he actually did! In real life, under his birth given name Maceo Moore.</p>
<p>His criminal endeavors financed his rap music and videos, hell, to top it off he even made a feature length film about his gangster life. With flagrant disregard for keeping a low profile this gang boss flaunted his notoriety and wealth whenever he could.</p>
<p>Who was going to stop him? He ran the streets of East 117th and St. Clair in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the top dog. </p>
<p>So “Chase” Moore wasn’t surprised when a film crew came up to him to ask if they could make a documentary about his life. In recent years a steady stream of gangster documentaries have filled the television networks, DVD outlets, and YouTube channels. From Cocaine Cowboys to Mr. Untouchable all the way down to documentaries on local crime bosses like Moore. Though it may sound strange to some of our readers, these men were seen as heroes by many. Much like Al Capone or John Gotti were viewed in their heyday.</p>
<p>Of course, most gangsters prefer to keep the cameras at bay. Certainly when they are still involved in crime. But Moore had no problem with it. He only saw the plus side. His ego was being inflated like a hot air balloon and he was skyrocketing towards heaven.</p>
<p>He should’ve been more cautious.</p>
<p>The documentary film crew turned out to be a group of undercover agents from the FBI who were investigating the Cleveland drug world. Thanks to Moore they had struck gold and were about to mine him for all he was worth.</p>
<p>First, they asked him about his criminal exploits, such as robbing other drug dealers. On June 12, 2012, an undercover agent asked Moore whether him and his crew did that a lot? “Yeah, that was our job, kicking doors,” Moore answered. “We worked every day, around the clock. If you had it, and we wanted it, we was coming to get it.”</p>
<p>Undercover agent: “For how many years?”</p>
<p>“Shit, It ain't never, it don't stop. That's what it was, that's what it is,” Moore said.</p>
<p>Asked how his crew selected targets, Moore explained that it was routine for his crew to identify robbery targets who boasted about, or flaunted, the wealth that they had accumulated through drug trafficking. He said that on certain occasions, they would solicit the assistance of “a female,” who would befriend their target, and attempt to manipulate the target to provide her with personal information that they could use to decide when, where, and how to follow through on their plans to rob him. </p>
<p>Moore, “Now we know where he live at, we gonna go pay him a visit.” Adding, “It's like, I could see a dude at the club. He buying and poppin' bottles, he got his jewelry on, he on the list, he gonna get it.”</p>
<p>When it came to these robberies. Moore needed men who were capable. In the underworld that means men who can kill. “Anything can go wrong,” Moore explains. “I ain't takin' no ten guys on me to do nothing like that. Going into them situations, the average dude don't have it in his head, ‘we going in to kill.’ But, it can lead to that. Anything can go wrong in a robbery.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237051485,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237051485?profile=original" width="300" /></a>He would know. When it came to robbing people, Moore was considered an expert. Not just by the FBI agents interviewing him, but by his peers as well. Among them a man who frequently supplied Moore with heroin, a man by the name of Keith Ricks (right), who, on the morning of April 17, 2013, calls Moore on the telephone, which, by then, is tapped by the feds.</p>
<p>“Hey, man, listen, man,” Ricks says. “Let me ask you a question, man. Could you do me a favor, man? You know I don't ask you for much, right? For real, man, I don't ask for much, [Maceo]. Man, I just need one favor from you, man,” a desperate sounding Ricks almost begs.</p>
<p>“What's that?” Moore replies.</p>
<p>“Man, turn me onto something (a heroin deal or a robbery target), man,” Ricks asks.</p>
<p>Moore, “What you mean?”</p>
<p>Ricks, “Man, you already know!”</p>
<p>Moore, “A ho (woman)?”</p>
<p>Ricks, “No nigga! Fuck a ho, I got hoes!”</p>
<p>Though he may not sound like it, authorities claim Keith Ricks was the undisputed leader of Cleveland’s East Side. The man who oversaw it all. The man with the connect. The one who made dope deals in Atlanta and then organized for the kilos to be trafficked to Cleveland by mail or car.</p>
<p>He tried to go legit once, buying and running a bar, but that proved to be too much work and turned out a failure. After that he went back to the streets and the fast money.</p>
<p>And why wouldn’t he? These guys were top of the food chain. Whatever they wanted they took. Ricks was bringing in enough heroin through his connections in Atlanta for the entire group. And if anyone had more, they’d rob him.</p>
<p>As Moore explained to the undercover agent, “I sold drugs, but I started getting more money when I started taking from the drug dealers. That's how, honestly, that's how I got my money. I sold drugs, but I always been the hustler, so I sold drugs, I find out such and such over here got it, they doing good, well, we going to get that. Flat out, we going to get it. Whatever they got. Money, jewelry, drugs, whatever they got, we going to get it. Flat out.”</p>
<p>They were brash, arrogant, devious, and ruthless.</p>
<p>And they loved showing off on social media like Twitter and <a href="https://instagram.com/keithvsmax/" target="_blank">Instagram</a>. So much so that the FBI began monitoring their accounts to see if they could corroborate evidence obtained via wiretaps.</p>
<p>When FBI agents came knocking in June of 2013, Ricks and Moore must have had no clue what hit them. For years they ran the East Side of Cleveland with impunity. They flaunted their wealth and criminal behavior in music videos, feature length movies, and on social media without a care in the world.</p>
<p>Now, shit got real.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237052484,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237052484?profile=original" width="600" /></a>In total 60 people were caught up in this operation and indicted for their roles in a conspiracy to bring heroin from Chicago and Atlanta and sell it throughout Greater Cleveland. 58 were found guilty. It was the biggest heroin bust in Cleveland's history.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237053255,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237053255?profile=original" width="250" /></a>39-year-old Maceo Moore (right) now has plenty of time to work on those rap lyrics of his. His release date is set for September 17, 2028. Maybe he will finally hit it big as a rapper when he gets out.</p>
<p>The last to be sentenced in this operation was Keith Ricks. On Monday, September 14, 2015, at just 33 years old he was sentenced to life in prison.</p>
<p>The two men are also being investigated in connection with several murders.</p>
<p>After Ricks’ sentencing, authorities had lots of arguments on why he deserved such punishment.</p>
<p>“[Ricks] led a group responsible for thefts, violence and the distribution of dozens of pounds of heroin,” Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said. “He is a predator that needed to be taken out of the community.”</p>
<p>“Mr. Ricks is a violent drug dealer that deserves to be behind bars for a long time,” Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland Office, said. “The Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force works tirelessly to rid the streets of the most dangerous criminals and Keith Ricks definitely is one of them.”</p>
<p>“Ricks was the leader of a large and wide-ranging heroin conspiracy that involved dozens of people and distributed heroin to large parts of Cleveland,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew W. Shepherd wrote in the sentencing memo. “In addition to distributing heroin, members of the conspiracy committed robberies, thefts and burglaries to obtain heroin or funds to obtain heroin in support of the conspiracy.”</p>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
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Polish-American Arms Trafficker is Feeling the Heat
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/polish-american-arms-trafficker-is-feeling-the-heat
2014-05-07T17:00:00.000Z
2014-05-07T17:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/polish-american-arms-trafficker-is-feeling-the-heat"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237016659,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237016659?profile=original" width="500" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>When the Soviet Union crumbled there were plenty of men who used the absence of a strong government to enrich themselves. The fall of the Iron Curtain ushered in the rise of the powerful oligarchs and introduced the world to Eastern European gangsters with access to the best and most advanced weaponry money can buy. One of those men currently is under a lot of scrutiny in Poland. Our very own Ron Fino was onto him while working with the FBI and CIA in rounding up bad guys in Europe.</p>
<p>“There is a lot that I cannot mention,” <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-and-labor-racketeering">Ron Fino</a> begins. The former FBI and CIA operative-turned <a href="http://amzn.to/19cjPLa" target="_blank">author</a> is cautious not to hinder any ongoing investigation, but knows all the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/from-mobbed-up-unions-to-cold-war-spying">details</a>. Working as an undercover he infiltrated the network of one of the world’s largest weapons dealers.</p>
<p>“Around 1998, I was informed that a dual citizen (Poland-USA) named Wieslaw “Wesley” Michalczyk was involved in getting large shipments of military equipment to Iran, Syria, and numerous African nations. While in Belarus, I learned that Michalczyk was a partner of Vladimir Peftiev, who ran a large arms trading company based in Belarus called “Beltechexport”. Both men were utilizing a myriad of corporations to cloak many of their transactions.”</p>
<p>“In order to maintain an appearance of legitimacy,” Fino explains, “[Michalczyk] purchased a Chicago restaurant that was featured in the 1989 movie ‘Roadhouse’ with Patrick Swayze. However, the limited business proceeds could not cloak his vast sums of illicit cash. After consulting with his associates in the U.S., Poland, and Eastern Europe He opened up off shelf corporations and off-shore bank accounts in Cyprus, Switzerland, Bahamas, Barbados, Virgin Islands, and in the United Kingdom. This answered part of the problem.”</p>
<p>During this period, Fino found out that Michalczyk was playing all ends. “In 1994 Beltechexport sold a Russian SA 300 (Sam 10) anti-missile defense system to the US -Canadian firm Athos for 500 million dollars. ATHOS was run by Emmanuel Weigensberg, an Iran-Contra figure and a close associate of former United States General Richard Sicord, who was also President of Trans World Arms. Eventually the deal was canceled by Russian authorities. The Russians were upset over Belarus selling secrets. I was informed by a Belarusian citizen named Anatoly Neverov that the technology of the SA 300 specs and design had in fact already been transferred to North America.”</p>
<p>Neverov moved around in a dangerous <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/investigating-the-russian-mafia-on-its-home-turf">world</a>, but that didn’t stop him from openly berating Michalczyk. “I expressed my worry,” Fino says. “I told him that these guys are heavyweights and that he might get killed unless he stops publically demeaning them. Burley, unshaven, and constantly drunk Neverov became a constant companion and would introduce me to his friends including former KGB agents. At a drinking session in the basement of KGB headquarters there is the KGB Club where we would go to have a few pops. One evening he went into a tirade about Michalczyk and his being an American spy and that he had a penis implant and a hand pump that would bring stiffness to his penis. One of the former KGB agents told him to shut up and that he didn’t know the full story.”</p>
<p>On September 11, 2001, gunmen visited the home of Neverov and murdered him in front of his wife and children. His killing has never been solved. “I was in Belarus early that fateful morning and was watching the tragic events that were taking place in the United States. The Neverov killing never made it into the media, at least then, and I did not learn of it until I returned back to America. When I did return to Belarus, I renewed my efforts to unravel the mystery surrounding Michalczyk. Eventually utilizing a business deal, we got together at first in Warsaw, Poland, then Minsk, as well as at his business locations in the United States, in the Chicago area.”</p>
<p>Vladimir Peftiev and Wieslaw Michalczyk were doing great for themselves. Around 2002, Michalczyk purchased a large yacht that was parked in one of the rivers running through Moscow. He moved around while constantly surrounded by bodyguards. When Fino met him at a party Michalczyk had twenty bodyguards making sure he would not be harmed.</p>
<p>“They were selling so much equipment to Syria, Iran, and Iraq that some of their equipment was ending up in Chechnya and used to kill Russian soldiers and its loyalists. In a conversation I had with Gennady Troshev at a party in Moscow, the former Commander of the Russian Army in Chechnya just after he was relieved by Putin, he said to me, “How do I fight an enemy that is constantly being supplied with technology and weapons by my own country?”</p>
<p>In the summer of 2000, Peftiev was spotted in Minsk with Austrian national Norbert Furst, a weapons dealer and president of the Redway Holding Corporation, which was registered in 2003 in Road Town, British Virgin Islands. Peftiev also met with some Middle-Eastern men in Geneva, Switzerland. Fino later met a source who confirmed that Peftiev and Michalczyk were supplying terrorist organizations. <a href="http://amzn.to/19cjPLa" target="_blank">Fino</a>: “There is a lot more, a lot, that I can’t get into.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Polish media is turning up the heat on Michalczyk. A new documentary (see below) investigates Wieslaw Michalczyk and his vast empire in Poland and Eastern Europe. Ron Fino was interviewed by the journalists involved in this project as well and can be seen in the opening minutes. “There have been and continue to be investigations taking place in Poland, and Interpol is looking into Michalczyk as well. I can tell from the documentary that they have uncovered quite a lot about his operations there. I have documentation as well as names, corporation records, associates, and methods these war merchants use to filter the illegal funds received from weapon sales.”</p>
<p>Bringing down Michalczyk won’t be easy. He’s a shrewd man, as Ron Fino quickly learned during those years. “When I had brought it to the attention of the FBI, the CIA of course was interested, and then all of a sudden they didn’t let me go in and investigate anymore. It was shutdown. Now that tells me that he, Michalczyk, was playing both ends. I believe Wesley was what you may call a triple agent, he’s worked for Belarus, Russia, and the United States. I say the U.S. because he was beneficial in obtaining SA-3 technology and shipping it to the United States.”</p>
<p>Men like that usually find a way to continue playing all ends in order to survive. And as long as most of the parties involved find he is worthy to their cause, he will live in freedom yet another day.</p>
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Square Grouper: Godfathers of Ganja
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/square-grouper-godfathers-of
2011-05-07T11:00:00.000Z
2011-05-07T11:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/square-grouper-godfathers-of"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236993093,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236993093?profile=original" width="460" /></a>By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> When the people that brought you the documentary Cocaine Cowboys have a new film out, you know it is going to be a must-see. And with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L9GLPE/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gangstersinc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B004L9GLPE">Square Grouper: Godfathers of Ganja</a><img style="border:none;margin:0px;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gangstersinc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004L9GLPE&camp=217145&creative=399349" alt="ir?t=gangstersinc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004L9GLPE&camp=217145&creative=399349" width="1" height="1" border="0" />, director Billy Corben and production company Rakontur live up to the high expectations with a colorful tale about weed smugglers in 1970s Florida.<br /> <br /> Square Grouper is comprised of three parts that together paint the rich picture of the role that marijuana played in Florida and the United States in general during the seventies. In the first part the makers focus on a fundamentalist Christian sect known as the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church that claimed the use of marijuana is part of their religion. Though I had never heard of this sect before, I had heard plenty of their ‘religion’ that allowed them to smoke weed. Many classmates in high school would jokingly use this excuse when they were caught in class stoned out of their minds. Their religion also dictated they keep their baseball caps on in class, by the way. It is interesting to see that a Christian sect actually used these excuses in real life. <br /> <br /> Though this first part is intriguing, it never quite captured my attention. Perhaps because as a crime buff I want to see and hear about real gangsters and criminals and have less interest in Christian hippies. Luckily for me, the second and third part make up for this in grand style.<br /> <br /> After the Zion Coptic Chrurch chapter is closed, we are introduced to the former leaders of the so-called Black Tuna Gang. One of the reasons this chapter works better than the first is the fact that the interviewees are such mesmerizing storytellers. <a href="http://www.blacktunadiaries.com/" target="_blank">Robert Platshorn</a> especially. Starting the story with how the group’s leaders first met, the viewer is taken back in time through black and white photos and a vivid narrative told by those featured in those old photos. Platshorn would eventually serve 30 years in prison for marijuana smuggling as part of the Black Tuna Gang and become the longest imprisoned non violent marijuana offender. Obviously there is a lot more to this story, but the documentary does a great job and I do not want to spoil it by giving out any more information.<br /> <br /> The third and final chapter deals with Everglades City, which saw 80 percent of its male population being sent to prison because of marijuana smuggling. This chapter shows how easy an entire village can fall for the lure of easy drug money when their own livelihood (fishing) is taken away. At one point entire families were active in the smuggling of bales of marijuana. The money poured in and the local police didn’t mind ignoring the crimes being committed in its territory for a nice share of the profits. <br /> <br /> The viewer is introduced to a wide variety of people from Everglades City who have no problem telling about those crazy days when everyone and their mother was in the ‘business’. None saw any harm in it at the time, and if they hadn’t been caught I think most wouldn’t see the harm in it today. What is clear, though, is that the smuggling of weed was a different game than the cocaine business. All chapters of Square Grouper paint a picture of freewheeling men who committed crimes but would not get violent about it. As if they did not operate in the infamous world of drugs that was riddled with murder and torture. It’s as if these men were operating in a separate universe where smuggling was like fishing while vacationing in the swamps: Living in the wild, while taking a nap. As you watch, you start to go from being amazed to thoroughly enjoying this relaxed approach and the in-depth interviews in which the folks of Everglades City hold nothing back and tell it like it was, sparing no one, not even themselves. <br /> <br /> Though <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L9GLPE/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gangstersinc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B004L9GLPE">Square Grouper: Godfathers of Ganja</a><img style="border:none;margin:0px;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gangstersinc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004L9GLPE&camp=217145&creative=399349" alt="ir?t=gangstersinc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004L9GLPE&camp=217145&creative=399349" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> lacks the fast paced action and extreme violence of Cocaine Cowboys, its producers manage to keep it interesting by creating the laid back tempo usually affiliated with marijuana (ab)use and adding their own much celebrated brand of interesting interviews and news clips that lure the viewer into a world not seen before. <br /> <br /> While good gangster movies only come along once every five years, <a href="http://www.rakontur.com/" target="_blank">Rakontur</a> has presented us with three great documentaries in that same timeframe. They focus on stories that have not been told in detail before, but most definitely deserve to get our full attention. With <a href="http://www.squaregroupermovie.com/" target="_blank">Square Grouper</a> Rakontur has delivered another gem to bolster their impressive collection. It is available in a store near you and can also be ordered online at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L9GLPE/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gangstersinc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399349&creativeASIN=B004L9GLPE">Amazon</a><img style="border:none;margin:0px;" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=gangstersinc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004L9GLPE&camp=217145&creative=399349" alt="ir?t=gangstersinc-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B004L9GLPE&camp=217145&creative=399349" width="1" height="1" border="0" />. We at Gangsters Inc. look forward to any new Rakontur projects.<br /> <iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SwW_buCjLnw" width="560" height="349" frameborder="0"></iframe> <br /> <strong><br /> </strong></p></div>