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2024-03-28T10:31:05Z
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Viktor Bout Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/viktor-bout-sentenced-to-25-years-in-prison
2012-04-06T13:00:00.000Z
2012-04-06T13:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/viktor-bout-sentenced-to-25-years-in-prison"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237022273,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237022273?profile=original" width="510" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>International arms dealer Viktor Bout was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons, including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and over 20,000 AK-47s to the Colombian FARC.</p>
<p>In addition to his prison term, Judge Scheindlin sentenced Bout to five years of supervised released and ordered him to forfeit $15 million.</p>
<p>The sentencing brings an end to the career of the world’s most notorious weapons smuggler. “The crimes <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-viktor-bout">Viktor Bout</a> committed represent the worst case scenario for modern law enforcement--the merger of criminal international narcotics cartels with their terrorism enablers,” DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said.</p>
<p>“But,” Leonhart added, “his sentencing today also reflects the best of modern international law enforcement-- sophisticated, determined, and coordinated. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of criminal investigators and prosecutors in the United States, Thailand, Romania, Curacao and elsewhere, the 'Merchant of Death' has finally been held to account in a court of law for his years of profiteering from death and misery around the world”</p>
<p>According to evidence presented at Bout’s trial, Bout has been an international weapons trafficker since the 1990s. Between November 2007 and March 2008, he agreed to sell millions of dollars' worth of weapons to the FARC, including 700 to 800 surface-to-air missiles ("SAMs"), over 20,000 AK-47 firearms, 10 million rounds of ammunition, five tons of C-4 plastic explosives, "ultralight" airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers, and unmanned aerial vehicles.</p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9236976064,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236976064,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236976064?profile=original" /></a>Bout agreed to sell the weapons to two confidential sources working with the DEA, who represented that they were acquiring them for the FARC, with the specific understanding that the weapons were to be used to attack U.S. helicopters in Colombia.</p>
<p>“We have the same enemy,” Bout told the confidential sources, referring to the United States. He also stated that the FARC's fight against the United States was also his fight and that he had been “fighting the United States for ten to fifteen years.” During the meeting, he also offered to provide people to train the FARC in the use of the arms.</p>
<p>The infamous “Lord of War” was arrested in Thailand in March 2008. He was subsequently charged in a four-count indictment in April 2008 and extradited to New York in November 2010. At trial, he was convicted of conspiring to kill U.S. nationals; conspiring to kill U.S. officers and employees; conspiring to acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles; and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.</p>
<p><em>This website was among the first online to write about Viktor Bout. You can read the profile of him <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-viktor-bout">here</a>.</em></p>
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Dutch Crime Boss Murdered In Broad Daylight
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/dutch-crime-boss-murdered-in
2011-02-23T18:00:00.000Z
2011-02-23T18:00:00.000Z
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<p>By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> Another one bites the dust. On Monday, one of the most powerful gangsters in The Netherlands was the latest to be added to an impressive list of Dutch underworld murders. Crime boss Stanley Hillis (64) was shot to death as he sat in his SUV at an Amsterdam parking lot around 12.30 in the afternoon. According to local newspaper <a href="http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/7/MISDAAD/article/detail/1851201/2011/02/23/Hillis-had-afspraak-met-oude-misdaadpartner.dhtml" target="_blank">Het Parool</a>, he was scheduled to meet Donald G., another top crime figure and one that was a former associate of his. <br /> <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237004460,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237004460,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237004460?profile=original" width="249" /></a>Hillis (right) is a well-known name in the criminal world. After spending some time in the French foreign legion, he started out as a bank robber, working closely with the Serb Zeljko Raznjatovic, also known as Arkan, who would become a notorious warlord during the civil war in Yugoslavia. By the 1990s, Hillis had become one of the leading members of the Amsterdam underworld. He was rumored to be involved in drug trafficking, smuggling hashish and ecstasy. <br /> <br /> In theory, crime bosses should be relatively safe from the violence that takes place on the streets that fall under their supposed rule. In The Netherlands, however, many top criminal figures have been killed in rapid succession. The first one to fall was Klaas Bruinsma, who was shot to death in front of the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam in 1991. In the two decades that followed many men would end up the same way. Including several close associates of Hillis. The murders are said to stem from a war between home-grown Dutch gangsters and a group of Serbs led by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/serbian-boss-sreten-jocic">Sreten Jocic</a>, but much is still unknown about who ordered certain killings and who executed the orders. Hillis’ name also came up in numerous investigations and during trials, but he was never charged.<br /> <br /> With the death of Stanley Hillis the Dutch underworld loses yet another big name. Dutch weekly <a href="https://www.vn.nl/Dossiers/Meer-dossiers/Crime/Artikel-Crime/De-Kouwe-Ouwe-Hollandse-maffiabaas-Stanley-H..htm" target="_blank">Vrij Nederland</a> reported Hillis was viewed as a Dutch “capo di tutti capi”, and with the imprisonment of ‘famous’ gangsters such as Dino Soerel and Willem Holleeder, the media was focusing a lot of attention on Hillis as the new leading man. Hillis himself, meanwhile, was spending more and more time abroad, in Spain and the Dutch Antilles. According to his lawyer, he was more worried about a possible police investigation into his alleged criminal activities than hit men looking to put him to sleep. <br /> <br /> Police are asking witnesses to step forward with any information. The assassin, or assassins, managed to flee the crime scene and is/are still on the run. As of yet, nothing is known about the possible motive behind the gangland killing. What is clear, is that the life of the man known as “<a href="https://www.vn.nl/Archief/Justitie/Artikel-Justitie/De-Ouwe-is-koud.htm" target="_blank">the old guy</a>” because he had survived for so long in a world filled with treachery and violence has come to an end. What will happen next, is anyone’s guess. <br /> </p>
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Unrest within the New York Mob
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/unrest-within-the-new-york-mob
2010-11-06T16:43:28.000Z
2010-11-06T16:43:28.000Z
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<div style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;">In three days one mobster dead, another wounded</div>
<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted June 25, 2007<br /><br /> On Tuesday morning, June 5, Robert DeCicco got in his father's fiancé's Cadillac DeVille after picking up a prescription at Dolinsky's Pharmacy. As he sat in his car another car rolled up beside him. Inside it sat a masked gunman who pulled out a fire arm and opened fire. Bullets hit DeCicco in the arm, one even grazed his head. Trying to escape the hail of bullets DeCicco got out of the car, and ran for the pharmacy. The gunman fled the scene, leaving behind a wounded DeCicco. The motive for the shooting wasn't entirely clear, but one thing was very clear: it was mob related.<br /> <br /> Robert DeCicco is the son of long time Gambino mobster <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-capo-george-decicco">George DeCicco</a>, and was among a group of mobsters arrested in January. He is currently out on $500.000 bail. George DeCicco was a capo at the time of the Jan 30 bust but has allegedly been demoted to the rank of soldier. Indicating that he has lost respect of the Gambino Family leaders. His son Robert never had the respect of his fellow mobsters. He was a messenger for his father, and had gambling debts. His personal life didn't bring him any respect either, he is divorced, and collects $710 in Social Security and $150 in food stamps. He owes $10,000 on his credit card. Not a success at age 56. A motive for the hit attempt on DeCicco could be that he is blamed for the January indictment, because he introduced the man who would become an informant. Bringing an informant into the Family got you killed in the old days. Most mobsters don't live by the old rules, except those who come from the old country: Sicily. Two of the men indicted with father and son DeCicco are associates of the Sicilian Mafia. Could they be behind the hit attempt? Or did DeCicco's gambling debts force people over the edge?<br /> <br /> Two days later on Thursday June 7, Genovese soldier and loanshark Rudolph "Rudy Cue Ball" Izzi, 74, was found dead in his bed in his Brooklyn home. He had been shot once near his ear, in the back of his head. Izzi's home was less than a mile and a half from the spot where DeCicco was shot at. Izzi had been in life threatening trouble before. In 2001 police came to his home after they received reports of gunfire. Izzi told the cops that a gunman had barged into his home and pistol-whipped him, and that the intruder’s gun went off after he tried to wrestle the man to the ground.<br /> <br /> Could the same man have come back to finish the job? And are the two mob shootings in three days related? Law enforcement found no proof of that but did put out a warning to the mob Families, saying there should be no more suspicious shootings. "One more shooting, and they'd start a task force to investigate," a law enforcement source said. If the past tells the mob one thing it is this: mob wars bring heat. With the heat on, will things quiet down, or will things come to a boiling point? We will wait and see.</p>
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Organized Crime Gangs Invade Spain
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-gangs-invade
2010-11-05T15:00:00.000Z
2010-11-05T15:00:00.000Z
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<div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> Spain is a favorite among European tourists. The weather is sunny and warm, and the cities and nature are beautiful. Teens go to the coastal cities to party long and hard. While the more mature tourists visit the cultural spots of Madrid. Spain has something for everybody. And these past forty years it has attracted one particular group with ever increasing success.<br /> <br /> Spain has become a hot spot for the criminal elite. Rich criminals from Italy, Britain, The Netherlands, South America, and Russia have all flown in throughout the years to either enjoy their retirement, or expand their criminal empire. Spain has become the most important entry point for South American cocaine. And due to corrupt officials criminal groups are very successful in laundering their ill gotten money through banks, real estate, and construction projects.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">The Losers Arrive In Spain</span><br /> <br /> One of the more interersting new settlers was the Sicilian Grado Clan. The Grado Clan consisted of the five brothers: Vincenzo, Salvatore, Gaetano, Giacomo, and Antonio. They were all members of the Santa Maria di Gesu mafia family, and among the biggest heroin traffickers within the Sicilian Mafia.<br /> <br /> The Grado brothers bought their morfine from Syrian national Wakkas Salah Al Din, who in turn worked for the Turkish mafia family Cil, one of the biggest crime families in Istanbul. Every two or three weeks a shipment of at least fifty kilos of raw morfine arrived in Italy. The morfine was refined in Sicily, and then shipped to the US. Heroin trafficking made the Grado Clan very wealthy. They owned mansions all over Italy, companies in Turkey, and had richly filled bank accounts in Switzerland.<br /> <br /> But their success made certain people very jealous. Chief among them the bosses of the Corleonesi, led by Luciano Liggio and Toto Riina. In 1981 a war erupted between the Corleonesi and its supporters and the other Palermo Families. The Grado brothers belonged to the Santa Maria di Gesu family, which was led by Stefano Bontate. Bontate was killed by the Corleonesi and the Grado Clan had vowed its loyalty to his successor. This angered the Corleonesi who put the Grado Clan on their death list. Antonio Grado always had another mafioso with him for protection, but the killers of the Corleonesi managed to kill him nonetheless. The rest of the Grado Clan saw they were losing the war and made arrangements to flee Sicily.<br /> <br /> Rodolfo Azzoli was a successful businessman who worked for the Grado Clan as their front man. He invested their money in real estate. In 1979 he had moved to Benidorm, a popular Spanish coastal city, where he bought the Sierra Dorado Hotel. After the murder of Antonio Grado the entire clan got together and meticiously planned their move to Spain. They too would settle in Benidorm. On a cold December day a procession of limousines arrived at the Sierra Dorado Hotel. The four remaining Grado brothers were the first to enter the hotel, followed by forty people, thev wives and children, and soldiers and associates of the clan. After several days the entire clan moved to luxurious apartments from where they continued their criminal business.<br /> <br /> In the spring of 1982 they started a construction company which would build villas along the coast between Benidorm and Allicante. On the board of directors were Rodolfo Azzoli, a businessman from Milan, a member of the Italian Social Democratic party, and the Italian minister of Public Works Franco Nicolazzi. Quite a bunch!<br /> <br /> After a while the Grado Clan moved to the smaller town of Altea. The oldest brother Gaetano went back to Sicily to fight the Corleonesi. After having bragged about a hit on a wiretap he was arrested in a villa filled with fire arms and sent to prison.<br /> <br /> The Grado Clan showed how easy it was for a criminal gang to establish a base in Spain and launder their drug money. In the decades that followed it seemed the sky was the limit. The construction business was booming. The coastal area named Costa Del Sol pretty soon received the nickname Costa Del Crime because of all the criminals living or operating there.<br /> <br style="font-weight:bold;" /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Russians Also Like To Spend Some Money In The Sun</span><br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236980071,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />In the past twenty years Eastern European crime groups have become wealthier and more powerful. Back home some men are so powerful that they have risen to be labeled legit businessman, be it with a shady past. Several Russian criminal groups have established bases in Spain where they launder their criminal money made back home.<br /> <br /> The Spanish climate used to be very nice for these groups, but Spanish authorities are starting to see that having the biggest crime bosses from around the world invest billions of euros in your economy isn't a good thing.<br /> <br /> On Friday the 13th of June 2008 more than three hundred police officers raided several locations throughout Spain. Twenty men were arrested. $307,000 in cash and twenty three luxury cars (Ferraris and Bentleys) were seized. Bank accounts totalling €12 million euro were frozen. The group was led by Gennadios Petrov (photo on the right), who is the reputed boss of the Tambovskaya-Malyshevkaya organization, said to be one of Russia's most brutal crime groups. Petrov came to Spain in the early 1990s and allegedly used cash from the former KGB and communist party to buy a luxury hotel in Mallorca. Very similar to how the Grado Clan got their start.<br /> <br /> Petrov lived in enormous luxury. He owned a mansion worth €20 million, and was known to hand out tips of €500. His neighbor was the sister of King Juan Carlos of Spain. But it is unsure if he will ever get to enjoy his fabulous life in the sun again. He is charged with a variety of offences including money laundering, murder, extortion, drug dealing, illicit association, falsification of documents and tax fraud.<br /> <br /> With Spanish authorities finally cleaning up their cities the only question is: are they on time? Criminal gangs have already invested billions. And there are so many gangs, from so many different countries. Whatever the outcome Spanish police are showing they mean business. Petrov is a big boss, and someone who usually manages to stay out of the arms of police. But now he and his gang are sitting in a Spanish prison. A place that is even hotter than the Spanish beaches.</p>
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Underworld Fued in Japan
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/underworld-fued-in-japan
2010-11-04T20:00:00.000Z
2010-11-04T20:00:00.000Z
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<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/9881457677?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By Hollander (pseudonym)<br />Posted in 2002</p>
<p>In 2001 there have been a series of incidents amongst Hatsuka-kai yakuza, most notably the shooting of two Sumiyoshi-kai executives by Inagawa-kai members at a funeral in Tokyo. The Hatsuka-kai is an association promoting good inter-group relations between the major Kanto-based crime syndicates. On Aug. 18, 2001, some 700 people were attending the wake of a Sumiyoshi-kai boss held at the Yotsugi crematory in Tokyo. Two hitmen Kazumi Yoshikawa (52) and Yoshio Murakami pretended to be mourners and they suddenly opened fire. The 52-year-old boss Ikuo Kumagawa and Takashi Endo (57) were showered with bullets, they died later at a hospital. A third yakuza was also shot, but escaped with only minor injuries. The bloody assault took place in front of policemen who surrounded the crematory in anticipation of trouble. The two gunmen, both members of the Omaeda Ikka which is one of the most militant gangs in the Inagawa-kai, were arrested and admitted that they targeted Kumagawa over a turf war. Yoshikawa must spend his life behind bars while Murakami, was handed a 20-year term for his part in the gangland killings. It's possible that the disputants rejected offers of mediation from fellow Hatsuka-kai members. According to some sources the funeral shooting was rather a feud in the Kokusui-kai (another Tokyo-based yakuza syndicate) than a feud between Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai. There have been a series incidents with different intentions of each yakuza group that had led to the shooting, which is much more complicated to explain. The Sumiyoshi-kai and Inagawa-kai made peace with each other, but one group, the Yano Mutsumi-kai, persisted in their attempts to attack the Omaeda Ikka.</p>
<p>After a series of attacks on Omaeda Ikka-related targets, a senior member of the Yano Mutsumi-kai, was shot dead in a Tokyo hospital on Feb. 25, 2002. Takashi Ishizuka (54) was being treated for gunshot wounds he received earlier, Ishizuka was shot in the arm and stomach by a man in his 50s after the men quarreled on a street in the Kanamecho district of Tokyo. Investigators believe Masao Tatsuriki (54) and Kumio Arai (56) murdered Ishizuka on the orders of 54-year-old Osamu Yano, head of the Yano Mutsumi-kai. Police suspecting that they murdered Ishizuka in a bid to silence him over his failed attack on the rival organization. Police officers were guarding the entrance to the first-floor intensive care unit at the time but the hit men carried out the daring attack from outside. Arai smashed a window to let Tatsuriki, who was armed with a Makarov pistol, shower the gangster with bullets at close range. Osamu Yano, Tatsuriki and Arai were indicted in September 2003. Yano and Tatsuriki were earlier indicted for attacking the home of the leader of the Omaeda Ikka. A firebomb was hurled at the house in March 2002. Yano and Tatsuriki, who have been detained at a Gunma detention center, and Arai who had been jailed over a separate crime, were placed in the custody of the Metropolitan Police Department. Arai has reportedly admitted to the allegations but the other two are denying them. Confessions by Arai led investigators to find the gun used in the crime in a Saitama Prefecture river.</p>
<p>Moreover, police suspect that the Yano Mutsumi-kai may have been involved in the 'Maebashi bar massacre' in January 2003. Japan was shocked by the Jan. 25 shooting which resulted in three civilians and a yakuza dead in Maebashi, Gumma Prefecture, a city north of Tokyo. The two gunmen, wearing white, full-face helmets, fatally shot the 31-year-old gangster Ryoichi Seya as he was getting out of a car near the bar at about 11 30 p.m., before breaking into the establishment. They then indiscriminately fired a dozen bullets inside the Katsu bar, killing the three and seriously injuring two others, and fled the scene on foot. The gunmen fired their weapons without saying a word and officers found one pistol in front of the bar. One of the gunmen used a .38 caliber Makarov semiautomatic pistol, a type formerly used by the Soviet military. One of two people injured was Kunio Goto. It is believed the gunmen were targeting Goto, a 55 year-old high-ranking member of Omaeda Ikka. The bar is known as a gathering place for yakuza and Goto is a regular customer. It was not the first shooting involving Goto. Three gunmen launched a volley of shots, four months before the shooting. Kunio Goto was driving home with acquaintances after playing golf when he was attacked in the village Shirasawa, Gunma Prefecture. The men coming from the opposite lane crashed their vehicle into his friends' car. Goto, tried to escape, but was shot in the right shoulder before the three gangsters fled the scene with the help of a fourth gangster acting as the get away driver. Shortly after the daytime shooting, local residents in Showa, a village next to Shirasawa, saw several men burning the car before they left in another vehicle.</p>
<p>Goto was lying low on the floor to dodge bullets when the assasins stormed the Maebashi bar because he had heard the shots, fired in the parking lot outside, killing his bodyguard Seya. Goto must have been painfully aware of the fact that he had become a target. But the yakuza boss succeeded to survive for the second time, an unprecedented disgrace. From the assasins' point of view, they cannot afford missing the same target twice. This was probably why more than 20 shots were fired in the incident. The assassination of the two yakuza bosses at the Tokyo crematory may have been behind the massacre. The Omaeda Ikka had been expelled from Inagawa-kai to take the responsibility of the funeral shooting. However, the gangland war has resurfaced again recently after many former members of the Omaeda Ikka virtually resurrected the group by joining another Inagawa-kai affiliate. Goto's role in the 2001 hit is not clear but investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the Tokyo attack and the Maebashi incident are related. Four days after the massacre a gangster who turned himself in was arrested. The man was identified as Haruo Doi (43) a member of the Sumiyoshi-kai,. Doi turned himself in, saying he fired shots in the bar on the night of Jan. 25. Doi did not hand over a weapon to local police in Maebashi, but he directed them to a stretch of a river where they found two automatic weapons and a dark jumper. The arrest warrant on Doi was not for his suspected role in the killings, but for allegations that he possessed three guns and 26 bullets used in the crime. Police also searched several gangsters' offices the same day in connection with the case. The National Police Agency ordered police nationwide to crack down on crime groups affiliated with Sumiyoshi-kai, with a focus on seizing illegal handguns.</p>
<p>The bloodbath in Maebashi was followed in December 2003 by another one, when five gangsters were shot dead in a yakuza office in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture. The shooting took place in a quiet residential area at a private house surrounded by high walls. Kaiichi Yamamoto (56), boss of the Yamamoto-gumi in the Sumiyoshi-kai syndicate turned himself in and has been arrested. Yamamoto gunned down the five during talks over internal struggles. The gang boss said he took two handguns to a regular meeting of Sumiyoshi-kai leaders operating in Saitama Prefecture. Yamamoto, shot 69-year-old Genichi Hosoda, boss of the Hosoda-gumi, which is also under the umbrella of the Sumiyoshi-kai and four others. Police identified the four other slain men as Takahide Namba (64), Katsutomo Namba (61), Hideaki Suzuki (41), and Hiroshi Yamada (56). The five had sustained head and abdominal wounds, with the shots having apparently been fired at close range, investigators said. Police subsequently dispatched officers to guard the headquarters of Yamamoto's gang in Iruma against retaliatory attacks.</p>
<p>One of two gunmen in the shooting at the Katsu bar was finally arrested in February 2004. Masato Kohinata (34), a member of Yano Mutsumi-kai, was arrested. Also arrested was Osamu Yano, who allegedly ordered Kohinata and another gunman Kenichiro Yamada (38) to murder Kunio Goto. Kohinata, had already been arrested and indicted on separate charges. After the Maebashi shooting, Kohinata fled to the Philippines, but was arrested in December 2003 for allegedly preparing a car used in the first attempt to kill Goto. In light of new evidence, Kohinata confessed that he had fired the shots upon the orders of his boss. "I acted upon the boss's orders," officers quoted Kohinata as saying, referring to Yano.</p>
<p>The Maebashi District Court sentenced Masato Kohinata to death on March 29, 2005. Presiding Judge Yasuhiro Kuga said Kohinata had "firm intent to kill" the four people. "Capital punishment is the only choice," the judge said, dismissing a request for leniency the defense lawyer had sought due to Kohinata's confession. "Because this country has the death penalty, this choice is inevitable." the judge said, adding Kohinata should spend the rest of his life apologizing to the relatives of the victims. According to the court, Kohinata and his alleged accomplice, Kenichiro Yamada, also shot and seriously wounded Goto as well as one other person. Yamada is standing trial for murder. Yano, the boss of Yano Mutsumi-kai, is also on trial. Yamada and Yano, now 56, have denied any wrongdoing. The defense counsel for Masato Kohinata immediately filed an appeal against the ruling.</p>
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Profile of Russian crime boss Viktor Bout
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-viktor-bout
2010-11-03T18:30:00.000Z
2010-11-03T18:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p style="text-align:left;"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236975681,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />By David Amoruso<br /> First published in 2001<br /> Updated on February 9, 2023<br /> <br /> Viktor Anatoliyevich Bout is born on January 13, 1967 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Not much is known about his early life, but at one point he joined the military and after training began working at a Russian military base in Vitebsk as a navigator. After a few years he expanded his duties and also began training commando troops of the Russian Airforce.<br /> <br /> In 1991 Bout graduated from Moscow's Military Institute for foreign languages and could speak six languages fluently, he now expanded his duties in the military and became a translator for the Russian army in Angola, Africa. Though not for long, because in that same year, 1991, the military base where Bout was working was disbanded as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bout and his fellow officers were out of a job.<br /> <br /> Bout and his associates were well trained, had access to all the equipment they needed and more importantly had all the international contacts. And so it was that Bout started Transavia Export Cargo company which in 1993 helped supply the Belgian peace keeping forces in Somalia, Africa. And that wasn't the only work Bout's company did. Once his company had been set up Bout had made contacts with an Afghani group called the Northern Alliance and was selling them large amounts of weapons. From 1992 untill 1995 he supplied several Afghani groups with tons of amunition and weapons. With the money he made from these deals, allegedly $50 million dollars, Bout expanded his arms dealing empire.<br /> <br /> In March of 1995 Bout started a company in the Belgian city Oostende (Ostend) named Trans Aviation Network Group. The company had a difficult start when their main customer, the Afghani Northern Alliance, was pushed out of power by the Taliban. In May of 1995 a plane filled with weapons and ammunition destined for the Northern Alliance was intercepted in Afghanistan by the Taliban. The crew was held captive until 16th of August, 1996 when they managed to escape.<br /> <br /> Not long after Bout had a new customer, the Taliban. It wasn't his first contact with the Taliban he had sold them weapons before but not in the large shipments he sent them now. Business was good. Bout enjoyed his life, in Ostend, Belgium he bought a mansion and had several expensive cars. In Moscow he bought an apartment in one of the more exclusive neighborhoods. But life in Belgium didn't stay sweet for long, in 1997 Belgian newspapers published reports about Bout's shady operation and when Belgian authorities started looking into his business Bout moved to the United Arab Emirates.<br /> <br /> His United Arab Emirates company was also founded in 1995 and, based first in Sharjah and later in 2001 in Ajman, would be his main base of operations. The U.A.E. was a perfect place for a man like Bout, it was a major financial center and a cross road for East and West trade and with its bank secrecy laws and free trade zones it was paradise on earth for an arms dealer.<br /> <br /> From his base in Sharjah Bout ran his empire which also by 1995 included Africa. In 1995 he founded Air Cess in Liberia, this would mean the beginning of his grip on weapons supplying in Africa. Bout didn't care who he supplied with weapons or for what cause as long as people paid him his money. U.S. and U.N. officials say Bout airlifted thousands upon thousands of assault rifles, grenade and missile launchers and millions of ammunition rounds into Africa. Clients of Bout's companies include Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Congo-Brazzaville, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and Uganda. You could almost say that without Bout there would be peace in Africa.<br /> <br /> Most of the weapons that arrived in Africa came from Bulgaria where Bout had made frequent trips between 1995 and 2000. In 2000 Bout was seen visiting six weapons factories there. Between July 1997 and September 1998 Bout organized 38 flights with weapons shipments worth an estimated $14 million dollars to African nations. In the summer of 2000 four of Bout's planes landed in Liberia with weapons on board. The shipments contained helicopters, armored vehicles, anti aircraft guns and automatic rifles. By now ofcourse law enforcement was beginning to understand Bout's place in the world af arms dealing and decided to take him down, something that would be more difficult than thought at first.<br /> <br /> By the time the world took notice of Bout he was safely in his home in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. By now Bout had made the political connections and money that made him almost untouchable. And on top of that, the law enforcement units didn't even have any proof. While investigating Bout's empire several of the law enforcement units went crazy. Bout's empire was a maze of people, companies, planes and routes. It was impossible to check where and when Bout's planes flew and which planes belonged to him. Bout kept moving himself and his companies around and had nothing registrated in his own name. When they finally had the evidence to charge him Bout was protected by high placed U.A.E. royalty and officials such as Sultan Hamad Said Nassir al Suwaidi, advisor to the ruler of Sharjah, who apparently also co-owns one of Bout's companies. The world wanted him bad but when he seemed too far out of reach the interest to catch him died down as well as the intensity with which he was hunted. Then came September 11, 2001 which changed everyones priorities.<br /> <br /> On September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda terrorists attacked New York and the entire free world. Al Qaeda was very close to the extreme muslims of the Afghani Taliban, a group that was supplied with weapons by Bout. After September 11 Bout became a top priority for the U.S. Old evidence was pulled from the shelves and new evidence was collected. His name was everywhere, in newspapers on television. Everyone knew of Victor Bout's arms dealing empire. But no one knew where Bout was or how to cath him.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236976064,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />By now the U.S. and Interpol were looking everywhere but couldn't find him, the United Arab Emirates were hesitant to cooperate but eventually caved in although one can only guess if they really did. And even if they did Bout was always safe in his homeland Russia where corrupt officials knew how to hide a man like Bout. Russia was asked by the U.S. and Interpol to deliver Bout and at the height of the tension Moscow decided to give a press conference in which they said that Bout wasn't in Russia. It turned out to be an enormous blunder because at exact the same time as the Moscow press conference Bout was giving his own conference at Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy in a live interview in which he claimed his innocense and told that he "was just a businessman".<br /> <br /> On March 6, 2008 Victor Bout was in a five star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand negotiating an arms deal worth millions. His buyers were members of the Colombian FARC, and they were eager to get the deal done. Bout was offering them more than 700 surface-to-air missiles, thousands of guns, high-tech helicopters, and airplanes outfitted with grenade launchers and missiles. Everything looked perfect for Bout, just another smooth deal, like so many others he had organized throughout the past twenty years. But unbeknownst to him, the FARC rebels actually were undercover agents part of an American-led sting operation. Thai police arrested Bout on the spot. At this moment Bout is still fighting his extradition to the United States where he faces four terrorism-related charges. His future does not look good.<br /> <br /> In August of 2010, a Thai court ruled Bout is to be extradited to the United States to stand trial on charges that he conspired to sell arms to Colombian rebels. Bout's Russian friends in high circles have already made a pledge they will do everything they can do bring him home to Russia. The BBC quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying the ruling was "unlawful" and that his government believed it was made "under very strong external pressure". If Bout is convicted he will face life in prison in the United States.</p>
<p>At age 45, the infamous <em>Lord of War</em> was handed a 25-year prison sentence by an American judge. You can read more about his sentencing and conviction <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/viktor-bout-sentenced-to-25-years-in-prison">here</a>.</p>
<p>On July 28, 2022, it was reported that the U.S. was planning to exchange Viktor Bout for two American citizens locked up in Russia. Full story <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/real-lord-of-war-back-from-the-shadows-as-pawn-in-international-p" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p>The exchange happened. Making Bout a free man. Full story <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/arms-trafficker-victor-bout-is-back-in-moscow-after-prisoner-swap" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
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