bribes - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T06:17:25Z
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Money launderer of powerful US-based Russian Mafia boss pleads guilty
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/money-launderer-of-powerful-us-based-russian-mafia-boss-pleads-gu
2020-12-11T16:33:45.000Z
2020-12-11T16:33:45.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/money-launderer-of-powerful-us-based-russian-mafia-boss-pleads-gu" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115687?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>A man who laundered money for the Russian Mafia pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday. Daniel Daniel admitted conspiring with US-based <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone" target="_blank">Russian mob boss Razhden Shulaya</a> (photo above) to launder illicit proceeds through a purported vodka import-export business.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone" target="_blank">Shulaya</a> was considered untouchable. As a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian Mafia</a>, a “Vor v Zakone”, known as a “Thief-in-Law”, he had risen to a leading position in the United States operating in and around the New York City area, including in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>, as well as in other parts of the country, including Las Vegas, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LA" target="_blank">Los Angeles</a>, and Southern <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Florida" target="_blank">Florida</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone" target="_blank">“For him, I am a god”</a> – Profile of Russian Mafia boss, and vor v zakone,</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone" target="_blank"><strong>Razhden Shulaya</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>His organization engaged in widespread criminal activities, including the transportation and sale of stolen property, wire and bank fraud, illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> operations, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> of debtors to its gambling operation, and the use of false identification documents and counterfeit credit cards in order to illegally purchase merchandise.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Import-export</strong></span></p>
<p>Daniel facilitated the activities of the Shulaya organization by conspiring with Shulaya and others to launder proceeds of the group’s illicit activities. He assisted Shulaya in establishing a purported <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Vodka" target="_blank">vodka</a> import-export business referred to as “Tropport” and related Tropport bank accounts that he knew were being used as fronts for laundering criminal proceeds.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Porsches and Yeezys – Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/porsches-and-yeezys-profile-of-new-york-crime-boss-aleksey-tsvetk" target="_blank"><strong>New York crime boss Aleksey Tsvetkov</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>As Shulaya’s money laundering consultant, Daniel explained that Tropport would provide “a cover for where [Shulaya obtained his] money”; advised Shulaya on the details of fabricating documents to reflect nonexistent corporate debt in order to falsely lower Tropport’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Tax" target="_blank">tax liability</a>; and described how this sham company and false documentation would allow the vor to plausibly deny any potential money laundering allegations.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Nexus of legitimate world of finance and international network of crime</strong></span></p>
<p>Daniel is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30, 2021 and faces a maximum term of twenty years in prison. His boss and over 25 other members of the organization were arrested in June of 2017. Shulaya was sentenced to 45 years in prison on December 19, 2018.</p>
<p>“Money launderers like Daniel sit at the nexus of the legitimate world of finance and an international network of criminal activity,” Manhattan Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said. “They embolden, enrich, and facilitate pernicious criminal actors, and seek to place well-heeled criminals like Razhden Shulaya beyond accountability. Today’s plea is another example of this Office’s dedication to uprooting and prosecuting these criminal facilitators.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian Mafia section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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“For him, I am a god” – Profile of Russian Mafia boss, and vor v zakone, Razhden Shulaya
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone
2018-12-22T10:26:18.000Z
2018-12-22T10:26:18.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115687?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>As a vor v zakone, mob boss Razhden Shulaya (above) was an official member of a century-old criminal tradition. As such, he was treated as Russian Mafia royalty. He used that position to run a sprawling organization involved in kidnapping, assault, fraud, extortion, and money laundering throughout the United States.</p>
<p>It was on the streets of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Petersburg" target="_blank">St. Petersburg</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Russia" target="_blank">Russia</a>, that Shulaya earned his stripes in the Russian underworld fraternity of the vory v zakone, or thieves-in-law. Welcomed into this brotherhood, he enjoyed its protection and influence.</p>
<p>As a member, he now too could offer the same to other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian gangsters</a> seeking his guidance. His powerful position also enabled him to demand tribute payments from low-level criminals. More importantly, his title traveled along with him everywhere he went - even to the United States of America.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Russian Mafia has no boundaries</strong></span></p>
<p>Shulaya’s center of operations was based in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NYC" target="_blank">New York City</a>, but he set up various crews with its members operating in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Florida" target="_blank">Florida</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Nevada" target="_blank">Nevada</a>. Of course, as an international Russian Mafia boss his organization knew no boundaries.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Spanish court rules investments of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/spanish-court-rules-that-investments-of-tambovskaya-malyshevskaya" target="_blank">Tambovskaya-Malyshevskaya Russian Mafia clan</a> not criminal</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Most of his underlings were born in Russia and countries once part of the Soviet Union and many maintained substantial ties to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Georgia" target="_blank">Georgia</a>, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation. They traveled there regularly, communicated with associates in those countries, and transferred criminal proceeds to individuals there.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>From bribes to brothels: Business was booming</strong></span></p>
<p>There were enough proceeds to transfer. Business was booming in the United States. Shulaya liked to be on top things and personally oversaw the various illicit activities his associates were involved in. Whether it was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a>, trafficking stolen goods, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bribery" target="_blank">bribing</a> corrupt police officers or running <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling businesses</a> and a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brothel" target="_blank">brothel</a> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>, Shulaya kept a close eye on his interests.</p>
<p>White collar crime also was a favorite. His crews engaged in identity theft, credit card fraud, and laundered their ill-gotten gains through a fraudulently established vodka import-export company. Shulaya also created a scheme to defraud <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Casino" target="_blank">casinos</a> by targeting particular models of electronic slot machines using a complicated algorithm designed to predict the behavior of those machines. </p>
<p>To obtain the technology needed to commit that fraud, he kidnapped a software engineer in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Vegas" target="_blank">Las Vegas</a> in 2014. Shulaya then refined the technology by training lower-level members to execute this casino scam using smartphones and software developed by his organization.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237115887,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237115887?profile=original" /></a>“For him, I am a god”</strong></span></p>
<p>As the kidnapping showed, Shulaya (right) had no qualms about using force or violence – against anyone. He pistol-whipped a relative and gave a public beating to a disrespectful member of his gang. He even showed around photographs of the badly disfigured face of his former lieutenant Mamuka Chaganava, who he had beaten to a pulp. He took pride in his brutal work and was unafraid of retribution or Chaganava perhaps turning to police, saying: “For him, I am a god.”</p>
<p>Perhaps, but it also helped that he was usually flanked by Avtandil Khurtsidze, a former middleweight <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxing</a> champion and his chief enforcer and debt collector. Khurtsidze was captured on video twice assaulting others on orders of Shulaya and planned additional acts of violence with his boss targeting fellow members whom they perceived as having disrespected Shulaya’s status as a vor.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Downfall</strong></span></p>
<p>As the threats and beatings continued, the feds had found their target. On June 7, 2017, Shulaya and 32 members of his enterprise were hit with three indictments and one complaint charging them with a variety of racketeering charges.</p>
<p>A year later, following a two-week trial, Shulaya was found guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy, one count of conspiring to traffic in stolen goods such as luxury watches, one count of conspiracy to traffic in contraband tobacco, one count of identification document fraud, and one count of wire fraud conspiracy.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-two-russian-mobsters-got-caught-up-in-the-iraqi-civil-war" target="_blank"><strong>How two Russian mobsters got caught up in the Iraqi civil war</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Khurtsidze was also found guilty on racketeering and related charges and was subsequently sentenced on September 7, 2018 to 10 years behind bars. </p>
<p>41-year-old Shulaya was sentenced to 45 years in prison on December 19. In addition to the prison term, the Russian vor was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,169,270 in forfeiture and restitution in the amount of $550,000.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian Mafia section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
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Rise in sports corruption as Mafia groups step up involvement - Meeting at Europol about combating these crimes
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/rise-in-sports-corruption-as-mafia-groups-step-up-involvement-mee
2017-11-19T17:24:47.000Z
2017-11-19T17:24:47.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/rise-in-sports-corruption-as-mafia-groups-step-up-involvement-mee" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237095085,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237095085?profile=original" width="629" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Organized crime syndicates are increasingly getting involved in sports corruption. Fixing a match means a guaranteed lucrative payout by betting on the correct outcome. Criminals operating in this multi-billion-dollar field use different modi operandi and adopt very complex structures, therefore the only successful response by law enforcement, Europol says, is to adopt a multi-disciplinary and multi-agency approach, involving all key actors from both the public and private sectors.</p>
<p>Sports corruption is an offence often carried out by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a>-type groups, says David Ellero, Head of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Europol" target="_blank">Europol</a>’s Economic and Property Crimes Unit. “Therefore, it is Europol’s responsibility to fight it with the same approach adopted in the struggle against other crime areas such as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug trafficking</a> and weapons smuggling. We need to ensure that the manipulation of sports competitions does not pay and does not attract more organized criminality.”</p>
<p>To achieve that aim, on 16 and 17 November, Europol brought together representatives from European law enforcement agencies, sports governing bodies, private companies operating in the sector of integrity services, and other international organizations, for a meeting on crime and sports.</p>
<p>Experts in the area of sports corruption from fifteen EU Member States and three non-EU States (Moldova, Australia and Switzerland) as well as delegates from Eurojust and INTERPOL attended the meeting, together with representatives from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=UEFA" target="_blank">UEFA</a>, the Tennis Integrity Unit and Sportradar.</p>
<p>Aims and objectives of the meeting were to enable further cooperation between participants by sharing concrete operational expertise and best practices in fighting sports corruption. In addition, the intelligence picture of this form of organized crime and the organized crime groups influencing it was further defined, by sharing strategic knowledge between all actors involved.</p>
<p>Among the delegates were also representatives from the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=IOC" target="_blank">International Olympic Committee</a> (IOC) via their Olympic Movement Unit on the Prevention of the Manipulation of Competitions. Europol and the IOC had already intensified their cooperation in the last two years, since the latter plays an important role in protecting the integrity of sport across all Olympic disciplines.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-boss-rakhimov-and-the-sochi-olympics" target="_blank">Russian crime boss Gafur Rakhimov & the Sochi Olympics</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>It was the IOC that was faced with a widespread corruption scandal during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Several of its members were forced to resign in 1998, years before the Games even had begun on charges that they had accepted bribes in return for voting for Salt Lake City as an Olympic venue.</p>
<p>Then, during the first week of the Games, there were new allegations of bribery. This time it involved <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian Mafia</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-alimzhan" target="_blank">Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov</a>. According to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a>, he had fixed the figure skating competition by pressuring two of the jurors, one from Russia, the other from France.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fifa-capo-sepp-blatter-boozing-with-russian-mob-boss" target="_blank">FIFA boss Sepp Blatter boozing with Russian mob boss</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Also present was the Council of Europe (CoE), which attended for the first time. The CoE is at the forefront of the adoption of important international legal instruments to tackle sports corruption more effectively, in particular through the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions - the only international, legally binding text to exist in the field.</p>
<p>Whether this meeting will have an effect or not depends on how serious law enforcement is about fighting and investigating corruption. For decades, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FIFA" target="_blank">FIFA</a>, the world’s most powerful sports organization, got away with rampant <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fifa-capo-sepp-blatter-boozing-with-russian-mob-boss" target="_blank">bribery and corruption</a>. Even though it had former FBI agents among its employees.</p>
<p>Though it’s the shady gangster who corrupts a certain player or team, and it’s the leg breaker who utters the threats to ensure that the players comply with the organized crime groups, and it’s the groups that place the bets and reap the biggest rewards, it’s the sport’s clubs and official governing bodies that set the example and create the atmosphere that makes it all possible.</p>
<p>If soccer clubs are allowed to be bought by shady billionaires, it is no wonder the legitimacy of the sport starts to crumble. It always begins with the exchange of money. Once one side accepts it from a criminal source, the Mafia groups have entered the building. And they won’t leave without a fight.</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>
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<p> </p></div>
The Rat who became King: Triad boss Raymond Chow
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-rat-who-became-king-triad-boss-raymond-chow
2015-10-14T10:00:00.000Z
2015-10-14T10:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/9881372089?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-rat-who-became-king-triad-boss-raymond-chow"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237041701,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237041701?profile=original" width="571" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Raymond Chow’s life story is one tailor-made for the cinema. It’s a rags to riches tale containing violence, murder, betrayal, political corruption, and secretive Chinese criminal brotherhoods in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It’s the story of a gangster who ratted on his Triad boss only to go on and become the leader of the underworld himself. Only in America.</p>
<p>Born in China, Chow’s grandmother bestowed him with the nickname “Shrimp Boy” to shield him from evil spirits. Little did she know that her young boy would grow up to haunt many people himself, even sending some off to the spirit realm… allegedly. </p>
<p>As a teenager on the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/asian-youth-gangs-and-the">mean streets of San Francisco</a> Chow (photo above) had no qualms about violence and immersed himself in the gang life. He joined the Hop Sing Boys where, the <a href="http://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/The-enigma-of-Raymond-Chow-self-proclaimed-5398313.php" target="_blank">San Francisco Gate</a> reported, “Chow quickly distinguished himself […] with his blend of charisma and ruthlessness.” As a result, between the late 1970s and the end of the 1980s, he spent two stints in prison totaling a combined decade behind bars for robbery and assault.</p>
<p>After having proven himself as a capable enforcer Chow made it big in the 1990s. Together with Triad boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triad-boss-peter-chong">Peter Chong</a> he embarked on an ambitious plan to combine several <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview">American Tongs and Chinese street gangs</a> into one big <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview">Triad</a>, which was to be called Tien Ha Wui, or Whole Earth Association. Before they could achieve their goal, however, law enforcement indicted them on a host of racketeering charges. Chong managed to flee to Hong Kong in 1992, but was extradited to stand trial in the United States in 2000. He was convicted and sentenced to a prison term of fifteen years.</p>
<p>Chow's trial had already taken place in 1996 and had ended in a mistrial. But he was subsequently convicted of gun charges and given a twenty-five-years to life sentence. It was too much for Chow who had seen enough prison cells in his lifetime. He cut a deal with the government, pleaded guilty in federal court to racketeering involving murder for hire, conspiracy to distribute heroin, arson and other crimes, and testified against <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triad-boss-peter-chong">Chong</a>, his former boss. As part of his deal, Chow was released from prison in 2003.</p>
<p>Fresh out of prison, Chow claimed to be a reformed man who found religion and wanted to do good. He wanted to help young kids stay away from gangs. Members of law enforcement found it interesting that while warning youngsters to stay away from gang life, Chow himself went straight back to the streets of Chinatown and renewed his contacts with members of Asian gangs, including his former Hop Sing Tong underlings.</p>
<p>He did so without being shot on sight as a known informant or, in street slang, rat. Apparently, there is no “stop snitchin’” movement in Chinatown.</p>
<p>The Hop Sing Tong was now led by Allen Ngai Leung, already the boss of the Chee Kung Tong, who had become the leader while Chong and Chow were in prison. He arrived in California during the 1970s, at the age of twenty. During the late seventies, he became a member of the Hop Sing. As he became a successful businessman, he started playing a bigger role within the Tong, quickly becoming its leader. When Chow was released from prison, an associate of his allegedly sent word to Leung that several young Hop Sing members needed money “to do business.” When the Hop Sing Tong leadership voted against lending the younger members money its front door was shot at by unknown assailants the next day.</p>
<p>It was all too much for Leung, who decided to cooperate with authorities in solving this case. It was a dangerous move, and one that didn't have a happy end. In February of 2006, Leung was shot to death in his office by a gunman wearing a mask while his wife watched in horror.</p>
<p>No one has been charged with the murder. And though Chow was a suspect, he was never charged. During Leung's funeral hundreds of people came to pay their respects, among them a cabinet minister from Taiwan. Raymond Chow was also there, telling Chinese reporters he came to pay his respects to “Big Brother,” a term used by Triad members to pay respect but also indicate one of their leaders. He did so, while wearing a white suit - photo below. Authorities claim it was a sign of disrespect and that he had taken control, though Chow denies that. “The white suit he wore was a sign of humility and respect, and it was his combination of life experiences and his well-known reformation that caused the elders of the community [who] asked him to be Dragonhead of the Chee Kung Tong,” according to a filing by Chow’s attorneys.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237041493,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237041493?profile=original" width="450" /></a>The king is dead, long live the king. Chow now ascended the throne of the San Francisco Chinatown underworld.</p>
<p>And the feds took notice.</p>
<p>Always on the lookout for a career-making “Mr. Big” the FBI was keen to take down Raymond Chow. Starting in 2009 the FBI kicked off an undercover operation aimed specifically at gathering enough evidence of Chow’s criminal activity to put him back in jail. One undercover agent managed to become friendly with a member of the Chee Kung Tong, as a result of this, another undercover FBI agent posing as an Italian-American “<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">made guy</a>” from the East Coast was introduced to Chow.</p>
<p>In the following years, the undercover agent started the long process of winning Chow’s trust and getting him to participate in criminal activities. From his conversations with Chow and other Tong members it became clear that he had infiltrated a bonafide criminal organization.</p>
<p>During one meeting at a karaoke bar, Chow allegedly whispered into the agent’s ear that, “although [he] was no longer involved in criminal activity, [he] knew of and approved all criminal activities within his organization.” He described himself as a judge, who, “when there is a dispute between the organization’s members and if one member kills another member, Chow decides if the killing was justified.”</p>
<p>Talking to George Nieh, the agent found out more about the group’s hierarchy. “Nieh explained that he is also considered a leader within the organization, but that [he] still reports to Chow, whom [he] described as the equivalent of a general.” Nieh lead Wah Ching, a San Francisco street gang, and is also a member of Chee Kung Tong, sometimes working as Chow’s driver.</p>
<p>According to prosecutors, from March 2011 through December 2013, Chow, Nieh, and four others collectively laundered $2,290,000 in purportedly illicit funds for the undercover agent. They were paid a 10% fee for their work.</p>
<p>Pushing even further, the undercover FBI agent now asked three other gang members to launder $1,048,764 in drug proceeds for him. Others would launder $1,5 million more.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237042055,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237042055?profile=original" width="256" /></a>Each time Chow (left) made the introductions and accepted cash gifts but stayed far away from the actual activities. It proved to be insufficient to dodge an indictment.</p>
<p>In March of 2014, Chow was charged with seven counts of money laundering, two counts of conspiracy to transport and receive stolen liquor, and one count of conspiracy to traffic untaxed cigarettes - with the contraband provided by the FBI.</p>
<p>Along with Chow, prosecutors hit several of his underlings, including George Nieh, as well as former state Senator Leland Yee and former school board member Keith Jackson, two men who seemed squeaky clean. But, according to the indictment, both men engaged in corruption, bribery, and trafficking firearms with Chow and member's of his organization. Jackson was also charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and a murder for hire conspiracy.</p>
<p>This past summer, Leland Yee and his cronies entered guilty pleas, while in early September six of Chow’s co-defendants pleaded guilty, including George Nieh. Former senator Yee will be sentenced on October 21.</p>
<p>Now, only “Shrimp Boy” remains standing tall while professing his innocence. And he is doing so loudly with interviews in many regional and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/magazine/shrimp-boys-day-in-court.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=2" target="_blank">national</a> newspapers and on social media. His <a href="https://www.facebook.com/raymondshrimpboychow/" target="_blank">personal Facebook page</a> frequently features “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/raymondshrimpboychow/photos/a.348704995189965.78978.320363858024079/946712128722579/?type=3" target="_blank">Free Shrimp Boy</a>” merchandise and messages offering proof of his innocence.</p>
<p>Though he faces up to 20 years in prison for each money laundering count alone, he is eager to take his case to court. His trial is scheduled to begin on November 2.</p>
<p>As that date nears, the prosecution continues to add more charges to Chow’s indictment. With the help of two of Chow’s co-defendants, 37-year-old Kongphet Chanthavong and 42-year-old Andy Li, who have agreed to testify against their former boss, prosecutors plan on charging Chow with soliciting the murders of his predecessor Allen Leung, in San Francisco in 2006, and of a former associate, Jim Tat Kong, in Mendocino County in 2013.</p>
<p>Because of the added charges Chow is entitled to a 30-day delay, but he refuses to take it. “I have been waiting for this trial for a very long time,” he told the judge. “I don’t want to wait any more time and I’m looking forward to the start of the trial.”</p>
<p>If he is found guilty he has more to worry about than life in a cell. His reputation as a government witness might not have been a problem on the streets of San Francisco, but it will surely be an issue in prison.</p>
<p>At age 55, Raymond Chow is no longer the physical threat he once was when he came up through the ranks sporting his boyish nickname. After dodging prison once by ratting, it’s karma that he now finds himself going up against two former underlings snitching on him.</p>
<p>It proves once more that despite all the brash talk there is no loyalty among thieves.</p>
<p>On August 4, 2016, a judge <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/san-francisco-crime-boss-shrimp-boy-chow-gets-two-life-terms-in-p">sentenced Chow to two life terms in prison</a> for racketeering and murder. "Shrimp Boy" plans to appeal his sentence.</p>
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FIFA capo Sepp Blatter boozing with Russian mob boss
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/fifa-capo-sepp-blatter-boozing-with-russian-mob-boss
2015-05-28T09:50:42.000Z
2015-05-28T09:50:42.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fifa-capo-sepp-blatter-boozing-with-russian-mob-boss"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237044868,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237044868?profile=original" width="540" /></a></p>
<p>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The FBI dealt a huge blow to one of the world’s most corrupt “legitimate” organizations, yesterday, when it charged nine officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies after they enriched themselves through the corruption of soccer and its most prestigious tournament, the World Cup. FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, however, managed to escape indictment, for now.</p>
<p>How he achieved this is anyone’s guess. Journalists and officials have compiled plenty of evidence of corrupt behavior by Blatter, but were unable to make anything stick in court. Until now, perhaps.</p>
<p>Blatter enforces a strict code of silence within FIFA and has a large following of loyalists eager for another payday. Unfortunately for him, his underlings are greedier than he thought. One of them, Charles Blazer, the long-serving former general secretary of CONCACAF and former U.S. representative on the FIFA executive committee, was caught by the FBI in an unrelated scheme and was given the choice to cooperate or go to prison. Blazer spilled his guts and taped numerous meetings and conversations with corrupt FIFA members.</p>
<p>And FIFA has many of those corrupt members scheming round the clock.</p>
<p>Several alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election. That election was won by current FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who, a FIFA spokesperson told reporters yesterday, was “relaxed and calm.”</p>
<p>It’s the typical reaction reporters and the public have come to expect from Blatter. After decades of scheming around the world without any crackdown by law enforcement, he grew more arrogant by the minute. Never was this clearer then when he awarded the 2018 World Cup tournament to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.</p>
<p>Playing soccer in the middle of the summer in the heat of Qatar? Let’s just agree that FIFA officials were blinded by the Qatar sun and millions of dollar bills.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237045496,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237045496?profile=original" width="312" /></a>And regarding Russia, well, Blatter had decided on that one somewhere around 2005 when he had a cozy meeting and a few bottles of expensive booze at the trendy China Club in Moscow with Russian Mafia boss Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov (that's him on the far right toasting with Blatter on the far left.)</p>
<p>Tokhtakhounov was officially there in his role as chairman of the Russian Football Association, but unofficially he was there to get Russia to host the 2018 World Cup. And the one person to see about that, of course, is Sepp Blatter.</p>
<p>Always eager to meet new big spenders with an interest in sports, Blatter saw no problem in hanging out and drinking some booze with Tokhtakhounov. Why would he? How could he have known this was a hardcore <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian mobster</a>?</p>
<p>Well, he could’ve checked the Gangsters Inc. website where a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-alimzhan">profile of Tokhtakhounov</a> has been up since 2002 or he could have googled his name to find out he was the man who had fixed the figure ice skating competition at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and was wanted by the FBI.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237045856,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237045856?profile=original" width="312" /></a>Not to mention that Tokhtakhounov had been convicted in Italy of money laundering and working with the Italian Mafia and spent one year in prison there before he was released and fled to the safety of Moscow. In Russia he continued his career which revolved around racketeering and sports.</p>
<p>Cheers to that, you can imagine Blatter saying.</p>
<p>You can also imagine what the FBI must’ve been thinking when it saw the FIFA president laughing and boozing at an exclusive Moscow nightclub together with a Russian mob boss they were seeking to arrest.</p>
<p>“[This] should send a message that enough is enough. After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start—a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States. Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation,” stated Acting United States Attorney Currie at a press conference announcing the charges against FIFA.</p>
<p>Let us hope so. Since the capo di tutti capi is still out there. And I’m not talking about Russian Mafia boss Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov. Though, technically, he’s still out there as well.</p>
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Russian Mafia Boss Rakhimov and the Sochi Olympics
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-boss-rakhimov-and-the-sochi-olympics
2014-02-03T15:31:20.000Z
2014-02-03T15:31:20.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-boss-rakhimov-and-the-sochi-olympics"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237017697,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237017697?profile=original" width="384" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russian organized crime and politics have become so intertwined that it is difficult to distinguish a member of the country’s parliament from a member of the vor z zakone, popularly known as the Russian Mafia. With President Putin as boss of bosses mobsters in Russia are feasting on rampant corruption and seizing the opportunities. Among them is Uzbek crime boss Gafur Rakhimov.</p>
<p>Born on July 22, 1951, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as a youngster Rakhimov became fond of boxing. In the former Soviet Union sports were among the scarce areas where a citizen could achieve success coupled with fame and, a little bit of, wealth. Athletes participating in combat sports were, and still are today, among the most respected men in the country. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russia's Mafia groups</a> also enjoyed employing them as muscle.</p>
<p>After his boxing career ended, Rakhimov took on coaching other fighters. He also became a businessman, which, in a country strife with corruption, intimidation, and where laws were meant to be broken or bended, usually meant becoming involved in nefarious operations.</p>
<p>On his website, he writes about starting an import and export company as the Soviet Union was about to fall. His company, his website <a href="https://reportingproject.net/occrp/index.php/en/ccwatch/cc-watch-indepth/1393-what-is-the-brothers-circle" target="_blank">says</a>, exports consumer goods, raw materials for chemical, automobile, and light industry. Furthermore, he says he “carries out his business transactions via a number of companies where he is a leader and main share-holder. Namely these companies for ten years already have been performing fruitful cooperation on a solid economic basis with the world-known companies of England, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Holland, the USA, Switzerland, France.”</p>
<p>Though an import and export company always has a shady ring to it, this all sounds very impressive. His positions as vice-president of the Olympic Council of Asia, a group of nations that are members of the International Olympic Committee, and the AIBA World Boxing Association also add a lot of respectability. And with the administration of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov calling him an “active promoter of sport at the international level” and awarding him with two awards you cannot help but see Rakhimov as anything other than a respected and very successful businessman.</p>
<p>The U.S. Treasury Department sees a different type of businessman, though. In a 2012 <a href="http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1430.aspx" target="_blank">press release</a> they state: “Rakhimov is one of the leaders of Uzbek organized crime with a specialty in the organized production of drugs in the countries of Central Asia. He has operated major international drug syndicates involving the trafficking of heroin.”</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-boss-rakhimov-and-the-sochi-olympics"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237018489,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237018489?profile=original" width="300" /></a>Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, spoke up about Rakhimov’s alleged criminal activities as well. “He is one of the four or five most important people in the heroin trade in the world,” Murray told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/alleged-heroin-kingpin-helped-russia-win-olympics-sochi/story?id=22295531&singlePage=true" target="_blank">ABC News</a>. “He's absolutely a very major and dangerous gangster.”</p>
<p>Luckily for Rakhimov (right), being a “very major and dangerous gangster” isn’t something that is considered a problem in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-dark-knight-of-mother">Putin’s Russia</a>, where everyone is in the business of making money first and does not even consider anything second. So while Rakhimov made his money trafficking heroin from Uzbekistan to Russia and the rest of Europe he also worked closely with politicians in Russia and Uzbekistan.</p>
<p>His work for the Olympic Council of Asia and the AIBA World Boxing Association also continued without any issues. Having been used to the acceptance of his work as an exporter of heroin in Eastern Europe he saw no harm in accompanying the Uzbek Olympic boxing team to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. But Australia’s former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock did have a problem with a drug lord entering his country to be a part of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He denied Rakhimov's entry over “serious issues of character.”</p>
<p>In other words, gangsters were not welcome at the Olympics.</p>
<p>Oddly enough the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had no problems with Rakhimov. As <em>their</em> man in Asia, he is responsible for <em>communications</em> between the IOC and its member countries there. There have been many allegations of corruption and bribes surrounding the IOC and men like Rakhimov play an integral part in those conspiracies as fixers and middlemen making sure member nations vote according to the wishes of those above.</p>
<p>Apparently, Rakhimov had done an excellent job. In 2007, the International Olympic Committee voted to award the Winter Olympics of 2014 to the city of Sochi, Russia. The head of the Russian Olympic Committee publicly thanked Rakhimov for his “singled minded work” in getting the votes of some Asian countries, “without which it would have been hard for Sochi to count on the victory.”</p>
<p>When contacted by <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/alleged-heroin-kingpin-helped-russia-win-olympics-sochi/story?id=22295531&singlePage=true" target="_blank">ABC News</a>, last week, Rakhimov confirmed that he had played a role in getting Russia the needed votes, but not because of any bribes or unsavory behavior. “He convinced them because of his good relations with these people. He has great influence,” Rakhimov’s translator, who was also a spokesman for Rakhimov, told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/alleged-heroin-kingpin-helped-russia-win-olympics-sochi/story?id=22295531&singlePage=true" target="_blank">ABC News</a> during a phone interview.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.sochi2014.com/" target="_blank">2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi</a> will start this Friday, February 7th. Despite Rakhimov’s denial of paying bribes to secure Russia’s 2014 Olympic bid, allegations of bribes and corruptions have persisted. Businessman Valery Morozov exposed a bribery racket involving contracts for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Sochi Olympics is now estimated to have cost more than $50 billion, more than the last 21 Winter Games combined, and more expensive than any Summer Games ever held.</p>
<p>Whether the allegations will ever be proven remains to be seen. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russia</a> is a country where those kinds of secrets tend to stay hidden. One thing is certain, though. The man responsible for bringing the Olympics to Sochi will not attend the event himself.</p>
<p>With both U.S. and Uzbek authorities wanting a piece of him, Rakhimov has sought refuge in Dubai, away from the possibility of extradition and nosy investigators. “<em>If you can’t stand the heat, then get the hell out of the kitchen.</em>” Rakhimov exchanged one type of heat for another as he now soaks up the Middle-Eastern sun, no doubt enjoying the riches he made while working in the good ol’ import and export sector.</p>
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