cartels - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T05:45:45Z
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/cartels
Wife of “El Chapo” busted on international drug trafficking charges, aiding husband’s prison break
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/wife-of-el-chapo-busted-on-international-drug-trafficking-charges
2021-02-24T14:30:00.000Z
2021-02-24T14:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/wife-of-el-chapo-busted-on-international-drug-trafficking-charges" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237148265,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237148265?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>She led the life of a fabulously rich housewife, Narcos-style, but now she faces a much grimmer reality: locked up in an American prison. 31-year-old Emma Coronel Aispuro is the wife of notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and, prosecutors allege, his partner-in-crime as well.</p>
<p>On Monday, Coronel Aispuro, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, of Culiacan, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sinaloa" target="_blank">Sinaloa</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mexico" target="_blank">Mexico</a>, was arrested at Dulles International Airport and charged with participating in a conspiracy to distribute <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">marijuana</a> for importation into the United States.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nypd-cop-who-moonlighted-as-bodyguard-for-el-chapo-s-wife-had-sid" target="_blank">NYPD cop, who moonlighted as bodyguard for El Chapo’s wife</a>, had side gig trafficking cocaine</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Cornel Aispuro is charged in a one count criminal complaint with a conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, five kilograms or more of cocaine, 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, and 500 grams or more of methamphetamines for unlawful importation into the United States.</p>
<p>Additionally, she is alleged to have conspired with others to assist Guzman in his July 11, 2015 escape from Altiplano prison, located in Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico. After Guzman was re-arrested in Mexico in January 2016, she allegedly planned yet another prison escape with others prior to Guzman’s extradition to the United States in January 2017.</p>
<p>“El Chapo” was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-end-mexico-narco-kingpin-joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-sentenced-to" target="_blank">convicted</a> in 2019 for his role as leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and is spending the rest of his life <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/watch-rare-footage-of-drug-lord-joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-entering" target="_blank">locked up</a> in a maximum-security penitentiary.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE - December 1, 2021: <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/narco-kingpin-el-chapo-s-wife-gets-mere-3-years-in-prison-for-hel" target="_blank">Narco kingpin El Chapo’s wife gets mere 3 years</a> in prison for helping husband run business</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels">Drug Cartels section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=News">news section</a>.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Follow Gangsters Inc. on <a href="http://twitter.com/GangstersIncWeb" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRucl2n04Nd1FN7BgyMjdvg" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GangstersInc/" target="_blank">Reddit</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/gangstersinc/" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank">Facebook</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Sinaloa Cartel distributor who supplied Crips, Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords for two decades gets 15-year term
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/sinaloa-cartel-distributor-who-supplied-crips-gangster-disciples
2019-12-11T00:00:00.000Z
2019-12-11T00:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sinaloa-cartel-distributor-who-supplied-crips-gangster-disciples" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237133674,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237133674?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>A Sinaloa <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">drug cartel</a> distributor was sentenced to 15 years in prison for drugs and gun crimes on December 6. 51-year-old Jesus “Pedro” Raul Salazar-Espinoza of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sinaloa" target="_blank">Sinaloa</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mexico" target="_blank">Mexico</a>, was brought down after a four-year investigation by the Los Angeles Strike Force.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles Strike Force identified Jesus Raul Salazar-Espinoza as a mid-level distributor for the Sinaloa Cartel, who coordinated drug-distribution activities in Mexico, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LA" target="_blank">Los Angeles</a>, and throughout the United States. The investigation revealed that Salazar had previously been deported to Mexico multiple times over the years, but had illegally re-entered the U.S. to continue his <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug distribution</a> criminal enterprise.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-narcos-profile-of-miguel-angel-felix-gallardo-mexico-s-e" target="_blank">The Real Narcos</a>: Profile of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexico’s “El Padrino” of drug lords</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Supplying Crips, Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords</strong></span></p>
<p>Salazar led a Los Angeles-based organization that was fully operational and active for over 20 years. It consistently supplied narcotics, which included <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fentanyl" target="_blank">fentanyl</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">marijuana</a> to major <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">street gangs</a> such as the Compton-based “Santana Blocc” <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Crips" target="_blank">Crips</a>, the Long Beach-based “Insane Crips,” the Long Beach-based “Rollin’ 20s” Gang, the Mississippi-based <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=GD" target="_blank">Gangster Disciples</a> Gang, and the Mississippi-based Vice Lords Gang and career drug dealers nationwide. The investigation further revealed that Salazar would routinely arrange narcotics deliveries and money pick-ups with his Mexico-based sources in the Sinaloa Cartel.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sinaloa-cartel-hitman-extradited-to-united-states" target="_blank"><strong>Sinaloa Cartel hitman extradited to United States</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>“Mr. Salazar’s 15-year prison sentence is a result of the tireless efforts of law enforcement to bring drug traffickers to justice,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. “This case illustrates that drug traffickers will face severe consequences for spreading poison across American communities.”</p>
<ul>
<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>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Mexican drug cartels looking to flood Western Europe with crystal meth
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/mexican-drug-cartels-looking-to-flood-western-europe-with-crystal
2019-06-04T07:10:33.000Z
2019-06-04T07:10:33.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mexican-drug-cartels-looking-to-flood-western-europe-with-crystal" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237123063,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237123063?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Mexican drug cartels have saturated the crystal meth market in the United States and are currently laying the foundations to start flooding Western Europe with their addictive product. Recent arrests in the Netherlands indicate that members of the Sinaloa Cartel are operating meth labs there, producing “Breaking Bad” quality meth to conquer European users.</p>
<p>Dutch police were amazed on May 10, when they discovered a sophisticated <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">meth</a> lab aboard the 85-meter-long ship Arsianco in the harbor of Moerdijk (photo below). Lured by a weird smell, they stumbled on one of the biggest <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">narcotics</a> operations in the country. They arrested the 65-year-old ship captain and three Mexicans ranging in age from 23 to 37, one of whom is alleged to be a member of one of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mexico" target="_blank">Mexico</a>’s most <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">notorious cartels</a>, police sources told <a href="https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2019/05/10/crystal-meth-lab-gevonden-in-groot-vrachtschip-in-moerdijk-a3959905" target="_blank">Dutch press</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237122895,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237122895?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Booby trap</strong></span></p>
<p>Further proof of the professionalism of the operation came a few hours later while investigators were gathering evidence. One of them triggered a booby trap which resulted in water coming into the ship, sinking it at a rapid pace. Police were able to stop the flooding just in time, before it could damage a lot of evidence.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-spanish-drug-boss-sito-minanco-who-can-t-stop-smugglin" target="_blank">Spanish drug boss Sito Miñanco</a>, who can’t stop smuggling tons of cocaine despite his fame</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>A few months earlier, in February, Dutch police arrested two Mexicans, one from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sinaloa" target="_blank">Sinaloa</a>, at a warehouse in Wateringen. The pair had set up a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">meth</a> lab at the location and had already produced a stash worth $90 million dollars.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237123292,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237123292?profile=original" /></a><em>Photo: A box filled with $67,000 dollars worth' of meth - one of many such boxes discovered aboard the Arsianco ship</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Crystal meth zombies everywhere”</strong></span></p>
<p>“They are trying to sell their crystal meth on the European market,” Jan Struijs, chairman of the Dutch police union, told the <a href="https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/drugskartels-willen-europa-aan-de-crystal-meth-krijgen~ab9f05ec/" target="_blank">AD newspaper</a>. “They first targeted Eastern Europe. You can see crystal meth zombies walking around there everywhere. Now they are trying to do the same in the west.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/zheng-inc-how-two-chinese-nationals-operated-global-opioid-and-dr" target="_blank">Zheng Inc.</a>: Chinese operated global opioid and drug business to supply demand</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The presence of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">Mexican cartels</a> has resulted in a price drop for meth and a wider availability of the drug in cities like Amsterdam.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Profile of Spanish drug boss Sito Miñanco, who can’t stop smuggling tons of cocaine despite his fame
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-of-spanish-drug-boss-sito-minanco-who-can-t-stop-smugglin
2019-05-19T17:19:09.000Z
2019-05-19T17:19:09.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-spanish-drug-boss-sito-minanco-who-can-t-stop-smugglin" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237120673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237120673?profile=original" /></a></strong>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Sito Miñanco is one of Spain’s most infamous drug bosses, with international contacts from the Medellin cartel to Panamanian dictator Noriega. His exploits were turned into a Netflix tv show while he himself was still actively smuggling thousands of kilos of cocaine.</p>
<p>José Ramón Prado Bugallo was born on September 23, 1955, in Pontevedra in the Galician region of Spain. He became known as Sito Miñanco and started out smuggling <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Tobacco" target="_blank">tobacco</a>. The Spanish coastline offered fishermen in the towns that dotted the area multiple opportunities to add to their meager income and trafficking cigarettes was a golden ticket for many of them. Even though, officially, it was a crime.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Smoking</strong></span></p>
<p>But back in those days, the 1970s, everyone smoked. Fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, teachers and priests. People even smoked indoors! Ashtrays were just as standard as a salt and pepper set on a dinner table. If you were among the men helping to smuggle this product across the border so it could be sold at a cheaper price, then you weren’t viewed as a criminal, no, you were just as beloved by the community as the thing you trafficked in. Miñanco was no exception and could count on the support of many of the area’s inhabitants.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237121063,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237121063?profile=original" /></a><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Meeting the Medellin Cartel</strong></span></p>
<p>Though he had the support of most of the people, authorities were trying their hardest to bring him down. In the early 1980s, they succeeded, and Miñanco was sent to prison for tobacco smuggling. Inside a penitentiary in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a>’s capital <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Madrid" target="_blank">Madrid</a>, he met a man that would change his life: Colombian drug lord <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ochoa" target="_blank">Jorge Luis Ochoa</a>, a man that wasted no time on cigarettes, but made it snow around the world as he and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Medellin" target="_blank">Medellin cartel</a> showered the globe with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/pablo-escobars-war-on-colombia" target="_blank"><strong>Pablo Escobar's War on Colombia</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The main force behind the Medellin cartel was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Escobar" target="_blank">Pablo Escobar</a>. In those days he was already fast becoming a household name that stood synonymous for death, violence, and drug addiction. Ochoa was one of Escobar’s most trusted and respected partners and as such offered Miñanco a direct connection to the biggest cocaine source in the world.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Dating the niece of a dictator</strong></span></p>
<p>Miñanco, however, found more ways into the coke boom. He traveled to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Panama" target="_blank">Panama</a> and fell in love with Odalys Rivera, the niece of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Noriega" target="_blank">Manuel Noriega</a>, the country’s dictator. Panama was used by Escobar and other Colombian drug lords as a place where they could stash their illicit income. Noriega was paid handsomely to turn a blind eye towards any of the activities the narco kingpins explored in his nation.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-dea-agents-of-narcos-javier-pena-and-steve-murphy-talk-a" target="_blank"><strong>The Real DEA Agents of Narcos Talk Fact & Fiction</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Dating the niece of Panama’s dictator and having done time with one of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a>’s biggest drug lords, Miñanco established a firm place in a global cocaine pipeline that saw drugs flow from South America and Panama into Spain’s Galician coastal region.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237121478,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237121478?profile=original" /></a>Buying a football club</strong></span></p>
<p>He made millions and began acting in much the same way Pablo Escobar did in Colombia. In 1986, he bought Pontevedra football (soccer) club Juventud Cambados and helped them climb from the bottom leagues up to the Segunda División B. To celebrate the club’s promotion, Miñanco treated all the players and staff to a tour through Panama and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Venezuela" target="_blank">Venezuela</a>. When the club’s old and dilapidated stadium needed a renovation, Miñanco stepped in with cash and built a new stand that could hold 2,000 fans.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Smuggle, bust and rewind</strong></span></p>
<p>Spending money like water on his own football club, big yachts and luxurious cars and mansions annoyed those in law enforcement. In 1990, he was busted smuggling 2.5 tons of cocaine and sentenced to 20 years in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Prison" target="_blank">prison</a>. He got out early and was arrested again in 1997, this time for smuggling 6,000 kilos of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hashish" target="_blank">hashish</a>. He was also indicted for his role in smuggling 5,000 kilos of cocaine. That shipment earned him a prison sentence of almost 17 years in 2004. He was also fined nearly €400 million euros.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangster-pets-animal-tales-from-the-american-mafia-to-pablo-escob" target="_blank"><strong>Pablo Escobar and his personal zoo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Each time he was sentenced, Miñanco kept his mouth shut and did his time. Each time, he was released early and went right back into the world of fast money. In February of 2018, he was arrested again. Authorities allege that he ran an international <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug organization</a> - with members from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Italy" target="_blank">Italy</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Albania" target="_blank">Albania</a>, and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">Netherlands</a> - from his prison cell.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237121881,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237121881?profile=original" /></a>Prison bars could not stop Miñanco’s influence. In 2011 it became known he had bribed the warden at Huelva prison where he was locked up. Director Francisco Sanz had received two Mercedes-Benz cars in exchange for favorable treatment inside his penitentiary.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Fame</strong></span></p>
<p>Such exploits intrigued producers of Netflix television series <em>Fariña</em>. They wrote a screenplay which they sent to the imprisoned drug boss. Police agents discovered the play inside his cell during a search. <em>Fariña</em> aired in 2018 on <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netflix" target="_blank">Netflix</a>, starring Javier Rey as Miñanco. The series was released under the English title <em>Cocaine Coast</em>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/norman-s-cay-from-notorious-cocaine-pipeline-of-the-medellin-cart" target="_blank">Norman’s Cay</a>: From cocaine pipeline of the Medellin Cartel to a fraudulent festival for rich millennials</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Despite the Hollywood fame, Miñanco continued his criminal activities. He’s operating on an international level and has a brand name built on decades of experience and a solid reputation carved in stone. Whether he will be able to undertake such activities while breathing fresh air as a free man is an outcome that is a lot less certain.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Profile of British drug boss Robert “The Voice” Dawes - “He was prepared to use extreme levels of violence”
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-of-british-drug-boss-robert-the-voice-dawes-he-was-prepar
2018-12-23T10:41:24.000Z
2018-12-23T10:41:24.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-british-drug-boss-robert-the-voice-dawes-he-was-prepar" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237118287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237118287?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>British crime boss Robert Dawes is one of Europe’s biggest drug traffickers. His influence reaches beyond the borders of the United Kingdom and into dozens of countries where he has the power to make men rich and end lives with one call.</p>
<p>Born in 1972 in Sutton-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, it was clear from the start that Dawes was no Robin Hood. He grew up in a family notorious for its disregard of the law and quickly found his niche trafficking narcotics.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237119284,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237119284?profile=original" /></a>Kingpin in over 60 countries</strong></span></p>
<p>As he made connections, he became known under various nicknames such as “The Derby Man”, “The Voice” and “Franky”. He traveled far and wide to set up <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug</a> pipelines around the world, establishing contacts in mainland Europe, South America, the Middle East, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Russia" target="_blank">Russia</a>, and Asia. One prosecutor claimed Dawes was involved in around 60 countries.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>From Nottingham to Dubai and the Costa del Crime</strong></span></p>
<p>Narcotics moved one way, cash another with Dawes at the center of it all. By 2001 he had become too big and international for the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=UK" target="_blank">United Kingdom</a>. He left the British isle and made luxurious homes in the flamboyant city of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Dubai" target="_blank">Dubai</a> in the United Arab Emirates and on the Costa del Sol – more commonly referred to as the Costa del Crime – in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spain" target="_blank">Spain</a> while his associates held down the shop in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Nottingham" target="_blank">Nottingham</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangster-turned-cage-fighter-lee-murray" target="_blank"><strong>British Gangster-turned-Cage Fighter Lee Murray</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>From his villas and mansions in the sun he directed his criminal empire and all the bloody violence that came with it. One particular case perfectly illustrates not only Dawes’ far and deadly reach but his stone-cold manner of doing business.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237119657,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237119657?profile=original" /></a><em>Photo: Dawes' mansion in Spain</em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Killing a teacher in the Netherlands</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">In the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">Netherlands</a>, Dawes worked closely with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amsterdam" target="_blank">Amsterdam</a> crime boss Gwenette Martha. The pair was involved in the production of ecstasy pills, among other things. On November 24, 2002, Martha and several other men got in a car in Amsterdam and made the long journey north to the Dutch city of Groningen. They were accompanied by a second car with two Englishmen inside.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Their destination was the house of Gerard Meesters, a 52-year-old teacher. The Englishmen rang his doorbell and handed the perplexed man a piece of paper with a Spanish telephone number on it. They told him to call that number and give the person on the other end of the line the location of his sister Jeanet. If he didn’t phone the number, the men said, they’d come back. “And not to have a talk,” one adds.</p>
<ul style="text-align:left;">
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/smirking-and-laughing-as-his-victims-died-violent-deaths-profile" target="_blank"><strong>Irish mob hitman “Fat Freddie” Thompson</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align:left;">Unbeknownst to Gerard Meesters, his sister Jeanet got herself in deep trouble with Dawes’ organization. She and a friend allegedly stole a shipment of 1000 kilos of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hashish" target="_blank">hashish</a> in Spain of which Dawes owned a portion.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Meesters had no idea where his sister was and when he called the number he quickly hung up after the man on the other end of the line refused to say his name. The move sealed his fate. The Englishmen returned four days later. Again they rang the doorbell. When Meesters opened his door, he was shot eight times and died on the scene.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Daniel Sowerby is eventually convicted of this murder and sentenced to life in prison. His accomplice who drove the car received an 8-year sentence. Prosecutors point to Dawes as the man who ordered the killing.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Amsterdam crime leader Martha was convicted of making threats against Meesters, but escaped further punishment. He died in a hail of bullets when he was killed in a gangland execution in 2014.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Nothing personal, just business</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Though Dawes has been linked to other murders, including two more in the Netherlands, this one illustrates how serious he takes his criminal activities. Like the <em>sicarios</em> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mexico" target="_blank">Mexico</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a>, he does not care if he kills innocent relatives. You mess with his business, you die.</p>
<ul style="text-align:left;">
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangster-pets-animal-tales-from-the-american-mafia-to-pablo-escob" target="_blank"><strong>Pablo Escobar and his personal zoo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align:left;">Using bribes, intimidation, violence and murder to run his narco empire, Dawes moves tons of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> across the globe. Perhaps he feels his modus operandi protects him from prosecution. But by now he has become too big to ignore.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237119468,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237119468?profile=original" /></a>Intercepting calls and coke</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">In 2013, police in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the Netherlands and South America set their targets on him. French authorities seize 1300 kilos of cocaine at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in September. The drugs were packaged in 31 suitcases on a flight from Caracas, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Venezuela" target="_blank">Venezuela</a>, to Paris.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) had intelligence about the shipment when it tracked members of Dawes’ organization who had traveled to Venezuela to organize the shipment with the De Los Soles Cartel, which translates as Cartel of the Suns. Working with the French Police Nationale and Spanish Guardia Civil they began collecting evidence against the elusive drug baron.</p>
<ul style="text-align:left;">
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-real-narcos-profile-of-miguel-angel-felix-gallardo-mexico-s-e" target="_blank">The Real Narcos</a>: Profile of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexico’s “El Padrino” of drug lords</strong></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align:left;">On wiretaps, Dawes was heard bragging about his involvement in the Paris drug shipment and his ability to move large amounts of narcotics to a member of a Colombian drugs cartel during a meeting in a hotel in the Spanish city of Madrid.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">In November of 2015 investigators had enough proof to link Dawes to drug crimes. An elite team of armed police, accompanied by officers from the NCA and French police, raided Dawes’ mansion in Benalmadena in Spain and arrested him. Guns, cash and encrypted mobile phones were seized from the mansion.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Following the cocaine bust in Paris in 2013 the NCA worked with the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) and Nottinghamshire Police to target members of Dawes’ group active in the United Kingdom. Around 80 people of Dawes’ organization were arrested.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Prepared to use extreme levels of violence”</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Dawes himself was on an airplane to Paris, France to stand trial. After two weeks, the verdict was out: guilty. On December 21, 2018, he was convicted of involvement in the plot to smuggle over a ton of cocaine from Venezuela to France. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">“Dawes was one of the most significant organized criminals in Europe with a network that literally spanned the globe,” National Crime Agency deputy director Matt Horne stated in a press release. “He had connections in South America, the Middle East, Asia and across Europe, which enabled him to orchestrate the movements of huge amounts of drugs and money. This was often facilitated by the utilization of corrupt law enforcement, port workers and government officials.”</p>
<ul style="text-align:left;">
<li><strong>READ: “For him, I am a god” – Profile of</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>Russian Mafia boss, and vor v zakone, Razhden Shulaya</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align:left;">Horne continued: “Dawes was prepared to use extreme levels of violence in order to further his reputation and take retribution against those who crossed him. Members or associates of his criminal group are known to have been involved in intimidation, shootings and murders. Finally bringing him to justice has been an international effort and we have worked closely with partners in France and Spain as part of this investigation.”</p>
<p style="text-align:left;">Still, some justice remains to be served. The murder of hard-working teacher Gerard Meesters has only resulted in the conviction of the shooter and his accomplice. The man who ordered the death sentence has not faced Dutch courts yet. That is why prosecutors in the Netherlands are currently building a case against Dawes.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Sex Money Murder: The violent rise and fall of deadly Bronx gang ingrained in New York underworld’s history
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/sex-money-murder-the-violent-rise-and-fall-of-deadly-bronx-gang-i
2018-11-07T09:00:00.000Z
2018-11-07T09:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sex-money-murder-the-violent-rise-and-fall-of-deadly-bronx-gang-i" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237111261,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237111261?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Twin, Suge, Pipe, and Pistol Pete. The names still haunt the Soundview projects in the Bronx, New York. Their drugs kept the hood from starving, but their violence caused nothing but pain and horror. Their gang Sex Money Murder ruled supreme and has become part of gangland history. “If they hadn’t been taken down they’d probably have become as powerful as a drug cartel.”</p>
<p>Their entire story has now been documented by journalist Jonathan Green in his book <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">Sex Money Murder</a> – <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=SMM" target="_blank">SMM</a>: A searing portrait of the crack epidemic and violent drug wars that once ravaged the Bronx.</p>
<p>“I didn’t just want to write a true crime book,” Green tells Gangsters Inc. “I felt this story was a lot more important than that. It goes beyond that. The social civic history of the 1980s and 1990s, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Crack" target="_blank">crack</a> epidemic and how that birthed these <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gangs" target="_blank">gangs</a>, and the formation of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bloods" target="_blank">New York Bloods</a>. But I also really wanted to show the background that these guys came from and why they ended up in the gang. You sort of hear about it in rap songs and I wanted to tell all that in a narrative. Which I think had never been done.”</p>
<p><a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237111090,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237111090?profile=original" width="200" /></a>Green (right) is originally from England and first came to the United States in the 1980s when he visited family in New York. He began writing for magazines with most of his work focused on crime. He spent time with a SWAT team and Bounty hunter in Los Angeles. After he had enough of flying back and forth between London and New York, he moved to the Big Apple permanently in the early 2000s.</p>
<p>He wasn’t done traveling, though. He covered crime stories around the globe. He reported on the favelas in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brazil" target="_blank">Brazil</a>, the gangs in Kingston, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Jamaica" target="_blank">Jamaica</a>, the intersection between crime and terrorism in Sudan, and the coca fields in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Sex Money Murder</strong></span></p>
<p>Green’s work on transnational organized crime eventually brought him in contact with former <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NYPD" target="_blank">NYPD</a> detective John O’Malley, who had been part of an expansive investigation into Sex Money Murder, a gang that hailed from the Soundview projects and held sway across the Bronx and into other states beyond New York.</p>
<p>The former detective introduced Green to one of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=SMM" target="_blank">Sex Money Murder</a>’s leaders, Emilio Romero. Better known on the streets by his nickname “Pipe”, Romero had flipped and become a cooperating witness against his fellow gang members. He was hesitant, but also willing to share his story with Green.</p>
<p>“In the beginning, I couldn’t ask him about his mom or growing up,” Green says. “Pipe told me: ‘Man, this is difficult! I didn’t think it would be that hard.’ We built up a relationship and ended up talking all the time, every day.”</p>
<p>Pipe made his motivations crystal clear to Green. “I really want people to understand that, yes, I was in a gang and I sold crack and we used violence,” the gangster began. “But, I loved my mom, my family, and I want people to understand what made us do the things we did.”</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">book</a>, Green goes to great lengths in telling the story of not just Sex Money Murder and its members, but of the community where they grew up, the cops who chased them, and the relatives who were worried sick about their sons, brothers, and fathers or were stricken with sorrow after losing a loved one to the deadly streets.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>BUY:</strong> <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank"><strong>Sex Money Murder: A story of crack, blood, and betrayal</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Violence at the drop of a hat”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AU_HlrDtczI?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> </strong></span></p>
<p>“During the 1990s the violence was so out of control,” Green explains. “And police had difficulty getting a handle on this. They couldn’t find any witnesses. Sex Money Murder just got stronger and stronger. These days, guys like that would be in handcuffs within a year or two. But back then they could grow unchecked and Sex Money Murder went from a street gang to a syndicate. They were getting increasingly sophisticated. Laundering drug money and investing it in legitimate businesses, paying out members with clean paychecks, and leasing all the cars so they couldn’t be traced back. If they hadn’t been taken down they’d probably have become as powerful as a drug cartel.”</p>
<p>What fueled Sex Money Murder’s rise was not just the gang’s brain thrust, but also its willingness to engage in violence. Green: “These guys were very violent and very deadly. More dangerous than your average <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> crew because they were so willing to use violence at the drop of a hat.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“New York streets where killers'll walk like Pistol Pete” - Nas</strong></span></p>
<p>Much of that violence was ordered by the group’s leader Peter Rollock, who was nicknamed Pistol Pete. “’Pistol’ was so flamboyant,” Green explains. “He got the attention of rap stars like Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz who rhymed about his life and crimes. He went clubbing with supermodel Tyra Banks and music mogul Sean Combs (better known as Puffy or P. Diddy). He had this swagger and flamboyance a lot of the other guys didn’t have. But he was also prepared to commit the violence, the murders, himself. Which, normally they delegate that stuff to others, but Pete was quite happy to carry out the murders himself and was proud of them. He advertised the fact he did murders. Boasted about it.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “Corey Hamlet is as smart as any CEO we’ve prosecuted” - Profile:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/corey-hamlet-is-as-smart-as-any-ceo-we-ve-prosecuted-profile-of-g" target="_blank"><strong>Grape Street Crips leader Corey Hamlet</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>In doing so, he created a street legend while still walking those streets. He was always very aware of gangster history and an avid reader of books about the Italian-American Mafia. “Pete absolutely idolized the Mafia,” Green says. “As a kid he had posters of these guys on his wall like others had posters of music stars. He would have [mob boss] <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Anastasia" target="_blank">Albert Anastasia</a> on his wall and people like that.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t just fanboy stuff either. Pete actually studied these Mafia bosses and their activities and actions. Green: “Pipe told me that Pete read a lot about the early Mafia guys and anytime they’d get whacked he’d try to learn a lesson, so he wouldn’t make the same mistake.”</p>
<p>Pistol Pete was not planning on ending up like Anastasia, shot dead in the chair of a barbershop. “After reading about that, whenever he went to have a haircut he’d have a posse with him,” Green explains. “When he went to the barber he made sure the door was locked, that security was posted there. He learned from everything he read. Later on in his career, he was never alone. He always had armed guys with him.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237112078,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237112078?profile=original" width="600" /></a><em>Photo: "Pistol Pete" Rollock posing for pictures behind bars.</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The fall</strong></span></p>
<p>This wasn’t paranoia, mind you. People were frequently getting shot at or killed in those days. But despite the murders, for a long time authorities didn’t do much about it. Green: “Everyone is focused on the Mafia groups because that’s where the glory is. And there was this attitude that because it happened in Soundview, a poor neighborhood, let them kill each other. A classic racist slant which pervaded everything.”</p>
<p>Still, the killings did catch the police’s attention. Especially after Sex Money Murder organized a massacre in broad daylight on Thanksgiving Day in 1997 when it executed two of its own members in front of women and children enjoying the annual game of football. “Even the community rose up after those murders,” Green explains. “Everyone had had enough. The killings and shootings had been going on for so long but this one, at a football game with families and stuff, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237111694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237111694?profile=original" width="550" /></a><em>Photo: Soundview Homes, the Bronx, New York (courtesy of Jonathan Green)</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Joining the United Blood Nation</strong></span></p>
<p>To top it all off, Sex Money Murder had joined the nationwide <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=UBN" target="_blank">United Blood Nation</a> gang, the first New York crew to do so. The decision to join the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bloods" target="_blank">Bloods</a> was made by Pistol Pete, who saw it as an expansion of the group’s influence and power and thought it would give them a more fearsome reputation.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/united-blood-nation-godfather-says-he-is-part-of-the-last-ones-th" target="_blank">United Blood Nation Godfather says</a> he is part of “the last ones that God put in power”</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“Pipe and the others in Sex Money Murder thought that was a huge mistake,” Green explains. “Pipe felt that they didn’t need that. Their reputation was hard. Certainly, Pete had much more of a vicious rep than United Blood Nation founder Omar “OG Mack” Portee. They were tight and loyal and didn’t need to be a part of this big, national organization. People close to Pete also thought it was a mistake because this move puts you on the radar of federal law enforcement. Whereas when you’re a tight, small clique you can do you own thing and not be caught up as much in a federal case. A lot of people at the time were shocked.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Local and federal agencies cooperate</strong></span></p>
<p>Where federal authorities had no interest in Sex Money Murder before, now they finally saw why the group had to be stopped. But wanting something done and actually being able to do it are two different things, Liz Glazer, the lead prosecutor in the investigation, quickly found out. Working with federal agents she realized they would never be able to break this Bronx-based organization. So, she pioneered a hugely effective cooperation between federal and local agencies.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/high-ranking-bloods-gangster-arrested-for-organizing-murder-of-bo" target="_blank">High-ranking Bloods gangster arrested</a> for organizing murder of Bonanno family mobster</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Green: “Liz Glazer realized the local cops knew who all the players were, who the shooters were and who the top guys were. The FBI was different. When they’d come in they didn’t know who everybody was, who the people in the neighborhood were. The violence and killings are carried out by a very small group of people and once you identify them you have an enormous advantage. She realized that by partnering up local detectives with the feds they’d have the power of the federal system with the mandatory minimum sentences of RICO with the expertise of the street cops on the ground. It was a winning strategy in eradicating these gangs.”</p>
<p>With help from detectives like O’Malley and Pete Forcelli, prosecutors were able to bring the gang leaders and members in on RICO charges. Facing serious time in a federal prison, many of them began to weigh their options. Most of them decided to cooperate and testify against their former brothers.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Sex Money Murder bangin’ for their rats”</strong></span></p>
<p>Among those to turn their back on Sex Money Murder were “Pipe” and “Suge”, two of the group’s high-ranking and founding members. Both men also sat down with Green for his book. Using their inside knowledge of Sex Money Murder, he was able to paint a vivid picture of the gang’s rise to power and its rapid downfall.</p>
<p>Getting them to trust him, however, was not easy. Green: “Remember, these guys are not used to trusting anyone. Much of their life they’ve been lied to. Gang life is based on deception and lies. Pipe told me once the only guys who know everything are at the top. Guys on the bottom are kept in the quiet about what’s happening. It’s a lifestyle where lies become commonplace so trusting is difficult. When we started it took a lot to establish that trust particularly when talking about cooperating and murders.”</p>
<p>Where cooperators are usually branded rats and snitches “get stitches”, a weird thing happened within the Sex Money Murder crew as a visible split occurred between those who remained loyal and those who cooperated: Both sides continued to show each other love and respect, to some degree.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-kingpin-freeway-rick-ross-moving-tons-of-cocaine-with-a-nod" target="_blank">Drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross</a>: Moving tons of cocaine with approval from the Reagan White House</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>When members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LatinKings" target="_blank">Latin Kings</a> approached Pistol Pete in prison with an offer to murder Sex Money Murder turncoats, he flat out refused, saying: “We stand on our own, man. We grew up from the sandbox together. Ain’t nobody touch no Sex Money Murder rats.”</p>
<p>“These bonds are tight,” Green explains. “They killed for each other. It’s like a type of army unit. It’s not, of course. The military has a different motivation, but at the same time they also had this very deep sense of camaraderie. After Pete’s stance became clear, they got a reputation in prison for loyalty. Guys locked up would chant: ‘Sex Money bangin’ for their rats!’”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237113053,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237113053?profile=original" width="550" /></a><em>Photo: Soundview Homes, The Bronx, New York (courtesy of Jonathan Green)</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The infection that is violence<br /> </strong></span></p>
<p>Pistol Pete went down with his ship, sentenced to life plus 105 years in prison. He was held in solitary confinement out of fear he would use his influence within the United Blood Nation to order violence or murders. At the time of his sentencing he was just 26 years old.</p>
<p>Pipe and Suge were released from prison after cooperating with authorities. Both men struggled with their new lives away from Soundview, but Pipe, especially, has been able to turn his life around and hold down a legitimate job and raise a family.</p>
<p>The justice system tends to punish African-American criminals more severely than whites. Young black males also tend to be arrested for petty things, creating a criminal record early on which makes getting a regular job later on in life that much harder and the gang life that much more attractive, a necessity even. Thus, the vicious cycle of growing up without a father, poverty, crime, and prison perpetuates on and on.</p>
<p><a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237113468,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237113468?profile=original" /></a>Pipe’s reason for telling his story was showing youngsters the reality of it. “These young guys don’t realize that the very people they think are their brothers are the same guys that will murder them,” he told Green. “Every time the set turns on itself and they eat their own. It happened with Sex Money Murder too. They brought on their own destruction because they turned on each other.”</p>
<p>Getting this perspective out was important for Green too. “I wanted to give people caught up in this life some idea of other people who went through it. If Pipe can explain ‘Here’s what happened to me. I started out poor, sold crack for money, then the violence started and once it starts you cannot turn it off. It will go on and on. It will claim your life or someone else’s.’ I wanted to tell that in a personal way, like they knew Pipe and Suge and were invested in their life story and understand it. Because there’s a myth and aura about the lifestyle, which is tragic.”</p>
<p>He continues: “It’s so tragic for the mothers of these guys. It causes a lot of devastation. It’s a selfish motivation: Getting rich no matter what. That kind of hunger eats you out and they always turn and kill each other. It’s like an infection. The violence spreads. And you have to use it or you get murdered yourself. It’s like a security, it keeps you safe. But eventually you become infected yourself.”</p>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">Sex Money Murder</a>: A story of crack, blood, and betrayal is available at stores <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">online</a> or near you. You can find Jonathan Green at his <a href="http://www.jonathangreenonline.com/" target="_blank">website</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/jonathanjagreen" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</strong></em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime">Black organized crime</a> section on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Investigation: Cocaine delivered faster than a pizza, though cost varies around the world
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cocaine-delivered-faster-than-a-pizza-though-cost-varies-around-t
2018-05-12T12:00:00.000Z
2018-05-12T12:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cocaine-delivered-faster-than-a-pizza-though-cost-varies-around-t" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237107879,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237107879?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Violence and suffering be damned, cocaine remains one of the world’s favorite recreational <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drugs</a>. A newly released report by the Global Drug Survey explored its cost and availability around the world. They found that home drug delivery is becoming more popular, with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> arriving faster than the pizza courier.</p>
<p>“Easy access and higher purity are likely to lead to escalating use and harm amongst people,” Professor Adam R Winstock, founder and CEO of the <a href="https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com" target="_blank">Global Drug Survey</a> writes. “Speedy home shopping delivery is part our lives and represents the expansion and sophistication of retail markets around the world. In the same way that online shopping is leading to the decimation of many high streets, the online drugs trade may be putting many street dealers out of business.”</p>
<p>He adds, “Our findings show that illicit drugs like cocaine are just another commodity and that as with any competitive market place, a retailer with something to sell will look to maximize the purchase experience in order to gain a competitive edge over other suppliers.”</p>
<p>For its 2018 report the <a href="https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com" target="_blank">Global Drug Survey</a> researched the drug-taking habits of 130,000 people across 44 countries. Results show that same day cocaine delivery is the norm, while in many major cities, you really can get cocaine quicker than pizza.</p>
<p>In countries like <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brazil" target="_blank">Brazil</a>, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">Netherlands</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Denmark" target="_blank">Denmark</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scotland" target="_blank">Scotland</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=England" target="_blank">England</a> the percentage of people who say they can get cocaine faster than a pizza ranges from a stunning 36 percent in England to 44 percent in Brazil. Of people in the United States who participated in the survey 23.6 percent say their drug dealer is speedier than the pizza boy.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The cost of a gram of cocaine</strong></span></p>
<p>Though it arrives faster than a pizza pie, it does cost a lot more. Addiction, violence, and suffering notwithstanding, Global Drug Survey found that prices for a gram of cocaine vary around the world. In Colombia, at the source of much of the globe’s cocaine supply, you can get a gram for €5 euros ($6 dollars). That’s below the average of South America where a gram is worth around €10 euros ($12 dollars).</p>
<p>As the infamous <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">drug cartels</a> begin smuggling the product across the world, prices increase. Nowhere is a gram of cocaine more expensive than in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in-australia" target="_blank">Australia</a> and New Zealand where on average a gram costs around €200 euros ($240 dollars).</p>
<p>In <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Europe" target="_blank">Europe</a> prices average between €60 to €80 euros ($72 to $95 dollars) for a gram of coke with a 60 to 70 percent purity level. Here we see an interesting indication of a country’s importance as a global narcotics hub. In <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Netherlands" target="_blank">the Netherlands</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Belgium" target="_blank">Belgium</a>, both countries with a large port and easy access into mainland Europe, a gram of cocaine is the cheapest in all of Europe, going for €48 euros ($57 dollars) in the Netherlands to €51 euros ($61 dollars) in Belgium, far below the average of €60 euros.</p>
<p><em>You can read the entire report at <a href="https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com" target="_blank">Global Drug Survey</a>.</em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
London crime boss Patrick Adams arrested in Amsterdam
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/london-crime-boss-patrick-adams-arrested-in-amsterdam
2015-08-11T09:30:00.000Z
2015-08-11T09:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/london-crime-boss-patrick-adams-arrested-in-amsterdam"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237051081,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237051081?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>London gangster Patrick Adams (59) was arrested by Dutch police in Amsterdam on Friday. He is now awaiting his extradition back to the United Kingdom where he is wanted in connection with a shooting in London two years ago.</p>
<p>Adams is one of the leading members of what is known as “the A-Team” or Adams Family, one of London’s most feared organized crime families. Patrick’s older brother <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/british-boss-terry-adams">Terry Adams</a> is the alleged head of the organization, while Patrick earned a reputation for violence as the group’s enforcer.</p>
<p>The Adams Family began its reign in the 1970s with protection rackets and expanded into robberies and drug dealing. Patrick (a photo above of a young Patrick Adams) himself served a lengthy prison sentence in the 1970s for armed robbery. In their quest for power the brothers made quite a body count, authorities and the media have linked them to over 20 murders. These were alleged to have been in connection with the drug trade as the family has been linked to South American drug cartels and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-jamaican-shower-posse-a-family-business">Jamaican Yardie gangs</a> in London.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237051286,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237051286?profile=original" width="300" /></a>The arrest of Patrick Adams (right) comes after an international appeal to help trace him and his 54-year-old wife Constance was issued by Scotland Yard in May of this year. They had been linked to a shooting in broad daylight in Clerkenwell, north London in December 2013.</p>
<p>According to newspaper <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11794788/Notorious-crime-family-member-Patrick-Patsy-Adams-arrested-in-Holland.html" target="_blank">The Telegraph</a>, “The shooting took place three days before Christmas on December 22 at 10 o’clock in the morning, when a man and woman approached a motorist who was sitting at the wheel of his black BMW X5 car and shot him in the chest. Witnesses described how the 51-year-old victim staggered from his car, which had been stationery at the junction of St John Street and Wycliff Street, close to City University, clutching his chest and screaming for help. The victim survived the attack, but spent more than a month in hospital recovering from what was widely thought to have been a gangland hit.”</p>
<p>The appeal worked and Patrick and his wife were apprehended in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Scotland Yard had already narrowed down their search to the Netherlands and Spain as the most likely hiding place of the pair of fugitives. In 2001 it was reported that Patrick was living in a villa close to the Spanish city of Torremolinos.</p>
<p>Both Spain and the Netherlands are a favorite among British gangsters fleeing heat from rivals or law enforcement back home. Infamous drug baron <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/british-boss-curtis-warren">Curtis Warren</a> set up shop in the Dutch countryside and even did time in a Dutch prison where he stomped a fellow inmate to death.</p>
<p>More recently, British authorities said they thought drug boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-alleged-british-drug-boss-anthony-dennis">Anthony Dennis</a> was hiding in Spain. Dennis is sought for his alleged involvement in a large shipment of cocaine from South America to the Netherlands.</p>
<p>With <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">Europe</a>’s borders open for its citizens it’s a piece of cake for these gangsters to find a safe haven somewhere else. Thanks to police cooperation, however, their safe haven just got a little less safe than they would’ve liked.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Gangsters Inc. sits down with FBI agent Jack Garcia
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-sits-down-with-fbi-agent-jack-garcia
2014-01-14T15:00:00.000Z
2014-01-14T15:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-sits-down-with-fbi-agent-jack-garcia"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237027696,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237027696?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Gangsters Inc. is proud to present our interview with former undercover FBI agent Joaquin “Jack” Garcia. Some of you may know him as Jack Falcone, a jewel thief from Florida, and if you actually met Falcone then chances are you spent some time in the can. Posing as this jewel thief Garcia managed to infiltrate the Gambino crime family, almost become a made guy, and send 32 mobsters to prison.</p>
<p>But that is only part of the story. Now, Jack Garcia sits down with Gangsters Inc. to tell us about everything else. From his days as an FBI rookie to him becoming one of the most successful undercover agents the United States ever produced. He’ll give his views on the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mob">Mafia</a> and organized crime, drug cartels, his book and movie deals, and what he’s up to now. Enjoy!</p>
<p>Just a few minutes after Garcia sits down for our interview, it becomes clear how he managed to win the trust of so many hardened criminals. With his fast wit, smart humor (at times at his own expense), and intelligent opinions you can’t help but like the guy. With his enormous physique he also casts a big shadow similar to Paul Sorvino’s character in Goodfellas: “Paulie may have moved slow, but it was only because Paulie didn't have to move for anybody.”</p>
<p>But there was one essential ingredient I missed that helped pave the way for his undercover success: The greed of the criminal.</p>
<p>“It’s what surprised me the most,” Garcia tells me. “How greedy they are. Criminals are all about making that fast buck. And the thought of getting a conventional job and working hard like all of us is something they don’t understand. It’s all about the money. And that’s their downfall too.”</p>
<p>Because as an undercover agent Garcia was always eager to help criminals find what it was they were looking for. Be it drugs, a way to launder money, a couple nice Rolex watches, some jewels maybe? Once their eyes were blinking dollar signs, he knew he had the hook in. Garcia: “Greed cannot be controlled and they start overlooking a lot.” He was always prepared for any questions, but in the end, gangsters chose to believe in their moneymaker. Even if he was too good to be true.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><strong>FBI ROOKIE</strong></span></p>
<p>Garcia joined the <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/" target="_blank">Federal Bureau of Investigation</a> in 1980. After he saw the movie <a href="http://amzn.to/1aZEy0V" target="_blank">Serpico</a>, in which Al Pacino plays an undercover cop battling police corruption, he was sold. Rather than joining the New York Police Department he aimed for the stars and decided to apply “for the best agency in the world.” In doing so he became the second Cuban-born FBI agent in its history.</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/19DpkUL" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237028080,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237028080?profile=original" width="380" /></a>“When I got into Quantico (photo shows a young Garcia in his early FBI days), you kinda start drinking the Kool-Aid. You get into the whole G-Man thing. And I wanted to do the basic FBI stuff which was bank robberies and fugitives. But the needs of the Bureau outweigh your own, which means they can place you anywhere to work, in any city, on any criminal violation. A lot of people think it’s like join the army and be all that you can be. I’ve talked to kids in colleges who tell me things like ‘I’m gonna get my bachelor’s degree in psychology and I’m gonna join the behavioral science unit.’ It doesn’t work that way. Same with people who say they’ll become a SWAT teams guy, or go undercover. It doesn’t work like that,” he explains. “Each division, I believe there are 59, has its areas to enforce. They decide as to what investigative crime they will be focusing on based on that particular area.”</p>
<p>A good first impression and a bit of luck are extremely important when it comes to ending up in a nice place at the FBI. When people speak highly of you, you are more likely to get in on interesting cases. But that decision still ultimately lies with the boss who decides which agent gets which assignment. Garcia: “You may have a desire to work organized crime but if you don’t have the right network or boss that assigns you then you may never go there.”</p>
<p>For Garcia his lucky break came when he was approached by another agent to help out on a case dealing with national security – Which he still can’t talk about. It was his first taste at undercover work and he loved it.</p>
<p>“I thought: this is interesting! You are meeting with bad guys, you’re extracting information, you’re acting, you’re telling them certain things and they’re believing who you are claiming to be,” Garcia remembers. “So when I finished that operation I started volunteering for undercover work. The beautiful thing that happened was, it’s all about timing, I got into the Bureau in 1980 in 1984 we started working narcotics. Before that was all done by the <a href="http://www.justice.gov/dea/index.shtml" target="_blank">DEA</a>. I’m a fluent Spanish speaker, so I was a natural, there weren’t that many like me, since then the Bureau has changed so it now mirrors the demographic of our society but in the old days, they were very limited as far as minorities that could work undercover.”</p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><strong>I WAS BORN AN UNDERCOVER</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/19DpkUL" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237027900,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237027900?profile=original" width="280" /></a>Garcia would spend a total of 24 of his 26 years as an FBI agent working over 100 undercover cases. Though undercover work itself is thrilling, getting to that point is not what it’s made out to be. “You go through the process of doing the psychological exam, you make sure whether you have the capabilities, and you get your supervisor to approve you going to the school. Now when I went through, I went to the second FBI Undercover school. Nowadays they apply for the program and they go through two weeks of intensive training. In fact that program is so good that even other countries come and participate in it.”</p>
<p>During the course the majority of people, believe it or not, are sent home. “They just don’t have what it takes,” Garcia adds. “They are sent home because they are associating with the particular subject group or maybe they’re not handling themselves appropriately, maybe they get scared in certain scenarios. These scenarios we come up with during training are very lifelike. And a lot of people can’t handle it and you want to weed them out. because the last thing you want is to have somebody go undercover and not make it home that night.”</p>
<p>It may sound cliché but Garcia has seen and experienced it: “You can’t make an undercover,” he says. “It’s one of the things I’ve always said against the training course. You are really born an undercover. You gotta be a person who likes to bullshit, be a good talker, be engaging, comfortable in all settings and surroundings, doesn’t show his fear. All undercover agents have fear. I had fears during all the cases I worked. The thing is you don’t show that fear. You’re around a criminal element that at any given time could do some harm to you. You have to control your fear and not let them know that you are frightened of them. Part of it is some of these people think that by going to this school they are going to come out an undercover, well they’re mistaken. You have to be able to get along, talk fast, think quick, those are the important traits to have. Nothing the school can teach you, they will show you the parameters of working undercover, the do’s, don’ts, be careful here, who to call, but as far as creating an undercover by no means, you go into that school an undercover already.”</p>
<p>What follows next is the school of hard knocks. Going out onto the streets and learning it the hard way. Garcia: “You slowly start getting better. Like with everything else you start out small and learn from your mistakes.” As he learned and grew, Garcia’s undercover assignment started becoming more serious and more difficult. The smart members of organized crime needed help with a variety of illegal activities and against the skilled and highly trained undercover operator Jack Garcia their smarts didn’t stand a chance.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><strong>LAUNDERING DRUG MONEY FOR CARTELS</strong></span></p>
<p>Wait, did I write ‘Didn’t stand a chance’? Maybe it wasn’t exactly such an easy win for the FBI and Garcia. The Cartels were a tough nut to crack, he says. “The amazing thing I find about the Cartels, they’re more sophisticated. One of the things about working around <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">mobsters</a> is you’ll be following a mobster with surveillance. When you lose that mobster you could find him within an hour. Where is he gonna be? At his gambling parlors that he goes to, or their <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/another-mob-social-club-bites">social club</a> that he goes to, his goomar’s house, his mother’s house, so you’ll find the guy. They also know they’re being tailed. A lot of those mob guys will come over to the guys doing the surveillance and try to be cute: ‘Hey now I’m going over there. You wanna cup of coffee?’</p>
<p>With members of a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels">drug Cartel</a> things are not so easy. “When they pick up a tail, that very next day they pack up their bags and transfer to the west coast. You never see this guy again. So when we were working narcotics especially with a sophisticated Cartel group we were really very careful. I opted sometimes to not even tail these guys because if they pick it up, especially after I do a money laundering transaction or dope transaction with them.”</p>
<p>“Cartels are also very compartmentalized. It isn’t like everybody knows who everybody is. If you take down a guy with dope and you’re trying to offer him a deal to cooperate he can’t give you anything. He says ‘Look I got a page, that page told me to call to this number, I call that number and a guy tells me to meet him on the corner of whatever at three o’ clock, I was there, he gave me the keys of a car, I put the stuff in it came back, gave him the keys back. Who is it? I don’t know.’ He doesn’t ask. Because if he’s asking that gets back to the Cartel who will ask him ‘Why you asking? You don’t need to know that.’ Everything is set. Because they have these compartments that’s as high as you go. You’re not moving up the ladder like you’re supposed to do. There is no such thing as ‘I want to meet your boss.’ Sometimes if you launder enough money and you work a wiretap you identify the boss which is good but most of the bosses are in Colombia or Mexico so they are difficult to get to. You have to catch them through money, wiretaps, as opposed to any undercover meet.”</p>
<p>Working narcotics was quite the trip for Garcia. It was during this time that he also realized that despite the Bureau’s best efforts in busting drug dealers the media wasn’t that interested. “That’s the fascinating thing about the mob and organized crime,” Garcia begins. “I’ve been working narcotics since the FBI got into it in 1984. I’ve had the honor and privilege of working with some of the finest men and women in law enforcement and we were really rocking and rolling taking down a lot of these drug criminals. We had done a lot of seizures, I’m talking boatloads and ton loads of drugs, a lot of money seizures where we really hurt them in their pockets. None to very few of them make the newspapers. For some reason it’s not glamorized. We took down five thousand kilos in New York and that never even made the newspapers. But if you lock up a mobster with one kilo you got newspaper fodder for weeks and weeks.”</p>
<p>The good ol’ <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in">American Mafia</a>. The media darling and Public Favorite Number One. After a slow start, the FBI has had huge successes in breaking down the mob’s influence. For decades Italian-American Mafia families ruled organized crime in many major U.S. cities. Eventually extending that influence into the legitimate world. “It’s something distorted but I do understand why the world romanticizes organized crime, especially Cosa Nostra,” Garcia admits. “It’s the only one of the few criminal groups that actually infiltrated all of legitimate America. They’ve gotten into the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-and-labor-racketeering">unions</a>, corrupted police departments, corrupted politicians , construction, because of that they are very influential. They’re looked at as a different breed.”</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-sits-down-with-fbi-agent-jack-garcia-part-2">Click here to read Part 2</a> of Gangsters Inc.'s interview with Jack Garcia in which he talks about infiltrating the Gambino crime family, what he's up to now, and his movie deal.</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>
Full-Time Gangsters Part-Time Rappers
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/full-time-gangsters-part-time
2011-07-16T16:00:00.000Z
2011-07-16T16:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> What a weird world we live in. A world in which we have celebrities who are famous for no apparent reason, at least not a reason anyone can name, they simply are famous. And those that did make it big, have a strong urge to be something else. In an earlier <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/art-imitating-life-imitating">article</a> I pointed out how many actors that starred in The Sopranos ended up being involved in real crimes. And the gangsters themselves obviously love hanging out with these celebrities. The grass is always greener on the other side.<br /> <br /> Nowhere is this more visible than in the hip hop & rap scene. For decades crime and rap have been intertwined, entertaining an audience of millions with music and lyrics that paint a vivid picture of the violent hoods across the United States. <br /> <br /> A lot of people fail to realize, though, that most rappers either never were involved in crime or only in a minor way. If they were making millions selling dope, why would they even make a career switch? It has become a selling point for them. Embellish or even Invent a violent past and you sell more records. Even if your raps aren’t as good as those of your competition. Image is everything, and that was never more true than in the rap scene. <br /> <br /> In the past decade we even saw real gangsters get involved with the music business. Rap label Murder Inc. felt it was smart to bring crime boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-boss-kenneth-supreme">Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff</a> into the fold and let him participate in their multi-million dollar business which sold records worldwide. Things didn’t end well, when the real gangster attracted the attention of the police and label executives had to stand trial on money laundering charges. Though they were acquitted, it was a reminder to the wannabe gangsters that there is more to being a gangster than just looking tough and living the good life. There is a lot of stress and that life either ends in prison or the cemetery. <br /> <br /> That’s probably one of the reasons why the following successful gangsters were risking time in the spotlight trying to launch a rap career all the while getting rich as they were dealing multiple kilos of cocaine on the streets of Kansas City. <br /> <br /> The end of June saw the culmination of Operation Blockbuster in which the DEA dismantled a drug-trafficking organization that smuggled hundreds of kilograms of cocaine worth millions of dollars from Mexico to distribute in the Kansas City metropolitan area. A total of thirty-one defendants were indicted. <br /> <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237004666,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237004666,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237004666?profile=original" /></a>The leader of the organization, and the man with all the right connections, was Alejandro Corredor (36) a citizen of Colombia residing in Kansas City. Corredor had an in with a Mexican drug cartel and would order loads specifically for the Kansas City area. A normal load of cocaine would be from 20 to 50 kilograms, which was smuggled in vehicles driven to Kansas City from Mexico. After Corredor sold the cocaine and collected the money, he packaged the cash in bundles that were hidden in false compartments of various vehicles. The vehicles would then deliver the money to the El Paso, Texas area, where it would be transported across the border into Mexico.<br /> <br /> Now you are probably wondering where the rap angle that I mentioned earlier comes from. Well, two of Corredor’s clients were Dandrae “Bird” Jones (35, photo right) and Edward “Black Walt” Jefferson (39) both of Kansas City. <br /> <br /> Besides being one of Corredor’s biggest distributors in the Kansas City area, Jones was a local rap artist and owner of Block Life Entertainment. “Corredor invested from $200,000 to 250,000 in Block Life Entertainment, and allowed Jones to live rent-free in one of his residential properties. Jefferson was also a rap artist and one of Corredor’s distributors,” according to the DEA. <br /> <br /> As Jones was enjoying his successful relationship with Corredor he did not keep a low profile, and his boss dit not mind. During those years Jones and his gang made a lot of noise promoting their music and label. A lot of it can still be found online. YouTube has many music videos (see below) of the cocaine hustler turned rapper and his entourage of intimidating friends and sexy female companions. The label’s <a href="http://www.myspace.com/blocklifeproductions" target="_blank">MySpace page</a> not only shows promotional photos but also contains photos of the gang's luxury automobiles. </p>
<center><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PLlgXQ7Z6Gw?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="349" frameborder="0"></iframe></center>
<p><br /> For those of us that are used to secretive gangsters who hide behind a newspaper or their hands as they walk into court, this large public cache of videos and photos is mind blowing. Here are two successful criminals dealing in multiple kilos of cocaine who are putting out raps in which they celebrate exactly that gangster lifestyle. <br /> <br /> Jones and Jefferson were among the last to be convicted in this case. Other members of their group had already been found guilty of various charges. One of that group, Dennis “Westcrook” Westbrook, was also a member of the Block Life rap group and can be seen on the cover of the group’s album together with “Bird” Jones. Jones and Jefferson face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to life in federal prison without parole.<br /> <br /> The only question left to ask is: Will they now finally hit the big leagues with their rap career?<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9237004698,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237004698,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237004698?profile=original" width="340" /></a></p>
<ul>
<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>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p><strong><br /> </strong></p></div>