A recently announced joint law enforcement program by Italy and INTERPOL will focus on pinpointing the criminal activities of one of the world’s largest and most powerful crime syndicates. The effort, underwritten by the Italian Department of Public Security, will be called the Interpol Cooperation Against ‘Ndrangheta, or I-CAN for short. It will focus initially … [Read more…]
Known for being the setting for hit TV series and film Gomorrah, the Le Vele towers were a symbol of organized crime and poverty – until the residents decided to take matters into their own hands. Until recently, Le Vele was both the location for Western Europe’s biggest international arms and drugs supermarket as well … [Read more…]
Carlo Celadon was at home in the small Italian town of Arzignano, having dinner alone. The 19-year-old’s father, Candido Celadon, a wealthy entrepreneur, was on holiday with his sister, and Carlo’s older brother was away on his honeymoon. Suddenly, four armed men broke into the house. They tied Carlo up, locked him in the trunk … [Read more…]
Matteo Messina Denaro, the dreaded Italian mobster also known as “Diabolik” has been on the run from the police for over 30 years now. He was long considered to be the ‘Boss of Bosses’ of the Sicilian Mafia. His life resembles that of fictional mobster Tony Montana and he must have quite a story to … [Read more…]
The murder of 35-year-old Johnnie “Johnny Maserati” Raposo took place in broad daylight at a Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe in Little Italy during the screening of a soccer match. The hired hit-man, Dean Wiwchar, was impersonating a construction worker by wearing an orange construction vest, sunglasses, a long-haired wig and a dusk mask. The killer approached … [Read more…]
Gino Accettola, a 52-year-old man with ties to Detroit’s “Tocco crew” Mafia, gambled away over $6 million of investors’ money that was supposed to be used towards construction projects. The investors then sued the casino saying they should be held responsible for the loss. According to official court papers, the swindled investors loaned a large … [Read more…]
Foggia, a small city in Italy’s Puglia region, recently saw its residents come out in large numbers on the streets to protest against the organized criminal Mafia that plagues the city. In the first 3 weeks of this year alone, several devasting bomb attacks and murders have rocked the city. Cerignola, Manfredonia, Mattinata, and Monte … [Read more…]
The New York borough of Queens had yet to see its boom in organized crime until the late 1930s. Not that Queens was a particularly popular area for Mafia families to carry out their Costa Nostra activities, rather they were lured in due to the airport built during the infrastructural developmental boom there, which took … [Read more…]
Giuseppe Costa, 53, the brother of Rosario Costa, widow of anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Falcone’s security detail who was killed in 1992 with the magistrate, has been arrested in Palermo over his alleged ties to the Arenella Cosa Nostra. He has been charged with working for the Mafia by collecting protection money (Pizzo) and helping relatives … [Read more…]
Salvatore Nicitra, ex-boss of the Magliana gang has been arrested. Over a period of a few years, he had taken mafia control of the management and distribution of the gambling equipment unit of Rome. The equipment includes video lottery, games, slot machines, and online betting. A brief overview of the Magliana Gang The Magliana Gang … [Read more…]
Infestation of the Brussels Project. The mafia in Europe has found a new and unique way to launder money from their enormous take from drug trafficking and other illegal businesses. They have started taking advantage of the Brussels Project, often laundering money from across the continent to invest in legal, legitimate businesses that it seems, … [Read more…]
The Sicilian capital of Palermo hosted a marathon trial of the Mafia for almost 6 years, from 1986 to 1992. It ended with 338 members of La Cosa Nostra being convicted. 19 men were sentenced to life in prison (ergastolo). This trial was one of the longest in Mafia history. It was held after the Corleonesi … [Read more…]
Anthony Comello only wanted one thing the day he ended up at the house of Francesco Cali (Franky Boy); to make a citizen’s arrest. Little was it anticipated that he will end up killing one of the leaders of the Gambino crime family. The day of the incident He took his pickup truck to Todt … [Read more…]
With a little help from one of New York City’s most notorious crime families, it was the man in charge of protecting the game pieces of McDonald’s high-stakes Monopoly promotional game that ultimately led to a $24 million scam that robbed real customers of their chance to win the biggest prizes. Jerome Jacobson, a former … [Read more…]
Gambino crime family member Riccardo (Richie) Cefalu, an old-school wise guy known as a man who lived by the rule “admit nothing,” died Jan. 23 at the age of 92. Part of the Gambino’s Sicilian faction, Cefalu emigrated into the United States from Italy in 1965, settling in Greenlawn, Long Island, where he was still … [Read more…]