This Is What $20 Million Stuffed In A Mattress Looks Like

The idea that people “hide money under the mattress” is typically a joke. The vast majority of responsible adults choose much more responsible methods of storing their physical wealth. For example a bank, the stock market, even a safe. But surely there is still some percentage of the population that stores money in mattress-related locations. It’s probably not a ton of money. Maybe a few hundred dollars in cash for emergencies. Maybe a couple thousand dollars you made at a garage sale that you don’t want the IRS to know about. But not more than that, right? Well…

Recently, Federal Agents in Boston revealed a photo that shows the age old practice of mattress money stuffing is still very much thriving. It’s especially thriving among illegal immigrants who are running a massive telecommunications pyramid scheme!

Late last night in Westborough, Massachusetts, agents served a search warrant to a telecommunications company called TelexFree Inc. Several arrests were made and important documents/computers were seized. At the same time, using information from a cooperator, agents also searched a nondescript one bedroom apartment nearby.

The apartment was pretty normal. One bedroom, one bathroom, living room, small kitchen. Monthly rent is around $1600. So you can imagine the shock when agents searched under the queen-sized mattress and discovered a box spring stuffed with $20 million in illegal cash 🙂

Police arrested the apartment’s resident, a 28 year old Brazilian man named Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

TelexFree first made headlines back in April 2014 when agents swooped in and arrested several former executives of the telecommunications company. According to authorities, TelexFree operated a pyramid scheme that preyed upon Dominican and Brazilian immigrants. TelexFree advertised itself as a substitute to landline phone services through the sale of its VOIP program, 99TelexFREE.

But that’s not all. TelexFree also promised customers big returns on a passive income scheme involved advertising 99TelexFree. Investors paid a $50 fee on top of an additional $300 – $1400 to purchase advertising kits. Customers would then advertise the VOIP services to their friends using these kits. A participant who spent $1400 advertising these VOIP kits could supposedly earn a return of $3675.

In total, this scam helped TelexFree generate just $1.3 million worth of new VOIP revenue while collecting more than $1.1 BILLION in service fees from its participants.

Anonymous threatens Donald Trump with leaks about ties to mafia and child trafficking

Donald Trump has not yet taken up office, but he has already managed to whip up tidal waves of opposition not only in the US, but around the world. Among the president-elect’s opponents is Anonymous, the hacktivist collective.

The group took to Twitter — Trump’s favorite medium — to issue a pre-inauguration warning: “This isn’t the 80’s any longer, information doesn’t vanish, it is all out there. You are going to regret the next 4 years”. The tirade came as Trump lashed out at reports about criticism from outgoing CIA Chief, John Brennan; Anonymous responded by threatening the billionaire with damaging leaks.

The loose collective warned Trump that “Roy Cohen and your daddy aren’t here to protect you anymore” before suggesting that the president-elect had a few more skeletons ready to come out of his closet. Trump was told “not to waste money hitting us with your Moldavian bot farm”, but it is the threat of possibly damaging revelations that sparked interest:


Chinese Triads And Italian Mafia Running The Irish PPL Smuggling

Two Aer Lingus staff among three arrested at Dublin Airport over alleged people smuggling

THREE PEOPLE arrested in connection with alleged smuggling of illegal immigrants through Dublin Airport are to appear in court tomorrow morning.

Two of the men arrested are Aer Lingus employees. The third was a suspected illegal immigrant. Gardaí suspect the two Aer Lingus workers were facilitating this man’s illegal entry into the state.

The arrests of the three men (aged 61, 56 and 28) took place at the airport last night in an operation carried out by the Garda Immigration Bureau (GNIB) assisted by the Garda Special Detective Unit (SDU).

The three men are currently detained at Ballymun and Coolock garda stations.

Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll said gardaí have searched a number of premises and vehicles as part of the investigation.

They are working to identify how many occasions in the past this may have taken place. He said gardaí investigating this incident were analysing a “considerable amount of data”.

Illegal immigrants were disguised as Aer Lingus workers so they could be smuggled through Dublin Airport in a global people smuggling scam that netted gangsters up to €12m.

Two male Aer Lingus employees, aged 61 and 56, and a Chinese national (28) were being quizzed by gardai last night following a major sting operation on Sunday, when an Aer Lingus flight landed in Dublin from Madrid.

More arrests are expected in the investigation, which is said to involve a number of dangerous international gangs.

A massive garda investigation has found that up to 600 people may have been smuggled into the country at an estimated cost of around €20,000 per person as part of the scam.

The Herald has learned the extent of the smuggling operation recently came to light after a man who entered Ireland illegally attempted to leave on a flight to another EU country.

Authorities noticed there was no official record of the individual entering the country, and a criminal probe was launched into the smuggling of people taking place at Ireland’s main airport.

“This raised a red flag and the Garda National Immigration Bureau launched a major surveillance operation at the airport,” a senior source said.

Diverted

Gardai have discovered the illegal immigrants arrived on Aer Lingus flights from European destinations and then left the plane with other passengers.

While walking with other passengers in the airport, they would be diverted away by criminals involved in the scam before they reached immigration and customs checks at the airport.

The operation would see them taken to a secure area of the airport and they would be given uniforms and high-visibility jackets to disguise them as Aer Lingus employees.

The non-nationals were then driven from airside to landside in Aer Lingus vehicles such as catering vans and trucks.

Gardai have established that the immigrants were then dropped at a location north of the airport, where they were picked up by associates.

Sources say gardai believe that about 100 illegal immigrants a year came into the country this way and that the scam had been in operation for around six years.

It is understood that most of the people smuggled into the country came from Asian countries, particularly China, and many left here for other EU countries shortly after arriving.

Gardai believe a network of international crime gangs are involved in the scam and these include Italian gangs, Eastern European mobs and even Chinese crime groupings.

iItelligence

“While there are two gentlemen arrested after Sunday night’s sting operation, gardai are in no doubt that there were many other people involved in this criminal operation both in Ireland and abroad,” a senior source said.

“Expect more arrests to follow,” the source added.

Sunday’s arrests stemmed from an intelligence-led operation, which a senior garda said is possible as a result of civilian staff being placed at passport control.

Assistant Garda Commissioner John O’Driscoll said yesterday: “In recent times there has been a reconfiguration of personnel working the immigration control at Dublin Airport, which has involved an input of civilian staff attached to Irish Naturalisation and Immigration control booths.

“We have arrested three people, two of whom are employees of a carrier of passengers. One person is a potential illegal immigrant, who illegally entered the state, who was facilitated by our two suspects.”

Italian police busted a mafia group trying to smuggle over a billion dollars’ worth of cocaine into Europe

Italian anti-mafia police said they busted an international drug ring and arrested 54 people with ties to notorious mafia group ‘Ndrangheta attempting to smuggle cocaine with a street value of $1.7 billion into Europe.

While the ‘Ndrangheta is based in the southern Calabria region, the 54 people arrested were detained in different parts of Italy, the country’s authorities said, according to Reuters.

The group was allegedly conspiring to import about 8 metric tons, or 17,637 pounds, of cocaine from Colombia into Europe via seaports and airports in Calabria, which is at the southern tip of the Italian mainland.

Read Full Article – http://www.businessinsider.com/italy-cocaine-bust-drug-trafficking-ndrangheta-mafia-2017-1

Illinois getting nearly 200 new laws to start 2017

More than 190 changes to Illinois law take effect with the new year.

No, none of them are an actual state budget or meaningful pension reform. But Illinois does enter 2017 with an official state archaeological artifact.

House Bill 538 officially designates the pirogue, a narrow canoe carved from a tree trunk, as the official state artifact of Illinois.

Some of the new laws are meant to save you money at the checkout line, others seek to keep your local governments from wasting money, others have public safety in mind, and a handful give the appearance that some of our state lawmakers may have too much free time on their hands

In the first category, sales tax on tampons, pads and menstrual cups is lifted under Senate Bill 2746. They previously had been charged the same sales tax as other items, including shampoo.

Shenanigans at the College of DuPage and Northern Illinois University inspired several government spending reforms.

Read Full – http://www.pjstar.com/news/20161230/illinois-getting-nearly-200-new-laws-to-start-2017