Category Archives: Blog

Best in all legal news.

Blog, Criminal, Immigration, International, Legal News, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

Juan Orlando Hernández, Former President of Honduras, Indicted on Drug-Trafficking and Firearms Charges, Extradited to the United States from Honduras

Hernández Allegedly Partnered with Some of the Largest Cocaine Traffickers in the World to Transport Tons of Cocaine through Honduras to the United States

Juan Orlando Hernández, aka JOH, 53, the former President of Honduras, will make his initial appearance tomorrow, April 22, before Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron in federal court in New York after being extradited today from Honduras. A federal court unsealed drug-trafficking and weapons charges today in a superseding indictment against Hernández.

The indictment charges that from at least in or about 2004, up to and including in or about 2022, Hernández, the former two-term President of Honduras, participated in a corrupt and violent drug-trafficking conspiracy to facilitate the importation of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States. Hernández allegedly received millions of dollars to use his public office, law enforcement, and the military to support drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere.

“The Justice Department is taking a comprehensive approach to protecting our communities and our country from violent crime,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Department is committed to disrupting the entire ecosystem of drug trafficking networks that harm the American people, no matter how far or how high we must go.”

“Juan Orlando Hernández, the recent former President of Honduras, allegedly partnered with some of the world’s most prolific narcotics traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire based on the illegal trafficking of tons of cocaine to the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “Hernández is alleged to have used his vast political powers to protect and assist drug traffickers and cartel leaders by alerting them to possible interdictions, and sanctioning heavily armed violence to support their drug trade. I commend the career prosecutors of the Southern District of New York for their tireless efforts to disrupt the entire illicit drug trafficking ecosystem, from street-level dealers to a former world leader, and everything in-between.”

READ FULL

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Legal News, Organized Crime

NYC Mafia bust: Feds charge 6 Genovese crime family mobsters in 11-year gambling, violent extortion enterprise

Six members of a notorious New York City crime family were charged with a racketeering conspiracy involving illegal gambling and extortion in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the six alleged mobsters, associated with the Genovese organized crime family, made money through illegal gambling and loan sharking by saddling victims with incredible debt that they could not pay back. The suspects include alleged high-ranking members Nicholas Calisi and Ralph Balsamo, known as “captains,” as well as alleged “soldiers” Michael Messina and John Campanella and alleged “associates” Michael Poli and Thomas Poli.

“From extortion to illegal gambling, the Mafia continues to find ways to prey on others to fill its coffers,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “Our office and our law enforcement partners remain committed to putting organized crime out of business.”

READ FULL

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Legal News, Organized Crime

All 19 Ways The New York Mafia Makes Money | How Crime Works

Former New York Mafia made member John Pennisi speaks to Insider about all the ways the mob make their money. John Pennisi was born and raised in an Italian New York neighborhood where the mob had huge influence. He became a made member of the Lucchese crime family in 2013. Pennisi says he decided to leave the mob in 2018 after members of his crew falsely accused him of cooperating with law enforcement. Since leaving the mob, Pennisi has been writing blogs on sitdownnews.com and producing a podcast covering topics of organized crime on

Blog, Drug Companies, Family, Legal News, Personal Injury, Supreme Court

Judge clears way for San Francisco’s ‘public nuisance’ opioid lawsuit to go to trial

Defendants, including Walgreens, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceuticals had tried to get the case thrown out.

(CN) — A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for San Francisco’s opioid lawsuit against Walgreens and a number of pharmaceutical companies to head to trial, which is set to begin on April 25.

Thousands of states, cities and counties have sued pharmaceutical companies over their role in the opioid epidemic, which is believed to have been caused by the marketing and overprescription of prescription drugs like Oxycontin. Many patients who were prescribed an opiate later switched over to using illegal narcotics like heroin. According to the CDC, nearly half a million people died from opiate overdoses between 1999 and 2019.

The biggest culprit was Purdue Pharma, which manufactured and marketed Oxycontin, and which entered bankruptcy in 2020. That proceeding hit the pause button on all lawsuits against Purdue, and eventually lead to a massive settlement, in which cities and states will effectively take over ownership of Purdue. The former owners of the company, the Sackler family, contributed $6 billion to the settlement, a good deal of which went to the governmental entities, in exchange for immunity from future lawsuits.

The drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three pharmaceutical distributors agreed to a $26 billion settlement with states and municipalities in February.

Read Full