Category Archives: International

World News Legal developments from around the world. The following is a collection of the most recent posts from other blogs addressing topics of international law.

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Over 20 arrested in major anti-mafia sweep in Lombardy

Catherine Edwards
catherine.edwards@thelocal.com
26 September 2017
09:51 CEST+02:00
Police placed 27 people under investigation as part of a major anti-mafia operation in Lombardy in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A town mayor is among those accused of corruption in the investigation into ties between the ‘Ndrangheta mafia clan and the worlds of business and politics.

Edoardo Mazza, the mayor of Seregno in Monza province representing Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, was placed under house arrest. Mazza is accused of corruption for awarding construction contracts to groups linked to the ‘Ndrangheta, according to Rai News.

In total, 21 people were arrested, while three were placed under house arrest and another three also face charges. The charges include extortion, abuse of office, bodily harm, drug trafficking, and bribery, all of which are aggravated due to the connection to aggravated crime.

The investigation, which has been coordinated by Milan’s anti-mafia authority (DDA) and prosecutors in Monza, northeast of Milan, began in 2015 and included arrests across the Lombardy region, in Monza, Milan, Pavia, Como and Reggio Calabria.

The stronghold of the ‘Ndrangheta is in Calabria, the toe of Italy’s boot, but arrests over the past two years show it is operating in northern Italy.

Police believe it has grown bigger than the more well known Sicilian and Neapolitan mafias through its successful cocaine trafficking from Latin America.

Full Read  – https://www.thelocal.it/20170926/over-20-arrested-in-major-anti-mafia-operation-in-lombardy

Blog, Family, Immigration, International, Legal News

Civil rights groups slam ICE over detentions of pregnant women

BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE – 09/26/17 12:13 PM EDT

Civil rights groups on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security, demanding a review of allegations by pregnant women who were detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“The policy violations and inhumane treatment addressed in the complaint are of especially great concern given the Trump administration’s executive orders directing ICE to dramatically expand immigration enforcement actions and increase the number of individuals subject to immigration detention,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement.

The administrative complaint includes accounts from multiple women who were detained by ICE while pregnant, including one woman who said she was unable to obtain medical attention after telling officials she was pregnant and bleeding.

Read Full – http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/352472-civil-rights-groups-slam-ice-over-detentions-of-pregnant-women

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

Rocco Morabito: Italian mafia boss held in Uruguay

One of Italy’s most wanted fugitives has been arrested in Uruguay after 23 years on the run from convictions for mafia association and drug trafficking.

Rocco Morabito of the ‘Ndrangheta organised crime gang was detained in the resort of Punta del Este.

Uruguayan police said he had been living there for more than 10 years under a false identity.

He was nicknamed “cocaine king of Milan” for his involvement in shipping the drug from South America to Italy.

The ‘Ndrangheta controls much of the world’s cocaine trade and police say Morabito was behind the smuggling of hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Brazil to Italy.

South American hideaway

Morabito is believed to have arrived in Uruguay in 2002.

Police arrested Morabito in a hotel in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo. But officials said he had settled in the resort of Punta del Este with false Brazilian identity papers in the name of Francisco Capeletto.

Read Full – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41146886

Blog, Business Law, International, Legal News

PROOF in Brief + Celeb Legal News Roundup + Jill Stanley

Week Ending 9.8.2017

  • A French court ruled that topless photos taken of Kate, Duchess of York were an invasion of privacy. The photos were taken back in 2012 with a long lense as Kate and William were vacationing at a private estate. Interesting timing given it’s 20 years since Lady Di’s death which many still attribute to paparazzi. (Note: charges were ultimately dropped against paps in connection with her death.)
  • Usher responds to California lawsuit filed by 3 plaintiffs alleging he may have exposed them to Herpes. In his answer, Usher denied the allegations but the singer has still not released medical evidence proving he does not have the disease  Click here to read the complaint filed against him.
  • Dallas Cowboy Ezekiel Elliott just got a little luck. A federal judge granted the NFL Players Association request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop his six-game suspension stemming from the NFL’s finding that there was “substantial evidence” that Elliott committed acts of domestic physical violence against his former girlfriend,Tiffany Thompson.
  • The Mel B/Stephen Belafonte lawsuit continues with more damaging allegations. This time about a sham marriage that Belafonte purportedly arranged so the couple’s former nanny (with whom both he and Mel B are alleged to have had sexual relations) would not be deported. Read More 
  • The family of Aaron Carter is very worried about him and the very real risk of suicide they feel may be present; they’ve had cops called to Aaron’s home several times recently. Read More
  • Fox News host, Charles Payne, will return to his show now that the Network has completed its investigation into sexual harassment claims. Payne was suspended earlier this summer pending the outcome of that investigation.

Sourced From http://proofwithjillstanley.com/proof-in-brief/

Blog, Business Law, Criminal, Immigration, International, Legal News

Turkey says U.S. indictment of former minister amounts to “coup attempt”

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey said on Monday its former economy minister, indicted in the United States for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran, acted within international law and that charges against him amounted to a coup attempt through American courts.

Former minister Zafer Caglayan “has protected Turkey’s interests as Turkish economy minister, and has acted within the laws of our country and international laws while doing that,” government spokesman Bekir Bozdag said.

The charges against Caglayan were “a repetition of the December FETO coup attempt … through the American judiciary”, Bozdag said, referring to 2013 leaks about alleged government corruption which were blamed on President Tayyip Erdogan’s opponents.

Caglayan and the ex-head of a state-owned Turkish bank were charged on Wednesday with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran’s behalf.

Read Full – https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-turkey-spokesman/turkey-says-u-s-indictment-of-former-minister-amounts-to-coup-attempt-idUSKCN1BM24A