Category Archives: Organized Crime

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Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Pointing to reduced sentences of 2 killers, Staten Island mob graveyard defendant asks for early release

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Despite two previous attempts for a compassionate release that were shot down by a federal judge — including one earlier this year — a former mobster who committed two heinous murders more than 30 years ago is trying his luck again with a new petition.

Back in July, Judge Margo K. Brodie denied Vincent Giattino’s request for a compassionate release, citing he “committed two heinous murders using guns equipped with silencers and trafficked narcotics as a devout member of BCF (Bonanno Crime Family).”

The nature and seriousness of Giattino’s crimes “support his continued detention,” Brodie previously stated.

This time, attorney Anthony Cecutti, is hoping two recent decisions will help in Giattino’s situation.

The life sentences for Anthony Russo and Paul Moore, who were both convicted of murders and other violent crimes after trial and sentenced to life imprisonment, were reduced to 35 years. “We respectfully request that this court do the same and reduce Mr. Giattino’s life sentence to 35 years,” he asked in a Nov. 26 filing in Brooklyn federal court.

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

‘Go f–k yourself’: How a NY restaurateur survived his tangles with the mob

When Stratis Morfogen opened his first Manhattan diner in the 1990s, he had no intention of one day telling a member of John Gotti Jr.’s crew to “go f–k themselves.”

But for “The Golden Greek” — a nickname Morfogen earned from his mob contacts for his money-making ways — standing up to the mafia became a way of life as an NYC-based restaurateur. Now, the owner of Brooklyn Chop House in lower Manhattan is naming names in his new book, “Be a Disruptor: Streetwise Lessons for Entrepreneurs ― from the Mob to Mandates,” out Tuesday.

Morfogen opened Gotham City Diner on the Upper East Side in 1993. Soon after, the mob made their presence known.

“I had a head of promotions, his name was Noel Ashman … one night Noel comes in with a black eye, I said, ‘What’s going on?’” Morfogen told The Post in an exclusive interview.

“Some gangster said we have to pay them every month or they’re going to continuously start beating us up,” Morfogen recalled him saying. “[Ashman] pointed out some names to me and I recognized that these are Gambino guys.”

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

Justice Department Announces Charges Against Alleged Gun Trafficker

Over 70 Guns Purchased in Just Six Months

The Justice Department announced today that a man who allegedly purchased guns later used in multiple incidents in the United States and Canada has been charged with federal firearm crimes. According to court documents, Demontre Antwon Hackworth, 31, allegedly purchased at least 92 guns from federally licensed firearms dealers, including 75 guns in just six months from a single dealer that later relinquished its seller’s license.

“As part of the Department-wide anti-violent crime strategy we launched last year, we are marshalling the resources of every one of our U.S. Attorneys’ offices, law enforcement agencies, grant-making entities, and other components to work in partnership with state and local law enforcement to disrupt violent crime,” said Attorney General Merrick B Garland. “We are cracking down on the criminal gun-trafficking pipelines that flood our communities with illegal guns, and we have instructed our federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents to prioritize prosecutions of those who are responsible for the greatest gun violence. The case we are announcing today is just one example of those efforts.”

“The second amendment protects the rights of law-abiding citizens – but not prohibited persons, or those who arm them,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham for the Northern District of Texas. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office, ATF Dallas, and the entire Department of Justice is working our level best to keep guns away from dangerous offenders before they can put finger to

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Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Dom Phillips: Officials link disappearance of British journalist in Brazil to ‘fish mafia

Dom Phillips went missing with indigenous official Bruno Pereira on 5 June in western Brazil. Police have since found blood on a suspect’s boat and “apparently human” material in the Amazonian rainforest.

The disappearance of a British journalist in Brazil has been linked to an international network that pays poor fishermen to illegally fish in the country’s second-largest indigenous territory, authorities said.

Journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous official Bruno Pereira were last seen on 5 June near the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which sits near the borders of Peru and Colombia in western Brazil.

The two men were in the Sao Rafael community and were returning by boat to the nearby city of Atalaia do Norte but never arrived.

Local volunteers, the army, civil defence officials and state police have been searching for the pair since they went missing and police have launched a criminal investigation.

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Blog, Business Law, Celebrity, celebrity legal news, Criminal, Legal News, Organized Crime

Tiger King’ star Doc Antle to face money laundering charges

“Tiger King” star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle was arrested by the FBI and expected to appear in court Monday to face federal money laundering charges

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — “Tiger King” star Bhagavan “Doc” Antle was arrested by the FBI and expected to appear in court Monday to face federal money laundering charges, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Federal agents arrested the controversial wild animal trainer Friday and he has been in custody at the J. Reuben Long Detention Center in Conway, South Carolina throughout the weekend.

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