Tag Archives: mafia

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Man admits to role in $103M illegal gambling ring allegedly linked to Mafia, Hells Angels

Adrian Humphreys | September 12, 2016 10:36 PM ET

TORONTO — The man accused of running Internet services for a $103-million illegal sports betting ring that police say was linked to the Mafia and the Hells Angels pleaded guilty Monday.

Gordon Baird, 59, admitted he was the administrator of the Platinum Sports Book, a sophisticated betting operation in Ontario that set up its computer servers in Costa Rica.

The police probe of Platinum was first revealed in spectacular fashion when officers raided a lavish Super Bowl party north of Toronto in 2013, a catered event with an open bar for 2,700 guests who vied for expensive door prizes including a motorcycle and Sea-Doo.

It was a party thrown annually by Platinum as a customer appreciation event. Court heard it cost more than $100,000 to run.

The cost, however, was a drop in the bucket of what money organizers were bringing in, court heard.

With computer servers in Costa Rica, toll-free phone lines, a smart-phone app for gamblers to bet on all major sporting events, the operation was technologically savvy, sophisticated and lucrative.

Based on police wiretaps, it is estimated that Platinum employed hundreds of bookies servicing thousands of clients within the Toronto area. The bookies signed up their own clients, collected their debts and paid out their winnings on a weekly basis. The money flowed up the pyramid, court heard, with the top acting as “the bank.”

A financial audit of seized betting records show that between 2009 and 2013 Platinum grossed more than $103 million. Police seized $4.6 million in cash during its probe.

In 2012, $1.3 million in cash was found in the backpack of Erwin Speckert as he boarded a bus from Winnipeg to Vancouver. The source of the money was never revealed, but Monday’s court proceedings confirmed it was Platinum money being couriered west. Speckert was sentenced last year to three years for money laundering.

“The operation is best viewed as a highly sophisticated and organized pyramid-type structure. The pyramid structure involved a number of ‘cells’ consisting of bookies and their sub-agents signing up bettors/clients,” says an agreed statement of facts in Baird’s case.

“These cells in turn are all connected to the top of the pyramid structure by those managing the organization.”

The top — which Baird was not a part of — was not discussed in his proceeding. At the time of arrests, the RCMP said Platinum Sports Book was linked to members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and the Mafia.

Full Article – http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/man-admits-to-role-in-103m-illegal-gambling-ring-allegedly-linked-to-mafia-hells-angels

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Boston mobster turned Memphis pastor discusses $500 million art heist

MEMPHIS – An ex-Boston mobster who secretly moved to Memphis in 2013 is opening up about his life as the boss of a Boston mafia crew and his knowledge of the largest art heist in world history.

In the 1990s, Robert Luisi, Jr. was the leader of a mob crew in a Boston. Two of the men in his crew, Robert Guarente and 80-year-old Robert Gentile, are suspected by the FBI of stealing $500 million worth of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Luisi moved to Memphis in 2013. With guidance from the federal government, he changed his name to Alonso Esposito and started a new life.

Now, Esposito lives in a Memphis suburb with his wife, Julie Esposito, and their children.

Guarente died in 2004. Investigators have searched Gentile’s home in Philadelphia, but didn’t find the paintings. Gentile is awaiting trial for unrelated charges, and he claims he knows nothing about the missing art.

For 26 years, the investigation has led investigators to dead ends. And even with Esposito opening up about his knowledge, the art is still nowhere to be found.

When asked if men in his crew were involved in the heist, Esposito said, “I think several of them were. Yeah, that was my crew.”

But Esposito said he didn’t connect with Gentile and Guarante until a few years after the heist.

“I was coming back to Boston from Martha’s Vineyard,” Esposito said, describing what he was doing on March 18, 1990 – the night the paintings were stolen. “That crew that they suspect actually did the robbery, I really didn’t hook up with them until about ’94.”

No one has ever been arrested for stealing the art, but leads have continually taken investigators to men related to Esposito’s former friends in Boston, Philadelphia, Connecticut and Florida.

Full Article – http://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending-now/boston-mobster-turned-memphis-pastor-discusses-500-million-art-heist-1/413196610

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

F.B.I. REPORT ON MAFIA DECLINE CAUSED BY GROUP TEXT AND E-MAIL CHAINS

By James Folta , AUGUST 18, 2016

INTERNAL/CLASSIFIED

After extensive investigation, our specialized team, the F.B.I. New-Media Task Force, has determined that organized-crime syndicates are being increasingly hampered by an inability to communicate effectively through text messages and e-mails. Agents have found that the Mafia and other large criminal groups are having difficulty planning crimes as a result of overly long strings of messages that are derailed by unrelated jokes and gifs. Our investigators are pleased to report that this pattern has led to a decrease in crime and an increase in criminal organizations’ cellular overage charges.

The bulk of this investigation involved the interception and analysis of Mafia members’ text messages. It was observed that poor texting habits led to many issues. For instance, unrecognized abbreviations often had to be explained (LOL = Lots of Larceny, CSP = Cement Shoes Please, BHK = Break His Knees, etc.). Mobsters who own different brands of phones were inadvertently left out of group texts, and as a result crimes were understaffed and failed. Winking emojis that were meant to subtly imply something illegal were often interpreted as flirtatious, and vice versa.

Combing through Mafia conversations has revealed an organization that is overly chatty, unable to make basic criminal decisions in fewer than fifty logistical messages. Consider this transcript from a group text chain labelled “Legitimate Businessmen”:

Joey Three Snaps: did you get it?
Hambone Harry: yah, where can I can hand it off?
Joey Three Snaps: Tito’s?
Hambone Harry: eh I don’t feel like that, had mexican last night
Gus Gus: we don’t have to eat for this meeting
Joey Three Snaps: wat do you feel like?
Hambone Harry: not Tito’s
Gus Gus: guys what about just Starbucks
Joey Three Snaps: nah I need to eat
Gus Gus: they have muffins n stuff
Hambone Harry: guys come on, pick something
Gus Gus: sidebar: where’s a good place to start with don delillo?

This particular text conversation continues for another sixty-four minutes until its participants decide to abandon the plan altogether, and to start with “White Noise.” We believe that, in this instance, inept texting combined with numerous long-winded tangents about what constitutes a “low-key date spot” prevented or delayed a serious crime.

Full Article – http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/f-b-i-report-on-mafia-decline-caused-by-group-text-and-e-mail-chains

Blog, Criminal, Immigration, Legal News, Organized Crime

Officials searching for Texas Mexican Mafia gang member with ties to Dallas

Follow @clairezcardona ccardona@dallasnews.com

Officials are searching for a Texas Mexican Mafia gang member with ties to Dallas who is wanted on a kidnapping charge and parole violation.

Johnny Garcia, 35, was last living in Kirby and has ties to Dallas, San Antonio and the Bexar County area, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Bexar County issued a warrant for his arrest in May related to the kidnapping of a female associate, according to DPS.

Garcia was convicted of assaulting a public servant when he was in prison in 2006 and sentenced to eight years. He punched and kicked a corrections officer, striking him on the head and face several times with the officer’s radio, according to DPS.

He also has convictions for assault, weapons offenses and drugs. He was paroled in 2014.

Garcia is 5-10 and weighs about 210 pounds. He has numerous tattoos, including “Mexicano” on his neck, “XIII” on his abdomen, “Garcia” on his back, Pancho Villa on his left arm and a tear drop near his left eye. He may go by the nicknames “Johnny Loco” or “Red Dog,” which he has tattooed on his left leg.

A $7,500 cash reward is being offered for information leading to his capture.

To be eligible for the reward, tipsters must provide information either by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-252-8477, texting the letters DPS followed by the tip to 274637, or submitting a tip through the DPS website, Facebook or the DPS mobile app.  All tips are anonymous.

Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

Argentina Targets “Chinese Mafia” with Operation “Dragon’s Head”

Written by Mike LaSusa 

A joint operation by Argentine and Chinese authorities rounded up dozens of suspects with alleged ties to the “Chinese Mafia,” a move that officials described as an important blow against the criminal organization inArgentina.

In a June 13 press release, the Argentine Security Ministry announced the detention of 40 suspects in “Operation Dragon’s Head,” which was carried out by the Federal Police with the support of the Chinese police and the Chinese embassy in Argentina.

Clarín reported that 34 of the 40 suspects were undocumented Chinese immigrants. The Security Ministry said that Peruvians, Bolivians and Argentineans also belonged to the crime group. Thirty-one of those arrested have been released from custody, though they are still under investigation.

The suspects are accused of crimes that include extortion and violation of weapons and drugs laws. The Security Ministry said the operation resulted in the confiscation of 14 firearms, four vehicles, several thousand dollars in cash, and unspecified quantities of drugs and cell phones, along with computers and accounting records.

Local media reports identified the targeted organization by the name “Pixiu,” which refers to a mythical “fortune beast” from Chinese folklore. A police source described the Pixiu group to La Nación as “the biggest, most important and most violent Chinese mafia.”

Security Secretary Eugenio Burazco said the group’s leader, identified by Infobae as A Di, “has a history, and his father is the head of the mafia in China.”

According to Infobae, the Pixiu used a trade organization purporting to represent Chinese businesses in Buenos Aires province as a cover for the group’s illegal activities, which focused heavily on extorting local Chinese businesses.

The news outlet reported that the Pixiu demanded an initial fee of $50,000 from businesses seeking the group’s “protection,” and charged each business a recurring fee of about $3,600 per month. The total amount of money the group earned from its illegal activities remains unclear.

Those who refuse or fail to pay extortion fees are often targeted for violent reprisal. A recent government report linked Chinese organized crime groups to at least 37 attacks against owners and employees of Chinese businesses in Buenos Aires since 2009.

InSight Crime Analysis

Argentine officials hailed the arrest of dozens of suspects and the seizure of records related the Pixiu’s illicit business as an important blow against the group. This may be true, but according to a 2014 report, several other powerful “Chinese mafia” groups operate in Argentina, and there are several factors that complicate efforts to combat them.

Linguistic and cultural barriers can make it difficult for Argentine authorities to investigate Chinese organized crime activities. For Operation Dragon’s Head, Infobae reported, the Argentine police had to bring on a police officer from the Chinese embassy to work the case undercover. Also, Chinese immigrants — especially those without regularized migration status — are often reluctant to cooperate with local authorities on investigations of fellow Chinese.

Full Article – http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/argentina-targets-chinese-mafia-with-operation-dragons-head