Richard Mladenich was a bodyguard to slain drug boss Carl Williams and was killed at a St Kilda hotel 11 years ago.

VICTIMS of crime advocate has criticised a Victorian Police offer of a $1 million reward to help solve a gangland killing, saying the death of Richard Mladenich was "good riddance".

Police say they are trying to tempt people who knew who killed Mladenich to come forward, with the reward up for grabs by anyone who offers information that leads to a conviction.

Mladenich was a bodyguard to slain drug boss Carl Williams and was killed at a St Kilda hotel 11 years ago.

But Crime Victims Support Association president Noel McNamara said only other criminals would know who killed Mladenich and they would now be set to claim the reward after having refused to cooperate with police for many years.

"They live by the sword and they die by the sword, so it is good riddance to bad rubbish," Mr McNamara said of Mladenich's death.

"That is another scumbag put in the earth and gone to hell ... the reward is a waste of time."




Mr McNamara said he did not believe the reward would entice anyone to come forward.

"They get what they deserve, those guys," he said.

"The real victims of crime are the ones who have someone come into their lives uninvited and stuff it up forever," he said.

Police yesterday said they need one last piece of evidence to solve the case.

Homicide Squad Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles said the smallest piece of information could assist.

A $100,000 reward was offered in December 2002 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Gangster will kill behind bars if he's not executed, says prosecutor

federal prosecutor urged jurors Tuesday to sentence former Bonanno crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano to the death penalty because prison walls cannot prevent him from killing again.

"The defendant will not stop, he will not leave the Bonanno crime family behind in prison," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Dennehy.

"He poses a future danger to others and he has earned a sentence greater than prison."

Basciano, 51, was convicted last week in Brooklyn Federal Court of ordering the 2004 murder of mob associate Randolph Pizzolo.

Several cooperating witnesses testified that Basciano gave the order to kill Pizzolo before he was arrested for the murder of another man, and the hit was carried out while Basciano was in a federal lockup.

In the penalty phase of the trial, prosecutors will present evidence that Basciano was responsible for at least three other slayings and numerous murder plots targeting mobsters, the girlfriend of a Bonanno capo for informing Basciano's wife that he had a girlfriend and a federal prosecutor.

"The death penalty is appropriate for a man who wants to decide who lives and dies," Dennehy said.

The jury of seven men and five women must be unanimous for the death penalty. If one juror disagrees, then Basciano is sentenced to life in prison.

"If you impose life in prison, Vinny Basciano will come out of prison in a box," defense lawyer Richard Jasper said. "You don't have to kill him. Death is not the answer."

Jasper delivered an impassioned argument, his voice rising and falling, his finger punching the air to make a point.

He reminded the jury that Basciano will end up in a Colorado prison known as "Supermax" where inmates are locked down 23 hours a day and the staff can change a lightbulb without even entering a cell.

"Mr. Basciano will be under control," Jasper said. "Life as he knows it is over. No suits, no shirts, no ties, no 'Vinny Gorgeous.'"

Mike Adiwal is accused of extortion with a firearm, uttering death threats and assault

notorious gangster whose twin survived 26 bullet wounds two years ago has been charged with extortion using a firearm and a number of other offences.

Manjit Singh (Mike) Adiwal was arrested in Chilliwack on May 9 after an investigation headed by Surrey RCMP.

Adiwal, 31, is also charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, uttering death threats and assault. Both he and his co-accused, Preetpal Sangha, 27, were released on bail on May 17, according to Provincial Court online files.

Surrey RCMP did not return phone calls about the case.

Adiwal and his twin Parminder (Peter) have become well known to police across the Lower Mainland for years and were once associates of the late Bindy Johal.

The brothers were also active in the Independent Soldiers gang, but have been lowerprofile since Peter was critically wounded in a Burnaby shooting in May 2009. He has made a remarkable recovery after taking shots to his face, torso and foot in an underground parking lot of the highrise in which he was living at the time.

No one has been charged in the targeted hit.

The twins are convicted kidnappers who have associated with leading members of several Metro Vancouver gangs, including the United Nations and the Red Scorpions.

The Adiwals were friends with Anton Hooites-Meursing, who pleaded guilty last year to two counts of first-degree murder in separate gangland slayings.

Sgt. Shinder Kirk, of the Gang Task Force, said that even when gangsters are off police radar for some time, it doesn't mean they have cut all their criminal ties.

"It doesn't mean they have gone away," Kirk said. "There are always some ties back to their previous activities and their previous associates."

He said both Mike and Peter Adiwal "have been known to be involved in the general gang environment for many, many years."

In addition, he said gang specialists will continue "monitoring the trends and being very aware that tensions may surface at any time."

The Adiwal twins pleaded guilty in October 2005 to a brutal drug-related kidnapping in which the victim was rescued by police who had been following the Adiwals in another multiple-murder investigation.

Peter Adiwal told the kidnapping victim he would kill him and dump his body in Richmond, near the spot where two of the man's friends had been found bound and shot in 2001.

The twins were among the subjects of a multi-million dollar investigation by the former Indo-Canadian Gang Task Force that involved months of wiretap and surveillance designed to collect evidence in a series of unsolved slayings.

Sukhjit Singh Basi was grabbed late on the evening of Feb. 12, 2003. The investigation ended suddenly and dramatically when police overheard Basi's moans and cries and broke down the Burnaby apartment door to rescue him.

In a Feb. 11, 2003, conversation captured on a listening device, Peter Adiwal blamed Basi for stealing 68 kilograms of marijuana and then pointing the finger at Adiwal.

Adiwal was heard on the wiretap saying 'Kick him in the throat' and when Basi started weeping, Adiwal said, 'He's breaking. I told you guys. I told you he'd start crying, didn't I?"

 

Britain's most feared crime godfather is to be questioned about the ­unsolved murders of two of his closest associates.

Notorious gangster Terry ­Adams, 56, will be quizzed by Scotland Yard detectives following ­advances in DNA science.

They have reopened an ­investigation into gangland “hits” on Adams family enforcer Gilbert Wynter, 37, and financial adviser Solly Nahome, 48.



Detectives hope improvements in forensic science will provide the vital breakthrough in the cases that have remained unsolved for 13 years.

Items of clothing and the last car Wynter used have been ­recovered and will be retested for potential DNA clues.

Detectives also plan to speak to two other men who were also part of the notorious crime syndicate from London's Clerkenwell. In all, more than 20 associates of the family will be questioned again.

Detective Chief Inspector ­David Manning from Scotland Yard’s Homicide and Serious Crime ­Command, is leading the new probe. He said: “Having reviewed both investigations and with ­advances in DNA techniques, we decided to launch a last-ditch effort to bring them to a ­successful conclusion.”

The Adams Family gang – known as the A Team – is believed to have been behind 25 gangland murders. Detectives said they were so ­violent they made the Krays look like “lovable rogues”.

The murders include the ­mysterious disappearance of Wynter and the death of Nahome by a motorbike gunman.

Both are said to have double-crossed the family. DCI Manning added: “We are now convinced that the two cases are linked.”

Adams, from North London, was jailed for money- laundering in 2007 but detectives have so far been unable to pin anything else on him.

crime-family boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano was found guilty Monday on all charges by a Brooklyn jury and now could face the death penalty for his crimes.

 

Federal prosecutors said that Basciano -- who is already serving a life sentence for another mob murder -- ordered the assassination of Randy Pizzolo, a Bonanno associate considered reckless and insubordinate, who was later gunned down in 2004 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Prosecutors argued during the trial that the directive "let him go" meant that Pizzolo should be killed.

But Basciano's defense attorneys countered that the phrase was not an order to kill Pizzolo, and instead meant that Pizzolo should be ostracized for his bad conduct and be given a smaller role in the crime family.

It took the panel four days to reach a verdict.

Secret recordings of Basciano's conversations as well as testimony from former Bonannos who became government informants -- most notably Basciano's predecessor as boss, "Big Joey" Massino -- demonstrated overwhelmingly that Basciano gave the order to kill Pizzolo from behind bars, prosecutors argued.

Federal prosecutors portrayed Basciano as an "ambitious" and "ruthless" gangster, hungry for power, whose stranglehold on leadership would be strengthened by the brutal suppression of a dissent within the mob family.

Basciano "ordered the murder of Randolph Pizzolo, who disrespected and disobeyed the defendant and paid for it with his life," Assistant US Attorney Stephen Frank had told the jury in Brooklyn federal court.

But Basciano's defense attorneys countered that Basciano was not involved in the murder of Randy Pizzolo.

"At times in his life, he was a hoodlum. But he didn't kill Randy Pizzolo," said George Goltzer, one of Basciano's attorneys told the jury during the trial.

The defense argued that Dominick Cicale, a Bonanno captain-turned-government informant, perjured himself when he testified that Basciano ordered the hit.

The defense also portrayed the Bonannos who testified for the government as self-serving murderers who were seeking reduced sentences for their own crimes and were immersed in the mob culture of lying.

"Lying was an everyday part of life -- everyone in the mafia lies and cheats and steals," Goltzer told the jury.

The defense team suggested that Pizzolo's murder was ordered by other Bonannos grasping for power -- Cicale and acting boss Michael "The Nose" Mancuso.

The jury will have the remainder of the week off, and then return Monday for the so-called penalty phase of the trial. The panel will then hear arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys who will argue for their positions on whether Basciano should be executed for his crimes or receive a second sentence of life in prison.

THe wife of a Leeds gangster jailed for living the high life on the back of her partner’s ill-gotten gains for armed robbery is to appeal against her jail sentence.

THe wife of a Leeds gangster jailed for living the high life on the back of her partner’s ill-gotten gains for armed robbery is to appeal against her jail sentence.

Mum-of-five Maxine Valentine will mount an Appeal Court bid over the 12-month sentence she sent to prison for money laundering

Valentine’s mobile phone was said to be worth over £3,000, her children were all at private schools and she drove around in a £73,000 Bentley once owned by Jamiroquai singer, Jay Kay.

She owed her luxury lifestyle to her husband, “premier league” criminal Dennis Slade, who was jailed for life last year for plotting murder and robberies, including a £1.14m security van raid.

Valentine, who lived in a £1m home in Sandmoor Drive, Alwoodley, Leeds, joined him behind bars last month.

Her barrister, James Lewis QC, claims her jail term was “manifestly excessive” and she be freed.

Her case will be heard next week by a full Appeal Court, made up of three senior judges.

She was refused bail pending the hearing of her appeal.

An argument over rival gang affiliations pitted brother against brother in a violent clash that sent one of the gangsters to hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest.

 A now 17-year-old accused previously pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and discharging a firearm with intent to wound.

On Wednesday he was sentenced to three years custody and community supervision, the maximum sentence allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The accused, a member of the Indian Posse street gang, was visiting his grandmother’s Balmoral Street apartment on Jan. 27, 2010, when he got into an argument with his 27-year-old brother, a member of the Manitoba Warriors. 

Court heard the older brother demanded that the accused leave and retired to his bedroom with his girlfriend, sister and young child. The accused pulled out a handgun, walked to the bedroom and shot his brother “at point blank range.”

“If he would shoot at his own brother, one has to wonder what he would do to somebody else he was angry with,” Crown attorney Mary Goska told court at an earlier sentencing hearing.

The victim was taken to hospital in critical condition but was quickly upgraded to stable and spent just one day in hospital.

Police arrested the accused 15 minutes after the shooting near Sherbrook Street and Sargent Avenue.

Defence lawyer Lori Van Dongen said the brothers have since patched up their differences.

“They have spoken and continue to speak, and amends have been made,” Van Dongen said Wednesday.

Goska and Van Dongen jointly recommended the teen receive the maximum youth sentence but disagreed what credit, if any, he should receive for the 16 months he spent in pre-sentence custody.

Goska argued the teen’s conduct while in custody disentitled him to any time credit. She said the teen has been at the centre of several gang incidents while in custody, has shown no desire to change, and remains a very high risk to reoffend.

Judge Sandy Chapman said the teen deserved consideration for his guilty plea and credited him one day for every day served prior to sentencing.

Brooklyn jury had deliberated over the course of four days before finding Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano guilty of murder, racketeering, conspiracy and other charges.

A tough-talking New York City mobster who's already serving a life sentence for attempted murder was convicted Monday in a death penalty case accusing him of ordering a gangland killing to cement his rise to power in the Bonanno organized crime family.

A Brooklyn jury had deliberated over the course of four days before finding Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano guilty of murder, racketeering, conspiracy and other charges.

The federal trial of the one-time owner of the Hello Gorgeous beauty salon featured testimony by former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, the highest-ranking member of the city's five Italian organized crime families to break their sacred vow of silence and testify against one of their own.

Massino, 68, began talking with investigators after his 2004 conviction for orchestrating a quarter-century's worth of murder, racketeering and other crimes as he rose through the ranks of the Bonannos. The bloodshed included the shotgun slayings of three rival captains and the execution of a mobster who vouched for FBI undercover agent Donnie Brasco in the 1980s. Brasco's story became a movie starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

While imprisoned together in 2005, the former Bonanno boss agreed to wear a wire and betray Basciano, a gangster known for his meticulously groomed hair, sharp suits and hot temper. Before trial, Basciano won approval to have access to five different suits to wear to court -- one for each day of the week.

Jurors heard one recording of Basciano boasting, "I'm a hoodlum, I'm a tough guy. Whatever happens happens. Let's go."

The same jury will decide whether Basciano should be put to death in the trial's penalty phase, which begins next Monday.

Emilio Fusco, a convicted gangster from Longmeadow and the fourth defendant in the Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno case, is en route to the United States after being arrested as a fugitive in southern Italy last summer

Emilio Fusco, a convicted gangster from Longmeadow and the fourth defendant in the Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno case, is en route to the United States after being arrested as a fugitive in southern Italy last summer, according to federal prosecutors.

Fusco, 42, had been fighting extradition after allegedly fleeing there before he was charged in the Bruno case in 2010. Three of his co-defendants went to trial in a Manhattan federal court in March, were convicted of racketeering, murder and other crimes and face life sentences. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel ruled that Fusco’s absence should not hold up that trial, and set Fusco aside to be tried alone.

Fusco is accused of helping plot a contract hit against Bruno on Nov. 23, 2003. Witnesses said the murder was carried out, in part, because Fusco argued to senior mobsters in New York City that Bruno had outed Fusco as a “made guy” in the Genovese crime family to an FBI agent.

The revelation was documented in a presentencing report in a 1999 federal racketeering case against Fusco, which local mobsters presented to New York crime bosses, who sanctioned Bruno’s killing, according to witnesses who testified at trial. Bruno, 57, was shot dead in a parking lot by paid gunman Frankie Roche.

Fusco, who served a two-year prison sentence for loan-sharking before launching a Dumpster business in western Massachusetts, also is accused in the grisly 2003 murder of mob associate Gary D. Westerman.

Westerman disappeared three weeks before Bruno’s death. Genovese associate-turned-government witness Anthony J. Arillotta, of Springfield, told jurors that he and Fusco bludgeoned Westerman with shovels after Fotios and Ty Geas, brothers from West Springfield, shot Westerman outside a home in Agawam.



Arillotta testified that Westerman, his brother-in-law and frequent partner-in-crime of the Geases, was lured to the house under the guise of committing a home invasion. Westerman’s body was recovered in an eight-foot makeshift grave in the woods behind the house on Springfield Street last year, after Arillotta led law enforcement officials to the burial site.

Westerman’s remains were recovered along with a mask and stun gun – presumably intended for the home invasion – plus an empty pack of cigarettes prosecutors argued were Fusco’s brand of choice.

William Aronwald, a defense lawyer for Fusco, has said his client traveled to Italy to visit family frequently, and did not flee to avoid being prosecuted. He also denied Fusco’s involvement in either murder.

The Geases and New York crime boss Arthur “Artie” Nigro were convicted at trial and are scheduled to formally be sentenced to life in prison by Castel on July 15. Arillotta, Roche and two other cooperating witnesses pleaded guilty in the Bruno murder and are expected to receive reduced sentences in return for their testimony.

Fusco’s return to the States was delayed as lawyers wrangled over whether he would face a potential death penalty for the capital murder charges. Italy, along with many other European countries, will not extradite citizens exposed to lethal injection. He is scheduled for an initial appearance in the southern district of New York on Monday.

Jimmy McElroy, 66, died in California last week, where he had been sent to serve a federal sentence of forever and a day

Jimmy McElroy, 66, died in California last week, where he had been sent to serve a federal sentence of forever and a day as the third-ranking person in the Westies. They were an Irish-American gang that ruled and ran the rackets in Hell’s Kitchen from the 1960s through the 1980s. For kicks, they butchered the bodies of people they had killed over debts or insults. Mr. McElroy was not known to have wielded the knife, but drove what the group called the “meat wagon,” a red van used to deliver body parts for disposal on Wards Island.

A bagpiper in a kilt, waiting on the top step of the church, warmed up by sending a few test wails that somehow managed to pierce the midmorning din of 42nd Street. You could tell that “Amazing Grace” would soon be unleashed. There was, however, a slight delay.

The funeral could not begin promptly because the church already was filled with students from the parish elementary school, a small army of fresh-faced boys and girls, who were at a Mass to celebrate the distribution of graduation rings to the eighth-grade class. They sang popular songs, like “This Little Light of Mine,” adapted for the occasion with religious lyrics. Some of the younger children held up posters from a pew toward the back of the church: “Congratulations 8th Graders!” There was no trace of an Irish-American past in the names of the students — Arce and Baizar, Ramirez and Ruiz.

The past had to wait its turn. There were pictures to be taken on the steps of the church. At last, the way was cleared, and a silver coffin was slid out of the back of the hearse. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Peter Colapietro, shifted his attention from the merry schoolchildren to the promise of a merciful God, always a subject of interest at funerals.

Jimmy McElroy himself had once been an eighth grader, but not a ninth grader. He dropped out of school to work with a friend, Jimmy Coonan. Their first jobs were as administrators of a beating. — Mr. McElroy would say that they had punched someone in the face and broken his jaw, and received $50 for their work. He was a pretty good boxer, and could be intimidating, said T. J. English, author of “The Westies,” a definitive history of the gang. “McElroy was more on the brawn side than the brains,” Mr. English said.

Mr. McElroy got a job as a doorman at the Plaza. As he would tell the story, two very wealthy “Arab sheiks” heard that he was a boxer, and invited him up to their suite on the promise of $100. His assignment was to beat up one of the men, both of whom viewed it as a bargain-basement thrill. The regular working life was not for Mr. McElroy. He could not get enough cocaine and pills. He worked as a principal enforcer for Mr. Coonan.

After an argument with a friend named Billy Walker, Mr. McElroy took him to the 79th Street boat basin and shot him in the mouth. On another occasion, a man who was thought to be skimming money from a union, without properly sharing it with the Westies overlords, was driven by Mr. McElroy to New Jersey. Someone in the back of the car shot the accused thief five or six times — but failed to use a silencer or open the windows, causing Mr. McElroy to complain that his ears were ringing for days.

They were clumsy and resorted to working as an outsourcing operation for the Gambino crime family, but before long they were all rounded up, and the betrayals began. They went away to prison, with the exception of the leading informer, Francis Featherstone, who transferred into the witness protection program. After Mr. McElroy was sent away for racketeering, he took a shot at being a stool pigeon but was no good at it; a jury did not believe him when he testified that John Gotti had sent him to shoot a carpenter’s union official. He got no break on his sentence of 60 years.

Halfway through the Mass, the “Ave Maria” was sung; the truck traffic heading for the Lincoln Tunnel chimed in with a blaring chorus. “My father was no saint,” Ryan McElroy, one of Mr. McElroy’s three children, said in a eulogy. “But people said he could light up a room. He’s been away 15, 20 years, and you still felt protected by him.”

As he stepped down from the altar, the congregation burst into applause. The coffin was carried out the front of the church. The family got into cars, the friends drifted off, a lost world dissolved.

Authorities allege the Somali Mafia and Somali Outlaws gangs operated the ring out of the Twin Cities, Nashville and Columbus, Ohio.

A Twin Cities man was arrested Monday in connection with an alleged sex ring that prostituted underage girls. Laura Yuen reports.

Mohamed Ahmed Amalle is now the 30th defendant in a massive child-prostitution case. Authorities allege the Somali Mafia and Somali Outlaws gangs operated the ring out of the Twin Cities, Nashville and Columbus, Ohio.

A grand jury indictment alleges that in November 2006, when Mohamed Amalle was 18, he became part of an original group of men that began selling a girl younger than 13 for sex. She's identified in court documents as Jane Doe Two. The group allegedly called up customers and then dropped her off at apartment complexes in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

According to the indictment, Jane Doe Two would perform similar "missions," as the alleged gang members called them, at a Brooklyn Center hotel and a Blaine mall.

St. Paul Police and the Hennepin County sheriff's department arrested Amalle without incident. He's scheduled to appear in federal court in Minneapolis Tuesday.

All 30 defendants are scheduled to go to trial Oct. 4 in Nashville.

Juan Ramon Fernandez, Toronto muscle for Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto, has been denied parole because he threatened to use his organized crime connections to murder a Kingston prison guard

Juan Ramon Fernandez, Toronto muscle for Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto, has been denied parole because he threatened to use his organized crime connections to murder a Kingston prison guard, according to parole documents.

“Several correctional officers witnessed death threats you made to another guard who was attempting to search you,” the parole board wrote to Fernandez earlier this month. Fernandez, 54, is currently serving a 12-year sentence on a number of charges, including conspiring to murder and conspiring to traffic drugs.

The letter goes on to say that “During this incident, you seemed to flaunt your well-established ties to traditional organized crime in an effort to further intimidate the guard; this implies you remain connected to the same criminal lifestyle that enabled your considerable drug dealing activities.”

The letter also casts suspicion on a lawyer who routinely visits organized criminals while in prison.

“Your ongoing visits from a lawyer who has worked for persons identified as being part of organized crime further reinforces your continuing involvement with this criminal subculture,” the letter states.

Fernandez, a Spanish national, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in June 2004 by Justice Joseph Kenkel for a half-dozen gangland charges, including conspiring to murder a 460-pound rival fitness club owner who owed money to Rizzuto. In trials, it came out that Fernandez looked after Rizzuto’s interests in the GTA, and pleaded guilty to activities ranging from contract murder to major drug trafficking as a high-level part of Rizzuto’s organization.

He was also convicted of conspiring to traffic 1,000 kilos of cocaine with Montreal’s Rizzuto crime group and local Hells Angels.

Fernandez’s prison sentence expires on March 21, 2012.

Fernandez, who has twice been deported to Spain, lived in a Mississauga condominium while using the names Joe Bravo and Johnny Bravo and James Shaddock. He is under a deportation order to return to Spain when he’s released from prison.

The parole board review noted that Fernandez was placed in segregation for more than a month after threatening the guard.

It also states that he has made a “considerable lack of progress” on rehabilitation while behind bars.

“In fact, the Board notes you had earlier refused transfer to a medium-security institution where your programming needs might be better met,” the letter continues. “. . . Your lack of treatment in this regard is especially relevant in the context of your involvement in an inherently violent drug subculture.”

“Although the guard you threatened has since decided against pursuing criminal charges for personal reasons, the Board notes a serious institutional charge remains outstanding in connection with this incident and that your security classification was again increased to maximum.”

The letter adds that Fernandez is a strong bet to reoffend quickly when he’s finally released from custody.

“A statistical risk evaluation places you in a group of offenders where 60 per cent will commit an indictable offence within three years of release,” the letter adds. “This predictor is concerning in light of your significant criminal history, which includes a variety of serious drug offences and violent crimes.”

FOUR people were yesterday being questioned on suspicion of murdering a gangster outside a party.

Peter Brocklesby, 50, was involved in an angry row with a group of youngsters when he was fatally stabbed.

Eyewitness Wendy Belan 32, said she saw a man with a cricket bat or piece of fencing confront a group in the street outside their home, shouting: “Come on, then!”

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The mum-of-two, of ­Cleckheaton, West Yorks, said: “A scuffle began, then broke up and the man walked back towards his home. He then ran back and went to swing a punch at one of them and another scuffle broke out.

“We saw one of the group give a punch to the side, this must have been when he was stabbed. The man started walking away but collapsed in the street.”

West Yorkshire Police said two men, aged 20, and two women, aged 19 and 20, were held after the attack.

Mr Brocklesby, who died early on Saturday, had just been released from a 22-year jail term for drugs, kidnap and torture.

One local said: “We are certainly not sad about the loss of ­Brocklesby.”

State police say the people arrested include three reputed members of the Patriarca crime family, including Frank "Bobo" Marrapese, Jr., Edward Lato and Alfred "Chippy" Scivola. They're all charged with racketeering, and Marrapese and Scivola are also charged with extortion conspiracy.

State police say the people arrested include three reputed members of the Patriarca crime family, including Frank "Bobo" Marrapese, Jr., Edward Lato and Alfred "Chippy" Scivola. They're all charged with racketeering, and Marrapese and Scivola are also charged with extortion conspiracy.

"What today proves is that organized crime and corruption in the state of Rhode Island never sleeps," Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin said at a news conference following the arrests. "Thankfully today we have brought to a conclusion an investigative phase into organized crime in Rhode Island."

Police say Vincent Tallo, 49, of Johnston, ran the ring, which took illegal bets on professional and college sports. He's charged with racketeering, criminal gambling, bookmaking, drug and other charges.

The investigation began in fall 2010 and ultimately included wiretaps on cell phones owned by Tallo and Marrapese, according to police, who say information from the Marrapese wiretap led to evidence of extortion and other criminal acts.

Police say the wiretaps showed evidence that nearly $400,000 in illegal bets were placed over the course of the investigation.

Marrapese was convicted in 1987 of killing a fellow mobster and is on parole after being released three years ago.

"Three of the top-ranking officials from the Patriarca organized crime family were arrested today. I think we made a big dent," Capt. James O. Demers of the state police said.

The arrests come only months after reputed former Patriarca boss Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio was arrested in a sweep of suspected mobsters and mob associates in January on charges he extorted protection payments from Rhode Island strip clubs. He has pleaded not guilty.

Friday's arrests were not related to the charges in that case, Demers said.

Scivola was arrested Friday morning in Las Vegas, where police say he was on vacation. The rest of the suspects were arrested in Rhode Island.

The suspects were arraigned Friday afternoon and a judge ordered Marrapese held without bail Friday for violating his parole. Tallo, who police say was the ringleader, was also held without bail. Lato was granted $25,000 surety bail, and Scivola is awaiting extradition from Nevada. The remaining 20 people were released on bail.

Fraser Valley man who once had close ties to the leader of the United Nations gang was sentenced this week to more than eight years in a U.S. jail for ecstasy smuggling.

Joseph Patrick Curry, 50, was handed the sentence in Spokane Thursday after a joint sentencing submission by his defence lawyer and the U.S. Attorney's office.

The Chilliwack man ran into trouble in 2007 when he crashed a plane in a Washington state farmer's field. As he left the scene, U.S. authorities found duffel bags full of ecstasy nearby.

For three years he denied any link to the drugs, but pleaded guilty in February in U.S. District Court after reaching a plea agreement.

Judge Edward F. Shea sentenced Curry to 102 months behind bars followed by three years of supervised release.

Despite his guilty plea, Curry still took exception to the U.S. describing him as a leader of the drug ring. And he claimed that "he has demonstrated an acceptance of responsibility for his criminal conduct and entered a timely plea."

And Asst. U.S. Attorney Aine Ahmed said a sentencing memo that the plea deal was appropriate because the sentence was sufficient "based on readily provable conduct, without the necessity of calling reluctant witnesses at a trial."

Curry was once photographed with UN boss Clay Roueche, who is serving a 30-year U.S. sentencing for cross-border smuggling and money laundering.

During a B.C. Supreme Court extradition hearing in early 2010, Curry's lawyer told Justice Peter Rogers that the ecstasy was not his client's and that the circumstantial U.S. case was not strong enough to warrant the surrender of a Canadian citizen.

Rogers disagreed and ordered Curry extradited. Curry chose not to appeal and surrendered to U.S. authorities.

Curry flew a red-and-white Cessna across the border into Washington's Okanogan County just before lunchtime on Aug. 10, 2007, alerting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Witnesses said the plane made an emergency landing in a farmer's field and that they could see a man walking from the Cessna out of view.

ICE agents searched the plane and found a for-sale sign with a B.C. number on it. They called and were told by the previous owner that he had sold the plane to Curry, a suspect in earlier cross-border drug runs. "After searching the plane that landed in the open field on August 10, 2007, several duffel bags were located," the indictment against Curry says.

The substance in the bags was determined to be 72 pounds of ecstasy, also known as MDMA, stamped with the letters BOSS. Three days later, Conroy spoke to U.S. agents saying he represented Curry, who "wanted to retrieve his airplane."

"Curry had relayed to his lawyer that he had engine trouble and encountered foul weather forcing him to land in the United States as his original destination was from Princeton to Penticton," the indictment says.

Curry tried to enter the U.S. on Aug. 13, 2007 at Sumas and was arrested. "Curry stated that he had been the pilot of the aircraft and denied any knowledge of any narcotics found in or near the aircraft," the indictment says.

Curry was later released on bail and went back to Canada, but failed to return to the U.S. for subsequent court dates. He was arrested again in March 2010 in a cross-border probe called Operation Blade Runner, targeting a gang allegedly involved in helismuggling.

The RCMP said at the time that Curry, of Chilliwack, and another man "were on their way back to pick up the remainder of the drugs at the helicopter landing zone just outside of Nelson."

Gangster was rubbed out after botching work on Vinny Gorgeous' mansion, mob rat testifies

A young gangster was marked for death after botching work on former Bonanno boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano's waterfront mansion, a mob rat testified Tuesday.

Government witness Dominick Cicale told jurors victim Randolph Pizzolo did a good job excavating the Schurz Ave. site in the Bronx, but then bit off more than he could chew with the rest of the project: He forgot to hook up French drains in the foundation.

"Vinny was very angry, especially because one of the houses was his," Cicale said on the stand in Brooklyn Federal Court. Then bricklayers made a mess of the white brick. "It was horrible; Vinny had a fit," Cicale recalled.

There were imperfections in the foundation - a barrel sticking out of one footing and a piece of plywood in another. Finally the carpenters were ready to walk because Pizzolo wasn't paying them.

"'That's it! This kid's going!'" Basciano decreed in Nov. 2004.

"We were going to kill Randy," Cicale said, translating Basciano's order.

Cicale tried to buy Pizzolo time but said that after he disrespected the entire Bonanno crime family during a drunken tirade, there was no saving him.

Soon after, Basciano was arrested for racketeering and murder but his order remained in place with successor Michael Mancuso. Cicale put together the hit team that shot up Pizzolo in Brooklyn. He then attended a Nets game in courtside seats to give himself a televised alibi.

"I had to live with it because my first loyalty was to Vinny," Cicale said.

And this is the coded message Basciano received to let him know the job was done: "'[Mancuso] had me take care of the footings and foundations.' I knew Vinny would relate that to Randy Pizzolo," Cicale said.

 

Alleged Member of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queen Nation Charged in Hammond, Indiana with Racketeering Conspiracy Involving Multiple Murders

April 20, 2011 – An additional alleged member of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queen Nation (Latin Kings) has been indicted for his alleged role in a racketeering conspiracy in Hammond, Indiana and elsewhere, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David Capp of the Northern District of Indiana.
The second superseding indictment, returned yesterday by the federal grand jury in Hammond, charges Ivan Quiroz, aka “Captain Kirk,” 29, of Posen, Ill., with conspiracy to engage in racketeering activity.
Previously charged in the conspiracy are:
Alexander Vargas, aka “Pacman,” 33, of Highland, IN
Sisto Bernal, aka “Cisco,” aka “Shug,” 44, of Chicago, IL
Jason Ortiz, aka “Creeper,” 27, of Chicago, IL
Brandon Clay, aka “Cheddar,” aka “Swiss,” aka “Slick,” 23, of Chicago, IL
Martin Anaya, aka “Lefty,” 40, of Chicago, IL
In addition, the second superseding indictment also charges all of the defendants with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana.
Quiroz is charged also in the second superseding indictment with two counts of murder and two counts of using and carrying a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence.
As previously charged in the superseding indictment, the southeast region of the Latin Kings is allegedly responsible for at least 15 murders. The second superseding indictment specifically alleges that Quiroz participated with Vargas, Ortiz, Clay, and other Latin King members in the murder of rival gang members James Walsh and Gonzalo Diaz outside of a bar in Griffith, Indiana in the early morning of Feb. 25, 2007. As previously charged in the superseding indictment, in addition to the violent crimes, the Latin Kings also distributed more than 150 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.
According to the second superseding indictment, the Latin Kings is a nationwide gang that originated in Chicago and has branches throughout the United States. The Latin Kings is a well-organized street gang comprised of regions that include multiple chapters. The Latin Kings enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects, and associates through murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, assault, and threats against those who violate the rules or pose a threat to the Latin Kings. Members are required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members, including taking on assignments often referred to as “missions.”
The racketeering and drug conspiracy charges each carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. The murder-related charges carry maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty.
This case is being investigated by the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Immigration, Customs and Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations; the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement & Coordination Center; the National Gang Intelligence Center; the Chicago Police Department, the Griffith Police Department; the Highland, Ind., Police Department; the Hammond Police Department; and the Houston Police Department.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Joseph A. Cooley of the Criminal Division’s Gang Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Indiana.
The indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.