Friends of Ours

Assets Seized From Sicilian Brothers

Italian authorities have seized assets worth more than 50 million euros from brothers Domenico and Nicola Pellegrino whom they suspect are linked to the Giacomo Sparta clan of Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia as reported by Adnkronos.

Alexi Giannoulias & Broadway Bank

Cleaning House

The dodgy Miss Kagan . . . questions about her honesty . . . vapid and hollow charade

Union Leader:  Obama called to push for Valerie Jarrett appointment to Senate seat . . . contradicts Obama's version of events . . . judge halts questions about campaign money going to Obama

Feds arrest unidentified Chicago, IL cop on bribery charge

Dems propose $10 billion bailout for teachers through war funding bill

VA hospital may have exposed 1,800 veterans to HIV

Ex-Skiatook, OK school super Gary Johnson charged with embezzlement, bribery 

The delusional arrogance and foolish musings of Rep. Pete Stark

Fries & Spies

Rizzuto Mobster Gunned Down In Montreal

In Montreal QC, Canada 66-year-old Rizzuto crime family leader Agostino Cuntrera and his driver were shot to death this afternoon outside the mobster's wholesale food business Distribution John & Dino as reported by The National Post:

Police said they were looking for a black Chevrolet Impala that witnesses saw leaving the area. * * *  * * * He [Cuntrera] was one the most important figures in the organization's drug importation wing, which makes solving his murder all the more complicated, as there will likely be significantly more suspects. * * * In 1978, Mr. Cuntrera proved his loyalty to the Rizzutos when he helped assassinate Paolo Violi, the street boss of the Montreal Mafia and archrival of Nicolo Rizzuto. That murder brought the Rizzutos into power and established them as the most powerful criminal organization in the country. Mr. Cuntrera was sentenced in 1978 to five years in prison for his role in the conspiracy to murder Mr. Violi.

It's been a tough few months for the Rizzuto crime family:  last month reputed consigliere Paola Renda apparently was kidnapped off the streets; last December Nick Rizzuto Jr., the son of imprisoned reputed boss Vito Rizzuto, was gunned down; and last August convicted drug trafficker Frederico Del Peschio, a close associate of the family, was murdered.  Meanwhile, Vito Rizzuto, serving a 10-year sentence at a federal penitentiary in Florence, CO following his 2007 racketeering conviction involving the 1981 murder of three Bonanno crime family capos in New York City, wants early release.

According to mob watchers "Montreal's Sicilian Mafia is facing new competition for criminal spoils from a Calabrese clan, street gangs, and even Haitian groups" as reported by AFP:  "Each wants a piece of Rizzuto territory, possibly with the backing of the New York Mafia which cut ties to the Rizzuto family after a falling out over the Brooklyn murders."

UPDATE:  Cuntrera's driver and bodyguard who also was killed in the shooting ambush has been identified as "convicted cocaine trafficker Liborio Sciascia," and police previously had warned Cuntrera of a threat against his life as reported by Peter Edwards and Andrew Chung for The Star:  "the aging mafioso responded by stockpiling weapons, purchasing an armoured car, and travelling with a bodyguard." Montreal police now are saying that the double murder "is linked to a turf war between two mafia families" as reported by CTV:  

Some experts believe the incident is related to the Calabrian clan, a rival family of the Sicilians. "The Calabrians are from Ontario, and they want to take over the mafia in Montreal," said Andre Cedilot, a former La Presse reporter and organized crime specialist. "They want to take the power back to the Calabrians." * * * Cedilot believes the rivalry between the two families is only heating up. He says there will likely be more bloodshed in 2012 when Vito Rizutto is released from prison.  

Slim 5-4 Victory For Second Amendment Rights

The Supreme Court released its opinion yesterday in McDonald v. City of Chicago which held the "Second Amendment provides Americans a fundamental right to bear arms that cannot be violated by state and local governments" as reported by Robert Barnes and Dan Eggen for The Washington Post.  Although Obama campaigned as a supporter of the Second Amendment he nevertheless as President appointed Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court who was among the four dissenting justices unwilling to find an individual right to own guns, and given the slim margin of victory a change in the balance of power on the court soon could result in the overturning of yesterday's decision.

Download McDonald v. City of Chicago

Cleaning House

RCP: "Stop Spending": CNBC's Santelli Warns Liesman "November 2nd Is The Day" from RCP Video on Vimeo.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts could cost taxpayers $1 trillion

Consumer confidence plunges ten points in June

Obama aide Patrick Gaspard fails to disclose $40K payout from SEIU

Sen. Claire McCaskill aide Bob Burns compares Tea Party to Nazi brownshirts

Nassau County, NY legislator Roger Corbin gets 18 months for tax fraud 

Businessman Richard Emanski gets 7 months in Luzerne County, PA corruption case

Camden, NJ cop Jason Stetser pleads guilty in police corruption probe

Singer And Politician Murdered By Mexican Drug Cartels In Separate Incidents

Sergio "El Shaka" Vega, known for his narco corridos or "drug ballads," was shot to death on Saturday in the northwestern state of Sinaloa as reported by Elijah Wald for The Wall Street Journal, and Rodolfo Torre, "the front-runner in this weekend's gubernatorial election in the violence-plagued northern state of Tamaulipas, was ambushed and killed Monday" as reported by Alfredo Corchado for The Dallas Morning News.

Court Clears Silvio Berlusconi Of Mafia Ties

An Italian appellate court "handed down a verdict that effectively cleared the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, of accusations his entry into politics had been sponsored by the Mafia" as reported  by John Hooper for the Guardian:

The court of appeal in Palermo concluded that the Sicilian advertising executive who created the Forza Italia! (Come on Italy!) party with which Berlusconi burst onto the political scene in 1994 had previously had links with Cosa Nostra, the original Mafia. But the three judges decided there was no evidence to show that Marcello Dell'Utri – a long-term friend and ally of Berlusconi – had been in cahoots with the mob after 1992. That was little comfort to Dell'Utri, who was convicted of collaborating with the Mafia six years ago. * * * But the outcome will delight Berlusconi's other followers, who have long insisted he was put in the frame by Cosa Nostra because of the success of his governments in tackling organised crime. His spokesman, Paolo Bonaiuti, noted in December that, since Berlusconi's rightwing administration returned to office two years ago, 15 of Italy's 30 most wanted mobsters had been arrested.

Chinese Organized Crime In Italy

In Italy the Guardia di Finanza has "said it had smashed two money-laundering networks which, since 2006, had smuggled back to China some €2.7bn largely amassed by a burgeoning counterfeit fashion industry run by Chinese criminals based in Tuscany" as reported by John Hooper for the Guardian: 

More than a hundred companies were today sequestered, 24 people arrested and property and cash worth more than €100m (£81.4m) impounded in what is thought to be one of the biggest operations against Chinese organised crime in Europe. * * * According to a statement from the revenue guard, one of two money transfer firms at the centre of today's operation was based in San Marino and had branches in other European cities, including London. The second was run by two families, one Italian and the other Chinese. * * * Of those arrested, seven were Italians and 17 Chinese.

With the Italian Mafia dominating southern Italy, "investigators said it was is natural that Chinese criminal gangs chose to move in to exploit niche markets in the central and northern cities hosting rapidly growing Chinese populations" as reported by the Telegraph:

The Chinese crime ring was run by the Cai family from the central province of Hubei . . . the [police] statement said. * * * The organisation also facilitated the illegal immigration of Chinese nationals who were forced into prostitution or given work in the textile industry. The clandestine migrants, who had paid 13,000 euros, were kept in "inhuman" living and working conditions, with "vexations, beatings, and death threats for those who did not paid off their debt with the organisation."

Lucchese Suspects Arraigned In Gambling Case

Following their indictment last May, 34 suspected associates and members of the Lucchese crime family were arraigned today in Morristown, NJ "on state charges of money laundering, racketeering, gambling and other crimes" to which they all pleaded not guilty as reported by Peggy Wright for The Daily Record.  Among the defendants who were arraigned are "reputed mob leaders Joseph DiNapoli, 74, of Scarsdale, N.Y., Matthew Madonna 74, of Selden, N.Y., who allegedly control the crime family from New York; Ralph Perna, 64, of East Hanover and Nicodemo Scarfo Jr., 44, of Egg Harbor, who have overseen Lucchese operations in New Jersey; Martin Taccetta, 59, of East Hanover, a former New Jersey underboss for the family who is currently service life in prison for a 1993 racketeering conviction; and 27 other 'associates,' according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office" as reported by Jim Lockwood for The Star-Ledger.

Suspected Mob Betting Rings Busted

Seventeen individuals, including several reputed Gambino and Genovese mobsters, have been variously charged in five indictments by the Brooklyn, NY District Attorney with promoting gambling, criminal usury and extortion for their alleged roles in five sports gambling rings which generated $20 million annually as reported by The Wall Street Journal:

Those indicted include six alleged members of the Gambino crime family's "18th Avenue Crew," a Brooklyn-based group, who are accused of taking bets through Touchdownbets.com, a sports gambling website. * * * Three alleged members of the Genovese crime family are accused of arranging illegal bets through nysportswager.com, another gambling site.

The press release issued by Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly states with respect to the alleged Touchdownbets.com operation:

Reputed Gambino family soldier Pietro "Tall Pete" Inzerillo, 43, is charged with running the operation, with fellow reputed Gambino soldier Joseph Lanni, 39, serving as his deputy. According to the indictment, Inzerillo gained control of a block of betting accounts associated with the website TouchdownBets.com, which Lanni managed and delegated to lower-level members of the conspiracy, including alleged Gambino associates John Gallo, Anthony Parrelli and Pasquale Parrelli, who are charged with running sports gambling, loan-sharking and extortion operations. The indictment also charges that Parrelli supervised sports betting and extortion activities of other, lower-level members of the crew, including defendant Gambino associate Fabio Grippi.

And among those arrested in connection with nysportswager.com is former Xaverian High School baseball coach Gerard Bruzzese who allegedly reported to reputed Genovese associate Alfredo Correa as reported by Edmund DeMarche and Emily Ngo for the New York Post.  The press release states:

Genovese crime family associate Alfredo Correa and two alleged accomplices, Gerard Bruzzese and Pasquale Parrelli, [are charged] with arranging illegal bets through the website nysportswager.com. Their alleged criminal enterprise took in more than $17 million in bets over the course of the two-year investigation, prosecutors believe. The indictment charges that Correa acted as a "Super Agent," meaning he took bets directly from his own clients and supervised lower-level accomplices, such as Bruzzese, who served as an "agent," and Parrelli, who acted as a "subagent," managing a small clientele of bettors and reporting to Bruzzese. Parrelli was also responsible for collecting payments from losing bettors, according to the indictment.

With respect to the remaining three indictments the New York authorities allege in the press release:

In the third indictment, Gerard Bruzzese, Matthew Essel, Anthony Loporto, Carl Mormile, Pasquale Parrelli and Louis Tropia are charged with operating a sports betting ring, under Bruzzese's leadership, that took bets by telephone and text message. The fourth indictment charges Anthony Falco, Lewis Falco, Nicholas Falco, Gerard Bruzzese and Pasquale Parrelli with running another, unrelated sports gambling operation. The indictment charges that the crew accepted wagers through manual distribution of betting "tickets," via telephone and text message, and on the gambling website Bet1010.com. The members met weekly during the 2008 and 2009 football betting seasons to discuss the business they had done in the previous week, and used Bet1010.com to help maintain their records, according to the indictment. They are charged with taking in $1 million in bets over Bet1010.com and an additional $700,000 in paper betting tickets. In the fifth indictment, Antonio Spagnolo, Gerard Bruzzese, and Pasquale Parrelli are charged with participating in a loan-sharking conspiracy, in which they allegedly loaned money at the usurious annual interest rate of 156 percent.

Cleaning House

Biden: "there's no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost" . . . economic outlook is worsening in the United States . . . Obama prepares to crank up the printing press

Two Census Bureau managers fired for filling out at least 10,000 bogus surveys

Rod Blagojevich subpoenas Alexi Giannoulias to testify at his corruption trial

FBI investigates powerful Brooklyn, NY Sen. Carl Kruger

Tamarac, FL Comm'r Patricia Atkins-Grad arrested on corruption charge

The "most trusted name in news" defends hiring ex-NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer

Ex-Con Roots For Mayor Cicilline's Waterfront Plan

In Providence, RI Mayor David N. Cicilline wants to rezone the South Providence waterfront, and Philip Marcelo for The Providence Journal reports that one developer rooting for the proposal has a past:  "Nine years ago, Stanton D. Shifman completed a federal prison sentence for his role in a loansharking enterprise run by members of the Winter Hill Gang in Boston. This month, Shifman appeared at a City Council meeting advocating for Cicilline's rezoning plan."

Suspected Camorra Boss Arrested

Italy's anti-mafia police have arrested Umberto Onda, the reputed head of the Gionta clan from the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia, as reported by Earth Times:  "Onda, who has been on the run since July 2007, is alleged to have been active in the Camorra in Torre Annunziata in Naples. He has already been sentenced to 17 years in prison for association with the mafia, murder, robbery and handling stolen goods."