Friends of Ours

Report: Italian Mafia Behind Horsemeat Scandals

Organized crime including the Italian Mafia is "suspected of playing a major role in the horsemeat scandal that has seen supermarket shelves cleared of a series of products and triggered concerns about the contamination of the UK's food chain" as reported by Jamie Doward for The Observer:  "experts within the horse slaughter industry have told the Observer there is evidence that both Polish and Italian mafia gangs are running multimillion-pound scams to substitute horsemeat for beef during food production."

Last July anti-Mafia writer Roberto Saviano alleged organized crime increasingly has entered the gastronomic sector with inferior products, and said it's "a sad fate for Italian excellence" as reported by Barbie Latza Nadeau for the Daily Beast.

According to a January 2012 parliament report the Mafia in Italy "controls agricultural and food businesses worth 12.5 billion euros ($16 billion) a year, or 5.6 percent of all criminal operations in the country" as reported by Reuters:  "organised crime has spread its involvement through the entire food chain from acquisition of farmland to production, from transport to supermarkets."

In addition to flooding the food market with inferior products the Mafia further is muscling out its legitimate rivals.  The wise guys are the prime suspects in a sabotage attack last December against a Tuscan vineyard where 80,000 litres of its prized wine "was poured down the drain" as reported by Nick Pisa for the Daily Mail:  "raiders broke into the cellars smashing through armoured glass which house the famous Brunello di Montalcino and targeted barrels from the 2007 through to 2012 vintage and then simply turned on the taps."

Match Fixing Pervasive In European Soccer

A 19-month Europol investigation concludes that placing bets on fixed matches in European soccer is "widespread" including "World Cup and European championship qualifiers, as well as Champions League games," and "an organized crime syndicate based in Asia is believed to be the driving force behind the fixing activity" as reported by Sam Borden for The New York Times:

Europol and Interpol officials said an international arrest warrant had been issued for the ringleader of the Asian syndicate so that he can be extradited to Europe to face fraud and bribery charges.  Europol did not publicly identify the ringleader, but several knowledgeable law enforcement officials later said on condition of anonymity that it was a man based in Singapore known as Dan Tan. They said Tan had been implicated in match-fixing cases dating to 1999.

Mob Scion Convicted For Internet Scams

Anthony Boscarino has pled guilty to multiple fraud and money laundering counts in a Las Vegas federal court as reported by Kim Janssen for the Chicago Sun-Times:  "he stole more than $7 million and lived the high life thanks to a series of Internet scams that promised huge returns on phony investments in sports betting, a slot-machine gambling system, oil drilling and mortgage-backed securities, prosecutors say."

The scam artist is the son of Outfit mobster Angelo Boscarino who was whacked in the mid-1960s on the mistaken belief -- whoops! -- that he was cooperating with the feds.

Anthony's older brother Nick "gained notoriety in 2005 when he refused to answer questions before the Illinois Gaming Board about whether he secretly controlled a trust that owned stock in the proposed Emerald Casino in Rosemont" which was ultimately killed, and in an unrelated matter "was sentenced to three years in prison in 2005 for ripping the village off in an insurance scam" as reported by Steve Warmbir for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Report: Organized Crime Turns Renewable Engergy Into Lucrative Racket

Rich government subsidies for renewable energy companies has turned the sector into a feeding trough for Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia as reported by Anthony Failoa for The Washington Post:  "roughly a third of the island's 30 wind farms -- along with several solar power plants -- have been seized by authorities," and "officials have frozen more than $2 billion in assets and arrested a dozen alleged crime bosses; corrupt local councilors and mafia-linked entrepreneurs."  Another liberal folly reduced to little more than a corrupt enterprise.

Russian Mobster In South Beach B-Girl Scam Gets 3 Years After Testifying Against Co-Defendants

A federal judge sentenced Alec Simchuk to three years for orchestrating a B-Girls or Bar Girls scam in which pretty girls racked up the bar tabs of drunk fools with phony charges at colluding clubs in Miami, FL as reported by Jay Weaver for the Miami Herald.  Simchuk received credit for becoming a cooperating witness and testifying against his co-defendants at a December trial which resulted in three convictions and one acquittal:

In December, a federal jury convicted codefendants Albert Takhalov, Stanislav Pavlenko and Isaac Feldman of conspiring to fleece hundreds of thousands of dollars from dozens of patrons by racking up bogus bills for champagne, vodka and caviar on their credit cards at the group's seven Miami Beach clubs.  * * * A fourth defendant, Siavash Zargari, who did business with Takhalov at a Washington Avenue lounge, was acquitted.

The three convicted co-defendants will be sentenced in April.