Friends of Ours

Bonanno Associate Gets Eight Months

Anthony "Skinny" Santoro has been sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $25,000 for his role in a gambling ring in Fairfield and New Haven Counties as reported by Michael P. Mayko for the Connecticut Post.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen "said Santoro is a longtime associate of Vito Badamo, a made member of the Bonnano Crime Family," and "the two were arrested, convicted and incarcerated following a 1995 attempted New York warehouse break-in with the intention of stealing several pounds of cocaine."  The feds allege that the Connecticut gambling racket in which Santoro became involved was headed by Dean DePreta and managed by Richard Uva who are awaiting trial, and had the backing of the Gambino family.

Feds: Murder-Suicide Had Ties To Poker Ring

The man who was behind a shocking murder-suicide last year at a business meeting in a Queens hotel received $300,000 from a shell company in Cyprus which is at the center of a gambling and money laundering ring with ties to the Russian Mafia according to federal prosecutors as reported by Robert Gearty for the Daily News.

In May 2012 Gary L. Zalevsky shot Brian J. Weiss, and then turned the gun on himself at the Hilton Garden Inn near Kennedy Airport.

Federal prosecutors claim that one of the men who attended the business meeting and witnessed the murder-suicide is an unindicted co-conspirator of Anatoly Golubchik who was charged last month for his alleged role in a mob-tied poker ring for New York's rich and famous which laundered tens of millions of dollars through the Cyprus shell company.

The revelations were disclosed at a court hearing during which the feds unsuccessfully attempted to deny bail for Golubchik.

Prior Coverage:

Report: Obama Pick For French Ambassador Folds Over Alleged Ties To Poker Ring

Billionaire Marc Lasry who runs a Manhattan hedge fund was slated to become the next French ambassador but apparently he's declined the post over his alleged friendship with Illya Trincher whom federal prosecutors accuse of heading a gambling and money laundering ring with ties to the Russian Mafia as reported by the New York Post:  "'it's not that he committed a crime, but it opens a can of worms,' a source said."

Trincher and co-defendant Hillel "Helly" Nahmad, an art dealer and spoiled playboy, allegedly headed a racketeering enterprise which operated poker games in New York for the fabulous set, and they were among dozens arrested by the FBI earlier this month.

At a bail hearing on Wednesday for Anatoly Golubchik  federal prosecutors sought to dissuade the judge from any conception that the ring was just harmless fun and games for the rich and famous as reported by the New York Post: 

Golubchik, whom the feds claim helped run a multimillion-dollar illegal-gambling operation out of Nahmad's $5 million Trump Tower condo, answered directly to reputed Russian crime boss Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, the prosecutor said.  "This is the top of the top of the top in organized crime in Russia," he noted, in arguing against Golubchik's bid to maintain bail.

Tokhtakhounov is charged in the indictment for allegedly heading a separate racketeering enterprise with Illya Trincher's father Vadim, and Tokhtakhounov remains a fugitive as reported by Richard Behar for Forbes:

The feds call him a "major figure in international Eurasian Organized Crime" who has been involved in "drug distribution, illegal arms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles." In the current gambling case, he's accused of using his status as a thief-in-law (or vory v zakone) -- a select group of the highest-level criminals in Russia -- to resolve disputes with gambling clients with threats of violence.

In the past Tokhtakhunov allegedly has been linked to Semion "The Brainy Don" Mogilevich, the supposed "boss of bosses" over Russia's organized crime networks, who is under federal indictment for allegedly "swindling Canadian and U.S. investors out of $150 million in a complex international financial scheme" as previously reported by Jeanne Meserve for CNN.

It's unlikely that the feds ever will bring Tokhtakhunov or Mogilevich to justice given that the United States has no extradition treaty with Russia where both men are living.

Feds Grab Everyone But The Vor

Nearly two dozen defendants were arraigned last Friday in a Manhattan federal court for their alleged roles in a gambling ring for the fabulous people but missing from the crowd was reputed Russian mobster Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov who remains a fugitive as reported by Richard Behar for Forbes:

The feds call him a "major figure in international Eurasian Organized Crime" who has been involved in "drug distribution, illegal arms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles." In the current gambling case, he's accused of using his status as a thief-in-law (or vory v zakone) -- a select group of the highest-level criminals in Russia -- to resolve disputes with gambling clients with threats of violence.

Tokhtakhunov has often been linked to Semion "The Brainy Don" Mogilevich, the supposed "boss of bosses" over Russia's organized crime networks, who is under federal indictment for allegedly "swindling Canadian and U.S. investors out of $150 million in a complex international financial scheme" as previously reported by Jeanne Meserve for CNN.

It's unlikely that the feds ever will bring Tokhtakhunov or Mogilevich to justice given that the United States has no extradition treaty with Russia where both men are living.

Prior Coverage:

Helly Nahmad Retains Ben Brafman

FBI:  Russian Mafia Tied To Gambling Ring For Celebrity Clientele

Italian Police: Neapolitan Mafia Ran Website To Take Soccer Bets

The Carabinieri have busted 38 individuals for their alleged roles in an online soccer-betting ring which was operated by the Casalesi clan from the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia as reported by ANSA.