Friends of Ours

Army Vet Convicted In Bid For Cartel Work

He's nothing more than a despicable traitor.

Kevin Corley, a former U.S. Army lieutenant from Colorado Springs, CO, has pleaded guilty after a DEA sting operation caught him attempting to hook up as a hired gun with the notorious Mexican cartel Los Zetas as reported by Jason Buch for the San Antonio Express.

NYPD Cop Charged With Conspiracy To Murder Witness In Ticket Fixing Scandal

An NYPD cop who allegedly was fixing tickets in exchange for stolen electronics has been charged with conspiring to hire a hitman to rub out the witness who ratted on him as reported by the New York Post: 

José Ramos, a 17-year NYPD veteran, arranged the assassination from his Rikers jail cell with the help of his wife, Wanda Abreu, prosecutors said. * * * "They need him. Without him, they have no case," Ramos allegedly said of [the witness] in one of several taped calls with his wife.

The dirt spilled by the witness sparked an investigation into ticket fixing at the NYPD which resulted in the indictment of sixteen cops last October.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

Further reading that may be of interest:

Ticket-Fixing Is Old-Fashioned Corruption

NYPD Corruption:  Same As It Ever Was?

Mobster Weeps At Sentencing

Thomas Fiore led a Bonanno crew in South Florida, and last Friday the big shot was sentenced "to 12 years and seven months in federal prison" after admitting "to orchestrating a series of crimes, including soliciting the murder of a former business associate and torching his Royal Palm Beach gym in 2007" as reported by Paula McMahon for The Orlando Sentinel:  "Fiore cried in court as his lawyer Phil Horowitz asked for a 10-year prison term so Fiore would have some hope of release before his parents, who are in their 80s, die."

Related coverage:

Bonanno Crew Busted In South Florida

NJ Lawyer Paul Bergrin Faces Drug Trial

A federal judge in New Jersey is breaking up the criminal case against alleged bad boy lawyer Paul Bergrin as reported by Peter J. Sampson for The Record:

His ruling . . . directed that prosecutors proceed next with 14 drug-related charges that form part of a pending 33-count indictment. The remaining charges, alleging racketeering conspiracies, murder, witness tampering, prostitution and tax evasion, can be tried at a later date.  The drug counts include charges that Bergrin, with help from Paramus attorney Thomas J. Moran Jr., plotted in 2008 to hire a Chicago hit man to kill witnesses against a client accused of cocaine distribution.

Last month the same judge declared a mistrial in a murder case against Bergrin after the jury couldn't agree on whether the once high flying legal eagle whacked an FBI informant who was dishing on another of his drug clients.

Feds To Try NJ Lawyer On Other Charges

Last week a federal judge declared a mistrial in the murder case against criminal defense lawyer Paul Bergrin after the jury couldn't agree on whether the attorney whacked a witness against one of his clients, and yesterday prosecutors announced their intent to try Bergin "on a litany of other charges" as reported by Jason Grant for The Star-Ledger:  "those 31 counts include charges of witness tampering, murder-for-hire, cocaine trafficking, the filing of false tax returns and running a high-end prostitution ring."

Bergrin was convicted in May 2009 in another case involving a Manhattan brothel as reported by The Associated Press: "He was accused of taking over an escort service after the 2005 arrest of its founder – one of his law clients." The Manhattan District Attorney had accused Bergrin of using the whore house "to offer sexual favors to unnamed New Jersey law enforcement officers and jail guards – people who were in a position to keep him informed about what inmates might be planning to cooperate against his clients" as reported by David Kocieniewski for The New York Times.

IIn November 2010 Michael Catapano, the nephew of reputed Colombo underboss John "Sonny" Franzese, got 6 1/2 years in prison on an extortion conviction, and in sentencing him Brooklyn federal judge Brian Cogan also found that the gangster "had participated in a plot to influence a witness suspected of cooperating against mobbed-up lawyer Paul Bergrin in a prostitution and money laundering case" as reported by John Marzulli for the Daily News.

Further coverage: "The Baddest Lawyer in the History of Jersey" by Mark Jacobson for New York Magazine