Going to be doing some posts of images I've been sent or found over the years on some of the lesser-known guys who have passed away. I do have other photos I am not going to post myself bc these guys are still alive, though anyone can PM me and I'll share them.
Willie Weisberg was a Jewish gangster who operated in Philadelphia under Harry (Nig Rosen) Stromberg, a notorious underworld figure and acknowledged boss over the city’s Jewish Mob, which was also known as The 69th Street Gang. He started out as Stromberg’s chauffeur and bodyguard, but Weisberg eventually rose to become a top lieutenant, and later, Stromberg’s second-in-command.
Fugitive High-Ranking MS-13 Leader Arrested on Terrorism Charges
For Immediate Release USAO-EDNY
CENTRAL ISLIP, NY - Yesterday afternoon, on June 11, 2024 in federal court in Houston, Texas, Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, also known as “Grenas de Stoners” and “Oso de Stoners,” a high-ranking leader of La Mara Salvatrucha, also known as “MS-13,” was ordered to be transferred in custody to the Eastern District of New York where he, together with 13 other high-ranking MS-13 leaders, are charged with directing the transnational criminal organization’s criminal activities in the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, and elsewhere over the past two decades. Lopez-Larios, who had been a fugitive for more than three years, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on June 9, 2024 when he arrived at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. Specifically, Lopez-Larios is charged with conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to finance terrorism, and narco-terrorism conspiracy. Lopez-Larios will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), Krysti Hawkins, Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, and Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent-in-Charge, HSI’s New York Field Office, announced Lopez-Larios’s arrest.
“The arrest of Lopez-Larios, who is one of the most senior leaders of MS-13 in the world, is a significant achievement for law enforcement and another crucial step in the dismantling of this international criminal enterprise,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “The defendant will soon face a reckoning in a federal courtroom on Long Island where, acting on his orders, MS-13 has spilled so much blood and turned communities into war zones.”
Mr. Peace expressed his thanks to the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office and Criminal Investigative Division’s Safe Streets Gang Unit, and HSI’s National Gangs and Violent Crime Unit and New York Field Office for spearheading the MS-13 leadership investigations. Additionally, he thanked the FBI and HSI’s Houston Field Offices, and the United States Customs and Border Protection Officers at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston for the critical support provided in connection with the arrest, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the United States Marshals Service for the Southern District of Texas for coordinating the defendant’s initial appearance in Houston. Mr. Peace also thanked the numerous Department of Justice components that contributed to this indictment, including the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Executive Office.
“Now that Mr. Lopez-Larios is behind bars, he's no longer in his alleged position of power directing a reign of terror, nor enriching MS-13 and their cartel associates,” stated FBI Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge Hawkins. “The FBI will continue to collaborate with our partners to seek justice and to find the remaining fugitives of this vicious transnational criminal enterprise.”
“Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios’ arrest represents yet another significant leader of MS-13 to be brought to justice this year. Despite his attempts to evade authorities, Lopez-Larios must now answer to criminal charges stemming from his alleged management of one of the most malicious transnational criminal organizations in existence today,” stated HSI New York Special Agent-in-Charge Arvelo. “Although Lopez-Larios, also known as ‘Grenas de Stoners’ to his followers, is now in custody, we recognize there is more to be done. HSI New York, working with our law enforcement partners, will not cease in our efforts to hold MS-13 accountable for their unmitigated violence in communities across New York and elsewhere.”
As set forth in the indictment and related court filings, Lopez-Larios and his co-defendants are part of MS-13’s command and control structure, consisting of the Ranfla Nacional, Ranfla en Las Calles, and Ranfla en Los Penales. They play significant leadership roles in the organization’s operations in El Salvador, Mexico, the United States, and throughout the world. In total, 27 of the highest-ranking leaders of MS-13 have been charged in the Eastern District of New York in this indictment and the related indictment of United States v. Arevalo-Chavez, et al.
As further alleged, in approximately 2002, Lopez-Larios, his co-defendants and other MS-13 leaders began establishing a highly organized, hierarchical command and control structure as a means to effectuate their decisions and enforce their orders, even while in prison. They directed acts of violence and murder in El Salvador, the United States and elsewhere, established military-style training camps for MS-13 members and obtained military weapons such as rifles, handguns, grenades, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and rocket launchers. Further, beginning in approximately 2012, Lopez-Larios and other members of the Ranfla Nacional negotiated with officials from the government of El Salvador (GOES) to obtain benefits and concessions from the government. In order to extort those benefits and concessions, MS-13 engaged in public displays of violence to threaten and intimidate civilian populations, target GOES law enforcement and military officials, and manipulate the electoral process in El Salvador.
Additionally, as alleged, the Ranfla Nacional directed the expansion of MS-13 activities around the world, including the United States and Mexico, where Lopez-Larios and other high-ranking leaders were sent to organize operations, make connections to obtain narcotics and firearms from Mexican drug cartels such as the Zetas, Gulf Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and Sinaloa Cartel, and engage in human trafficking and smuggling. The Ranfla Nacional also directed MS-13’s large membership in the United States to engage in criminal activities, such as drug trafficking and extortion to raise money to support MS-13’s terrorist activities in El Salvador and elsewhere. Lopez-Larios, who has been an MS-13 leader for approximately two decades in El Salvador, Mexico and the United States, was an original member of MS-13's Twleve Apostles of the Devil and later became a member of the Ranfla Nacional.
Finally, the Ranfla Nacional and MS-13’s transnational leadership structure is alleged to have directed members in the United States to commit acts of violence to further its goals and implement rules enabling MS-13 to entrench itself in parts of the United States, including within the Eastern District of New York where, under the defendants’ leadership and rules, MS-13 has committed murders, attempted murders, assaults, kidnappings, drug trafficking, extortion of individuals and businesses, and obstruction of justice, and has sent dues and the proceeds of criminal activity by wire transfer to MS-13 leaders in El Salvador. For example, this Office's Long Island Criminal Division has prosecuted hundreds of MS-13 leaders, members and associates for carrying out more than 70 murders in the Eastern District of New York between 2009 and the present.
Two related defendants from the Arevalo-Chavez indictment, Jorge Alexander De La Cruz, also known as “Cruger de Peatonales,” and Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, also known as “Veterano de Tribus,” remain at large. Members of the public with information concerning their whereabouts are strongly encouraged to contact the FBI’s toll-free MS-13 tip line, 1-866-STP-MS13 (1-866-787-6713), or HSI’s tip line at (866) 347-2423 or https://www.ice.gov/webform/ice-tip-form. Together, FBI and HSI have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the fugitives.
These charges are allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If convicted, Lopez-Larios faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
This case was brought by Joint Task Force Vulcan (JTFV), which was created to combat MS-13, led by Assistant United States Attorney John J. Durham of the EDNY, and comprised of U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country, including the District of New Jersey; the Northern District of Ohio; the District of Utah; the District of Massachusetts; the Eastern District of Texas; the Southern District of New York; the Southern District of Florida; the Eastern District of Virginia; the Southern District of California; the District of Nevada; the District of Alaska; and the District of Columbia, as well as the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the Criminal Division. Additionally, the FBI; HSI; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the USMS; the U.S. Bureau of Prisons; and the United States Agency for International Development, Office of Inspector General have been essential law enforcement partners and spearheaded JTFV’s investigations.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Durham, Paul G. Scotti, Justina L. Geraci and Megan E. Farrell of the Criminal Section of the Office’s Long Island Division with the assistance of Automated Litigation Support Specialist Michael Compitello.
Newly Arrested Defendant in U.S. Custody:
CESAR HUMBERTO LOPEZ-LARIOS (“El Grenas de Stoners” and “Oso de Stoners”) Age: 45
Previously Arrested Defendant in U.S. Custody:
ELMER CANALES-RIVERA (“Crook de Hollywood”) Age: 48
FREDY IVAN JANDRES-PARADA (“Lucky de Park View” and “Lacky de Park View”) Age: 48
Fugitive Defendants:
BORROMEO ENRIQUE HENRIQUEZ (“Diablito de Hollywood”) Age: 45
EFRAIN CORTEZ (“Tigre de Park View” and “Viejo Tigre de Park View”) Age: 54
RICARDO ALBERTO DIAZ (“Rata de Leewards” and “Mousey de Leewards”) Age: 51
EDUARDO ERAZO-NOLASCO (“Colocho de Western” and “Mustage de Western”) Age: 51
EDSON SACHARY EUFEMIA (“Speedy de Park View”) Age: 49
JOSE FERNANDEZ FLORES-CUBAS (“Cola de Western”) Age: 49
LEONEL ALEXANDER LEONARDO (“El Necio de San Cocos”) Age: 44
JOSE LUIS MENDOZA-FIGUEROA (“Pavas de 7-11” and “Viejo Pavas de 7-11”) Age: 59
HUGO ARMANDO QUINTEROS-MINEROS (“Flaco de Francis”) Age: 51
SAUL ANTONIO TURCIOS (“Trece de Teclas”) Age: 46
ARISTIDES DIONISIO UMANZOR (“Sirra de Teclas”) Age: 46
Suburban Chicago Man Charged in Federal Court With Stealing More Than $9.5 Million in Interstate Shipments Friday, June 7, 2024 For Immediate Release
USAO, Northern District of Illinois
CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago man has been charged in federal court with stealing more than $9.5 million in goods, including liquor and commercial-grade copper, from interstate shipments.
According to an indictment unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, AIVARAS ZIGMANTAS used various aliases to falsely pose as a representative of real and fictitious carriers and brokers involved in transporting shipments across state lines. After fraudulently inducing individuals and entities to release shipments of goods to him, Zigmantas and others diverted the shipments from their intended destinations and stole the goods, the indictment states. As part of the fraud scheme, Zigmantas used aliases to open bank accounts and UPS Store mailboxes, and he created email addresses and websites in the names of fake individuals and entities, the indictment states.
The indictment alleges that Zigmantas and others intended to steal at least $13.5 million in goods, and successfully stole more than $9.5 million.
Zigmantas, 39, of Elk Grove Village, Ill., is charged with six counts of wire fraud, five counts of bank fraud, and two counts of theft of interstate shipments. He was arrested on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri L. Holleb Hotaling. A detention hearing is scheduled for June 10, 2024.
The indictment was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Sean Fitzgerald, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of Homeland Security Investigations, and LaFonda Sutton-Burke, Director of the Chicago Field Office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations participated in the investigation. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Misty N. Wright. The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Each count of bank fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison. Each count of wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years, while each theft count is punishable by up to ten years.
All Things Must Pass. One Girl Against The Mafia: The Fight of Rita Atria
By Thom L. Jones for Gangsters Inc.
The day after the young woman moves into the seventh floor apartment at 23 Via Amelia, she kills herself.
Forty days short of her eighteenth birthday, she slides out of the bedroom window and drops eighty feet, or more, to the pavement in the Tuscolano neighborhood of Rome.
The ground rushes up to enfold, and for the first time in years, there is peace.
It’s Sunday: The day of rest.
A few minutes after the fall this late afternoon of July 26th, 1992, emergency personnel arrive and rush her to San Giovanni Hospital, a short drive away. Although doctors struggle to save the broken body, Rita Atria is dead before six that evening.
The daughter of a Mafia boss, confusion, and chaos fill her short life, filled with the terrible uncertainty of a present and future governed by forces beyond her control. Meeting Paolo Borsellino, a magistrate who, more than anyone, understands how awful her life is unraveling, she will find in him, refuge and protection.
June 7, 2024 — After the loud, showy and destructive “Tony the Ant” era in Las Vegas in the 1970s and first half of the 1980s, the Chicago mafia turned to a more understated, low-key and loyal lieutenant to take his place. This man was so under-the-radar, most American mob watchers today don’t even know who he is.
Two people that do: the DiNunzio brothers in Boston, the top shot callers for New England’s Patriarca crime family in Beantown.
Reputed Chicago mafia figure Albert (Ragtime Al) Rapuano humbly and in strictly hushed tones looked after the Outfit’s less-substantial interests in Las Vegas during the city’s post LCN-centric years of the past three and a half decades, per multiple sources on both sides of the law and FBI informant records. Rapuano didn’t have any significant criminal record and passed away peacefully in his sleep in July 2022 at the age of 80.
At the beginning of his tenure running the Chicago mob’s business in Sin City in the years following his notoriously unhinged, power-obsessed predecessor Anthony (Tony the Ant) Spilotro’s murder — inside the basement of a Chicagoland home in June 1986 –, “Ragtime Al” helped shelter current New England mob bosses Carmen (Big Cheese) DiNunzio and Anthony (Little Cheese) DiNunzio, allegedly saving them from a murder contract they were dodging in Boston by having them placed in the Outfit’s West Coast crew and getting the Patriarcas to back off in their quest to kill the then two up-and-comers. Per sources and FBI intelligence memos, the DiNunzios were chased from Beantown after stealing $100,000 from the Patriarca clan’s East Boston crew in a drug rip-off
The DiNunzios went to work for the Chicago mob factions in L.A., Las Vegas and San Diego. The insubordinate 48-year old Spilotro’s rise and fall were depicted in the film Casino, with Oscar-winner Joe Pesci portraying a character based on Tony the Ant.
According to FBI documents and federal-court filings, the Chicago mob assigned its lieutenant in San Diego, Chris (The Greek) Petti and one of its own up-and-comers at the time, Robert (Bobby Popcorn) Dominic to aid Rapuano in getting the crime family’s West Coast affairs in order, specifically in Las Vegas and in regards to Spilotro’s sheet of outstanding debtors. Dominic, 70 years old and reportedly back in the government’s crosshairs these days, acted as the DiNuzios go-between for communications with Rapuano. The DiNunzio brothers were indicted in 1992 and copped a plea to extortion charges the following year for collecting a $30,000 debt in L.A. in the late 1980s previously owed to Spilotro.
“I told the guy I was going to cut off his fucking head…….he started to cry,” “Big Cheese” DiNunzio, 66, was caught on an FBI wire recalling the altercation to Chris Petti in an intercepted conversation from 1989.
Rapuano was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut and college educated, earning a degree in hotel management from Fordham University in the Bronx. His nickname hailed from his love of Ragtime and Jazz music. He landed in Chicago in the mid-1960s and was employed as the manager of the well-known Palmer House hotel in the city’s Downtown “Loop” district, popular with the celebrity and politician crowd visiting and doing business in Chi-Town. ‘It was during this time period where Rapuano became acquainted and business partners with powerful people in the Chicago mafia, per his FBI jacket.
Before heading to Las Vegas, he made stops for hotel-management gigs in Atlanta and Dallas, eventually taking managerial positions at the Riviera and the MGM Grand in Vegas. Prior to getting his job at the Riviera, Rapuano ran a casino-hotel in Reno and for a less than a month was running a casino-hotel opened by entertainment-world impresario Merv Griffin, but was fired when his superiors realized about Rapuano’s alleged mob ties.
Rapuano and mafia shot callers in L.A. allegedly brokered a safe passageway for the DiNunzio brothers to return to Boston following them completing their three-year federal prison stints from their work with the Chicago Outfit’s West Coast branch, per sources, FBI 302s and federal-court filings. The deal to bring the DiNunzios back home in Boston required them to repay the 100K they owed to East Boston from a decade earlier. They quickly received buttons and within a few years, Big Cheese was named underboss, a decision that caused further strife between the DiNunzios and the East Boston guys they had burned in a dope deal back in the day to boil once again. Big Cheese became boss in 2015. Little Cheese, 65, served as acting boss in the early 2000s with his big bro doing some time in “college” and per sources, is Big Cheese’s acting boss again today
Later in his career in Las Vegas, Rapuano became the general manager of the Chicago mob’s Crazy Horse Too strip club, Ground Zero for the Outfit’s remaining crew members in Vegas and on the West Coast, as well as visiting LCN figures from New York, New Jersey, New England, Kansas City and Detroit. Although he encountered gambling-licensing issues with the state of Nevada in the past, he was granted a managerial and liquor license in 2002 to run the Crazy Horse Too, with relatively little hassle.
The Crazy Horse Too has been known to employ sons, nephews and siblings of high-ranking mobsters in Chicago and New York, including the brother of Chicago Outfit consigliere and the Godfather of Grand Avenue, Joseph (Joey the Clown) Lombardo and the son of Bonanno mob skipper John (Johnny Green) Faraci. In his interview with licensing officials, Rapuano admitted being friends and socializing with “Joey the Clown,” who was incarcerated back in the 1980s for skimming Las Vegas casinos — as the Spilotro “Hole In The Wall Gang” crew’s direct superior back in the Midwest — and bribing Nevada U.S. Senator Howard Cannon, and Spilotro confidant Joey Cusumano, a former Hole in the Wall Gang affiliate that remains black-listed from entering Nevada gaming establishments at age 87. Lombardo died of cancer in prison in 2019.
I found this interesting video that discusses how the garage sizes of new homes have gone down, even though the average size of vehicles has gone up...
June 5, 2024 — Federal investigators in Las Vegas have focused in on former Chicago mobsters Paulie (The Indian) Schiro and Joey (The Blonde) Hansen, affiliates of the old Hole In The Wall Gang, as the “prime suspects” in two cold-case murders being actively probed in recent years, per sources in Nevada law enforcement. Hansen died of cancer in the 1990s. “Paulie the Indian,” a convicted murderer, is still living at age 88, three years removed from walking free from a quarter century in the can for racketeering, robbery and first-degree homicide.
The pair were both childhood friends of Chicago mob crew chief Tony (The Ant) Spilotro and relocated to the West Coast with him when he was promoted to overseer of the Outfit’s Las Vegas hotel and casino interests in the early 1970s. Spilotro placed Schiro in Phoenix and Hansen in Los Angeles and used them to fence jewelry stolen by Spilotro’s infamous Hole In The Wall Gang in Vegas, among other mob-related assignments. They also served as Spilotro’s main hit-man tandem, with “Tony the Ant” tapping them for murder contracts coast-to-coast, including some of the more than two dozen he ordered while ruling the Sin City underworld per FBI intelligence records and federal-court filings.
Earlier this week, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the slaying of L.A. mafia associate and federal witness John (Johnny D) Dubeck and his wife Frannie on March 19, 1974, in the courtyard of their Vegas apartment complex, remains an open investigation. Dubeck was on the verge of testifying against L.A. mob heavyweights Peter (Shakes) Milano and Luigi (Little Louie) Gelfuso in a racketeering and gambling case out of U.S. District Court in Southern California. Dubeck, 31, was gangland running buddies with L.A, mob soldier John (Johnny V) Vaccaro, and along with Vaccaro, ran Milano and Gelfuso’s network of back-door gambling parlors in West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley and fixed poker games and slot machines in various Las Vegas hotels.
According to FBI informants, because “Johnny D” Dubeck lived in Vegas and worked at a casino, Spilotro agreed to handle the Dubeck murder contract for L.A.’s Dragna crime family in exchange for allowing him and the Chicago mob to operate rackets in Los Angeles and San Diego, particularly. Despite Dubeck’s absence at trial, Milano, Gelfuso, Vaccaro and others, were found guilty of the charges. Vaccaro eventually became the L.A. mafia’s point man in Las Vegas. Milano rose to boss of the Dragna mob in the 1980s, a position he allegedly held until he passed away of natural causes in 2012.
Last year, investigators announced to the media that they had suspects still alive in the mysterious ‘Body in the Barrell” case. GR told its readership back then that Paulie Schiro was one of their suspects in what is believed to be the homicide of Chicago mob associate and Las Vegas resort boss John (Johnny Pappas) Panagiotakos, who went missing in August 18,1976 when his superiors in the Windy City worried he was about to flip and might have resurfaced in the form of his skeletal remains (two bullet holes in the back of the skull) in a rusted metal barrel that washed up on the banks of Lake Mead in the spring of 2022.
Schiro and Hansen were present in Las Vegas visiting Spilotro in both March 1974 and August 1976 on the days Dubeck and his wife were killed and Johnny Pappas disappeared, according to sources with intimate knowledge of the investigations. Because of rapidly decreasing water levels, a half-dozen sets of human remains have been discovered off the shores of Lake Mead, some of which law enforcement are hoping to tie to the carnage-strewn Spilotro era (1971-1986). Spilotro was murdered himself gangland-style, beaten, strangled and stomped to death in June 1986 for repeated insubordination in the basement of an Outfit-connected private residence in Chicago. His bloody reign in the desert was chronicled in the film Casino (1995) starring Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro and Sharon Stone.
Johnny Pappas, 54, went missing on his way to a meeting at Jo Jo’s Restaurant in Las Vegas to discuss selling his boat. Pappas managed the Teamster union-funded Echo Bay Resort Hotel, located on Lake Mead. The FBI in Vegas considered Pappas an associate and operative working for Spilotro and his crew. Pappas’s abandoned car was found at the Circus Circus casino and hotel three days after he went missing.
Pappas was sent to Las Vegas in the 1960s by Chicago mob shot caller Gus (Slim) Alex and went to work at a number of mobbed-up casino and hotels, according to an FBI intelligence memo. In April 1974, he was named CEO of the Echo Bay Resort. Pappas knew Paulie Schiro and Joey Hansen and Pappas could be seen out socializing with Spilotro and Paulie the Indian when Schiro came to town, per sources and FBI surveillance logs from that time period.
At the landmark Operation Family Secrets trial in Chicago in 2007 Schiro was found guilty of participating in the summer 1986 murder of Spilotro crew member, Emil (Little Mal) Vaci, who was part of Schiro’s satellite branch of the Spilotro crew in Arizona. Vaci, 73, was kidnapped and killed as he left his job as the host of a Phoenix-area Italian restaurant, after Outfit shot callers discovered he had testified in front of a federal grand jury investigating the Chicago mob’s role in silently owning and skimming Las Vegas casinos. Schiro drove the hit car in Vaci’s slaying.
New Jersey Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Leading One Of The Largest No-Fault Insurance Frauds In New York History
Monday, June 3, 2024 (For Immediate Release)
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that BRADLEY PIERRE was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe for conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) in connection with his orchestration of a $60 million fraud targeting No-Fault automobile insurance companies. PIERRE pled guilty before Judge Gardephe on December 18, 2023.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Bradley Pierre’s deceitful orchestration of a $60 million fraud — the largest in New York’s history — targeting No-Fault automobile insurance companies exemplifies a blatant disregard for justice and fairness. Through bribery and manipulation, Pierre callously exploited the system, denying accident victims the rightful care they deserved. We commend the diligent work of the investigative team and career prosecutors whose dedication ensured accountability in this complex case.”
According to the Indictment, the plea agreement, and statements made in court:
New York and New Jersey No-Fault insurance laws require a driver’s automobile insurance company to pay automobile insurance claims automatically for certain types of motor vehicle accidents, provided that the claim is legitimate and below a particular monetary threshold. Pursuant to these requirements, insurance companies will often pay medical service providers directly for the treatment they provide to automobile accident victims without the need to bill the victims themselves. This process resolves automobile claims without apportioning blame or fault for the accident, thereby avoiding protracted disputes and the costs associated with an extended investigation of the accident.
From at least in or about 2008 through in or about 2021, PIERRE agreed with others (the “Clinic Controllers”) to unlawfully own and run medical clinics located in the New York area, including, among others, Veda Medical, Sky Medical, Sun Medical, and Rutland Medical (the “Clinics”). PIERRE knew that clinics are unable to bill insurance companies for No-Fault benefits if the medical facilities are controlled by non-physicians. PIERRE nonetheless agreed with others, including doctors, to submit bills to insurance companies falsely representing that the Clinics were owned and operated by licensed doctors and to direct doctors to lie under oath during Examinations under Oath (“EUOs”) about the ownership, control, and finances of the Clinics. PIERRE personally coached doctors to lie under oath in these EUOs.
PIERRE used his control of the Clinics for personal profit. Between 2008 and 2021, PIERRE took over $20,000,000 from the Clinics by either transferring the funds directly to bank accounts under his control or using the Clinics’ bank accounts to pay his personal finances. PIERRE also used his control of the Clinics to steer prescriptions to pharmacies in return for over a million dollars in kickbacks and to steer patients to seek legal representation from his wife’s law firm, the Law Firm of Nonna Shikh (the“Shikh Firm”). The Shikh Firm then filed lawsuits against insurance companies on these patients’ behalf. PIERRE maintained an office at the Shikh Firm and was actively involved in the legal practice as a “manager.” The Shikh Firm made millions of dollars from the scheme and transferred over $4 million of illegal proceeds to PIERRE through a “marketing” arrangement between PIERRE’s shell companies and the Shikh Firm.
PIERRE used his control of the Clinics and his managerial role at the Shikh Firm to also steer patients to seek MRIs at a medical facility over which he exercised substantial control (the “MRI Facility”). PIERRE also agreed with the purported sole owner of the MRI Facility, who was a doctor, that the doctor would falsely report injuries in MRI reports. These falsified injuries allowed the Clinics to bill insurance companies for additional, unnecessary medical services and allowed attorneys to falsely claim injuries in lawsuits against insurance companies. PIERRE and the doctor agreed that the doctor would lie to insurance companies during EUOs about PIERRE’s role in the MRI Facility.
PIERRE hid his control over several of the Clinics and the MRI Facility using phony loan arrangements. These agreements claimed that PIERRE was making non-recourse loans to the Clinics and the MRI Facility, which would only have to be paid back if insurance companies paid the medical practices’ claims. The agreements also set PIERRE’s “fee” as twice the amount loaned to the practices. However, in reality, PIERRE took almost $10,000,000 in excess of what these purported loan agreements permitted.
PIERRE further agreed to pay bribes to fill the Clinics and the MRI Facility with patients. From at least in or about 2015 up to and including 2021, PIERRE agreed with others to pay bribes to hospital employees, 911 dispatchers, and other individuals (collectively, “lead sources”) for the confidential names and numbers of motor vehicle accident victims. PIERRE agreed that others, including Anthony Rose, a/k/a “Todd Chambers,” would then call victims and lie to them to induce victims to receive medical treatment at the Clinics and legal representation from the Shikh Firm. PIERRE helped Rose expand his bribery operation to New Jersey by recommending clinics and attorneys in the state that would pay kickbacks for referrals. PIERRE also recommended that Rose open a shell company to hide the illegality of the payments, which Rose in fact did. PIERRE paid Rose over $800,000 as part of the bribery scheme.
PIERRE further recruited his own lead sources to participate in the bribery scheme. For instance, in or about 2017, PIERRE recruited Andrew Prime, knowing that Prime was bribing 911 operators and a hospital employee for confidential information. PIERRE paid Prime over $800,000 as part of the bribery scheme. PIERRE also personally recruited and bribed several of his own lead sources, including 911 operators and a source in 2019 that PIERRE codenamed the “Motherload” or “ML.”
PIERRE also agreed to bribe medical offices to send patients to the MRI Facility for MRIs. These medical offices included, among others, Epione Medical Center and Modern Brooklyn Medical. PIERRE facilitated these bribe payments through several intermediaries, including Anthony Rose, Jelani Wray, and others. PIERRE paid Jelani Wray over $800,000 in connection with these bribes.
PIERRE then engaged in tax evasion. PIERRE utilized two companies in connection with the healthcare fraud and bribery schemes: Medical Reimbursement Consultants (“MRC”) and Marketing 4 You (“M4Y”). PIERRE hid income from the IRS by concealing multiple bank accounts for MRC and using a series of check cashers for checks made out to MRC and M4Y. PIERRE also paid personal expenses from MRC and M4Y’s bank accounts but improperly reported these payments as “business expenses.” These included payments for his wedding, home renovations, jewelry, furniture, luxury clothing, travel, and gifts. In total, PIERRE underreported income, falsely reported expenses of over $4 million, and deprived the IRS of approximately $1.5 million in taxes due.
* * *
In addition to the prison term, PIERRE, 41, of Closter, New Jersey, was sentenced to three years of supervised release. PIERRE was also ordered to forfeit a money judgment of $3,500,000 and pay $1,500,000 in restitution.
Mr. Williams praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit and the White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mathew Andrews, Qais Ghafary, and Michael Lockard are in charge of the prosecution.
Bloods Gang Member Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison For Violent And Extortionate Takeover Of The New York City Fire Mitigation Industry
Monday, June 3, 2024 (For Immediate Release)
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that JATIEK SMITH, a/k/a “Tiek,” was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role as the leader of a violent and extortionate racketeering enterprise that terrorized the fire restoration industry in New York City. SMITH was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff after being convicted following a bench trial in December 2023 of racketeering and extortion conspiracies.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Jatiek Smith led a group of gang members and associates that audaciously took over the New York City fire restoration industry through violence and threats. We will not stand for gangs or any criminal groups that try to corrupt our institutions and threaten our safety. Today’s sentence demonstrates that those who use violence and intimidation will face significant jail time.”
According to the Indictment, statements made in public court proceedings and filings, and the evidence at trial:
The fire restoration industry refers to the businesses that repair properties that have suffered damage from fires or exposures to fires. Within this industry, fire restoration companies (sometimes referred to as emergency mitigation services companies) provide emergency mitigation services, demolition, and construction services to properties that have suffered such damages. First Response Cleaning Corp. (“First Response”) was one such EMS company.
In 2019, JATIEK SMITH joined First Response and quickly assumed control over its operations. SMITH, a member of the Bloods, the violent street gang, recruited other gang members and associates to join him at First Response. As the leader of this crew, SMITH and his associates used violence, threats of violence, and extortion to terrorize and dominate the fire restoration industry in New York City.
SMITH asserted control over the industry by first ousting First Response’s main competitor through violence, threats, and extortion. Once SMITH and his crew had established control over the industry, they imposed rules that allocated a preferential share of fires to First Response. These rules were backed by threats — including threats to kill children — and violence. Industry participants, including senior citizens, who solicited fires in violation of SMITH’s rules were assaulted in broad daylight. Through threats of violence, actual violence, and economic fear, SMITH and his crew also extorted hundreds of thousands of dollars from other industry participants. SMITH maximized his profits from this scheme by concealing illegal conditions in properties and defrauding insurance companies.
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In addition to the prison term, SMITH, 39, of Staten Island, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $354,546.44. Restitution will be determined at a later date.
Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the New York City Police Department, and the New York City Department of Investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rushmi Bhaskaran, Marguerite B. Colson, Elizabeth A. Espinosa, and Adam S. Hobson are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Paralegal Specialists Grayson Glogoff and Ananya Sankar.
The late spring 2020 murder of Bobby (Boo Boo) English, Jr. in Chicago’s South Austin neighborhood on the far westside could be the most-recent Chicago Outfit-related slaying. He was shot dead behind the wheel driving in his car on West Flournoy Street on the afternoon of May 31, 2020. His dad is the notorious incarcerated Cicero gang boss, Bobby (The Tasmanian Devil) English, who headed the 12th Street Players gang in Cicero in the 1990s and 2000s.
There are persistent rumors regarding “Taz” English, 48, and his reaction to the murder of his baby bro, generating rampant speculation regarding, what, if any, ripple effects, it will end up having on the street in the coming years. The elder English is finishing a 20-to-25-year prison term for attempted felony murder and is scheduled for release in 2032. Some people claim the murder contract placed on “Boo Boo” English Jr.’s head came from 12th Street Players shot callers. Over the past two decades, per sources, the 12th Street Players has turned into a JV-mafia breeding ground for current and future Outfit shot callers and button men in the hallowed Cicero mob regime that goes all the way back to the days of Al Capone and the Beer Wars during the Prohibition Era.
What Taz English’s status is currently within the 12th Street Players gang is unknown at this time. However, the reputation he possesses as fearlessness, ferocity and willing-to-die for a cause he truly believes in remains firm as ever though, per sources in contact with him.
Three different sources claim 24-year old Boo Boo English, Jr. was killed for a combination of issues, a business-deal beef between the young hoodlum and a 12th Street Player-turned-Outfit soldier regarding a piece of real estate, robbing rival dope houses and 12th Street Players-connected stash spots alike despite warnings to pump the brakes and the belief by some he was cooperating with police. Two of these sources say the order to whack English, Jr. was given by former 12th Street Players now exerting power and influence in the official Chicago mafia pecking order, having risen to the highest levels of the Cicero crew.
Taz English was locked up for the 2009 attempted murder and home-invasion robbery of a Rolling Meadows man who had just won $100,000 in the Illinois State Lottery. He’s doing the rest of his prison time in Ohio (on loan from Illinois). During his years in state prison in Illinois, English displayed savage-like behavior and spent large chunks of time in segregation as punishment for assaulting guards, staff and enemy inmates from rival crews and gangs.
The last slate of Chicago mob hits most likely occurred the year 2009, when three alleged Outfit associates were either murdered in cold blood or disappeared off the face of the earth; Anthony Catapano went missing on March 25, Norberto (The Tank) Velez was shot to death in the hallway of his Northside apartment building on Thanksgiving and Mike De Filippis was stabbed to death inside his Montclaire neighborhood apartment in the early hours of Christmas Eve. Catapano allegedly ripped off the Cicero crew in a cocaine deal, Velez, a collector for the Grand Avenue crew, allegedly fell in debt himself and was suspected of skimming, while De Filippis was weeks away from going on trial for narcotics trafficking.
Spain: Police arrest 'La J,' a Dominican drug trafficker investigated for dozens of homicides Authorities reported that they arrested the criminal outside Madrid. He was considered the "most wanted fugitive in the Dominican Republic."
Sinaloa Cartel Leader Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, A/K/A “Nini,” Extradited To The United States On Drug Importation, Murder, Kidnapping, Firearms, And Money Laundering Charges
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Merrick B. Garland, the Attorney General of the United States, announced that Sinaloa Cartel leader Nestor Isidro Perez Salas, a/k/a “Nini,” was extradited Saturday, May 25, from Mexico to the U.S. based on the charges contained in two Indictments. The first, filed in the District of Columbia by the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (the “NDDS Indictment”), charges PEREZ SALAS with cocaine and methamphetamine importation, firearms offenses, and conspiracy to obstruct justice through murder. The second, filed in the Southern District of New York (the “SDNY Indictment”) charges Perez Salas with leadership of a continuing criminal enterprise resulting in the deaths of numerous victims, including a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration ("DEA"), fentanyl importation and trafficking, obstruction of justice by murdering an informant, kidnapping resulting in the deaths of eight people, including a minor boy, firearms, and money laundering offenses. Perez Salas was arrested in Mexico by Mexican authorities on November 22, 2023. Perez Salas was presented on the charges contained in the SDNY Indictment today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang. Perez Salas will be arraigned before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla on May 30, 2024, at 3:00 p.m.
According to the allegations contained in the NDDS Indictment, SDNY Indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:[1]
The Sinaloa Cartel (the “Cartel”) is one of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico and is responsible for the manufacturing and importing of fentanyl for distribution in the U.S. Fentanyl is a dangerous synthetic opioid that is more than 50 times more potent than heroin and is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 49.
In recent years, the Cartel has been led, in part, by the sons of the Cartel’s notorious former leader, Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, a/k/a “El Chapo”—Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, and Ovidio Guzman Lopez—known collectively as the “Chapitos.”[2] Like their father, who, in July 2017, was sentenced to a term of life plus 30 years in prison, the Chapitos have used violence and rely on a sophisticated security apparatus to maintain control and to protect themselves and their operations as they traffic massive quantities of narcotics, including fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine, to the U.S.
PEREZ SALAS is one of the senior leaders of the Chapitos’ security apparatus. Under PEREZ SALAS’s direction, armed enforcers for the Chapitos, known as sicarios, have used rampant violence to protect the Chapitos’ operation and to demolish unsupportive businesses, capture contested territory, intimidate civilians, and attack and murder law enforcement which resist their efforts. In part under the direction of PEREZ SALAS, these sicarios regularly used military-grade firearms and explosives, including machineguns and rocket launchers, to kidnap, torture, and kill anyone who opposed the Chapitos. This relentless violence has led to rampant bloodshed and taken the lives of untold victims.
PEREZ SALAS has also personally committed brutal acts of violence to advance the Chapitos’ trafficking operations. For example, in or about 2017, PEREZ SALAS, with two of the Chapitos, captured, tortured, interrogated, and killed two Mexican federal law enforcement officers. In or about May 2017, PEREZ SALAS, with two of the Chapitos and others, captured three members of a rival drug cartel, Los Zetas, and tortured them with electrocution before interrogating and killing them. Also in or about 2017, PEREZ SALAS and others conspired to kill and retaliate against a witness and informant. And in or about 2022, PEREZ SALAS and another sicario tested the potency of their fentanyl on individuals, and also experimented on a woman by injecting her repeatedly with the dangerous drug until she overdosed and died.
In addition, PEREZ SALAS has personally participated in the negotiation and sale of large quantities of fentanyl. More specifically, in or about the summer of 2022, PEREZ SALAS and other associates sold fentanyl (later seized by the DEA) in Los Angeles. During the course of these sales, among other things, PEREZ SALAS described that he owned his own fentanyl labs and that three fentanyl “cooks” from one of his labs had recently died from sampling the product because it was so potent.
Finally, most recently, in or about October 2023, PEREZ SALAS, and other sicarios acting at his direction, kidnapped a DEA confidential source and 10 other victims in Mexico—including a U.S. citizen—whom PEREZ SALAS believed worked for or were related to the confidential source. PEREZ SALAS and his sicarios killed eight of the kidnapped victims, including the DEA confidential source, and a thirteen-year-old boy. PEREZ SALAS kidnapped and killed these victims in retaliation for the confidential source’s provision of information to the DEA in connection with the investigation of PEREZ SALAS and his associates in the Southern District of New York.
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PEREZ SALAS, 32, a Mexican national, is charged in the SDNY Indictment with: one count of participating in a continuing criminal enterprise resulting in death, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison; one count of conspiring to import fentanyl into the U.S., which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of using, carrying, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in connection with the continuing criminal enterprise and the fentanyl importation and trafficking conspiracies, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of conspiring to use, carry, and possess machine guns and destructive devices in connection with the continuing criminal enterprise and the fentanyl importation and trafficking conspiracies, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of conspiring to launder money, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of obstruction of justice by retaliating against an informant through murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison; one count of conspiring to obstruct justice by retaliating against an informant through murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison; one count of kidnapping resulting in death, including of a minor, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison; and one count of conspiring to commit kidnapping resulting in death, including of a minor, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. PEREZ SALAS is charged in the NDDS Indictment with one count of conspiring to import cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S., which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; one count of using, carrying, and possessing machineguns and destructive devices in connection with the cocaine and methamphetamine conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice by retaliating against a witness and informant through murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The mandatory minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
The DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit and the FBI Washington Field Office investigated this case, with assistance from multiple DEA offices, as well as the assistance of the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; the U.S. Department of State, Rewards for Justice Program; and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Justice Department also thanks Mexican authorities for their key role in securing the arrest and extradition of PEREZ SALAS.
This prosecution is being handled by the Southern District of New York’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit alongside the NDDS. SDNY Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas S. Bradley, Sarah L. Kushner, Alexander N. Li, David J. Robles, and Kyle A. Wirshba, and NDDS Trial Attorneys Kirk Handrich, Kate Naseef, Samantha Thompson, and Tara Arndt, are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the SDNY Indictment and NDDS Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the NDDS Indictment and the SDNY Indictment and the description of the other court filings set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.
[2] In September 2023, Ovidio Guzman Lopez was extradited to the U.S. on charges relating to his drug trafficking operations as a leader of the Cartel.
The Sicilian-born blood cousins of Carlo Gambino, were, in and of themselves, top Cosa Nostra powers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean….This is their life story!
![[Linked Image]](https://i.postimg.cc/FH7MvLqF/Frank-Panno.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://i.postimg.cc/3xscHbm9/James-Yario.jpg)
![[Linked Image]](https://i.postimg.cc/nrX4rntm/Frank-Bonavolante.jpg)