Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino talk movie obsessions, director heroes, process and violence as catharsis
Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino are born storytellers, not just in their movies—which bear each director's unmistakable stamp—but in their deep-seated appreciation for the medium. While they hail from different generations—Scorsese was among the first wave of film school grads in the mid '60s, and Tarantino's rise coincided with the indie film revolution of the early '90s—their passion and knowledge of cinema place them on equal footing. No genre escapes their grasp, whether it's prestige studio releases or B-movie potboilers, splashy musicals or noirish thrillers, art-house fare or spaghetti Westerns. They've been dining on this grand buffet all their lives, and it shows in their own work, in the characters they've created, and the lens through which they view the world. This is a particularly conspicuous year for both filmmakers: Tarantino's Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood has galvanized critics and audiences alike since its debut at Cannes, while anticipation runs high for Scorsese's The Irishman, for which the director has spent considerable time in post dealing with digitally de-aging his leads. The two sat down for the DGA Quarterly to talk directors, influences and violence as catharsis, among other topics. This is an edited version of their conversation. –Steve Chagollan
Members of Brooklyn-Based “Bully Gang” Convicted of Racketeering, Murder and Gang-Related Crimes........
Tuesday, June 18, 2024: On Thursday and today, a federal jury in Brooklyn convicted Moeleek Harrell, Derrick Ayers, Franklin Gillespie and Anthony Kennedy on 21 counts of an eighth superseding indictment charging them variously with racketeering, murder, murder conspiracy, robbery, drug offenses, money laundering and bribery of state correction officers. The defendants are members of a violent Brooklyn-based street gang known as the “Bully Gang,” which operated and committed crimes in and around Bedford Stuyvesant with a headquarters located at 1625 Fulton Street. Harrell was one of the founders and the leader of the Bully Gang; Ayers was a high-ranking member; Kennedy was a longstanding member; and Gillespie was a violent enforcer for the gang. Today’s verdicts followed a 13-week trial before United States District Judge Brian M. Cogan. When sentenced, the defendants each face a maximum sentence of life in prison and mandatory minimum sentences ranging from 15 to 55 years.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Bryan Miller, Special Agent-in-Charge, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, New York Field Division (ATF), Edward A. Caban, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), and Jocelyn Strauber, Commissioner, New York City Department of Investigation (DOI), announced the verdict.
“With today’s convictions, the leadership of the Bully Gang has been taken down and their criminal enterprise is a shell of the violent crew that wreaked havoc on Bedford Stuyvesant, other parts of New York City and the Eastern Seaboard with murder, broad daylight shootings, robberies, arsons, drug trafficking and bribery of correction officers at Rikers Island to facilitate a drug trafficking scheme,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “They used force and violence against rivals, terrorized the surrounding communities and enriched themselves and their members with the illicit proceeds of their criminal activities. These lawless, so-called ‘Bullies’ have been held responsible for their crimes thanks to the outstanding work by law enforcement agents and detectives who, together with our excellent prosecutors, brought this comprehensive investigation to a successful conclusion.”
“These convictions put an end to the reign of terror committed by this gang, shattering the myth that criminals can commit atrocious acts without consequence. This is the result of a multi-year investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies spanning multiple jurisdictions. I commend our law enforcement partners—NYPD, NYC Department of Investigations, and our law enforcement partners in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine and prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office—for their relentless efforts in making our communities safer,” stated ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Miller. “In particular, I am proud of the men and women of ATF NY and the ATF/NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force, who fight every day to prevent violence in any form, and are committed to dismantling and disarming violent gangs that plague our streets. ATF once again reaffirms its unwavering commitment to protecting the public from violent offenders.”
“These convictions represent the culmination of an extensive investigation combined with a vigorous prosecution,” stated NYPD Commissioner Caban. “The stakes could not have been higher because these gang members were responsible for an assortment of despicable crimes, including murder, robbery, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and bribery. A powerful message has been sent: Our city will not tolerate such criminal activity, and the NYPD and our law enforcement partners will keep working tirelessly to identify and investigate these enterprises and bring the individuals involved to justice.”
DOI Commissioner Strauber stated: “The violence and drug trafficking in which these defendants engaged had far-reaching effects, including compromising the security of the City’s jails through the bribery of City correction officers used to traffic drugs from gang members to inmates on Rikers Island. I thank the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the ATF and the NYPD for their partnership on this significant investigation and their commitment to bring to justice those who would jeopardize the safety of our communities through gang violence.”
MURDER CONSPIRACY, MURDER AND FIREARMS OFFENSES
Ayers was convicted of murdering Jonathan Jackson, an associate of the rival “Stukes Crew” gang, at a gender reveal party for Harrell’s child on March 3, 2018, in Brooklyn. Gillespie was convicted of conspiring to murder Mike Hawley in April 2020 to prevent him from informing authorities about the murder of Paul Hoilett in Brooklyn on April 11, 2020. Hawley was murdered in Queens four days later, on April 15, 2020.
Ayers and Harrell were convicted of conspiring to murder the leader of the Stukes Crew, whom they stalked by aggregating information from public databases, including the locations where their cars were ticketed. That stalking led to at least three occasions in 2017 and 2018, when the gang members shot at their rivals and injured some of them.
Ayers and Harrell were convicted of conspiring to murder Chris King, who had previously killed a Bully Gang member. King was stalked, including having his court appearances tracked, and was ultimately shot outside a Queens restaurant. A woman who was with King at the time was also wounded. Both survived their injuries.
Finally, Harrell, Ayers, Gillespie and Kennedy were convicted of illegal possession, brandishing and discharge of firearms.
NARCOTICS TRAFFICKING CONSPIRACIES
Harrell and Kennedy were convicted of conspiring to smuggle drugs into Rikers Island from at least 2019 until 2021. During that time, members of the Bully Gang arranged for papers and comic books soaked in synthetic cannabinoids, also known as “K2,” to be mailed to inmates at Rikers, smuggled in by third parties, including correction officers and sold to inmates. Once inmates received the K2-soaked papers, they sold smaller quantities to other inmates at a substantial profit.
Harrell, Ayers, Kennedy and Gillespie were convicted of a separate, years-long scheme to transport large quantities of drugs, including cocaine base, heroin and fentanyl, from New York and New Jersey to Maine, where members and associates of the Bully Gang sold the drugs out of stash houses. The narcotics were transported in vehicles equipped with concealed compartments, also called “traps,” that were professionally installed. Ayers was also convicted of running numerous “stash houses” in Maine, from which his underlings sold drugs on behalf of the conspiracy.
MONEY LAUNDERING
Harrell and Kennedy were convicted of laundering the illicit proceeds from the Rikers drug sales by transferring thousands of dollars each month into CashApp accounts and making wire transfers to co-conspirators through intermediaries. A portion of this money was used to purchase more K2 and bribe correction officers at Rikers.
Also, Harrell and Ayers were convicted of laundering the illicit proceeds from the lucrative East Coast drug trafficking scheme. Harrell, Ayers and their co-conspirators purchased high-value assets, including expensive jewelry and vehicles. They also disguised the proceeds of the scheme by having co-conspirators, some of whom had legitimate jobs, use the cash to make ostensibly legitimate purchases that were actually for the benefit of Harrell and Ayers.
BRIBERY
Harrell and Kennedy were convicted of participating in the Rikers Island drug trafficking scheme by bribing correction officers at Rikers. Harrell’s leadership of the gang continued even after his detention at Rikers, where he led a drug trafficking, bribery and money laundering scheme responsible for smuggling drugs into the jail through the use of co-conspirators and the payment of bribes to correction officers.
ROBBERY
Gillespie was convicted of robberies on consecutive days in August 2020, in downtown Manhattan. Gillespie and others in the Bully Gang pointed firearms, including a large Mac-10-style firearm, at their victims while demanding their money, jewelry and shopping bags. After the robberies, Gillespie was arrested with some of the same firearms.
* * * * *
The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict with respect to several remaining counts of the eighth superseding indictment, which charged Ayers with causing Jackson’s death through the use of a firearm; Gillespie with causing Hoilett’s death through the use of a firearm and illegally possessing, brandishing and discharging a firearm in connection with that death; and Gillespie and Kennedy with causing Hawley’s death through the use of a firearm and illegally possessing, brandishing and discharging a firearm in connection with that death. A mistrial was declared as to those counts. The Office intends to retry the defendants on those counts that the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Those charges are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Since 2020, 53 members and associates of the Bully Gang have been publicly charged with a variety of crimes in connection with this investigation, and 49 have been convicted. Three defendants are awaiting trial, and one is a fugitive.
The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime and Gangs Section and Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Drew G. Rolle, Lindsey R. Oken, Joy Lurinsky and Victor Zapana are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Lead Legal Administrative Specialist Samantha E. Ward and Paralegal Specialists Emily Moosher and William Daniels, as well as Intelligence Analyst Eungee Hwang and a number of EDNY Criminal Investigators and Special Agents.
The Defendants:
DERRICK AYERS (also known as “Dee” and “Mel”) Age: 37 Rahway, New Jersey
MOELEEK HARRELL (also known as “Moe Money”) Age: 34 Brooklyn, New York
FRANKLIN GILLESPIE (also known as “Spazz” and “Frankie Gino”) Age: 33 Newark, New Jersey
ANTHONY KENNEDY (also known as “Biggie”) Age: 38 Queens, New York
Dubai, artificial island seized by the court of Naples: created with Camorra money
WORLD
17 Jun 2024 - 10:22
The island, called Taiwan, was purchased in 2008 by Raffaele Imperiale, a well-known clan leader arrested in Dubai in August 2021
The judge of the court of Naples Maria Luisa Miranda has ordered the seizure of an artificial island that is part of the archipelago called "The World". built in the sea in front of the coast of Dubai. The island, called Taiwan, was purchased in 2008 by Raffaele Imperiale, a well-known Camorra leader arrested in Dubai on 4 August 2021. Imperiale was for years one of the most wanted organized crime bosses together with the mafiosi Matteo Messina Denaro and Giovanni Motisi and the other Camorra member Renato Cinquegranella.
Archipelago now almost abandoned
After his arrest and subsequent return to Italy, Imperiale began to collaborate with the Italian justice system. Through his lawyer, he made documents available to investigators to reconstruct the purchase of the island, which has just been ordered to be seized. Formally, the island is registered to a company managed by a Neapolitan entrepreneur who lives in Dubai. Imperiale claims to have paid 30 million euros for the island. In the meantime, the artificial archipelago has been almost abandoned: the navigable canals that serve to connect the islands have become blocked and almost all the buildings constructed are uninhabited.
14 years and 9 months in prison requested
In a new trial that opened last fall, the public prosecutor Maurizio De Marco requested 14 years and 9 months in prison for Imperiale. The last few months have served the court to understand whether it was actually possible to seize Imperiale's island. In recent days, Judge Maria Luisa Miranda has therefore issued the seizure decree: the notification is the first act of the procedure for the international rogatory that should allow the Italian State to acquire the island.
MS-13, Russian mobsters use migrants in elaborate injury scam — even getting spinal surgery to pull it off: sources
It’s the melting pot of all scams. Russian gangsters, MS-13 members, and a cadre of corrupt surgeons, lawyers and lenders are pulling off the latest big con in the city: bogus personal-injury lawsuits where immigrants go under the knife to help their twisted ruse. Migrants and other desperate New Yorkers are pressured into getting unneeded spinal fusion surgery and other operations to boost the value of their fake-accident claims, according to court records, insurance investigators and law-enforcement sources. Doctors cash in on the sick swindle by performing back and neck fusions, allowing fraudsters to swipe billions through bogus insurance filings, according to court filings and sources.
The racket typically involves a healthy person taking a seemingly minor tumble on the street or at a construction site, then claiming a devastating injury that requires multiple surgeries. A crooked surgeon fuses healthy vertebrae with screws and plates, leading to a lawsuit against a business or landlord or both. Settlements start at $1 million each but can go much higher.
“One-five is now on the cheap side,” said an insurance industry lawyer who asked for anonymity. These scams rely on law firms that take on hundreds of such cases, along with high-profile doctors, sketchy lending firms that hard-sell migrants into borrowing to cover the costs, and an army of “runners” who recruit victims and orchestrate their falls, according to legal papers and sources familiar with the mix of schemes. The set-up is fed by a seemingly endless supply of low-income dupes willing to risk their health for a quick score. “They’re regularly recruiting migrants and homeless people and in some cases are proactively arranging for them to come to New York,” a private investigator told The Post. So-called “shot callers” pocket most of the windfall settlements, while those who pose as injured receive as little as $1,000 each, according to testimony in one case. Their share gets shriveled by sky-high interest on loans they’re told they need for medical and legal expenses. Others can collect up to six figures. Russian hoodlums are suspected of running lending firms that fund trip-and-fall lawsuits and surgeries — often at hugely inflated rates to goose settlement figures, sources told The Post. “They’re well-versed in this kind of thing,” said a recently retired NYPD supervisor. MS-13 leaders provide a pipeline of Hispanic migrants, some who are brought to New York specifically to fake injuries, sources said. They said the gang ropes in unsuspecting border crossers with offers to drive them to the city, pay for meals and provide spending cash before pressuring them into phony accidents.
“They’re regularly recruiting migrants and homeless people and in some cases are proactively arranging for them to come to New York,” a private investigator told The Post. REUTERS A private investigator said an MS-13 informant at a construction company revealed plans for a worker to fall off a ladder — and it happened just as the tipster said it would, said the sleuth, who declined to say where or when the fraud occurred to protect the identity of his source. Setting up fake falls is “so successful for MS-13,” he said. “Rival gangs are now trying it.” But MS-13 leaders are not experienced in white collar crime and don’t know how to pull off phony injury fraud, according to gang expert Lou Savelli, who founded the NYPD gang unit and now consults for police and other law enforcement agencies. “That’s where the Russians come in,” he said. “They have the lawyers.” NYPD investigators found one integrated Russian-led operation — with doctors, lawyers, lenders and physical therapists all in the same office building, said a former police supervisor who declined to give further details. “It was one-stop shopping. Everyone was in the same place,” he said, adding that authorities were unable to build a case against the group. The Russian-MS-13 partnership “is a perfect marriage for them,” said a second ex-NYPD source. Insurance insiders claim losses have tripled since the pandemic, with payouts so massive they’re driving up the cost of living for all New Yorkers. One insurer, Tradesman Program Managers insurance firm of Poughkeepsie, a carrier covering contractors and construction companies in the city, says it forked over $142 million in 2022, three times the $36 million it paid out in 2018. It claims it has been hit with 650 allegedly fraudulent suits over the last four years. “We’re talking billions collectively across the city,” said an insurance executive who asked not to be identified. Tradesman and its underwriter sued eight doctors and two law firms — Gorayeb Associates and Fogelgaren, Forman & Bergman — along with 36 lawyers, healthcare providers and companies in Brooklyn Federal Court in March, citing RICO conspiracy laws used to prosecute Mafia dons, in its civil action. “They train the migrants how to act at some of these staged accidents,” Tradesman lawyer Kirk Willis told ABC 7. “And then when the people are hurt — allegedly hurt — they go to the lawyer first, not the doctor, and the lawyer then starts a course that sets up these fraudulent lawsuits.”
Gorayeb Associates was one of the law firms Tradesman and its underwriter sued. yelp New York’s Scaffold Law says builders are considered fully at fault for any accident involving a fallen worker, and that empowers criminals, said Rygo Foss, general counsel for Andromeda Advantage Inc. of Long Island City, a construction consultant. “We have 59 cases that we’ve identified as fraudulent,” said Foss, who projects those claims will cost as much as $100 million to settle or reach a verdict. “And that’s if it all stops now. It’s a huge issue. Everyone’s getting hit.” The scams are ballooning costs for insurance, housing, construction, food, utilities, and basic living expenses, sources say. New York already has the third highest average car insurance rate in the country, with minimum liability costing $1,472 per year; the fifth highest rates for individual health insurance at $736 per month; and the second highest workers compensation costs. “Every contractor is affected because their rates go up every year and they pass along the costs,” said restoration company owner Steven Katz. “It affects every single building. It’s an undisclosed tax.” Rumors of a potential federal probe have circulated among lawsuit litigants for weeks. One confidential source told The Post he has shared information with the FBI.
Manhattan surgeon Dr. Sady Ribeiro was sentenced to three years in prison last March for doing unnecessary back operations as part of an insurance scam. Facebook Dr Sady Ribeiro Law-enforcement has done little to stop the scams, but one case brought by the feds revealed details on how they work. A whistleblower in the prosecution of Dr. Sady Ribeiro, the Manhattan surgeon sentenced to three years in prison last March for doing unnecessary back operations as part of an insurance scam, said those procedures were the key to getting top-dollar payouts. “It was always a back injury,” testified Peter Kalkanis, a former chiropractor who pocketed $2 million for orchestrating more than 200 accidents over four years. And if someone balked at having fusion, “the case would be dropped,” he said. Among the accused is “Dr. Bo,” Gbolahan Okubadejo, a Johns Hopkins-trained spinal surgeon from Nigeria with offices in Manhattan and New Jersey who allegedly performed unnecessary fusion operations on patients to pump up payouts for them and make money for himself, according to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court in May.
Peter Kalkanis, a whistleblower, pocketed $2 million during his four years orchestrating more than 200 accidents. rho.com The filing alleges that purportedly injured construction worker Edvaldo Nunes Oliveira, who emigrated from Brazil in 2013, didn’t require surgery, but that Okubadejo performed neck and back fusions on him anyway — as well as on other plaintiffs also repped by the midtown Manhattan firm Wingate Russotti Shapiro Moses & Halperin, stated lawyer Scott Brody, who represents the defendant landlord and construction company, in his court papers. Okubadejo was “fully aware that by…recommending surgery on those referrals from the Wingate firm, that their cases significantly increased in value,” the filing claims. “[He] knew that if he operated on [them], and thus increased the value of their cases, he would obtain more referrals.” An assistant to the doctor, who has not been criminally charged in any case, said his office was unaware of the filing. Wingate did not return calls seeking comment. Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Among immigrants who allegedly participated is Lesly Ortiz, a native of the Dominican Republic who came to New York in 2018 at the age of 20 and found work as a hotel housekeeper, and hoped to own a home and start a family in the city. A year later she tripped on the sidewalk on West 158th Street in Manhattan, landing on her backside in a seated position. Passersby asked if she wanted someone to call 911. She declined and went home, according to court documents.
Lesly Ortiz had fusion surgeries on her neck and back (like the one pictured), leaving her in unbearable pain. samunella – stock.adobe.com But the next day Ortiz went to the Columbia Presbyterian ER, where medics X-rayed her left wrist and left knee and found nothing wrong, hospital records show. Doctors prescribed ibuprofen and sent her home. What Ortiz didn’t realize was that her aunt’s ex-boyfriend was part of a ring of notorious runners, according to sources familiar with the case. He suggested she contact the Subin law firm, Ortiz told The Post, and she signed on as a client just 24 hours after leaving the hospital, court papers show.
Dr. Gbolahan Okubadejo (right), a Johns Hopkins-trained spinal surgeon from Nigeria with offices in Manhattan and New Jersey, allegedly performed unnecessary fusion operations on patients. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images She said Subin then directed her to Dr. Michael Gerling, an orthopedic surgeon and former NYU Langone director in Brooklyn who describes himself as New York’s “top spine surgeon” and operated on Ortiz, according to court papers. Gerling performed two surgeries: a lumbar and a cervical fusion, she added, though court papers say he did one fusion on her back. Neither procedure did anything but create more pain, according to Ortiz. “The pain is unbearable since the operation on my lower back,” she told The Post. “I feel like a 60-year-old woman in the situation I find myself in. I don’t know how I will continue working.” Her case was going forward until defense lawyers filed a motion alleging that Ortiz and 11 other family members, including her aunt, had engaged in fraud. The filing stated that all 12 members resided at 2011 Amsterdam Avenue or had ties to the building, and each allegedly suffered injuries there or nearby that required fusions, according to the firm Weiner, Millo, Morgan and Bonanno, which reps a landlord sued by them.
Lesly Ortiz, a native of the Dominican Republic, didn’t realize that her aunt’s boyfriend was part of a ring of notorious runners, according to sources familiar with the case. Helayne Seidman “The idea that this was mere coincidence is arguably statistically impossible,” the firm claimed in court papers. Subin, whose lead attorney Herbert Subin represented Ortiz, relied on All Boro Medical Rehabilition for doctor referrals, accordig to the filing. All Boro co-founder Dr. Kevin Weiner had his medical license suspended by the state last year and was banned from prescribing medicine and doing surgeries after it found he was guilty of “negligence” and “incompetence” and performed “unwarranted test/treatments” on patients between 2013 and 2017, according to agency records and court papers.
Dr. Michael Gerling, who was named in a suit brought by Geico in which the insurance company alleged he performed unnecessary surgeries, denied he was involved in any fraud. Ortiz said she was unaware of the allegation, and that she’s lost touch with her aunt. “I don’t know anything because I haven’t lived with her in years,” she said. Subin, which handled 11 of the 12 family lawsuits, asked to be relieved from those cases, and a judge agreed. Ortiz said she never got any money, and now owes thousands of dollars to a lending firm that fronted her the funds for her filing and her operations. On May 16, a litigator for Subin Associates told a judge in Manhattan Supreme Court that the firm likely would need to step away from 200 to 300 cases brought in from an outside individual on advice of its ethics counsel. “We have questions about the reliability of this referral source,” said lawyer Mark Meleka. He didn’t name the source. Subin has already walked away from 170 lawsuits, allegedly engaged in a decade-long pattern of using “problematic sources” and in one case relied on a “runner or runners who either staged or otherwise induced the firm’s clients to manufacture bodily injury” claims, according to a June 12 filing by Exo industries, a Queens construction firm. Subin did not return calls seeking comment. Gerling, who last year was named in a suit brought by Geico in which the insurance company alleged he performed unnecessary surgeries, denied he was involved in any fraud. Additional reporting by Matthew Sedacca and Susanna Granieri This story was reported with The Hatch Institute, a journalism foundation in New York
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.
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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.
