In a move to avoid the death penalty, Frankie A. Roche admitted that he was hired by the "Springfield Crew" to kill Bruno outside the Mount Carmel Social Club in the city's south end back in November 2003.

"The members of the Springfield Crew ultimately followed through with their plan, and they ultimately paid Roche $10,000 to murder Bruno," said Michael Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

The plea deal states that Roche killed Bruno because the mob leader was not generating enough money for the Genovese La Cosa Nostra family in New York, and therefore needed to be replaced.

"The members of the Springfield Crew who planned Bruno's murder intended to increase the income from their racketeering activity once they removed Bruno from his position," Sullivan said.

Roche had been charged with murder in aid of racketeering along with aiding and abetting. Prosecutors, including the Attorney General decided not to pursue the death penalty in exchange for Roche's continued cooperation with the murder investigation.

Sullivan warned, "We have served a very clear, but simple notice to organized crime members that they commit their crimes subject to the penalties and the laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts... Not under their own criminal code of conduct."

Prosecutors hope the plea bargain will offer up more information with regards to the murder, and the Springfield mob, which they say is still working in Western Massachusetts.

"The investigation will proceed, and we are quite confident that we will be able to identify additional individuals involved in this crime and also to hold them accountable," said William Bennett, Hampden County District Attorney.

In exchange for the guilty plea, Roche will serve a life sentence for Bruno's murder. Investigators would not comment on whether or not Roche's co-defendants will face federal charges, but the plea agreement says Roche will testify against them

http://www.cbs3springfield.com/news/local/17879884.html

The Springfield mob?

Fat Tony & co from the Simpsons?

If these articles are any indication, it could very well be that the Mafia is on its last legs. If so, I hate to think what type of people could fill the vacuum. If the Mafia has no scruples, the Russians et al have never even heard the word.

I thought the same mate

I totally agree with you olivant people thought the mob were bad if the russians or albanians go to war i can see the body count doubling the columbo war quite easily.

Pesky Eastern Europeans

Former mob man Rocco Morelli is in town, but he's not here as an enforcer.

The 48-year-old is visiting the Maritimes as a pastor and founder of the Rocco Morelli Ministries International. He has teamed up with Bridges of Canada founder Monty Lewis of Fredericton to reach into the lives and hearts of prison inmates.

He addressed the sold-out Bridges of Canada Partnership Banquet last week, spoke at services at the Smythe Street Cathedral and Sunset churches Sunday and addressed an overcomers Meeting at the Victory Centre, on Brunswick Street on Monday.

"Morelli and his wife Christine are an unbeatable Christian team trying to set a good example for the men and women who are in the criminal justice system," Lewis said. "You can make good of your life, even if you had a rough start.

"Morelli is proof it can be done, but Christ is the power behind it all."

Morelli grew up as a fourth generation mobster in Pennsylvania.

"The Mafia curse was passed down to me from my great-grandfather and I was doomed from birth to be an heir of the mob," he said.

He wrote about his time in the Italian mob family in his book Forgetta 'Bout It. The book's message is there is a God and hope for everyone, including society's castoffs in prisons and jails.

"I had money, musical talent and a Christian family, and in the end it was the Christian aspect that delivered me from my former life as a gangster," Morelli said.

Bridges of Canada and Rocco Morelli Ministries are associated with the Coalition of Prison Evangelists.

"There is only one gospel and it should be heard by everyone, including those in our prisons and jails," Morelli said. "It freed me from my life of crime."

Morelli said he enjoyed his life of crime - pushing cocaine and collecting debts in an organization labelled by the FBI as the Pizza Connection. He spent 12 years in the mob until he "saw the light" at age 27.

"I was raised by church-going parents, went to Christian schools and enjoyed the undying love and support of my mother, who continues to pray for me daily," he said.

Morelli's transformation happened at a gospel meeting in a hotel in the late 1980s. A Mafia boss asked him to murder his crime partner, who was also a police snitch.

"This was going to put me in good stead with the crime family and I would have become a lieutenant, or under-boss, and my life would have been set from then on," he said.

"We attended this gospel meeting and just before the hit, I answered an altar call. The hit didn't happen."

Morelli and his partner were subsequently arrested in a police sting based on his partner's information. He served 15 months of a two-year jail sentence.

"I became a model prisoner and worked on my conversion from crime to Christianity," he said.

In 1995, Morelli became a licensed evangelist and earned a university degree.

"I saw the craziness around me, the broken dreams, the dashed hope and I decided I have to help prisoners and inmates break free of the chains of lawlessness and sin," he said.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/272633

The case of the rogue NBA referee is going into overtime.

Feds are investigating up to five more people who netted bundles off bets from Timothy Donaghy, an NBA referee who pleaded guilty last August to betting on games he officiated over four years, sources said.

"There are people who made millions," said a source close to the case.

Sources also said Donaghy had been placing bets on games he officiated with other known Pennsylvania gamblers for years.

Thomas Martino, a low-level participant in the betting scandal, pleaded guilty to defrauding the NBA in Brooklyn federal court yesterday.

He admitted Donaghy, 41, would "provide him with the name of the team he believed was a good pick for betting purposes."

Martino would then tell another buddy and professional gambler, James Battista, Donaghy's game pick. Battista, 42, would allegedly place the bet. Donaghy was paid $5,000 for each winning pick, according to court papers.

"Mr. Martino allowed himself to be used by two people he considered to be very good friends he has known all his life," his lawyer, Vicki Herr, said outside court. "He's anxious to move and he has taken a step today to put this behind him."

Donaghy, Battista and Martino were classmates at a Springfield, Pa., high school.

Battista heard about Donaghy's racket and forced his way into the action in late 2006, according to court documents. Battista is slated to plead guilty on Monday.

Feds stumbled onto the betting scam through wiretaps being used in a massive investigation into the upper echelon of the Gambino crime family last year, sources said.

That probe resulted in the arrest of the family's acting boss, underboss and consigliere, and five dozen lower-level gangsters in February.

In his plea, Martino said Donaghy gave him a pick over the phone on Dec. 13, 2006, for a game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers that he officiated. The following day, Martino gave him a cash payment in Pennsylvania.

Martino said he got the name of another team from Donaghy on Dec. 26, and gave Donaghy a cash payment in Toronto on March 11.

Martino, of Marcus Hook, Pa., faces between 12 and 18 months in prison under the plea agreement.

He also admitted that he lied to the grand jury when he was asked about the betting scandal, but he did not have to plead guilty to perjury. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11.

Donaghy, who lives in Bradenton, Fla., faces up to 25 years in prison for conspiring to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information though interstate commerce. His sentencing is scheduled to take place May 30.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04172008/news/regionalnews/5_new_dirty_players_in_ref_case_106860.htm

Around 40 suspects have been arrested in a police crackdown on the powerful 'Ndrangheta organised crime ring in Italy. Some 300 officers took part in the raids on the homes of some of the most influential families linked to the mob based in southern Calabria.

Three men were still being sought following the early morning raids. The 'Ndrangheta now dominates the European cocaine trade, outdoing its better-known Sicilian rival, the Cosa Nostra.

It gained international notoriety last summer when it was blamed for the killing of six Italians outside a pizza restaurant in Germany. Investigators believe the shooting was part of a vendetta between rival Calabrian families going back more than 16 years.

http://www.euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=479416&lng=1

FEARS of tit-for-tat violence have emerged after a member of a notorious Melbourne crime family was wounded by gunfire.

The 30-year-old man was blasted in the leg on Wednesday night in what might have been a revenge attack over an earlier shooting.

The latest victim is from a crime clan involved in brutal offences throughout the northwestern suburbs for years.

He had been in the driveway of his Bladen Place, Gladstone Park, home when the gunman struck.

That attack came days after a man was shot at another Gladstone Park address, sparking fears the Bladen Place incident was a payback.

The family are the subject of police Taskforce Lased, which is investigating its involvement in serious crime.

Detectives believe the family is linked to large-scale drug dealing, shootings, witness intimidation, bashings, kidnappings, road rage attacks, blackmail and knife crimes.

They have taunted police with claims that they have better guns.

Victims of the hot-headed family have been shot and attacked with machetes just for looking the wrong way.

The gunman involved in Wednesday night's incident was last seen fleeing into Wolverton Drive.

His victim was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Marika Fengler said detectives from the armed crime taskforce were investigating.

"Taskforce detectives are working on a number of inquiries in relation to the two shootings, and are channelling considerable police resources into these intense investigations," Ms Fengler said.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23525818-2862,00.html

A man once deemed to be 'a man of honour' in the Sicilian mafia was denied full parole as he continues to serve the lengthy sentence he received for his role in one of the biggest drug trafficking conspiracies investigated in Canada.

Evidence presented during a National Parole Board hearing in Laval today suggests Gerlando Caruana, 64, now leads a quiet existence while he deals with problems like diabetes and a bad heart. He spends most of his days respecting his day parole conditions in a halfway house. His parole officer informed the board Caruana appears to have severed his ties with his associates.

"But the parole board has to be prudent in your case," board member Jacques Letendre told Caruana at the end of the hearing where his day parole was extended for six months. "Full parole would be premature."


Letendre was referring to the last time Caruana was out on full parole. He was granted the release in 1993, while serving a 20-year prison term for smuggling 58 kilograms of heroin into Canada. A few years later, while he was still making regular visits to a parole officer, Caruana emerged as a key suspect in Project Omerta, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit investigation that cracked open a major cocaine pipeline running from Mexico to Canada. Shipments totalling more than 7,000 kilograms of cocaine were linked to the Caruana family during the investigation.

Yesterday, Caruana admitted he handled the distribution of the cocaine when it came to Montreal by selling it to major dealers. During that time he and Anna Staniscia, his then mistress, operated a piano bar in Pointe Aux Trembles. Wiretaps gathered during the investigation indicated the pair planned to flee to Belize when Caruana realised he was under police surveillance. Staniscia, who was also arrested in Project Omerta but eventually saw all the charges against her dropped, was present at Thursday's hearing. Caruana said they are a couple now and that she looks after him.

"I have a guard dog now," Caruana said meaning Staniscia keeps his past associates away. "She is the one who says they can't see me."

His younger brother Alfonso controlled most of the operation from Toronto. Both were arrested along with several other people when Project Omerta came to an end in 1998. Alfonso Caruana was sentenced to 18 years after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2000. Gerlando Caruana also pleaded guilty and saw his previous sentence, for smuggling heroin, added to the one he received in Project Omerta. His combined sentence is 31 years and 11 months.

Alfonso Caruana, 62, has since been extradited to Italy where he was tried in absentia and sentenced to 22 years for mafia association and his role in an international drug trafficking conspiracy. The Caruana brothers were born in Castelvetrano, a town in western Sicily, where their family had deep mafia ties.

At one point in today's hearing Letendre laid Caruana's reputed mafia ties on the table. He quoted a court document prepared by Giovanni Falcone, an Italian anti-mafia magistrate who was assassinated in 1992. Falcone described Caruana as a made member or so-called 'man of honour' in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, or mafia. Before he was killed, Falcone investigated several mafia clans extensively, including the Caruanas. Letendre was likely referring to an indictment in which Falcone referred to both Alfonso and Gerlando Caruana as "part of the dangerous [BadWord]-Caruana organization" a "mafioso family of Siculiana that for years has ruled the line of vast and well-constructed international drug trafficking."

"I've lived in Canada for 42 years now," Caruana said of the allegation. "I don't know how Mr. Falcone judged me like that. It is false."

He went to say that his reputation could perhaps be attributed to uncles in Sicily who were reputed 'men of honour.'

Letendre also asked how someone can actually retire from an organized crime family like his.

"I've made a decision to get out," Caruana said adding he regrets that his sentence cost him time he could have spent with his grandchildren. "It's a decision I made when I was arrested a second time."

He said he was under pressure to earn money when he smuggled drugs into Canada. Now that his children are all adults, he said, "I don't place any more importance on money."

"Because of my health I can't even walk. I walk about 100 metres, I get tired and have to head back home."

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/ne...cfa6b11&k=59391

The National Police has arrested a 45 year-old British woman in Benidorm, initials A.H., who is alleged to be a member of the Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian Mafia).

The woman, who was detained while staying at a hotel in the town, is wanted by Italian authorities who believe she has been involved in offenses of murder, extortion and drug trafficking. If convicted of the alleged crimes, she would face a maximum sentence of 24 years in Italy.

http://www.costablancaleader.com/news/article.php?article_id=15119&article_section_id=1

was a multimillion-dollar operation run by one of the biggest bookmakers in Philadelphia.

It included wiseguys and wannabes, gamblers and hustlers and, most surprising, a suspected hit man and the brother of his alleged victim.

Over 20 months, it generated more than $60 million in bets on professional and college sports.

That's part of an inside look at an illegal bookmaking operation that was based in the high-stakes poker room of Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, according to a New Jersey State Police affidavit.

Earlier this month , 24 people, including Jack Buscemi Jr., who allegedly headed the operation, were indicted by a state grand jury on racketeering, conspiracy, gambling and money-laundering charges.

Buscemi, 50, of Mullica Hill, is described in the 75-page affidavit as the "largest bookmaker in the Philadelphia area." He is also labeled a "close associate" of reputed Philadelphia mobster Gaeton Lucibello, the alleged consigliere, or number-three man, in the Philadelphia crime family.

The affidavit, obtained by The Inquirer, provides a firsthand account of how the gambling investigation unfolded. It also offers details about the inner workings of a Philadelphia crime family that has slipped back into the shadows after years of high-profile media attention and government prosecutions.

Written by state police Detective David Feldstein, it is based on information provided by confidential sources, FBI agents, casino and state police surveillance reports, and wiretapped phone conversations. It was filed in August 2007 as part of a motion seeking court approval to wiretap phones used by Buscemi and his reputed gambling partner, Andrew Micali.

The affidavit includes details about Lucibello and Anthony Nicodemo, another reputed mobster.

Nicodemo, 36, was among those indicted along with Buscemi and Micali on April 10. The New Jersey Attorney General's Office alleges that he "exercised leadership authority" over the ring.

Lucibello, 55, has not been charged.

In the affidavit, Nicodemo is identified as a "prime suspect" in the unsolved gangland murder of John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto. Casasanto was gunned down in his South Philadelphia rowhouse on Nov. 22, 2003.

Casasanto's brother, Stephen, 37, is another defendant in the Borgata case, charged with money laundering and promoting gambling.

According to FBI information cited in the affidavit, "Nicodemo was inducted in the Philadelphia LCN (La Cosa Nostra) Family . . . shortly after the contract murder of . . . John Casasanto."

Traditionally, participating in a murder is a requirement for formal initiation into a Cosa Nostra family.

To law enforcement and underworld sources, the FBI allegation implies that the leadership of the family – individuals such as Lucibello and reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi – would have been aware of the circumstances behind the Casasanto hit and would have presided over Nicodemo's "making" ceremony.

On Friday, James Leonard, the lawyer for Nicodemo, said there was "no truth whatsoever" to the allegation and called the statements in the affidavit a "pack of lies."

Nicodemo and the other defendants in the case are expected to plead not guilty at a preliminary hearing in Atlantic County Superior Court next month. No trial date has been set.

In addition to the mob references, the affidavit also explains how the Borgata investigation began and provides some of the details uncovered during the 20-month probe.

The casino itself was not implicated in the scam, and state authorities were quick to point out that Borgata officials cooperated fully with the investigation. Among the defendants in the case are two former casino poker-room supervisors.

An anonymous phone call early in 2006 set the probe in motion.

A man who identified himself as a "regular" at the Borgata complained about someone named "Andrew" who appeared to be taking bets on a cell phone while sitting at one of the poker tables.

The caller said Andrew was in the poker room Wednesday through Sunday from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m.

That information led investigators to Micali, 32, of Ventnor, who authorities now say was the "controller," or day-to-day operator, of the ring.

In March 2006, with Micali in its sights, the New Jersey State Police began an undercover operation.

Over the next 20 months, investigators recorded hundreds of phone conversations, used confidential sources to place bets with Micali, and gathered details through surveillance and from the eye-in-the-sky cameras that monitor the action in the casino.

Those surveillance cameras, according to investigators, captured several "settle ups" conducted by Micali. A settle up is the collection or payout of a gambling debt.

Tapes "show Micali looking at what appear to be tally sheets, crossing off the names of bettors, and then" making payments, the affidavit alleges.

In one, Micali is "observed withdrawing approximately $5,000" from a safety deposit box in a room adjacent to the high-stakes poker parlor.

With undercover detectives watching, Micali and a gambling customer then entered a nearby restroom. A few minutes later, as the customer emerged, investigators saw him place an undetermined amount of cash in his pocket.

Another investigator then went into the men's room where he saw "Micali crossing a name off what appeared to be a tally sheet."

The affidavit alleges that Micali bought an interest in Buscemi's sports-betting business in 2005. It is unclear whether the Borgata bookmaking operation was already underway or whether it began after Micali teamed with Buscemi.

According to information provided by the FBI, Micali paid Buscemi $500,000 for a 10 percent interest in his book, placing the value of the business at $5 million.

Buscemi, according to a second affidavit, has no legitimate source of income. Yet, investigators say, in October 2007 he bought a $550,000 house in Mullica Hill where he and his wife live.

The house is now the subject of a forfeiture action by the Attorney General's Office.

"Surveillance conducted during the course of the investigation did not reveal that Buscemi engaged in any legitimate employment activities," according to the affidavit filed in November to support a motion to seize the house.

Surveillance from the Borgata, however, includes a tape of a July 14 meeting that investigators say shows Buscemi conducting business.

In the video, Buscemi is seen handing Micali between $15,000 and $20,000 in cash, according to the affidavit. Micali then wound a rubber band around the wad of cash, which he stuffed into his right front pocket.

Investigators said Buscemi left the poker room while Micali stayed behind to "settle up" with customers

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20080428_Opening_the_book_on_betting_operation.html

PBS had a 2-part documentary on Vegas last night. It covered from the late 1800s to the current age and the role that organize crime played, it was quite intriguing, did anyone catch it? I just find it terribly ironic how organized crime is often taken out by the true professionals, the corporations... they let the amatuers lay the ground work, then they roll in and take it over... its as if they watch and learn from organized crime, then take it over and blow it out... the documentary pointed out that people were more comfortable in the "old days when the mafia was involved because they honored their commitments". Sad statement when you can trust the mafia more than expanding corporate america.

The series fell into some glamorization-of-the-Mob traps that writers fall prey to. They overlooked or underemphasized the impact of two "big picture" developments:

First, after gambling was legalized in 1931, the Nevada authorities welcomed the gangsters because they were bringing lots of money into the state. Since the gangsters were operating out in the open, a lot of the secrecy and backstabbing that lead to jealousy, paranoia--and violence--were avoided, and the gangsters generally (but not always) cooperated with each other. But after the televised Kefauver and McClellen hearings exposed the role of organized crime in Nevada gambling, the Legislature created the Gaming Commission and gave it two big teeth: the power to license key employees of casinos; and the "Black Book," a compendium of people who could be barred from even entering a casino (much less owning or operatin one) because of criminal records or unsavory reputations. The Gaming Commission drove the gangsters underground, which amplified skimming and created conditions for violent competition. It was, in its own way, like Prohibition.

Second, writers always like to say that when Howard Hughes went on his Vegas buying spree, he paved the way for legitimate businesses to own casinos. Not exactly. Nevada had been the only state with legalized gambling. But, beginning around 1970, other states began legalizing some forms of gambling, such as lotteries, off-track betting--and casinos. The money potential was so gigantic that existing major hotel chains like Hilton saw huge profits in buying or building casino/hotels. The potential also created new entrepreneurs like Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, and attracted real estate tycoons like Donald Trump. It was "good business," not just Howard Hughes's example.

I'll Never forget the Sopranos Episode where they go up to an Native-American Indian casino and the owner of the casino is telling tony and his crew that his great grandmother on his mother's side was half indian, so that qualified him as an Indian to own a casino. While it is sad what the US Government did to the Native American, nothing short of Genocide, it was interesting that they became more powerful than the mafia in this one instance to the point where tony and his crew didnt have the money to fund another casino. I may have some of the details blurry, but it was a very interesting episode. It also reminds me of the Chris Rock statement "blacks need to stop complaining, ain't no one got it worse than the american indian, when was the last time you saw 2 indians at a red lobster hanging out talking -- never". Sad but true. No one got screwed worse than them, and honestly, I'd like to see them step up to the plate and take some of this country back over corporate america.

Reputed New England Mafia underboss Carmen "The Cheese Man" DiNunzio was arrested yesterday on charges that he delivered a $10,000 bribe to an undercover FBI agent posing as a state official, part of an alleged conspiracy to secure a $6 million Big Dig contract.

more stories like thisDiNunzio, 50, who owns a cheese shop in the North End, was indicted along with two other men on a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. He was secretly recorded and videotaped by the FBI in September 2006 as he allegedly paid cash to a man he thought was a Massachusetts highway inspector. DiNunzio thought the payment would help him and his friends secure a contract to provide 300,000 cubic yards of loam, a soil mix, for the project, according to the indictment.

"I'm the Cheese Man," DiNunzio, of East Boston, said in an apparent boast to the undercover agent, who had said he was worried that the deal could fall through. "We straighten out a lot of beefs, a lot of things."

DiNunzio was indicted along with Anthony D'Amore, 55, a convicted drug dealer and alleged mob associate from Revere, and Andrew Marino, 42, of Chelmsford, who owns a small trucking company, Marino Trucking.

Federal authorities called the indictment significant because it comes as the local mob, which had been nearly dismantled in the 1980s and 1990s with waves of federal prosecutions, has been regaining strength as mobsters are returning to the streets after years in prison.

It also could illustrate an overconfident, sometimes reckless hierarchy of the local branch of La Cosa Nostra, more commonly known as the Mafia. It would have been unheard of in the days of the old guard for an underboss to personally deliver a bribe to a man he barely knew.

And given that local mob leaders like Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo, Raymond "Junior" Patriarca, and Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme were all toppled by wiretaps and FBI bugs, it seemed almost baffling that DiNunzio would be so chatty and allegedly careless.

"I don't think anyone ever suggested there were geniuses involved in" La Cosa Nostra, said US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, when asked during a press conference if there has been a dumbing down of the mob. "I don't think they are any dumber, but as dumb as they have always been."

In a brief appearance in US District Court in Boston yesterday, DiNunzio, a hulking figure who tips the scale at over 400 pounds, was dressed in a bulky blue sweatshirt and black pants that he hitched up each time he stood to address the court. He pleaded not guilty. D'Amore and Marino were not arraigned because they were without lawyers.

DiNunzio's Boston lawyer, Anthony Cardinale, told the court that he is worried about his client's health if jailed because DiNunzio suffers from a heart condition, Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and other ailments
He takes a lot of medicines, without which he can't survive," Cardinale said.

more stories like thisUS Magistrate Judge Joyce London Alexander ordered DiNunzio and D'Amore held without bail until a hearing Wednesday on whether they should remain jailed until the case is resolved. She ordered that DiNunzio be taken to the Devens federal prison hospital in Ayer. Marino was freed on personal recognizance.

DiNunzio has been a made member of the Mafia since the late 1990s and was tapped to serve as underboss four years ago by reputed boss Luigi "Louie" Manocchio of Providence, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court. DiNunzio was arrested in December 2006 by Massachusetts State Police on state charges of extortion and gambling conspiracy and is currently awaiting trial in Essex County.

Though DiNunzio was subdued and looked forlornly at the crush of reporters that filled the courtroom, federal authorities depicted him as the leader of a dangerous and violent organization.

Warren T. Bamford, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said La Cosa Nostra remains the foremost organized criminal threat in America and is involved in everything from stock market manipulation and telemarketing scams to gambling, loan-sharking, and murder.

"The threat of [La Cosa Nostra] is still with us; it has not gone away," said Bamford, adding that it is crucial for the FBI and other agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and Boston police, who participated in the DiNunzio investigation, to keep the pressure on the mob.

"We've caused a significant disruption in this organization," Bamford said of the indictment.

The indictment alleges that in May 2006, an unidentified cooperating witness began meeting with DiNunzio and D'Amore about the soil contract. The two men, along with Marino, allegedly paid the purported Massachusetts Highway Department inspector, who was a friend of the witness, a $10,000 down payment. The deal was that the inspector would receive a total of 5 percent of the contract's value, which amounted to about $300,000.

When it looked like Marino was going to back out of the deal on Oct. 9, 2006, according to the FBI affidavit, the undercover agent posing as the inspector told DiNunzio. "What I need is a guarantee that somebody's got their foot on Marino's neck."

"Right here, you got the guarantee from here," DiNunzio replied.

The reputed mob leader told the undercover agent that if Marino did not come through, "They better leave town . . . 'cause it ain't gonna be safe nowhere for them."

In an earlier recorded conversation in Sept. 2006, the cooperating witness, who was also involved in setting up the bribery plan, suggested that he and D'Amore might become made members of the mob "if we do a good job."

But D'Amore was not interested in joining the family, according to the affidavit.

"You can keep it," D'Amore said. "Who needs the [expletive] grief?"

He added, "Wouldn't you just rather be on the outside, like this, looking in and knowing you've got a few friends?"

The witness agreed, saying, "Yeah, membership has its costs."

One cost is the risk of attracting the attention of law enforcement. "There is certainly not a decline in this family," said Jeffrey S. Sallet, the supervisory special agent in charge of the FBI's Providence office and coordinator of the New England division's organized crime program. "We at the FBI view them as a priority investigative target."

Even with yesterday's arrest, Sullivan said there is no evidence of Mafia involvement in the mammoth $15 billion, 15-year Big Dig project.

The loam contract being sought by DiNunzio and the others apparently was intended for the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, almost eight acres of park and open space snaking through downtown Boston on the footprint of the old Central Artery.

One mystifying aspect of the allegations against DiNunzio and the others is how anyone could have believed a Massachusetts Highway Department inspector could help obtain a supply contract. Loam, like concrete and other materials used on the Big Dig, was purchased by building contractors, not the state.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massach..._leader/?page=1

FBI agents fanned out across New Jersey yesterday in two high-profile organized crime cases, one linked to a sweeping racketeering indictment and the other to a financial investigation in which the son of jailed mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo appears to be a prime target.

FBI agents seized records and documents from the Atlantic County home of Nicodemo S. Scarfo, 42, son of the notorious former Philadelphia/South Jersey mob kingpin.

After serving search warrants, agents also took records from several other locations, including the home of Scarfo's ex-wife and from his lawyer's office in Cherry Hill.

A copy of one search warrant obtained by The Inquirer described the operation as part of an investigation into mail fraud, bank fraud, interstate transport of stolen property, extortion, wire fraud, conspiracy, and money-laundering.

Sources familiar with the probe said federal authorities were focusing on more than a dozen companies that have interwoven connections. It was unclear what role the younger Scarfo played in those companies.

There have been no arrests in the investigation.

In a second and apparently unrelated development, several Scarfo associates were charged in a gambling, extortion and racketeering indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Newark.

In all, 23 reputed mob members and associates linked to the Gambino and Lucchese crime families were charged in the case, including Andrew "Andy Knapik" Merola and Martin Taccetta.

Merola, 41, was described by the FBI as a high-ranking member of the New Jersey branch of the Gambino organization. Taccetta, 56, is a longtime leader of the Lucchese family in New Jersey.

Scarfo, who authorities say was formally initiated into the Lucchese crime family, was once linked to a bookmaking and loansharking operation with Merola.

FBI Agent Weysan Dun, who heads the bureau's Newark office, said yesterday's indictments and arrests were part of a decades-long attack on the mob in New Jersey.

"Cosa Nostra, which translates as 'this thing of ours,' is steadily becoming 'this thing of the FBI's,' " Dun said in announcing the arrests.

Scarfo, through an attorney, declined to comment about the raid on his home in Egg Harbor Township. His ex-wife, Michele, whose home in the same community was also the subject of a search, also declined to comment.

"Neither one of them wants to say anything," said James Leonard, Michele Scarfo's lawyer.
Leonard said he believed his client was not the target of an investigation. He said FBI agents arrived at her home on Sun Valley Court about 9 a.m. and spent two or three hours taking out documents.

"She was shaken up," Leonard said.

The couple divorced several months ago. They have a school-age daughter.

Nicodemo Scarfo has since remarried and has an infant son also named Nicodemo.

Scarfo's longtime lawyer, Donald Manno, was among others the FBI served with search warrants. Agents spent several hours taking documents from his Cherry Hill office.

Manno confirmed that search warrants had been served but he declined to comment further.

"At this point there's nothing I can say," he said.

Among the companies cited in the search warrant were a Texas firm, FirstPlus Financial, and several of its subsidiaries, including FirstPlus Development, at 1231 Bainbridge St. in Philadelphia.

Calls to both companies were not returned yesterday.

It could not be determined whether search warrants had been served at the company offices. Two sources familiar with the investigation said the case had links to Texas and Florida and included companies involved in finance, construction, development, used-car sales, and charter-boat operations.

On its Web page, FirstPlus Financial, based in Irving, describes itself as a company that "provides a wide range of financial services as well as facilities development, restoration and management services to both consumer and commercial marketplaces."

FirstPlus Development touts itself as a company involved in general contracting, construction management, and project design and building.

The search warrants served yesterday sought all documents and materials issued from Aug. 1, 2006, to the present involving 43 individuals and companies.

Three principals of FirstPlus or its subsidiaries were among those on the list. Nicodemo Scarfo and his jailed father were also listed, along with mob associate Daniel Daidone, a former South Jersey bartenders union official jailed in a Camden City political corruption case several years ago.
Also listed was Salvatore Pelullo, believed to be the brother of two Philadelphia-area businessmen the FBI identified as longtime mob associates.

The younger Scarfo recently moved to Atlantic County after serving a 33-month federal prison sentence for a gambling conviction. He also has a conviction for conspiracy, loansharking and racketeering.

He was identified, but not charged, in a New Jersey State Police investigation last year as a former ranking member of the Lucchese organization. The investigation indicated that Scarfo had been demoted from the rank of capo to soldier in the crime family during an internal reorganization.

"Little Nicky" Scarfo, 79, is serving a 55-year sentence for racketeering and murder. His control of the local crime family ended in the late 1980s when he was jailed and when his son was ambushed in a South Philadelphia restaurant.

The younger Scarfo survived that assassination attempt.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/18794479.html?page=1

Italian police arrested Friday seven mafia suspects, including alleged members of two crime families linked to the murder of six Italians killed in an August 2007 shooting in Duisburg, Germany.

"Some prime suspects remain at large," said Carabinieri paramilitary police commander, Francesco Iacono, commenting on initial news reports in Italy and in Germany that up to 11 suspects had been apprehended.



The suspects were picked up in morning raids, involving 150 Carabinieri, in the southern town of San Luca -- the traditional stronghold of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian version of the mafia -- as well as in the nearby Locride area and in the northern cities of Udine and Bologna.



Two women, Maria Pelle and Antonella Vottari, the wife and sister of prominent 'Ndrangheta boss, Francesco Vottari, who was arrested in October 2007, were among those arrested Friday.



Prosecutors said those arrested faces ranging from murder to the illegal detention of firearms and explosives.



The seven suspects all allegedly belong to either one of two San Luca-based crime families, the Nirta-Strangio and the Pelle-Vottari.



The families have been locked in a bloody feud since the early 1990s. Victims are believed to include the six killed in Duisburg.


http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3326942,00.html

Donaghy and two accomplices in an illegal betting ring are scheduled to be sentenced within 3 days of one another this summer after the former NBA referee's sentencing date was postponed yesterday - for a fourth time.
Donaghy, who has admitted to dishing inside NBA information to high school buddies James "Baba'' Battista and Thomas Martino in exchange for cash payments, was scheduled to be sentenced next week in New York on gambling and wire-fraud charges.

Yesterday, that date was pushed back again, this time to July 14, according to Robert Nardoza, spokesman for the federal prosecutors' office in Brooklyn.

Battista, of Phoenixville, and Martino, of Marcus Hook, are scheduled to be sentenced July 11 for their participation in the short-lived gambling ring, which the feds reportedly uncovered during an investigation of the Gambino crime family.

All three men attended Cardinal O'Hara High together in the 1980s. They launched the ill-fated gambling scheme in December 2006 at the Philadelphia International Airport's Marriott Hotel, Battista told a judge last month.

Donaghy, a Havertown native who resigned in July after 13 years as an NBA referee, faces up to 25 years in prison, but could receive a much lighter term under federal sentencing guidelines.

Battista, also known as "Sheep,'' is facing 10 to 16 months in jail, while Martino faces 12 to 18 months. *

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20080516_Donaghy_sentencing_pushed_back_to_July.html

Ferrante Tells His Story of Mob Life
By Matthew Price
Special to Newsday
May 23, 2008, 4:01 AM

NEW YORK -- The Yona Schimmel Knish Bakery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side isn’t the likeliest spot for a sit-down with a onetime wise guy, but Louis Ferrante is hardly your typical ex-mobster.

An intense, brassy, fast-talking bantamweight, the 38-year-old Ferrante, who’s joined me to talk about his new memoir, “Unlocked: A Journey From Prison to Proust” (Harper, $25.95), can expound on just about any topic — penal reform, world history, literature, theology, you name it — and peppers his remarks with references to Churchill, Napoleon and Disraeli. There’s a lot about him that’s unexpected. Consider this: Ferrante, a former Gambino family associate raised in a Catholic home, is now an Orthodox Jew.

A hard-boiled tale of crime, punishment and redemption, “Unlocked” charts Ferrante’s violent life pulling off heists for the Gambinos and his eventual downfall in 1994, when a mighty trifecta of the Secret Service, the FBI and the Nassau County (N.Y.) district attorney put him behind bars. Ferrante took a plea and served nine years in several New York jails.

He doesn’t downplay the brutality of life inside — sexual abuse was rampant and Ferrante had to fend off would-be attackers — but doing time would change his life for the better. Prison became a kind of university and spiritual retreat: Putting his mob days behind him, Ferrante turned to books, devouring Caesar’s “Gallic Wars” and Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina.” He started to write and embraced Judaism as he tried to atone for his past misdeeds.

It’s a pretty incredible story, but Ferrante, who grew up in Queens and now lives in upstate New York, almost didn’t tell it. After his release in 2003 — he successfully appealed his own case — he moved to Long Island and hoped to publish a 1,000-page novel set in the antebellum South, but a pal persuaded him to write a memoir.

“When I got out, I didn’t want to think about jail,” he recalls, tucking into a steaming, oven-fresh knish. “I couldn’t even watch ‘The Sopranos.’ But my friend goes, ‘Lou, you gotta give it to them; that’s what people like. Write whatever you want later.’ ”

Ferrante acknowledges that Mafia lore remains ever-popular. He’s up-front about why “the life” appealed to a working-class kid who didn’t have much direction. “It was a place to hang my hat,” he says of the camaraderie he found in his crew. (In “Unlocked” he writes, “An 18-year-old in the Midwest, searching for these same feelings, might join the Army or Marines.”) Readers will find plenty of action — the book opens with Ferrante sticking a gun into a truck driver’s mouth — but don’t expect much on John and “Junior” Gotti.

He may be done with the mob, but Ferrante still has connections from back in the day. He’s proud he never ratted anyone out, and though I press for specifics on the Dapper Don and his son, he clams up. Alluding to several other higher-ups he knows, Ferrante adds that he “didn’t want to offend anybody. I want to be able to come to Manhattan for the rest of my life.”

Still, Ferrante offers up many provocative opinions. He’s astonished that Sammy “the Bull” Gravano turned informant against the Gambinos, but points out that the crackdown on the mob tested even the most hardened of wise guys. “I think the sentences are outrageous,” he says. “I was facing 125 years; I never killed anybody. Give me five and see if I turn my life around — give me a hundred next time.”

Waxing philosophical, Ferrante says his circumstances could be anybody’s: “I think we’re all the same -- whatever I did, you’re capable of doing, and whatever you’ve done in your life, I’m capable of doing.”

For Ferrante, such insight is hard won. He tells me how the stern morality of Judaism gives him a vital perspective on his life. “I felt it,” he says of the Torah’s teachings. “I know if you screw up, you’re going to get punished. I suffered and know it’s true.”

He keeps kosher at home and doesn’t eat pork anymore. But that’s no problem — he knows a butcher who does a nice kosher braciole.

source: http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080523/ENTERTAINMENT/27858665

A Slice of Mafia With Your Sparkling Water?
The city's king distributor of bottled beverages likes the wiseguys
by Tom Robbins
May 27th, 2008 12:00 AM

For those who insist that New York's Mafia is mainly a relic of the bad old past, consider this: The day job of the man currently alleged to be the acting boss of the Gambino crime family is top salesman for the city's largest distributor of healthy and cutting-edge beverages.

That thirst-quenching bottle of Glaceau Vitamin Water you plucked out of the deli cooler? That glass of sparkling Pellegrino? Those cute Adam & Eve juices? Those satisfying Mistic fruit drinks? Those wonderful bottled waters now a staple of a healthy lifestyle—Crystal Geyser? Saratoga Spring? Iceland Spring? Those cool, wacky drinks like Muscle Milk, Tazo Tea, Organic Yerba Maté?

Chances are that the order for these pleasing and beneficial beverages was made through a company known as Big Geyser Inc. that boasts 300 employees and operates out of a mammoth warehouse facility in Maspeth, Queens. And from his desk right there five days a week—or at least until the FBI locked him up back in February on an extortion rap—sat John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico, working the phones to help bring these superb products to you.

He has done so since 1991, according to D'Amico's old friend Irving Hershkowitz, founder and president of Big Geyser. Hershkowitz made this affirmation last week in a letter in connection with D'Amico's request for release on bond from charges that he had extorted a Staten Island cement company.

D'Amico started at a base pay of $24,000, and the salesman has done well enough that his current salary is $71,000 a year, according to Hershkowitz's letter.

The issue of D'Amico's employment was batted around last week by prosecutors and a defense attorney as they sat at a big table with U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein in his courtroom in Brooklyn. D'Amico, who is 71 but looks younger, wore a blue prison tunic over a white T-shirt. Many New Yorkers would recognize him as the good-looking guy with a cheerful smile and a mop of gray curls who was often seen at John Gotti's elbow in newspaper photos, described as one of the Dapper Don's trusted captains.

Despite those associations and a couple of past gambling convictions, D'Amico was still entitled to bail, his attorney, Elizabeth Macedonio, told the judge. "Big Geyser is probably the largest distributor of non-alcoholic beverages anywhere," she said.

Beside her, Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Burlingame snorted. "Big Geyser does a lot of legitimate business," he said. "They also happen to employ two members of the administration of two organized crime families, for what that's worth."

D'Amico's co-worker at the beverage firm, the prosecutor said, was another aging and alleged mobster named Matthew Madonna, 72, whose reputed allegiance is to the Lucchese crime family and who was once notorious as the chief supplier of heroin to Harlem drug czar Nicky Barnes.

Prosecutor Burlingame said that it is his belief that D'Amico's is a no-show job that lets him collect health benefits and claim lawful employment. He said that attempts to talk to Hershkowitz about his employees' work habits were thwarted after the businessman asserted his constitutional privilege not to speak with law-enforcement officials.

Indeed, messages left at Big Geyser went unreturned, and a phone listed to Hershkowitz at his Upper East Side apartment went unanswered last week. That's too bad, because, in addition to his savvy business sense about the beverage industry, Irving Hershkowitz (a/k/a Hal Irving, a/k/a "Big H"), 67, is one of those New York City characters who loves to tell a good story and has many of them to tell.

I learned this for a fact in 1993 as a result of a chance encounter with Jackie D'Amico on Second Avenue near the mouth of the Midtown Tunnel. D'Amico was driving a lustrously ruby-red Jaguar, and he stopped when he spotted my then colleague at the Daily News, Gene Mustain, who covered Gotti's many trials. Mustain is a gracious writer and an even more gracious man who won the trust of Gotti's toughest cohorts. D'Amico was glad to see him and he chatted away, ignoring the horns from the traffic backed up behind him. While they spoke, I marveled at the gleaming red car and took note of the license plate.

A search revealed that the auto was registered to something called Crystal Geyser East, which listed Irving Hershkowitz as chairman. Hershkowitz, news clips showed, had been declared "the highest-volume liquor salesman in the world" by industry publications when he worked for Peerless Importers of Brooklyn. He'd switched to peddling water and juices after deciding in the mid-'80s that they were "the key beverages in the new marketplace." A message left at his company was quickly returned by the boss himself, who said he was calling from his car phone and happy to talk.

"Hiya, yeah, I'm Irving Hershkowitz, but they call me Hal Irving. So call me Hal, right?" He rolled off a long list of his company's successes and products. "We're very big. We do about $25 million a year in business."

His patter only paused when he was asked why Jackie D'Amico was driving a $100,000 Jaguar registered to his firm. There was an audible screech of brakes followed by a long silence. I feared that he'd cracked up. His voice finally returned. "He's a salesman of ours," Hershkowitz said. "He's been one for about three years. He works on commission. I know him 30 years. He's a lifelong friend. We went to New Utrecht High School. He was with us when we formed. He went around with me to see outlets; he knew a lot of people. He helped me develop the product."

What Jackie did outside of work wasn't his concern. "His own life has nothing to do with me. My relation with him is strictly business. That's the situation, y'know?"

He then graciously extended an invitation to join him at his club. "See me tonight at the Lone Star Boat Club; it's on West 54th Street." About an hour later, he called back. "Listen, I can't talk to you no more." Had D'Amico told him to cancel the invitation? "No, no. Just forget it, OK?"

But this is a hard man to forget. Hershkowitz showed up in a Times story in 2005 after the death of actor Jerry Orbach, a friend who also belonged to the Lone Star club. There Hershkowitz was known as "Big H," a gruff-talking pinochle player, the Times reported. As Hal Irving, he also showed up as the subject of testimony in 2006, when a former Gambino captain named Michael DiLeonardo took the witness stand against John A. Gotti, the don's son and successor. DiLeonardo described how Irving had supplied Jackie D'Amico with a job that "he could show the government," and a Jaguar.

The informant said he had once sat down in Irving's offices with D'Amico and another mobster to settle "a beef" about one of the profitable sales routes for Irving's beverage business. He also said that Irving had put up $50,000 to invest in Da' Noi, the swanky Upper East Side restaurant that Gotti Sr. had built on York Avenue, and where Irving was a regular.

What did Hal Irving get in exchange for all this help to the Gambino family, prosecutors asked the witness? "Protection," came the answer. "And Hal liked wiseguys. He had bragging rights."

If you they wanted to tell the truth about Mr. Artuso they would print the facts and rename the article “The FBI Grudge” that is what this case is really about. I have read over all of the court documents in the case against Mr. Artuso, I found absolutely no proof of the alleged crimes. I found the facts to be very one sided in this article, Mr. Artuso was previously involved in organized crime, he was one of the labeled 'backup' shooters on the Castellano-Billotti double murder on December 16, 1985, in which his gun jammed and not a single shot was ever fired, not to mention later findings show that Mr. Artuso was never even close enough to the victims to fire a shot. Mr. Artuso did moved to Florida, and tried to make a living, but not by running a so called “South Florida crime ring “since 1985 Mr. Artuso has served his time and paid his debt to society in the Federal Penitentiary for alleged previous crimes, but the truth is that Mr. Artuso has not been involved in any crime much less organized, in over 20 years. In fact, the reason he moved his family to Florida was to get away from that kind of atmosphere, he has lived his life on the up and up ever since. The FBI is angry that Mr. Artuso is the only one involved in the Castellano-Billotti double murder that is not dead or incarcerated. Artuso was never charged in the case. The FBI has been harassing and threatening Mr. Artuso for many years. Why would he blatantly break any laws (like running a crime ring) if he knew he had the FBI breathing down his neck, that would be stupid. Mr. Artuso is a very intelligent man and has no intention of breaking any laws or ever going back to prison, much less run a crime ring? Come on. The FBI can’t stand the fact that Mr. Artuso was rehabilitated and reformed while in prison and is now an upstanding member of the community. I thought that was what the Federal Prison System was for? I thought that is why Mr. Artuso and the rest of America, myself included, pay such high taxes? Looks like the truth here is that the FBI wants Mr. Artuso in prison for the rest of his life, over a 20 year grudge, just look at his bail amount $225,000. Give me a break! There are people accused of murder and much worse, that don’t have bails set that high, if he was planning on leaving town, I think he would have done so long ago. Mr. Artuso has cooperated fully with the FBI for several years now. I respect for the FBI and its officials, I think they do an excellent job protecting our citizens and our country, but in this case I find the FBI is acting completely unjust and is wasting thousands of tax payer money trying to frame Mr. Artuso. I found no actual proof that Mr. Artuso was engaged in anything that wasn’t considered to be normal business practices done every day by millions of Americans. I think you owe it to Mr. Artuso to do the research and report all of the facts, you are serving Mr. Artuso a major injustice. Mr. Artuso is reformed, and is a taxpaying, law abiding, citizen of this country, and he has the right to earn a living and the right to be left alone. This case violates his right for liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Artuso has done nothing wrong and should not be punished for a crime he was not convicted of.

The Al Capone Museum was closed down because it made him a celebrity when he shouldn't have been. There are those who are viled by mob crimes, and those who glorify it, wether it be for interest or for "training" purposes.
We all like the mob because it is interesting.

Have you trained?

No I mean't the wannabes in the Italian Mafia, people like Johnny Capone.

Johnny Capone is a Colombo associate whos calling himself Capone, as in Al, he is a classic wannabe - giving his loanshark victims a hard thumping in the head, even after they have paid up.

Johnny is now in jail, they say his "career" is over.

This info is from the Jerry Capieci site, Gangland.

Dan Robson
Staff Reporter

A man identified by Italian investigators as one of the kings of international drug trafficking was arrested in Markham on Thursday, after allegedly living illegally in Canada for the last three years.

Giuseppe Coluccio, 41 – one of Italy's most wanted men and a suspected leader of the 'Ndrangheta Mafia – was living in a condo on Toronto's downtown lakeshore, said RCMP Sgt. Marc LaPorte.

Italian news media reported that about $1 million in readily-negotiable travellers cheques was found hidden behind a wardrobe in Coluccio's condo after his arrest.

On Thursday, the RCMP followed Coluccio from his condo to a strip mall in Markham where they executed a "high risk" takedown and arrest just before 1 p.m., said LaPorte.

Coluccio has been on the run from Italian authorities since 2005, when he evaded arrest in a sting operation in southern Italy.

Coluccio had been living in Canada under an alias, which LaPorte would not disclose. He is considered to be a key player in organizing cocaine and heroin traffic from South America to Europe.

Italian investigators have declared him one of the country's 30 most dangerous fugitives.

The Italian media reports suggest Coluccio continued to run his drug empire in Italy while in Toronto.

He allegedly has connections to the C-u-n-trera-Caruana Sicilian drug dealing family– some of whom are believed to also be hiding from authorities in Toronto.

Italy's defence minister, Ignazio La Russa, said the arrest showed authorities were making advances in the fight against organized crime.

"Coluccio had lived happily in Canada thanks to the (support) provided by the Calabrian clans – a situation that shows the extraordinary reach of the 'Ndrangheta," said public prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone.

'Ndrangheta, based in the southern Calabria region, has reportedly overtaken Sicily's Cosa Nostra to become the most powerful Italian crime group.

"Canada is traditionally a strong base for the 'Ndrangheta," says organized crime expert Antonio Nicaso. "Canada is the right place to deal with narcotics. Montreal is the main port of entrance for narcotics in North America, and in Canada they can control that major point of entry. Toronto specifically is an important base for 'Ndrangheta.

"Ndrangheta is on the rise and it is second to none, with a lot of influence in Italy, Europe and worldwide. It is the only one that has investment in cocaine production in Columbia ... They're the most powerful criminal organization worldwide."

Last month Michele Modica, a mobster who was the intended target of a shooting that left North York mother Louise Russo paralyzed in 2004, was arrested in Sicily.

Italian special operations and Canada's Immigration Task Force collaborated in 2006, leading to a nationwide immigration warrant for Coluccio's arrest, said LaPorte.

Coluccio's arrest was praised by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day. In a statement, he applauded the work of the Immigration Task Force, which is headed by the RCMP and includes officers from the OPP, Toronto police, and the Canadian Border Services Agency.

Coluccio is being held in RCMP custody on an immigration warrant, and will appear at an admissibility hearing on Monday.

With files from Reuters

http://www.thestar.com/article/475221

I'm glad they got the guy, but its somewhat unsettling that the takedown took place in Markham of which Thornhill (where I live) is a part of.

"Naples is a nice place to visit if you don't have to smell it."

I heard so many things about Naples, they said that it is a beautiful place to visit.