organized crime

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To Flee Mob, Italian Museum Seeks Asylum in Germany

Mafia threats spark plea for museum and staff

(Newser) - The director of a Naples museum is urging Germany to grant asylum to the museum and its staff seeking to flee the mob. Antonio Manfredi says the contemporary art museum has been plagued by vandalism and threats from the local Mafia. The museum has put on exhibitions dealing with social...

Kosovo PM Linked to Organ Trafficking

Rights watchdog accuses KLA of killing civilians for kidney trade

(Newser) - Kosovo Liberation Army leaders—including Prime Minister Hashim Thaci—ran a Mafia-style crime ring that trafficked in drugs and harvested organs, according to a Council of Europe probe. The human rights watchdog's 2-year inquiry found that men under Thaci's command shot civilians after the 1999 Kosovo war so their kidneys...

Gangsters Busted in Biggest-Ever Medicare Fraud

Armenian gang used phony doctors, clinic to scam $163 million

(Newser) - Investigators say they have smashed an Armenian crime ring responsible for "the largest Medicare fraud scheme ever perpetrated by a single criminal enterprise." A multi-state probe dubbed "Diagnosis Dollars" has resulted in the indictment of 73 members and associates of the ring, including 52 arrested in raids...

John Gotti Jr. Sells Movie Rights to His Life

Stallone's interested in starring

(Newser) - Hollywood has produced no shortage of movies and TV shows about the mob, but this one's coming straight from the most high-profile source imaginable: John "Junior" Gotti has sold the rights to his life story. The 46-year-old son of the late, legendary Gambino crime family leader, "Dapper Don"...

12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid
12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid
Apr 21, 2010 2:00 AM CDT

12 Mobsters Busted in Gambino Raid

Selling teen sex a 'new low' for crime family: fed

(Newser) - New York City's Gambino crime family reached a "new low" with the trafficking of a minor to have sex with high-stakes poker players, a US attorney said yesterday as he announced charges against 14 alleged mobsters. Twelve of them are already in custody. Other charges include loansharking, drug trafficking,...

Mexico Mulls Twitter Clampdown

'Twitteros' avoid drunk-driving checkpoints, feared to aid drug gangs

(Newser) - There's a new public enemy in Mexico: los Twitteros. Twitter users who warn one another about roadside drunk-driving checkpoints have so angered authorities that the Mexican government is considering restricting and monitoring social networking sites. But in a country in the grips of a violent battle against drug cartels, the...

Theft Spree Hits Tractor Trailers

Number of rigs that went missing spikes 67%

(Newser) - Police around the country are reporting big spikes in thefts of cargo-laden tractor trailers along the nation’s highways. Last year some 859 rigs went missing, loaded with $487 million worth of goods—a 67% increase from 2008. “In the past two months, we’ve just seen such an...

'Teflon Gotti Jr.' Dodges 5th Trial

Feds drop racketeering case against Don Gotti's spawn

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors have given up on trying to make racketeering charges stick against John Gotti Jr. Gotti—chip off the old block and son of the late "Teflon Don" John Gotti Sr.—was tried four times on murder and racketeering charges, and all of them ended in hung...

Triad Trial Exposes Chinese Corruption

Tycoons, party officials snared in Chongqing crackdown

(Newser) - A mass trial of Chinese gangsters in Chongqing has exposed a vast network of corruption amid the mega-city's police and Communist Party officials. Thousands of suspects, including dozens of high-ranking officials and top businessmen, have been arrested in an effort to crack down on the city's triads. Six have already...

FBI Let Blacklisted Russian Tycoon Visit US

Organized crime suspect bypasses visa refusal

(Newser) - A Russian billionaire barred from the US for years because authorities suspected him of involvement in organized crime was allowed into the country twice this year under a secret deal with the FBI. Despite the objections of other government agencies, metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska was allowed to bypass the visa...

Victoria Gotti Spills Mob Secrets in Tell-All Book

Author describes ritual that 'made' Junior

(Newser) - Victoria Gotti insists she doesn’t condone crime. But in her new tell-all book, The Family of Mine, Mafia don John Gotti's daughter compares mobsters to Robin Hood and his merry men, claims they’re better than corrupt politicians, and says she sees no difference between paying into a protection...

Mexican Drug Cartels Turn Into Mafias

(Newser) - Mexican drug cartels have evolved into mafia empires, charging protection fees to businesses and providing social services and jobs where government cannot, the AP reports. Behind it lurks the threat of violence or kidnapping, which drug lords carry out with near impunity. "Today, the traffickers have big companies, education,...

Picasso Sketchbook Worth $16M Stolen in Paris

(Newser) - Thieves stole a sketchbook containing 33 Pablo Picasso drawings from the Picasso Museum in Paris, the Daily Mail reports. The security system was somehow disabled and there was no sign of forced entry. The theft occurred sometime last night or early today and resembles the 2007 robbery of the home...

Kung Fu Sect May Have Killed Carradine: Lawyer

Actor 'very interested' in exposing underworld

(Newser) - A secret kung fu sect may have killed actor David Carradine for uncovering its secrets, his family's lawyer says. "If there was some foul play, that that may be the first area where" authorities "should look," Hollywood lawyer Mark Geragos said on Larry King Live. He...

Prisoners Run Crime Ops Via PlayStation

Console used to pass messages, charge cell phones: UK watchdog

(Newser) - Organized criminals use PlayStation and interactive games to pass on orders while behind bars, says a British agency monitoring 5,000 global crime lords. The masterminds also charge illegally kept cell phones through the gaming console. A prison spokesman refuted the charge, saying that only older versions of such devices—...

Economic Crisis Triggers Global Crime Wave
Economic Crisis Triggers Global Crime Wave
ANALYSIS
Apr 7, 2009 8:35 AM CDT

Economic Crisis Triggers Global Crime Wave

Crisis gives globalized crime gangs opportunity to flourish

(Newser) - The global economic crisis has been a massive stimulus package for violent crime worldwide, Michael Klare writes in Salon. Crime syndicates are finding it easy to recruit from the growing ranks of the unemployed and desperate, the professor writes, and their increasing power is weakening the governments of "narco-states"...

Chicago Mob Snitch Gets 12 Years for 14 Murders

Victims outraged

(Newser) - Former Chicago mob hit man Nicholas Calabrese was sentenced to 12 years in prison yesterday, enraging family members of victims who wanted him jailed for life, the Tribune reports. Calabrese admitted to whacking 14 people, but his testimony in the so-called “Family Secrets” trial put away three top mob...

In Credit Crisis, Italians Turn to Mafia

Uncle Tony will be happy to lend you this money you need for a very reasonable APR

(Newser) - In Italy, there’s one industry profiting from the credit freeze: Organized crime. Thanks to its unparalleled liquidity, the mafia has become the lender of choice for many small Italian businesses, NPR reports. An estimated 180,000 have turned to so-called “stranglers,” or loan sharks, who charge annual...

In Japan, Sun Sets on Yakuza Mob Scene

Japan's criminal gangs are losing their semi-legitimate status

(Newser) - The role of the yakuza in Japanese society has always been hard for Westerners to understand. Since the 1950s the mafia-like organization has been tolerated by government and the public, trusted to run gambling and prostitution rackets with a modicum of respect for social order. But as a tough economy...

Snitch: Gotti Had Neighbor Dissolved in Acid

Gotti allegedly had neighbor killed as revenge for running over son

(Newser) - A mob informant says the body of John Gotti's neighbor was dissolved in a barrel of acid after he was shot on the crime kingpin's orders, the New York Daily News reports. John Favara disappeared after accidentally killing Gotti's 12-year-old son in a 1980 traffic accident. Police believe he was...

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