Brazil captures Mexican Cartel Boss Jose Gonzalez Valencia

Brazilian police have arrested Jose Gonzalez Valencia, 42, a Mexican drug boss in a blow to one of the most powerful organizations in Mexico's criminal underworld. Valenchia is a leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Once little-known, the CJNG has grown in recent years to challenge the Sinaloa Cartel's dominance.

Gonzalez Valencia was arrested at a beach resort near the coastal city of Fortaleza. Gonzalez Valencia is the brother of Abigael Gonzalez Valencia, a CJNG leader captured in February 2015. Gonzalez Valencia was due to be extradited straight to the US from Brazil.

Mobster Vincent Asaro sentenced to 8 years for road rage arson

For nearly 50 years wise guy Vincent Asaro has escaped conviction on an array of criminal charges, having been accused — and then acquitted — of, among other things, strangling a man with a dog chain and taking part in the infamous Lufthansa heist in 1978. Now age 82, Asaro was sentenced to eight years in prison for what may be the pettiest allegation he has ever faced: ordering his underlings to set fire to the car of a motorist who cut him off in traffic in Queens.

Vincent Asaro, center, with John Gotti.

Asaro held various positions in the Bonanno crime family, and he is alleged to have engaged not just in murder, but also bookmaking, loan-sharking, extortion and robbing delivery trucks. He has largely managed to avoid being punished. Asaro was acquitted at the Lufthansa trial two years ago. Judge Ross herself presided at the trial and noted that, despite the jury’s verdict, she was “firmly convinced” that the government had proved its case.

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/11/prosecutors-seek-15-year-sentence-for.html
See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/09/bonanno-family-mob-boss-and-gotti.html

Conman ran $10M fraud from his prison cell

Conman Jimmy Sabatino can’t keep himself from committing crimes — even when he’s locked up. Sabatino pleaded guilty to running a $10.4 million fraud from inside his cell at the Federal Detention Center in Miami earlier this year. Sabatino will serve his time in the notorious “Supermax” federal prison in Colorado and be banned from having any contact with anyone except his stepmother and his two attorneys.

The judge sentenced him to the maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.

Sabatino, who is associated with the Gambinos, is prohibited from communicating with any member or associate of the Mafia. “I don’t apologize to nobody,” Sabatino said before sentencing.

Sabatino persuaded two federal corrections officers at the detention center to provide him with a total of five cellphones. The officers lost their jobs but have not been criminally charged. He pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy that involved using the smuggled cellphones to dupe luxury retailers into sending expensive jewelry, watches and other items to his associates.

Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio

Colavecchio’s enterprise has been described by the Secret Service as the largest coin counterfeiting case in the department’s history.

Louis 'The Coin' Colavecchio earned his nickname for the immense amount of counterfeit coins he created over the years. He was one of the first men to successfully produce counterfeit coins that could deceive the software inside slot machines into thinking they were real. He was able to win hundreds of thousands of dollars from casinos across Atlantic City and surrounding areas without ever having to wager any money of his own.

During the counterfeiting process, Colavecchio was very meticulous about every detail that went on the coin. He was nervous the first time he went to Caesar’s Palace with the fake coin, but it worked flawlessly. Colavecchio was able to play the slots for hours. He made thousands of dollars a night doing this, all of which he used to maintain his prestigious lifestyle.

Caesar’s took their annual coin inventory and noticed they had a surplus of $10 slot machine coins. They investigated, and that’s when they discovered that the extra coins were actually premium counterfeits. They sent word to all casinos in the area; Bally’s Park Place and Showboat Casinos checked for fake tokens and immediately found them. The security of Caesar’s Palace and all casinos in Atlantic City were on the lookout. When Colavecchio arrived the following weekend his behavior caught the attention of the guards. They watched him closely for hours, making a point to identify which machines he was using. Police opened up the machines, only to find an array of counterfeit coins.

Soon after he was taken into custody. The police found 750 pounds of counterfeit coins stashed away in his car. Casinos filed charges against Colavecchio, who agreed to tell them how he had made the tokens in exchange for a lighter sentence. He was sentenced to a total of seven years in prison. The Providence Journal reported that after he spent more than two years in federal prison, he was paid $18,000 by the feds as a consultant to explain why his manufacturing dies outlast those of the U.S. Mint. Nowadays, most casinos don’t even use coins for their slot machines. Most machines are electronic and work off of a reloadable card or paper vouchers that can later be transferred to currency. We can thank Louis “The Coin” Colavecchio.

Australia seizes 1.2 tonnes of Meth

Authorities in Western Australia have seized a record 1.2 metric tonne shipment of methamphetamine. The meth haul, worth 1.04 billion Australian dollars ($800 million), is the largest in Australian history.

The meth is believed to have originated in China.

After being transferred from a ship off the coast, the drugs were offloaded from a vessel, the Valkoista, in the early hours and were being packed into a white van in the Port of Geraldton, 400 km (around 250 miles) north of Perth. Agents swarmed the van and the ship simultaneously, arresting six Australians. Police seized 59 bags of meth, also referred to as ice in Australia, each weighing 20 kg (44 lb) from the van, as well as one additional 20 kg bag from the Valkoista. The total haul of 1.2 tonnes of the drug outweighed Australia's previous biggest methamphetamine seizure in Melbourne -- 903 kg -- at the beginning of the year

High-end robbery ring dismantled in Montreal

Mario Stephano Guillerno Astudillo Olivares, 26, Hans Leonardo Llanquinao Gonzalez, 37, Carlos Mendez, 40, Enrique Felipe Mendez, 24, Luis Tito Parades Pinedo, 51, Simon Perez, 50, and Hugo David Ruiz Santibanez, 41.

Montreal police say they have dismantled a ring of thieves that have been breaking into luxury homes and businesses. They say an organized group of South American suspects is behind the 130 break-ins since June 2016. Heads of the network frequently used people with precarious status in Canada, such as foreign visitors, to commit robberies. In the past month, police have carried out nine raids and made 12 arrests in Montreal, Boucherville and Laval, linking the suspects to the rash of break-ins.

Frank "Bobo" Marrapese dies in Prison

Mafia capo Frank "Bobo" Marrapese Jr., long known as one of the most vicious enforcers for New England crime boss Raymond L.S. Patriarca, died early Friday morning at Rhode Island Hospital. The notorious mobster was serving time for murder, racketeering and extortion.

Raymond L.S. Patriarca

He operated the Acorn Social Club in the heart of Federal Hill, where he shot mob associate Richard "Dickie" Callei to death on March 15, 1975 and had the corpse buried near a golf course. It took nearly a decade to catch Marrapese for that murder. He continued to commit other crimes, such as a hijacking case involving La-Z-Boy recliners in the early 1980s. Marrapese was convicted of Callei's murder in 1987 and served 25 years. He was released on parole in 2008, but was among two dozen people arrested in a gambling ring in May 2011 and was sentenced in 2013 to nine years for racketeering and extortion.

While Marrapese has spent most of his life in prison, not all of the charges stuck. He was acquitted in the murder of Anthony "The Moron" Mirabella at Fidas Restaurant in May 1982, as well as the August 1982 murder of Ronald McElroy, who was beaten to death with a baseball bat.

Baltimore Police Good and Corrupt

Antonio Shropshire

An investigation links Baltimore Detective Sean Suiter to the drug kingpin whose case brought down a team of Baltimore police officers. Antonio Shropshire stood trial in October with four others. A jury found all five guilty on federal drug charges. The Shropshire drug ring eventually exposed police misconduct. In March seven Baltimore City police officers were indicted for a racketeering conspiracy. The accused officers were robbing victims, filing false affidavits, and made fraudulent overtime claims while they vacationed and gambled at casinos.

Detective Sean Suiter was killed in November with his own gun, which was found at the scene.

Cops identified were Momodu Bondeva Kenton Gondo, Wayne Earl Jenkins, Evodio Calles Hendrix, Maurice Kilpatrick Ward, Jemell Lamar Rayam, Daniel Thomas Hersl and Marcus Roosevelt Taylor. All were suspended without pay and are in custody of the FBI. Hersl “readily admits” to “bad conduct” in taking money from arrestees. But his lawyer plans to argue to a jury that he had the legal authority to stop people and seize drugs, guns and money. Any money then “converted for personal use” is theft, not robbery or extortion. Hersl was featured in a 2014 story which examined police lawsuit settlements. He had amassed 29 complaints. From 2007 to 2010, the city paid $200k to settle three lawsuits against Hersl. He broke a man’s jaw and nose, broke a woman’s arm, and arrested a woman who was selling church raffle tickets.

Cash in Transit Heist - Uruguay

A gang of armed robbers opened fire on security guards before making off with the loot in a 20-second heist. The eight men fired more than 30 shots at their victims using weapons including a machine gun in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. No one was hurt. The criminals got away with seven million Uruguayan pesos, about $ 225,000.

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/12/cash-in-transit-heists-cit.html
See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/10/cash-in-transit-heists-big-business-for.html

Former Manitoba HA president Dale Sweeney denied parole - “risk to society”

Former president of the Hells Angels in Manitoba, Dale Sweeney, 47 has been denied parole. The Parole Board of Canada says he is a "risk to society." Sweeney was given a 11-year prison sentence for running a lucrative cocaine operation in Winnipeg in 2013. Sweeney admitted he ran the sophisticated drug dealing operation, which saw between one and two kilograms of cocaine being sold each month on Winnipeg streets. Sweeney bought cocaine from suppliers in British Columbia and then handed it off to the Redlined Support Crew, a puppet gang of the Hells Angels, who turned the cocaine into crack cocaine and sold it in smaller amounts through street dealers. The operation generated sales of more than $100,000 per month.

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/01/crown-seeks-4-years-for-hells-angels.html

HA Robin Moulton and girlfriend Marie Bugay stay jailed

Full-patch Robin Moulton and Marie Antonette Bugay will spend Christmas behind bars. Both face numerous drug and weapons charges. Their matter was set to February 8th. Both have been in custody since August when they were arrested as part of an investigation into the Hells Angels in New Brunswick. Moulton is facing 12 charges, most relating to illegal firearms. Despite a lifetime weapons ban he is accused of possessing a high-powered rifle with a silencer and a loaded 9-mm handgun.

Marie Antonette Bugay covers her face as she leaves the Fredericton courthouse

Bugay is charged jointly with Moulton on seven of the offences, plus three of her own, including possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Bugay is known as the secretary of the Atlantic Confederation of Clubs and Independents. The ACC describes itself as a non-profit group that fights "biker discrimination and profiling."

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/08/hells-angels-mc-nomads-nb-member.html
See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/07/motorcycle-association-speaks-out.html

Quebec Hells Angels oppose Fentanyl - Report

Traffickers in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood, who cut their drugs with fentanyl to boost their profits, "ate a lot" of hired thugs sent by the bikers according to a report from sources, both from the policing community, and close to the underworld. The Hells message has spread like wildfire in the network of hard drug dealers in the city. The Hells say they do not want to know anything about fentanyl and they don't touch it. But the fact remains that it is still sold on 'their' territory say police. The Hells Angels control the provincial drug market like never before in 40 years in Quebec.

The Hells responded after heroin and cocaine traffickers were labeled with "low-scale" biker relations after busts that saw 80 dealers charged. Many of these defendants remain in pretrial detention or have been released on stringent bail conditions while awaiting trial. As a result, the number of fentanyl overdoses decreased significantly in Montreal. The SPVM and the SQ had made fighting fentanyl one of their priorities after seven fatal overdoses occurred in a single day in Montreal on August 18th.

Hells Angels tried to sell NSW Police its own stolen gun back

Hours after detective Mark Ellims left his police-issued firearm in a backpack under a table at McDonald’s, police were faced with a difficult choice. They could heed to the demands of the Hells Angels and pay thousands of dollars to get the gun back, or risk letting it circulate in Sydney’s underworld, hoping one day it turned up. The police chose the latter. The bet paid off. A few months later the stolen gun was discovered during a raid in Sydney’s southwest.

In April, 2013, an officer who was with colleagues at McDonald’s in Mascot accidentally left his back pack — with his Glock and ammunition inside — in the fast food restaurant. He raced back to find it less than an hour later, but local thief Benjamin John Aurisch had made already the most of the opportunity and pinched it. CCTV from inside McDonald’s captured Aurisch curiously peering at the unattended bag as he walked past it several times. He eventually rummaged through it and hit the jackpot. By the time police caught up with him hours later, Aurisch had already off-loaded the gun. The police gun passed through several hands until it reached the local Hells Angels bikie gang chapter. Aurisch was sentenced to a year for the theft.

Tramadol fueling terror in parts of Africa

The UN says the trade and growing abuse of tramadol, a synthetic opioid, are destabilizing parts of West Africa. The nonmedical use of tramadol has become a major health crisis in areas like northern Mali and Niger. Less stigmatized than other opioids, tramadol as a prescription medication can be accessed and transported more easily.

Tramadol is being used as a money generator for terror groups.

Tramadol can produce similar effects as other opioid medications, such as morphine and oxycodone. It gives users a sense of detachment from reality and makes them delusional. Tramadol is regularly found in the pockets of suspects arrested for terrorism. The dosage used is often four or five times higher than the recommended dose. More than 3 tons of the drug were seized last year in sub-Saharan Africa, up from 300 kilograms four years ago.

Thai Hells Angels under siege

34-year-old Luke Joshua Cook and his Thai wife Kanyarat Wedphitak were arrested at Bangkok's main airport on Saturday for attempting to smuggle half a tonne of crystal meth into Thailand in 2015. Cook's arrest comes amid a widening crackdown against the Hells Angels, who have chapters in Bangkok and Pattaya.

Cook is believed to have helped Australian Antonio Bagnato, 28, escape to Cambodia after the murder of Wayne Schneider.

Authorities describe the HA as a "big transnational crime organisation which is escalating its operations in Thailand" The Australian Hells Angels are notorious for prostitution, racketeering, drugs and arms trafficking, and they have expanded operations into Thailand as authorities tighten the noose on their home soil.

See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/12/oz-hells-angels-bikie-arrested-for.html
See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2017/12/hells-angels-busted-in-pattaya-thailand.html
See ----->http://gangstersoutt.blogspot.ca/2016/11/bagnato-pleads-not-guilty-in-thai.html