Al Capone's soup kitchen

Chicago shivered through a bleak November in 1930. More than 75,000 jobless Chicago citizens lined up to register for relief. A week later the Chicago Tribune reported that a benefactor had rented a storefront and opened a soup kitchen and it was none other than the city’s king of booze, beer and vice. Capone’s soup kitchen served breakfast, lunch and dinner to an average of 2,200 every day. By Thanksgiving that number was over 5,000.

None felt conflicted taking charity from a gangster. The Bismarck Tribune noted, “a hungry man is just as glad to get soup and coffee from Al Capone as from anyone else.” Capone was never photographed in his soup kitchen but the publicity was intense. The Daily Independent of Murphysboro, Illinois, expressed displeasure at the adulation bestowed upon Capone. “If anything were needed to make the farce of Gangland complete, it is the Al Capone soup kitchen,” it editorialized. “It would be rather terrifying to see Capone run for mayor of Chicago. We are afraid he would get a tremendous vote. It is even conceivable that he might be elected after a few more stunts like his soup kitchens.”

No amount of publicity would save Capone from being found guilty of income-tax evasion in November 1931.

Money launderer Paul King Jin and wife Xiaoqui Wei

A notice of civil claim filed by B.C.'s Director of Civil Forfeiture names Paul King Jin as the manager of World Champion Club, a mixed martial arts and fitness centre that operates out of a warehouse at 12851 No. 5 Road. The property was assessed last year at $7.7m. Jin’s wife, Xiaoqi Wei, is the corporate secretary of Warrior Fighting Dream, while Jin’s son, Jesse Xin Jia, is a director. 1219598 BC Ltd. holds a mortgage against the property. It was registered Aug. 15, 2019 – one day after the company was incorporated.

Documents allege that Jin has been involved in large scale money laundering for years – claims that have been made against him in other cases. “Mr. Jin has been engaged in large-scale money laundering activities involving licensed casinos, illegal gaming houses and an unlicensed financial institution since in or about 2012.” Jin was banned from casinos for five years, beginning in 2012, due to loan-sharking.

“Between June 27, 2012 and June 24, 2015, there were 140 casino transactions totalling $23,501,456 ... involving Mr. Jin and associates.” Jin was a target of E-Pirate, which began in 2015. He wasn't charged. Charges against the operators of an illegal bank called Silver International were also stayed. Jin was also the subject of a CFSEU probe into illegal gambling houses, dubbed E-Nationalize. Cops say Jin's crimes include possession of the proceeds of crime, conspiracy, money laundering, keeping a common gaming house, extortion and failure to declare taxable income.

Luck runs out for NB drug dealer Bain

The raid on Nicholas (Nick) Bain, 25, lead to a large seizure of drugs and firearms earlier this year in NB. Cops also seized 3kg of cocaine and 5.5kg of meth.

31 long guns and 22 handguns, 25 of them prohibited were seized.

The raid produced a warrant on May 27 for Bain's arrest. He managed to elude capture for almost 3 months.

Caloh Wagoh - 'Keylow'

When Dutch cops opened a shipping container on a farm in June they found it had been converted into a torture chamber, with walls covered in sound insulation and a dentist’s chair equipped with arm and leg restraints, as well as handcuffs, hacksaws and pliers. An informant inside Caloh Wagoh, a violent Dutch motorcycle gang, emerged when it's leader, 'Keylow', had been arrested and charged with running a murder-for-hire scheme. Caloh Wagoh was hired to carry out 11 hits for Moroccan-Dutch drug kingpin Ridouan Taghi, 42.

170kg heroin lassoed in Atlanta

Ledgers showed from Aug 2018 to Oct 2019 Daniels received over 1,000 kg of cocaine and heroin and returned more than $31m to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

Atlanta cops have seized around 170kg of heroin, 10 kg of cocaine, 8 kg of pot, over $1.5m in cash, and 41 firearms. Antonio DaShawn Daniels, 46, 'Freckleface Shawn' was the ringleader.

Daniels operated in “The Bluff.” The English Avenue neighborhood has been notorious as an open-market drug bazaar since the 1980s. It is often called the heroin capital of the South.

Netherlands' largest cocaine lab busted

Dutch police raided the facility in the central city of Apeldoorn, and arrested 17, most Colombians. As well as equipment and tens of thousands of litres of chemicals, cops found 100kg of cocaine base.

They also found 120 tonnes of what they described as "carrier material". This was described as clothing which is laced with cocaine. The drug is then removed in a chemical process at its destination. The lab was housed inside an old riding school in Nijeveen, around 75 miles northeast of Amsterdam. Production capacity was around 150 to 200 kilos of cocaine per day.

1.5 tonnes of Cocaine landed in Hamburg

Customs officials in the port of Hamburg in Germany have unearthed one of the largest single cocaine hauls at the northern German port in recent years.

Cocaine was found stashed in a container with a rice shipment from Guyana aboard the container vessel, CMA CGM Jean Gabriel. It had been scheduled to be transshipped to Poland. The value of the high purity product is more than US$350m. Various symbols were on the bricks, including a cat's face, the Gallic rooster, and the Ampelmännchen.

Sicarrio hit captured on camera

Sicario executed Ulises Rocha in front of security cameras and onlookers in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Mexico's murder rate reached another all-time high in the first half of 2020.

Chinatown gangster 'Fat Mark' who bribed Oakland cop gets life

Wing Wo Ma, 'Fat Mark', was sentenced to life in federal prison for murdering a husband and wife in Mendocino County. Ma, of Oakland, shot and killed Jim Tat Kong and Cindy Bao Feng Chen execution style in Fort Bragg in October 2013. Ma had borrowed money for a failed marijuana grow and a real estate scheme and his various scams were crashing down. After the killings, he called his longtime cop handler: former Oakland lieutenant, Harry Hu.

Ma was not only a confidential informant for Hu, he was bribing Hu and another Oakland cop with trips to Las Vegas and Reno, picking up tabs for drinks, hotel suites and “company of hostesses” in Vegas bars. Ma also leased a $46,000 car for Hu to use. Hu had helped Ma avoid arrest multiple times over the years. Hu took a plea deal and is scheduled to be sentenced later this month. He faces a one-year federal prison term.

Samark López Bello loses US assets of $318m

U.S. justice has dealt a blow to Samark López. He is frontman for Tareck El Aissami, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's right-hand man.

Seized assets in the United States include a Citibank account with $269m, two yachts, a plane, and luxury properties in Miami. In March the DoJ charged El Aissami and 14 other current and former Venezuelan officials with narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking. Samark López Bello is El Aissami’s principal frontman and owns about a dozen companies linked to Venezuela’s current oil minister. López was sanctioned by the United States in 2017 as a drug lord along with El Aissami. There is a reward of up to $10m for information leading to El Aissami’s arrest.