Cocaine laced with fentanyl on the rise

Kate Quigley, Fuquan Johnson

Drug dealers are increasingly selling cocaine that is laced with fentanyl and the results are deadly. Comedian Fuquan Johnson and two others died after overdosing on cocaine laced with fentanyl. Model Kate Quigley was in critical condition. In Suffolk County there were 6 fatal overdoses in 3 days. These weren't hardened addicts, but mostly recreational cocaine users.

In 2020 over 93,000 died from an overdose in the United States, the highest number ever recorded and a 30% percent increase over the previous year.

Katie's Revenge

Child molesters are well hated in prison. Anthony Ray Stockelman is a convicted child killer who will likely spend the rest of his life in solitary. The reason? He has the name of his victim on his forehead for all other inmates to see. Stockelman was sunk by his DNA on a cigarette butt near the crime scene. The DNA was an ironclad case against him and he plead guilty in exchange for having the death penalty taken off the table.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 30 years, but his problems were just beginning.

Stockelman’s time was going to be harder because someone related to his victim was also imprisoned at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. Katie’s cousin, 22-year-old Jared Harris had gone to prison in 2000 for burglary and was in the same wing as Anthony Stockelman.

Harris and another inmate gave Stockelman a choice. He could either be stabbed to death or have a tattoo on his forehead. He choose the later. Anthony Ray Stockelman has remained in a private cell. He eats alone, has recreation alone, and keeps to himself when possible. A medical practitioner has since agreed to remove the tattoo free of charge. Some might consider that a shame.

Katie Collman

Mexican cartels shaking up the cocaine trade

Mexican cartels are taking a new approach to the cocaine trade, shipping coca base out of Colombia and processing it in Mexico. Coca base is cheaper but just as risky to smuggle. Why the change? Colombia restricted access to precursor chemicals needed to produce cocaine five years ago.

Those efforts have succeeded. Precursors are now easier to obtain and cheaper in Mexico.

Cops in a drug lab in Sinaloa.

Mexico's Pacific coast ports are entry points for precursors from China, and fighting among criminal groups for control of those ports has increased. Cartels produce their own meth and fentanyl, and processing cocaine base is less technically difficult. Converting coca base to refined cocaine yields similar amounts, so there's no less bulk if smugglers ship powder cocaine or coca base. Some Mexican cartels are sourcing cocaine base from 'campesinos', or peasant farmers, cutting out Colombian middlemen.

Shifting processing to Mexico is a way to lower costs and increase profit margins ... the same behavior expected of any business.

Hunt for mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro - Diabolik

It has been a good year for the capture of Italy’s most wanted criminals. Raffaele Imperiale, a Mafia drugs baron was scooped up in Dubai. Francesco Pelle, the boss of a leading crime family, was arrested in March in Lisbon. Rocco Morabito, the one-time “cocaine king of Milan” was nailed in Brazil two months later, while a host of other top Italian mafia figures have also been arrested. Number one on the list is Matteo Messina Denaro - Diabolik.

Rare photo of Matteo Messina Denaro

In 2019, 200 cops searched farmhouses and warehouses belonging to around 30 suspected gangsters in and around Castelvetrano, the mafia boss’ Sicilian hometown. Diabolik was not found. While his location is unknown, Italian authorities believe the 59-year-old is hiding in Sicily.

Diabolik

Denaro, who once bragged he could “fill a cemetery” with his victims, has been on the run since 1993 and is believed to come and go regularly from the Italian island. He is also on Europol’s list of the most wanted fugitives. Despite this, he is thought to have succeeded the late Totò Riina as boss of the Casa Nostra. He is wanted for a string of crimes including dozens of murders. A trial got underway in the Sicilian town of Caltanissetta earlier this year in which Denaro is also accused of being among those who ordered the murders of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.

An Italian court sentenced Matteo Messina Denaro to life imprisonment over his role in a bombing campaign which claimed the lives of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, as well as many others. Denaro, 58, went into hiding in 1993 and is considered the most high-profile fugitive of the Sicilian Mafia. Denaro was already overdue to serve several life sentences for murder. Authorities have tried to close the net on him for years and arrested dozens of his relatives and aides. Diabolik remains an enigma. Few would recognize Matteo Messina Denaro, but he is one of the most sought after fugitives in the world.

Salvatore “Toto” Riina died in 2018

Denaro was born into mafia greatness. His father was a high-ranking mafioso and his son quickly became favored by boss Salvatore 'Toto' Riina. Denaro established himself as a reliable foot soldier with a talent for murder. “Riina loved him.” Denaro has overwhelming influence and protection from the Provenzano and Graviano clans. Bernardo Provenzano was a Sicilian "boss of bosses" who was head of the Corleonesi, a crime organization based in Corleone, Sicily; the inspiration for The Godfather movie franchise. With a feared reputation for brutality none will betray Denaro.

Haney HA boss Michael “Spike” Hadden memorial

Representative Hells Angels from every chapter across Canada arrived at a church in Langley to pay last respects to Hadden, who died of cancer last month. Cops estimated 1500 were in attendance. Hadden was a founding member of the Haney chapter when it started in 1987.

Bada Bing Whacked

The strip club from The Sopranos was sent to sleep with the fishes in 2017. Satin Dolls, the New Jersey club known as the Bada Bing from HBO’s Sopranos, ceased operations because of its real-life Mafia ties.

Anthony Cardinalle, a gangster connected to the Genovese crime family defied an order from the Division of Alcohol Beverage Control that barred the family from running the Satin Dolls and another lounge, A.J.’s Gentleman’s Club. The owners of the clubs, who were mobsters, also “failed to account for large amounts of cash flowing in and out of the businesses.” The feds indicted Cardinalle 'Tony' in January 2013 for his part in a conspiracy related to the waste-disposal industry in New Jersey and New York.

Cardinalle pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit extortion.

Western Block Alfonso Cano lose another big cocaine shipment

The Colombian Navy seized a semi-submersible carrying 1.8 tonnes of cocaine. It belonged to FARC splinter group the Western Block Alfonso Cano. FARC officially laid down arms in a peace deal in 2016, but dissident factions continue to operate in the country's rural southwest and east, key cocaine producing and smuggling areas. The semisubmersible's crew abandoned ship and swam to shore, escaping into the jungle. Colombian marines found 90 sacks of one-kilo bricks. The total haul was 1,870 kilos, with an estimated wholesale value over $60m.

The Colombian Navy has seized 5.8 tonnes of cocaine of the Alfonso Cano group over the past month.

Huge cartel grow op busted in Oregon

Cops confiscated a massive amount of marijuana and a handful of weapons from a 30-acre property in Alfalfa, east of Bend, Oregon. Cops found over 9,000 marijuana plants in 49 greenhouses, 2,800 pounds of processed pot, an AR-15 rifle and two pistols. Police say most of the laborers at the site were Mexican nationals who were illegally trafficked into the United States to work at the grow op. Greenhouses contained thousands of plants at various growth stages, and over 1,400 kilos of processed pot. The grows divert or steal significant water, a valuable commodity in the arid central Oregon high desert.

Mounties grab 552 kg cocaine from burning sailboat

RCMP have seized 552 kg of cocaine from a sailboat off the coast of Nova Scotia. As the Canadian Coast Guard and cops moved to intercept a suspicious boat, it burst into flames.

Karin Marley Simons, 32, and Aleck Villeneuve, 28, face charges of conspiracy to import narcotics. Simons is wanted. He gave dopey cops the slip in hospital. Villenuve made headlines in 2018 when his rental home drug lab in Kelowna blew up.

Eduardo Arellano Felix freedom short lived

One of the notorious Felix brothers has been arrested on his arrival in his homeland. Eduardo Arellano Felix was deported to Mexico from the US after serving most of a 15-year prison sentence. He now faces organized crime and drug trafficking charges.

Famous for its brutal control of the drug trade in the border city of Tijuana in the 1990s, the cartel is a shadow of its former self. The family slowly lost its grip along California’s border with Mexico over the past decade as the 7 brothers were picked off, one by one.