Bilal Hamze

Police have made a potential breakthrough in the investigation into the underworld killing of Sydney crime figure Bilal Hamze, 34. Hamze was killed in a brazen drive-by execution on Bridge Street in June this year outside a restaurant in Sydney after an underworld contract was placed on his head by a rival criminal group. Hamze was the cousin of Brothers 4 Life leader Bassam Hamzy. Bassam Hamzy is currently serving time in Goulburn Supermax over a litany of crimes.

See ----->Oz gangster Mejid Hamzy whacked - Brothers 4 Life

B.C. reaches forfeiture agreement in money laundering scheme

The province will keep more than $1.2m in cash, casino chips, gift cards and personal property, including jewelry, which was seized in a 2015 police raid. Caixuan Qin was accused of helping to run an underground bank in Richmond for Chinese gamblers.

2375 Burquitlam Dr. formerly owned by Caixuan Qin.

The purchase of the six bedroom, six bathroom home by a co-worker involved was stopped when the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office became aware. The office was suspicious the buyer was not at arm’s length, the price was too low, and the purchase money was “tainted.” The freeze order stipulated the property could only be sold to a “bona fide” third person at fair market value.

Caixuan Qin.

Ultimately, the court approved the most recent sale. Half the proceeds of the heavily mortgaged property goes to forfeiture. Caixuan Qin and spouse Jian Jun Zhu were named in the civil forfeiture suit that sought to seize the Vancouver home and another $2m in cash. Qin and Zhu operated Silver International that laundered as much as $220m a year. Criminal charges for money laundering were stayed in Nov 2018.

Jian Jun Zhu.

See ----->Money launderer Paul King Jin shot, Jian Jun Zhu murdered

Russian invade

Type in the above to Google and there will be a zillion hits related to one country. If you guessed Ukraine, congratulations. Putin has deployed 40 "battalion tactical groups" (BTGS) to the border with the former Soviet state. Russia is said to have 94,000 troops, 1,200 tanks, 1,600 pieces of the artillery, 330 aircraft, 75 warships and six submarines in the region.

Ukrainian commander Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Kiev's defence intelligence agency, laid out the scale of the attack involving some 100,000 soldiers. Budanov added Russia will first attempt to further destabilize Ukraine by stoking unrest, protests and attempting to undermine president Volodymyr Zelensky. He blamed the ongoing border crisis between Belarus and Ukraine on the Russians.

U.K.'s Aimee Patterson avoids jail for shotgun

Cops found a black bag containing a 9mm Grand Power pistol and a shotgun concealed in the garden of Aimee Patterson. Patterson, 24, was handed a community order after pleading guilty to possession of a shotgun. The judge said “She is 25 tomorrow, she is described in her psychiatric report as vulnerable. A shotgun was found in her garden at her house, it was not hers and had been put there by others."

"There are issues with her mental health.”

Kie Connor

Things didn't go as well for Kie Connor, 19. “Mr Connor, I have seen the photo of you in the balaclava holding the machete, and the various messages about paying for a firearm." He was jailed for 66 months and banned from driving for 33 months. Connor was seen on various Snapchat videos played to a court pointing a handgun and pulling the trigger, as well as filming ammunition

Gangsters use truck fitted with ram in prison breakout of Mexican boss

Mexican gangsters used a convoy of vehicles to ram into a prison in Tula, north of Mexico City, and set free nine people. Several vehicles, including a truck with homemade armor-plating, were used as part of the dramatic breakout.

The Pueblos Unidos Cartel is dedicated to the theft of fuel in the Hidalgo region.

Soldiers, police, and the national guard launched a manhunt to find the escapees. Freedom found José Artemio Maldonado Mejía, "El Michoacano," leader of a local crime group Pueblos Unidos.

Mejía had been in custody for only a week before the breakout.

Jury Convicts Gypsy Jokers MC

A federal jury in Portland found two members of the Gypsy Jokers guilty of kidnapping and murder in aid of racketeering for the 2015 kidnapping and murder of Robert Huggins, a Portland resident and former club member. National president Mark Leroy Dencklau, 61, and Chad Leroy Erickson, 51, were found guilty of murder in aid of racketeering; kidnapping in aid of racketeering, resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death.

Since the 1980s, the club has been active in Oregon and Washington and operated six clubhouses in the Pacific Northwest. The club also has international chapters in Germany, Australia, and Norway.

Huggins was tortured and killed.

GoFundMe removes Oz Hells Angels fundraiser

A GoFundMe page set up to help a group of Hells Angels bikies accused of murder with legal fees has been pulled down for breaching the site’s terms of service. The page was set up to raise money for seven members and one associate facing murder charges in connection to the murder of Jason De Ieso. The money plea was established by a close associate of the group who asked the public for donations for the Hells Angels North Crew who were “facing some serious legal problems”.

“Hello my dear brothers, as some of you are aware our brothers are facing a some serious legal problems. We are asking for as much support and donations as we can get for our brothers, any little bit helps.” De Ieso, who was an innocent bystander in a feud between the Hells Angels and rival Finks, was killed in 2012 at his Pooraka workshop in Adelaide.

Nine men were shown in CCTV footage walking towards the building before the incident, with at least six carrying guns.

Gangster linked to unsolved art heist 30 years after his death

Donati was found in the trunk of his Cadillac having been stabbed repeatedly and had had his throat slashed.

Bobby Donati tried to sell a bronze eagle sculpture taken in the raid on Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner museum before his death a year later, retired appraiser Paul Calantropo revealed. The expert said he recognised it as one of the 13 items stolen — which also included Rembrandt paintings — and told the mobster it was worthless due to its infamy. He told Donati: ‘Jesus Bobby, why didn’t you steal the Mona Lisa?’

The pair never met again and a year later Donati was attacked outside his home in New England and murdered.

Calantropo said he believes the convicted robber and thief took the secret of the hidden loot to his grave. Two men dressed as police officers walked out of the museum with the $500m haul of art on March 18, 1990. It remains the biggest art heist ever on American soil. Those paintings were Rembrandt’s “Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” and Vermeer’s “The Concert,” which were among the 13 artworks taken in a theft that remains one of the highest-profile unsolved crimes in Boston history.

See ----->Last mobster tied to Boston art heist dies

Thomas Farese busted again

The DoJ announced Nov. 19 that Thomas Farese, 79, and Domenic Gatto, 47, have been charged with health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud and other crimes totaling $25m in losses by Medicare, Tricare and CHAMPVA, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health program for eligible veterans' spouses and children. Its the second time in seven months the men have faced charges for health care fraud: in April, they and others were charged with conspiracy and committing fraud, bilking government health programs of $65m.

Thomas Farese (aka Tom Mix), the former consiglieri and street boss for the Colombo crime family was reportedly at the top of the scheme, which involved “durable medical equipment and genetic cancer screening.” Prosecutors called Farese "a capo in the Colombo organized crime family" with "contacts throughout the world to facilitate money-laundering transactions."

Leonardo Rizzuto wins appeal

The Quebec Court of Appeal has rejected the Crown’s appeal of a lower court decision to exclude evidence seized from the home of Montreal Mafia boss Leonardo Rizzuto six years ago that resulted in him being acquitted on cocaine and firearms-related charges. The son of Vito Rizzuto was acquitted of charges of gangsterism and conspiracy to traffic cocaine. A judge previously ruled that cops illegally wiretapped Rizzuto and Stefano Sollecito lawyer’s office.

The men were arrested in 2015.

With the evidence from the wiretaps excluded, the only evidence that remained, in terms of supporting the search warrant, was a statement from a police informant.