Putin's yacht in jeopardy - Scheherazade

The Scheherazade is a large superyacht, completed by Lurssen in 2020. The yacht has a length of 140 meters. Displacement is 10,167 tons. It is the 12th largest yacht in the world, with a maximum speed above 18 knots. US officials are examining the ownership of the $700m superyacht, currently in a dry dock at an Italian seacoast town. They believe it is associated with President Vladimir V. Putin. The New York Times reported that a former crew member said it was for the exclusive use of Putin. Putin has spent large amounts of time in the Russian resort city of Sochi on the Black Sea. The Scheherazade made trips to Sochi in the summers of 2020 and 2021.

Óscar Moreno Ricardo - narcosub builder

Colombia netted the country's king of drug submarines in January. Moreno Ricardo's involvement in the drug trade dates to 2005 when he piloted gofast boats. Five years ago he started manufacturing ever improving semi-submersibles. Business was excellent, Ricardo had links to several criminal groups, including Colombia's Urabeños drug clan; Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN); and Mexico's Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG).

Narcosubs require a large investment, but their advantages in maritime drug smuggling are well proven. Colombia seized 31 vessels in 2021, a jump from 23 in 2019.

See ----->DEA busts $1.5m electric narcosub

Germany seizes $594m superyacht 'Dilbar'

Crew is 96, with room for 24 passengers in 12 suites. It has the largest pool ever installed on a yacht, two helicopter pads, a sauna, a beauty salon and a gym.

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s superyacht, Dilbar, the world’s largest by displacement, was seized by German authorities in Hamburg. It was there being refitted. The EU adopted sanctions on six of Russia’s wealthiest men, including Usmanov, who called the decision 'unfair' and 'defamatory.'

The yacht Amore Vero, owned by Igor Sechin, chief of Russian energy giant Rosneft was seized by France.

The five others sanctioned are Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, Alexey Mordashov, Gennady Timchenko and Alexander Ponomarenko. Biden mentioned Russian yachts in a recent speech ... “We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.” At least five superyachts owned by Russian billionaires are now anchored or cruising in the Maldives, an Indian Ocean island nation with no extradition treaty with the US. The tracking of Russian yachts is the latest internet thing.

See #YachtWatch on Twitter.

See ----->Russian oligarchs losing yachts, villas in Italy

Favor for NL drug dealer = 30 months in jail

Steven Francis Noseworthy was found not guilty of money laundering while Jonathan Brandon Mahon bought copious time.

Nicklaus Travis, 32, was arrested the day he became involved in a drug trafficking operation. He was a pipefitter with no criminal record until the day in 2018 he agreed to do a favour for a man who was “like a brother” to him, Jonathan Mahon. That favour was to pick up cocaine from a courier and take it to a stash house. Travis was the last and smallest player of Project Broken, an RCMP investigation that began in May 2017. It led to the largest single cop seizure of illicit cash in NL history: more than $840k.

The value of the seizure was $1.4m. 6kg of cocaine; firearms; knives; five vehicles, including a Hummer and a Mercedes Benz; 15 phones; jewelry and designer clothing was seized. Mahon pleaded guilty and received seven years along with Michael Smith. Thomas Brown was sentenced to 44 months. Charlotte Toomey bought 30 months.

Matthew Alexander Navas-Rivas whacked - Update II

Kane Carter, 26, has been charged with second degree murder more than four years after an innocent teenager was killed in a public shooting in Vancouver. Alfred Wong, a high school student, was in the back seat of the family car on Jan. 13, 2018, when he was caught in the crossfire of a gunfight. Wong was killed, as was gangster Kevin Whiteside. Cops said Whiteside was in the area to kill Matthew Navas-Rivas, 28, who was dining out in a restaurant.

Kevin Whiteside, 23

Matthew Alexander Navas-Rivas enjoys a cruise a day before he was killed.

Navas-Rivas admitted to other gangsters in the preceding months that he knew he was in danger of being whacked. Navas-Rivas was targeted, as was his close associate Troy McKinnon who was murdered in Nanaimo. Violence occurred in federal prison, including two stabbings of Wolf Pack assassin Dean Wiwchar. Wiwchar was attacked in Kent Institution by inmates associated with McKinnon and Navas-Rivas. Both men were associated with the Wolf Pack.

Matthew Alexander Navas-Rivas became the city's 12th homicide after being shot just before 8 p.m. Navas-Rivas and a friend were walking their dogs when a person approached and shot him at point blank range. He was taken to hospital but died a short time later. His friend was unharmed. Navas-Rivas was very well known to police and was involved in gang activity. He was arrested on 39 gun charges. In 2013 he was convicted of holding a family at gunpoint. Both he and his co-accused in that case, Derek Stephens, are tied to the Independent Soldiers gang.

See ----->Larry Amero, Dean Wiwchar and Rabih Alkhalil in court

Gambino associate guilty in ‘pants on fire’ torching of Mercedes = 10 years

Tuccio was sentenced to a mandatory 10 years and ordered to pay more than $75,000 in restitution.

Peter Tuccio, 27, pleaded guilty to felony extortion for torching the Mercedes of a Queens businessman who stopped making payoffs to a miffed mob captain. The arson didn’t go quite as planned: co-conspirator Gino Gabrielli set himself on fire. Gabrielli, accompanied by Tuccio, turned up at hospital for treatment of 3rd degree burns.

In December 2015, Tuccio and two others chased a businessman at high rates of speed through the streets of Queens. The unnamed businessman wanted to stop making $400 annual extortion payments to a Gambino crime family captain. That didn't go over well. Tuccio is linked to Mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.

Two Narco jets land in Belize in 24 hours - update II

Belize cops have located an empty and abandoned Sabreliner jet. The Sabreliner is an American twin engine business jet first built in 1962. The planes can cost less than $200k and can carry 2 tonnes of cocaine. The second plane is a significantly more expensive 1980s Grumman Gulfstream G-III, which was found empty and buried in the mud. It might be worth $900k if it can be moved.

Two illegal landings were registered in Belize within 24 hours. The first aircraft landed in the north while the second landed in southern Belize, in the area of Graham Creek. Cops have not confirmed the landings but have reason to believe that both planes did land. Teams are currently on their way to the locations. It will take them up to 10 hours to get there. Belize is looking for help from the DEA; "It is challenging for us. We are working with our US counterpart, the DEA, to see what we can do to address the challenges that we are currently facing." Belize doesn't have its own radar tracking or interdiction capability, a fact known well by cocaine traffickers.

See ----->Narco planes in Belize

Russian oligarchs losing yachts, villas in Italy

Gennady Timchenko’s €50m yacht, Lena

Italian cops have seized villas and yachts worth at least €140m from four high profile Russians. Yachts belonging to Russia’s richest man, Alexei Mordashov, and Gennady Timchenko were impounded. A villa owned by billionaire Alisher Usmanov on Sardinia, and a villa on Lake Como owned by Vladimir Soloviev have been seized. Mordashov's 65 metre yacht the “Lady M”

Cartels on the hunt for Galil ACE

Mexican criminals have long been associated with foreign weapons like the AK-47 and M16. Today sicarios favour the Galil ACE, an Israeli rifle that is manufactured in Colombia. The Galil ACE is an official weapon for Mexican and Colombian cops. It is not restricted to use by the army, meaning its not automatically illegal to own.

Mob rat 'Frank Capri' pleads guilty in restaurant scam = 5 years

'Frank Capri' (Frank Gioia Jr.) was sentenced to five years in prison according to his plea agreement.

Frank Gioia Jr, was made and a third-generation soldier of the Lucchese crime family. In 1994 he turned rat after striking a deal with feds. He was released in 1999. As part of his deal, Gioia had his life imprisonment sentence reduced to six years. He went into the federal witness protection program and became Frank Capri. He moved to Arizona and became a conman.

Capri used plans to build up to 20 Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill restaurants to steal millions. Capri took up front fees in exchange for long term leases that weren’t honored.

After the Toby Keith restaurant scam collapsed, Capri orchestrated another - this time using the name of country music act Rascal Flatts. One restaurant opened in Stamford, Connecticut, in Aug 2017. It closed owing $1.2m a year later.

Capri and his companies have been ordered to pay more than $65m. Gioia Jr.'s former associates 'perp walk'

Tawny Costa is the mother of two of Frank Capri's children. She was the moll whose name all the restaurants were registered under.