Sydney gangster Alen Moradian whacked

Before he was gunned down, Alen Moradian was likened by his wife to TV mafia boss Tony Soprano. Moradian, 48, was shot to death in a targeted attack in an underground carpark at Bondi Junction. In 2011 he was sentenced to a maximum of 16 years and nine months after pleading guilty to his role in a cocaine shipment. Moradian was sentenced to a non-parole period of 10 years and five months and was released in December 2017. Moradian imported cocaine and supplied a large commercial quantity of the drug. Moradian decked out his Pennant Hills home with luxury and designer items, cars, and motorcycles. After his bust, Moradian’s lawyer arranged for the surrender of firearms, including a machine gun, grenade launcher and automatic rifle.

Alen “Fathead” Moradian was a major player in organized crime with links to the Comanchero biker gang. Moradian was part of a secret cartel called the Commission, which controls the drug market in Sydney. The two assassins dumped a grey Porsche Macan a few minutes’ drive away. The killers tried and failed to burn the luxury car as they fled, managing only to blacken the windows and partially melt the interior. Cops found a gun inside. Moradian and his wife, Natasha Youkhana, lived a decadent, luxurious lifestyle buying property, designer furniture, jewellery, and luxury travel, all using drug money.

Mexico destroys 14 'monstruos'

The Mexican government destroyed 14 homemade tanks known as “Monsters” used by the country’s narco gangs. The destruction was held in the border town of Reynosa, Tamaulipas. These most recently seized homemade tanks were made by the Gulf Cartel, Zetas and Northeast Cartel.

In the last four years, Tamaulipas state cops have seized 257 similar armored vehicles from narcos. Mexican police battling against the cartels in the area also recently made a high profile arrest, bringing in Salinas Cortinas of the Gulf cartel, whose is nicknamed “La Cabra,” or “The Goat”

Foreign-origin betel nut smuggling lassoed in India

Betel nut is the seed of the fruit of the areca palm. It is also known as areca nut.

Wasim Bawla was busted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Bawla was arrested for smuggling foreign-origin betel nuts through the India-Myanmar border without payment of customs duty. Bogus invoices facilitated the sale and purchase of betel nuts in the Nagpur region of Maharashtra.

Myanmar accounts for more than half of Southeast Asia’s betel consumption.

Use involves the ingestion of a combination of betel leaves and areca nut along with other ingredients. It is common throughout Asia. Today there are about 600 million betel users worldwide. With nicotine, alcohol and caffeine, betel nuts are one of the most popular mind-altering substances in the world. Betel nut is a stimulant and a carcinogen.

5 years for NZ smash and grab robber Christensen

Christensen's lawyer said the poor baby suffered from a “warped unreality” that showed his inability to distinguish between right and wrong.

Bayley James Christensen, 20, was involved in 4 robberies that came to light when cops found pictures on his phone of him with stacks of cash and messages of him boasting about his stolen loot. He appeared at the Christchurch District Court and sat in the dock smirking with his supporters, some of whom sniggered as one of his victims retold the terrifying story of crooks smashing through her store. The victim said she couldn’t find the words to describe the helplessness she felt when the youths burst in, masked and yelling threats while smashing the counter glass with hammers.

'Trump won!' yells Danial Rodriguez as he's put away for 12 years

Daniel (DJ) Rodriguez, 40, yelled, "Trump won!" as he was led out of the courtroom. Its 12 years and seven months behind bars for the retard for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The judge said Rodriguez was "a one-man army of hate, attacking police and destroying property" at the Capitol. Cop Michael Fanone's body camera captured him screaming out in pain after Rodriguez shocked him with a stun gun while he was surrounded by a mob. He later suffered a heart attack.

Tharushan Nirmalachandran busted for lots of drugs

Tharushan Nirmalachandran, 33, of Île-Bizard, and a 38-year-old man from Ontario were arrested and were scheduled to be charged at the Montreal courthouse. Cops landed 38 kg of cocaine, 9 kg of meth, 5 kg of purple fentanyl, and 28,000 speed tablets. Cops also discovered nearly $1 million in cash. Nirmalachandran faces a total of nine charges. Nirmalachandran bought 15 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud in the US in 2020. They used cloned debit cards at ATMs.

Ecuador shrimp mafia - update

A second death in 2023 has been recorded in Ecauador as robbery, extortion, assault, and murder of shrimp farm workers by armed gangs feeding off the lucrative industry rises. In the last three years organized crime groups have murdered seven shrimp farmers, injured at least 60, and stolen shrimp and equipment worth millions. Authorities have proven unable to protect the shrimp sector workers. The entire shrimp sector in the country is under constant attack. Ecuador’s shrimp exports reached a record $3.65 billion in 2021, but that success has also brought organized crime that is beyond control of authorities.

Ecuador’s shrimp industry is a rising economic star, globally. The sector now produces more than $5b in annual exports and has solidified its position as the country’s second-largest industry after oil. China imports almost 900,000 tons of shrimp, of which 70% comes from Ecuador. The Ecuadorian shrimp industry continues to battle rising organized crime attacks. Criminals intercepted a boat working in the shrimp sector in the Gulf of Guayaquil. The attack led to the vessel's operator being taken to a medical facility after receiving first aid.

This year there have been 48 criminal incidents involving the shrimp sector, leaving 31 people injured.

A trade body is working with the police and navy to concentrate their efforts in areas such as kilometre 26 of the Naranjal road, the Gulf of Guayaquil (Puerto Roma and Punta Piedra) and the Jambelí Archipelago.  Compared to the same period last year, theft from sites has increased by 35%, and feed theft by 100%. At the same time the number of injured has doubled.

QuadrigaCX - Gerald Cotten - BC forfeiture wants stolen loot

Gerald Cotten, a co-founder of QuadrigaCX, died mysteriously in India in 2018. Co-founder Michael Patryn benefited from using QuadrigaCX client money through unauthorized trades and falsifying documents says a lawsuit filed by the province. They want to keep more than $600k in cash, gold bars, watches and jewellery from a safety deposit box and a CIBC bank account in Vancouver. The safety deposit box contained $250,200 in cash and 45 gold bars. It also contained four watches, including two Rolexes, jewellery, and a Ruger .45 and two loaded magazines. The box also contained a birth certificate, name change certificate, credit cards and cheques in Patryn’s name. The QuadrigaCX fraud was over $250m.

Michael Patryn, former name, Omar Dhanani.

QuadrigaCX was one of Canada’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges.

QuadrigaCX’s court-appointed auditor revealed the addresses for the cryptocurrency exchange’s offline Bitcoin wallets. The cold storage wallets are empty – aside from $400k worth in Bitcoin. The news comes after the exchange said that it owed customers $134m worth of cryptocurrency.

Founder Gerald Cotten died as a result of complications of Crohn’s disease while travelling to India with his wife on December 9 2018.

There are calls to probe Cotten’s sudden and curious death. A death certificate issued by India was quickly dismissed as “worthless” by QuadrigaCX customers who demanded to see Canadian documents. The Indian certificate had Cotten’s name spelled incorrectly, adding fuel to conspiracy theories.

Louis 'The Coin' Colavecchio

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

Louis 'The Coin' Colavecchio earned his nickname for the immense number of counterfeit coins he created over the years. He was one of the first to successfully produce counterfeit coins able to deceive the software inside slot machines into thinking they were real. He was able to steal huge amounts from casinos across Atlantic City and surrounding areas without ever having to wager his own money. During the counterfeiting process, Colavecchio was meticulous about every detail that went on the coin. He was nervous the first time he went to Caesar’s Palace with this fake tokens, but they worked flawlessly.

Colavecchio was able to play the slots for hours. He made thousands of dollars a night, all of which he used to maintain his prestigious lifestyle.

Caesar’s took their annual coin inventory and noticed they had a large surplus of $10 slot machine coins. They discovered that the extra coins were counterfeits. They sent word to 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 for hours, identifying which machines he was using.

They opened up the machines and found counterfeits.

The coin was busted. The police found 750 pounds of counterfeit coins 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 outlasted those of the U.S. Mint. Today most casinos don’t use coins for their slot machines. Most machines are electronic and work off of a reloadable card or paper vouchers that can be transferred to cash. We can thank Louis 'The Coin' Colavecchio. Louis Colavecchio died in 2020 at age 78.

Punjab cop operation ‘Cage the Queen Bee’ - sunk by Frooti

Daaku Haseena whose real name is Mandeep Kaur, and her husband Jaswinder Singh were arrested at Hemkund Sahib in Uttarakhand's Chamoli. When cops learned of their travel plans to Hemkunt Sahib, they laid a trap for them and started distributing Frooti to the pilgrims. When Kaur and her husband were offered the drink, they uncovered their faces, leading to their identification and arrest. Cops recovered Rs 21 lakh of the couple's loot. The 10 Rupee Frooti ($0.20) is a mango flavoured drink popular in India. It is made with natural flavours and mango concentrate.

Among the busted is Manjinder Singh Mani, an employee of CMS Info Systems Ltd for four years. The arrest took place in Uttarakhand, where the couple had been hiding.

Punjab cops lassoed Mandeep Kaur, 'Mona', and her husband Jaswinder Singh. Punjab’s biggest heist, their daring robbery occurred in the office of CMS Info Systems Ltd, a cash management firm based in Ludhiana. It was led by Queen Bee Mandeep Kaur. Thieves landed $1m.