Fentanyl dealer Leslie John McCulloch - revisited

Kelowna drug trafficker Leslie John McCulloch has been granted full parole. His conditions will need to be followed to maintain his freedom. Any breach will be an 'undue risk to society'. McCulloch's criminal record dates back 25 years and he’s repeatedly flouted his conditions. McCulloch had his day parole revoked due to “deception, manipulation and outright lies”. He had been granted parole after only 2 years into his sentence. Sentence was eight years, 58 days for drug production and trafficking in July 2019.

He remained caged after his second tearful request for early parole was denied. In it's decision, the Parole Board screwed McCulloch up. The asthmatic is actually safer from COVID-19 inside Abbotsford's Matsqui Institution, as there are no cases of the virus at the prison. Leslie John McCulloch will remain in jail where he belongs, in spite of his many large fears of COVID-19. McCulloch was busted making acetylfentanyl pills. Acetylfentanyl is an analogue of fentanyl. McCulloch was on parole for cocaine trafficking when he was arrested in 2016. The Parole Board labelled McCulloch a “middleman who transported drugs for the Hells Angels” in 2013. The fate of his girlfriend, Rebekka Rae White is unknown. McCulloch ran away from a plea deal for her role in the operation.

McCulloch taunted cops and the crown while on the run, sending e-mails. One year into his eight-year sentence, McCulloch accused Canada's attorney general of acting too slowly to hear his application for 'exceptional parole'. McCulloch was sentenced in Jan 2019 after skipping bail on charges of running a fentanyl drug lab while he was on parole for peddling cocaine. McCulloch ties to the Kelowna Hells Angels exceed 2 decades.

See ----->“If I don't want to be found, I won't be found" - fentanyl dealer Leslie McCulloch
See ----->Fentanyl dealer McCulloch pulls 10 years

Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road

He is jailed at USP Tucson.

The Silk Road was the first dark web marketplace, an online market for anonymously buying and selling illegal products and services with bitcoin. Ross Ulbricht created The Silk Road in 2011 and ran it until 2013 when the FBI shut him down. Ulbricht, 'Dread Pirate Roberts' was caught logged into the site from a public library. He was arrested and charged with money laundering, computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic narcotics, and attempted murder to silence those who threatened to unmask him. Ulbricht turned down a plea deal offering a 10-year sentence. He was convicted and handed five sentences, including two life sentences without parole, and fined $183m.

People bought and sold a wide range of goods and services on the Silk Road but by 2013 some 70% of the purchases were drugs. Ross Ulbricht is infamous as the internet’s first drug lord. Ulbricht's appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S Supreme Court in 2018 were unsuccessful. In a twist, a hacker stole thousands of bitcoins from Silk Road and hid them away. It took cops years to find the perpetrator. In 2012, James Zhong exploited a flaw in the website's payment system. The 50,676 bitcoin seized was worth $3.36 billion at one point. Zhong pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was scheduled to be sentenced on February 22, 2023. See ----->DoJ announce $3.36b cryptocurrency seizure, conviction

Montreal cops fingered in mafia corruption probe

Two Montreal cops are suspected of warning the manager of a bar linked to the mafia of a bust. Gelato café, located in Little Italy, is controlled by the Lopez family of the Montreal mafia. The clan controls several licensed establishments in north Montreal. Boss is Serafino 'Sergio Lopez' Oliverio. He was the target of an attempted hit Nov 2021.

A party involving a hundred people celebrating the owner's anniversary was in progress before the intended raid. An agent from PDQ 35 noticed the presence of a patrol car from PDQ 27, with two cops on board, parked in front of the Gelato. The two cops from PDQ 27 were not in their area. No evidence was found of a stolen car call they said they received. 28 minutes later the party at Gelato café was over and people were leaving as quickly as possible.

Court documents reveal that in July 2021, a cop saw one of the two officers twice at the Gelato cafe when he was off duty. The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions elected not to lay charges, however the SPVM confirms it's Internal Affairs Department will conduct a disciplinary review.

Steven Sarti - 'You wish you had more time to redeem yourself'

Steven Sarti died Oct. 1, 2022.

Steven Sarti was sentenced to 71 months in prison in May 2021 for conspiring to traffic cocaine and meth from Montreal to Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia RCMP arrested Sarti in 2018 as part of what police dubbed 'Operation Hackberry'. The probe mainly concerned Jeffrey Colegrove, 56, a man with ties to Montreal’s West End Gang. The parole board released Sarti early last fall as he had a terminal illness and keeping him behind bars would have constituted undue hardship. Sarti suffered from a clinical condition that paralyzed his lower limbs and made it impossible to use his right hand. He was given 3 months to live and didn't make that. In 2012, Sarti pleaded guilty for smuggling nearly $1b worth of cannabis into America from Quebec. The judge sentenced him to 97 months in prison.

At the time of his parole hearing, Sarti was only expected to live between a few weeks to months. As he contemplated his death, Sarti told the parole board “You wish you had more time to ‘redeem’ yourself … and be able to demonstrate to those around you the ‘good’ person that you are really.” Doctors confirmed his incurable diagnosis. Sarti wasn’t likely to present much of a risk to reoffend in his condition the parole board concluded.

8 busted in Quebec drug probe tied to HA Serge Lebrasseur

Eight people were arrested as part of a drug trafficking investigation that involved search warrants carried out two years ago at the home of full patch Serge Lebrasseur. Searches led to the seizure of more than $200k in cash, various drugs, and firearms. Lebrasseur was in the news for buying a total of 5 months in prison after intimidated a security guard near the parking lot of the Sorel-Tracy–Saint-Ignace-de-Loyola ferry in June 2019. He was released on conditions, including "not to refer directly or indirectly to the victim on any social media whatsoever".

“It will be settled ah, ah, ah. I found the one who blocked me on the Sorel-Tracy ferry ha, ha, ha”.

He and his biker friends thought his subsequent facebook post was hilarious. The judge wasn't impressed and added 30 days.

Lebrasseur testified he did nothing wrong. The judge found his testimony not credible or reliable.

Lebrasseur, 59, had a problem waiting in line with peons for a ferry. Wearing his colours, Lebrasseur initiated a heated debate with a security guard directing traffic. He hammered the hood of a van and screamed that he would pick up the guard in a dark corner. Lebrasseur then cut into line, bypassing others. He verbally attacked the employee there who refused to let him.

Romanian mafia boss Mihai Alexandru Preda busted

Mihai Alexandru Preda is a leader in the Romanian mafia and 'Riviera Maya Gang' which has been operating a card skimming scam in Cancun, Tulum and Playa del Carmen since 2016. Gangsters installed over 100 card-cloning devices in ATMs, from which almost $4m was stolen. The gang changed the card slots and keyboards of the ATMs to obtain information from bank cards, cloned them, and withdrew money from bank accounts. Skimming devices allowed thieves to withdraw funds from ATMs in other countries halfway around the world.

Preda was arrested in July 2022 while living in Poland.

Leader of the Riviera Maya organization and principal owner of Intacash, is Florian 'The Shark' Tudor, a Romanian with permanent residence in Mexico. Tudor claims he’s a legitimate businessman who’s been harassed and robbed by Mexican authorities. In 2018 Preda and his gang were busted at a Fond du Lac Wisconsin ATM. A witness saw the two repeatedly using an ATM, and acting nervously. He called police, who arrived shortly afterwards. Cops found 137 forged or cloned credit cards and $7,500 in cash. Preda pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud of a financial institution, and three counts of theft from a financial institution. Another 40 counts were dismissed.

'Stand-ins' used by organized crime to sell homes without owner's knowledge

The same fraudulent driver's licence was used to rent two Toronto homes that criminals tried to sell. One of the frauds was thwarted but the other was successful. The case made headlines when Toronto cops issued a press release to help identify suspects. Stand-ins aren't the masterminds behind these frauds. They're usually low-level criminals in it for a quick buck. The 54-year-old man was out on bail for unrelated fraud charges and is currently facing a total of 14 other charges. While the photo belongs to the stand-in, the name on the driver's licence was that of another fraud victim.

Players at the next step of the fraud are like paid actors; they have rehearsed every answer. Few schemes succeed, but enough do and the payoff is high enough that organinzed crime keeps trying. At least 30 homes in the GTA have either been sold or mortgaged without the real owners' knowledge. An organized crime group starts by looking through publicly available information for a home with a small mortgage. Even the 'stand-ins' are shared among crime groups. After impersonating the homeowner things move quickly. A sale or mortgage can occur in days with crooks looking for the next fraud within a week. TPS put out a press release seeking the public's help identifying this man and woman, who impersonated the homeowners in the sale.

Federico 'Fred' Machado - Narco Jet king

Federico 'Fred' Machado is an Argentine businessman who was extradited to the US, accused of laundering drug money. He is also a key leader of a scheme that defrauded investors and lenders out of hundreds of millions. The transnational criminal organization acquired and operated a fleet of aircraft from the United States and other places to facilitate the smuggling of drugs and drug proceeds, as well as to launder money. They operated a complex network of companies whose front was Aircraft Guarantee Corp, established in a Texas city with no airport. The scheme included the fraudulent use of registrations and titles to hide the true nature, location, ownership, and control of the aircraft. Trusts and illicit business entities accomplished this.

At the same time, they used commercial entities to defraud lenders into paying large sums for aircraft that did not exist, are legally inoperable, or are unsaleable. Gangsters tried to get the coveted 'N' in front of the registration number indicating that it had been registered in the United States. That letter gave them some leeway to operate: the foreign countries through which they flew were less likely to inspect drug-laden jets or force them to land.

Debra Lynn Mercer-Erwin

The Department of Commerce, the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Office of Export Control and the Division of Homeland Security Investigations of the United States launched an investigation after noticing irregularities in aircraft registrations. AGC acted as trustee and registered thousands of aircraft on behalf of foreigners, which is illegal.

22 aircraft registered with AGC became involved in drug smuggling. A narco jet flown out of a Guatemala jungle in early 2020 was one of AGC's aircraft.

See ----->Guatemala Narco Jets
See ----->https://interactive.wfaa.com/pdfs/Onalaskindictment.pdf

Cornelius Price dead

Notorious Irish mob boss Cornelius Price has died in a Welsh hospital after a long illness. Price, 41, was the leader of a gang that operated out of Gormanstown, Co Meath and which had close ties to one of the sides in the Drogheda feud. Price had been suffering from limbic encephalitis and was gravely ill in a Welsh hospital since late 2021. Gardai believe Price was behind the ruthless murders of Willie Maughan, 34, and his pregnant partner Ana Varslavane, 21, on April 14 2015. Price was an associate of Keane Mulready-Woods, a teenager who was dismembered and beheaded by a rival gang. The boy's death exposed a two-year battle between rival gangs in the town of Drogheda, 30 miles north of the Irish capital. See ----->‘Judas handshake’ of Cornelius Price

Winnipeg cops seize $7m in cocaine, meth

Also seized were a dozen vehicles, guns, and several properties.

Project Onyx tracked large amounts of cocaine, meth, and MDMA shipped to Manitoba from Ontario and B.C. Cops searched 13 homes and businesses. Seizures included 50kg of cocaine, 20kg of meth and $500k in cash.

Chris Silva

Chris Silva, who owns Hudson Bagels on Sherbrook Street in Winnipeg, was busted on Dec. 14 with trafficking, possession for the purposes of trafficking and possession of property or the proceeds of crime. In one case a Gucci gift bag containing $45k in cash was allegedly handed over to Silva, and another in which he's accused of using an alias to send $90k to an address in British Columbia.

Montreal mafia debt collection case study

François Mazzantini with envelope of cash from cops.

The dive into the world of mafia extortion and debt collection begins on March 11, 2021. That day, François Mazzantini and brothers Antonio and Pasquale Piscopo assaulted Joël Ayoub with a baton at his condo building on Chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine over a debt of $15k. Ayoub, 63 years old at the time, suffered serious injuries requiring hospitalization. A cop operation witnessed Pasquale Piscopo go twice to the Danesi café and once to Antonio Pietrantonio, known to be a member of the Montreal mafia.

A double agent then contacted the suspects and posed as an individual who purchased Ayoub's debt and negotiated the terms of repayment. The gangsters said the debt had grown to $140k. The three were arrested on May 6, 2021. Cops discovered brass knuckles and three daggers in Mazzantini's vehicle. They also found 13 telescopic batons and $12k in cash. They landed more than $675k from one of the men. Mazzantini pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and extortion, and was sentenced to 48 months, while the two brothers were sentenced to 36 months.

Antonio 'Tony Suzuki' Pietrantonio

End of the line for 'Mikey Smash' - Update III

Russell Raymond Vannoy pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter of Michael Adam Morales and was sentenced to six years in prison. Vannoy, 63, a member of the Devils Diciples MC, was arrested on murder and gang charges in the stabbing death of Hells Angels prospect Morales in downtown Bakersfield. Guthrie’s footage shows the president of the Bakersfield HAMC shake hands with Vannoy before Morales enters and starts swinging. Video evidence proved Vannoy acted in self-defense when he killed Morales. Morales swung a bar stool and had a handgun as he attacked Vannoy. Footage clearly shows the gun fall down and out of Morales’ pant leg.

Michael Adam Morales 32 was killed after being stabbed inside one of downtown Bakersfield’s most famous dive bars, Guthrie’s Alley Cat. News of Morales' death spread fast through the local biker community. Morales affiliation with the Hell's Angels MC was prominent on his Facebook page. He had 3 young children. The bar strictly enforces a 'no colors' policy, but some local bikers have begun to employ "subterfuge," the owner said, by wearing "soft colors" or covering gang colors or emblems only to reveal them later.

"No matter how nice the bikers appear to be, or how much they say they love your joint, stuff like what happened will happen," he said. "It will follow them every time. It's an iron law."

3D-printed ghost guns redux

A stunt driving 18-year-old Bolton teen is facing multiple charges after being busted with multiple 3D-printed guns. Two weeks ago in Winnipeg cops arrested 2 two for multiple ghost guns. Two others were arrested and charged with weapons trafficking offences in November. Cops raided a rural home in Manitoba in Dec 2021 and busted Ryan Buhler, 34. Its 3 years in the pen for his arsenal, the mandatory minimum. Border cops found undeclared 'firearm components,' including metal parts and inserts used to reinforce 3D-printed guns.

Making 3D-printed receiver blanks and creating 3D-printed ghost guns is illegal in Canada. Why are they multiplying? The cost to 3D print a firearm frame and then import the slide and other components from the US is a few hundred dollars. This returns a weapon worth at least $2,500 on the street, and often much more. Ghost guns cannot be traced, making them highly desirable by gangsters. In Feb 2022 William Rainville was put away for 5 years. He was busted with 249 Glock frames and parts. His is not the only ghost gun operation. See ---->Here.

UK robbers go away for long time

Brothers Benjamin Murphy, 37, and George Murphy-Bristow, 28, were locked up for a combined 31 years for impersonating two elderly men to gain entry to a jewellery store. They wore latex masks to disguise themselves before the hiest. Brandishing a knife and hatchet, they terrorized staff before fleeing.

The jury took an hour to convict on all counts.

Cops stopped George Murphy-Bristow's car and found the two masks and the same clothing worn by the suspects in the robbery. Forensics found saliva on the inside of the masks belonging to the brothers.