By Thom L. Jones

In his government photograph, Antonino Burrafato (photo, below right) has something of the look of actor Jon Cryer, wearing a uniform and a funny hat. His lips are pursed as though he is about to ask the man behind the camera to get on with it. The eyes are steely and piercing, someone who does not suffer fools gladly. He looks more like a Jefe than simply a…

The average Mafia aficionado likely feels that he or she already knows a great deal about New York gangland chieftain Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. Just about everyone knows, for example, that Luciano survived being taken "for a ride" by his rivals, that he was nicknamed "Lucky" as a result of that episode and that he single-handledly revolutionized organized crime in…

By David Amoruso

Five members and associates of the Gambino Crime Family pleaded guilty in New York yesterday to a host of crimes including racketeering, drug trafficking, extortion, gambling and murder conspiracy. The five Gambinos were part of the big nation wide mob bust that went down in January of 2011.…

By David Amoruso

Never count out the Italian-American Mafia. With each successful prosecution, authorities claim to have rid a particular area of the mob, but, each time, that same mob pops up its ugly head again a few years later. This week, eleven members and associates of the Genovese Crime Family were charged with conspiring to extort street vendors…

By David Amoruso

Citizens of Sydney, Australia are living in fear as bullets are flying through multiple neighborhoods. The night from Monday to Tuesday saw a climax with five shootings within a few hours, four of which are connected to a conflict between the Hells Angels and rival motorcycle gang the Nomads.

A police source told the …

By David Amoruso

And the war on drugs continues. Yesterday, this website reported about the news of an alliance between the Los Zetas drug cartel and the Mara Salvatrucha gang from Guatemala. Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that Guatemalan drug lord Horst Walter Overdick Mejia has been hit with serious criminal charges, including…

By David Amoruso

Two of the most deadly groups in organized crime have formed an alliance. According to Guatemalan authorities, the Mara Salvatrucha street gang and the Los Zetas drug cartel have decided to work together for their mutual benefit.

For the Mexican Los Zetas Cartel the benefits are simple. If it can rely on the manpower the Mara…

By David Amoruso

International arms dealer Viktor Bout was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons, including hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and over 20,000 AK-47s to the Colombian FARC.

In addition to his prison term, Judge Scheindlin sentenced Bout to five years of supervised released…

By David Amoruso

Two US Army soldiers are among six men charged with running a drug trafficking ring and offering their services as a murder-for-hire team to undercover DEA agents posing as members of the Mexican Los Zetas drug cartel.

The Los Zetas drug cartel is infamous for its ultraviolent ways in a Mexican underworld that is already…

By David Amoruso

As if a violent Mafia war raging through the city of Montreal wasn’t enough for Canadians, they now have to seriously brace themselves for a new biker war between the Hells Angels and their bitter rivals Rock Machine.

News of the brewing biker war came last week when police …