All Blog Posts Tagged 'Extortion' (114)

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

The world is forever changing, the underworld is as well. Even the one in South Boston better known as Southie. A local resident pleaded guilty on Thursday today in federal court in Boston to…

By David Amoruso

Eugene “Boobsie” Castelle (photo above) has had quite an unusual ride to the top of New York’s Lucchese crime family. He’s known as a bodybuilder who – allegedly – didn’t mind using steroids and other drugs to get his body and mind in…

By David Amoruso

Two priests in Calabria, Italy, were charged today by anti-Mafia prosecutors with using the ‘Ndrangheta to threaten a man to pay back his debt. Graziano Maccarone and Nicola De Luca pledged their loyalty to God, but apparently feel he isn’t as all powerful as is claimed.

In order to get a debtor to…

By David Amoruso

The Dutch court has official outlawed the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in the Netherlands today. The first country to do so. Members are forbidden to wear any colors – vests, patches – showing their allegiance to the club. The judge said the Hells Angels are a danger to public order.

The Dutch…

By David Amoruso

The son of late New York Mafia boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. 51-year-old Vincent Esposito (photo above, left) admitted conspiring with other Genovese crime family mobsters in extorting union officials.

Esposito is the…

By David Amoruso

There are no happy endings in the Mafia. Either you find yourself in prison or you end up six feet under in a casket. The latter will apply to Gambino crime family boss Francesco Cali, who was shot and murdered in front of his Staten Island, New York, home on Wednesday night.

The 53-year-old mob…

By David Amoruso

Colombo crime family boss Carmine Persico has passed away. He was 85. The New York Mafia boss was known for his tenacity and ruthlessness. Despite being locked up for life, he maintained an iron grip on his mob family from behind bars. He was a pure survivor. Right up until the moment he sighed his last…

By David Amoruso

As far as powerful Mafia bosses go, Giuseppe Ursino (photo above) is as low-key as they come. So much so that when he was convicted of trafficking cocaine for the ‘Ndrangheta and sentenced to over a decade in prison Thursday, it was the first criminal conviction of his life.

“Pino” Ursino was born…

By David Amoruso

Philadelphia crime family soldier Philip Narducci (photo above) was hit with extortion charges on Thursday. Prosecutors claim Narducci and fellow mobster James Gallo were extorting and threatening a man who had borrowed money from Narducci.

Though 56-year-old Narducci is said to have fronted the…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

French police busted an Armenian Mafia group across France, Europol reported today. On Monday, around 200 officers from the Gendarmerie Nationale (French Gendarmerie) and Customs, with on-the-field support by Europol, targeted suspects involved in large-scale criminal activities, including cigarette…

By Gary Jenkins

This is the 4th and final installment about the life and times of Chicago’s most feared hitman, Harry “The Hook” Aleman. We have arrived at the downfall of this infamous mobster. Though he got away with countless murders, justice finally caught up and brought him down. Here’s how.

Harry had been…

By David Amoruso

The Chinese Mafia - better known as the Triads - has a complicated history seeped in political conflict that occurred centuries ago, when emperors and dynasties ruled China and monks used kung fu to rise up against their oppressors.

During its long and rich history China has seen a lot of bloodshed. Centuries ago Chinese…

By Gary Jenkins

In this third installment about Harry “The Hook” Aleman, a half Mexican, half Sicilian Chicago Outfit hitman, enforcer, street tax collector, and the capo of a home invasion crew, I will examine the case that will eventually bring Aleman to justice. This will be a long and crazy path so hang on and keep…

By Gary Jenkins

This is the second installment of a 4-part series about the life of Chicago mobster Harry “The Hook” Aleman, who operated as a thief, enforcer, juice loan collector, and hitman. In this edition, I will detail Aleman’s use of violence and murder as a tool to increase his power in the Chicago underworld and…

By David Amoruso

Two different cases. Both, violent killings committed by members of the Yakuza, Japan’s Mafia, and both resulted in its murderers being on death row. One gangster was executed on Thursday. The other, a former Yakuza boss, is playing games with the justice system to evade a similar fate.

Keizo Kawamura (right, who…

By Gary Jenkins

Harry “The Hook” Aleman was one of the Chicago Outfit’s most feared mobsters. In the first of a 4-part series documenting the life and violent crimes of this notorious thief, enforcer, juice loan collector, and hitman I recount how Aleman’s criminal career began.

He was born Harry Peralt Aleman on…

By David Amoruso

As a vor v zakone, mob boss Razhden Shulaya (above) was an official member of a century-old criminal tradition. As such, he was treated as Russian Mafia royalty. He used that position to run a sprawling organization involved in kidnapping, assault, fraud, extortion, and money laundering throughout the…

By Jon Tait

Just as the Sicilian Mafia’s roots are from a rural crime tradition that sprang up from the citrus groves and cattle rustling on the Mediterranean island, so a British mafia emerged on the Border between England and Scotland some two centuries earlier.

The Anglo-Scottish…

By David Amoruso

Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino joked around with reporters outside Manhattan federal court yesterday. How could he not? Two years ago, he was indicted in a huge conspiracy case involving members and captains of five different Mafia families. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to just 2…

By David Amoruso

Lucchese crime family mobster Joseph “Joey Glasses” Datello (photo above) pleaded guilty on Monday to various acts of racketeering, including the attempted murder of a witness against him, narcotics trafficking, and collecting debts through the threat of violence.

67-year-old Datello faces a maximum…