All Blog Posts Tagged 'Extortion' (98)

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…

By David Amoruso

Alleged Camorra boss Antonio La Torre (photo above) was arrested in Italy this week after police say they have evidence that he and his imprisoned brother Augusto plotted to assassinate two Anti-Mafia prosecutors. The two brothers made a name for themselves as they built an empire from Italy to Scotland…

By David Amoruso

Crime may pay, but the government will try very hard to get that ill-gotten money from you. Not just that, they will send you off to prison for good measure. Just ask Bonanno family capo Ronald “Ronnie G” Giallanzo.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for…

By David Amoruso

He was convicted of a crime and he’s doing the time. Genovese crime family mobster Salvatore Delligatti (photo above) had previously been found guilty of racketeering and murder conspiracy charges and today was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

When facing such a harsh sentence, guys usually decide…

By Robert Sberna

As a former member of the Gambino crime family and the son-in-law of John Gotti, Carmine “The Bull” Agnello often found himself the target of news reporters. While Agnello’s past media coverage was…

By David Amoruso

You know a mobster is respected when his colleagues refuse to utter his name out loud, preferring to point to their nose to signify they mean the man known on the streets of Chicago as “No Nose.” Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo was that kind of gangster. He passed away on Sunday, at age 89.

DiFronzo had…

By David Amoruso

It’s hard to become a new person. If you’ve spent years of your life trafficking drugs, committing kidnappings, robberies, and brutal murders all the while surrounded by like-minded men then changing yourself isn’t just hard, it becomes impossible.

Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez (photo above), a man…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Law enforcement in California dealt a big blow to the Mexican Mafia on Wednesday, charging 83 individuals in two federal racketeering indictments, one of which outlines how members of the group were able to control drug smuggling, narcotics sales and the extortion of prisoners inside the Los…

By David Amoruso

They don’t call the criminal underworld a jungle for nothing. There are many similarities between the animal kingdom and the world of gangs and the Mafia. There is a food chain, there are specific roles to play, there is a dominant species, and there is a King that rules the land.

But what about…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Members of an international sex trafficking ring operating out of Mexico were extradited to the United States at the end of last month and beginning of this month. They are charged with forcing adult and underage women into…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Philadelphia Mafia boss Joseph Merlino’s…

By David Amoruso

Joseph Merlino’s bet paid off big time! The alleged boss of the Philadelphia crime family…

By David Amoruso

Lucchese crime family soldier Anthony Grado knows how to earn. Whether it’s extortion, loansharking or selling prescription pills he’ll know how to make a buck. One thing he hasn’t learned, however, is staying out of prison for his crimes.

It’s not always Grado’s own fault, mind…

By David Amoruso

“I’m not crazy. Some of my relatives have been in a lunatic asylum, but I haven’t.” – Camorra boss Michele Zaza

Gangsters like Michele Zaza don’t come around often. Nicknamed “‘O Pazzo” or “The Madman,” he was known as much for talking candidly with the media as for his cunning and…

By David Amoruso

A high-ranking member of the Gangster Disciples was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday for racketeering conspiracy. 37-year-old Henry Cooper went by the nickname “Big Hen” and functioned as the organization’s enforcer, making sure all other gang members toed the line and followed the…

By David Amoruso

Bonanno crime family capo Ronald “Ronnie G” Giallanzo…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Mobster Massimigliano Carfagna was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine and the opioid drug…

By David Amoruso

Organized crime in New Jersey goes way back and features some of the most colorful characters and powerhouses one can imagine. Gangsters Inc. sat down with mob author Scott Deitche, who details this rich and violent history in his new book Garden State Gangland: The Rise of the Mob in New…