All Blog Posts Tagged 'Newark' (17)

First Boss: Filippo "Phil" Amari

Primary activities: Extortion, gambling, drugs, loansharking, union corruption, prostitution.

Boss: ?

By Robert Sberna for Gangsters Inc.

The death of Joe “Loose” Iacobacci in April has spurred…

By David Amoruso

It took a few years, but several Genovese crime family mobsters busted back in 2014 during Operation Fistful finally decided to plead guilty to their role in a multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise on Wednesday. The group includes made man Vito Alberti, who collected “tribute” payments that were kicked…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

A member of the Grape Street Crips gang was indicted today on additional charges in connection with the murder of a bystander at a summer cookout in 2010. 34-year-old Khalil “Stod” Stafford (photo above) is accused of a June 19, 2010, shooting that left a woman dead and two other people wounded.…

By David Amoruso

Newark gang boss Corey Hamlet went by many nicknames. “Blizzie”, “C-Blaze” or simply “Blaze”. But it’s the name “Castor Troy” that sticks out when reading his indictment. The character portrayed by Nicholas Cage in the 1997 movie Face/Off was a criminal mastermind who reigned by engulfing the world around…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

The leader and founder of one of Newark’s most violent street gangs was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 years in prison. 33-year-old Farad Roland (photo above) admitted his role in five murders, an armed carjacking, an armed robbery of a drug dealer, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon,…

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…

By David Amoruso

It’s always sad when role models fall from grace. Richard “Richie” Roberts had his biggest success when he was an Essex County assistant prosecutor and helped convict Harlem drug boss Frank Lucas. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 3 years of probation after pleading guilty to failing to pay his personal…

By David Amoruso

Violence begets violence. This was especially true for the South Side Cartel. Once known among law enforcement and the FBI as the most violent street gang operating in Newark, New Jersey, its members rose rapidly through sheer deadly force, only to fall as many went down in a hail of bullets or got locked…

By David Amoruso

In the past few decades, various prosecutors have announced the end of the American Mafia several times, but each time La Cosa Nostra popped up at exactly those places where it was said to have become extinct. A NY Times piece about the New York harbor showed that despite prosecutions, the area made famous by On the…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Two leaders of the Sex Money Murder set of the Bloods street gang Tuesday admitted their roles in a racketeering conspiracy that involved murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and conspiracy to distribute…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

The alleged long-time leader of the Grape Street Crips has been charged with four murders, three attempted murders, and numerous other crimes as part of a racketeering conspiracy.

39-year-old Corey Hamlet (photo above), a/k/a “C-Blaze,” a/k/a “Blaze,” a/k/a “Blizzie,” a/k/a “Castor Troy,” of Belleville,…

By David Amoruso

When fans of HBO’s The Sopranos think of Tony Soprano, most of them picture the mob boss with a cigar, his leather jacket on, cruising in his shiny white Cadillac Escalade looking for “cocksuckers” to stomp on. And now fans could live the fantasy themselves because Tony’s white Cadillac is going up for auction.

On November 12,…

PRESS RELEASE

Fourteen leaders, members and associates of the New Jersey Grape Street Crips, a violent street gang operating in and around Newark, were charged Wednesday with racketeering, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, drug trafficking, firearms offenses and related crimes.

This indictment follows the coordinated takedown in May 2015 of 50 alleged members and associates of the Grape Street Crips who were charged by criminal complaints with drug-trafficking, physical…

By David Amoruso

Longtime New Jersey mob boss John Riggi passed away on Monday. He was 90 years old. He had been released from prison almost three years ago and peacefully died at home surrounded by his family.

His obituary reads, “John M. Riggi, Laborers Local 394 business agent, Army Air Corps veteran, dedicated his life to his family.”…

By David Amoruso

Eleven members and associates of the Genovese crime family were charged with racketeering charges for allegedly reaping millions of dollars in criminal profits in New Jersey through loansharking, unlicensed check cashing, gambling and money laundering, including laundering of proceeds from narcotics trafficking. Using…

By Tim Newark



The ghosts of past conflicts and crimes still haunt the streets of Palermo.



Near the harbour, around Piazza Fonderia, you can see the bomb shattered remains of buildings hit by the Allies in preparation for their invasion of the island in 1943. In the Giardino Garibaldi, with its extraordinary ancient fig trees with drooping aerial roots, you…