beating - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-28T19:10:03Z
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/beating
Pagans Motorcycle Club bikers charged with beating up Hells Angel
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/leaders-and-members-of-pagan-s-motorcycle-club-hit-with-drug-gun
2021-07-02T05:30:00.000Z
2021-07-02T05:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/leaders-and-members-of-pagan-s-motorcycle-club-hit-with-drug-gun" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237163899,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237163899?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>The government’s crackdown on the Pagans Outlaw Motorcycle Club continued on Monday with the arrest of two of its high-ranking members for assault in aid of racketeering. “Today’s arrests are the latest in a long-running investigation into the illegal activities of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig said. “We have now charged 11 members of this outlaw gang with various weapons, drug trafficking and violent crimes.”</p>
<p>The two bikers who were arrested on Monday are 43-year-old Luis “LuRoc” Arocho (photo right) and 51-year-old Maurice “Dawg” <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237164266,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237164266?profile=original" /></a>Guzman. Arocho holds the position of Mother Club Member in the New Jersey Pagans while Guzman is a President of Presidents in the New Jersey <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Pagans" target="_blank">Pagans</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Beating with an axe handle</strong></span></p>
<p>On April 24, 2018, Arocho, Guzman, and other Pagans assaulted an associate of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Angels" target="_blank">Hells Angels</a> at a gas station in Newark (photo below). The Pagans and the Hells Angels have a long-standing rivalry. The biker was beaten with an axe handle, punched, and kicked by his attackers, resulting in significant injuries.</p>
<p>Acting U.S. Attorney Honig also announced that a federal grand jury returned an indictment Monday charging 56-year-old Nicholas “Booch” Bucciarelli, the sergeant at arms for the Pagans’ Camden County chapter, with distributing five grams or more of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a>, and aggravated assault in aid of racketeering, brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon, arising from his commission of a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gangs" target="_blank">gang</a>-related gunpoint assault in which an associate of the Pagans was assaulted for breaking the organization’s rules.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237164088,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237164088?profile=original" /></a>75-year-old Nicholas “Lefty” Marino, 55-year-old Anthony “Fugit” D’Alessandro, and 42-year-old Michael “Cage” Dorazo had already been charged for their roles in the assault. At the time of their arrests Marino and D’Alessandro served as the president and sergeant at arms, respectively, for the Pagans’ Gloucester County chapter, and Dorazo was a member of the Pagans.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:14pt;">Multi-agency investigation</span></strong></p>
<p>These charges were filed as part of a multi-agency investigation into the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club, an <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bikers-amp-outlaw-motorcycle" target="_blank">outlaw motorcycle gang</a> known to engage in illegal activity, including narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking, and violent crimes.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/outlaw-vendetta-hells-angels-charged-in-broad-daylight-execution" target="_blank">Outlaw Vendetta</a>: Hells Angels charged in broad daylight execution of rival Pagans biker boss in the Bronx</strong></li>
</ul>
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<p>The Pagans have established membership chapters in numerous states and U.S. territories, including multiple active chapters in New Jersey. This investigation involved court-authorized wiretaps, the use of multiple undercover law enforcement agents, and execution of multiple search warrants at physical locations in multiple jurisdictions. Through the investigation, law enforcement seized 10 firearms and more than 800 grams of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>National president and other arrests</strong></span></p>
<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office previously announced the arrest of Keith “Conan” Richter, the national president of the Pagans, in connection with his illegal possession of a firearm on February 20, 2021. Those charges remain pending.</p>
<p>Law enforcement officials also previously arrested the following individuals in connection with the investigation:</p>
<p>Larry Ortiz, aka “Savage,” 31, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Junius Aquino, aka “Jayo,” 38, of Vauxhall, New Jersey, were charged with aggravated assault in aid of racketeering and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence for their roles in a gang-related shooting. On Oct. 28, 2020, Ortiz and Aquino shot at an associate of a rival gang while driving on the New Jersey Turnpike. The shooting was committed as part of an ongoing dispute between the Pagans and the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.</p>
<p>Aquino was also charged in a separate criminal complaint with possession of ammunition by a convicted felon in connection with a shooting that occurred three days later. On Oct. 31, 2020, Aquino shot at an occupied vehicle in Elizabeth. Law enforcement officers recovered seven .40 caliber shell casings from the shooting scene. On Nov. 5, 2020, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Aquino’s residence and recovered, among other items, multiple .40 caliber rounds of ammunition and approximately 50 grams of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>. After law enforcement officers recovered the cocaine from Aquino’s residence, Aquino was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine. At the time of Aquino’s arrest, he was the vice president of the Pagans’ Elizabeth membership chapter.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/we-were-elite-and-acted-like-it-former-hells-angels-boss-george-c" target="_blank">“We were elite and acted like it.”</a> Former Hells Angels boss George Christie sits down with Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Ortiz was also charged with possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. On Nov. 17, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Ortiz’s residence and recovered approximately 300 grams of methamphetamine and a loaded firearm. At the time of his arrest, Ortiz was the president of the Pagans’ Jersey City membership chapter.</p>
<p>Daniel Hooban, aka “Jersey,” 33, of Bayonne, New Jersey, was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; possession with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. On June 29, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hooban’s residence and recovered approximately 30 grams of cocaine and a loaded firearm. At the time of Hooban’s arrest, he was the sergeant at arms for the Pagans’ Jersey City membership chapter.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/hells-angels-shoot-mongols-in-deadly-freeway-gunfight" target="_blank"><strong>Hells Angels shoot Mongols in deadly freeway gunfight</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Glen Turner, aka “Glenny,” 73, of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, was charged with possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Turner is a long-time member of the Pagans. On Dec. 10, 2020, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Turner’s residence and recovered approximately 450 grams of methamphetamine.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Significant blow to the Pagans motorcycle gang”</strong></span></p>
<p>“This investigation has dealt a significant blow to the Pagans motorcycle gang,” Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s New Jersey Division Susan A. Gibson said. “The use of violence, weapons, and intimidation was standard for this criminal organization, and law enforcement made it clear that their behavior would not be tolerated. It is a bad day for the Pagans when the combined forces of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=DEA" target="_blank">DEA</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=ATF" target="_blank">ATF</a>, New Jersey State Police and Union County detectives come after you. These arrests made New Jersey safer and this investigation demonstrated the determination of DEA and our amazing partners to pursue the most violent criminal gangs who choose to violate the law.”</p>
<p>“I can say without question that our collective efforts have disrupted and dismantled the daily illegal activities of the Pagans outlaw motorcycle gang, by strategically removing their most violent and most egregious firearm and drug trafficking members and associates,” ATF Newark Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Toby C. Taylor said.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bikers-amp-outlaw-motorcycle" target="_blank">Bikers section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=News">news section</a>.</strong></p>
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Lucchese Mafia family member John Perna gets 30 months in prison for attack on Real Housewives star’s hubby
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-family-member-john-perna-gets-30-months-in-prison
2021-06-12T23:00:00.000Z
2021-06-12T23:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-family-member-john-perna-gets-30-months-in-prison" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237159652,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237159652?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>All is fair in love and war, but if one gets involved in either, prepare for things to get messy and end in disaster. As it did for <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese Mafia family</a> mobster <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Perna" target="_blank">John Perna</a> when he got involved in the love affairs of a friend of his. 44-year-old Perna was sentenced Thursday to 30 months behind bars for his role in the heartbreaking story, which included the husband of one of the former stars of the Bravo television show “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”.</p>
<p>Perna, of Cedar Grove, New Jersey, heard his sentence via videoconference. He previously pleaded guilty the same digital way to Count One of an indictment charging him with committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. The man tying him to the crime is 56-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manzo" target="_blank">Thomas Manzo</a> (photo above, with his ex), of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, and one of Perna’s codefendants.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>A beating for a wedding discount</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://st11.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/6550482476?profile=RESIZE_710x" alt="6550482476?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>Manzo is one of the owners of the Brownstone Restaurant in Paterson, New Jersey, and the ex-husband of one of the stars of the Bravo television show “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”. In the spring of 2015, he <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-soldier-beats-up-new-husband-of-one-of-the-real-h" target="_blank">hired</a> Perna (right) to assault his ex-wife’s new boyfriend (currently her husband) in exchange for a deeply discounted wedding reception to be held at Manzo’s upscale Passaic County venue.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-boss-vic-amuso-may-be-imprisoned-for-life-but-his" target="_blank">Vic Amuso may be imprisoned for life</a>, but his word is still law on the streets of New York</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Rather than realize that Manzo was making an outlandish request that wasn’t worth the possible troubles, Perna planned and carried out the assault on July 18, 2015, with the help of a member of his <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a> crew. Perna was armed with a “slapjack” during the assault.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-soldier-beats-up-new-husband-of-one-of-the-real-h" target="_blank">Lucchese family soldier beats up new husband</a> of one of “The Real Housewives of NJ” as favor to her ex</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>After a job well done, Perna held a lavish wedding reception at Manzo’s restaurant a month later for a fraction of the price he would otherwise have paid. The reception was attended by over 330 guests, many of whom were members of the Lucchese crime family.</p>
<p>In addition to the prison term, Perna was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $17,816 in restitution.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p></div>
Lucchese family soldier beats up new husband of one of “The Real Housewives of NJ” as favor to her ex
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-soldier-beats-up-new-husband-of-one-of-the-real-h
2020-07-03T11:30:00.000Z
2020-07-03T11:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-soldier-beats-up-new-husband-of-one-of-the-real-h" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237159252,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237159252?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Love is a battlefield, a popular song once told us, but to literally turn it into one is a bit extreme. Especially when one of the heartbroken parties involved turns to the Mafia for help in beating up his ex-wife’s new boyfriend. Yet that is the situation two ‘goodfellas’ from New Jersey found themselves in.</p>
<p>55-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manzo" target="_blank">Thomas Manzo</a> is the ex-husband of Dina Cantin, one of the stars of the Bravo television show “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Though the pair was separated, Manzo could not accept the fact that his former wife had moved on. When he found out she was dating again – worse, that she was serious about one guy – he was furious.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237159652,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237159652?profile=original" /></a><em><strong>Photo: Dina and Thomas Manzo during happier times.</strong></em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Beating in exchange for a lavish wedding reception</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237159671,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237159671?profile=original" /></a>In the spring of 2015, he then allegedly turned to (now 43-year-old) <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese Mafia family</a> soldier <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Perna" target="_blank">John Perna</a> (right) to assault his ex-wife’s then-boyfriend in exchange for a deeply discounted wedding reception for Perna held at the Brownstone Restaurant in Paterson, New Jersey. Manzo is one of the owners of the upscale venue.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Fuggedaboutit! <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fuggedaboutit-former-mobster-pro-mma-fighter-and-writer-director" target="_blank">Former mobster, pro MMA fighter and writer-director</a> are becoming YouTube sensation</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>As a “made guy” and son of a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a> capo, Perna, commanded his own mob crew and worked with his associates to plan and carry out the assault, which eventually took place in July of 2015. In exchange for this violent piece of work, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Lucchese" target="_blank">Lucchese mobster</a> held a lavish wedding reception at Manzo’s restaurant for a fraction of the price, which was paid by another Lucchese associate and close friend of Manzo’s.</p>
<p>The wedding and reception, held in August 2015, were attended by approximately 330 people, and included many members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese crime family</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Fraud and falsifying records</strong></span></p>
<p>Separately, prior to the date that Perna was scheduled to begin serving a state prison sentence in January 2016, he falsely reported that his Mercedes Benz was stolen and destroyed. He filed an insurance claim for the destruction of the car in order for the balance due on the Mercedes. However, he had staged the vehicle theft and arson with other members of the Lucchese family.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>WATCH:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/watch-sammy-the-bull-gravano-back-with-mtv-show-families-of-the-m" target="_blank"><strong>“Sammy the Bull” Gravano back with MTV show “Families of the Mafia”</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>On Tuesday, June 30, 2020, both men were arrested and charged with committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and conspiracy to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity.</p>
<p>The indictment also charges Perna with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud related to the submission of the false car insurance claim.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237159684,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237159684?profile=original" /></a><em><strong>Photo: Dina Cantin and her current husband Dave Cantin.</strong></em></p>
<p>Manzo was also charged with falsifying and concealing records related to the federal investigation of the July 2015 assault. Federal grand jury subpoenas that were sent to the Brownstone Restaurant seeking documents related to the August 2015 Perna wedding reception were not turned over by Manzo and he allegedly deliberately submitted a false document regarding the reception to the government, along with a false certification.</p>
<p>In November 2019, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> agents executed a search warrant at the Brownstone Restaurant and seized invoices for the August 2015 Perna wedding reception and other relevant documents that were not previously turned over.</p>
<p>If convicted of these crimes, both men face several decades behind bars. All because of one man’s broken heart and jealous mind.</p>
<p><strong><em>UPDATE JUNE 13, 2021:</em> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-family-member-john-perna-gets-30-months-in-prison">Lucchese family member John Perna</a> gets 30 months in prison for attack on Real Housewives star’s hubby</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Porsches and Yeezys – Profile of New York crime boss Aleksey Tsvetkov
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/porsches-and-yeezys-profile-of-new-york-crime-boss-aleksey-tsvetk
2020-02-21T16:19:01.000Z
2020-02-21T16:19:01.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/porsches-and-yeezys-profile-of-new-york-crime-boss-aleksey-tsvetk" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237150677,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237150677?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Aleksey Tsvetkov (above, left) lived the good life for quite a while. As the leader of a violent, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>-based Eastern European mob group that operated primarily in the Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Coney Island neighborhoods, he drove expensive luxury cars and sported accessories like $1,500 belt buckles and $1,000 Yeezy-brand shoes.</p>
<p>The group’s membership consisted of individuals from all over Eastern Europe - including <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Russia" target="_blank">Russia</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ukraine" target="_blank">Ukraine</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Moldova" target="_blank">Moldova</a>. It rose to prominence in 2011 and continued on into 2017. His organization was able to flaunt its wealth and flex its muscles thanks to its close relationship to high-ranking members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian Mafia</a>, known as “<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Thieves in Law</a>”.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237151080,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237151080?profile=original" /></a>Tracking down victims in Russia and Israel</strong></span></p>
<p>These connections came in handy when collecting money from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> victims. When the group had trouble locating a debtor who owed them $40,000, one of the gangsters enlisted the help of mobsters in Russia to track down the victim’s father in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Moscow" target="_blank">Moscow</a>. Subsequently, after locating the victim, the gangster was recorded on a wiretap stating that, the “Thieves [in Law] have found him . . . in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Israel" target="_blank">Israel</a>,” and “they were at [his] place today.” The gangsters regularly reported to Tsvetkov as debt payments were collected from the victim.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “For him, I am a god” – Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/for-him-i-am-a-god-profile-of-russian-mafia-boss-and-vor-v-zakone" target="_blank"><strong>Russian Mafia boss, and vor v zakone, Razhden Shulaya</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Violence was part of doing business. In July of 2012, Tsvetkov and various other members of his crew beat a member of a rival criminal organization, known as the “Kafkaz Crew,” whom they suspected of stealing <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">marijuana</a> and thousands of dollars from the gang’s stash house on Ocean Avenue. Tsvetkov grabbed a handgun and jammed it in the victim’s mouth, knocking out several of his teeth.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Filming beatings with his cell phone</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237151301,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237151301?profile=original" /></a>Sometimes the violence was for pleasure as well. At one point, Tsvetkov wanted his underlings to film him while he was beating an extortion victim into near unconsciousness. Tsvetkov kept the video as a souvenir on his cell phone.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mob-crew-in-brighton-beach-busted-by-dea-irs" target="_blank"><strong>Russian mob crew in Brighton Beach busted by DEA, IRS</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>It was also mindless violence which engulfed not just intended targets but anyone who happened to be in the way. In 2016, Tsvetkov partnered in an illegal high-stakes <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Poker" target="_blank">poker</a> game on Coney Island Avenue that generated substantial profits for the organization.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/spanish-court-rules-that-investments-of-tambovskaya-malyshevskaya" target="_blank">Spanish court rules investments of Tambovskaya-Malyshevskaya</a> Russian Mafia clan not criminal</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In the spring of that year, he and other gang members enlisted two men to set fire to a mixed-use building on Voorhies Avenue that housed a rival poker game on the ground floor. Two residents of the building, including a young boy, were trapped inside by the resulting fire, and had to be rescued by firefighters. Both residents and firefighters suffered smoke inhalation, and one firefighter’s injuries required multiple surgeries. The families living in the building were displaced due to fire damage.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The hammer of justice</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237152292,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237152292?profile=original" /></a>All that violence combined with the brazen behavior of 40-year-old Tsvetkov, brought down the hammer of justice. Following a three-week jury trial in August of 2018, he was found guilty of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Racketeering" target="_blank">racketeering</a> - including predicate acts of illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a>, extortion, arson and marijuana distribution – and wire fraud and pistol-whipping. On February 20, he was sentenced to 16,5 years in prison and ordered to pay over $1,1 million in restitution.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview">Russian Mafia section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
The 18 Gangster museum in South Africa run by ex-convicts tells cautionary tales of life of crime and violence
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-18-gangster-museum-in-south-africa-run-by-ex-convicts-tells-c
2020-02-08T17:30:00.000Z
2020-02-08T17:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-18-gangster-museum-in-south-africa-run-by-ex-convicts-tells-c" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237129498,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237129498?profile=original" /></a>By Niko Vorobyov for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Clouds sweep across the flat roof of Table Mountain like a giant swirling tablecloth. Cape Town is a beautiful city. But east of Table Mountain and its trendy suburbs lie the Cape Flats, where the First World meets the Third World: slums and shantytowns as deprived as anywhere in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Africa" target="_blank">Africa</a>. Originally built during apartheid, Khayelitsha grew as a squatter site and is now home to a very unique and unusual <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Museum" target="_blank">museum</a>.</p>
<p>Siya Daweti knows a lot about <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gangs" target="_blank">gangs</a>. He rolled in one himself as a kid, and at one point had two <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Guns" target="_blank">guns</a>. Once a rival gang ransacked his house, looking for him.</p>
<p>“They broke everything; my mother’s laptop,” he said. “And once I got hit over the head with a hammer. You see this scar?”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Apartheid</strong></span></p>
<p>The 1950 Group Areas Act marked the start of apartheid. From the 1950s through to the 1980s, the government tore down historic black, Colored (mixed-race) and Asian neighborhoods like District Six. The forced removals literally tore apart communities and uprooted whole families to the Cape Flats and townships like Khayelitsha, which means “New Home” in Xhosa. Cut off from their family support network – before, aunts, uncles and members of the community watched over kids (“It takes a village…”, etc.) — there was no sense of social bonds or working-class identity: a vacuum filled by gangs. Now children bring pangas (machetes) for <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gangs" target="_blank">gang</a> fights at school.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237130656,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237130656?profile=original" /></a><em>Photo: Khayelitsha township (© Niko Vorobyov)</em></p>
<p>“It’s so easy for the kids to join gangs here because there’s nothing to do,” Siya explained. “Their parents are working from seven in the morning to seven at night. Their brothers and sisters end up looking after them; sometimes only a few years older.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/unsung-heroes-the-fixers-who-help-tell-the-stories-of-the-violent" target="_blank">Unsung Heroes</a>: The fixers who help tell the stories of the violent drug underworld</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Together with his business partner Wandisile Nqeketho, Siya founded the <a href="http://www.18gm.co.za/" target="_blank">18 Gangster museum</a> in Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township. The museum consists of a shipping container fitted out to look like a prison cell where the museum’s curators, ex-convicts and gang members themselves, tell you of their life of crime and sitting behind bars. The museum doesn’t glamourize thug life, instead telling a cautionary tale and helping outsiders understand the reality of crime and punishment. But why’s it called the 18 Gangster museum, you ask?</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Zulu mythology and the Numbers Gangs</strong></span></p>
<p>South Africa’s mafioso culture revolves around three gangs – the 26s, 27s and 28s, aka the Numbers, and their <a href="http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/correctional/nongolozaschildren.pdf" target="_blank">bizarre</a> pseudo-Zulu mythology. The Numbers began as bandits led by the Zulu warrior Nongoloza in the 1910s. Legend goes that back in 19th century, Nongoloza found a wise old man named Po, who told him working in the mines is for suckers. Under the tutelage of wise master Po, his Obi-Wan Kenobi, Nongoloza hung out in a disused mineshaft, gathering a band of followers including another outlaw named Kilikijan. That’s when things started getting weird.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/elusive-drug-boss-frank-matthews-to-hit-the-big-screen-from-narco" target="_blank">Elusive drug boss Frank Matthews to hit the big screen</a>: From narco billionaire at 28 to mysterious phantom</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Kilikijan and Nongoloza killed a white farmer, stole his cow, slaughtered it… then drunk it’s blood.</p>
<p>One night when Kilikijan got back from a hard day’s robbing he found Nongoloza getting freaky with one of his men. Nongoloza said Po told him women were poison and he must wife his own soldiers, Kilikijan called bullshit, and they had a fight. To settle their squabble, Po told them to go down to the mines and see if the miners kept themselves company on lonely nights. They did, but the significance of the miners taking shaft (as opposed to digging shaft) was lost because when they got back, Po was dead. If you’re confused about the moral of the story, don’t worry, you’re not the only one.</p>
<p>Nongoloza and Kilikijan went off to form their own bands, only to get captured and meet in jail where a third gang, the 26s, was formed. The 26s were tricksters and conmen, so they looked after the money; the 28s (Nongoloza’s faction) were fighters, while the 27s were to keep the peace between the two. The others hate the 28s for supposedly being homo thugs, but according to Jonny Steinberg’s book The Number, low-key man-on-man action goes down in the 26s as well.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “I shook up the world!” - <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-shook-up-the-world-how-muhammad-ali-took-the-heavyweight-boxing" target="_blank">How Muhammad Ali took the heavyweight boxing championship</a> belt from the Mafia</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“I joined the 28 gangsters because had some friends who were in it already,” said Thando, one of the museum guides. “It is the biggest; the first gang you will find in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Prison" target="_blank">prison</a>.”</p>
<p>“As a kid growing up, my father was in the Christian apostolic church, but he died of kidney failure. Then I found out my mother wasn’t my real mother and she died too, and I began asking myself so many questions. I’d start smoking ganja, Mandrax (a sedative) and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">meth</a>, and I’d drink too much. Police looked for me for six months for a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a> case while I hid in friends’ houses. But I handed myself in after getting tired of running, because if you keep running you’ll miss your whole life.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Standing up to apartheid</strong></span></p>
<p>Thando ended up doing four years inside before beating the murder rap (he wasn’t involved). But while he was there, he had to join the 28s for protection. Inmates are divided into ndotas (OGs) and frans (non-gangsters), and the franses get treated like dirt. South African jails are a brutal place, and if you’re not careful you might end up as somebody’s Fleshlight.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131458,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131458?profile=original" /></a>“In prison you’re living like an animal,” added Rocky, another ex-con and a 27. “If you don’t exist in a gang you can’t sleep on the bed, only on the floor, sometimes with 30-40 people in a room. Maybe something bad will happen to you like you’ll get raped. The guards can take you, discipline you, torture you, beat you, pour water over your head and shock you. Joining a gang’s the only option.”</p>
<p>In the old days the Numbers saw themselves as standing up to apartheid and white colonial rule. They even had their own, secret language. There’s some parallels with the Russian mafia – the vory v zakone formed in Stalin’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gulag" target="_blank">gulags</a> were fiercely anti-communist. The Numbers still see themselves as standing up for prisoners’ rights: if any warder threw his weight around too much he’d quickly get acquainted with the stabby end of a shank. If a member commits an infraction, the Numbers have their own courts with a jury of twelve to hand out punishments, which can range from beatings, stabbings to gang rape.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/american-gangster-myth" target="_blank">American Gangster Myth</a>: The True Story Behind Frank Lucas</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“The most important rule is not to share the things of the gang with those who are not part of the gang,” Thando said. “Once in prison I got beaten with a lock because I broke the law of the gang.”</p>
<p>“What law did you break?” I asked.</p>
<p>“I can’t say,” he smiled.</p>
<p>Crime waves follow major upheavals in society – the unification of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Italy" target="_blank">Italy</a>, or the gunslingers riding in the Old West after the Civil War. On May 1st, 1994, apartheid ended and Nelson Mandela was elected president. Mandela kept the nation together, holding it back from a Congo-style bloodbath between Boers, Zulus and Xhosa. But for many in the Cape townships it seemed little had changed.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-two-russian-mobsters-got-caught-up-in-the-iraqi-civil-war" target="_blank"><strong>How two Russian mobsters got caught up in the Iraqi civil war</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>A culture of violence evolved shaped by brutal memories of both apartheid and the struggle against it. Police opened fire on anyone who tried to protest, most infamously in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Sharpeville-massacre" target="_blank">Sharpeville massacre</a>, while ANC guerrillas used the practice of “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/13/world/party-led-by-mandela-now-owns-up-to-atrocities.html" target="_blank">necklacing</a>”; throwing a rubber tire filled with gasoline over an informer and setting it on fire. Throw a load of guns in the mix – either left over from the conflict or looted from private collections. Firearms also had a way of wandering from police armories.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Capitalism and crime</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131686,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131686?profile=original" /></a>After apartheid ended South Africa embraced neoliberal capitalism. While already a free market economy, most of its wealth was in the hands of whites, with a deepening divide between the haves and the have-nots (who remained largely black and Colored). Crime, already rising under apartheid, spun wildly out-of-control. <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/south-africa-johannesburg-carjacking" target="_blank">Carjacking</a> became an industry: criminals shopped for custom orders for a particular make at gunpoint, the cars then shipped off and sold in other African countries.</p>
<p>One crime in particular’s haunted South Africa — home invasions of white farmers. White South Africans feel they’re under attack as payback for apartheid, understandable given what happened elsewhere in Africa. While it’s not clear <a href="https://africacheck.org/2017/05/08/analysis-calculating-farm-murder-rate-sa-near-impossible/" target="_blank">whites</a> are targeted more than everyone else (would you really be safer in a township than a rich guy’s ranch? I don’t think so), at least one of those attacks, the savage murders at Nieuwoudtville in 1996, was a symbolic act to take control of the 27s. Four men beat or stabbed all but one members of a household to death, including a two-year-old girl, then raided the fridge and took their meat. By killing the white family in such a horrific way and taking their meat, the head bandit was <a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Coded+narratives+of+Nongoloza%2C+Doggy+Dog%3A+narrating+the+self+and...-a0244951484" target="_blank">declaring</a> himself, in the Number’s twisted mythology, the heir of Kilikijan.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/czech-mob-boss-threatens-judge-gets-35-years-for-torture-and-murd" target="_blank">Czech mob boss threatens judge</a>, gets 35 years for torture & murder</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The police shake-up left them powerless to do anything. Under apartheid, officers were given powers outside the law – to break up meetings, even to make sure someone was never heard from again. The cops got used to <a href="https://www.sajs.co.za/index.php/sacq/article/view/1059" target="_blank">beating out</a> confessions, which they couldn’t do anymore. Undermanned and underfunded, it’s not surprising they cut corners. Gang leaders like Jackie Lonte were allowed free reign in return for “dealing with” anti-apartheid activists. After apartheid, a mass recruitment drive (partly to hire more black officers, partly to get a lid on the crime problem) left too many rookies in the field. Bribery and corruption were common. Those who could afford it moved to gated communities patrolled by private security firms.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>International Mafia syndicates</strong></span></p>
<p>That wasn’t all. The opening of the borders and unchecked corruption in the 90s left South Africa home to international crime syndicates, including the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/russian-mafia-overview" target="_blank">Russian</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview" target="_blank">Chinese</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Serbia" target="_blank">Serbian</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=India" target="_blank">Indian</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Nigeria" target="_blank">Nigerian</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Czech" target="_blank">Czech</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-organized-crime" target="_blank">Italian mobs</a>. But the local gangs were too fearsome for them to muscle in on the Cape Flats. Instead, they focused more on the <a href="https://oldsite.issafrica.org/uploads/Paper263.pdf" target="_blank">supply side</a>: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, Mandrax as well as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">crystal meth</a> (locally known as ‘tik’).</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chinese-organised-crime-and-africa" target="_blank"><strong>Chinese Organised Crime And Africa</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Meanwhile, drug dealer Jackie Lonte finally went to the big house and came out a 26. His crew, the Americans, allied with the 26s, while his arch-nemesis Colin Stansfield cozied up to the 28s. Street thugs took to calling themselves ndotas as they adopted the Numbers’ mythos. It was a quid-pro-quo: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">drug lords</a> could buy the Numbers’ status in prison, and in turn the Numbers could get steady ‘employment’ on their release. Turf wars raged across the Cape Flats which continue today. Lonte <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/1998-11-13-gangsters-fast-life-hard-death" target="_blank">went down</a> in a hail of bullets outside his house. By the mid-90s, Cape Town had one of the highest murder rates in the world. Last year, the situation got so bad the army got <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/20/dispatch-south-african-army-struggle-contain-gang-war-driven/" target="_blank">called in</a>. Street life mixed with jailhouse culture and the drug business created the perfect storm in the townships.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Location is everything</strong></span></p>
<p>The museum’s location in Khayelitsha, where the army’s been deployed to fight gangs, grounds it with a sense of here-and-now (unlike, say, the <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/st-valentines-day-massacre-wall" target="_blank">Mob Museum</a> in Las Vegas, which looks at a bygone era). But visitors needn’t be afraid: Khayelitsha is one of the safer townships, with one of its nightspots, Rands, drawing crowds from all over the city.</p>
<p>So why’s it called the 18 Gangster museum, you ask? If you add the three Numbers together, 26+27+28=81. By hiring ex-convicts Siya wants to help them make a fresh start; flip 81 around and you get 18.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/music-label-or-violent-gang-original-block-hustlaz-provided-sound" target="_blank">Music label or violent gang?</a> Original Block Hustlaz provided soundtrack while it flooded Philadelphia with drugs</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“Being a gang member and criminal activity didn’t achieve anything for me or my kids,” Thando said as I bid him goodbye. “The 18 Gangster museum gave me chance to work on myself and change my life.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to be in the gang any more, I only want to bond with my son,” Rocky added. “I want to teach him the truth, not to follow in my footsteps and make the same mistakes his father did.”</p>
<p><em>You can book a visit to the 18 Gangster museum through their website: <a href="http://www.18gm.co.za/" target="_blank">http://www.18gm.co.za/</a><br /> </em></p>
<p><em>With thanks to Brian and Nomaphelo.</em></p>
<p><em>Niko Vorobyov is a government-certified (convicted) drug dealer turned writer and author of the book <a href="https://www.hodder.co.uk/titles/niko-vorobyov/dopeworld/9781529378047/" target="_blank">Dopeworld</a>, about the international drug trade. You can follow him <a href="https://twitter.com/Lemmiwinks_III" target="_blank">@Lemmiwinks_III</a><br /> </em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">Street Gangs section</a> or <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime" target="_blank">Black organized crime</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Mob rat John Alite got beat up at a strip club
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/mob-rat-john-alite-got-beat-up-at-a-strip-club
2017-06-06T09:30:00.000Z
2017-06-06T09:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mob-rat-john-alite-got-beat-up-at-a-strip-club" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237089688,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237089688?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Chris Kasparoza</p>
<p>Ever since mob rat John Alite began his media/defamation tour before the release of his "<em>biography"</em> in January 2015 he’s bragged in interview after interview what a tough guy and accomplished killer he is. He even preaches how he walks the streets of New York by himself without security because he has no fear of retribution.</p>
<p>However, that’s not true:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237090074,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237090074?profile=original" width="620" /></a><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237091072,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237091072?profile=original" width="620" /></a><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/judge-to-rule-if-gambino-rat-alite-violated-supervised-release" target="_blank">John Alite</a> has a personal bodyguard — name withheld — who was spotted protecting him at his interviews for <em><a href="https://youtu.be/swR4wY8CTn8" target="_blank">Crime Watch Daily</a></em> and <em><a href="http://nyheder.tv2.dk/krimi/2016-10-13-tjener-kassen-paa-sit-tidligere-liv-jeg-har-nok-draebt-15-16-personer" target="_blank">Crime Does Not Pay?</a></em> who also kept Alite safe during the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BEm4pezGiKH/" target="_blank">filming</a> of his fictional “documentary” about himself which he has the nerve to call <em><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1073818976002165&set=pb.100001222195557.-2207520000.1496462168.&type=3&theater" target="_blank">The Perfect Gangster</a></em>, and who appears across Alite’s Instagram and Facebook at all sorts of events making sources ask JohnAliteFacts.com “Why?” as Alite is known to use the “n-word” and other derogatory terms for African Americans (read more about that <a href="http://johnalitefacts.com/rapinggirls/" target="_blank">here</a>). In addition, sources report that John Alite is known to hire off duty law enforcement to do security for him and it’s believed that while filming some of his <em>projects</em> he has had FBI agents stationed nearby.</p>
<p>But, perhaps there’s a legitimate reason for that as multiple sources contacted <a href="http://www.JohnAliteFacts.com" target="_blank">JohnAliteFacts.com</a> in early April reporting an incident at <a href="http://sugardaddysnyc.com/" target="_blank">Sugardaddy’s</a>, a strip club in Queens, New York on the night of Saturday, April 1st.</p>
<p>According to eyewitness reports — and if <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/judge-to-rule-if-gambino-rat-alite-violated-supervised-release" target="_blank">John Alite</a> disputes this, he can always pull the security footage, which for all we know he’s already had law enforcement do — there was a birthday party there that night for an Albanian and Alite apparently thought he would be honored to have him as Alite has been trying to turn himself into an Albanian folk hero and some <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Albania" target="_blank">Albanians</a> seem to be buying it… but, when Alite walked into the party? Feeling safe and secure among his people, as he arrived without his bodyguard? The Albanian approached Alite, who he did not want there and who was not invited, and said: “Why are you here? I don’t know you like that.” And was about to have him thrown out when Alite pleaded to be able to stay, leading the Albanian to allow him to, but under the condition he not join his party and sit on the opposite side of the club.</p>
<p>When, someone from a different party, whose identity is being withheld thought he recognized Alite. He approached him with a big smile, extended his hand and said: “Before I shake your hand, are you John Alite?”</p>
<p>Flattered, Alite replied that he was. He thought he was a fan.</p>
<p>But: he wasn’t. This individual “slapped” Alite with a left, and after Alite fell back a few feet pummeled him with a dizzying array of hard punches.</p>
<p>Stunned, Alite “got his ass handed to him” and ran behind some bouncers, seeking shelter and screaming at them to “Call 911!” as he took out his phone and made calls himself.</p>
<p>Afraid to go out the front door where he might not be safe, Alite ran out the back of the small club to what he thought would be his safety… But, unfortunately for Alite, behind Sugardaddy’s is a canal leading into Newtown Creek/the East River and he was blocked from accessing the street.</p>
<p>Desperate and seemingly fearing for his life, John Alite jumped into this sewage and parasite infested water — some of the dirtiest on the planet — and refused to come out, again shouting at the bouncers to “Call 911!” (he dropped his phone before jumping in).</p>
<p>The bouncers told Alite to come out, but Alite wouldn’t without law enforcement to protect him.</p>
<p>Luckily for John Alite, however, minutes later his uninvited sons also showed up for the birthday party and sources gave the following accounts:</p>
<p>One said that the sons approached the front entrance and introduced themselves like they were welcome, ready to attend the party, but the bouncers told them to get lost, and after they realized what was happening, they threatened to call 911.</p>
<p>Upon further investigation, however, it was revealed that one of the sons got out of the car with his phone in hand telling the bouncers that he had 911 on the line and demanded to know where his father was.</p>
<p>After which, they were brought to the back of the club, by the canal, and Alite finally felt safe enough to come out of the sewage… but, with only one shoe on as the other was lost to the river.</p>
<p>The bouncers put him in their car, they took off, and shortly after the police arrived. Because, according to one source, after Alite dropped his phone as he “leaped into the water scared for his life,” he left it behind after he got in the car, after which this source looked at his phone and saw the last two calls: the first to 911, and right after that another to a “Johnny Jr.,” believed to be Alite’s son.</p>
<p>Which begs the question: Is John Alite so selfish that after calling 911 possibly scared for his life, he called his son to help him, knowing that he’d be putting his son in what he believed was life-threatening danger also?</p>
<p>John Alite more or less confirmed this story after I started asking around about it a week later.</p>
<p>On April 8th I saw on Facebook that Stephen Newell, who testified against Alite as a defense witness at the 2009 Gotti trial and helped expose that Alite had been <a href="http://johnalitefacts.com/chased/" target="_blank">chased out of Queens</a> and his association with the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino family</a> by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/interview-john-gotti-jr-sits-down-with-gangsters-inc" target="_blank">John A. Gotti</a> in 1991 was in the company of Andy Deliana, the director of Alite’s fiction-based, upcoming “documentary.” So, I messaged Newell to ask Deliana if he knew about his star liar getting beat up and running into the water. Which obviously got back to Alite because on April 17th he went on <a href="http://www.theboneonline.com/news/former-mobster-john-alite-the-mike-calta-show/0QJb0qd1jZm7DOLWjb1eMN/?anvt=1314" target="_blank">The Mike Calta Show</a>, mentioned that I was bringing it up, and made the following warped statement, his own fictionalized, fantasized version of the events:</p>
<p>NOTE: I was having trouble embedding the video but to watch his rant <a href="http://www.theboneonline.com/news/former-mobster-john-alite-the-mike-calta-show/0QJb0qd1jZm7DOLWjb1eMN/?anvt=1314" target="_blank">click here</a> and forward to 21:54.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Guys talk about loyalty, it’s a joke. I mean I just had an incident recently at a, at a club, and, this is gonna go on, you know, always. And, I was in, you know, I had a couple of drinks, I was by myself, I was in an industrial area. And you have guys that are Albanian that are you know supposed to be loyal to me, and you know the message I’m sending out, and they’re hanging out with Serbs, which is a, you know a, especially what goes on with Albanians, Serbs and there’s a hero Ramush, that I talk about in Albania all the time that fought the war, that he’s in jail in Paris, and it’s disrespect to guys like him, disrespect to kids we’re trying to help. But, they’re weak guys. I mean the guy took a shot at me, went to, he hit me and he punched me on the blind side. And, this stuff’s gonna happen. I says, and I laugh at it, because, first of all the kid can’t even hit. I mean he should, he should be able to knock me out, and uh, you know he didn’t move me. And you know the next thing is somebody said to me well why didn’t I go outside and finish fighting? They showed up with 8 or 10 guys or whatever. So I said I didn’t have my Superman cape on that day. So I, I took a dive into the water, and uh, you know I said I had my Aquaman suit on. So I made a joke of it because I understand these guys. If they’re real serious guys, if you really want to be a gangster you’ll do what I did. You won’t come in and punch me in the face, you’ll come in and shoot me in the head. Or you’ll come and stab me up… These guys are trying to be something that I already know. If you’re a real guy, I came in the club, I’m gonna walk out the club. You caught me off guard a little bit because I, I don’t really drink, I get sloppy, I was drinking, I was alone. I’m in an industrial park, I’m in Queens… Well you know what I’ll tell you the truth, here’s the thing and you know this… You know, guys know, I walk around I do whatever I feel like doing. I’m really not worried about getting hit, I’m a boxer, I mean it’s almost laughable to get punched, so what… in the ring you’re hit 40, 50 times a day… I grew up like this, and you know, if someone’s gonna kill me, I says let it be. But, guys like the real guys, they just wait for me to come walking out the door. And they do what they need to do, shoot me. They ain’t gonna come in like an amateur and punch me. What are we, 12 years old? So, you know, this is the laughable part of the behavior of guys that are insecure. You turned on your own people. You know, actually after it was done, some of the Italians were making fun of him, saying this is a flunkie that wannabe Italian. So it is laughable, because, you know you’re going against your own people, you’re not even good at what you do. So, you know on a show like this I can tell you I says I’d love to get in a ring with him. And he fights so bad he can bring that Spanish guy he was with. So, I’ll fight the two of them… That’s an open challenge to two guys that can’t fight too well… I just did celebrity boxing… well, I didn’t do it, Junior wouldn’t get in the ring, I asked him.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But, forget that his version of events is nowhere near accurate, as the club has security cameras, and security cameras don’t lie.</p>
<p>During his rant, Alite described the Albanians not being loyal to him, but, sources within the Albanian community alleged that one of the reasons he was not welcome at the party was not just because he testified against alleged members of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in" target="_blank">Italian organized crime</a>, but, because he is believed to be informing on members of Albanian organized crime in present day. In addition: Alite mentioned on The Mike Calta Show and in other appearances that he was a boxer, however, numerous sources who’ve known Alite for decades say they have no recollection of him ever <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxing</a> anyone. But, notice how at the end there he said he asked “Junior” — <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/interview-john-gotti-jr-sits-down-with-gangsters-inc" target="_blank">John A. Gotti</a> — to fight him in a celebrity boxing match? That’s true. On April 14, 2016, he <a href="http://johnalitefacts.com/boxing-challenge/" target="_blank">posted the challenge</a> on Facebook and Instagram and even said that if Gotti wouldn’t fight him he’d fight me instead.</p>
<p>But, after Gotti heard about it? He told me to send him the following message:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“John Gotti wouldn’t wipe his ass with you. You had your chance to be tough 25 years ago when he slapped you and chased your crying ass out of Queens. He would never lower himself and make you more than the dog that you are. You’d blow a horse if it got someone to pay attention to you.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Which I did via email, and Alite replied just one minute later with the following statement:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237090858,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237090858?profile=original" width="520" /></a>“Don’t text me personally ever again this message will be turned over.”</p>
<p>To who? The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a>? Which is made all the more hilarious because two weeks later on a 5/1/2016 podcast Alite admitted that he actually would blow a horse if it got <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gotti" target="_blank">John Gotti</a> to fight him:</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x3QGLi-41RA?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I said, I said– Bring me the horse, because I’ll suck the horse’s cock to get him back in the ring with me. That’s what I said. I says, so, if you’ve got the horse, bring him over to me. That’s how bad I want to get him in the ring.”</p>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read more about that here: <a href="http://johnalitefacts.com/boxing-challenge/" target="_blank">John Alite’s All-Star Boxing Challenge</a>.</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>That was not the first time that John Alite got beat up or threatened someone with the FBI or 911, though.</p>
<p>According to multiple eyewitness sources, in early 2015 John Alite walked into a bar in Howard Beach, Queens and approached a local “tough guy.” He said that he heard he was “talking shit” about him and asked the tough guy to step outside. To which he accepted, but after walking outside, he spotted FBI Agents in a car down the block, shook his head, and just walked back inside.</p>
<p>Around the same time, one of Alite’s comrades who had been promoting his book across the internet and was going with Alite to his media appearances, but has since disappeared, signaling a falling out with Alite, like pretty much everyone who comes into his orbit has with him — this individual, who was telling people he was Alite’s cousin, was reportedly getting his nails done in a salon in Howard Beach and bragging about his cousin John Alite, the greatest guy in the world, to one of the workers, when a “tough kid” from the neighborhood overheard him, approached him, and: “bitch-slapped him, and walked out.”</p>
<p>However, several months ago JohnAliteFacts.com <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JohnAliteFacts/photos/a.825660487549876.1073741827.817694198346505/1144245902357998/?type=3&theater" target="_blank">reported on Facebook</a> that a source claimed on the night of September 24th, 2016 John Alite was acting like an obnoxious big shot at <a href="http://www.bestclambar.com/" target="_blank">Cuzin’s Clam Bar</a> in Marlboro, New Jersey when someone recognized who he was and approached him along the lines of: “You’re acting like a big tough guy, but aren’t you that rat?”</p>
<p>Words ensued, one thing lead to another and John Alite threw a punch… but, he got punched right back and a fight broke out. Alite’s friend got up to help him, but then the other guy’s friend intervened and knocked Alite’s friend out cold, and in the end, Alite got his hole broke, and when he came to? He threatened to come back with a bunch of guys… but, he was told it was over. To never come back and never speak about what happened.</p>
<p>Upon further investigation, however, a new story emerged:</p>
<p>That on September 24, 2016 Alite was having dinner with Gambino informants <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-capo-michael" target="_blank">Michael DiLeonardo</a> and Frank Fappiano at the nearby <a href="http://www.firesidegrillandbar.com/" target="_blank">Fireside Grill and Bar</a>, after which, Alite went to Cuzin’s which is just down the road to meet two people, a man and a woman.</p>
<p>But unfortunately for Alite, someone at Cuzin’s knew who he was, did not want him in the place, they got into a fight, and in the end? This individual beat the crap out of John Alite and threw him out.</p>
<p>If he would like to though, as has been stated over and over, John Alite has an open forum at JohnAliteFacts.com to give his side of things, at any time, unfiltered, just as Alite’s quote from The Mike Calta Show is posted above unfiltered. He can also address the claim by a source for JohnAliteFacts.com that after the beating by just one person at Sugardaddy’s he was telling people he was instead assaulted by “seven guys with guns,” which is slightly different than what he said on the radio, that “they showed up with 8 or 10 guys.”</p>
<p>But, last but not least? He can also address the claim that he was telling people he couldn’t come out of the water because people were “shooting bullets” around him into it.</p>
<p>When, again: security cameras don’t lie.</p>
<p><em><strong>Chris Kasparoza is a writer, director, and the author of the novel</strong></em> <strong>For Blood And Loyalty</strong><em><strong>. He is working on the project</strong></em> <strong>Witsec Mafia</strong> <em><strong>with John A. Gotti and Richard Stratton. This article will also be published at <a href="http://JohnAliteFacts.com/StripClub">http://JohnAliteFacts.com/StripClub</a></strong></em> <strong>You can connect with him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Kasparoza" target="_blank">@Kasparoza</a></strong></p>
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Hong Kong Triad boss arrested in US$129 million fraud case
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/hong-kong-triad-boss-arrested-in-us-129-million-fraud-case
2016-07-23T10:11:46.000Z
2016-07-23T10:11:46.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/hong-kong-triad-boss-arrested-in-us-129-million-fraud-case"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237073264,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237073264?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Triad leader Kwok Wing-hung has been arrested at Hong Kong airport Thursday after arriving from Thailand. He is charged with conspiracy to commit criminal intimidation, conspiracy to wound with intent, and conspiracy to blackmail.</p>
<p>Police believe the 58-year-old crime boss had conspired with a retired Hong Kong senior superintendent to steal a large sum of money and conspire to commit fraud in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Macau">Macau</a>, involving up to HK$1 billion (almost $129 million U.S. dollars.) The Macau Judiciary Police is still investigating the case.</p>
<p>Kwok Wing-hung, nicknamed "Shanghai Boy,” is an alleged <em>dragon head</em> in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview">Wo Shing Wo Triad</a>, part of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/triads-overview">Wo group</a>, and one of Hong Kong’s biggest <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Triads">Triads</a>.</p>
<p>He made headlines around the world several months ago after he was punched in the face at Hong Kong’s most famous five-star Peninsula Hotel. He was also suspected by police of involvement in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bloody-knife-attacks-as-triad-gangs-go-to-war-in-hong-kong">bloody slashing of three people</a> at the Yau Yim Kee fruit store as some sort of retaliation for the hotel beating.</p>
<p>After the hotel incident, “Shanghai Boy’ disappeared for seven months, while police placed him on their wanted list. He popped up in Japan in March where he did an interview with a Hong Kong magazine in which he claimed he wasn’t fleeing, but merely traveling.</p>
<p>And traveling he did, ending up in Phuket, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Thailand">Thailand</a>, before flying back home to Hong Kong where he now has to face criminal charges in the court of law.</p>
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Mafia attacks shopkeeper in Palermo for refusal to pay
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/mafia-attacks-shopkeeper-in-palermo-for-refusal-to-pay
2014-11-13T15:30:00.000Z
2014-11-13T15:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-attacks-shopkeeper-in-palermo-for-refusal-to-pay"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237030263,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237030263?profile=original" width="409" /></a></p>
<p>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>So much for working in the shadows. Italian authorities have released video images (below) of a vicious attack in broad daylight on a shopkeeper by Mafiosi of the Palermo Noce clan. The shopkeeper, Antonio Vizzi, had refused to pay 3,000 euros in “pizzo,” protection money, to the local Mafia family and was beaten as a result.</p>
<p>The man who ordered the attack was Giuseppe Castelluccio, leader of the Noce clan. He had even come to the store personally to demand the protection payment. When Vizzi continued to stand up against the Mafia, Castelluccio sent several of his men to Vizzi’s shop to make things “right.”</p>
<p>What happened next was caught on tape by the store’s surveillance cameras. Vizzi was beaten severely while other mobsters held bystanders at bay. Vizzi’s son-in-law came to his father’s aid, but was dealt with in similar ruthless fashion and ended up in a coma for two days.</p>
<p>The attack took place on November 2, 2013, but last month, justice was served as Castelluccio was found guilty of attempted murder and extortion and sentenced to 17 years in prison. His henchman, Massimiliano Di Majo, who physically handed out the beating, was sentenced to 16 years behind bars.</p>
<p><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/V5NZTz5EShA?rel=0&wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
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