Incarcerated San Francisco Chinatown Godfather Raymond (Shrimp Boy) Chow’s saw eight of his associates sentenced to prison time last week, two years after he was put behind bars on racketeering and murder charges. The 58-year old Chow allegedly ordered two gangland slayings of rivals – one of which he was convicted of – during his reign on the Chinatown streets in the 2000s and early 2010s. He’s serving a life sentence.

On February 27, 2006, Chow took control of the Chee Kung Tong by killing its leader and Chinatown underworld elder statesman Allen (Uncle Al) Leung. Then, on October 17, 2003, in an attempt to prevent losing his grip on the Hop Sing Tong, he’s said to have had renegade Hop Sing Tong enforcer Jimmy (The Gorilla) Kong and his wife slain. Kong and Chow had once be close friends, with Kong often acting as Chow’s main muscle. Chow was convicted of the Uncle Al Leung homicide at his 2016 trial.

Leung, 56, was gunned down in his Chinatown office, where he ran an import-export business buying and selling shark fins, a delicacy at Asian weddings. Chow had tried to extort $125,000 from Leung and when Leung refused to bend to Chow’s demands, Chow had the Chee Kung Tong headquarters shot up in a drive-by shooting and vandalized with spray paint. Leung aided the FBI with its investigation into the shooting and vandalism, pointing the finger at Chow as who was responsible.

Chow bragged to an undercover FBI agent about killing Leung.

“Even back then with Allen Leung, when I’m talking to him, I tell him one time, I don’t like people enough to give them a second time…you fuck around, you gone. I tell you one time. If you don’t hear me, that’s it.”

The 51-year old Jimmy Kong and his wife, Cynthia Chen, were found murdered execution style inside a minivan parked on the side of the road in Mendocino, California. A feared drug dealer and strong arm in Chinatown circles, Jimmy the Gorilla was a prime suspect in the Uncle Al Leung hit, viewed by authorities as most likely the triggerman in the high-profile slaying. He and Chow started feuding after Kong made it known he intended to seize power in the Hop Sing Tong.

Although Chow was the “Dragonhead” of the Chee Kung Tong, he also exerted significant influence in the Hop Sing Tong, too. As a young gangster in Chinatown in the 1970s, Chow was the leader of the Hop Sing Boys, a “JV” Chinese mafia and gang of teenage thugs loyal to the Hop Sing Tong.

Tensions between Chow and Kong grew deeper when Kong began engaging in an extramarital affair with a close friend of Chow’s wife. Chow and Kong had engaged in a heated verbal altercation at a Chinatown nightclub in 2011, the same year Kong was voted off the Hop Sing Tong’s board of directors. In the months preceding his and his wife’s murder, Kong had gone into hiding in Los Angeles.

The post From The Depths Of The Sea: The ‘Shrimp Boy’ Chow S.F. Chinatown Murders appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Former Detroit teenage drug dealer Richard (White Boy Rick) Wershe was convicted in state court 30 years ago this week and sentenced to life in prison under the now-defunct “650 Lifer Law,” following a week-long jury trial held amid a frenzy of media coverage and collection of pager-wearing, gold-chain draped dope boys filling Wayne County Recorder’s Court as eager spectators. The 48-year old Wershe was paroled from the Michigan Department of Corrections back in the summer and is currently finishing up his time in a Florida prison for a car-theft ring he participated in from behind bars in the early 2000s.

Due to his young age and skin color in comparison to his contemporaries, Wershe became a true phenomenon in the press in the late 1980s. The acclaimed television news magazine show 60 Minutes descended on Motown to research his case and popular cop shows of the day, Miami Vice and 21 Jump Street, crafted storylines inspired by his rise in the underworld. Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey will star in a film about Wershe’s life set to hit theatres this year.

At the time of his parole in August 2017, Wershe was the longest serving non-violent juvenile offender in the American prison system. He was found guilty on January 14, 1988 of possession with intent to distribute eight kilos of cocaine stemming from an arrest the previous spring when he was just 17. The drugs were found under a neighbor’s porch after a routine traffic stop in front of his grandmother’s house on the far eastside of Detroit in the late afternoon of May 22, 1987.

What wasn’t known publically at the time of his circus-like trial three decades ago was the fact that Wershe had been recruited into the treacherous Motor City drug world by a federal narcotics task force targeting eastside crime lord Johnny (Lil’ Man) Curry fresh out of eighth grade and put to work for the next two years as a paid government mole. The flashy, fast-talking, street savvy teen quickly ingratiated himself into Curry’s inner circle and became his protégé. Wershe was no longer employed by the task force when he was arrested.

Married to then-Mayor of Detroit Coleman Young’s favorite niece, Cathy Volsan and a founding member of the 1970s street gang the Black Killers, Johnny Curry pled guilty to drug conspiracy charges in the summer of 1987 and did a dozen years in federal prison. In the wake of Curry getting locked up in March 1987, Wershe began a romance with the older Volsan, adding a prickly political component to his case. Curry, 59, walked free in March 1999 and campaigned for Wershe’s release in the years preceding his granting of parole.

Wershe retained a high-profile team of defense attorneys for his trial consisting of Bill Bufalino, Jr., Sam Gardner and Ed Bell. Bufalino and his father made a name for themselves as mouth pieces for prominent members of the Detroit Italian mafia and powerful labor-union officials, including slain Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa. Gardner and Bell were confidants of Mayor Young, the first African-American to be elected Mayor of a major American city when he won a 1973 election.

One of the star witnesses at Wershe’s trial, a neighbor of his named David (Peanut) Golly signed an affidavit years later admitting he perjured himself by testifying that he saw Wershe bury a whisky box containing the eight kilos of cocaine under a nearby porch and that he was physically intimidated by Detroit Police to lie under oath. At his two parole hearings (2003, 2017), Wershe copped to tossing the box of narcotics under a porch two blocks from his grandmother’s residence while in a state of panic after he, his sister and his father, had engaged in a physical altercation with the policemen that had pulled him over.

Wershe’s trial judge Thomas Jackson was disturbed by the entourage of gangbangers he saw following Wershe around at the courthouse and filling his courtroom on a daily basis to watch the proceedings.

“You think these people are here to offer you support, I think they are here to figure out who’s going to replace you after you’re gone,” Judge Jackson told him following the jury delivering its guilty verdict.

The post Subject Of Upcoming Movie, Detroit’s ‘White Boy Rick’ Wershe Found Guilty In Controversial Drug Case 30 Years Ago appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Maybe his nickname should be “Mad Dog?” Alleged Philadelphia mobster Salvatore (Sonny) Mazzone has quite the temper.

Last week, Philly mafia figure Gaeton Lucibello got charged with violating his parole from a 2011 federal racketeering case when it was revealed he met briefly with Mazzone back in October at a bocce ball game held at Marconi Plaza, a large public park in South Philly. The 65-year old Lucibello was set to be released off parole restrictions on February 1. Philadelphia Police Department detectives on routine surveillance duty spotted the interaction, per award-winning local investigative journalist Dave Schratwieser (FoxPhilly29), the first member of the media to report on the incident via his Twitter account.

Sonny Mazzone is the little brother of reputed Bruno-Scarfo crime family underboss Steve (Handsome Stevie) Mazzone. While Handsome Stevie isn’t known for brutish antics out in public, his baby bro hasn’t been shy in asserting his authority out on the town if he deems the situation necessary.

In the summer of 2015, 52-year old Sonny Mazzone was arrested, but never charged with domestic battery at a Jersey Shore nightclub. An inebriated Mazzone did a night in jail, however the female companion he was with – believed to be his wife –, chose not to press charges. Present with Mazzone that evening in Jersey was Philly mob don Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, his older brother’s best friend. Back in their younger days, Skinny Joey and Handsome Stevie’s tight-knit crew were known to brawl at the drop of a hat when hitting the bars and clubs along Delaware Avenue and at the Jersey Shore if they felt disrespected.

During an outdoor Super Bowl party in the early morning hours of February 7, 2005 (after his Philadelphia Eagles dropped a close one to the New England Patriots), Mazzone got into a fight with a fellow patron and bit part of his nose off. According to sources, Mazzone was inducted into the mafia in a ceremony held in the years after Handsome Stevie, 55, got sprung from a near-decade federal prison term for racketeering in 2009.

Joey Merlino will go on trial in New York next week on a new set of racketeering charges. He was released in 2011 from a stint in prison served for the same case the elder Mazzone got caught up in. The Mazzone brothers and Merlino played on a rec softball team together back in the 1990s. Following his last prison sentence, Merlino re-located to Florida.

Joey Merlino, Joe Ligambi and Sonny Mazzone circa 1997. Ligambi is Merlino’s acting boss.

The post Philly Mob Soldier ‘Sonny’ Mazzone Isn’t Someone To Be Messed With, Seen Meeting With Paroled Button Man In Fall Of ’17 appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Delaware County, Pennsylvania is valuable mob turf. Philadelphia mafia power George (Georgie Boy) Borgesi recently took back portions of the territory he ruled in the late 1990s and first part of the 2000s after having it reassigned to fellow Philly mob heavyweight John (Johnny Chang) Ciancaglini while he was away serving more than a decade in prison for racketeering.

Per sources, Ciancaglini and Borgesi are now sharing Delaware County’s gambling and loansharking rackets, using local reputed wiseguy Albert (Al the Cat) Lancellotti as their point man in the region. Lancellotti is the nephew of Bruno-Scarfo crime family captain Michael (Mikey Lance) Lancellotti. Known for his ambition and knowledge of underworld history, Borgesi, the crime family’s former consigliere, had been campaigning to reclaim his foothold in Delaware County since his release from prison in January 2014 and got his wish, sources say, at some point last year.

Turncoat Philly mob associate and drug dealer Mike Orlando told jurors at a 2012 trial that the younger Lancellotti smashed the windshield of his car with a baseball bat when he fell behind on loan payments (Lancellotti wasn’t involved in the trial proceedings). Orlando testified that Lancellotti requested that he help in a conspiracy to falsely raise his uncle’s credit score, too.

In addition to his alleged mob activity, Al the Cat is also an administrator of the world-famous Mummers Parade, an elaborate and costumed affair held annually in Philadelphia on New Year’s Day. “The Mummers” is the longest-running folk festival in the United States.

Ciancaglini, 62, is said to have been battling health problems lately, but according to one person he speaks to on a regular basis, “is doing better each day.” The one-time mob underboss celebrated New Year’s Eve with dinner at the Capital Grille and rung in 2018 with drinks at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel across the street.

Borgesi has steadily been reacquiring stature in the Philly crime family since getting sprung from behind bars four years ago. Establishing a loyal and capable support base from both inside and outside of the Bruno-Scarfo clan ranks, Georgie Boy climbed back up to captain status in late 2016, according to sources on the street.

Last month, Borgesi was seen chauffeuring high-profile Philly mob don Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino around town. The pair of childhood friends were allegedly butting heads earlier this decade, however Borgesi is said to have worked his way back into Merlino’s good graces with his ability to “earn.”

Merlino goes on trial for healthcare fraud and bookmaking next week in New York City. Some sources speculate Borgesi is in line to take Merlino’s place atop the Borgata if he gets convicted.

“Georgie is making a lot of money and Joey is living off that money,” explains one Philly mob source. “That fact alone has skyrocketed Georgie to the forefront of things around here again. Joey only talks one language. It’s called cash…..Georgie didn’t need a roadmap. He knew how to work his way back up the food chain and that’s what he’s done.”

The post The Delaware County Question: Philly Mobsters Borgesi & Ciancaglini Both Have Pieces Of Lucrative Suburbs appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Montreal’s Irish Mob, known locally in the Quebec province of Canada as the “West End Gang,” rose to prominence in the 1960s. The group of killers, thugs, thieves, bookies, loan sharks and drug dealers still operate today.

Using the outstanding research provided at the Coolopolis blog (www.coolopolis.com), Gangster Report has compiled a historical index of the main players in Canada’s only All-Irish crime syndicate for your reading pleasure. Alright, here we go.

WEST END GANG ROLL-CALL (1960-2018)

The Leaders (chronologically)

Frank (Dunny) Ryan – The most iconic and revered of the gang’s bosses, Ryan led Irish mob in Montreal from the early 1960s until his violent death in the 1980s. He headquartered out of the Belvedere Motel, but was killed inside the Nittolo Gardens Motel by an underling of his in November 1984.

Allan (The Weasel) Ross –  Dunny Ryan’s second-in-charge, Ross succeeded Ryan as boss of the gang and avenged his death within days in brutal fashion. Ross reigned until he was imprisoned in 1997.

The Matticks brothers: “Smiling Jack,” Gerry & Richie — Ryan and Ross’ main muscle and top henchmen, the Matticks Brothers took power after Ross went to prison and the surviving siblings still run the show in the West End today. Richie Matticks died of natural causes in 2016.

The Soldiers (alphabetically)

Paul April – Dunny Ryan’s primary drug lieutenant in the city’s East End, who turned into a rival of his over a debt and plotted successfully to murder him in 1984. April himself was murdered via a bomb inside a VCR less than a week later.

Campbell Ashton – Accomplished bank robber killed in shootout with police in 1962

Jimmy Ashton – Campbell’s son who followed him into the bank robbery trade

George (Georgie Blue) Calderwood – A loan shark and bank robber, Calderwood owned the Blue Top Tavern. He was killed in March 1971

Serge (The Sculptor) Charron – Matticks Brothers’ friend, who is a professional artist and expert drug importer

Larry Cooney – One of the Matticks Brothers bodyguards

Ray Desfosses – Allan Ross’ former right-hand man

Roddy Diamond – Irish mobster who ran for Mayor of a Montreal suburb in the 1970s

Donnie Driver – Matticks Brothers’ drug lieutenant

The England brothers: Roy & Ray – Dunny Ryan’s bodyguards, drivers and emissaries

Ron (Ronnie the Farmer) Fewtrell – Dunny Ryan’s main drug lieutenant in the 1970s

Kenny Fisher – Matticks Brothers’ drug lieutenant

Brian Forget – Matticks Brothers’ drug lieutenant

Petey Fryer – Retired Irish mob lieutenant. His brother Jimmy, another West End Ganger was slain in October 1968

Gerry Fyfe – Retired thief, truck hijacker

Richard (Ricky Threads) Griffin – Longtime liaison to the city’s Italian mafia, Griffin was killed by the same Italians he did business with over a drug debt in 2006. His brother Johnny, a fellow West End Ganger, is currently incarcerated on murder charges

George (Georgie Boy) Harris – An Irish mob drug dealer and enforcer who is serving a life prison sentence for murder

The Johnston brothers: Mikey, Billy, Stevie & David (aka “Abie”) — Trusted lieutenants of Dunny Ryan and Allan Ross. Their brother Eddie Johnston was a goalie in the NHL.

The Larramee brothers: Cody and Jamie — This pair of up-and-coming Matticks Brothers’ lieutenants were both killed in separate bar shootings in 2013

Dickie Lavoie – One of Dunny Ryan’s main enforcers and labor union emissaries. While in prison in the U.S. he was paid to watch Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa’s back.

Harry Livsey – A strip club owner and bank robber, Livsey was killed in 1969 after a beef with Paul April. Livsey had kicked April out of his

Shane Maloney – Dunny Ryan’s son, who was convicted in a big drug case and is in a wheelchair due to a 1990s snowmobile accident

The MacAllister brothers: Billy, Petey & Georgie – Bank robbers and drug dealers under Dunny Ryan

James (Jimmy the Snake) MacDonald – Truck hijacker, gun runner and enforcer for Dunny Ryan. He was killed in March 1969

Donnie Matticks – Son of boss Gerry Matticks who has a reputation as a drug dealer

Brian (Kato) McGuire – Irish mob enforcer who is serving time in prison for murder

The McGuire brothers: Johnny, Paddy, Gerry & Ricky – Big-time loansharks and prolific legitimate businessmen under Dunny Ryan and Allan Ross

Hughie McGurnahan — Rouge Irish mob enforcer and loan shark who was killed in a car bombing in the fall of 1981 after feuding with Dunny Ryan. His brother Ricky, another West End Gang strong arm, was murdered in March 1991 after beefing with Allan Ross

Jackie McLaughlin – Dunny Ryan’s bodyguard and go-to enforce. He was killed in 1984, just a few months after Ryan was gunned down.

Johnny McLean – Matticks Brothers’ lieutenant

Eric McNally – One-time hijacking partner of Jimmy MacDonald. McNally was killed in April 1968 by MacDonald for stealing from him.

The McPolland brothers: “Killer Kenny” & “Crazy Eddie” – Irish mob enforcers

The Mingo brothers: Melvin, Bobby, Nelson & Miles – Bank robbers under Dunny Ryan

Billy Morgan – A retired thief, safecracker who used to headquarter out of the Cavalier Bar

Douglas (Dougie Glasses) Nemo – One of Dunny Ryan’s most trusted enforcers and killers, Nemo was close to the Matticks Brothers. He died of a heart attack at just 50 years old.

The O’Neill brothers: Eddie & Tommy — Irish mob enforcers

Daniel (One-A-Day Danny) Pelansky – Heavily-feared Irish mob enforcer who feuded with the Italian mafia and was blown up in a car bomb in the summer of 1970

Keith (Rocky) Pierson – Early-era mob enforcer under Dunny Ryan. The diminutive “wet work” specialist was bumped off himself in 1961.

Earl Poirier –An expert safecracker and Billy MacAllister’s right-hand man in the McAllister brothers robbery crew. Poirier was bludgeoned to death in his sleep, alongside his girlfriend, in March 1984.

Rory Shayne – German ex-military sharpshooter and bank robber who is doing life in prison for pulling a gun on a judge

David Singer – Irish mob enforcer who was killed in Florida in 1985

John (Big John) Slawvey – Heavily-feared Irish mob enforcer and collector

The Sullivan brothers: Tommy & Danny — Trigger-happy Irish mob lieutenants under Dunny Ryan. Tommy is killed by his own son in 1976.

Frank Ward – Irish mob enforcer and bank robber.

Frank (Little Frankie) Ward, Jr. – Retired  West End Gang bookie and enforcer who used to headquarter his affairs out of Smitty’s Bar,

Peter (Boston Petey) White – Dunny Ryan’s first cousin and one of his most relied upon lieutenants in the 1970s and early 1980s, White hailed from Massachusetts in the United States. Known as a drug dealer and eager enforcer, he was the West End Gang’s liaison with the Irish mobs in Boston and New York.

The post Gangster Report Roll Call: The Montreal Irish Mob’s All-Time Roster (West End Gang Cheat Sheet) appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Multiple-Emmy Award-winner Bobby Cannavale is playing storied Philadelphia mob captain Felix (Skinny Razor) DiTullio in Martin Scorsese’s highly-anticipated upcoming film,The Irishman, based on the relationship between slain labor union boss Jimmy Hoffa and east coast hitman Frank (The Irishman) Sheeran. DiTullio was famous in east coast gangland circles for dressing to the nines, dating actresses (Kim Novak), getting name-checked in popular music of his day (Louie Prima) and being an expert at rubbing out his enemies.

Cannavale won an Emmy for his work on HBO’s critically-acclaimed show Boardwalk Empire, which had its pilot directed by Scorsese in 2010. Philly.com and the mob blog Cosanostranews.com were the first to report the casting, combatting original on-line reports that Cannavale was slated to portray slain New York mob figure Joseph (Crazy Joe) Gallo in the movie starring Robert DeNiro as Sheeran and Al Pacino as Hoffa. Sheeran dubiously claims to have killed both Hoffa and Gallo, although historians and the FBI doubt the boast to be true.

Hoffa, the former president of the goliath Teamsters union, disappeared from a suburban Detroit restaurant parking lot in July 1975. Gallo, a powerful rogue mob captain, was gunned down in New York City’s Little Italy on his birthday in April 1972.

The Irishman is based on the 2004 best-selling book I Heard You Paint Houses penned by author Charlie Brandt about Sheeran’s life. Sheeran allegedly confessed to Brandt about his role in the iconic never-solved murders in his final months of life in 2003. Being produced on a $125,000,000 budget, the film will be released by Netflix later this year or in early 2019.

Skinny Razor DiTullio is a legend in Philly mob lore. He mentored future Godfathers and could reportedly kill with ease, although he was never convicted of any homicides. Getting his start as a bootlegger in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he climbed the South Philly and Atlantic City underworld ladder as a collector and shakedown artist. Per federal files, DiTullio was one of the first local mobsters to begin extorting exclusively gay establishments.

Headquartered out of the still-standing Friendly Lounge in South Philly, DiTullio groomed mafia dons Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo and Ralph Natale in their early days, teaching them the ins and outs of the mob before succumbing to his own death of natural causes at just 60 years old in 1966. FBI records depict DiTullio as a feared and respected mob captain and loan shark who worked as then-Philly mob boss Angelo Bruno’s top muscle and main assassin.

Sheeran, who ran a Teamsters outlet in Delaware, reported to Bruno and Northeast Pennsylvania don Russell Bufalino. Frequent Scorsese collaborators Harvey Keitel and Joe Pesci are cast as Bruno and Bufalino, respectively, in The Irishman. Bruno was assassinated in 1980. Scarfo ran the Philly mob in the wake of Bruno’s assassination until he was locked up later in the decade. Natale oversaw the crime syndicate in the mid-to-late 1990s prior to turning informant for the government.

The post The Razor’s Edge: Actor Bobby Cannavale Will Be ‘Skinny Razor,’ Not ‘Crazy Joe,’ In New Scorsese Hoffa Movie appeared first on The Gangster Report.

The leaders of the Northwest Detroit Young n’ Scandalous Gang’s West Virginia wing were hit with a federal indictment this week, charged with racketeering, drug trafficking and kidnapping. “YNS” West Virginia crew chieftains James (Lucky) Bowens and George (G-Eazy) Eubanks were arrested on Wednesday.

The pair were said to be working on behalf of incarcerated YNS boss Edward (YNS Cheeks) Tavorn, who was indicted last year for racketeering and is signed as a rapper to Chicago hip-hop artist Chief Keef’s Glo Gang music label. Chief Keef is a protégé of rap superstar Kanye West.

Bowens, 37, is alleged to have kidnapped and shot at an associate in an attempt to get the associate to rent a vehicle for him and Eubanks to transport cocaine from Michigan to West Virginia. Eubanks, 30, and Bowens were nailed by West Virginia authorities back in the fall for possessing 55 grams of crack.

The Young N’ Scandalous Gang was reportedly founded by Tavorn and Corey (B-Mo C) Toney in the mid-2000s. YNS centers its affairs in Detroit’s Brightmore neighborhood on the city’s far Northwest side. Toney was indicted in 2017 along with Tavorn and other reputed YNS members. Some of the YNS affiliates were charged with a number of murders in attempts to consolidate power in the Brightmore area..

Prior to signing with Glo Gang, Tavorn rapped with the group YNS Da Mob with was put out by local independent label, Skantless Record. The 31-year old Tavorn faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted in his current case. West Virginia and other southern states like Kentucky and Tennessee have long served as a drug-dealing destination for satellite arms of Detroit-based criminal groups.

The post Take Me Home, Country Roads: Feds Bag West Virginia Branch Of Detroit’s ‘Young ‘N Scandalous’ Gang appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Fighting his death penalty sentence all the way to his last breath, Outlaws Motorcycle Club member William (Snivelhead) White died of natural causes this month. The 72-year old White, who belonged to the Outlaws’ Louisville, Kentucky chapter, had been imprisoned since the late 1970s on a capital murder conviction out of Florida. The case was still working its way through the American justice system upon his passing.

On June 6, 1978, White and Orlando Outlaws Richard (Dino) DiMarino and Guy (Wolf) Smith killed Gracie Mae Crawford after partying with her at an Orange County, Florida bar and at the Outlaws Orlando chapter’s clubhouse. DiMarino testified against White and Smith at trial, claiming Smith ordered him and White to beat and stab the 28-year old Crawford to death for admitting she would date a black man. Crawford was found two days later with 14 stab wounds and her throat slit.

In the years after the trial, Dino DiMarino’s brother and fellow Orlando Outlaws member John (Patch) DiMarino came forward and told authorities Dino was lying when he pointed to Snivelhead as the man who did the “wet work” because Dino confessed to him in the hours following the homicide at their family home. Dino DiMarino received just 15 years in prison in return for his cooperation.

Snivelhead White was born in Florida and moved to Kentucky in the 1950s. He joined the Louisville chapter of the Outlaws and became the club’s go-to mechanic in the Bluegrass State. White and his girlfriend were visiting the Orlando Outlaws chapter at the time of the Crawford murder.

The post Outlaws MC’s ‘Snivelhead’ White Kept Battling Govt. In His Death Penalty Case Until Day Mother Nature Nabbed Him appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn got his start in the hotel and gaming industry with the help of the Detroit mafia. The 76-year old Wynn, who has been the corporate face of Sin City since 1990s, personally responsible for much of the New Millennium makeover on The Strip, was in the news this week after the Wall Street Journal published an investigative piece concentrating on years of alleged sexual misconduct he reportedly inflicted on his employees.

His entrée into Las Vegas was paved by deceased Detroit mob underboss Anthony (Tony Z) Zerilli back in the late 1960s. Zerilli and his wiseguy pals from the Midwest controlled the Frontier Hotel and Casino through a hidden ownership stake, using a West Coast land developer and promoter named Maurice Friedman as their front man.

Friedman knew Wynn through a friendship with Wynn’s dad, Mike, owner of a series of bingo halls in Maryland, and introduced him to Zerilli. Shortly following the introduction, Wynn was hired as the Frontier’s slot-machine manager and purchased a 5% interest in the hotel and casino for $45,000. He’s now worth billions.

“I put Steve Wynn in business, there’d be no Steve Wynn without me,” an aging Zerilli said in an interview in the weeks before he died of natural causes in 2015. “The guy took that job we gave him and that investment we allowed him to buy into and parlayed it into an empire. We legitimized him though. People knew he was suddenly a player because he had our backing to start.”

Zerilli’s dad, Joseph (Joe Uno) Zerilli served as the Godfather of the mob in Detroit for more than 40 years without ever doing a night behind bars. He was one of the only non-New York dons to hold a seat on the Commission, the mafia’s national board of directors.

When the government began breathing down his neck shortly thereafter, the younger Zerilli was forced to sell the Frontier to reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes, a man Wynn himself did future business with. The Frontier was torn down in 2008. Today, Wynn owns the property the casino once stood on.

Tony Zerilli

In 1971, Zerilli and several other Midwest mafia figures were federally indicted for skimming $6,000,000 from the Frontier. Friedman was the star witness at their trial in which they were convicted and all sentenced to five years in prison.

Following Zerilli being swept out of Las Vegas and the Frontier changing hands, Wynn turned his attention to the Golden Nugget and transformed the city’s then downtrodden downtown area with mass renovations and a successful rebranding effort. By the early 1980s, the Golden Nugget was the most profitable casino in Las Vegas. Later in the decade, he changed gears and began a building campaign to rejuvenate the Strip, spearheaded by his construction of the Mirage and Treasure Island. The 1990s brought his opening of the opulent Bellagio, setting a trend for the long line of ultra-luxurious hotels and casinos you see dotting the Strip today.

Wynn has been hounded with rumors of mafia ties dating back decades. New York mob figure Anthony (Tony Cakes) Castelbouno was busted for laundering narcotics proceeds through a Wynn casino in Atlantic City 35 years ago. Genovese crime family street boss Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno was intercepted on an FBI wire planted in his Harlem social club headquarters being requested by Cleveland mafia consigliere John (Peanuts) Tronolone to use his sway with Wynn to “rein him in,” and aid in sales negotiations for property he owned. More recently, Boston Goodfellas Darin (Nino) Buffalino and Charles (Good Time Charlie) Lightbody were overheard on a wire talking about how they had Wynn “on their side,” in Las Vegas.

The post Steve Wynn & The Mob: Casino Tycoon Walked On Wild Side In Early Days Building His Gambling Kingdom appeared first on The Gangster Report.

The quintessential Cocaine Cowboys of Miami in the 1980s, Willy Falcon and Sal Magluta, known on the streets of South Florida as, “Los Muchachos,” ran a near-billion dollar drug trafficking and smuggling organization called “The Corporation,” before they were sent to prison in the 1990s. While Falcon and Magluta are firmly ensconced in narcotic world mythology for their suave demeanor, superior people skills and prolific gangland business acumen, the rest of their Corporation crew has faded into history with little to no recognition.

Author Roben Farzad’s excellent new book Hotel Scarface details the Cocaine Cowboys era using the infamous doper hangout The Mutiny hotel and club as its plot anchor. Much of the book centers on Falcon and Magluta’s massive operation and their playboy antics at the notorious posh hotspot. Using Hotel Scarface as a guide, Gangster Report breaks down all The Corporation’s major players and top lieutenants

THE CORPORATION ROSTER ROLL-CALL:

Juan (Rec) Barroso – Childhood friend of Los Muchachos and one of the crew’s top speedboat smugglers

Owen (Bar Mitzvah) Band – Jewish college honor student turned The Corporation’s lieutenant in charge of east coast affairs

Ray Corona – The Corporation’s main banker and money launderer

Luis (Weetchie) Escobedo – Part of the post-1980 “Cuban crime wave” who became one of Los Muchachos’ main enforcers

Gustavo (Taby) Falcon – Willy Falcon’s younger brother and right-hand man recently apprehended after 26 years on the run from the law

Bernardo (The Deer) Gonzalez – Childhood friend of Los Muchachos and the crew’s lieutenant in charge of affairs in the Caribbean

Justo (The Doctor) Jay – Childhood friend of Los Muchachos who became one of their most trusted operatives

Ralph (The Brain) Linero – The Corporation’s top airplane pilot

Orlando (Benny B) Lorenzo – Childhood friend of Los Muchachos who became one of their most trusted operatives

Georgie (Speed Racer) Morales – Childhood friend of Los Muchachos and along with “Rec” Barroso ran the crew’s smuggling wing and fleet of speedboats

Rene (Snow Cone) Rodriguez – One of The Corporation’s top smugglers and enforcers

The post Cocaine Cowboys Cheat Sheet: Miami’s ‘Los Muchachos’ & ‘The Corporation’ Man-By-Man appeared first on The Gangster Report.

East coast wiseguy Eugene (Rooster) O’Nofrio switched from New York’s Gambino crime family to the Genovese crime family in the late 1990s after a blowup with a Gambino higher-up at his headquarters located on the border between New York and Connecticut. The change in organizations allowed the 75-year old Goodfella to finally receive his button and get inducted into the mafia.

O’Nofrio is currently awaiting trial on racketeering charges out of New York City. He’s alleged to be a Genovese syndicate captain overseeing activity in his home base of Connecticut as well as in Western Massachusetts and Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Throughout the 1990s, O’Nofrio ran his rackets out of Café Roma in Port Chester, New York, a city resting on the Connecticut border, just east of Greenwich. At that time, he was a part of the Gambino regime and worked under capo Louis (Louie Bracciole) Ricco. His mob portfolio included bookmaking, loans sharking and drug operations and he paid both Ricco and the Gambino’s then-Connecticut territory chief Anthony (Tony the Genius) Megale a tribute.

In the early part of 1997, per sources and FBI records, O’Nofrio got into a heated altercation at Café Roma with Megale’s second-in-command, native Sicilian Nicola (Nick the Greaseball) Melia over a demand by Melia that O’Nofrio raise his tribute amount. According to people present at Café Roma that day, the pair had to be separated and Melia threw an ashtray at O’Nofrio in disgust when O’Nofrio balked at the order to increase tribute payments.

According to sources in the New York underworld, Melia told Gambino administrators that O’Nofrio, a known “hitter” and prospective mob initiate, shouldn’t get made into the Gambino clan. Shortly thereafter, Ricco and Megale arranged for O’Nofrio to be transferred to the Genovese crime family and placed in the crew of Matthew (Matty the Horse) Ianneillo, who sponsored him for induction at his making ceremony in March 2003, along with a half-dozen other mobsters, per federal documents. Ianniello and Megale are both deceased.

O’Nofrio was convicted of manslaughter in the gangland-style murder of Jimmy Cotter in Connecticut in 1972, however, had the case tossed on appeal after seven years behind bars. Besides the Cotter hit, O’Nofrio has been nailed for bank robbery and narcotics trafficking during his career in the mafia.

The post Port Chester Pride: Beef With ‘Greaseball Nick’ Melia Led To ‘Rooster’ O’Nofrio Jumping From Gambino To Genovese Mob Families appeared first on The Gangster Report.

As Gangster Report first revealed almost a year ago, according to reports in the Rhode Island press, imprisoned New England mob captain Edward (Little Eddie) Lato is getting zeroed in on by federal authorities for his suspected role in the 1992 Providence gangland slaying of mafia associate Kevin Hanrahan. The 71-year old Lato, finishing up an eight-year stint behind bars for extortion, is scheduled to be released in 2019. He was the focus of an impaneled federal grand jury early last year and has 19 felony convictions on his record.

Hanrahan, 39, was gunned down in the late hours of September 18, 1992 leaving a dinner party at a popular steakhouse in Providence’s Federal Hill neighborhood. The fierce and capable mob enforcer had reportedly been stepping on people’s toes in the New England underworld.

WPRI television investigative journalist and Patriarca crime family expert Tim White reported last week that the FBI is close to bringing charges in the Hanrahan homicide and that Lato specifically is being targeted in the reinvigorated inquiry. The cold-case murder probe was jumpstarted back to life in the late summer of 2016 when former New England mob underboss Robert (Bobby the Cigar) DeLuca began cooperating again after being arrested inside the Witness Protection Program for lying to the government regarding his knowledge of another underworld rubout.

In the first half of the 1990s, DeLuca, 71, ran the Providence faction of the Patriarca clan on behalf of then-New England don Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme, who was stationed out of Boston. Salemme was arrested in the Witness Protection Program too in August 2016 and charged with the 1993 Beantown gangland slaying of nightclub owner and FBI cooperator Stevie DiSarro, a business partner of Salemme’s strangled to death inside Salemme’s suburban Boston house with Salemme watching on, according to prosecutors. He’s set for trial on the DiSarro case this year.

Salemme, 84, tasked DeLuca with burying DiSarro’s body, which was dug up in the spring of 2016 under a converted textile mill in downtown Providence. DeLuca pled guilty to perjury related to his initial 2009 debriefing with the feds when he denied involvement in or knowing about the Hanrahan hit. One-time Godfather Salemme will probably be charged in the Hanrahan case as well according to sources.

Kevin Hanrahan

Per people with knowledge of both the DiSarro and Hanrahan investigations, DeLuca “ran point” on the Hanrahan homicide conspiracy and he tapped fellow Providence mob figures Little Eddie Lato, Rocco (Shaky) Argenti and Ronald (Rum-Shot Ronnie) Coppola to carry out the job. Coppola, possibly unknowingly, was the conspiracy’s “set up man,” luring Hanrahan to a steak dinner at Federal Hill’s The Arch restaurant, and following the meal sending him to get a “big score” around the block.

DeLuca and Copplola were best friends. Hanrahan was killed leaving The Arch, according to these sources, by a pair of triggermen, thought by authorities to be Lato and Argenti.

Coppola and Argenti are deceased. Lato was seen in the minutes after Hanrahan was bumped off meeting with DeLuca and Coppola at Jimmy Burchfield’s, another restaurant and bar down the street. Informants told the FBI in 2010 that Hanrahan, himself a suspect in a string of mob hits, angered Salemme by shaking down bookmakers in Rhode Island and Massachusetts that belonged to Providence capo Anthony (The Saint) St. Laurent in the weeks preceding his slaying. St. Laurent died of natural causes in 2016.

The post Press Reports: Providence Mobster ‘Little Eddie’ Lato Nearing Charges In ’92 Cold Case Mafia Slaying appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Many of the Motown music label elite partied with “Super Fly Era” Detroit drug kingpins Eddie (The Fat Man) Jackson and Courtney (The Field Marshal) Brown. Per sources and archival law enforcement files, one of those revered R&B vocalists to show his face at social gatherings arranged and supplied with narcotics by Jackson and Brown was Temptations lead singer Dennis Edwards, who died in Chicago at 74 last week due to complications related to meningitis.

Once engaged to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, Edwards battled drug addiction in the 1970s and 1980s causing him to leave the legendary group, which snagged the storied Motown label its first Grammy win for the 1968 hit single Cloud Nine, the first recording with Edwards at the helm singing lead. Edwards replaced the group’s original lead singer David Ruffin, coming over from another Motown act called the Contours.

Both Ruffin and Edwards dealt with drug problems in their lives and careers and were known to party with local drug world figures, like Jackson and Brown, according to Michigan State Police records from the time period. Ruffin overdosed on cocaine in 1991, just weeks after finishing a tour of Europe with Edwards as solo acts.

“All of Motown got their drugs from Eddie and Courtney back then, they were the label’s Dr. Feelgoods…,” recalled one of Jackson’s former associates. “Everybody in that world knew Eddie had the hook up and threw the best drug parties. He’d give the shit away to a lot of those guys. They’d come for the free drugs. It was a big throw down whenever the Motown acts were performing around town, Eddie would make sure it was live at the after party. We’d see David, Dennis and Eddie Kendricks (another popular Temp) all the time and after a while it was no big deal. They were like everyone else. They loved the powder and they knew where they would find the best stuff.”

Eddie Jackson and Courtney Brown were partners in the dope game and ran the most successful narcotics empire in the Detroit area in the 1970s. They were known to be relatively non-violent and renowned for their ability to keep the peace on the streets unlike their successors and predecessors at the forefront of the drug trade in the Motor City. MSP documents describe both elegantly planned and impromptu get-togethers hosted by Jackson and Brown and involving professional entertainers such as many of the musicians at Motown and comedians Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor as well as plenty of cocaine.

Eddie Jackson (L) & Courtney Brown (R)

By the end of the decade, Motown was on the downside of its reign atop the charts and Jackson and Brown were behind bars for trafficking powder. Jackson enjoyed his own product and his all-day coke binges were fictionalized in a number of Detroit urban pulp novelist Donald Goines’ books. Goines and his wife were killed in 1974 in a brutal crime that remains unsolved.

As Edwards descended deeper into his addiction, he left Franklin for Ruth Pointer of the female singing group, Pointer Sisters. Franklin has told reporters Edwards was the inspiration for her 1972 song Day Dreaming. According to media reports in 1979, Edwards and Pointer were freebasing cocaine daily, causing him to briefly leave the Temptations. He left for good in 1984 before touring with a Temptations revue void of any original members in the 1990s.

Imprisoned for a second time in the mid-1980s, Eddie Jackson, known throughout the underworld nationwide as a “gentleman gangster,” passed away on the inside in 1996. Brown, 75, is a free man today, living in retirement in Southeast Michigan.

The post Temptations Singer Dennis Edwards Used To Party With Detroit Drug Dons, Part Of Motown Legacy’s Dark Side appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Retribution for a previous gangland slaying might have been the motive for the 1992 New England mafia hit of mob associate and enforcer Kevin Hanrahan, per a recent WPRI television exclusive on the reopening of the Hanrahan homicide probe. One of two suspected motivations for Hanrahan’ violent downfall mentioned by award-winning investigative reporter and Patriarca crime family historian Tim White was revenge for the 1982 mob-related murder of 31-year old up-and-coming underworld figure Raymond (Slick) Vecchio.

Hanrahan (seen above) had long been the top suspect in the Vecchio murder when he was gunned down on September 18, 1992 in the heart of Providence’s Federal Hill district. Vecchio was felled in a hail of bullets while sipping a drink at Vincent’s, an Italian restaurant in Federal Hill, exactly ten years earlier on September 18, 1982. They were both slain on Atwells Avenue, the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare. Hanrahan met his brutal fate leaving the The Arch steakhouse, just feet away from where Vincent’s stood.

According to White and WPRI, current Patriarca clan captain Edward (Little Eddie) Lato, is possibly on the verge of being charged in the Hanrahan hit. The 71-year old mob vet is currently serving the last year of an eight-year prison stint for racketeering and extortion connected to his shakedown of Rhode Island strip clubs. Lato is one of the subjects of an ongoing federal grand jury in relation to the Hanrahan case.

Eddie Lato

Hanrahan’s cold-case homicide investigation was jumpstarted back to life in 2016 when Providence mob capo and former Patriarca syndicate underboss Robert (Bobby the Cigar) DeLuca reconvened his cooperation with the FBI after an arrest in another murder conspiracy while in the Witness Protection Program. DeLuca has pled guilty to overseeing the details of planning Hanrahan’s murder in addition to handling burial duties in the 1993 slaying of Boston nightclub owner and mob associate Stevie DiSarro, knocked off for becoming a confidential informant for the FBI and IRS .

Sources familiar with DeLuca’s information about the Hanrahan hit claim he told authorities Hanrahan was clipped for trying to extort protected bookies in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts as well as payback for killing Vecchio in an unsanctioned gangland rubout. The 39-year old Hanrahan was allegedly feuding with Vecchio in the early 1980s over business in the drug world, per sources. Hanrahan had beaten murder charges in the years preceding his own homicide, walking away being indicted for strangling a one-time female partner in a narcotics conspiracy..

Slick Vecchio and Little Eddie both rose through the ranks of the New England mafia in the 1970s in a crew led by feared Providence mob skipper Rudy (The Captain) Sciarra. Vecchio and Sciarra were indicted together in 1978 in a conspiracy to escape from a Rhode Island state correctional facility. Sciarra died of natural causes in 2012 at 88. Vecchio’s rap sheet included arrests for bookmaking, drug dealing, assault and armed robbery.

Sources tell Gangster Report that former Patriarca crime family boss Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme could also face coming charges in the Hanrahan murder conspiracy. Salemme, 84, like DeLuca, was ripped out of the Witness Protection Program in 2016 and is set to go on trial for the DiSarro hit this spring. Witnesses told the FBI in 2010 that Salemme was informed via phone of Hanrahan attempting to extort at least two already-spoken-for bookmakers in the days before Hanrahan got killed in the fall of 1992 and helped arrange a lump-sum payment from a pair of Taunton, Massachusetts bookies to an underling of his in Johnston, Rhode Island as reward for getting Hanrahan off their backs.

Rudy Sciarra

The post Death Of A City Slicker: Payback For Previous Mob Murder Might Be Motive For ’92 Hanrahan Hit In Providence appeared first on The Gangster Report.

The Black Mafia Family was the biggest urban drug conglomerate in American history. Founded on the Southwest part of Detroit by brothers Demetrius (Big Meech) Flenory and Terry (Southwest T) Flenory in the early 1990s, the organization grew into a monolithic underworld power by the dawning of the New Millennium in the 2000s, controlling vast chunks of narcotics-trafficking territory across the United States. BMF’s kingdom came crumbling down in the Operation Motor City Mafia bust which was filed in October 2005 and landed the entire BMF leadership structure behind bars.

Both Flenory brothers pleaded guilty in the case and are in the midst of serving 35-year prison sentences. The BMF music label still exists and Big Meech has cemented himself a genuine a hip-hop, pop culture and gangland icon, with frequent name-checks in rap songs and a television series being developed at Starz by rapper-actor Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson about Flenory and his reign at the top of the drug game as a follow-up at the network to his current hit show Power. Rumors of a BMF resurgence have been buzzing around the streets of Detroit and Atlanta for the last several years.

Here’s a breakdown of the major BMF players:

Demetrius (Big Meech) Flenory — The larger-than-life BMF boss and co-founder stationed in Atlanta

Terry (Southwest T) Flenory — The quieter, more reserved BMF boss and co-founder stationed in Los Angeles who was angered by his brother’s headline-seeking ways on the other side of the country

Chad (J-Bo) Brown — St. Louis-bred “underboss” of the organization. J-Bo stands for “Junior Boss.” Brown relayed all of Big Meech’s orders to the rank-and-file

Fleming (ILL) Daniels — New York-bred No. 3 in charge of the organization, known for his small stature and quick temper. Daniels oversaw all east coast BMF affairs

William (Doc) Marshall — The CFO of the organization, tasked with handling BMF bookkeeping duties from his car dealership

Wayne (The Waniac) Joyner & Craig Pettes — The Flenory brothers main contacts with the Mexican drug cartels

Benjamin (Blank) Johnson — BMF’s Detroit boss

Eric (Slim) Bivens — BMF’s Detroit underboss who was in charge of Midwest distribution routes and cut house locations in Michigan

Arnold (A.R. 15) Boyd — Southwest T’s former driver and bodyguard who becomes his main enforcer in Michigan when he leaves for California

Ameen (The Bull) Height — Big Meech’s bodyguard and driver

Darryl (Chipped-Tooth D) Peguese — Southwest T’s personal Atlanta crew chief

William (Trucker) Turner — Southwest T’s distribution lieutenant and stash house director in Los Angeles

Marlon (Chill) Welch — Southwest T’s step son and L.A. driver

Martez (Tall Tito) Bryth — One of Big Meech’s main lieutenants in Atlanta

Darryl (Big Poppa) Taylor — Big Meech’s distribution lieutenant in Atlanta

Chauncey (C-Bear) Johnson — Big Meech’s personal Detroit crew chief

Omari (O-Dog) McCree — One of Big Meech’s main lieutenants in Atlanta

Michael (Freaky Mike) Green — Big Meech’s stash-house director in Atlanta

Terrance (Texas Cuz) Short — The Flenory brothers first cousin and the BMF’s dual Dallas and Houston crew boss

Deron (Wonnie) Gatling & Danny (Dog Man) Jones — BMF St. Louis co-bosses

Jerry (J-Rock) Davis — Runs the BMF-affiliate “Sin City Mafia”

Barima (Bleu DaVinci) McKnight & Marque (Baby Bleu) DaVinci — BMF rap artists and drug lieutenants

*A primary source for this post was Atlanta-based author Mara Shalhoup’s fantastic 2010 book on the Flenory brothers called BMF — The Rise & Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family 

The post Black Mafia Family Cheat Sheet: BMF Crew Man-By-Man, Detroit, ATL, NYC, L.A. STL. & Texas Roll Call appeared first on The Gangster Report.

The boys from South Philly are in the Big Apple. Several members of Philadelphia mafia don Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino usual entourage descended on New York this week to give support to Merlino, who is on trial in Manhattan for racketeering in federal court. The band of merry mobsters were at the trial’s closing arguments Tuesday and by Merlino’s side Wednesday and Thursday as jurors deliberated.

The slick, camera-friendly 55-year old Merlino is charged with health care fraud and bookmaking. He already has two federal convictions under his belt from the 1980s and early 2000s.

On hand in New York for the proceedings were his two childhood best friends and reputed Bruno-Scarfo administrators Steven (Handsome Stevie) Mazzone and George (Georgie Boy) Borgesi, as well as suspected button men Salvatore (Sonny) Mazzone, Handsome Stevie’s younger brother and Anthony (Tony Cugino) Accardo. Philly bookies and mob associate brothers Raymond (Ray Wags) Wagner and Edward (Eddie Wags) Wagner and gregarious restaurateur Angelo (Fat Angie) Lutz, another childhood buddy of Merlino’s, were also present. The New York Daily News printed a photo of Merlino and his wife Debbie flanked by the Mazzone brothers and Accardo in its Wednesday morning edition.

The elder Mazzone, Borgesi and Lutz were convicted alongside Merlino in a 2001 mob trial and all served prison time. Stevie Mazzone is alleged to be Merlino’s underboss, while Borgesi, his former consigliere, is said to currently be a captain and faction leader poised to take over the crime family if Merlino is convicted. The three men were at the forefront of a bloody mob war for control of the syndicate in the 1990s.

Sonny Mazzone and Accardo, a cousin of Merlino’s (“Cugino” is Italian for cousin), allegedly got inducted into the Philly mafia at some point in the last decade. Ray Wagner has served as Merlino’s right-hand man and bodyguard since his release from prison in 2011 on a previous racketeering bust. The Wagner brothers are nephews of one-time mob capo Gaeton Lucibello, finishing out a short stay behind bars on a parole violation for hanging around with Sonny Mazzone back in the fall.

The post With A Little Help From His Friends: Philly Mob Boss Gets Cheering Section For Last Leg Of NYC Trial appeared first on The Gangster Report.

The former king of cocaine in the Twin Cities failed to find the results he had hoped for in his bid to be resentenced. Ralph (Plookie) Duke, the Godfather of the drug trade in Minneapolis and St. Paul and the “Prince” of the Minnesota underworld at the height of the coke boom in the 1980s, didn’t get the reprieve he had hoped for from the courts, as his trial judge hit him with another life sentence for the narcotics and weapons convictions he took three decades ago. Duke was found guilty in 1990 at a month-long federal trial that grabbed headlines across the Midwest .

In 2016, a federal court in Illinois (the state where Duke is incarcerated) reversed Duke’s three illegal weapons convictions, setting the stage for a resentencing in his case. With the recent trend of long-serving non-violent drug offenders getting second chances, attorneys for Duke felt they had a good shot at getting him resentenced to time served.

They were wrong.

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge David Doty rejected the plea for leniency and slapped Duke with another two life sentences to run concurrently for his drug business and an additional three 30-year stints for the weapons unearthed in his suburban Minneapolis estate. The 72-year old Duke has been locked up for almost 29 years.

Duke ran the drug world in the Twin Cities throughout the 1980s, flooding the streets with cocaine he obtained directly from cartels in Colombia via pickups in California and Arizona. His downfall came at the hands of controversial DEA informant Andrew Chambers, who sold the Duke organization 20 kilos of blow in a deal he made with Duke’s son and right-hand man, Ralph (Monte) Nunn, in the spring of 1989. The drug transaction was in fact part of a DEA sting operation.

Chambers is the highest paid snitch in DEA history, clearing almost $5,000,000 in helping the government make close to 300 cases around the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. He was found to have perjured himself on the witness stand over a dozen times and was temporarily de-activated from use by the DEA in 2000 after 16 years of work. According to a report by the USA Today, Chambers was put back to work by DEA agents in a case out of Phoenix in 2013.

Ralph “Plookie” Duke

The post Purple Reign Redux: One-Time Minnesota Cocaine Kingpin Can’t Wrangle Himself Free From Life Prison Term appeared first on The Gangster Report.

The Detroit drug scene continues to impact West Virginia. For the second time in the last month, dope pushers from the Motor City have run into problems with the law down in the Appalachians.

Detroiters Steve (Stevie Black) McGee and Roger (Red) Crawley were arrested last week as a result of a federal raid in Huntington where authorities found 125 grams of heroin, $8,000 in cash and four guns. The narcotics were estimated at a street value of $24,000.

Earlier this month, Willie (Ribbon) McCall, 34 years old and also from Detroit, was smacked with a 10-year federal prison sentence for dealing methamphetamine to an undercover FBI agent in a suburb of Huntington. McCall — seen in the photo above — was on probation out of Michigan on weapons charges.

In January, James (Lucky) Bowens and George (G-Easy) Eubanks, two members of Detroit’s Young & Scandalous Gang were indicted by the feds for selling crack in the Huntington area. Bowens and Eubanks ran the “YNS” crew in West Virginia, a state, among other southern locales, popular amongst Motown drug gangs for plying their trade dating back decades.

The post From Motown To Appalachia: More Arrests, Prison Time For Detroit Drug Dealers Operating In West Virginia appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Pagan’s Motorcycle Club president Ronald (Rocky) Bedics passed away earlier this month as a result of natural causes. The 54-year old Bedics headed the Lehigh County, Pennsylvania chapter of the Pagan’s, a club which resides on the east coast.

The Pagan’s were founded in 1959 out of Maryland and today boasts 45 chapters operating in several states along the eastern seaboard. The club has long headquartered its national affairs in Pennsylvania, where it maintains a stronghold over the state’s biker activity.

Bedics’ funeral drew hundreds of mourners to eastern Pennsylvania, including many wearing club colors, according to local press reports. The procession of Pagan’s going from the funeral home to the cemetery in Northampton, Pennsylvania stretched nearly a mile. Prior to his death, Bedics was employed as a construction worker. He was said to have been universally beloved by his biker brethren.

In the spring of 2012, Bedics was arrested by federal authorities on drug and gun charges. Eventually convicted in the case, he served four years behind bars and was released from custody in July 2016.

The post Procession Of Pagan’s MC’ers Lay Pennsylvania President ‘Rocky’ Bedics To Rest, Popular Club Leader Gone At 54 appeared first on The Gangster Report.

Highly-respected former Outlaws Motorcycle Club regional boss Wilson (Roadblock) Harrell died this winter from injuries sustained in a bike accident back in the fall. Harrell ran the Outlaws in Florida in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was 76 and had crafted a career for himself as an author in his latter years, penning a series of fiction books based on a war vet turned biker.

The Aging Rebel website, which chronicles American biker life, was the first to report on Harrell’s passing in late January. In September, Harrell’s motorcycle hit a service pole after encountering an oil slick on the highway. Hospitalized for four months, he finally succumbed to his injuries last month.

Harrell served 27 years in federal prison for a 1983 drug and racketeering conviction. Released in December 2009, he’s published three books revolving around antagonist Joe Wilson and his fictional Regents Motorcycle Club.

Harrell had his conviction for accessory to murder in the 1975 killing of Daytona Beach Outlaw David (Stoney) Adamson vacated. Adamson was founded floating in the Tomoka River in Volusia County, Florida. Following a hung jury in a 1978 trial, Harrell copped a plea to accessory and was sentenced to time served. According to accounts, Adamson was shotgunned to death in a drunken dare by an Outlaw named Howard (Pig Pen) Berry.

The post Revered Outlaws MC Member, Author ‘Roadblock’ Harrell Passes Away At 76, Leaves Legacy In His Books appeared first on The Gangster Report.