Joseph Bruno's Blog, page 75

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Steve Brodie – The First Man To "Jump" From the Brooklyn Bridge

He was a He was a hoaxster and a huckster, and the personification of what the Gay 90′s Bowery was all about. But no matter what the legend says, Steve Brodie did not jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.

Steve Brodie was born in New York City on Christmas Day 1861. Not getting much of a school education, Brodie became a newsboy and then a bootblack, who eventually earned his living on the Manhattan side of the newly-constructed Brooklyn Bridge, which connected downtown Manhattan and the southern end of Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, was originally designed by German immigrant John Augustus Roebling. It took 13 years to build, but Roebling did not live to see its completion. During the initial phase of construction, Roebling had his toes crushed, and after his foot was amputated, a tetanus infection caused his death. The project was completed by his son Washington Roebling, who, after he too suffered a debilitating injury during the construction phase, was helped by his wife Emily, who was basically the liaison between her bed-ridden husband and the construction crew on site.

When finished, the Brooklyn Bridge has a span of 1,595.5 feet, which at its grand opening, made it 50% longer than any other suspension bridge in the world. The bridge is 78 feet, six inches below water level, and 276 feet, six inches above water level. On the first day it opened, 150,300 people crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, along with 1800 horse drawn vehicles.

On May 30, 1883, one week after the bridge opened, a rumor spread that the bridge was about to collapse. People panicked, which led to a stampede in both directions. At least 12 people were killed and others were not accounted for. After this tragic incident, people were afraid to cross the bridge. So P.T. Barnum, of circus fame, removed all doubts, when on May 17, 1884, as a promotion for his circus, Barnum marched 21 elephants across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The first lunatic who tried to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge did not fare very well. In late May of 1884, right after PT Barnum's successful stunt, swimming instructor Robert Emmet Odlum, who was, oddly enough, the brother of woman's rights activist Charlotte Odlum Smith, took a flying leap from the Brooklyn Bridge and went splat into the water. When Odlum's body floated to the surface, he was indeed quite dead.

Steve Brodie was a man down on his luck. After betting on inferior horses at the racetrack, Brodie decided to make a winner out of himself. But Brodie was no fool. He knew what had happened to Odlum and he took all precautions to make sure he didn't suffer the same fate.

On June 23, 1886, at approximately 2 p.m., Brodie stood at the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge. According to the New York Times article the following day, which was re-printed by the Knickerbocker Village Blog, edited by David Bellel, Brodie had made a $200 bet, to clear up his race track losses. The bet was that he would be brave enough to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.

Brodie kissed his wife goodbye. She replied, "Good bye Steve and take care of yourself. And may you be successful and scoop us dose $200, so that we kin have a good time."

According to published reports, Brodie then rode a wagon, which took him to the part of the Brooklyn Bridge just above the East River. In the water below, three men in a rowboat allegedly awaited Brodie's jump, so that they could fish him from the river before he drowned. According to the Times article, Brodie took off his coat and hat, but not the rest of his clothes.

Someone yelled, "Police! Suicide! Look out! He's going to jump into the river!"

What happened next has been disputed for years, but in fact, no one who wasn't connected to the ruse had actually seen Brodie jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. What is certain, is that the three men in the rowboat rowed to where Brodie was floundering about in the East River. When they got to Brodie, they dragged him by his shoulders into the row boat. The men then rowed back to the pier on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge and were met by a Patrolmen Lally. Patrolman Lally immediately put Brodie under arrest.

"On what charge do you arrest me?" Brodie said.

"For jumping off the bridge and endangering you life," Patrolman Lally said. "You better come with me."

"OK, I'll go wid you, but I guess I'll get the $200," Brodie said. "I can jump off de highest bridge in de world now."

Immediately, there were skeptics as to whether Brodie had actually jumped off the bridge, or was it all a stunt? Soon word began circulating in the streets of lower Manhattan that Brodie had pulled off the caper, not for $200, but because a man named Moritz Herzberg had offered Brodie to buy him a saloon, on the basis that after the stunt – Brodie would be famous, and so would his saloon.

Even though the New York Times, (which employed two reporters who said they actually saw Brodie jump off the Brooklyn Bridge) reported Brodie's jumping to be a fact, in fact, they were all in on the caper. What happened was this:

One of Brodie's confederates on the Brooklyn Bridge, upon receiving a signal from another accomplice on the dock, dropped a dummy loaded with iron clippings into the water below. At this time, Brodie was hiding under a pier in a small rowboat. As soon as the dummy hit the water, Brodie dove from the rowboat into the water, and swam to the spot near where the dummy had sunk. Brodie's three pals in their rowboat, rowed to where Brodie had swam and picked him up. The rest is history.

Suddenly, a nobody named Steve Brodie became an instant star in New York City. Trying to cash in on his fame as much as he could, Brodie became the centerpiece of an exhibit at Alexander's Museum. To further inflate his fraudulent image, Brodie performed a series of stunts, similar to the one he staged at the Brooklyn Bridge. In each stunt, Brodie was pulled from the water after a purported jump from a severe height, but not once did anyone not involved with Brodie actually see Brodie make the jump. After each stunt, Brodie received more newspaper coverage, which further amplified his daredevil image.

Brodie pulled one stunt too many, when after one faked jump, he disappeared completely, leading the suckers who bought Brodie's exploits in the first place, to believe that he had died by drowning. When Brodie resurfaced in a Bowery bar a few weeks later, the newspapers figured they had been had, and they refused to give Brodie any more press coverage.

Brodie tried to resuscitate his image by actually trying to perform a stunt he said he would do. Brodie considered himself a strong swimmer, so he announced to the world he would swim the rapids in Niagara Falls. Dressed in a rubber suit, Brodie was lowered by a rope in the frigid waters. As soon as his toes settled into the drink, panic set in. Brodie, in a frenetic state and figuring his daredevil days were over, begged to be pulled back into the boat by the rope. And that he was.

So much for Steve Brodie – daredevil.

Not being able to fool the public any longer, Brodie figured it was time take up Moritz Herzberg's offer of buying Brodie a saloon. In 1890, Brodie opened "Steve Brodie's Saloon" (what else?) at 114 Bowery near Grand Street. The saloon became an immediate success with the sporting crowd. Boxing celebrities like John L. Sullivan, Jim Jeffries, James Corbett and Tom Sharkey, who all later became world heavyweight champions, hung out frequently in Brodie's joint. Brodie was always on hand to shake a hand, sometimes even tending bar himself. Behind the bar there was a huge oil painting showing Brodie courageously making his imaginary swan dive off the Brooklyn Bridge. To add veracity to a mendacious non-event, next to the oil painting was a framed affidavit signed by the "boat captain" who fished Brodie from the water.

Surrounding Brodie's oil painting were nonsensical signs, spouting such inanities as," The Clock is Never Right," and "We Cash Checks For Everyone," and "$10,000 in the Safe To Be Given Away to the Poor," and "Ask the Bartender For What you Want," and finally, "If You Don't See What You Want, Steal It."

Steve Brodie's Saloon consisted of three separate rooms. The front room was reserved for the neighborhood rabble who might chance to stagger inside for a cool libation. The two back rooms were for Brodie's pals and members of the press whom Brodie had on his pad. And there were plenty. The entire floor of all three rooms the saloon was inlaid with silver dollars, so as to give the impression that only the rich and mighty bended an elbow at Steve Brodie's Saloon, which was certainly not the case. But image is everything, so Brodie kept the press up to their gills in booze, and he stuffed a few bucks into their pockets to boot.

Tour buses made Steve Brodie's Saloon one of their must stops (Brodie paid the tour bus drivers well too). As soon as the tour bus arrived out in front, the tour guide would proudly proclaim, "Ladies and Gentlemen, you are seeing one of the most historic scenes in this great city. That, ladies and gentlemen, is Steve Brodie's Famous Saloon. You have all heard of Steve Brodie, the man who made that terrible leap for life from the Brooklyn Bridge to the East River below and lived to tell about it."

CA-CHING! And soon the entire tour bus crowd rushed inside Steve Brodie's Saloon to see a piece of history, and of course, to spend a few bucks.

Every once and a while, when the mood hit him, Brodie would wear a tattered suit, which he claimed was the one he was wearing with he made his "fearless jump." Then, if someone bought a round of drinks (and someone always did), Brodie, his chest puffed out a full two feet, would solemnly regale the crowd with a blow-by-blow description of his gallant leap into the murky waters of death.

Quite frankly, Steve Brodie had no shame.

In 1894, Steve Brodie, still trying to capitalize on his ill-founded fame, appeared in a play called "On the Bowery," staring, of course – Steve Brodie. The play was originally conceived to star a local 5-foot-2-inch pugilist called "Swipes the Newsboy" (real name Simon K. Besser). However, Swipes accidentally killed a fellow boxer in the ring, which subsequently landed him in jail, because at the time, boxing was illegal in New York City. So in stepped Brodie, and the part was rewritten to accommodate Brodie's interesting career.

The play originally opened in Philadelphia, made a stop in Brooklyn, then finally found it's home at The People's Theatre at 199 Bowery, right down the street from Steve Brodie's Saloon. The play was basically a hokey mess of disjointed scenes, one of which took place in an exact replica of Steve Brodie's Saloon. Predictably, at the plays climax, Steve Brodie jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge to save the heroine named Blanch, who had been hurled into the frigid waters of the East River by the wretched villain Thurlow Bleekman.

Brodie even got a chance to put his singing talents, or lack thereof, to use. His heart-rendering rendition of "My Pearl" caused tears to drip from theater-goers eyes. The words of which were:

My Pearl is a Bowery girl,

She's all the world to me,

She's in it with any girls 'round the town,

And a corking good looker, see?

At Walhalla Hall she kills them all,

As waltzing together we twirl.

She sets them all crazy, a spieler, a daisy,

My Pearl's a Bowery girl.

Applause!! Applause!! No tomatoes, eggs, or shoes, please. This is a respectable establishment.

With the play a resounding success, Steve Brodie's Saloon was even more popular than before. With his new-found wealth, Brodie substantially upgraded his manner of attire. Brodie now lorded over his saloon resplendent with a five-carat diamond ring on his finger, diamond studs instead of buttons on his shirt, and a gold watch and chain, hooked onto his belt loop and slipped into his front pants pocket.

But alas, Brodie's wealth and success was short lived, because, on January 31, 1901, Steve Brodie died from complications due to diabetes. The man who "jumped" from the Brooklyn Bridge was only 40 years old when he expired.

However, after Brodie's death he became more famous than ever. Not wanting to disparage a dead man's name, the rumors of his chicanery concerning the Brooklyn Bridge dive became almost non-existent. In fact, a new American phrase was coined: "Pulling a Brodie," or, "Taking a Brodie," which meant doing something dangerous, or maybe even suicidal.

In 1933, Hell's Kitchen actor George Raft portrayed Brodie in "The Bowery," a film directed by Raoul Walsh. In the movie, Raft (Brodie) attempts to stage a fake jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. With a crowd of 100,000 people congregated at the bridge, and with a dummy all set to be thrown in the river, the dummy inexplicably disappears. Raft's young accomplice, aptly named Swipes (played by child actor Jackie Cooper) tells Raft, "They were hip to us so they copped it."

Raft shrugs his shoulders, and not wanting to disappoint the panting crowd, he makes the daring jump into the drink himself.

And, to the applause of the crowd, Raft (Brodie) survives.

Only in the movies.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Missing West Vancouver Man Had Ties to United Nations (UN) Gang and the Hell's Angels

The question is, was he killed, kidnapped, or maybe just taking a powder?

Omid Bayani, 36, a West Vancouver thug linked to the United Nations Gang, disappeared in early September, two days before he was to be sentenced in a drug trafficking case in Ontario, Canada. Bayanai was facing a possible 8-10 years in the slammer. Two days after Bayani's disappearance, his family contacted the police and reported him missing, saying it was unusual for him to take leave from his family and not contact anyone.

Even though Bayanai was a member of the notorious UN gang, he was also affiliated with the local Ontario Hell's Angels biker gang. In 2007, Bayani was arrested with several Hell's Angels and charged with conspiracy to distribute 600 litres of GHB, known as the date rape drug.

West Vancouver police Detective Tom Wolff von Gudenberg released a statement concerning Bayani's disappearance, after the 6-foot-240-pound Bayani was supposedly headed to a local gym to buff his biceps.

Wolff von Gudenberg said, "Bayani was last seen wearing a white or gray Under Armour shirt, blue Under Armour shorts, running shoes and ankle socks. Bayani worked out at two different North Shore community centers. We don't have any confirmation that he got to the gym."

Men have disappeared before to avoid jail. In 1964, Mafia Don Joe Bonanno allegedly "kidnapped" himself, the day before he was supposed to appear in New York City court. Two years later, Bonanno re-surfaced and did finally appear in court with his attorney. Bonanno's excuse for his absence was that he had been kidnapped by his cousin Stefano Magaddino from Buffalo, New York, and held for months in a secluded house in Buffalo, before he was set free in Tuscon, Arizona. Most people didn't buy Bonanno's story, because if he he had indeed been kidnapped by his cousin, who Bonanno was planning to kill, he would not have re-emerged alive. Bayani could be doing the same thing.

Bayani is either pushing up daisies, or doing push-ups in a gym at an undisclosed location.

I wouldn't be surprised if the latter turns out to be the truth.

The following article appeared at:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Miss...

Missing West Vancouver man has ties to United Nations gang

Omid Bayani was to be sentenced in an Ontario drug trafficking case this week

By Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun September 9, 2011

A West Vancouver man linked to the United Nations gang disappeared earlier this week – two days before he was to be sentenced in a drug trafficking case in Ontario.

Omid Bayani, 36, was last seen Monday afternoon en route to the gym, West Vancouver police Det. Tom Wolff von Gudenberg said Thursday.

His worried family reported him missing a day later, saying it was out of character for Bayani not to return home or call anyone.

Police are investigating whether Bayani's gangland history has somehow caught up with him, or whether he took off to avoid his sentencing. The Crown was seeking a jail term of between eight and nine years.

Bayani was arrested in 2007 along with Hells Angels in B.C. and Ontario after a massive Ontario Provincial Police undercover operation targeting the biker gang.

Despite being a ranking UN gang member at the time, Bayani had worked with the rival Angels in a conspiracy to traffic 600 litres of GHB – the date rape drug.

This past July, prosecutors stayed a charge of belonging to a criminal organization against Bayani and his co-accused. But Bayani was convicted on the drug charges.

Wolff von Gudenberg said Bayani, who is six feet tall and weighs 240 pounds, was last seen wearing a white or grey Under Armour shirt, blue Under Armour shorts, running shoes and ankle socks. Bayani worked out at two different North Shore community centres, he said.

"We don't have any confirmation that he got to the gym," Wolff von Gudenberg said.

Despite his criminal history, Bayani had not been on the radar of West Vancouver Police in recent months.

"It is impossible to speculate because we don't know anything about his real connections locally," Wolff von Gudenberg said. "He has been totally off our radar."

He said other Lower Mainland law enforcement agencies, including the Gang Task Force, have been contacted.

"Everybody's been notified just because of that history. Who knows if somebody has a source out there who knows something? He could be missing. He could have taken off," Wolff von Gudenberg said.

Port Moody police Insp. Andy Richards led the B.C. component of the Ontario investigation when he was with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. Richards said Thursday that he hasn't heard anything about Bayani since the 2007 arrest.

"He was a player. He was a big player at one time," Richards said. And he said Bayani had gang connections far beyond the UN, as indicated by his involvement with the Hells Angels.

News of Bayani's disappearance comes just a day after the head of the Gang Task Force, Supt. Tom McCluskie, said the police fear retaliation for the Aug. 14 murder of Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon and wounding of Hells Angel Larry Amero and Independent Soldier James Riach.

Another West Vancouver man with gang links, Vahid Mahanian, vanished under similar circumstances June 27 and was found dead on Cypress Mountain two weeks later.

Bayani came to Canada as a refugee, but was ordered deported in 1999 after a series of armed robberies in Calgary. He filed a series of unsuccessful challenges against the deportation, but was never removed from Canada.

kbolan@vancouversun.com

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Are Italian/Americans Treated Differently in American Prison Than Other Ethnic Criminals?

It's been a well-kept secret for years, except in the Italian/American Mob community, that if you get sick while you're doing time in jail, good luck to you.

The three cases below written by my friend, author Sonny Girard, are just the tip of the iceberg. John Gotti, much-maligned by the law enforcement community, was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 1998 while he was in solitary confinement serving a life sentence in the maximum-security prison in Marion, Ill. Despite the fact that his face, neck and throat were ravaged with cancer, it wasn't until two years later that Gotti was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo. According to published reports, people close to Gotti were quoted that Gotti was only given cursory cancer treatment, much less than he would have received had he been not such a pariah with law enforcement. Some people even said the way Gotti was treated in prison, after he was diagnosed with cancer, was barbaric.

Would Gotti have lived a longer and better life if he had been given suitable treatment? Who knows, but the answer is irrelevant.

In April of 1988, Gambino family captain Nino Gaggi, incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Park Row awaiting trail, complained several times to the prison guards that he had severe chest pains. Did Gaggi get immediate medical attention?

Not even close.

Gaggi was handcuffed to a chair until the prison guard felt good and ready to let a physician's assistant look at Gaggi. Too late, Gaggi had a massive heart attack while handcuffed to the chair, and he died soon after in a prison hospital.

Some people might say, so what? These were all hardened criminals, possibly even murderers, and they got what they finally deserved. But even the worst of criminals deserves the best medical attention a prison can possibly provide.

Want to bet if either Gotti, or Gaggi had been a Muslim terrorist, the prison guards would have been falling all over each other to make sure proper medical attention was administered quickly? Don't want to get the terrorists angry, or maybe another bomb might get detonated in a crowded area.

Like I said up top, this is a well-kept secret. And you won't read about the atrocities perpetrated in prison against Mafia figures in any traditional publication.

That's why you're reading it here. And on Sonny Girard's website.

The article below was written by author Sonny Gerard. The link for his website "Sonny's Mob Social Club" is below.

http://www.sonnysmobsocialclub.com/mo...

Reputed mob boss Andy Russo was shot in the back eight times. Mob war? No, he was shot by Metropolitan Detention Center guards while on the phone during last week's New York earthquake. Since he was the only one who got hit with those eight non-lethal bullets, it begs the question, "Was it a hit by the prison guard mob against a well known street guy?" Seems absurd, but eight? Andrew is in for a very serious crime too. When a friend of his got stabbed by a guy linked to the Gambino's, he met with the Gambino rep to work out a deal so that their friend paid for the damages. The charge by Eric Holder (yes, the same AG who dropped voter intimidation charges on the New Black Panthers AFTER they'd been judged guilty), is that Russo "extorted" the Gambinos. Sound stupid? Yes, it is.

With any luck, the 77 year old Andrew will receive a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for not bringing a lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons. That is not uncommon. "Little Dom" Cataldo earned one by having boiling water accidentally spill on him while working in a prison kitchen. He filed suit, but got an offer he couldn't refuse: "Drop the suit and go home." Dom did exactly that…that time. He wound up back on another case and died there of natural causes. The Russo incident also brings up the issues of other mobsters harmed or killed in prison by staff.

Nino Gaggi was a well known Gambino captain. He became famous or infamous, depending on whether or not you lived that life, off the media exposure of his underling, "Fat Roy" DeMeo, in the book "Murder Machine." DeMeo, who was himself murdered, was supposedly a bloodthirsty fiend who killed on orders given him by Gaggi, who, in turn, got them from Paul Castellano. In the interest of full disclosure, Fat Roy was a long time friend of mine, and was no bloodthirsty fiend. Fat Roy woke up in the morning focused only on getting a pat on the head from those higher up in his crew. Back to Gaggi. Nino was in Metropolitan Correctional Center, on Park Row, Manhattan, awaiting trial on multiple murders with Paul Castellano et al, when he was struck by chest pains that signaled more than just indigestion. He complained to the guard on duty several times, and insisted that he see some medical practitioner (most times there are no doctors on premises, but physician's assistants). The sicker Nino felt, the more insistent he became that he get medical attention, the more irritated the hack became. Finally, the guard had a solution. He handcuffed Nino to a chair so he wouldn't bother him until such time as he was good and ready to take care of the situation. Nino Gaggi had a massive heart attack in that chair, and died in the prison hospital.

However, there is a truly dark side that is always an underlying thought to inmates of prisons, but never spoken about in public. That is the rumor that in case of a nuclear attack on the U.S., prisoners in penitentiaries would be immediately killed; probably gassed. True? I have no idea. But it is a plausible rumor and has never been addressed in any open forum. Does anyone care if convicted thieves and murderers incarcerated in New York State's Dannemora or Attica will be eliminated to avoid them roaming the streets? Or terrorists in the Feds' Super-Max prison in Colorado that also housed John Gotti and is the current home to Vinny "Gorgeous" Bascione? But what if anyone in those facilities is a relative? Shouldn't we know for sure?

Case three: Allie Romano was a relative of mine through marriage. Allie was one of the longest running drug kingpins until drugs were outlawed for most families in 1957, and also a captain in the Gambino Family. He was a connection to the French Connection, and had brought narcotics in from France and Corsica since the 1920s. According to the paperwork in the thirteen year old indictment Allie was arrested on (yes, five year statute of limitations, but was renewed after the first five years then again after ten), a single load brought in by ship consisted of more than three hundred kilos of pure heroin. Okay, so Allie made a shitload of dirty money and eventually was sentenced to thirty years in prison in his later years for it. An older, sicker man when he entered the penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, Allie had already had a major operation on his lungs. One night, his chest felt like it would explode. His younger brother, Dominick, who was his innocent co-defendant (that's another story for another day) and cellmate, screamed for help. It wasn't long before Allie, in the throes of an attack, was wheeled into the infirmary, where a physician's assistant (remember, no doctors), rushed to take care of him. Had he thoroughly gone over Allie's medical history, he might have guessed that it could be a collapsed lung that merely had to be blown up. Instead, he assumed it was a heart attack and pounded on Allie's chest. Allie Romano died on that table.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Fake Firebomb Found at Fat Freddy Thompson's Mother's Home

Even when Fat Freddy Thompson stays out of trouble, he can't stay out of the news.

One week after Fat Freddy's house in Dublin was firebombed, his security system detected a suspicious device on his property. It was later determined that the item was a hoax and not an explosive device.

Still, Fat Freddy has expressed deep concern to the gardai (police) in Dublin because his mother and sister also occupy that house. The gardai spokesmen issued the statement, "He is extremely worried for the safety of his mother and sister. But the truth is that he should have thought about these issues long before he started being so heavily involved in crime."

Well yeah, but that's totally irrelevant in light of recent developments. Fat Freddy is what he is. So gardai, please get over it.

It is also reported that the gardai are concerned about a violent feud between Fat Freddy and a 24-year-old Dublin criminal now hiding in Co Laois. Why the gardai are not releasing this criminal's name to the press totally befuddles me. Fat Freddy's name is in the news every time he scratches his nose, but the guy who allegedly is out to kill Fat Freddy get anonymity. Doesn't seem fair to me.

The truth is, Fat Freddy maybe be a thug, a drug dealer, and maybe even a murderer. But as long as Fat Freddy is out of jail, or even if he is in jail, his family and his home should be afforded the same protection as any other Irish citizen should expect to receive. The Dublin police can't be picking and choosing who they should protect, and who they shouldn't protect.

I know this previous statement must make the gardai's butts burn, but that's the way it is in a civilized society.

The article below can be seen at:

http://www.herald.ie/news/hoax-bomb-f...

Hoax bomb found at 'Fat' Freddie's house

By Ken Foy, Crime correspondent

Monday September 05 2011

'FAT' Freddie Thompson's home was sealed off at the weekend after a suspicious device was found at the property.

Gangland tensions were mounting in the capital after a major security alert at the house, occupied by Thompson's mother, in the south inner city.

The property, in Loreto Road, Dublin 8, was sealed off for two hours yesterday evening after a suspicious device was discovered. It was later declared a hoax.

In the aftermath of the incident, armed gardai continued to patrol the streets around Thompson's home.

Just 24 hours earlier the mobster was spotted in a bar in the Francis Street area. The 30-year-old gangster spent most of the day and night on Saturday drinking in the pub.

He returned to Dublin from Birmingham last week after his family home was firebombed.

The attack, which was caught on a CCTV system installed at the house, could have caused serious injury or death to the occupants of the house.

Instead the petrol bomb caused scorch damage to a door on the property.

The incident led to a furious Thompson returning home and it is understood that he has vowed to defend the property.

Days after the attack the Herald photographed Thompson defiantly standing at the door of the house.

Soon after his arrival in Dublin, Thompson made contact with a number of senior gardai and asked for more protection at his family home.

"He is extremely worried for the safety of his mother and sister. But the truth is that he should have thought about these issues long before he started being so heavily involved in crime," said a source.

It is understood that Thompson has told officers that he is "back for good" after spending almost two years abroad based between Birmingham, Amsterdam and Spain.

Gardai are particularly concerned about a simmering feud between Thompson and a 24-year-old Dublin criminal now hiding in Co Laois.

The rival criminal was present in an incident in which Thompson's brother suffered a broken leg and his wife was stabbed in the face in a south city pub in March.

hnews@herald.ie

- Ken Foy, Crime correspondent

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Jury watches Carl Williams die

The article below shows you can get to an informant, even if he's in jail.

First of all the victim, convicted murderer and all around bad guy Carl Williams, was not someone any level-headed person would shed any tears over. Williams was an inmate at Barwon Prison in Australia, serving a life sentence for the murders of Lewis Moran, Michael Marshall, Jason Moran and Mark Mallia, and conspiracy to murder Mario Condello.

Williams decided to become a snitch, not against his underworlds pals, but against certain Australian cops, whom Williams accused of police corruption. The fact that Williams had become a rat was in all the local Australian newspapers, and in fact, Williams was reading the accounts of his exploits in the Herald Sun when he was killed. The reason Williams said he decided to talk was because the state said they would pay his daughter's school fees in exchange for the information he could provide against the crooked cops.

Apparently, Williams big mistake was, not only becoming a snitch, but telling fellow inmate Matthew Charles Johnson that what he was doing was justified, because he was not ratting on fellow criminals, but in fact, on cops, who are the natural born enemies of guys like Williams and Johnson.

On April 19, 2010, Johnson snuck up behind Williams and caved William's skull in with long metal stem of an exercise bike. At the time, Williams was sitting in the day room of the high-security Acacia Unit of Barwon Prison. Williams was now quite dead, and Johnson was arrested soon after, since the murder was caught on camera.

Johnson is presently on trial, and he's claiming self defense, saying it was a case of "kill or be killed." Johnson said he was told the day before he killed Williams, by fellow inmate Tommy Ivanovic, that Williams was going to kill him by bashing his head in with pool balls wrapped in a sock.

All this sounds a little fishy to me. Sure, Johnson killed Williams, but it all seemed so easy to do. And Johnson did it on camera. I have the feeling that maybe Williams testifying against police officers may have something to do with his death. Police officers and prison guards are cut from the same cloth.

Wasn't someone, like a prison guard, supposed to be monitoring the cameras in the room where Williams was killed, while he was being killed? But nobody made a move to check on Williams until almost a half hour after Williams was bludgeoned. And the prison guards who did discover Williams' body did so only after they were notified by other inmates that Williams had "hit his head."

Like I said, this all sounds a little fishy to me.

The article below can be viewed at:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/jur...

Jury watches Carl Williams die. 'It's real. It's not TV. It's not a movie.'

Andrea Petrie

September 7, 2011

CONVICTED gangland murderer Carl Williams sits alone with his head resting on his right hand in the day room of the high-security Acacia Unit, serving his life sentence at Barwon Prison.

Seated at a table in the centre of the sunlit room, surrounded by exercise equipment including a treadmill and weights station, he leafs through the pages of the Herald Sun. He is the page 1 story – telling how the state would pay his daughter's school fees in exchange for information.

He has his back to the open door of his cell, alongside a walkway to elsewhere within the prison block.

The defence argues Matthew Charles Johnson killed Carl Williams out of necessity – a case of 'kill or be killed'.

One of the two fellow inmates with whom he shares Unit 1, Tommy Ivanovic, is seen pottering around the recreation room before his other cellmate, Matthew Charles Johnson, appears in the background.

After leaving the room for just under a minute, Johnson re-appears, holding a metre-long metal stem of an exercise bike.

Williams, who has his back to Johnson as he approaches, remains unaware of his presence. Or of Johnson's intentions.

Then, following a forceful blow with the bike part to the right side of his head, Williams drops to the floor, face first. Johnson strikes him another seven times to the head.

As Williams lies motionless behind the table, Johnson places a white towel over his bloodied, motionless body. He leaves the room, taking the metal pole with him.

When he returns, he grabs Williams by the ankles and drags his limp body into his empty, dark cell. He closes the door and places the towel over a pool of blood that remains where the attack had taken place. Then he walks away.

Lasting two minutes and 50 seconds, this was the silent footage the jury in Johnson's Supreme Court murder trial saw yesterday, depicting how the notorious 39-year-old murderer and drug dealer died on April 19 last year.

Prosecutor Mark Rochford, SC, warned the eight women and seven men – three extra, which will be cut to 12 – about its graphic content: "It's real. It's not TV. It's not a movie. It is expected that you will have some sort of emotional reaction to it.

"Mr Williams died as a result of the infliction of these blows," he said, raising the bike part and tapping it on the bar table in front of him.

"You'll see this, you'll feel this for yourself …You'll feel the weight, the heaviness. You'll see how it is quite an ideal weapon.

"The Crown case is that this was a deliberate, intentional killing done with the requisite intent to kill or do really serious injury, and done without lawful justification or excuse."

The court heard that Williams was co-operating with investigators in a specialist taskforce about police corruption.

Mr Rochford said Williams's father, George, would testify that "Johnson did not like people who gave evidence against others, but Carl Williams felt he was able to explain and reassure Johnson about why he was giving evidence, and justify his actions because it was connected to police corruption".

The jury heard Carl Williams's statements had been included in a police brief of evidence against defendants at the centre of an investigation.

George Williams would testify that Johnson's attitude towards Williams's co-operation with police changed after the second meeting his son had with police – outside the prison in February 2010, Mr Rochford said.

Williams kept Johnson and Ivanovic informed about what

he was speaking to investigators about, the court heard.

On the morning of his death Williams spoke to his barrister, who Mr Rochford said would testify that his client did not mention the Herald Sun article or any concern about Johnson or Ivanovic.

He said the barrister would give evidence that Williams was concerned if prison staff knew about him leaving prison to talk to police, and how the media were receiving information.

At 12.48pm he was attacked. After dragging Williams into his cell, Johnson and Ivanovic walked laps of the exercise yard, entering the day room a number of times, Mr Rochford said.

About 1.15pm they approached a prison officer and told her she should press her panic alarm because Williams had "hit his head".

"Several prison officers approach the unit, they enter, they locate Carl Williams in his individual cell number 2 with extensive head injuries," he said.

Williams could not be revived.

Mr Rochford said that when Johnson was interviewed by homicide detectives, he was tight-lipped. But he told them: "I acted alone."

Johnson has pleaded not guilty to murder. His defence lawyer, Bill Stuart, said he had killed Williams in self-defence.

"You will learn during the course of this trial that there are in fact two sides to Carl Williams. The round-faced, cherubic, smiling-faced man, a family man, and on the other hand, his business side," Mr Stuart said.

"His family side, you will learn, was notable for his love and devotion to those close to him. His business side was one of utter ruthlessness. He called the shots, when he was out of jail and when he was in jail."

The jury heard that Williams was serving a life term for the murders of Lewis Moran, Michael Marshall, Jason Moran and Mark Mallia, and conspiracy to murder Mario Condello.

Mr Stuart said a critical question for the jury was how Williams reacted in the past to perceived threats. "The answer … is that he had others kill the threat. He employed assassins."

Mr Stuart said that on the day before the killing, Ivanovic had told Johnson that Williams was going to kill him [Johnson] "by bashing his head in with pool [billiard] balls in a sock".

"For Matthew Johnson, as you will hear, it was a case of kill or be killed. There could be … no running from Carl Williams. There could be no hiding."

The trial continues.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Fat Freddy Thompson's Gang Whacked An Innocent Man Because He Witnessed a Mob Rubout

Nothing gets the gardai's nose more crooked than the mob killing of an innocent man.

It is alleged that Fat Freddy Thompson's gang used a crooked car dealer named Brian Downes for a number of capers, including supplying get-away cars after a murder, and the transportation of illegal drugs. On two separate occasions, cars that Downes supplied to Thompson's gang were immediately seized by the gardai (Irish police), after they were filled with heroin. Fat Freddy's gang put two and two together and they figured Downes was the one who tipped off the gardai.

On October 5, 2007, Downes was whacked at his own garage (allegedly Fat Freddy himself did not give the order for the hit, but a close associate did). Downes was shot eight times, once in the head, and seven times in the body.

The only problem, at the garage when the hit (and Downes) went down, was an innocent man named Edward Ward, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So not to leave any witnesses, Ward was shot twice in the head, rendering him quite as dead as Downes.

So what's the moral of this story? There isn't any.

But it might be a good idea not to be in the company of a man playing ball with a very dangerous drug-dealing gang, like Fat Freddy's.

But what if poor Ward was just at Downes' garage to buy a car?

Hey, spit happens.

The article below appeared at:

http://www.herald.ie/news/fat-freddie...

'Fat' Freddie gang led hit on car dealer

MURDERS: Innocent man also shot dead after witnessing assassination

By Ken Foy

Thursday May 19 2011

A MEMBER of 'Fat' Freddie Thompson's gang is suspected of ordering the hit on a car dealer which led to a shocking double murder.

A jury at Dublin County Coroner's Court this week returned verdicts of unlawful killing at an inquest into the deaths of car dealer Brian Downes (40), who was gunned down alongside Edward Ward (24) in 2007.

Downes was the target of the hitman and Ward — who was not considered a criminal — was shot dead simply because he was a witness to the execution.

The car dealer had a long history of providing vehicles to members of 'Fat' Freddie's gang but a contract was put on his life when the gangsters suspected that he had become an informer, the Herald understands.

Sources say that Downes was blamed for providing gardai with information about two major drug seizures in 2007 when hundreds of thousands of euro worth of heroin was taken off the streets.

The gang suspected that Downes had provided officers with information about the movements of vehicles before detectives moved in on them and seized the drugs. "As soon as they suspected that Downes was helping gardai — that was the end of him. Unfortunately Mr Ward happened to be caught in the crossfire," said a source.

Downes had previously been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of 'King Ratt' gang member John Roche in March 2005 — Roche was killed by the 'Fat' Freddie mob but no one has ever been charged with that slaying.

The crooked car dealer was arrested on suspicion of providing the getaway car in that murder and sources say that Downes regularly provided vehicles for the Thompson gang for drug runs and other criminal enterprises. "He was a Del-Boy type figure but he got himself involved with some very dangerous people," a source pointed out.

It is understood that 'Fat' Freddie did not personally sanction the murder of Brian Downes, but it was ordered by one of his closest associates.

This week's inquest heard that Downes was shot eight times — once in the head and seven times in the body while Mr Ward was shot twice and died of a gunshot wound to the body. The shooting happened at Downes' garage on the Greenhills Road, in Walkinstown, on October 5, 2007.

hnews@herald.ie

- Ken Foy

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Joseph P. Kennedy

You could verily call Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of United States President John F. Kennedy, a mobster by association, because many of his friends and associates in New York City were big-time mobsters. Joe Kennedy never actually belonged to an organized crime gang, but he was the head of the most cold-blooded gang ever — the Kennedy clan itself — a ruthless trio of men (JFK and his brother RFK included) who steamrolled over opponents, political, or otherwise, by any means necessary. It's also true to say Joe Kennedy was a crook, because of the way he manipulated stocks, and hurt the little people in doing so. Finally, there is no doubt that Joe Kennedy was a creep: a creep of the highest order. And now I'm going to tell you why.

Joe Kennedy was born Joseph Patrick Kennedy in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 6, 1888, the son of Patrick Joseph "PJ" Kennedy and Mary Hickey. PJ Kennedy was a very popular person in the Boston community, known as a go-getter and someone who had risen from a common laborer to a successful businessman. PJ was one of the top guns who organized two separate Boston financial institutions: the Columbia Trust Company and the Sumner Savings Bank. Soon, PJ entered politics, and by the time Joe Kennedy was born, PJ was in his third term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. But the real feather in PJ's cap was when he was installed as the unofficial "ward boss" of the East Boston Ward 2, a position he used to his monetary advantage for more than thirty years.

Young Joe Kennedy attended Catholic school in east Boston until the 8th grade. Instead of going to a local public high school, or a local Catholic high school, PJ thought so much of his son Joe's potential, he enrolled Joe into Boston Latin School, a college preparatory academy in the Boston Public School system. Unfortunately, although Joe had a way with numbers, his grades were far from exemplary. But Joe was a likable guy, and even though he was no "Einstein," his fellow students voted Joe class president during his senior year.

Using his father's pull in local politics (remember Joe's high school grades were nothing special), in 1908 Joe was admitted into the high-brow, Ivy League, Harvard University. Joe did well enough at Harvard to earn his B.A. In 1912, immediately after Joe graduated Harvard, using his facility with numbers as a springboard, and of course, his father's political connections, Kennedy got a prestigious job as a assistant bank examiner for the state of Massachusetts.

Joe Kennedy's love life bloomed, while he was in his senior year at Harvard. That's when Kennedy met the lovely Rose Fitzgerald, the daughter of Boston Mayor John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald. With both his father and her father being with the "in crowd" in Boston politics, this seemed like the perfect match. And it was, until Kennedy's true colors came to the surface, and he began chasing every skirt in sight. But we'll get to that later.

Joe Kennedy and Rose were married on on October 7, 1914 and they made their love cottage in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Their first son, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., was born on July 28, 1915, and thus started a prestigious new wing of the Kennedy/Fitzgerald dynasty.

Needing to make some decent cash to support his wife and their new child in the manner they had been accustomed to, Kennedy obtained a controlling interest, with his father's money of course, in the Columbia Trust, the bank his father had helped found. Using his father's pull, Kennedy soon became the manger of the bank, making him, at 25, the youngest bank president in America. It was at the Columbia Trust that Kennedy realized that using his street smarts and political connections, there was nothing he couldn't accomplish in this fine country of America.

Climbing the ladder quickly and hungrily, on May 29, 1917, Kennedy was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Electric Company, the same day his second child, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born. Soon afterwards, fellow Board member Guy Currier, who was a hot-shot Boston attorney, and the company counsel for Bethlehem Steel, did Kennedy a solid, when he recommended Kennedy to Bethlehem chief executive Charles M. Schwab for the position of assistant general manager at the company's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Now Kennedy was on the verge of making some bigtime money and a name for himself, and he wasn't going to let a silly thing like ethics stand in his way. This is illustrated by the following case in point.

In 1918, Kennedy joined his father-in-law's campaign team for Honey Fitz's attempt to win the Massachusetts Congressional seat, then occupied by fellow Democrat Peter F. Hague. This set the political back-alley-dealing groundwork for Kennedy, when he later pulled all the strings needed to make his son John the President of the United States.

Kennedy realized that the ethnic mixture in Boston was making a very subtle change. First occupied by the Anglo-Saxton "swells,"and now joined by the Boston/Irish rabble, Boston had received a recent influx of the "darkies," which immigrants from Italy were then called, sometimes even to their faces. Kennedy knew that an Italian vote for his father-in-law was as good as a vote from the upper class, so he formulated a strategy whereby Honey Fitz would get almost the entire Italian vote. Kennedy found out who the Italian mob bosses were in all the districts, and he paid them well to bring out the vote for Honey Fitz; even if it meant stuffing a ballot box or two, or cracking a head or three. And that's exactly what the Italian bosses did. As a result, Joe Kennedy's father-in-law defeated Tague by a mere 238 votes.

Unfortunately, Honey Fitz's reign did not last too long, when a year later a congressional investigation turned up the voter fraud, perpetrated behind the scenes by Joe Kennedy. The election was overturned and Honey Fitz was booted out of office, never again to hold a meaningful political position. However, Joe Kennedy himself remained unscathed. Luckily for Kennedy, Italians know how to keep their mouths shut, especially if you greased their palms sufficiently.

However, Joe Kennedy learned his lesson well, realizing the real trick was not only to tilt the election in your favor, but not to get caught doing so. Kennedy would never make this same mistake again.

Kennedy's work at Fore River for Bethlehem Steel was exhausting until World War I ended. With business slacking off considerable, in late 1918, Kennedy decided on making an upwardly mobile move. He hooked up with Galen Stone, an associate at the Massachusetts Electric Company Board, and a partner in the brokerage firm of Hayden, Stone and Company. Under Stone's tutelage, Kennedy learned the intricacies of the stock market. Being good with numbers, Kennedy, not only managed his clients money, but his own money as well.

When Stone retired from the firm in 1923, Kennedy, figuring he learned all he could in stock investing and the banking industry, decided to quit Hayden, Stone and Company and branch out on his own. He called his new company "Joseph P. Kennedy, Banker." In just three short years, using the precepts he had learned at Hayden, Stone and Company, Kennedy's net worth had ballooned to over 2 million dollars.

Well, not exactly.

In 1919, the Volstead Act, which prohibited the production, sale, and transport of "intoxicating liquors," made a lot of crooks rich. One of them was Joseph P. Kennedy. In 1922, flush with cash in his pocket as a result of his manipulations on Wall Street, Kennedy decided to branch out into the business of "rum running," which was the illegal transport of alcohol from outside the United States.

People have said that Kennedy was a "bootlegger," but by definition that was not accurate. Bootleggers produced the alcohol, sometimes in bathtubs, hence the term "bathtub gin." "Rum runners" like Kennedy found the best places outside America to buy the product, then they purchased ships, speedboats, trucks and warehouses, in order to move the stuff into American, then distribute the booze to whomever needed it.

In his first foray into the rum running business, Kennedy discovered a great source of top-flight Scotch on St. Pierre and Muldoon, a group of eight islands approximately sixteen miles off the coast of Newfoundland. There, Kennedy was able to purchase Scotch for $45 a case. Using his head for numbers, Kennedy calculated that shipping and labor cost added about another $20 per case; making it a total of $65. Since Kennedy told the scotch for $85 a case, that was not much of a profit margin for so dangerous an operation. So Kennedy copied what other rum runners had done. He cut the 90 proof scotch with water and other additives. Then Kennedy re-bottled the Scotch, which transformed an $85 case of 90 proof Scotch into two cases of 45 proof scotch, which Kennedy then sold at $85 per case. Using this chicanery, Kennedy turned the usual 5000-case shipment, which cost him $325,000, into a tidy profit of $200,000 per shipment: a King's ransom in the Roaring 20′s.

Being involved in the illegal rum running business also meant that Kennedy had to play ball with some tough customers, who were doing the same thing that Joseph P. Kennedy was doing. This is where Joe Kennedy, even though he was born and raised in Boston, became a New York City gangster by association.

One of the men Kennedy had to deal with, almost on a daily basis, was Owney "The Killer" Maddon, who was partners with Big Bill Dwyer, called "The King of the Rum Runners." By partnering up with Maddon and Dwyer, Kennedy now had a New York City distributor for his Scotch, through several night clubs Maddon and Dwyer owned, including the Stork Club and the El Fay Club in Midtown Manhattan, and the famous Cotton Club in Harlem.

In 1924, Kennedy moved his brood of seven children, from Boston to the New York City suburb of Riverdale, where Kennedy kept a close eye on his two main money-makers: Wall Street, and the New York City distribution network of his illegal rum running operation. During this period of time, Kennedy also hooked up with known Mafia hoodlum Johnny Roselli, who introduced Kennedy to Kennedy's new rum running partner in the midwest: one Alphonse "Scarface" Capone.

By 1927, Kennedy was so flush with cash, he decided to make his move out west and get involved with the movie-making business in Hollywood, California. His entry into Hollywood was greased by Roselli, who through fear and intimidation, had basically the entire Hollywood cast of characters under his control.

Soon, Kennedy became the boss of the Film Booking Company (FBO). Kennedy also created the Cinema Credits Corporation, which he used as a conduit to pull in money from his financial cronies up north to invest in the grand schemes abounding in Hollywood. But Kennedy, wily stock manipulator that he was from his experience up north, made his first big Hollywood "killing" when he was hired as an advisors to Pathe', a highly profitable newsreel company that had been around since Thomas Edison invented his Vitascope projector.

Having access to the full scope of Pathe's finances, Kennedy bought in at $30 a share. When Pathe' was sold, Kennedy arranged to have himself paid $80 a share, while the average Pathe' investor only took in a buck fifty a share. This type of stock manipulation is punishable by imprisonment today, but back then, it was just a way of "doing business" that Kennedy had mastered up north. Lawsuits flew around, but Kennedy had stacked the deck in his favor, and nothing ever came of the lawsuits.

In researching her book The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga; author Doris Kearns Goodwin uncovered old lost letters written by one of the Pathe' investors, Ann Lawler, who ironically came from Kennedy's home town of Boston. Apparently, through Kennedy's manipulation of Pathe' stock, Lawler had lost her entire life savings. Lawler wrote to Kennedy, "This seems hardly Christian-like, fair, or just for a man of your character. I wish you would think of the poor working women who had so much faith in you as to give their money to your Pathe'"

Old Joe Kennedy must have had a good laugh over that one.

While in Hollywood, and still married to Rose, Kennedy engaged in the same extra-marital activities that his son Jack the President would engage in a generation later. Joe Kennedy's affair with actress Gloria Swanson was an open secret, known by everyone in Hollywood, including members of the press, whom Kennedy paid to keep the news out of the tabloids.

Old Joe even bedded down showgirl Evelyn Crowell, the window of dearly-departed Larry Fey, who was Owney Madden's partner in the popular El Fey nightclub, which featured showgirl Tex Guinan as the main attraction. Fey was also part owner of the Casa Blanca nightclub, a midtown hotspot. On January 1, 1933, Fey was shot to death, shortly after the bells rang bringing in the New Year, by the Casa Blanca doorman, whom Fey had just informed that his pay was being cut. With the unfortunate Fey's marital bed still warm, Joe Kennedy jumped into it with widow Crowdell – the late Larry Fey and Rose Kennedy be damned.

Kennedy knew his power in Hollywood would be limited, unless he owned his own movie distributing company to distribute the movies (mostly mediocre) that he was making. In 1929, Kennedy, now part owner of RKO movies, set his eyes on the Pantages Theatre chain, owned by Pericles "Alexander" Pantages, a Greek immigrant and a self-made man. Kennedy, along with his partner David Sarnoff, approached Pantages and offered to buy him out. However, Pantages turned them down flat, which did not make Joe Kennedy too happy.

What happened next is open to conjecture, but has been reported in several publications, including the best selling book Hollywood Babylon, to be the gospel truth.

According to reports, Kennedy employed the services of one Eunice Pringle, a 17-year old vaudeville dancer who wanted desperately to be a Hollywood movie star. On August 9, 1929, Pringle showed up unexpectedly at the offices of Pantages, inside his theater on South Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles.

Soon after she arrived at Pantages office, Pringle ran into the lobby of the theater, her clothes torn to shreds. She started screaming and pointing at Pantages, who was following her. "There he is – the beast!" Pringle said. "Don't let him get at me!"

When the police arrived, Pringle insisted that Pantages had tried to rape her in a broom closet in his office.

Pantages confusion turned into anger. He told the police, "It's a lie. She raped herself."

Pantages' rape trial turned Hollywood, ever seeking the sensational, into a cauldron of hate: hate for Alexander Pantages. The Herald-Examiner wrote that Pringle was "the sweetest seventeen since Clara Bow."

On the witness stand, Pantages tearfully denied what Pringle said had ever happened, but the dies of public opinion had already been cast against him. Pantages was found "guilty as charged," and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Luckily for Pantages, he was a very wealthy man, and he appealed the verdict. At his first trail, a group of private investigators, whom Pantages had hired, uncovered evidence that Pringle was little more than a base prostitute. But for some reason, the judge (probably an avid reader of the Herald-Examiner) decided that this evidence was not admissible.

For Pantages' second trial, Pantages hired attorney Jerry Geisler, later Hollywood's leading divorce attorney, and San Francisco lawyer Jake Ehrlich. Geisler was able to convince the second judge that Pringle's previous moral behavior was indeed significant to his client's case. The second judge agreed, and allowed the private investigator's finding to be admitted into evidence.

Geisler then argued that it was impractical for Pantages to try to rape Pringle in a tiny broom closet, when he had a large office, with a comfortable couch, to do the deed, if that was his bent. Geisler was successful in planting in the jury's mind that Pringle was paid by business rivals of Pantages to set him up as a rapist.

At his second trial, Pantages was found "not guilty" by the jury, but he was a broken man in more ways than one. Pantages' legal expenses were astronomical, and his business, because of the bad publicity he had received during two trials, was damaged significantly.

In 1931, Pantages refused Kennedy's offer of $8 million for his businesses. But after months of operating in the red, Pantages finally relented. Only now, Kennedy paid Pantages less than $4 million, much less money than it had cost Pantages to build his "Greek Theatre" empire chain. Mentally beaten into submission, Pantages relented and gave away his theater chain to Kennedy for a fraction of what it was worth. Pantages went into reluctant early retirement, and by 1936, he was dead at the age of 60.

This story does not end here.

In 1933, Pringle approached a lawyer and told the lawyer that her story about Pantages raping her was a lie. She said she wanted to come clean and start naming names. Within days, Pringle was dead, and cyanide poisoning was the alleged cause of her death.

According to Pringle's mother, with her last dying breath, Eunice Pringle had told her that she, through her agent, had been paid $10,000, and promised by RKO studio head Joe Kennedy, that he would make her a famous movie star, if she set up Pantages.

So in addition to being a downright creep throughout his life, was Joe Kennedy an accessory to murder too? No one will ever know for sure.

Right after he purchased the Pantages movie chain, Joe Kennedy was given an offer he couldn't refuse. In the winter of 1931, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was allegedly in the pocket of Kennedy's rum-running partners in New York City, namely Owney Madden and Frank Costello, enticed Kennedy with a job to basically be his bag man for campaign contributions for his run for the Presidency. With Kennedy's connections to the underworld, he was able to funnel illegal cash contributions from the mob into FDR's Presidential campaign coffers – reportedly totaling $200,000. As a reward for services rendered, when FDR was elected President, he gave Kennedy the plum position of chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

With his access to information inside the Roosevelt administration, Kennedy was able to find out in advance that the fix was in for the repeal of Prohibition. Knowing his pals Madden and Costello were already making a smooth transition to other illegal activities, including gambling and prostitution, Kennedy decided to go completely straight. No more illegal shenanigans.

Well, almost.

In early 1933, Kennedy took a trip to Europe with FDR's son James Roosevelt. With Kennedy's pull in the new administration, Kennedy was able to obtain the rights to be the United States representative for Haig & Haig Ltd., John Dewar and Sons, Ltd. and Gordon's Dry Gin Company Ltd. Kennedy began buying loads of this top-shelf liquor for himself, and he stored them in warehouses near the Canadian boarder. If anyone asked, Kennedy told them this liquor was being stored for "medicinal purposes."

Yeah, right.

On December 5, 1933, when Prohibition was repealed by the 21st amendment, Kennedy, through his new company, Somerset Importers, went from millionaire rum runner to the being the largest single distributor of Scotch in the United States of America. And now it was all legal.

Riding the coattails of FDR, Kennedy served Roosevelt's administration in many capacities, culminating in 1938 with his appointment as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Kennedy moved his wife and his brood, which now numbered nine kids, to England. Yet this was the job, despite Kennedy's initial popularity in England, that would eventually end all political aspirations that Joe Kennedy had for himself.

Quite simply, Kennedy was a disaster as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Concerning Hitler and Germany's impending treat to world peace, Kennedy was an appeaser, basically telling the British that Hitler was not such a big problem, and if he was a problem, Hitler was their problem, and no concern of the United States of America. Joe Kennedy's recommendation to FDR was that the United States not involve itself in Europe's difficulties.

In August 1940, after Hitler had already conquered Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland and France, he turned his sights on Great Britain. And thus the Battle of Britain began, with air strikes from the Germans almost an everyday occurrence on the streets of Great Britain. In November 1940, Kennedy, with egg smeared all over his face, resigned as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Joe Kennedy was ruined in politics and he knew it. So Joe Kennedy decided to do the next best thing: propel one of his sons to the Presidency of the United States of America.

Papa Kennedy's first choice was his son Joe Jr. But on August 12th, 1944, Joseph Kennedy Jr. was killed, when his plane was shot down over southeast England.

Plan B for Papa Kennedy was his second oldest son John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), who had already been declared a war hero in August of 1943, when he escaped death and helped save the lives of his men, when the torpedo boat he commanded, PT 109, was sunk by a Japanese destroyer.

When the war ended, Papa Kennedy went right to work on establishing John's career. His first move was to get his son elected to congressman of the 8th District in Massachusetts. The only problem was, the present congressman, Democrat James Michael Curley, the former three-time Mayor of Boston, had every intention of running for congress again.

But money talks, and Joe Kennedy had plenty of dough.

Papa Joe knew Curley has cash flow problems, so he convinced Curley that he should step down as congressman and run for Mayor of Boston, again. Curley protested, saying he had to money to properly run a mayoral campaign. Papa Joe said, "No problem." And he gave Curley a reported $100,000 to run for Mayor and he even paid the salary of Curley's campaign manager. The end result was, Curley was elected Mayor of Boston for the 4th time, and in 1946, John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress.

JFK served in Congress for eight years, and in 1954 Papa Joe thought it was time to implement step number two in his son's quest for the Presidency. With his father's monetary backing, JFK was elected U.S. Senator from the state of Massachusetts. In 1956, JFK made a run at the Democratic nomination for President, but was beaten back by wily veteran Adlai Stevenson. This turned out to be a good thing for JFK, since incumbent President Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower was popular with the people. Ike won his re-election over Stevenson in a landslide (59.4% to 42%). JFK was certain to have suffered the same fate as Stevenson did at this early point in JFK's career

Everything was going fine for Papa Joe as far as JFK was concerned, but his third oldest son Robert "Bobby"Kennedy was also making a name for himself, and not in a way that pleased Papa Joe.

In February of 1957, Bobby Kennedy (RFK) was appointed the chief counsel for the McClellan Hearings into organized crime. The problem was, the people that brash Bobby was trying to put in jail were the same men Papa Joe had worked hand-in-hand with for the past 30-something years. Men like Sam Giancana from Chicago and Carlos Marcello from New Orleans were tight with Papa Joe, and they were aghast and more than a little puzzled, as to why Joe's son Bobby was pursuing them so relentlessly.

Papa Joe told his son Bobby to lay off on his old pals, but Bobby, snarky and headstrong, would have none of that. Papa Joe knew needed men like Giancana and Marcello to "influence" the next Presidential election at the polls, if JFK had any chance of being elected.

In 1960, through actor/singer Frank Sinatra, who was friends with JFK's brother-in-law Peter Lawford, Papa Joe reached out to old friend John Roselli, who in turn set up a clandestine meeting with Giancana, who basically ran the city of Chicago, if not the entire state of Illinois. By this time, JFK was running for the Democratic Nomination for President, and if he got the nomination, his opponent would certainly be Richard Nixon, Eisenhower's vice president for the past eight years. Papa Joe did his market research, and he knew it was imperative for JFK to win the West Virginia Primary Election to get the Democratic nomination. And then win the state of Illinois in the general election, if JFK ever got that far.

In early 1960, Papa Joe met with Roselli, Sinatra and Giancana several times, mostly at secret meetings at the Cal-Neva Lodge, where Sinatra was a part owner, and Giancana a secret owner, most likely through Sinatra. The deal Papa Joe was pitching was basically this, "You help my son get elected, and my son and his administration will leave you guys alone, after he is elected President of the United States."

Even though Giancana had been publicly humiliated by Bobby Kennedy at the McClellan hearings. (During a tough cross examination, when Giancana seemed to snicker at Bobby Kennedy's line of questioning, Bobby snarled at Giancana and said, "Mr. Giancana, I thought only little girls giggled.") the lure of having the President of the United States in his back pocket was too good for Giancana to turn down. As a result, Giancana hopped on the "Kennedy For President" bandwagon. However, Carlos Marcello, on the other hand, hated the Kennedys and absolutely refused to back Joe Kennedy's son. Marcello reportedly even gave a hidden $500,000 in cash to Nixon's campaign coffers.

The first order of business was the West Virgina Primary, which was set to take place on May 10, 1960. Giancana and Sinatra immediately went to work, enlisting the aid of Sinatra's old pal Paul "Skinny" D'Amato from New Jersey. In 1959, Sinatra had a big hit with the song "High Hopes," from his new movie "A Hole in the Head." Through JFK's friendship with Sinatra, "High Hopes" became JFK's campaign song. And as if by magic, as the West Virginia Primary neared, "High Hopes" was played incessantly on all the West Virginia juke boxes, radio stations, and television stations..

For his part, Giancana went into full fund-raising mode. Giancana passed the hat to all his mob cronies for money to be used for whatever needed to be done to "influence" West Virgina Democrats to vote for JFK. With D'Amato as the intermediary, money was given to everyone and anyone in West Virgina, who was influential in getting the Democratic voters out to the polls. Some of the money was given in straight cash, and some in the form of desks, chairs, and office supplies to Democratic politicians, with enough votes up their sleeves to guarantee a JFK Primary win. The end result was that Kennedy won the West Virginia Primary over Herbert Humphrey by winning 60% of the vote, and was now headed straight to the Presidential Elections.

Papa Joe Kennedy knew that winning the state of Illinois was crucial for his son to triumph over Nixon in the Presidential election. This is where Sam Giancana came in very handy indeed.

In late summer of 1960, Papa Joe used his friendship with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to set up three meetings with himself, Daley, and Giancana, which took place at the Ambassador East Hotel in downtown Chicago. At these meeting, the three men discussed the strategy they would employ to guarantee the vote for JFK on Election Day.

Daley had his own election apparatus in place, where he was able to cajole, and use force when necessary, to make sure people in Chicago voted the way Daley said they should vote. In addition, Giancana used his muscle to do the same thing in the suburbs outside Chicago, especially in Cook County, where Kennedy had a victory margin of 450,000 votes—more than 10% of Chicago's 1960 population of 3.55 million. Even with this landslide for Kennedy in and around Chicago, he won the state's electoral votes by a mere .19 percent. What made Kennedy's victory in Illinois so amazing was that Nixon won 92 out of the states 101 counties, but lost by such a large margin in the counties controlled by Daley and Giancana, that it didn't make a difference.

Winning the state of Illinois' electoral votes gave JFK the Presidential election over Nixon. In the popular vote throughout the country, JFK beat Nixon by less than 9000 votes, or 0.1 percent of the 4.75 million votes cast. So it's safe to say, without Giancana and Daley's help, JFK would not have been elected the President of the United States of America.

What happened next is detailed in the book "Double Cross," written by Giancana's nephew and brother Sam and Chuck Giancana. The first indication that Joe Kennedy had screwed Giancana and his pals was when JFK inexplicably named his brother Bobby the Attorney General of the United States (The laws were changed later so that no President could ever appoint a relative to a high position in his government). This made RFK the boss of the best ally organized crime and the Mafia ever had in America: the head of the FBI – J. Edgar Hoover.

For years Hoover did as little as possible to pursue Mafia figures, and for a long time he even denied the existence of the Mafia. Mafia boss Frank Costello claimed he got on Hoover's good side over the years years by relaying information, through gossip columnist Walter Winchell, about fixed horse races throughout the country. Hoover bet heavy on these horse races and made himself quite a bundle of cash. And through Costello's brilliance, none of it was traceable to the Mafia.

But Hoover was now powerless to do anything to help his Mafia associates. Bobby Kennedy came down hard and quick on the very men who put his brother and himself in power, and he did it with Papa Joe Kennedy's blessing. Papa Joe probably thought by going after and arresting his old pals, it would put them out of commission, and unable to do anything about it. That turned out to be the biggest miscalculation Joesph P. Kennedy ever made. And it cost him his two son's lives.

RFK went on an dedicated mission to destroyed the Mafia and organized crime in America, even though these were the same people his father had rubbed elbows with, and made money with, for almost 40 years. RFK instituted hundreds of wiretaps of Mob figures, including those on the homes and hangouts of Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana. RFK even had Carlos Marcello snatched off the streets of New Orleans and immediately deported to Guatemala. Marcello, mad as hell, snuck back into the United States and had his attorney's file suit against RFK. But to no avail.

The Italian mob bosses put in a call to Frank Sinatra, and they ordered Sinatra to contact RFK immediately and tell Bobby all this nonsense had to stop immediately. Sinatra did as he was told, but that only made RFK more steadfast in his mission. At this point, certain mob bosses said Sinatra should be "hit," as a message to RFK that they were not fooling around. However, it was Giancana himself who squelched the Sinatra "hit." Giancana told those who wanted to whack Sinatra, "Leave Frank alone. I like the way he sings 'Chicago, My Kind of Town'."

RFK's wiretaps picked up communications through the country that showed how much the Mafia was angry at his double cross. Carlos Marcello was so enraged, he told an associate concerning RFK, "Don't worry about that little Bobby son-of-a-bitch! He's going to be taken care of."

Giancana, who lost the most face of all the Mafia bosses, because of how he acceded to every Joe Kennedy wish, was heard saying, "I never thought it would get this fucking rough. When they put the brother in there, we were going to see some fireworks, but I never knew it would be like this. This is murder."

On Dec. 19, 1961, less than a year after JFK was elected President, Joseph P. Kennedy suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of his body and left him barely able to communicate, although people close to him said his intellect was unimpaired. At this point, even if he wanted to stop his son Bobby from trying to decimate organized crime, he was not capable of doing so.

Joseph P. Kennedy was alive to see and hear about the assassinations of his two sons; first JFK, in 1963, in Dallas, Texas, and then RFK, in 1968, in Los Angeles, California. There is very little doubt that both killings were aided and abetted by the very men whom Joe Kennedy and his brood had turned their backs on. Stooges like Lee Harvey Oswald and Sirhan Sirhan were the faces of the two killings, but it is doubtful either man actually fired the killing shots.

Basically in a catatonic state from the day his was stricken, there is some doubt as to whether Joe Kennedy was fully aware of the killings of his two sons. Some reports said he sat impassive both times, showing absolutely no emotion. Others close to the family said that when he was told of the murder of his son, the President, a small teardrop trickled down the side of his face.

On November 18, 1969, Joseph P. Kennedy died in his Hyannis Port, Massachusetts home, at the age of 81. Neither of his murdered sons reached the age of 47. (JFK was 46, and RFK was 43, respectively, when they were killed.)

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Seattle Godfather Pleads Not Guilty

There's a lot of money in strip clubs, but,with due respect to the Sopranos' Ba DaBing, there's a lot more money if you run prostitutes from strip clubs.

The so-called Godfather of Seattle and strip club impresario Frank Colacurcio Sr. was recently indicted by the Feds along with his son Frank Jr., and longtime pal John Gilbert Conte. The charges consist of racketeering, using interstate commerce to facilitate prostitution, money laundering and mail fraud. All three men pleased not guilty, and did three other men charged in the case.

At the center of the case are several strip clubs scattered throughout the state of Washington, including strip clubs — Rick's in Seattle, Sugar's in Shoreline, Honey's in Everett and Fox's in Tacoma. The Fed are charging that these clubs were used as fronts for prostitution that allegedly garnered the men $25 million in the past four years.

As usual with these sort of cases, of course, all the men charged are innocent until proven guilty. But this looks like a tough one for Seattle's Godfather to beat. The U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Jeffrey Sullivan said federal prosecutors have interviewed more than 200 witnesses, and reviewed hours of recorded phone calls, surveillance video and intercepts from listening devices placed in several Colacurcio businesses. Yet, Conte's attorney, Richard A. Hansen, feels strongly that the government is hissing in the wind.

"I think the case is a stretch," Hansen said.

Be that as it may, but every time I turn around, the FBI is conducting another case involving Italian/ Americans. Just last January, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder proudly announced the arrests of 127 men in the New York/New Jersey area, as well as in Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston, Mass. Every man arrested was said to have ties to the Italian Mafia. Now we have the FBI concentrating it's efforts to squash the Mafia in other parts of the country, including the state of Washington. All of this is commendable for sure.

But I wish that Holder and his crew would be just as diligent is securing our boarders from illegal immigrants, some of whom are murderous criminals, who are flooding our country with drugs, and flooding their own country will the blood of their enemies; real and imagined.

Obviously, Italians/Americans are not the only criminals in America. Call me picky, but I wish the government (Holder?) would spread out their nets a little further, so that they may inflict the same damage on the organized crime groups of other nationalities. It wouldn't hurt.

Oh, I forgot. The Italian Mafia makes the biggest headlines.

How silly of me.

The article below appeared on the website:

http://www.seattlepi.com/

Seattle Godfather Pleads Not Guilty

July 26, 2009

A month after a federal indictment was issued against them, Northwest strip club mogul Frank Colacurcio Sr. and five others involved in his businesses appeared in court Friday to answer charges of racketeering, money laundering and facilitation of prostitution.

Facing U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue, Colacurcio, his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr., and longtime associate John Gilbert Conte. They pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, as did three other accused.

In an grand jury indictment unsealed june 30, federal authorities accuse the Colacurcios and their associates of racketeering, using interstate commerce to facilitate prostitution, money laundering and mail fraud. At issue are allegations that the strip clubs — Rick's in Seattle, Sugar's in Shoreline, Honey's in Everett and Fox's in Tacoma — were used as fronts for prostitution that allegedly garnered the men $25 million in the past four years.

The indictment follows a years-long investigation that culminated in June 2008 with raids by Seattle police and federal agents on the clubs and Talents West, a Colacurcio-owned agency that hires dancers for the clubs. Speaking following the indictment, U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Jeffrey Sullivan said federal prosecutors have interviewed more than 200 witnesses, and reviewed hours of recorded phone calls, surveillance video and intercepts from listening devices placed in several Colacurcio businesses.

Key to the prosecutors' case, according to court documents, is the payment scheme in which strippers paid $75 to $130 in daily "rent" to the Colacurcio businesses. Such an arrangement is common in Washington strip clubs, which are not allowed to sell liquor to generate profit.

"These men made millions of dollars exploiting young women," Sullivan said at the time. "These girls were not paid to dance, they paid to dance."

When the illegal activity became apparently, Sullivan contended, little was done to discipline dancers.

In court documents, the Colacurcios are also accused of avoided city of Seattle taxes by undercounting the number of patrons at Rick's. Each defendant faces nine counts of mail fraud on the allegation that they knowingly mailed false tax documents to the city.

While attorneys for the Colacurcios and Conte declined to comment in detail, Conte's attorney, Richard A. Hansen, was dismissive of the government's allegations.

"I think the case is a stretch," Hansen said.

In court, attorneys for the accused argued against new restrictions on their involvement with the clubs' operations. The defense attorneys argued that the men should be allowed to continue to manage the enterprises, in part, they asserted, because the clubs have remained in operation since the 2008 raids without further allegations coming to light.

The defense was largely rebuffed by Donohue, who ordered that most of the defendants transfer management of the businesses to others within a month.

Authorities have said the investigation was not directly related to the Strippergate corruption scandal, in which the Colacurcios were accused of making illegal campaign contributions to Seattle City Council members in order to secure a change in zoning laws. Father and son Colacurcio ultimately pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in the case, which ended the political careers of two City Council candidates in 2003.

Also indicted in U.S. District Court in Seattle were Frank Colacurcio Sr.'s nephew Leroy Richard Christiansen, longtime associates Conte and David Carl Ebert, and Fox's manager Steven Michael Fueston. Several associated businesses are also named in the criminal indictment, which could allow federal authorities to seize related assets. The other men also entered not guilty pleas Friday.

The accused face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted on the 15 counts against each of them. They are scheduled to be arraigned July 24 and remain free pending trial.

Source: seattlepi

Joe Bruno on the Mob – More on NYC Firefighter Arrested by the Feds For Selling Cocaine.

The more I read about the arrest of NY City fireman Anthony Cilento, the more I smell a rat. Or maybe three rats.

First thing we all must realized, just because a man is arrested doesn't mean he's guilty. And just because the newspapers parrot the straight line from the FBI, doesn't mean the FBI always gets things right.

The entire case against Cilento, as far as I can determine from published articles, transpired before Cilento was sworn in as a NY fireman. In fact, although it was alleged in several published reports that Cilento, not only sold cocaine for the Bonanno Crime Family, but was in fact a heavy user himself, when he began his training at the Fire Department Academy, his drug screen was entirely clean.

No coke. No pot. No nothing.

So then I ask myself exactly what do the Feds have on Cilento, besides the testimony of three rat finks? It's entirely possible that this entire case gets whacked in court if it can be proven by Cilento's attorneys that the three rats are lying, just to reduce their jail time. These three creeps feed the Feds a NY City Fireman, and maybe, just maybe, they will get a reduction in time, or maybe no prison sentence at all.

I don't know all the facts, and in a previous blog I came down a little hard on Cilento based on an article published in the NY Daily News. But now I'm not so sure Cilento is guilty of what the Feds are charging him with.

Only time will tell.

Quite frankly, it won't be the first time the FBI made a mistake. They made a little a boo boo concerning me, right after 9/11, and due to my connections in the press, the story made headlines in several states, as well as in NY City.

But that's another story for another time.

The article below can be found on AllMediaNY

http://www.allmediany.com/details_new...

NYC Firefighter Caught in Cocaine Ring Delivery Service

25 Aug 2011 04:31 PM EST

-by Molly C. Braswell, Staff Writer

FDNY firefighter Anthony Cilento, 27, has been charged by the FBI for involvement in a drug ring located in southwest Brooklyn. He entered the Fire Department Academy in 2009 and was assigned to Ladder 166 on Coney Island.

Celinto's cocaine ring was very convenient for its customers. It was a "drugs-on-demand" delivery service where members delivered the drugs to their clients on a daily basis.

He allegedly dropped out of the ring when he entered the academy, but three snitches have ratted him out for this past business endeavor. Members of his former ring have said that he also bought drugs for his personal use, though one of them confirmed that Cilento stopped buying cocaine "when he began training for the FDNY," reports the Daily News.

The unnamed ringleader claims that Cilento was involved from 2002 to 2009. He served many purposes within the operation. Court documents state that "Cilento took drug orders over the phone, allowed his home in Brooklyn to be used to store drugs, bagged bulk amounts of cocaine into smaller quantities for sale, met with suppliers and accompanied sellers on deliveries."

Members of the ring also said that Cilento was heavily involved in the violence aspect of the business. Thus, the FBI points him out as the "muscle man" in the case. He has been accused by one of the snitches of several assaults, including breaking the nose of another member of the drug ring.

Cilento was not using when he began the Fire Department Academy, as his drug screen was clean. He is being held without bail and is suspended from the fire department without pay.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Chicago Child Sex Trafficking Ring Cracked.

After reading the article below I almost got physically sick.

A Chicago sex trafficking ring has been squelched by an undercover operation dubbed "Operation Little Girl Lost," an 18-month investigation by the Chicago police force, which used extensive wire-tapping of the prostitution ring's lairs. The basis for the wire tapping was the new Illinois "State Children's Act."

Young girls, some as young as 12 and 13 years old, were used by member of the Vice Lords gang and other gangs, as prostitutes, working out of the elevated subways and local grocery stores. So far eight men and one woman have been arrested for "involuntary sexual servitude of a minor and human trafficking," which is a fancy term for pimping.

Apparently, these girls were mostly runaways, who came from the states of Chicago, Indiana and Wisconsin, and were lured into the sex ring with drugs, such as marijuana and ecstasy. Once in the hold of the drugs, these girls were forced to work 24-hour shifts as prostitutes, with the money they made turned over totally to their pimps.

One of the young girls got pregnant, and after she gave birth, she was immediately put back to work, with the mother of one of the gang members babysitting for her, at exorbitant fees.

There's a special hell for people, who enslaved young girls, then forced them to commit sex acts for money, sometimes with half a dozen men at a time.

I hope those punks involved get convicted and never see the light of day again.

The article below appeared at:

http://news.gather.com/

Sex Trafficking Gangsters Busted Enslaving Girls as Young as 12

August 26, 2011

A sex trafficking ring has been brought down by Operation Little Girl Lost. Girls, as young as 12, were being sold for sex by members of the Vice Lords and other gangs. Police have charged eight men and one woman for involuntary sexual servitude of a minor and human trafficking.

Chicago authorities announced yesterday the results of "Operation Little Girl Lost" that netted the sex trafficking arrests. The information provided spins a sickening tale of pimps, prostitutes and drugs which tells of 12 and 13-year-old girls being virtually enslaved. The girls came from Chicago, Indiana and Wisconsin who works on two work shifts as long as 24 hours with the pimps keeping up to 100 percent of the proceeds.

Working the elevated trains and grocery stores of Chicago's south and west sides, the sex trafficking ring referred to their girls as "hos" and the girls often had to call them "Daddy." This may sound like stuff from a bad movie but it is as real as the foreign trafficking rings and sex slave operations detailed in documentaries on TV. This time the story is here in our own country operating daily in many cities throughout the United States.

According to court documents, a young female witness testified that the ring supplied the young girls with Chicago, Indiana and Wisconsin thereby increasing the hold over the girls in their control. One of the girls said she say a 13-year-old victim of the gang have unprotected sex with six men at one time. Some of the girls involved had children and one gang member's mother was charging them exorbitant fees to babysit for them. It is pretty disgusting when a mother is involved.

Operation Little Girl Lost took 18 months of hard work to get these predators into court. It was the first time state-based wire tapping was done in a sex trafficking investigation, thanks to the new Illinois State Children's Act. It revealed the mentality of the rings' efforts in enslaving these girls for profit by recording one of the perpetrators saying, "You gotta beat on them hos man. … Just f— 'em all up and they gonna stay in love."

Life in the inner city is hard. Everyone knows it is full of things like prostitution and drugs. However, sex trafficking needs to be prosecuted at every turn. Operation Little Girl Lost only exposed the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Often these girls are seen as whores and not victims; however, they are victims of sick people who capitalize on their vulnerability, emotional problems and psychological issues.

Source: news.gather.com