Joseph Bruno's Blog, page 81

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Italian Politicians Are Worse then the Mafia

We read every day in the European newspapers about how the Mafia and the Camorra are terrorizing Italy. But if you read the article below, it's very clear the biggest crooks in Italy are the politicians, led by its 74-year old horndog Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (A married man, Berlusconi was accused of having an affair with with an under-age prostitute named Ruby The Heart Stealer – You can't make this stuff up.).

What the Italian politicians are being paid, and the scams they are perpetrating on the Italian public, are something even the Italian criminals are not capable of doing.

The average salary of an Italian politician is 145,000 pounds a year. That's twice as much as British politicians are paid, and three times more than politicians in Portugal and Spain are paid. In American dollars, the Italian's average salary comes to around a cozy $240,000 a year.

Like in the American TV commercials – But wait! There's even more!

Italian politicians belong to private social clubs and spas, where they can relax in the sun, play tennis, and even get a shiatsu massage, if that's what their heart's desire. All on the taxpayer dollar.

According to the London Daily Mail, 257,000 pounds was spent in the past year on psychotherapy for troubled Italian politicians; 200,000 pounds on hearing aids (they are certainly deaf to the taxpayer's needs), and another 1 million pounds was spent on spa treatments, and opticians' fees (Why do they need an optician, when they are the ones stealing the taxpayers blind?).

But wait! There's even more!

In Italy, there are over 200,000 vehicles used by politicians, at no cost to them. These cars include Maseratis, Porsches, Audis and Mercedes. And if a politician wants a private chauffeur, all he has to do is claim a death threat has been made on his life.

And how do these Italian politicians pull off that neat trick?

Well, according to the article below, they just have a friend or a relative make the threatening call, and — Presto!!! – a free 24-hour chauffeur appears, to drive their luxury car for them. Or wait outside the spa while the Italian politicians gets the full treatment inside.

But wait! There's even more!!

Italian politicians' phone bills are paid by the state, even for personal calls. They have a free hairdressing salon in parliament, where seven barbers are each paid 120,000 pounds a year to trim these bastard's hair (If I were an Italian politician, I wouldn't let anyone near my neck with a razor. Not even – especially? – my wife).

To add insult to injury, Italian politicians make thousands of pounds off fake claims on parliament's insurance policy for theft and damage.

Their favorite stolen item?

Would you believe — a cashmere coat, worth a mere 1000 pounds?

Italy does not only have an organized crime problem. It has an organized (and legal) political crook problem too.

Guess who's going to jail first?

The link to the article in the London Daily Mall is below.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic...

Empire of the spivs: We fret about our MPs' expenses, but in Italy the awesome corruption of politicians is frankly beyond belief

By Andrew Malone

4th August 2011

As a bright blue-and-gold European Union flag fluttered overhead in the breeze, two ageing tennis players appeared to be reliving their youth this week at one of Rome's exclusive private sports clubs.

After each shot, the men — both grey-haired, well-fed and of distinguished bearing — were applauded by two younger female companions wearing bikinis and watching from sun-loungers beside the court.

According to staff at the club, the men were Italian politicians. And they were doing what they do best: living the Dolce Vita, the sweet life, at the rest of the EU's expense.

Silvio Berlusconi's behaviour regarding court cases and alleged allegations of sex with underage girls has set the tone for his nation's politicians

For here, at this sumptuous club nestling in the shade by the river Tiber, and screened from the public by high fences and locked gates, no expense is spared for the most pampered politicians in Europe, if not the world. With club fees paid for by the taxpayer, government members can enjoy the swimming pool, restaurant, and sauna and steam baths after the rigours of parliament.

And should their muscles ache after a work-out on court, these tennis-playing Italian politicos can also avail themselves — again, at no personal cost — of the services of shiatsu practitioners.

Not that any of Italy's politicians need expend much energy — or money — in getting around the country. For waiting outside the club are dozens of official chaffeured cars including Maseratis, Porsches, Audis and Mercedes.

Another favourite trick of the rich and privileged is pretending to have received a death threat, which means they qualify for a police escort.

Smoking a cigarette, his tie loosened in the afternoon heat, one government driver shrugged when I asked how long he would have to wait while his passenger relaxed at the club: 'Who knows? He's the cat and we're the mice, so we just keep quiet and do what we're told.'

The car the chauffeur was leaning against is part of a fleet of 200,000 official state vehicles that can be seen cruising through the choking traffic of Rome, Milan and Turin — not to mention the Italian Riviera during the holiday season.

What's more, these vehicles — some of them costing £200,000 — can be bought by Italian politicians for a symbolic one euro even if they are voted from office or retire. Government cars are exempt from road tolls, and their drivers are on call round the clock.

Meanwhile, politicians have awarded themselves wage rises averaging 10 per cent a year for at least the past decade, making their pay the highest of any government in the world: at £145,000 a year, they earn twice as much as British MPs, and three times those in Portugal and Spain.

They also receive eye-watering expenses: they can claim for meals at some of Italy's most sumptuous restaurants, enjoy free business-class flights on state carrier Alitalia, while the taxpayer picks up the bill for their medical treatment, including cosmetic dentistry.

The untouchables? Fat cat politicians in Italy are being blamed for the country's financial crisis, with the level of money being wasted staggering

The untouchables? Fat cat politicians in Italy are being blamed for the country's financial crisis, with the level of money being wasted staggering

'The money is to sort out cavities and bridges for politicians so that they can have a brilliant smile for the television cameras,' fumed La Republicca, a leading Rome daily newspaper.

It has also been revealed that £257,000 was spent in the past year on psychotherapy for troubled Italian MPs, along with £200,000 on hearing aids, while £1million went on spa treatments and opticians' fees.

In disclosures that make expenses-fiddling British MPs appear like amateurs, the scale of illegal activities by Italy's so-called lawmakers were sensationally exposed last month by a disgruntled government official who breached the Mafia-like code of silence over these swindles.

Calling herself 'Spider Truman', the employee — believed to be a disgruntled secretary who was dismissed as part of spending cuts after 15 years on a temporary contract — has shocked Italy by her disclosures, prompting calls for Arab Spring-style protests to bring down the government.

With Italy transfixed by the scandal, 'Spider Truman' has revealed another favourite trick of the rich and privileged: by pretending to have received a death threat, they qualify for a police escort — helpful for negotiating the traffic during shopping trips and outings to the theatre.

Such is the apparent danger facing Italian MPs and minor local politicians that a staggering 6,000 of them have been granted police protection — costing up to £1bn a year — with police motorcycle outriders stopping traffic to let them through.

Berlusconi used a speech yesterday to say that Italy would not be drawn into the crisis and said Italian banks were 'solvent' and its economy 'solid'

However, most of them are in little or no danger: according to insiders, politicians simply get friends or relatives to call their mobiles and leave a threatening message — enough to secure this gilt-edged perk.

These shocking claims — none of them denied by MPs — come as new figures show that Italy has the highest number of paid elected officials in Europe — one for every 60,000 people, compared with one for every 92,000 in the UK, and one for every 560,747 in the U.S.

Dubbed 'The Untouchables' by the Italian media, these corrupt, fat-cat politicians are being blamed for leading the country into financial ruin.

The disclosures could not have come at a worse time. Addressing his parliament yesterday, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi swore that his country would not be drawn into the financial crisis engulfing Europe. In fact, he said, Italy's banks are 'solvent' and the economy is 'solid'.

But Italy is the Eurozone's third biggest economy after Germany and France, while the country's debts are higher than anywhere except Greece. Many predict that if the country were to go bust, the repercussions through Europe could cause a global financial meltdown.

Now Italy hopes desperately that a new austerity package (which will mean anyone attending hospital casualty units will have to pay £25, for example) will help slash the country's debts of more than £1 trillion, or 120 per cent of GDP. That compares to Greece's national debt of £220 billion — around 158 per cent of the country's GDP — and the UK's debts of £650 billion or 47.2 per cent of GDP.

In southern Italy, a new motorway has so far taken more than 20 years to build because the Mafia demand payment for each mile it runs through their territory.

But any austerity measures will involve changing completely the Italian way. For, like Greece, Italy is a country where tax-dodging is a way of life. Indeed, more than a quarter of the Italian economy goes untaxed, a loss to the state of £120 billion a year.

Meanwhile, the ruthlessness with which Italy has plundered billions from EU schemes to 'improve' the country is almost beyond belief.

In one infamous case, a dentist persuaded officials in Brussels to lend him £80m to launch a solar panel business. Instead, he used the money to buy a yellow Ferrari Testarossa, along with 55 other cars and a yacht.

Nationwide incentives to improve work opportunities for the disabled — again backed by millions in EU funds — are widely abused, with an estimated £100m a year lost to fraudulent schemes.

The wife of one Italian politician, who obtained £400,000 from the EU to set up riding stables for the disabled, simply made up the names of her 'clients' and pocketed the money.

In southern Italy, a new motorway has so far taken more than 20 years to build because the Mafia demand payment for each mile it runs through their territory.

Officials in Brussels also lost more than £50 million to farmers in southern Italy, for buying and selling surpluses of citrus fruits under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. Neither the fruit, nor the farmers, ever existed — a fact that took four years to come to light.

None of this comes as any surprise to Sergio Rizzo, author of The Caste, a bestseller about greed and corruption in Italy's halls of power: he has catalogued a raft of detail about the way politicians abuse the system with their perks and demands.

He says all politicians' phone bills are paid by the state, even for personal calls; there is a free hairdressing salon in parliament, where seven barbers are each paid £120,000 a year; there are thousands of fake claims on parliament's insurance policy for theft and damage, with £1,000 cashmere coats the favourite item to go 'missing'.

Even in death, politicians in Venice are costing the taxpayer: they have voted that their funeral expenses be paid for by the state.

Loss of office is no hardship either. Full, final salary pensions kick in within 72 hours of their election — and are paid even if the politician leaves office within a year. And what salaries! Even in the provinces, officials can expect to take home hundreds of thousands a year: the mayor of the tiny Alpine province of Bolzano earns an annual salary of £280,000 — that's £32,000 more than President Obama.

Beyond belief: Eu funds are allegedly widely abused by the Italians with an estimated £100m a year lost to fraudulent claims – including £50m in one infamous case involving fruit that never existed

Beyond belief: Eu funds are allegedly widely abused by the Italians with an estimated £100m a year lost to fraudulent claims – including £50m in one infamous case involving fruit that never existed

'The attitude and approach of politicians is one of pure arrogance,' said Rizzo. 'It's as if they lived on another planet where humans are those strange objects who pay taxes and allow them to lead a lavish life.' The tone for this wholesale plundering is being set by Berlusconi — also Italy's most powerful media mogul — who has been called to appear at court hearings an astonishing 2,500 times over crimes ranging from tax evasion to having sex with an under-age prostitute called Ruby The Heart Stealer.

In many cases, he has either avoided conviction by giving himself immunity from prosecution, or dragging battles through the courts for years in a bid to have them quashed under the statute of limitations — a set amount of time after which it is impossible to begin legal proceedings.

Of course, Berlusconi's predilections are well-known here, including his penchant for giving glamorous female TV presenters jobs as MPs and holding sex parties at his villa in Sardinia, where girls were (allegedly) told to dress up as nurses and 'examine' the 74-year-old premier.

At one time, Italians were willing to overlook these scandals. But public anger is growing. Spider Truman's website — called The Secrets of the Privileged at Montecitorio (Italian Parliament) — has already attracted more than a quarter of a million followers in less than a week, with thousands expressing outrage.

One subscriber, Camillo Marra, compared the growing Italian anger with the revolts in the Arab world and wrote: 'Our spring is now arriving,' while even Italy's finance minister Giulio Tremonti said action was vital to stop the country sinking 'like the Titanic'.

As I watched Italy's politicians relax in the sun at their sports club, with their cars and drivers waiting outside, it was hard not to conclude that being pro-European is the same as being taken for a mug.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – 73 Big Time Gangsters Nabbed in Scotland

I guess I was being naive, but I never realized Scotland had such a major organized crime problem, and a huge drug problem too.

When I think of the Scottish people, I think of big, burly guys walking around in kilts, playing the bagpipes, and wearing no underwear. (I know, a ghastly thought.)

Or Scottish men with great, white beards eating an abomination called haggis. (I ate haggis once. It's like chewing on a rosin bag. Only not as tasty.)

Or, maybe when I think about Scottish people I think of comedian Robin Williams doing his fall-down-funny skit about a Scottish guy explaining the game of golf. Only you can't understand a word Williams says, because he's fall-down drunk. (This skit is on Utube. You really have to see it. Funniest comedy routine ever)

However, I digress. As usual.

In seems the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) arrested 195 people in 2010-11, including 73 serious offenders known as "level 3″ criminals.

This is a major haul, guys. And something to be extremely proud about.

But is you really want to punish these bastards in jail, make them eat haggis, all three meals a day. Then as an added punishment, give them a midnight snack of haggis too.

That will rehabilitate these high-profile gangsters real quick.

You can bet on it.

The article below appeared on the website STV.

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/264841-73...

73 high-profile gangsters are snared by crime agency

The Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency said it is capturing more top criminals than in previous years.

03 August 2011 12:21 GMT

Scotland's crime fighting agency captured 73 high-profile gangsters in the past year, its director said.

The Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) said it is taking more drugs off the streets and capturing more criminals than in previous years.

The agency's annual report showed that in 2010-11 it arrested 195 people, including 73 serious offenders known as "level 3″ criminals, compared with 136 the previous year.

73 high-profile gangsters are snared by crime agency

They included major players in the drug trade, such as Sohaib Qureshi, who trafficked cocaine in Scotland, the Caribbean and South America. He was jailed in March for 12 years after Operation Klaxon.

SCDEA director general, Deputy Chief Constable Gordon Meldrum, stated in the report: "In 2010-11 we arrested 195 people, 73 of whom were level 3 criminals: the ringleaders of organised crime.

"Making those arrests at this level is increasingly important in order to target those at the top of the criminal hierarchy and disrupt their chain of command."

According to the report, SCDEA seized 1,376kg of illegal drugs worth £33 million in 2010-11. This included 80.5kg of class A drugs, worth around £21 million.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said: "I am delighted to see that work led by the SCDEA over the last year has continued to cut right to the core of illegal activities by groups operating in Scotland.

"Every arrest made related to serious organised crime is a step towards getting these despicable groups out of our communities."

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Italy Arrests Top Mafia (?) Fugitive

Antonio Iovine had a great (not) so glorious life on the run.

Iovine, the supposed head of the Camorra in Naples, has been on the lam for 14 years: two years less than Whitey Bulger, the Boston mob boss, who was an informant for 30 something years. But at least Bugler lived a life of luxury all over the world, before he was caught in Santa Monica, California, with his girlfriend, all nice and cozy: $800,000 in cash hidden in the wall, and guns and ammunition stashed throughout his condo.

What a guy.

Iovine, on the other hand, was caught hiding in a filthy wall cavity (I cringe to think what that means), and when Iovine was discovered, he tried to jump off a balcony; like he was one of the Three Musketeers.

Not very good, in term of style points (Couldn't Iovine have least swallowed the poison pill, not to be so humiliated?).

Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the arrest of Iovine was, "a great day in the fight against the Mafia."

Uh, Senior Marconi, the Camorra and the Mafia are two different organizations. The Mafia is based in Sicily, and the Camorra is based in Naples. That's like saying the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are on the same team, just because they both play baseball.

Oh, I remember. The word "Mafia" makes headlines.

The Camorra? Who knows what the Camorra is anyway, aside from the people who live in Naples?

Italians prosecutors are smart headline grabbers, but not the smartest law enforcement officials in existence.

Stupido!

http://www.euronews.net/2010/11/18/it...

One of Italy's most wanted men has finally been captured after 14 years on the run. Antonio Iovine, a boss of the Camorra, the Naples version of the Sicilian mafia, was convicted in absentia in January and sentenced to life for directing the clan's criminal operations.

He was reportedly discovered hiding in a wall cavity and is said to have tried to jump off a balcony to escape arrest.

Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni described it as a "great day in the fight against the mafia," but denied the operation was mounted to detract from problems facing the prime minister.

Iovine's capture is the latest in a string of high-profile mafia arrests by Italian authorities in recent months. His arrest was also welcomed by Roberto Saviano, author of the best selling book, Gomorrah, a study about the gangster underworld.

Copyright © 2011 euronews

Joe Bruno on the Mob – The Ndrangheta in Germany

You can't say that the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta crime family lets grass grow under their feet. That's for sure.

According to the article below, the 'Ndrangheta has over 200 members operating just in Germany. The 'Ndrangheta specializes in drug dealing, and it has dipped it's sticky fingers into dope selling operations in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

As it's Sicilian Mafia counterparts did in the United States in the 1980′s (The famous "Pizza Connection" case), the 'Ndrangheta uses pizzerias as their base of operations. So in the midst of them rolling dough to be put into pizza ovens, the 'Ndrangheta are making monetary "dough" by supplying the Germans, Belgians and Dutch with nose candy, smack, pot, and anything else people use to get high these days.

One thing bothers me about European news agencies. They keep referring to the 'Ndrangheta as the Calabrian Mafia, and the Camorra as the Naples Mafia. This is nonsense and just plain wrong.

The Mafia is the Mafia and they operate mostly out of Sicily. The Camorra is not the Neapolitan Mafia: it is a Neapolitan organized crime group. The 'Ndrangheta is not the Calabrian Mafia, it it a Calabrian organized crime group.

I guess every time a European news agency uses the word "Mafia" it gets a surge in publication.

Doesn't make it right.

The article below originally appeared in dw-world.de, a Dutch news organization

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,...

German police arrest wanted mafia suspect for drugs trafficking

German police have arrested a man suspected of being a member of the Calabrian mafia in a joint operation with their Italian counterparts. The suspect is alleged to have trafficked drugs from South America to Europe.

German police have arrested a 51-year-old man on an international arrest warrant for suspected drugs trafficking and links with the mafia.

He is suspected by police in the western city of Duisburg of shipping drugs from Latin America to the Calabria region of southern Italy – dividing his time between Europe and South America. The man is alleged to have been working for the Pelle clan of the 'Ndrangheta branch of the mafia, which German officials were investigating in collaboration with their Italian colleagues.

"Ndrangheta is the biggest Italian criminal syndicate operating in Germany, with more than half of the 200 suspected mafia members in the country believed to be affiliated with it.

Scores of suspects arrested earlier

The suspect, who runs a pizzeria in Duisburg, has been wanted since December 2, 2010 when he managed to evade raids in Italy that led to the arrests of 87 suspected criminals, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Officers said he had been moving between Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The arrest took place in a pizzeria in the city of Oberhausen, near Duisburg.

German police officers tightened their surveillance on members of the 'Ndrangheta after a shootout in Duisburg in 2007, in which six Italian nationals were killed outside a restaurant.

Source: dw-world.de

Joe Bruno On the Mob – Fagese Goods Seized in Italy

Since I was a little kid growing up in Little Italy/Chinatown, you could buy fake (fagese) designer watches, clothes and handbags in the streets of Chinatown. The watches were always crap, but the clothes weren't bad and the handbags were damn good knockoffs of top designed labels.

What people didn't know was where these good came from. Most people assumed they were made in China, but as was stated in the best selling book, Gomorra (A bastardization of the word Camorra), by Robert Savino, these goods were made by Chinese people, but not in China, but rather in factories just outside the Italian city of Naples. These Chinese laborers were imported from China just to do this kind of work. And, like in China, they work cheap. So the profit is enormous for the Camorra.

And what is interesting in the article below about the arrest of 62 Italians in a "fake goods ring," called "Operation Leatherface," is that the article attributes the Mafia with running the ring, when in fact, it was run by the Camorra, the Naples version of the Sicilian Mafia.

The article was originally posted on the Internet by Euroweeklynews.com, and reprinted by Mafia Today. Yet, it's strange that a European news organization does not realize that the Mafia does not control organized crime in all of Italy. The Camorra runs organized crime in and around Naples, and the N'drangheta runs organized crime in and around Calabria.

This is simple stuff really. A dedicated fact-checker would have noticed the error in the article.

I know I did.

The link to the article in Mafia Today is below.

http://mafiatoday.com/sicilian-mafia-...

MAFIA TODAY

Blow to Italian mafia as fake goods ring smashed

July 31, 2011 by Capo ·

SIXTY-FOUR people have been arrested in 'Operation Leatherface' against a large branded goods falsification network linked to the Italian mafia, Guardia Civil said.

Another 60 people involved with the network have also been identified and international arrest warrants are being issued against them.

The detainees, 62 of them Italians, are charged with illegal association, money laundering, tax evasion and crimes against industrial property.

Amongst them is the man in charge of the operation, his sidekick and their accountant.

The investigation began in 2010 when the Guardia Civil's Economic Crimes Group found out through Europol of the criminal activity which was being carried out by the organization.

It was run from Naples, by several members of the same family linked to the mafia, who attempted to monopolize a sector.

They purchased huge amounts of falsified brand name goods, including tools, machinery and textiles which were produced by 25 companies in China after having received the original product which they were supposed to copy.

Thousands of these fake goods were imported to Spain and Italy.

Part of the shipments, which arrived via Sevilla, Valencia and Malaga, were sold here and the rest sent to France, Germany, the USA, Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, Finland, Canada, Holland, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Portugal.

Once they arrived at their destination, the organization divided them into sales areas, and salesmen, mostly Italians, would walk the streets and visit shops offering the products for less than their market value.

None of the goods carried quality, safety or operation guarantees.

To make them appear legal, they had created a group of 20 businesses which they used to launder the money by transferring it to different societies and issuing false bills and receipts.

Guardia Civil searched premises in Malaga, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, seizing large quantities of merchandise, as well as documents related to the investigation which were passed on to the Italian Guarda di Finanza, leading to 12 properties in Naples and Rome being searches and further goods being seized.

Source: euroweeklynews.com

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Joe Bonanno – The Youngest American Mafia Boss Ever

Joseph Charles Bonanno was born on January 18, 1905, In Castellammare del Golfo, a small town on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. When he was three years old, his father Salvatore Bonanno moved his family to Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. They lived there for about 10 years, but Salvatore, caught in a jam with the cops, was forced to move his family back to Sicily.

In Sicily, Salvatore Bonanno was said to have been involved in Mafia activities. His son Joseph followed in his footsteps, and was also heavily involved in Mafia crimes. In 1924, to avoid Mussolini's attack on the Mafia, Bonanno escaped Sicily, by taking a boat to Havana, Cuba. In Havana, Bonanno stowed away in a Cuban fishing boat, landing him illegally in Tampa, Florida. Bonanno had a scare in Jacksonville, Florida, when he was briefly detained by immigration officials. Bonanno somehow talked his way out of this jam, and he traveled as quickly as he could to New York City.

In New York City, Bonanno quickly hooked up with other mobsters from Castellammare del Golfo, who had already established an illegal foothold in America. Truthfully or not, Bonanno told the people from his hometown that his father Salvatore was a big Mafioso from Sicily. This eased Bonanno's move into the bootlegging business.

Bonanno moved quickly up the ranks, and soon he became the boss of his own small crime family. Another Italian mobster tried to move into Bonanno's territory, necessitating a sitdown, which was presided over by three powerful mob bosses, including Bonanno's cousin Stefano Magaddino – the Mafia boss in upstate Buffalo, New York, and Salvatore Maranzano, the highest-ranking Mafioso, who was from Bonanno's hometown of Castellammare del Golfo. Having the deck stacked in his favor, Bonanno won the sitdown, and was allowed to keep control of his family, in addition to the opposing gangster's family.

In 1927, Maranzano became involved in a bloody all-out Mafia war against Joe "The Boss" Masseria, for control of all the rackets on the East Coast of the United States. This was known as the "Castellammarese War." By this time, Bonanno had risen to the rank of Maranzano's right-hand man, or Captain. Charles "Lucky" Luciano occupied the same position with with Masseria's gang. Maranzano approached Luciano with the offer of leaving Masseria, and joining Maranzano's forces. Luciano, seeing the writing on the wall, and also because Masseria frowned on Luciano's alliances with non-Sicilians, like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, agreed to kill Masseria, so that Maranzano would now be the number one Mafia boss in America.

Luciano lured Masseria to a little Italian restaurant in Coney Island. There, while Luciano was relieving himself in the men's room, Bugsy Siegel, along with three of his best Jewish killers, burst in and shot Massaria dead.

Maranzano immediately called for a meeting of all the Mafioso in New York City. At this meeting, Maranzano created five crime families, with five bosses, one of whom was Luciano. Maranzano also declared himself "Capo de Tuti Capo," or "Boss of All Bosses."

Luciano did not fancy the path his organization was taking with Maranzano in charge of the Five Families. So again, Luciano used four Jewish killers, this time led by Red Levine, to stab and shoot Maranzano to death in his midtown office.

Luciano, in his quest to unite all the mob bosses (Five Families) in New York City, called for a meeting with Bonanno. The purpose of this meeting was to ensure Bonanno that Luciano's intentions were, despite the death of Maranzano, to keep the five family concept in effect.

At this meeting, Bonanno told Luciano, "I have no problem with you."

This is exactly what Luciano wanted to hear. As a result, Luciano inserted Bonanno as the head of the former Maranzano Family, changing the name to the "Bonanno Family." Bonanno was only 26 years old at the time, making him the youngest Mafia boss ever in America.

Banding together with such gangsters as Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Vito Genovese, Bonanno's illegal empire took off. In order to insulate himself from possible prosecution by the police, Bonanno involved himself with several legal businesses too, in addition to such illegal endeavors like bootlegging, extortion, hijacking, gambling, and drug dealing. Bonanno also stuck his sticky fingers into the garment center, and he bought himself pieces of the B&D Coat Company, and the Morgan Coat Company. To enhance the wealth of his garment businesses, Bonanno use the muscle of the Garment Workers Union, to give himself an advantage over the legitimate businesses in the garment center.

Of course, this meant paying off the local police to look the other way, while Bonanno schemed and brutalized his way to the top of the garment industry. It was so easy to bribe the police, the vast majority of whom were Irish, Bonanno once said, "All the Irish cops took payments."

Bonanno also invested in a Wisconsin cheese factory. In addition, Bonanno also was the part owner of the Sunshine Dairy Farm in Middletown, New York, and the Anello and Bonanno Funeral Home in Brooklyn. Bonanno's most enterprising endeavor may have been the invention of double-decker coffins, which were said to be used exclusively in the Anello and Bonanno Funeral Home. These coffins were assembled so that a second body could be stored under the one that was scheduled for burial. This co-opted the need for digging a grave for the victim of a mob rubout.

Even though Luciano and Bonanno were equals in the five crime family Mafia concept, Bonanno considered himself the most traditionally true to the Mafia concept, which was adhered to in Italy. Bonanno later wrote in his book, A Man of Honor, "Luciano was so Americanized that he operated on the most primitive consideration: making money. Men of my tradition have always considered wealth the by-product of power. Such men of my tradition were mainly in the people business."

In 1937, Luciano was arrested, tried and convicted on a trumped-up prostitution charge, orchestrated by Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey. Luciano was sentenced to 30 years in prison. However, after World War II, Dewey, now governor of New York, commuted Luciano's sentence to time served, and had Luciano deported back to Italy. This arrangement suited Luciano just fine since he could still run his empire from across the ocean, with little or no difficulty. Luciano's release was said to have been orchestrated by Frank Costello and Joe Bonanno, who reportedly passed the hat for Luciano in the five mob families, and donated the contributed booty, said to be in excess of $250,000, to Dewey's campaign coffers, which was used in Dewey's failed 1948 Presidential bid, won by Democrat Harry Truman.

By the early 1960′s, Bonanno has expanded his empire to the state of Arizona, which was open territory for any mob boos who wanted to take control. And Arizona being near California, Bonanno, getting more ambitious and greedy by the moment, figured he could move into California and take over the rackets of Frank DeSimone, who was the mob boss of Los Angeles.

Yet Bonanno's biggest mistake was when he decided to start infiltrating the rackets in Canada, which incensed his cousin Stefano Magaddino, the mob boss of Buffalo, who considered Canada his sacred domain.

It was during the early 1960′s that Bonanno began having trouble within his family (They thought he spent too much time outside New York City), and also with the bosses of the other families, which comprised the Mafia Commission, as it was now called by its members. Bonanno's biggest ally on the Commission was Joe Profaci from Brooklyn. In 1962, Profaci died after a long bout with cancer and was replaced by Joe Magliocco, considered not as powerful and as fearless a man as was Profaci.

Bonanno thought now was the time to act, and his approached Magliocco with the plan of killing the bosses of the other three families: Carlo Gambino, Tommy Lucchese, and Bonanno's cousin Stefano Magaddino, as well as Frank DeSimone of Los Angeles. Magliocco agreed and he gave the order to organize the hits to his new underboss Joe Colombo. However, instead of following Magliocco's orders, Colombo instead reported the treasonous acts to Gambino, Lucchese and Magaddino. As a result, Magliocco and Bonanno were ordered to appear before the Commission to explain their actions.

Bonanno told the three other bosses to take a hike, but Magliocco timidly agreed to appear before the Commission. At this meeting, Magliocco confessed his actions and threw himself on the mercy of the Commission. Inexplicable, the Commission agreed to spare Magliocco's life. However, Magliocco's punishment was expulsion from his own crime family, and in addition Magliocco was no longer considered even a low-ranking member of La Cosa Nostra. In other words, Magliocco lost his "button" for good.

With Bonanno's refusal to appear before the Commission, the Commission members stripped Bonanno of the leadership of his family, and replaced him with Gaspar DiGregorio. This move split the Bonanno family in two, with some members siding with DiGregorio and others with Bonanno.

On the night of October 21, 1964, the night before he was to appear before a New York Grand Jury, Bonanno was walking on a Park Avenue street with his lawyers, when suddenly two men jumped from a car. They seized Bonanno and threw him into a another car. What happened next is up for conjecture.

When Bonanno reappeared in court 19 months later, his story was that he was kidnapped by his cousin Stefano Magaddino and held at a farm in Buffalo. Bonanno said that Magaddino repeatedly, under the threat of death, urged him to quit the Mafia. Bonanno said he refused and instead tried to make a deal whereby his neophyte son Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno would assume control of the Bonanno Crime Family. Bonanno, against the wishes of the Commission and many in his own crime family, had already appointed his son as his "consiglieri." Magaddino, speaking for the rest of the Commission, Bonnano said, flatly refused Bonanno's offer. Bonanno said he was released after a few months and spent the rest of his 19 months in exile hiding in Tuscon, Arizona.

Yet, that story holds very little water. If Magaddino really did have Bonanno in custody, there is very little chance, that Bonanno, after refusing to give up the leadership of his family, and after plotting to kill three Commission bosses, would have ever left Buffalo alive.

The more likely story is that Bonanno arranged to "kidnap" himself, so that he could plot behind the scenes on how he and his son Bill could take over the Mob rackets throughout the country.

While Bonnano was "in absentia," DiGregorio called for a meeting with Bill Bonanno to discuss how they could co-exist in the same family peacefully. When Bill Bonanno arrived at the meeting on Troutman Street in Brooklyn, he and his men were met with a hail of gunfire. However, it was late at night, and because of the dark, and the bad aim of both groups, no one was injured.

The next two years after the return of the senior Bonanno was referred to as the "Bananas War." Because of his failure to eliminate Bill Bonanno, the Commission replaced DiGregorio with Paul Sciacca, considered tougher and a more capable Mafioso than DiGregorio.

In 1968, after years of bloodshed on both sides, Joe Bonanno suffered a heat attack, and he announced his retirement. After Bonanno and his son Bill relocated to Tuscon, Arizona, both factions of the Bonanno family united under Sciacca.

While Bonanno was in Tuscon, where he was supposedly allowed to keep whatever rackets he had assembled there, there were several bomb attempts: at the homes of Joe and Bill Bonanno, and also at the homes of some of their Tuscon crime associates. However, no one was killed, and soon the other New York bosses came to believe Bonanno when he said he would stay out of the East Coast rackets completely, and concentrate only on Arizona.

In 1983, after serving time for conspiring to interfere with a Grand Jury investigation into his two son's Arizona businesses, Joe Bonanno inexplicable wrote his autobiography Man of Honor. Bonnano's book told in great detail of Bonanno's role in the rise of the Mafia in America. The other mob mosses in America were outraged that Bonanno would break his vow of "omerta." The then-head of the Bonanno Crime Family, Joe Massino, began calling his family the Massino Family, but that name never stuck. Massino himself became a government informant in 2005, the highest ranking member of the Mafia in America ever to do so.

Joe Bonanno died peacefully of a heart attack on May 11, 2002, at the ripe of age of 97, outliving his contemporaries in the Mafia by anywhere from two to four decades.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – There's New Gambino Sheriff in Town.

As was originally reported in Jerry Capeci's "Gangland" website (I subscribe to Capeci's "Gangland," and it's the best $45 a year I ever spend), the Gambino Crime Family has a new boss.

Sicilian born Domenico Cefalu, new Gambino chief, is diametrically opposed in style to the former Gambino head John Gotti.

Gotti was know for his dapper clothes, flashy cars, and daily haircuts and manicures. Gotti was also known for keeping a high profile, frequenting New York City's fanciest nightclubs, taking liberally with the press, and even sometime signing autographs.

Cefalu has and does none of these things. He lives with his mother in Brooklyn and actually has a full-time job with a local bakery supply company. But one thing Cefalu does have in common with Gotti is that Cefalu's considered a " stand up guy," like Gotti and would never become a government informant, as was Gotti's underboss Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.

Cefalu, who is presently on parole after serving time for drug dealing, has been warned by Federal judge Jack Weinstein not to associate with organized crime figures. So I guess that "Quiet Dom" will find a way to run the Gambino Crime Family without being seen in public.

Sit-downs in the basement of a local bakery??

Sounds logical to me.

The article below also appeared in Mafia Today, and on the WCBS radio station website. The link is below.

http://mafiatoday.com/gambino-family/...

Report: Gambino Crime Family Picks Domenico Cefalu As New Boss

July 31, 2011 by Capo ·

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – The Gambino crime family, knocked down again and again by federal indictments, has a new boss and he's no Dapper Don.

As first reported by Jerry Capeci in his Gang Land column, the Gambinos have chosen a new boss who will keep it low key.

According to the report, 64-year-old Sicilian-born Domenico Cefalu is the man. He reportedly lives with his mother in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and actually works for a local bakery supply company.

Cornell reports Cefalu's style is radically different from John Gotti's: no fancy suits, no busy social club gatherings to attract the FBI and he'll never flip. He has a reputation as a "stand up" wiseguy.

Cefalu is out of prison on supervised release after doing time for heroin trafficking. Federal judge Jack Weinstein warned Cefalu that if he associates with known mobsters, he'll be back in the slammer.

Source: newyork.cbslocal.com

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Whitey Bulger Prosecutors Seek Extension on Turning Over Evidence

It looks like it's going to be a while until Boston hoodlum James "Whitey Bulger" finally is put on trial for his numerous crimes. The problem is, there's so much evidence concerning Bulger's 40-year crime career, the prosecutors just didn't have the time to turn over all the evidence by August 1st to Bulger's court-appointed attorney,

"Obviously, the defendant, who has been a fugitive for over 16 years, bears some responsibility for this predicament,'' prosecutors said in court documents.

No kidding.

Apparently the judge in charge of the case gave the prosecutors until August 31st to turn over the evidence, and Carney agreed to the extension.

I can't wait for Bulger's trail to become a reality. One thing for sure, it will be a three-ring circus in Boston. A better show than the Boston Celtics and the Boston Red Sox combined. Throw in the New England Patriots too.

The link for the article and the article from Boston.com is below.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mass...

Bulger prosecutors seek extension on turning over evidence

By Milton J. Valencia

Globe Staff / July 30, 2011

Federal prosecutors asked yesterday for more time to turn over evidence against James "Whitey'' Bulger to his defense lawyer, citing the voluminous records in the decades-old case.

Many of the alleged crimes occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the 81-year-old Bulger was arrested only last month after more than 16 years on the run.

"Many of this material has been boxed and stored for years,'' prosecutors said in court documents filed in US District Court in Boston yesterday, adding that the gathering of the evidence "involves the reproduction of thousands of hours of audiotapes and videotapes as well as hundreds of photographs.''

The government says it cannot meet the deadline of 28 days to turn over the evidence, and asked for an extension to Aug. 31. The request has been consented to by Bulger's lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., according to court documents.

"Obviously, the defendant, who has been a fugitive for over 16 years, bears some responsibility for this predicament,'' prosecutors said in court documents.

Bulger, a notorious gangster, was also an FBI informant. His handler tipped him off to a pending indictment in late 1994 and he fled. Bulger was later charged in a 1999 racketeering indictment alleging he participated in 19 slayings. He also faces two charges of murder in other states.

Bulger's relationship with the FBI later exposed a system of corruption within the agency. Bulger was listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitive list until his arrest June 22 outside an apartment he rented in Santa Monica, Calif.

His longtime companion, Catherine Greig, 60, was also arrested and faces charges of harboring a fugitive.

Bulger has agreed to be held without bail pending his trial.

© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Arran Coghlan – The New Teflon Don

Arran Coghlan must think the rest of the world besides himself, and especially people of Great Britain, must be utterly stupid.

Coghlan, now called the "Telfon Don" across the pond (after American gangster John Gotti), has been arrested and tried for murder three times, and was found not guilty all three times. Now "not guilty" certainly doesn't mean "innocent." But as of now, Coghlan remains a free man: free to terrorize the street of Great Britain.

Coghlan has also been found "not guilty" of trying to smuggle cocaine into the United Kingdom, and "not guilty" of assaulting a police officer.

Five trials. Five acquittals.

According to prosecutors, Coghlan built up a criminal empire with 'ruthless violence, demanding respect and loyalty from those who worked for him and to whom he supplied drugs'.

Coghlan says they are all lies. He says he is a successful business consultant. All he does admit to is being a former loan shark. He says he's the victim here, and has had the misfortune to be accused of a slew of violent crimes he had absolutely nothing to do with (His nose must have been growing as he spoke).

One of the murders Coghlan was acquitted of is so revolting, it makes one cringe just to think about it. It seems a petty drug-dealing thief named David Barnshaw's body was found so badly burned, the medical examiner could not determine the exact cause of death. It also seems that Barnshaw had been forced to drink gasoline, then his body set on fire.

How's that for a scene for a new Steven King book?

The only reason Coghlan was acquitted was because some idiotic British policeman forgot to release information that might have implicated another suspect.

Coghlan's alibi for the Barnshaw bonfire? "I was babysitting at a friend's house at the time."

Yeah, right. Coghlan's just the type of bloke to babysit. But only if the person he's babysitting is blond and buxom and not adverse to a little horizontal action.

Bums like Coghlan beat the system quite often. And sometimes the reason why is incompetent police work. But sooner or later the "teflon" will wear off Coghlan, and he'll finally be convicted of something serious. And his fate could be a seat in the electric chair too. Although, some people may think that would be letting Coghlan off too easy.

Maybe someone should make Coghlan drink gasoline before they throw the switch on the electric chair?

But would be too barbaric for the British, now wouldn't it?



This article below, first appeared in the London Daily Mail and was re-printed by Mafia today.

http://mafiatoday.com/general-breakin...

An audience with the 'Teflon Don': Three times he's been charged with gangland murders. Three times he's walked free. The Mail meets the man himself

July 31, 2011 by Capo · Leave a Comment

There is a four-inch scar on Arran Coghlan's neck. He is happy to explain how it got there. First, though, he takes my hand and guides my fingers over the knife wound.

'Can you feel my pulse?' he asks.

'Yes,' I reply.

'That's because the scar is on my jugular vein,' he explains. 'It was a good shot — but not good enough. I don't do dying — that's for others.'

By 'others', he means the person responsible for inflicting that nasty wound; the person, in fact, who was killed just a few feet away from where we're standing.

'He died over there,' says Mr Coghlan, 39, pointing towards an ensuite bathroom at his Cheshire home (a converted chapel, ironically), where Stephen 'Aki' Akinyemi, a 36-year-old figure from the local underworld, was found in a pool of blood.

Mr Coghlan was subsequently charged with murder, but acquitted when the case came to court in July last year after prosecutors couldn't prove he hadn't acted in self-defence.

A dramatic case? Certainly. But for Mr Coghlan, not an unusual one. For the man sitting in front of me in his lounge politely answering questions over a cup of tea has been charged with murder, not once, not twice, but three times over the past ten years.

And each time he has 'walked', for reasons we shall come to later.

Nor, astonishingly, is this the full list of his acquittals.

Last month, Mr Coghlan was cleared of a plot to flood the UK with cocaine.

And, only this week, he walked free again after a case of assaulting two police officers collapsed.

Once again, Mr Coghlan was able to plead he acted in self-defence, on the grounds that he didn't realize the two men who approached him were police officers.

'They didn't identify themselves and I thought they were going to attack me,' he says.

Five cases, then, and five acquittals. Small wonder, perhaps, that Mr Coghlan has been dubbed the 'Teflon Don'. The nickname was first given to American mobster John Gotti, after frustrated FBI agents failed to get any of their charges to 'stick'.

Mr Coghlan, who has similarly been accused of being a ruthless but lucky gangster, is not amused.

'I detest that description, because it suggests I have "got off",' he says. 'I didn't "get off". I'm innocent. The police tried to stitch me up.'

Five times? 'Yes, I can understand how it might look,' he acknowledges.

'But do you honestly think the Old Bill would drop case after case against me unless they had to?'

Certainly, the man I'm talking to now seems worlds away from the violent gangster he has been portrayed as in court. One who, according to prosecutors, built up a criminal empire with 'ruthless violence, demanding respect and loyalty from those who worked for him and to whom he supplied drugs'.

Someone who, allegedly, was in a gang so ruthless that they once forced their victim to drink petrol before setting him alight.

All lies, insists Mr Coghlan. He says he is simply a successful business consultant — albeit one who admits to being a former loan shark and who has repeatedly had the misfortune to be accused of a whole sequence of violent crimes.

And so he's agreed to meet me today, in a bid to clear up a few?.?.?. misunderstandings, shall we say, about his colourful past.

In person, Mr Coghlan is charming, articulate and highly intelligent. He's dressed in a crisp, white open-necked shirt and jeans as we sip tea together at his lavish home in Alderley Edge — where residents include millionaire footballers and soap stars. Certainly, he does not fit the caricature of an underworld crime boss.

He lives here with long-term partner Claire Burgoyne, 29 (and her gold painted toes), their children, trumpet-playing son Lincoln, 13, and three-year-old Francesca ('Frankie').

The cozy family scene is completed by a hamster, several fish, and a pair of docile boxer dogs called Will and Grace. Parked outside are two BMWs.

"My business is totally legit. I'm very proud that I've come from nothing and done rather well for myself"

But still, Mr Coghlan is clearly not a man to be underestimated. More than 6ft tall and athletically built, he can obviously take care of himself, as recent events have amply demonstrated.

This is a legacy, he says, of his childhood on a Stockport council estate where he and his brother were brought up by their single mother; their father, who was in the Army, died when they were young.

Mr Coghlan left home when he was 15, went to live in a bedsit and found work in a shoe shop. Along the way, he sold mortgages door-to-door, drifted in and out of petty crime (he once served 18 months for stealing cars from garage showrooms) before getting into money-lending in his 20s.

Isn't that just the polite name for a 'loan shark?'

'Yes, it is,' Mr Coghlan replies.

Today, Mr Coghlan says he runs a consultancy providing 'corporate restructuring and settlement negotiation'.

He is anxious to show that it isn't a dodgy 'back street' operation (which could be construed as a front for a drugs ring, in other words), so he drives us there to see his office which, it turns out, is expensively — and tastefully — furnished, occupying 5,000?sq?ft of a two-story building a few miles from Alderley Edge.

'My business is totally legit,' he insists. 'I'm very proud that I've come from nothing and done rather well for myself.'

Now, they say you can judge a man by the company he keeps. So what kind of company does he keep?

'Look,' he says. 'I was brought up in a tough area and have been in and out of prison on remand because of the police vendetta against me, so I know plenty of people who are involved in criminality.

'People choose their owns paths. But I am not a criminal and I will take a lie detector test if you want.'

One of those people involved in 'criminality' was drugs baron Chris Little — aka Stockport's 'Mr Big', and the 'Devil Dog Mobster' because he set his rottweilers on rivals. He was also the victim at the centre of Mr Coghlan's first trial for murder.

In July 1994, Little's Mercedes stopped at traffic lights in the village of Marple in Stockport.

A Ford Granada pulled up alongside him. Shots rang out and moments later Little, 31, was slumped over his wheel. Police suspected Mr Coghlan, then in his early 20s, was in the Granada.

Mr Coghlan says he was only linked to the shooting because he and a friend had stored stolen cars in the same yard where the 'drive-by' Granada was kept.

'I knew Little, but I was never involved in drugs and I had nothing to do with that shooting,' he insists, adding: 'I was playing computer games at home.'

Nevertheless, Mr Coghlan stood trial for the killing in 1996. The jury believed him, not the police.

Afterwards, Mr Coghlan is said to have taunted one of the detectives on the case as he was leaving court: 'Always close your window when you stop at traffic lights.' A threat that suggested the policeman might be killed in similar circumstances.

Was it true that he made the remark?

'I spent 18 months on remand for something I didn't do because of that officer,' Mr Coghlan explains.

'So, yes, I did say it. I wanted to get a rise [reaction] out of him and it worked. He got angry and said: "Are you threatening me?" It was brilliant.'

"Barnshaw's body was so badly burned the pathologist was unable to ascertain the cause of death"

The Little acquittal (the case has never been solved) was the start, Mr Coghlan says, of a decade-long campaign by the police to put him behind bars.

'When I was released, I was money-lending and driving a Bentley Turbo and the police hated that I was doing well,' he says.

It was also the period when the name Arran Coghlan began to register in certain parts of Greater Manchester.

'There was an underlying courtesy [or fear, perhaps] that wasn't there before,' Mr Coghlan recalls, with a hint of satisfaction.

'I think people treated me with a little caution in case there was any truth in it [that he killed Chris Little]. At first I was unhappy about it, but I realized as I got into money-lending business that the perception was not without its advantages in persuading people to pay on time.'

Six years after standing trial for the murder of Stockport's 'Mr Big', Arran Coghlan was in the dock again.

This time, he was accused of leading the gang which kidnapped a small-time drug dealer called David Barnshaw.

Barnshaw and his friend, Devil Dog Mobster were abducted near the Moss Rose pub, near Stockport, in September 1999, and bundled into a car.

Barnshaw was attacked on the back seat of the vehicle and Berry was trussed up and bundled into the boot.

Despite being tied up with tape, Berry managed to phone the police from the boot before, somehow, escaping. Barnshaw's body was later found in the car.

Part of that 999 tape was played to the jury. Berry could be heard saying: 'They are killing us, they are battering us, please come, please help.'

In the background another voice was heard screaming. Traces of petrol were later found in Barnshaw's lungs and stomach — suggesting he had been forced to drink it and then set alight. His body was so badly burned the pathologist was unable to ascertain the cause of death.

Again, Mr Coghlan was charged with murder. But on this occasion, the case collapsed after it was revealed that the police had failed to pass on important information about another suspect for the killing.

Besides, Mr Coghlan had an alibi. 'I was babysitting at a friend's house at the time,' he explains. 'It had absolutely nothing to do with me. The police were still smarting from the Little case. I had purposefully stayed away from anything to do with drugs'.

And so to the brutal events which unfolded at Mr Coghlan's home last year, when a man was killed in the bathroom when his family were out.

Mr Akinyemi, who was also armed with a gun, had asked Mr Coghlan to mediate in a petty row between him and another man, but Mr Coghlan says he ended up being attacked himself.

During the struggle, the gun went off, killing Mr Akinyemi, but not before Mr Coghlan had sustained knife wounds (hence the scar on his neck).

"I am an innocent man who has put up with unfairness for a very long time"

The police took a different view. Mr Coghlan, they alleged, had 'manipulated the crime scene' by placing the knife in his 'victim's' hand to make it look like he was to blame, before dialing 999.

Mr Coghlan was charged with murder, but acquitted when the case came to court in July last year.

Why? Police had claimed the weapons could have belonged to Mr Coghlan. Forensic tests, however, revealed that paint on the knife at least came from Akinyemi's house, not Mr Coghlan's. The prosecution offered no evidence against Mr Coghlan in court.

'The police claimed I manipulated the crime scene and that the weapons could have been mine, but the evidence proved otherwise,' says Mr Coghlan.

'I am an innocent man who has put up with unfairness for a very long time.'

The police have certainly been guilty of incompetence, if not worse. In the most recent drugs trial, the judge threw out the 'evidence' against Mr Coghlan because it was based on a bugged conversation that was wrongly transcribed.

But Arran Coghlan, who has spent nearly five years on remand for crimes he hasn't been convicted of — the equivalent of a 12-year sentence — is also intelligent enough to realize that perhaps not everyone will sympathize with him.

For many, the old saying 'there's no smoke without fire' may spring to mind — however unfair that might be.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Joe Bruno on the Mob – No More Designer Clothes for Sicilian Prisoners

When I first read the article below in Mafia Today, which had been originally printed in the London Daily Mail, I thought to myself , "This has got be be a joke."

I've never been to prison, but I know people who have been to prison, and I can assure you without a doubt, American prisoners are not allowed to wear Prada silk dressing gowns, or shirts, jeans and underwear designed by either Gucci, Valentino, Versace, or Giorgio Armani. Yet, in Palermo Sicily, prison inmates are now highly insulted that new Governor Rita Barbera has ordered such clothing confiscated, and that only approved prison garb must be worn.

What's next? No steak, lobster and caviar for dinner? No Louis XIII cognac as an after dinner drink? No zabaglione for dessert?

In America, going to prison is a severe punishment. Some of our top Mob leaders have been locked away in cruel dungeons, sometimes never to emerge alive.

And these jokers in Sicily are angry because Giorgio Armani silk cannot touch their bodies as long as they are behind bars?

I always thought the Sicilian Mafia was tougher than the American Mafia. I might have to rethink that premise.



The link to the article is below.

http://mafiatoday.com/general-breakin...

Jailed mobsters 'humiliated' after being made to hand in designer clothes during prison crackdown on high-end labels

July 27, 2011 by Capo ·

Mafia men told to wear 'approved only' clothing

Inmates at an Italian prison have been banned from wearing designer label clothes and jewelery as officials try and stamp their authority.

Prisoners, including several convicted Mafia mobsters, have been ordered to hand over all their designer gear and it will be forwarded onto family members.

Items collected so far include Prada silk dressing gowns, as wells as T-shirts, jeans and underwear by top Italians Gucci, Valentino, Versace and Giorgio Armani.

Sports brands Adidas and Nike have also been called in with inmates at the Ucciardone prison in Palermo on the island of Sicily being told to wear approved only clothing.

In the past the prison was dubbed the 'Grand Hotel Ucciardone' because of the numerous Mafia Godfathers that were held there and because of the extravagant privileges previous governors gave them.

Mobsters would wear silk dressing gowns while one famous episode centered on boss Michele Catalano who was given a slap up birthday party with lobster and champagne at a bash organized in the prison gym.

New no nonsense governor Rita Barbera, who was credited with cleaning up a troublesome juvenile institute, said:"For too long this prison has been known for its silk dressing gown wearing inmates and it has to stop.

'Prison is a place of punishment and every inmate has the same status so any symbol of luxury be it designer clothes or designer gadgets that would suggest power or financial supremacy must go.

'In prison the tiniest things can make a difference so imagine what inmates wearing designer clothes has – there are even those that wear fakes so as to keep up their image.'

Mrs Barbera added that relatives of inmates would be allowed to send in 20kg of clothing but none of it must be designer and it would be checked by warders.

The wife of one inmate told Italian media:"My husband will have to walk about in the nude – all he has is designer label clothes – not because he is flashy but because the quality is better.'

Source: dailymail.co.uk