Junior Gotti lawyers accuse feds of judge-shopping, want case thrown out

Junior Gotti  

Junior’s fighting back.
Lawyers for John A. (Junior) Gotti are accusing Manhattan federal prosecutors of judge-shopping, witness intimidation and calculated press leaks in an “unparalleled” effort to jail the mob scion for the rest of his life.

Lawyers John Meringolo and Charles Carnesi say the feds, stung by three Gotti mistrials in four years, are hellbent on convicting the Dapper Don’s son for conspiring in three gangland murders – even if it means committing misconduct. Gotti’s trial is slated to begin in September.

In papers filed in Manhattan Federal Court, the defense team asks Judge Kevin Castel to toss out a racketeering indictment handed up last summer. “It is indubitable the four indictments are, in essence, one continuous and calculated effort by the government to prosecute Mr. Gotti,” the lawyers write

.
They accuse the feds of committing “underhanded and life-threatening” tactics by handing out subpoenas to potential defense witnesses in April 2006 so they couldn’t take the stand on Gotti’s behalf.

 
“The government’s aim was not only to potentially have Mr. Gotti’s physical well-being put in jeopardy, but also to achieve its desired tampering with witnesses,” the lawyers add.

 
In recent weeks, the Gotti camp has shown signs of coming unhinged in part by the perception that Castel is siding with prosecutors.

 

 

Why don’t you just hang him now!” Gotti’s mother, Victoria, shouted during an April hearing, when Castel shot down a defense team request for government money to pay for a second lawyer

 

 

Gotti’s lawyers were unsuccessful in having the pending trial heard before Judge Shira Scheindlin who presided over the previous three mistrials. Aside from having a role in the slayings, Gotti, 45, is accused of cocaine trafficking in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

 

“Regardless of the previous results, Mr.Gotti should not be forced to once again put his life and liberty in jeopardy merely for the satisfaction, pride and perceived justice of the government,” the lawyers say. “The unfettered abuse taking place by the government in its inquisition against Mr. Gotti, such a notorious target even after three failed attempts, is precisely the scenario which erodes public confidence in the criminal justice system

 

 

 written by Thomas  Zambito

Russia’s ‘Al Capone’ sneers at his trial

A Rolls-Royce car of Head of the St.Petersburg Sea Port Oil-Loading Terminal Sergey Vasilyev and a Chevrolet Tahoe of his bodyguards were attacked at the crossing of Levashovsky Avenue and Ordinarnaya Street. One bodyguard was killed, two others and Vasilyev wounded

Businessman Vladimir Barsukov (Kumarin) attends a fashion show of Valentino, Lanvin, YSL models

The man said to be the country’s last mafia boss is accused of ordering a rival’s murder

A ONE-ARMED multi-millionaire, who is alleged to be the last of the Russian crime bosses of the 1990s to stay in business, has gone on trial in Moscow, accused of ordering a botched attempt to murder a rival in his silver Rolls-Royce.

Vladimir Barsukov, 53, who is rumoured to have had links in the past to Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, is also charged with setting up a crime syndicate once seen as the most powerful mafia gang in St Petersburg, the country’s crime capital in the years after the fall of communism.

At the height of his power he had 2,000 foot soldiers under his command, security experts say.

Barsukov, who lost his right arm in an assassination attempt by a rival gang in 1994, dominated the courtroom last week from his seat at the back of a bulletproof glass cage. His alleged lieutenants, who shared the cage with him, listened attentively as he whispered to them.

Prosecutors and a panel of judges were equally respectful as he challenged a witness through an intercom.

“I’m innocent and this trial is a farce,” Barsukov told The Sunday Times during the hearing. “I don’t fear this court and I’m far from broken. The only judgment that matters to me is God’s. I’m in very good spirits and when I look back on my life I’ve no regrets whatsoever.”

He is accused of having been responsible for the attempted murder in 2006 of Sergei Vasiliev, a powerful businessman who controlled St Petersburg’s oil terminal.

Two men armed with AK-47 assault rifles raked Vasiliev’s Rolls-Royce with fire as he drove through the city centre. One of his bodyguards died and two were badly injured. Vasiliev, too, was seriously wounded. When he awoke from a coma he accused Barsukov, who faces a life sentence if he is found guilty.

“Barsukov is in a league of his own,” said a St Petersburg businessman who has known him for more than a decade. “The decision to put him away for good is a political one which was taken at the highest level.”

In the early 1990s Barsukov was said to have had dealings with Putin, who had recently resigned from the KGB to become St Petersburg’s deputy mayor.

No link between Putin and any criminal activity has ever been proved. Barsukov himself has denied being acquainted with Putin and no connection between the two men has ever been established – but both emerged from the chaos of the 1990s as powerful figures in St Petersburg.

During the mafia wars Barsukov became known as Russia’s Al Capone, after the Chicago gangster whose gang dominated the bootleg liquor business during the prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s.

An attempt to kill Barsukov left him in a coma for a month after he was sprayed with machinegun fire. His right arm was amputated at the shoulder and bullets pierced his stomach, chest and lungs. He still has bullet fragments lodged in his heart.

read more   Times on line

 

1 dead, 5 seriously injured in shooting rampage at Springfield strip club

Club 418, on Worthington Street in Springfield, was the site of a fatal shooting early Saturday morning. State police offiicers arrested a suspect immediately following the incident

SPRINGFIELD – Police on patrol in the entertainment district arrested a 24-year-old Springfield man early Saturday after a shooting rampage at a strip club that killed one victim and seriously injured four others, authorities said.

A sixth person suffered knife wounds.

Marcus J. Blanton, of 27 Hyde Ave., was being held pending arraignment Monday in Springfield District Court on numerous charges, including one count of murder and four counts of assault to murder, Springfield Police Lt. John M. Bobianski said.

A motive for the shooting rampage remains unknown at this point, police said.

Bobianski said a caller at 1:37 a.m. reported numerous shots fired inside Club 418, a strip club.

Massachusetts State Police Community Action Team members “were right around the corner from the scene, patrolling,” Bobianski said. The officers arrested the suspected shooter as he was leaving the club, he said.

“(The suspect) dropped the gun when he saw the officers,” Bobianski said.

One of the victims, a 23-year-old Springfield man, died at 2:20 a.m. at the Baystate Medical Center emergency room of gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen and back, he said.

According to police reports, the shots were fired

The victim’s name will not be released until his next of kin have been notified, Bobianski said.

This is the seventh homicide in the city since the start of 2009.

Club 418 “has had problems in the past,” but its record isn’t much different from other strip clubs, police said.

“They are all about the same. And that’s the second this year,” Bobianski said, referring to the January fatal shooting of a man at the Mardi Gras at 91 Taylor St.

The city has four topless clubs, he said.

Personnel at Club 418 Saturday night refused to comment on the shooting. The club’s manager referred questions to Springfield attorney Daniel D. Kelly.Reached late Saturday, Kelly said, he believed two employees may have been injured in the shooting and that the man who died may have been a patron

On behalf of the management and employees, he expressed condolences and concern for the victims and their families.

“We’re reviewing our safety procedures,” he said. “Unfortunately, no safety procedure is flawless and we’ll continue to review our procedure when all the facts of are known.”

“We are cooperating with police, and when all the facts are gathered, we’ll have a more detailed statement later in the week,” he said. “Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, a determined individual with a gun can often do such acts.”

In August, Club 418 was essentially put on probation by the License Commission after two dancers fought and one hit another with a stiletto-heel shoe. The commission found the club in violation for hindering an investigation by failing to call police after a fight between dancers June 12.

In 2007, a July 28 shooting inside Club 418 left a 26-year-old man with injuries to the stomach and groin and led to five arrests.

Club 418 is owned by Helen Santaniello, 582 Pinewood Drive, Longmeadow

thanks  ALEX PESHKOV

Lawyer accused of murder is rebuffed on bid for bail

Paul Bergrin

A federal judge in Newark last night refused to grant bail to a prominent defense attorney accused of murder and witness intimidation, saying it is impossible to guarantee he would not flee or commit violence if freed.

Paul Bergrin, 53, is accused of trying to shield his clients from prosecution by helping arrange the murder of one witness, enlisting a hit man hoping to kill a second and encouraging others to lie or go into hiding

“The government has proven, by clear and convincing evidence, that no conditions or combination of conditions exist that will reasonably ensure the safety of the community,” U.S. District Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo said in a written opinion filed shortly after 8 p.m.

During a two-day bail hearing that concluded Thursday, Bergrin’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, argued the charges against his client are groundless. Prosecutors, he said, have little evidence to support their accusations against the one-time federal prosecutor.

“He crossed no ethical line,” Shargel said.

But prosecutors say Bergrin used his Newark law office to coordinate a vast racketeering enterprise that specialized in targeting those scheduled to testify against gang members and drug dealers.

“Mr. Bergrin participated in numerous plots to kill witnesses,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gay said. 

  read more   JOE RYAN

Paris jewel thief takes $8m haul

 

Paris was basking in summery temperatures when the robber struck

Jewellery worth more than 6m euros (£5m, $8m) has been stolen from an exclusive Paris store in broad daylight by a lone gunman, police sources say.

Dressed in a suit and fedora, the man entered Chopard on Place Vendome and reportedly made staff hand over 15 pieces of jewellery at gunpoint.

The mid-afternoon hold-up lasted two minutes, after which the robber, said to be in his 50s, calmly walked out.

Chopard jewellery is worn by stars at the Oscars and Cannes film festival.

Place Vendome is an elegant old square known for its luxury hotels, and is also home to numerous jewellery stores as well as the French justice ministry.

In December, armed robbers stole jewels worth at least 80m euros ($102m) from a store near the French capital’s famous Champs-Elysees avenue.

As many as four robbers, two disguised as women, raided the Harry Winston’s store and stole nearly all its valuables

‘Like any other customer’

 

According to the first set of information we received, it was a man in his 50s, dressed in a chic costume and wearing a Borsalino [fedora] hat,” Olivier Lebon, a police union representative, told Reuters news agency.”He came in like any other customer, pointed his gun at employees and asked for about 15 pieces.”

It was not immediately known if the robber had an accomplice waiting for him outside the store.

A sales assistant working in an adjacent jeweller’s store told AFP news agency she had heard and seen nothing. “We were working,” she added.

Late on Saturday afternoon, the store at No 1 Place Vendome stood closed behind iron shutters, an AFP correspondent reports.

Only some leather handbags could be seen in the window, and no trace of a robbery could be seen from the outside.

The French capital was basking in sunshine on Saturday, with temperatures rising to a summery 23C, AFP reports.

At least some of the capital’s beau monde would have attending the French Open, one of the tennis world’s most prestigious events, at the city’s Roland Garros stadium.

Among Chopard’s commissions is the Golden Palm awarded at the Cannes festival.

Founded in 1860, the firm has branches in major cities across the world .    thanks  BBC

 

Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno, Reputed Chicago Mobster, Indicted With Cop And 5 Others

Sarno’s old Boss. Ernest Rocco Infelice.

Video Poker war

CHICAGO — A reputed mob boss, a police officer and five other men were charged Thursday in a sweeping racketeering indictment that alleges eight years of armed robberies, burglaries, jewel thefts and arson based in the western suburbs of Chicago.

Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno, 51, of Westchester allegedly masterminded much of the group’s illegal activity, including a February 2003 pipe-bomb explosion that wrecked the storefront offices of a company distributing video poker machines

Prosecutors say the bombing was a message from organized crime to stop intruding on its $13-million-a-year video poker gambling business.

Sarno, 51, went to prison in the early 1990s as a member of an organized crime family based in the western suburbs headed by Ernest Rocco Infelice.

Federal agents searched Sarno’s home last July and also raided the headquarters and various hangouts of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. An alliance has developed between the violence-prone club and the Chicago mob, prosecutors say.  read more Mike Robinson

see video http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=6836820

 

 

 

IMPRISONED MOBSTER: I WANT MY $$

Sliwa

Gambino gunman  Michael Yannotti

The Gambino gunman who tried to silence radio host Curtis Sliwa wants the feds to give back his cash and bling.

Michael Yannotti — who’s doing 20 years for racketeering — filed papers yesterday seeking the return of a Rolex watch, gold chain and $1,010 seized when he was busted by the FBI. Defense lawyer Diarmuid White argued that while Yanotti was convicted of conspiracy, he beat the rap for loan-sharking, which the feds claimed provided his loot

Prosecutors claim Yannotti shot Sliwa in the back of a stolen taxi in June 1992 on orders from John “Junior” Gotti, allegedly as payback for the Guardian Angels founder’s on-air trash talk against Gotti’s father, “Dapper Don” John Gotti.

Jurors acquitted Yannotti of attempted murder, but federal Judge Shira Scheindlin said evidence identified him as Sliwa’s assailant.
A spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office declined comment.

thanks BRUCE GOLDING

Bulgarian Mafia  Boss

One of the infamous Galevi brothers, who are allegedly amongst Bulgaria’s central mafia bosses and are currently in custody, has denied his run for member of parliament is an attempt to escape justice.

“Plamen Galev will demand that he is stripped from immunity should he be elected member of parliament,” his lawyer Menko Menkov said on Monday.

Hundreds of Bulgarians have already signed up in support of Galev’s nomination for member of parliament. His candidature can be registered in the Central Election Commission in Sofia only after 10,000 signatures are collected in his support.

“I am not a member of the initiative committee that nominated Plamen Galev for MP, but it is clear that people believe him, they don’t believe in the crimes, of which he is accused,” Menkov said, adding that his client has never obstructed the investigation against him.

Plamen Galev and Anguel Hristov have been in custody for six months already on charges of establishing and leading an organized crime group and racketeering.

The two came to the public’s attention after it was leaked to the media that the former Interior Minister Rumen Petkov had met with them while they were under investigation for organized criminal activities.

The information spurred a scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of Petkov as Interior Minister.

thanks  http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=103946

 

Black Book member Masterana dies in the Dominican

 Chicago Outfit  street boss  Tony  Spilotro and  lawyer

Frank Masterana   Spilotro Associate

written by John L Smith

Frank Masterana, a gambler and bookmaker known from the Strip to Santo Domingo, died Sunday at age 80 in the Dominican Republican, according to a longtime family friend

 

A member of Nevada’s list of ecluded persons better known as the Black Book, Masterana was born in Canton, Ohio Jan. 26, 1929, and moved to Las Vegas to work for “Doc” Stacher in the early 1950s.   read more 

Arrests in Naples as Italian police seek to weaken organized crime

Italian police have arrested at least 41 alleged members of a mafia-like crime ring in the southern city of Naples

Several bosses from the Sarno clan, a top local crime family, and dozens of other suspects were arrested Wednesday and charged with drug trafficking, extortion and illegal weapons possession.

The group forced businesses to pay protection money, or pizzo, and sold cocaine smuggled from Spain, according to Angelo Mazzagatti, of the Carabinieri paramilitary police.

The suspects were also accused of creating a mafia-like association.

Mazzagatti described the Sarnos as a “very invasive” clan, adding that they had exerted control in the city “not with a mafia war but with strategic alliances.”

Wednesday’s arrests are part of larger crackdown conducted over the last few months targeting the Sarno, ‘Ndrangheta, and the Amato-Pagano clans.

hf/AFP/AP  thanks rob mudge

Anti-mafia sentiment has led to demonstrations in Naples

 

John L. Smith

Undertaker’s limo gave Gotti hit man lift

Gotti  hitman  Joe Watts

A reputed hit man for the late Gambino boss John Gotti was chauffered to mob meetings in a limousine owned by a Staten Island funeral home, the feds say in court papers.

Investigators were secretly conducting surveillance of Gambino mobsters in the summer of 2006 when longtime mob associate Joseph Watts popped up on their radar being driven in a sleek, black limousine.
Watts, 67, was observed meeting Gambino capo Leonard DiMaria at Aunt Suzie’s and La Villa – Italian restaurants on Fifth Ave. in Park Slope.

 

It was later determined that the limousine … was registered to John Vincent Scalia Home for Funerals,” Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney James Gatta wrote in court papers.

 

Watts was on supervised release for an earlier conviction at the time he broke bread with DiMaria and was prohibited from associating with wiseguys.

 

He faces up to two years in prison for the violation, and Watts is currently under indictment in Manhattan for the 1989 slaying of Staten Island businessman Fred Weiss.

Cops say Watts was a backup shooter at Gotti’s request for the rubout of then-Gambino boss Paul Castellano, but Watts has never been charged with that murder.

read more John Marzilli

 

CASINO MELTS CON MAN’S FROZEN ASSETS

 

Tropicana Resort and Casino

An Atlantic City casino somehow extracted nearly $50,000 from a frozen bank account to cover bad bets by the ringleader of a $200 million subprime mortgage scam, court papers reveal.

A lawyer for Aleksander “Shorty” Lipkin said he was “quite baffled as to how” the Tropicana Resort and Casino was able to withdraw the money from Lipkin’s Chase savings account.

The attorney, Murray Richman, said the money should be credited toward Lipkin’s restitution for scamming lenders.

Lipkin, who will be sentenced next month in Manhattan federal court, is prepared to surrender another $133,000 in cash, a $2 million home in Hewlett Harbor, LI, and an $800,000 Upper West Side apartment, Richman wrote . thanks BRUCE GOLDING

 

 

 

Judge allows suits against FBI in Flemmi Bulger killings

Deborah   Hussey

Stevie   “The Rifleman”  Flemmi

Whitey Bulger

A judge is allowing lawsuits by families of three people killed, allegedly by fugitive James “Whitey” Bulger and his associates, to go forward. US District Judge William Young ruled yesterday that lawsuits filed by the families of Deborah Hussey, Debra Davis, and Louis Litif can go to trial. 

 

All three were killed in the 1980s. The families allege the FBI acted negligently because of its corrupt relationship with Bulger and his cohort Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, who were informants. They say the FBI failed to control Bulger and Flemmi, who were emboldened to commit killings. The government contended that the lawsuits are barred by the statute of limitations. The trial is expected to begin in July. Bulger is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. Flemmi is serving a life sentence in 10 killings. (AP)

thanks

New England in brief

Jailed gangster directed assassination at Man Utd game

Gangster Bobby  Spiers mastermind in  underworld  dispute

A security boss who organised a botched execution as he watched a Manchester United football match has been jailed for life.

Robert “Bobby” Speirs, of Prestwich, arranged to kill David Totton at the Brass Handles pub in Salford while watching a game at Old Trafford.

Two hired gunmen fired shots in the pub during the match on 12 March 2006, but were then shot dead themselves.

Speirs, 40, must serve at least 23 years for conspiracy to murder.

Speirs’ rival Mr Totton was shot, along with Aaron Travers, when 19-year-old gunman Richard Austin pulled the trigger six times, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Would-be assassins

His accomplice Carlton Alveranga, 20, fired his weapon only for it to jam, and both men were jumped on by drinkers and disarmed

‘Underworld dispute’

Mr Justice Williams said Speirs had planned for at least one person to be killed in a “professional gangland execution” to sort out an “underworld dispute”.  read more  BBC

Misfire is right…

WANNABE gangster blew his own manhood to smithereens when his gun accidentally went off in his pocket. Dim-witted Lukas Neuhardt, 27, forgot to put the safety catch on when he stuffed the weapon into his trousers to impress pals in Saarbruecken, Germany. He told paramedics that a masked mugger had blasted him in the crotch during a bungled robbery. But police found a HOLE in his statement when they saw the gunshot had miraculously left his trousers intact. A police source said: “Instead there was a charred hole in his pocket so either it was the shot of the century or he did it himself.” Now – after surgeons stitched his manhood back together – he’s facing up to three years in jail for breaching Germany’s tough new anti gun laws.  re http://www.pcnet-online.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1055&title=misfire-is-right

MOB MOLL THREATENS TO SUE OVER G-MAN BOOK

Mob moll 

Mob boss ,  Greg  Scarpa and girlfiend   Linda Schiro

The star witness in the ill-fated case against FBI supervisor Lindley DeVecchio is trying to cash in on a new book about the case — claiming the author used her story without giving her a cut.

Mob moll Linda Schiro — whose testimony in 2007 was supposed to bring down DeVecchio for allegedly colluding with her murderous boyfriend, Gregory “The Grim Reaper” Scarpa — has fired off several letters threatening a lawsuit against Sandra Harmon, author of “Mafia Son.”

“You had an agreement with Linda Schiro regarding a significant amount of material that you have included in the Work,” wrote Schiro’s lawyer, Quinn Heraty, in an e-mail dated last January.

Harmon met with Schiro years ago, but no book came of their interviews.  thanks ALEX GINSBERG 

 

Crime boss who cheated the tax man

Organized crime boss   Craig Johnson

The luxury assets of an organised crime boss were up for sale yesterday as the Government battles to recover the cost of a massive tax swindle.

An eight-bedroom stately home, fleet of prestige vehicles and hoard of personalised number plates were up for grabs.

The goods have been seized from Craig Johnson who used the profits from a £138 million mobile phone VAT scam to fund a pop star lifestyle.

Johnson is serving a 12-year jail term and has been

read more  Daily Mail Reporter