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A federal judge in Chicago today sentenced 71-year-old jewel thief Paul "the Indian" Schiro to twenty years in prison following his September 2007 racketeering conviction in the so-called Operation Family Secrets trial, and in imposing the sentence the judge concluded that Schiro was responsible for the 1986 murder of his friend Emil Vaci:A jury had found Schiro guilty of racketeering but couldn't reach a verdict on Vaci's killing. But U.S. District Court Judge James Zagel found that the prosecution had proven by a preponderance of evidence that Schiro had helped kill Vaci. And the judge took that into account in sentencing Schiro, as the law allows. * * * Schiro, a career criminal and close friend to infamous Chicago mobster Tony Spilotro, was essentially on call to do the mob's bidding, Zagel noted. When the Outfit asked him to help kill his friend, Zagel noted, there was "no evidence of hesitation." Vaci was killed in Phoenix outside the restaurant where he worked because the Chicago mob feared he was cooperating with a federal criminal investigation into the disappearance of a man who had helped the Outfit skim millions of dollars but then ripped off the mob. Schiro did not pull the trigger on his friend but was in a nearby car, acting as a lookout and listening to a police scanner, according to court testimony. Mob killer-turned-government witness Nick Calabrese testified at trial that Schiro took part in the planning of Vaci's killing. Calabrese said he and an accomplice pulled Vaci into a van, then Calabrese shot Vaci several times in the head and dumped his body in a canal.Schiro is the first defendant from the Operation Family Secrets trial to face sentencing: "Prolific mob killer Frank Calabrese Sr. is to be sentenced Wednesday, while mob bosses James Marcello and Joseph 'Joey the Clown' Lombardo are to be sentenced next week."This marks the second major mob conviction against Schiro: "He was convicted in 2001 for his role in the mob-connected jewelry theft ring headed by William Hanhardt, a former Chicago police chief of detectives, and sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison."
Highest murder rate in the world for a country not officially at war. Kingston, the most violent area in all of Jamaica, and speaks to gang members there. “A study carried out by A. Harriott shows that the homicide rate in Jamaica is four times higher than the world rate, with the city of Kingston having the highest rate in the world at 109/100,000
LEADING actor in a movie depicting violent Lebanese gangs set for release in cinemas next month has been arrested and jailed in real life. Ali Haidar, 19, is languishing in a Sydney cell at Silverwater on a serious assault charge but the makers of The Combination are hoping to have him out for the film's premiere next month. The film is tipped to perform well at the box office with the 200 people who have watched private screenings reacting well.It captures sickening but realistic violence between warring gangs and is being promoted as a chance to "come and see the real Australia".
vigilante groups are threatening Mexico's drug gangs near the U.S. border in retaliation for a wave of murders and kidnappings that killed 1,600 people in this city alone last year. One group in the border city of Ciudad Juarez pledged last week to "clean our city of these criminals" and said their mission was to "end the life of a criminal every 24 hours.death in a jail of Guatemala GRAPHIC"The emergence of vigilantes would be a new twist to a vicious drug war that killed 5,700 people in Mexico last year and forced the United States to give hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Mexican government. Ciudad Juarez, a manufacturing center in the desert across from El Paso, Texas, was the scene of the worst violence in 2008 as drug cartels fought each other as well as staging kidnappings for ransom and extorting businessmen.In an e-mail to news organizations, the "Juarez Citizen Command" said it was funded by local businessmen sick of abductions and extortion in the city, home to factories that export goods to the United States.While none of the city's 1,600 in the last year were undoubtedly the work of vigilantes, a body was found on Jan. 7 with a message next to it that read: "This is for those who continue extorting."And six men in their 20s and 30s were shot dead and dumped together in Ciudad Juarez in October with a cardboard sign reading: "Message for all the rats: This will continue."Drug gangs often leave threatening messages with the bodies of their victims, but security officials said those two incidents might have been the work of vigilantes.Another group, "Businessmen United, The Death Squad" put a video on Internet site YouTube last June threatening to go after kidnappers and criminals in Ciudad Juarez, the biggest city in Mexico's Chihuahua state. The video is no longer on YouTube.State officials in Chihuahua said they were investigating who was behind the messages. "We cannot tolerate the presence of these type of faceless, anonymous groups," said Manuel del Castillo, a spokesman for the state government.Retiring CIA chief Michael Hayden said last week that Mexico's drug violence was possibly a greater problem than Iraq for President-elect Barack Obama. The U.S. Justice Department also says Mexican gangs are one of the biggest threats to the United States.Mexican President Felipe Calderon has sent tens of thousands of troops and federal police to battle drug gangs but the violence has become worse since he took office in 2006.At least two other groups calling themselves vigilantes have sent statements to news organizations in the past two months, one in the northern state of Sonora bordering Arizona, and the other in the Pacific state of Guerrero, home to the beach resort of Acapulco.In Ciudad Juarez, some residents say they would welcome vigilantes. "That way they would stop the gangs, the mafia. People are leaving here because of so many murders," said David Hinojosa, 30, who shines shoes in the city.The city has been rocked by gun battles and beheadings by rival gangs fighting over smuggling routes into Texas, despite the presence of around 3,000 troops and federal police.But local lawmakers say encouraging vigilantes is a mistake. Some residents question whether soldiers are moonlighting as hitmen for drug gangs, a charge the army denies.
Comments (34) | Recommend (0) Gang-tied crimes net hefty sentences Judge hands down prison terms in Charlotte drug ring for 6 men accused o...
Comments (34) | Recommend (0) Gang-tied crimes net hefty sentences Judge hands down prison terms in Charlotte drug ring for 6 men accused o...
