Organized Crime
OTTAWA - The government's decision to no longer require Romanian
citizens to obtain travel visas before coming to Canada has led to a
'noticeable increase' in organized crime activity, according to a
declassified report.
(Global)
CALGARY - A drug investigation by ALERT has uncovered an alleged
organized crime ring operating in Calgary and police believe the
group is involved in a cross-border drug trading operation.
(CTV) MORE:
School pals formed crime cartel
Shootings linked to international drug trade
NEW YORK - Paul Le Roux said he had once sold missile technology to
Iran, shipped guns from Indonesia, and trafficked methamphetamines
out of North Korea. He calmly told a jury in New York that he had
taken part in at least five murders. With a businesslike demeanor,
he admitted not only to arming a 200-man militia in Somalia but also
to hatching plans to use mercenaries to overthrow the government of
the Seychelles. (NY
Times) MORE:
The
Mastermind
Acquittal for two
NEW YORK - From June 2015 to Dec 2017, investigators say Daniel
Steininger, 44, worked to root out and restrict competition in the
towing industry across all 5 of New York City's boroughs.
(WPIX 11)
FARGO - According to court documents, 2 individuals - a Canadian and
a Colombian national - helped orchestrate the movement of drugs
while they were serving time in Quebec's Drummond Institution.
(National Post)
Mobsters are jostling to fill the vacuum left by the death of an organized crime mega-boss, resulting in about a dozen unsolved violent incidents this year in Ontario - shootings, explosions and killings. After Vito Rizzuto, considered by police to be Canada's most powerful mobster, died in Montreal in Dec 2013 of reportedly natural causes, a vacancy at the top opened up. And the results have been bloody. (Toronto Star)
NEW YORK - The US attorney's office said the suspects operated internationally and across the US, trafficking in drugs and stolen goods, including cigarettes and shiploads of chocolate, while engaging in extortion, murder for hire, and credit card fraud. (RFE) MORE: DoJ press release Shulaya enterprise busted UFC veteran among 33
CARAQUET - On July 1, 2016, a transport truck was stolen from Eco-Technologies Ltd in Caraquet, NB. The truck was then used in the theft of the refrigerated unit of lobster from LeBreton and Sons Fisheries in Grand-Anse, NB. The load of lobster was valued at $1M dollars. (RCMP)
VANCOUVER - US Attorney General Loretta Lynch named PacNet, a company with offices in a building in downtown Vancouver, as a financial linchpin in global money laundering. PacNet was the payment processor that allowed global criminals to deposit cheques scammed from mostly elderly victims, Lynch alleged. (Vancouver Sun) MORE: OFAC press release US accuses CNN investigation PacNet Loretta Lynch
MONTREAL - Among those arrested are: Leonardo Rizzuto, son of former Montreal Mob boss Vito Rizzuto; the lawyer for the Rizzuto crime family, Loris Cavaliere; as well as the presumed head of the Mafia, Stefano Sollecito. (PostMedia) MORE: Hells Angels, street gangs and Mafia arrests 48 arrested Wanted suspects
BURLINGTON, Vt. - Authorities say Cedrik Bourgault-Morin, 21, of
Quebec, was found with about $1.6M worth of Xanax pills after he
tripped a sensor while smuggling the drugs across the border in a
sled on Jan 13.
(AP) PREVIOUS:
Arrested
TORONTO - Police say an influx of illegal gaming houses and casinos in Toronto's east-end over the past year is leading to a spike in violence. Investigators have already identified 28 illegal gaming houses and 5 illegal casinos in the past year. (CTV)
SACRAMENTO - More than 100 houses in Northern California being used by Chinese drug traffickers to grow marijuana were seized by US federal authorities in a two-day operation (KTLA) MORE: DoJ news release
TORONTO - Police have dismantled what
they call a 'network of foreign nationals' who are accused of
targeting and burglarizing dozens of GTA homes over the past several
months.
The 14 suspects are alleged to be
a part of an organized crime group originating from Chile.
(CTV)
India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved a 'letter of request', under the Prevention of the Money Laundering Act, seeking details of properties owned by the accused in Punjab's multi-crore synthetic drug racket in Canada and UK. About 40 Indo-Canadians are named in connection with the investigations. (South Asian Post)
Where illegal drugs are coming from
Fentanyl originating from China, heroin sent from east Africa, and anabolic steroids from Moldova. Documents show where these illegal drugs and more are being trafficked from. A 2016 CBSA 'drug analysis report,' obtained under access to information legislation, offers a larger picture of how illegal drugs are arriving in Canada. (Global News)
EDMONTON - July 5, officers with the EDGE
Unit executed a search warrant at an Edmonton home, seizing 67,000
fentanyl pills, valued at about $2M.
Police also seized more than $1M
in Canadian currency, 4 large cement mixers, 2 pill presses, and a
2001 Ford F-150 with a hidden compartment.
(CTV)
VANCOUVER - 9 people have been arrested
by BC's anti-gang task force after a year-long investigation
involving illegal gambling houses and millions of dollars in
laundered money in Metro Vancouver. (Vancouver Sun)
Illegal migration worth billions
Experts say unauthorized migration generates billions of dollars for criminal groups in Latin America, earnings that are set to grow as a result of tightening US immigration policies. Human smuggling from Latin America into the US accounts for an estimated $7B in revenues for organized crime groups in the region an official from the UNODC told Cronica. (Insight Crime)
Towing industry dominated by OC
Montreal's towing industry
has been infiltrated by organized crime groups that resort to
violence and intimidation to secure profits, according to a report
released Monday by the city's inspector general.
(CBC)
MONTREAL - Police arrested 19 people including Patrick and Steve Daraiche, the owner of the Metaux St Jean scrapyard and his brother. Police said the Daraiche brothers were the ringleaders of a group that stole big trucks and tore them down in order to resell parts. (CTV) MORE: 3 year investigation
CALGARY - 10 people have been arrested
and 111 charges now laid in the dismantling of a Calgary-based
organized crime group that operated in Alberta and BC.
(CBC)
WASHINGTON - Suspicious-looking prices were cited by one of the witnesses testifying at a congressional hearing, Feb 3, on money laundering and terrorist financing. (Epoch Times)
KANCHANABURI
- 40 dead tiger cubs were found in a freezer at a Buddhist temple
that operated as an admission-charging zoo.
(AP)
MORE:
Police stop truck carrying tiger skins
NAIROBI NATIONAL PARK - Eleven giant pyres of tusks from around 6,000 elephants were lit by the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta, at a ceremony in Nairobi national park. (Guardian UK) MORE: Ivory bonfires Ivory trade
TORONTO - 6 people have been charged in connection with a $5B money-laundering and fraud case being investigated in Toronto and the US. Toronto police began their investigation with a 'romance scam' reported in the city in August, 2014. A 63-year-old Toronto widow had been defrauded of $609,000, police said at a news conference on the fraud case Thursday. (CTV)
Car theft ring has ties to Black Axe
Human trafficking investigation
VAUGHAN - Nearly 200 people have been charged and 169 people have been rescued as a result of a cross-border investigation into a human trafficking ring. The arrests are part of 'Operation Northern Spotlight.' (CTV)
NEW YORK - Jimmy Cournoyer, 34, pleaded guilty in May 2013 to charges including money laundering and conspiracies to manufacture and distribute marijuana and cocaine. (AP)
Mafia, bikers and Mexican cartel alliance
Accused threw tantrums aboard flights
Scourge for US law enforcement
Global OC as big as G20 nation
SYDNEY - Organized crime is so big globally that were it a country, it would be part of the G20 group of major economies, the Australian government said. (AFP)
Seizures from around the world
Seizures from US border crossings
OC in East Asia and the Pacific .pdf
Opium risk assessment 2013 .pdf
Center for Strategic and International Studies
OTTAWA -
The Canadian Armed Forces say one of their ships helped seize more
than 600 kilograms of cocaine off El Salvador.
The Forces say
HMCS Whitehorse helped the US Coast Guard intercept a vessel, where
they found 15 bales of cocaine floating in the water nearby.
(CP)
OTTAWA - The investigation, dubbed 'Project Heisenberg', was
launched in October 2016.
Buyers were told vehicles did not have a warranty on test
models or 'gift' vehicles from manufacturers. The stolen vehicles
were sold at discount prices using fraudulent bills of sale from
legitimate dealers.
Ferry Emile Cave, 42, and Rodrigue Leonard, 53, face multiple
charges including money laundering and possession of property
obtained by crime. (CTV)
NEW YORK - Dino Bouterse, the son of
Suriname's coup-leading president
Desi Bouterse, was sentenced in federal
court in New York City to 195 months in prison for attempting to
provide material support and resources to Hezbollah, along with
narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses.
(LAHT)
President's son get US jail
MACAU
- China feared that casinos in Macau owned by the
billionaire gambling magnate and Republican party funder
Sheldon Adelson were used by US intelligence agents to entrap and
blackmail Chinese officials, according to a
'highly confidential' report
for the gambling industry.
(Guardian UK)
MIAMI - The 3rd District
Court of
Appeal ruled 2-1 that former agent
John Connolly was improperly convicted and sentenced to 40 years in
prison for his role in the 1982 slaying of World Jai-Alai President
John Callahan.
(AP)
Would you buy a house from this man?
Ex FBI agent says witness was killed
Lawsuits vs. FBI to open in Boston
The search for 'Whitey' Bulger
TOKYO - Police in Japan are bracing for an outbreak of gang violence after reports that the Yamaguchi gumi is about to split. (Guardian UK)
Still trying to square 'Brothers' Circle'
Where have Japan's Yakuza gone?
NEW YORK - Alberto Yusi Lajud-Peña, one of a number of suspected ringleaders behind a global bank heist operation that netted the thieves $45M in stolen funds, was mowed down inside his Dominican Republic home last month while playing dominoes. (Wired)
KINGSTON - Notorious Jamaican drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke has been sentenced to 23 years in a US prison, the maximum sentenced he faced. (BBC)
What the fragmentation of OC means
During the 21st Century, fragmentation of criminal organizations has intensified. In Mexico 7 major criminal organizations have now become 'between 60 and 80.' (Insight Crime)
MONTREAL - The 5 suspects aged between 47 and 64 allegedly robbed 5 vehicles between 2011 and 2015 and unsuccessfully tried to take a sixth in an aborted attempted in 2014. (CP)
BEIRUT - Lebanese authorities detained 5 Saudi citizens at the airport last week after finding 2 tonnes of Captagon amphetamine pills bound for Saudi Arabia on a private jet. (Reuters) MORE: Prince busted
EDMONTON -
ALERT has seized $10M worth of steroids from Edmonton homes and
storage lockers, marking what's believed to be the largest illegal
steroid bust by a Canadian police agency.
(QMI)
MADRID - A Spanish judge
charged 9 police officers with doing favors for people of Chinese
nationality linked with the criminal group headed by businessman Gao
Ping.
(LAHT)
Cash, drugs for official documents
GATINEAU - Police allege Harbi Mohamoud
Gabad, of Gatineau, targeted drug addicts, and offered money for
their identification, and then used the documentation to apply for
passports.
(CTV)
Billions in refunds on fake returns
WASHINGTON
- An inspector general's report found that the IRS continued to pay
refunds on hundreds of thousands of fraudulent tax returns in recent
years, and sent dozens of checks to the same addresses, including in
Eastern Europe and elsewhere. (WSJ) REPORT:
Fraudulent
tax returns involving identity theft .pdf
SEATTLE - The documents say when Rapinder 'Rob' Singh Sidhu quit the RCMP a decade ago, "He used his special knowledge and skills, obtained through that privileged position, to earn for himself and his criminal associates large sums of money in the international cocaine trade." (CBC) MORE: Ex-Mountie to be sentenced To be sentenced
TORONTO - 3 Toronto residents were arrested in connection with a crime ring which police say ripped off banks and the government with stolen cheques and welfare fraud to the tune of millions of dollars. (Toronto Star) MORE: Police bust OC ring
TORONTO - They’re the mules, the ones who bring the guns across the border. And they learn the hard way that fast money can come at a high price. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS: Moving guns across the border No ID required
PARIS - French rural areas are facing a growing crime wave as thieves steal potatoes from the fields, grapes from the vines and expensive machinery from farms and showrooms. (AFP)
Drug use is increasingly ravaging Asia, particularly with meth use rising to record levels in most countries, according to a report released by the UNDOC. (Asia Sentinel) REPORT: Record high meth seizures
The Liberty Reserve digital money service that was shut down laundered more than $6B in criminal cash. Weekend police raids in 17 countries scooped up Liberty Reserve's owners, operators and its computer hardware. (BBC) DOCUMENTS: US v. Liberty Reserve Digital money service offline Gold Age
TORONTO - Kai-Guo Huang came to Canada from China as refugee claimant Yu Chen in 2006. To get into the country as a refugee claimant he was fingerprinted, interviewed and a criminal record check was completed. A second set of fingerprints were given and another criminal check done when he applied for permanent residency. (Toronto Star)
THE HAGUE - Operation Archimedes involved 20,000 law enforcement officers in more than 300 cities, ports, airports and border crossings. They made 1,027 arrests. (AP)
Canadian authorities red-penciled almost $4.3B in suspect assets belonging to dictators, allegedly corrupt officials and others in response to the Arab Spring uprisings. (CP)
MEDELLIN - Griselda Blanco, the drug kingpin known for her blood-soaked style of street vengeance during Miami’s “cocaine cowboys” era of the ’70s and ’80s, was shot to death in Medellin by a motorcycle-riding assassin. (Miami Herald) Griselda Blanco
MONTREAL - The RCMP says the alleged thieves were stealing debit card machines from businesses, then hacking into the computer processors in order to get information needed to produce counterfeit credit cards. (CTV) MORE: 22,000 victims 60 arrests warrants
While casualties from armed conflict are reaching a historical low of approximately 50,000 a year according to research in 2012 (.pdf), little has been done to effectively combat the threat of organized crime groups around the world. (IRIN) MDGs
A CBC investigation has uncovered methods organized crime may be using to launder money through privately owned automated tellers, or ATMs. (CBC)
NEW YORK - Armen Kazarian was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 37 months in prison for his involvement with the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, an Armenian-American organized crime enterprise engaged in a wide range of criminal activity. (FBI) PREVIOUS: 2010 Medicaid fraud 44 charged
TORONTO - A Toronto man, his wife, and 3 kids were arrested in what police say was a family-run chop shop and car-theft operation in Etobicoke. The arrests occurred after a 6-month investigation conducted by York police, who said they found about $500,000 worth of stolen cars and car parts at Collision World Bodyshop. (CTV)
HALIFAX - In May 2009, an importer who usually brought steel rods into Canada in containers suddenly switched to bales of cotton, and that was enough to prompt the CBSA in Halifax to take a closer look. (CTV)
EDMONTON - More than $400,000 worth of equipment was found at 3 separate locations in what RCMP are calling one of the largest busts ever in Strathcona County east of Edmonton. (CBC) MORE: Tip leads to stolen machinery
ZURICH - Italian prosecutors say they have broken up an organized crime ring that was hiding trillions of dollars of fake US bonds. Worth $6T, the bonds were found in three metal boxes in a warehouse in the Swiss city of Zurich. (BBC) MORE: Fake US bonds seized US Treasury security
Illegal logging worth billions
Illegal logging generates $10-15B around the world, according to new analysis from the World Bank. Its report, Justice for Forests, says that most illegal logging operations are run by organized crime and much of the profit goes to corrupt officials. (BBC) REPORT: Just for Forests .pdf
TORONTO - Kujtim “Timmy” Lika, 47, one of America's Most Wanted (AMW) was arrested in midtown Toronto . (Toronto Star)
NEW YORK - A New York City crackdown on suspects allegedly involved in forged credit cards and identity theft led authorities to a $13M global crime ring, (CNN) MORE: Fraud ring
MONTREAL - Nestled between the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal and the banks of the St. Lawrence, the 200 condos in the imposing red-brick building offer spectacular views and one of the most prestigious addresses in the city. (Julian Sher) MORE: L'Heritage Fournier at fundraiser
NEW YORK - The feds secretly recorded Armen Kazarian's often-profane threats by tapping his phone while investigating a massive, $163M Medicare fraud scheme that led to charges against him and more than 70 others last year. (NY Post) PREVIOUS: OC members charged Vor = Thief in law
MONTREAL - Police arrested nearly 60 people in QC and ON as they broke up an international money laundering ring. In what the SQ is calling Operation Tarantula, officers have spent months investigating an organized crime ring spanning North America, South America, and Europe. Police said biker gangs collaborated with aboriginal criminals to buy tobacco in the US and then smuggle it into Canada, where it was sold in Kahnawake and the Six Nations. (CTV)
ROME - Chinese gangs have exploited a gap in Italy's crime world, expanding into northern and central cities while the traditional mafia concentrates on the country's south. (Telegraph UK)
MONTREAL - Ronald Chicoine pleaded guilty in 2008 to laundering millions of dollars for organized crime figures, and saw assets worth nearly $50M seized by authorities. (CTV)
HONG KONG - The widow of Raymond Huang Hong Chao, a Vancouver man who was killed in a high-profile gangland ambush, is in custody in Hong Kong after she was convicted of laundering proceeds of crime from Canada. (Globe & Mail)
LONDON - Colin Gunn, an underworld godfather who ordered the execution of two grandparents, has been able to correspond freely with up to 565 “friends” on the social networking site for the past two months. (Times online) PREVIOUS: Jailed for life
BUENOS AIRES - Angie Sanclemente Valencia, 31, is accused of persuading young women to smuggle cocaine from Argentina to Europe via Mexico. (BBC) PREVIOUS: Drug gang Angie Sanclemente Valencia
THUNDER BAY - OPP say they have dismantled a prescription drug and cocaine trafficking ring allegedly run by an inmate in jail. (CBC)
WASHINGTON - Organized crime gangs are exploiting a new target for illegal profit: Medicare and Medicaid. Experienced in running drug, prostitution and gambling rings, crime groups of various ethnicities and nationalities are learning it's safer and potentially more profitable to file fraudulent claims with the federal Medicare program and state-run Medicaid plans. (CNN)
TORONTO - The discovery of a series of suspicious packages inside the Amazing Party and Costume Store has now prompted an investigation by the organized-crime unit and raised questions as to why a business as harmless as selling Halloween costumes has become the target of a not-so-harmless act. (Toronto Star) MORE: Owner lashes out Reward offered
MONTREAL - Organized criminals in Canada are going green, turning to environmental crime as an increasingly lucrative way to raise money. A report released by Criminal Intelligence Service Canada says crime networks have developed underground markets for electronic waste and scarce natural resources. (CP)
Psychoactive substances go global
The annual report of the UN's office of drugs and crime says that the number of legal highs 'with a negative health impact' being marketed around the world increased by a further 20% to 541 substances. (Guardian UK)
Shatter prompts police warning
SE Asia opium survey 2014 .pdf
Treasury Department designated
Central America drug gang violence
EDMONTON - In 2008, legislation was introduced to allow the Alberta government to seize assets from criminal activity. Friday, Justice Minister Jonathan Denis revealed 12 crime prevention projects have received a total of $1.61M because of this legislation. (CTV)
Political gold
HONG KONG - Triads in the New Territories are said to have run into an unforeseen problem: they cannot find a politician who can be relied upon to do right things for them - which obviously would be the wrong things for the mass of honest citizens in a part of Hong Kong where gangsters seem to thrive.
Chinese criminal organizations
ST HELIER - Drugs baron Curtis Warren who is believed to have amassed a fortune of £300M was convicted of trying to smuggle £1M worth of cannabis. (Daily Mail)
Plan to target organized crime
Police create map of criminal gangs
GUINEA-BISSAU - Rear Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto was picked up on a boat in international waters near Cape Verde. He is described by the US as a kingpin in Guinea-Bissau's huge drugs trade. (BBC)
Guinea on alert for 'attack plot' by cartels
Crime lords 'ruining West Africa'
Organized crime plundering West Africa
SYDNEY - Quebecer Isabelle Lagace pleaded guilty to charges of cocaine possession today in an Australian court. Lagace, 28, was arrested along with 2 other Quebecers 4 months ago after 95 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated $30.5M was allegedly found in their suitcases on-board a cruise ship. Andre Tamine will face trial and Melina Roberge is petitioning to have her case dismissed. (CBC)7 years
Israel has become one of the world's
leading exporters of investment scams, stealing an
estimated $5B to $10B per year from victims worldwide.
Despite the fact that Israeli police recently
announced that these investment scams are
largely run by organized crime. The Israeli
government, parliament and authorities have to date
proved unwilling or unable to shut them down, in part
because these fraudulent industries have a powerful
lobby in the
Knesset.
(Times of Israel)
Police recommend billionaire be charged
The National Intelligence Council released its latest study on the world’s future, Global Trends 2025. Buried on page 33 was this tantalizing tidbit: “Crime could be the gravest threat inside Europe as Eurasian transnational organizations become more powerful and broaden their scope. One or more governments in Eastern or Central Europe could fall prey to their domination.” (Center for Public Integrity)
EU strips millions from Bulgaria
EU reports on Bulgaria & Romania
EU subsidies 'looted' by Bulgarian mafia
The morphing of organized crime
DUBLIN - A luxury yacht packed with cocaine worth more than half a billion pounds was towed ashore under armed guard today after it was seized off the Irish coast (Guardian UK)
The image of former Toronto resident has been splashed throughout the Italian media as American authorities announced one of the largest international drug busts in history. (Toronto Star)
LOS ANGELES - When the coroner put Jack Whalen's body on a slab, it measured 72 inches, just 6 feet. For years, people had described him as 6-foot-2 or 6-4. But "the Enforcer" was smaller in death than life. (Los Angeles Times)
Ex-Soviet crime ring in Toronto
TORONTO - Crime rings of former Eastern European mobsters use Toronto as a base for local and international law-breaking, including kidnapping, extortion and identity theft, say organized crime experts. . (Toronto Star)
VANCOUVER, WA - Chris Frazier had Alli diet pills that he needed to sell. He met a 34-year-old Vancouver man on May 22 and told him that he lifted the pills from a Rite Aid store and was chased out by security. (Columbian)
Spain declares war on Russian OC
MADRID - Spanish prosecutors launched a major trial against notable members of the Russian mafia. All in all, sufficient evidence was collected against 18 persons. The culprits have been accused of money laundering and the 'creation of a criminal community in Spain.' (Eurasia Daily Monitor)
Russian presidential election 2018
New dictators rule by velvet fist
Organized Crime Reporting Project OCCRP
Russian banker's killer 'found'
Report into the death of Litvinenko .pdf
Finance Minister Alexei Kuznetsov
LONDON - 3 men have been found guilty of involvement in the Hatton Garden safe deposit raid, the largest burglary in British legal history. 4 men have already pleaded guilty to their part in the raid at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit. (Telegraph UK)
Police safety deposit box raids
Serious Organized Crime Agency
NCA strategic assessment of serious and organized crime
2015
.pdf
BERLIN - Once the work of South Americans and Africans, Germans are now serving as human couriers to smuggle cocaine into Europe inside their bodies.. (Spiegel)
VANCOUVER - Inter Maritime looked just like any other nondescript company with an office on Howe St. in Vancouver's financial district in 2003. (Toronto Star)
OTTAWA - Canada's organized crime groups and gangs are much less likely to produce and traffic marijuana than they are other illicit drugs according to a new federal study. (Globe & Mail)
Gang targeted corrections officer
TORONTO - A correctional services officer was the target of an alleged murder plot uncovered as Toronto police try to stop a notorious street gang in its tracks. (Toronto Star)
MONTREAL - Every 7 minutes, a car is stolen in Canada, and many of them are packed into shipping containers for export to places like West Africa. About half the $24.6M worth of stolen cars recovered in Canada last year were found at the Port of Montreal and Port of Halifax. (Global)
Sailboat captain gets 13 years
Murder suspect faces cocaine charges
Trafficking operation discovered
Police dismantle massive drug network
'Broke' business owner turned to pot
BEIJING - Lai Changxing, the man once considered China's most-wanted fugitive, was sentenced to life in prison Friday for running a large-scale smuggling operation that paid off scores of Chinese government officials. (Telegraph UK)
Refugee process abused by criminals
LISBON - A renewed popularity in cocaine use among young adults over the past year has put the UK at the top of the European "league table" for cocaine abuse and now even outstrips the levels seen in the US, according to the annual report of the EU's drug agency. (Guardian UK)
It's a bird, it's a plane, No it's cocaine
New York blows away the competition
Steep rise in Europe cocaine use
Italian river 'full of cocaine'