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After a five week trial, a federal judge in Santa Ana, California, yesterday convicted the last of four defendants of bank fraud and identity theft charges based on her part in one of the largest identity theft schemes in California history, with dozens of victims in four states, and millions of dollars in losses.
Kristine Ogandzhanian, 28, of Burbank, CA, was convicted yesterday by United States District Judge David O. Carter of two counts of bank fraud and four counts of aggravated identify theft.
March 23rd, 2012 | Posted in Identity Theft,Organized Crime | Read More »
NEWARK, N.J. – Three New Jersey men pleaded guilty today to charges stemming from an illegal poker club in Kenilworth, N.J., allegedly operated by an associate of the Genovese organized crime family, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman and Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch announced. Anthony Alfano, 77, of Union, N.J., Read More »
October 31st, 2011 | Posted in Extortion,Organized Crime,Racketeering | Read More »
WASHINGTON – Thomas Iafrate, 70, of Johnston, R.I., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Providence, R.I., today to participating in an extortion and racketeering conspiracy that shook down several Rhode Island businesses for “protection” payments, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha for the District of Rhode Island. Iafrate admitted to the court that he was an associate of the New England La Cosa Nostra (NELCN).
July 23rd, 2011 | Posted in Extortion,Organized Crime | Read More »
An indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 37 members and associates of an international drug trafficking syndicate led by ethnic Albanians located in the United States, Canada and Europe (the “syndicate”).1 According to the indictment and a detention letter filed today by the government, the syndicate comprises several inter-related ethnic Albanian family clans (also known as “fis”)
July 13th, 2011 | Posted in Headlines,Narcotics Trafficking,Organized Crime | Read More »
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ARMEN KAZARIAN, pled guilty today in Manhattan federal court to racketeering in connection with his involvement with the Mirzoyan-Terdjanian Organization, an Armenian-American organized crime enterprise, engaged in a wide range of criminal activity. KAZARIAN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge PAUL A. GARDEPHE. Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: “International organized crime has emerged as one of the most serious law enforcement problems of the 21st century.
July 11th, 2011 | Posted in Organized Crime,Racketeering | Read More »
San Diego, CA – Rigoberto Yanez-Guerrero, a former ranking member of the Tijuana Cartel/Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO) entered a guilty plea in federal court in San Diego today, announced United States Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura E. Duffy. Yanez was extradited by the government of Mexico to the United States in December 2010 to face charges in the Southern District of California for narcotics trafficking, money laundering and organized crime-related offenses. Long reputed to be one of the most notorious multi-national drug trafficking organizations, the AFO controlled the flow of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs through the Mexican border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali into the United States. Its operations also extended into southern Mexico, as well as Colombia.
July 11th, 2011 | Posted in Narcotics Trafficking,Organized Crime | Read More »
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz announces seizure of $768,000 from a loansharking forfeiture in a joint law enforcement investigation during an equitable sharing distribution presentation.
On December 12, 2007, Albert Calvanese was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to 63 months’ incarceration and ordered to forfeit $132,000 in proceeds from his loansharking business. Although Calvanese had earlier pleaded guilty to making and collecting loanshark loans as a result of a joint investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies into the large scale loansharking business he operated in the Springfield area, he proceeded to trial in December of 2007 on the forfeiture allegation. In a separate civil forfeiture proceeding before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, Calvanese was ordered to forfeit another $636,308 from his loansharking business.
May 30th, 2011 | Posted in Organized Crime | Read More »
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JOSEPH WATTS, 69, a longtime associate of the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Gambino Family”), was sentenced today to 13 years in prison on murder and assault charges. WATTS pled guilty on January 20, 2011, to a two-count Superseding Information that charged him with participating in murder and assault conspiracies in order to maintain and increase his influence in the Gambino Family. The sentence was imposed in Manhattan federal court by U.S. District Judge COLLEEN MCMAHON.
April 25th, 2011 | Posted in Murder,Organized Crime | Read More »
Columbia, South Carolina —- United States Attorney Bill Nettles stated today that Francisco Serrano,34, of Summerville, SC was found guilty on Monday, March 14, 2011, in Charleston for the offense of conspiracy to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine, more than 50 grams of methamphetamine, and more than 500 grams of a substance containing methamphetamine. Senior United States District Judge Sol Blatt, Jr. presided over the jury trial and will impose a sentence in about 90 days after he has reviewed a presentence report. Serrano faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and can be sentenced to a maximum of life.
March 25th, 2011 | Posted in Narcotics Trafficking,Organized Crime | Read More »
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Massachusetts man was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Providence to 12 months and one day in prison for tax evasion related to an FBI investigation of organized crime activity in Rhode Island.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi also ordered Gerald Diodati, 61, of Seekonk, Mass., to pay $194,031 in restitution and to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term. Diodati pleaded guilty in November 2010 to tax evasion related to his 2003 income tax filings.
February 14th, 2011 | Posted in Organized Crime,Tax Fraud | Read More »
