Made Man: Confessions of the Family Blood

NF Reporter · 04-03-2007, 04:55 AM

In the golden ages of organized crime, loyalty is the family name. From the jungles of Vietnam to the territorial streets of New York, climb the Mafia ranks as Joey Verola - now that you're in, there's only one way out.

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waltky · 08-16-2007, 12:54 AM

Wonder if it was connected with the weapons cache seized by Italian police?

Italian Crime Clan Kills 6 In Germany
Aug. 15, 2007 Two Long-Feuding Clans Involved In Apparent "Unprecedented Settling Of Scores"

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Six Italian men were fatally shot Wednesday in an execution-style killing that officials said appeared to be part of a long feud between two Italian organized crime clans. The six victims were discovered before dawn with gunshot wounds to the head inside two vehicles near the western German city of Duisburg's main train station. One of the men died while being taken to a hospital, police spokesman Hermann-Josef Helmich said.

Helmich said the men were Italians between the ages of 16 and 39 but gave no other information on their identities. In Rome, Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the slayings apparently were part of a feud between two rival clans involved in the 'ndrangheta crime syndicate, a group similar to the Sicilian Mafia but based in Italy's southern Calabria region, and believed to be involved in drug and arms trafficking, extortion and other crimes.

The shootings were "an unprecedented settling of scores, also because it took place in a foreign country for the first time," Italy's ANSA news agency quoted the deputy head of the Regio Calabria police, Luigi De Sena, as saying. Duisburg police said there had not previously been Italian organized crime activity in the city, located at the western end of the Ruhr industrial region.

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waltky · 09-23-2007, 03:17 PM

China shows how to deal with the Mafia...

Chinese cops wipe out 4,000 mafia gangs in six months
24 Sep 2007, Chinese police have cracked nearly 500 criminal cases and busted over 4,000 gangs since it launched a crackdown against mafia-style crimes in February 2006, the state media reported on Sunday.

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The police had so far referred 340 cases of alleged gang crimes for prosecution, a spokesman of the office for national campaign against organised crime said. More than 4,000 criminal gangs were wiped out during the campaign, he said. Thanks to the crackdown, the number of serious crimes including homicide and robbery has dropped in the first half of this year, he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

However, the spokesman noted that the one-year-strong campaign shows that criminal activities of mafia-like groups are in “the high occurrence period” in China and more efforts must be made to win the “protracted, complex and tough” struggle. Some of the criminal gangs involve “protecting umbrellas” from government officials. The spokesman also highlighted the existence of these “umbrellas” and said they are a crucial part for cracking gang crimes.

In 2002, police in southern China warned that activities by mafia-style criminal gangs were widespread. The police chief of the Guangdong province Liang Guoju told the local legislature that out of some eight-thousand criminal gangs broken up over a five-month period this year, more than two-hundred had mafia-type structures.

Source

waltky · 10-02-2008, 06:35 AM

Maybe we need to do like the Chinese...

Family fortunes - The American mafia is down but not out
01 October 2008 : Despite sustained law enforcement operations, the American mafia persists.

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The Italian-American Cosa Nostra criminal organisation, comprising of a number of largely autonomous 'family' groupings in various locations across the United States, dominated organised crime for much of the 20th century. However, sustained law enforcement operations and a decline in the group's international links have reduced its power. Nonetheless, the Cosa Nostra remains one of the most significant criminal organisations in the US and is expanding its influence via alliance with or the 'taxation' of smaller criminal groups.

In February 2008, 62 members and associates from three New York City Cosa Nostra families were charged in one of the single largest indictments in US history. The indictment contained 84 separate charges, including conspiracy, racketeering and murder, spanning more than three decades.

Despite this, the organisation persists. The prospects for the Cosa Nostra in the US will hinge on whether it is able to continue making linkages with non-Cosa Nostra groups, shift into fraud crime and other non-traditional organised crime activities that are better insulated from detection, and its willingness to settle for a piece of the criminal activity of other groups.

Family fortunes - The American mafia is down but not out - Jane's Country Risk News