John Liu accepted campaign money from a charity and the mob

From the NY Post:

Scandal-scarred state Senate hopeful John Liu will take money from just about anyone.

The former city comptroller and failed mayoral candidate, who faces a bruising Democratic primary battle Tuesday against Queens incumbent Tony Avella, has raked in $706,190 — but some of it is from shady sources.

He accepted a donation from a group linked to Chinese organized crime, campaign filings show. And a nonprofit, the Fukien Benevolent Association, held a prohibited fund-raiser for Liu in June that raked in a reported $15,000.

Liu’s campaign also received donations from two other tax-exempt groups, which are not allowed to make political contributions.

The Fukien American Association, which shares the same East Broadway building as the Fukien Benevolent Association but is a separate organization, donated $4,000 to Liu on June 29.

The Fukien American Association has been tied to the Fuk Ching gang, a powerful organized-crime racket with branches in New York and Los Angeles that specializes in human trafficking and extorting Chinatown merchants, according to a 2007 report by the Justice Department.

Neither group returned messages seeking comment.

“The NY Post is negligently ignorant of the incontrovertible evidence that no contributions were received from a [tax-exempt] organization, and since they don’t have any facts to support their story they’re just making them up,” said Liu campaign spokesman Austin Shafran.

He failed to provide the “incontrovertible” proof, and did not address the donations from a group linked to a brutal crime ring.

Cockfighting ring busted

From the Daily News:

The chickens came home to roost Sunday for members of a bloodthirsty New York cockfighting and betting ring.

As many as 3,000 birds were seized and more than 70 people rounded up in "Operation Angry Birds," the largest cockfighting takedown and rooster rescue in state history, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.

State investigators carried out three simultaneous raids that stretching from Saturday night into Sunday morning, busting up a cockfighting event in Queens, a secret rooster coop in Brooklyn and breeding farm in upstate Ulster County.

Nine people were arrested.

The crackdown began Saturday night as Schneiderman's Organized Crime Task Force joined state police and U.S. Department of Homeland Security cops to execute a search warrant at 74-26 Jamaica Ave. in Woodhaven, Queens, where chicken-livered rooster owners, gamblers and spectators were watching birds fight to the death.

Six people who brought and fought gamecocks at the event were arrested and charged with animal fighting, a felony punishable in New York by a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

The Woodhaven location, a two-story rowhouse with a shuttered first floor barber shop, hosted cockfights twice a month, an informant told cops, who zeroed in on the spot last May. It stank of wet bird feathers Sunday.

The unnamed informant, who made video recordings of an event for authorities in the lead-up to the takedown, admitted he bred, trained and fought roosters for roughly 10 years before turning in his non-feathered friends.

The roosters were plied with performance-enhancing drugs and fitted with razor-sharp spurs to tear each other apart in a small pen surrounded by alcohol-swilling gamblers, authorities said.

Spectators were charged admission and seating fees and booze was sold without a permit during the all-night fights. The ring even had security guards who frisked spectators and wagers reached as much as $10,000.

"I don't know what they were doing in there," said Sammy Ayala, who works down the street. "I never saw any chickens."

NYPD cracking down on gaming at cafes

From the Daily News:

Cops want to fold illegal “sweepstakes cafes” that offer patrons cash prizes as they play online games.

Officers have been ordered to notify the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau when they find such cafes, which have been popping up in Brooklyn and Queens.

Detectives visit the joint to see if it’s breaking the law — but the line is blurry.

At such cafes, customers pay to play Internet games — and winners get additional game time or long-distance telephone minutes.

That appears to legal.

But as they play, gamblers are automatically entered into online sweepstakes that randomly pay cash, officials said.

And that appears to be illegal.

The sweepstakes cafes are a “new illegal gambling trend similar to Joker Poker (machines) or electronic slots,” according to an NYPD memo from Oct. 18.

“Many locations are . . . promising cash prizes for playing games,” the memo continues. “(Cops) should remain vigilant of illegal Internet gambling.”

The city has already taken other steps to rein in these reputed dens of iniquity.

In May, the City Council passed a bill to allow the Department of Consumer Affairs to yank the license of any cafes caught giving out cash prizes.

Big mob bust (with Viagra!)

From the NY Post:

Manhattan prosecutors today announced a big blow against the Bonanno crime family: the indictment on enterprise corruption charges of seven crew members, including jailed Donnie Brasco-era gangster and alleged underboss Nicholas "Nicky" Santora.

Two leaders of Teamsters Local 917, which handles liquor store and parking lot employees, were additionally indicted for allegedly helping the Bonannos gain loansharking and book-making footholds among members.

They are the local's president, Nicholas Bernhard, and shop steward Scott O'Neill, of Howard Beach.

Investigators had pulled an illegal, loaded gun from under the pillow of Bernhard's Congers, NY, bed when search warrants were executed on the suspects in February, a source told The Post.

Additional illegal firearms had been seized at that time from Bernhard's home and from that of alleged soldier Anthony "Skinny" Santoro, including a Tech-9 pulled from a stash of guns in Santoro's Staten Island house.

"Many mistakenly believe that the mob has disappeared entirely except when you watch HBO," Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr., told reporters.

"Whatever name it's called, the Mafia, La Cosa Nostra, the Mob, this indictment demonstrates that organized crime is still operating in New York City and still has its hooks in the labor movement," Vance said in announcing the fruits of a two-year joint investigation by his office and the NYPD Organized Crime Control Bureau and Organized Crime Investigation Unit.

The top enterprise corruption charge against the nine men includes pattern acts involving the traditional mob mainstays: loansharking, offshore gambling, extortion, union corruption and weapons possession.

But in a nod to more modern tastes, the gangsters allegedly also dabbled in the distribution of Viagra, Cialis and the suburban party drug Oxycodone.

The Sunset Diner in Greenpoint and the Jackson Hole Diner in Queens were favorite meeting spots, a source said.

Hiram still haunting us

From the NY Post:

An amusement company has been charged with participating in a pay-to-play game by bribing disgraced former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate for help in getting permits to run carnivals, sources told The Post.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors believe Lawrence Carr's payoffs consisted of checks to a nonprofit organization connected to the woman-abusing pol, the sources said.

Monserrate is already under indictment for allegedly using a nonprofit organization, the Latino Initiative for Better Resources & Empowerment, to funnel taxpayer money for campaign use when he was a city councilman.

The new charges are in an indictment charging Carr with bribery.

The Florida man, 70, who operates Lawrence Carr Amusements, has pleaded not guilty and is free on $200,000 bail.

Politicians are sometimes paid off to persuade community organizations to apply for permits necessary to run carnivals, the sources said.

Carr's lawyer, Susan Kellman, claims her client was shaken down.

"If you get extorted by organized crime, you're called a victim. But if you're extorted by a public official, you're called a defendant," she said.

Collecting the garbage and raking in the dough

From the NY Times:

The appliances did not develop legs and walk away, and they did not simply disappear.

Scavengers, to be sure, abound in New York, especially during tough economic times. But the sheer magnitude of the thefts — 11,528 appliances, to be precise — over a relatively brief period suggests to some in city government and the recycling industry that a more organized enterprise may be at work as well.

Deepening the mystery, these were neither the latest Sub Zero behemoths, sleek Bosch nor stylish retro Smeg refrigerators. They were garbage, quite literally — discarded appliances left at the curb for pickup by the Sanitation Department.

And while the value of one discarded appliance may seem marginal at best, in the scrap industry, the fluctuations of commodity prices and volume add up to real money.

Indeed, the big loser in what might be called New York’s Appliances Caper appears to be a multinational recycling conglomerate, a subsidiary of which has a large city contract to recycle the hundreds of thousands of tons of metal, glass and plastic generated each year by New Yorkers, including bulk metal, like appliances.

The subsidiary, Sims Municipal Recycling of New York L.L.C., estimates that the thefts, along with schemes involving redeemable bottles, are costing the company $2 million to $4 million a year.

Brooklyn pols support money launderer

From the NY Post:

A Brighton Beach-connected international money launderer — who worked under the European equivalent of John Gotti — counts ranking New York politicians among his friends.

A trio of powerhouse politicos is coming to the aid of Nikolai Dozortsev: state Sen. Carl Kruger, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, and even Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. The elected officials all sent letters on his behalf to the Brooklyn federal court judge who will sentence Dozortsev later this week.

Dozortsev – a twice-convicted felon with a criminal career spanning two decades – was the money man for a violent organized crime syndicate. The group’s illegal activities in the U.S. and Europe easily exceeded $50 million a year, officials say.

He worked alongside the legendary European mob boss Ricardo Fanchini, and faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced.

But Brook-Krasny calls Dozortsev a man "of integrity and strong moral fiber" in a letter written on Assembly letterhead and addressed to the judge presiding over the case.

Kruger, another Brighton pol, who sits on the state Senate’s Crime Victims and Crime and Corrections committees, urged Judge Frederic Block to kindly "take under consideration" the assistance Dozortsev and his family has given to other immigrants from Russia settling in New York.

Markowitz wrote Block a letter praising the character of Dozortsev’s parents and explaining that although he had never met "Nick," he hopes their qualities had been passed on to him.

P.S. Pedro Espada's been indicted.

Queens organized crime ring busted

From the Times Newsweekly:

Three Queens men were among 16 individuals named in a federal indictment for their alleged roles in an international drug trafficking and sales ring, it was announced.

Federal law enforcement agents identified the Queens residents as 44- year-old Skender Cakoni, 35-yearold Nazih Nasser and 33-year-old Gentian Nikolli, who were taken into custody by members of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force, which includes agents from the NYPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

All of the indicted defendants were variously charged with kidnapping, narcotics trafficking, robbery and firearms possession, according to Preet Bharaha, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who announced the indictment last Tuesday, June 8.

According to the indictment unsealed last week in federal court, the Queens defendants and others named in the indictment were reputed members of the Krasniqi Organization, a racketeering enterprise allegedly engaged in kidnapping, narcotics trafficking, extortion, robbery, and the interstate transportation of stolen goods.

Federal law enforcement sources said the Krasniqi Organization was led by brothers Bruno and Saimir Krasniqi, and operated in New York, Michigan, and Connecticut, among other locations. The Krasniqi Organization reportedly sought to enrich its members through various criminal schemes, including the trafficking of marijuana and used firearms and threats of violence to protect its power and territory, as well as to instill fear among rival drug dealers and victims.

In total, the Krasniqi Organization and their co-conspirators— including Cakoni, Nasser and Nikolli—are charged with having trafficked and distributed more than 100 kilograms of marijuana from 2003 through 2007.

Additionally, the alleged members of the Krasniqi Organization reportedly engaged in robberies and kidnappings. Specifically, on or about June 2005, after obtaining a multi-kilogram load of marijuana from one of the Krasniqi Organization’s marijuana suppliers (CC-1) and one of the co-defendants, several other members of the Krasniqi Organization allegedly used guns and threats of violence to rob CC-1 and the suspect of the marijuana and the marijuana proceeds. Subsequently, the Krasniqi brothers and other coconspirators kidnapped another rival drug dealer at gunpoint.

In addition to these charges, other members of the narcotics conspiracy are charged with firearms offenses. Specifically, after members of the Krasniqi Organization robbed CC-1 and one of the indicted suspects of marijuana and the proceeds of marijuana trafficking, the robbed suspect along with Cakoni and others obtained firearms to protect their narcotics business and attempted to violently retaliate for the robbery of narcotics by members of the Krasniqi Organization.

Coming soon to a sanctuary city near you!

From CBS 2:

A lawyer for reputed Jamaican drug boss Christopher Coke is reportedly in talks with the Justice Department about Coke's possible safe removal to New York to face charges.

Jamaica's top police official is vowing to capture Coke, who escaped a four-day assault on his slum stronghold.

For the last week, Jamaican security forces have been battling armed rebels who support the 40-year old accused drug kingpin, whom investigators said runs the Shower Posse, an international cartel with operations in several American cities, including New York.

According to an internal intelligence document obtained by CBS News, Coke and his cohorts, using fishing boats and small planes, "may attempt to flee the violence and enter the United States illegally to fight another day and control Jamaican criminal activity in the United States."

The document also states Coke and his crew may attempt to go through Belize in Honduras in order to sneak into the U.S. and settle down in any one of a number of major cities with established Jamaican criminal networks.

Counterfeiters ran welfare scam

200G scam hit welfare
By TIM PERONE, NY Post

Eleven Queens residents scammed the city out of almost $200,000 in welfare benefits -- while running a million-dollar counterfeit designer handbag ring, cops said.

The fraudsters had been collecting assistance for at least two years while driving Lexuses and BMWs and living in homes in Bayside and Flushing that are priced around a million dollars, authorities said.

When members of the NYPD's Organized Crime Investigation Division raided six residences yesterday they also discovered over 13,000 bogus Louis Vuitton, Burberry and other high end handbags that the suspects were planning to hawk on Canal Street in Chinatown, Lt. Enrique Santos said.

Authorities believe they could have been sold for $1 million to gullible bargain hunters.

The scams were apparently family affairs -- many of the suspects are related, cops said.

Is Aqueduct bidder "connected"?

From the Daily News:

One of the bidders vying to build and run a Las Vegas-style video slots emporium in Queens has ties to a reputed organized crime figure in China, the Daily News has learned.

MGM Mirage is one of six groups bidding on the Aqueduct project at the same time New Jersey is considering forcing the company to divest its 50% stake in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission is reopening a licensing hearing for the Borgata because of MGM's partnership in a casino resort in Macau with Pansy Ho.

Ho is the daughter of Hong Kong casino magnate Stanley Ho, who has been described by U.S. officials as a "reputed organized crime figure" whose casinos have links to Chinese organized crime.

The billionaire has never been charged and has vehemently denied such ties.

In a recent report, the New Jersey attorney general's Division of Gaming Enforcement recommended MGM's partnership with Pansy Ho be found "unsuitable," according to the company's filing with the Securities Exchange Commission.