Griselda Blanco, The Godmother

Griselda Blanco, aka the Black Widow. Griselda was the grande dame of the Miami cocaine business, a Colombian mother of three, of impoverished origins, who slaughtered and intimidated her way to the top of a billion-dollar indust...

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Hector Portillo, a member of the international MS-13 street gang, and seven others were charged in New York City with multiple crimes

Hector Portillo, a member of the international MS-13 street gang, and seven others were charged in New York City with multiple crimes, including 29 counts of murder, attempted murder, assault, racketeering, and illegal use of firearms. The charges were announced by Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Peter J. Smith, special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office of investigations in New York City; Richard A. Brown, Queens Country District Attorney, and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.The indictment alleges that on December 24, 2006 three of the defendants, Hector Portillo, Javier Irheta and Luis Bonilla, murdered 15 year-old Pashad Gray in the Flushing section of Queens County.Beginning...

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Kyle Parvez shot a member of a rival gang from close range in the neck

Kyle Parvez shot a member of a rival gang from close range in the neck will serve a minimum of 10 years behind bars. And the judge who sentenced Kyle Parvez to an open ended jail sentence said his response to almost killing his victim Dilbag Singh was "chilling." Judge Stuart Baker told Parvez: "You seem to be unconcerned for your victim. "Your response to what you have done is in my view chilling, you are a dangerous offender." The judge told Parvez, convicted by a jury last month of attempting to murder Mr Singh in April and possessing a firearm with intent to commit the crime, that he was passing an indeterminate sentence for the protection of the public. He will only be released when assessed by the Parole Board as no longer a danger and will serve 10 years minus time spent on remand...

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Jeffrey "Dahmer" Gray,sentenced to 40 years in prison

Jeffrey "Dahmer" Gray, 30, was convicted by a jury following a six-day trial in May.At trail and sentencing before District Judge Joseph J. Farnan Jr., Gray maintained his innocence.Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilana Eisenstein said Gray was a key cocaine distributor in the Wilmington area and was responsible for the sale of more than 50 kilograms of the drug in Delaware.She said trial testimony showed Gray lived a lavish lifestyle with luxury cars, high-stakes gambling and a pricey Rodney Square-area apartment with no legitimate source of income.According to attorneys, Gray was arrested following a fake drug sale set-up by an agent at the Airport Courtyard Marriott hotel in Pennsylvania on Oct.30, 2006.Robert W. Shepherd III, a co-defendant, arrived to confirm he was making the buy of three kilos...

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Arrested reputed Mafia member Mose Esposito

Police in Naples, Italy, Monday arrested reputed Mafia member Mose Esposito and said they were closing in on his boss, Giuseppe Setola.Esposito, 29, was arrested at a small villa near Casal di Principe, the base of an alleged murder squad run by the Camorra clan, reported ANSA, the Italian news agency.Esposito's step-brother, now in prison, is suspected in the September slaying of six West Africa immigrants in the town of Castel Volturno, ANSA said Monday. The slayings allegedly were organized by Setola, whose murder squad has killed an estimated 20 people since May, police allege."We are working to flush him out. The circle is closing around him," said Franco Roberti, who heads an anti-Mafia program in Naples.Setola inadvertently was released from prison last Spring on house arrest but immediately...

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Infamous Shower Posse founder Vivian Blake is set to be released from prison in the United States and deported to Jamaica early next year.

Infamous Shower Posse founder Vivian Blake is set to be released from prison in the United States and deported to Jamaica early next year.Blake's pending release was announced on the BET programme, American Gangster, which aired on Thursday night.The programme looked at the rise and fall of the Shower Posse - a criminal organisation which has its roots in Tivoli Gardens and which established bases in several cities in the US, Canada and Britain.Blake was sentenced to 28 years in 2000 after he pleaded guilty to racketeering and criminal conspiracy. He never faced a jury after inking a plea bargain deal which resulted in the time he served while in Jamaica being used as part of his sentence.Blake spent five years fighting extradition to the US after the American Government accused him of ordering...

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slain gangster Joe Krantz funds raised for the murdered Independent Soldier's memorial plot

Friends of slain gangster Joe Krantz now say they will not be getting any government money for his burial expenses.Nicole Cooper, who has opened a bank account to fundraise for the murdered Independent Soldier's memorial plot, said in a series of text messages that "social services" is not paying anything.She said only Krantz's friends and family members are chipping in to cover the costs of the stone, plot and engraving for the memorial at Valley View Memorial Garden in Surrey.Last week, Cooper posted to a Krantz Facebook tribute page that she was getting $1,050 from the government to help with the costs and that another $5,000 would be raised from Krantz supporters.Cooper did not return several phone calls earlier this week, but sent a brief text message to counter her earlier comments about...

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Gang member Sean Mercer, 18, was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of blasting three bullets across a pub car park in Croxteth, Liverpool,

Gang member Sean Mercer, 18, was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of blasting three bullets across a pub car park in Croxteth, Liverpool, after targeting rivals who had strayed on to his turf.Innocent schoolboy Rhys was caught in the line of fire and shot in the neck.He died in his mother’s arms a short time later.After almost four days of deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men convicted Mercer of murder unanimously.The verdict was reached yesterday but could not be reported until now.What the jurors did not know was that just two months before he shot Rhys, Mercer was involved in a chilling rehearsal of the killing.Waving a gun,...

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Corpse of Welsh career criminal Courtney Davies, 53, was mutilated, set on fire and left at a popular dog walking spot in Staunton, Gloucestershire

killers of a notorious gangster stabbed 70 times in a "frenzied and sustained attack", burned and dumped in Gloucestershire woodlands have not been caught despite a four-year manhunt, an inquest has heard.The corpse of Welsh career criminal Courtney Davies, 53, was mutilated, set on fire and left at a popular dog walking spot in Staunton, Gloucestershire, in December 2004.Despite a number of arrests and a collapsed trial, no-one from the criminal underworld has been convicted of the murder, leading a coroner to record an open verdict.Malcolm Martin, 33, who is deaf, was due to stand trial for killing Davies, of Rumney, Cardiff, and hiding his body in the Forest of Dean scrubland. But the case was dropped due to an "unrealistic prospect of success", the inquest in Gloucester heard.Mr Martin,...

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Alberta Court of Appeal panel rejected a call by the prosecution to increase Hui (Philip) Xu's punishment to five years.

Alberta Court of Appeal panel rejected a call by the prosecution to increase Hui (Philip) Xu's punishment to five years. Crown lawyer Bob Sigurdson argued provincial court Judge John Bascom erred in not taking into account the cache of weapons police found in Xu's home when they busted him with the drugs. But the appeal court, in a unanimous decision handed down by Justice Rosemary Nation, said Bascom noted the weapons in his ruling. "The sentencing judge was alive to the presence of the weapons and there was no evidence the weapons formed any part in the commission of the offence," Nation said. Defence lawyer Hersh Wolch said the Ruger semi-automatic...

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Gangster John Gizzi,activated the 2,712 extra days which Gizzi must serve on top of his original sentence for failing to abide by the confiscation

John Damon Gizzi failed to sell his luxury pad, meaning he could not meet a £2.6m confiscation order and automatically triggering an extension to his jail term.Gizzi, who lived a millionaire lifestyle, was jailed for five-and-a-half years in January 2007.He was also ordered to pay back £2.6m under the Proceeds of Crime Act. But yesterday – 11 days before he was due to be released – a court heard the house had not sold and he would remain behind bars. He still owed £2.2m including £132,000 interest, Llandudno Magistrates’ Court heard.He is currently in prison for grievous bodily harm.Originally Gizzi’s mansion, Bronwylfa Hall in St Asaph, Denbighshire,...

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Peter Limone, 74, of Medford, was charged with 12 counts of attempted extortion, loan-sharking and illegal gaming.

Peter Limone, 74, of Medford, was charged with 12 counts of attempted extortion, loan-sharking and illegal gaming. He’s accused of running a ring of bookmakers who took bets on sporting events and charging other bookmakers to work on his turf in the Boston area and Middlesex County.Limone spent more than three decades in prison for a 1965 gangland murder that he didn’t commit. He won part of a $101.7 million civil judgment last year after a federal judge found that Boston FBI agents withheld evidence they knew could prove that he and three other men weren’t involved in the killing.Attorney Juliane Balliro argued Limone should be released on bail, citing his wrongful conviction and decades behind bars.“No defendant in the Commonwealth is as deserving of the presumption of innocence as Mr. Limone,”...

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Eugene “South Side Gene” Flores said he had to help shoot Jesse “Pelon” Guevara in August 2004 or he would have been killed himself.

member of the Mexican Mafia pleaded guilty to racketeering-conspiracy charges Friday and admitted killing a fellow gang member he said he didn’t even know. In a plea deal, he got 25 years in prison. Under questioning by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia, Eugene “South Side Gene” Flores said he had to help shoot Jesse “Pelon” Guevara in August 2004 or he would have been killed himself. Guevara’s body was dumped on Senior Road in rural southwestern Bexar County. “It was the position I was put in at the time,” Flores said, referring to orders from gang leaders. Flores’ plea agreement says the leadership ordered Jesse “Low” Ozuna, Michael “VL” Badillo and Flores to carry out the killing because Guevara had disrespected the gang. Badillo has pleaded guilty for his role and is awaiting sentencing....

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Reputed Gambino crime family soldier Joseph Chirico won't serve a single day in prison: He was sentenced to six months' house arrest

Brooklyn restaurateur got a slap on the wrist for laundering Mafia money Friday - with a little help from friends like Borough President Marty Markowitz.Reputed Gambino crime family soldier Joseph Chirico won't serve a single day in prison: He was sentenced to six months' house arrest - and can spend 10 hours a day at his Marco Polo restaurant in Carroll Gardens - without even wearing an ankle bracelet. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Brownell said Chirico passed $1,500 in tribute money from a mob associate to another Gambino soldier. "Organized crime has been a curse, especially in counties like Brooklyn and Queens," Brownell argued. Federal Judge Jack Weinstein gave Chirico a tongue-lashing for swearing an oath to the Mafia - but let him off after Chirico's lawyer read glowing letters from Markowitz...

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