RECENT NEWS View older news  |2010-09-06|   Italian mayor murdered near his home Angelo Vassallo, the 57 year old mayor of Pollica, was found death in his car today in the village of Acciaroli, south of Naples. Vassallo was known for his actions against the Camorra and organized crime and was therefore most likely assassinated. The prosecutor leading the investigation, Alfredo Greco, described the murder as a "nasty execution" in which the victims corpse was riddled by bullets. Former head of environmental group Legambiente and now the PD's green economy pointman Ermete Realaccia said: "The South has lost a person of great worth and courage ... a friend who turned the defense of the environment into a battle." (Source: zeenews.com, straitstimes.com, news.xinhuanet.com)  |2010-08-05|   Camorra leader arrested in Brussels Yesterday police caught 58 year old Vittorio Pirozzi, conscidered to be a leader of the Mariano clan in Naples. In 2003 he had escaped conviction on drug charges and was on the run eversince. The police was able to detect his hideout through phonecalls he made to his wife, who still lives in Naples. During each phonecall he referred to a series of numbers and codes which the police later discovered were sellphone numbers comming from Belgium. With Pirozzi captured there is only one leader left of the clan who is still on the run, Marco Mariano. (Source: standaard.be, corriere.com)  |2010-07-27|   Updates! Biography's of Agostino Cuntrera, Carmen Barillaro, Dominick Brooklier, Emanuel Weiss, Frank Bompensiero, Frank DeSimone, Frank Garafola, Giuseppe Falsone, Harry Strauss, Jimmy Fratianno, Martin Goldstein and Paolo Renda are updated! Be sure to check them out!  |2010-07-14|   'Ndrangheta boss arrested after massive sweep After a grand scale anti-mafia operation last Tuesday in both the South and North of Italy police arrested about 300 suspected 'Ndrangheta members. Amongst the arrested men was 80y old boss Domenico Oppedisano, who was put in charge of the organization in late 2009. They are currently being held on charges of murder, extortion and money laundring. The police also seized millions of assets belonging to the clan and uncovered an 'Ndrangheta scheme in Milan which sought building contracts for the city's expo in 2015. According to the Italian press more than 3.000 policemen participated in the operation and described it as one of the largest ever to fall upon the 'Ndrangheta. (Source: www.guardian.co.uk, newsup.net)  |2010-06-30|   Leading member of the Rizzuto family murdered in Montreal Agostino Cuntrera, a leading member of the Rizzuto family, was murdered yesterday in Montreal allongside his driver, Liborio Sciascia. Cuntrera, 66, was gunned down in front of John and Dino Inc., his food distribution business on Magloire Street. Cuntrera was a long time member of the Rizzuto family and like it's patriarchs was also born in Sicily. He was the son of a Sicilian mob boss and went to operate in the drugbusiness in Venezuela, where they helped, financed and advised the Rizzuto's for decades. In 1978 he was sentenced to 5 years for the killing of then boss Paolo Violi. Over the last few months rival factions or organizations are sweeping away the old Rizzuto leadership. Only 2 months ago another Rizzuto bigshot, Paolo Renda, disappeared without a trace only weeks after he was released from prison. More and more police is believing that the violence against the Rizzuto family is caused by an internal feud. (www.montrealgazette.com, www.ctv.ca)  |2010-06-27|   Agrigento mob boss arrested in France 2 days ago police arrested Giuseppe Falsone, the reputed boss of the Agrigento province in Sicily, at his luxury appartment in Marseille. The 40y old Falsone had been on the run for over 10 years. It is stated that he had recieved plastic surgery to his face so the police wouldn't recognize him, they eventually did identify him with use of fingerprints. Police finally nabbed him after he had applied for a boating license under a false name. They had allready tried to arrest him in 2008, but when raiding his house in Palermo he was allready gone. (Source: www.nationalturk.com, www.hurriyetdailynews.com)  |2010-06-13|   Grandson of Harry Riccobene murdered in South Philadelphia Last thursday morning the 38y old grandson of former Philadelphia capo Harry Riccobene, Rocco Maniscalco, was murdered in South Philadelphia. Maniscalco had been watching a flyers game in a cafe and returned home at about 1 o'clock in the morning. when arriving at his house he was ambushed and shot to death. The killer fired up to 10 times and Maniscalco, a father of 4, died at the scene. The Riccobene family comes from a long line of Mafioso's and police are now investigating his ties to organized crime. (Source: www.philly.com, www.crimesite.com)  |2010-06-10|   New clues in Kersher slaying after mobsters testimony? On November 1, 2007, British student Meredih Kersher was found murdered in her appartment in Perugia, Italy. She was stabbed to death and police also found evidence of sexual violence. In 2009 her American roommate Amanda Knox and then boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were both found guilty to murder and were sentenced to respectively 26 and 25 years. However, a jailed mobster named Luciano Aviello now claims his brother Antonio actually committed the crime when during a burglary he killed the 21y old Kersher. Knox's legal team is now hoping the court will look into these new allegations. (Source: abcnews.go.com, www.telegraph.co.uk)  |2010-05-26|   Brother-in-law of Vito Rizzuto dissapears without trace Paolo Renda, the 70 year old brother-in-law and consigliere of Montreal boss Vito Rizzuto, dissapeared last thursday without a trace. Police found his car parked close to his house with the windows open and the key still in the ignition. Renda was released from prison earlier this year and his kidnapping may have been a precaution so he wouldn't revenge the murder of Rizzuto's son. Last sunday police found a cement-encased body in Toronto and for a while speculations rose that the body was that of Renda. However, the corpse found was that of Quang Lu, a man with ties to Asian organized crime who disappeared 3 years ago. (Source: www.montrealgazette.com, cnews.canoe.ca)  |2010-05-20|   Depressed mobster released from prison The release of a 64 year old mobster has caused somewhat of an uproar in Sicily. Salvatore Vitale was jailed since 1996 for the murder of a 13 year old boy named Giuseppe Di Matteo, who was killed to stop his father from becomming a "pentito", or turncoat. The boy was kidnapped in 1993 and was held in captivity for about 3 years until he was murdered in orders of Giovanni Brusca. The body was then dissolved in acid, which had been delivered to them by Vitale. Because of Vitale's failing health and depression, a judge descided to release him from prison, stating that a man in such condition can't live behind bars. (Source: www.telegraph.co.uk, news.sky.com)

©2007 - 2010    |    Contact Webmaster