Thread: Mafia Takedown Largest Coordinated Arrest in FBI History

Jan 20, 2011

Pre-dawn raids nab 127 suspected mobsters in N.Y.

08:06 AM

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce charges against more than 100 suspected mobsters in a news conference today. CAPTIONBy Chip Somodevilla, Getty ImagesUpdate at 11:14 a.m. ET: Attorney General Eric Holder says the arrest of 127 suspected mobsters in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island early today is part of the largest law enforcement operations ever against the Mafia.

Holder, speaking at a news conference in Brooklyn, says the pre-dawn raids involved more than 800 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Holder says charges, spelled out in 16 indictments, include murder, extortion, labor racketeering, illegal gambling and arson.

He said the targets included all five crime families in New York as well as criminal operations in New Jersey and Rhode Island.

The attorney general says some of the murder charges involved "classic hits" against Mafia rivals, but also included one killing in a dispute over a spilled drink at a bar.

Holder called the arrests an "important and encouraging step" toward disrupting Cosa Nostra activities in New York and New England. But he also cautioned that much work remained.

"The reality is that our battle against organized crime enterprises is far from over," he tells reporters. "This is an ongoing effort and it must and will remain a top priority for all of us."

"Time and again they have shown a willingness to kill to make money, to eliminate rivals and eliminate witnesses," Holder says.

Earlier posting: Pre-dawn raids by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have rounded up more than 100 suspected mobsters from six crime families in New York and New Jersey.

Attorney General Eric Holder will announce the charges in a news conference this morning in Brooklyn, USA TODAY's Kevin Johnson reports.

Two federal law enforcement official call the raids one of the largest sweeps of its kind ever carried out by federal investigators. The sources asked not be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the arrests.

WNBC, which broke the story early today, calls the arrest the biggest roundup of suspected Mafia figures in New York history.

The New York Daily News reports that the suspects are being held at the Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn.

The New York Times says the cases were assembled by a wide range of law enforcement agencies, including the NYPD, New Jersey State Police, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Labor Racketeering, and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

The Times, quoting several people briefed on the arrests, says the raids targeted a wide range of suspects, from small-time bookmakers and crime-family functionaries to a number of senior Mob figures and several corrupt union officials, according to several people briefed on the arrests.

The Associated Press reports that many of the arrests were made in Brooklyn, but also occurred elsewhere in New York City, New Jersey and New England.

Earlier posting: The FBI is arresting more than 100 suspected Mobsters today in early morning raids in New York, WNBC reports.

The TV station says in an exclusive report that federal charges are expected to range from gambling to racketeering to murder in the biggest Mafia roundup in New York history.

The raids by the FBI and other agencies involved "significant leaders" and associates of the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, and Colombo crime families of New York and the DeCavalcante family of New Jersey, WNBC reports.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... rk-raids/1

F.B.I. and Police Arrest More Than 100 in Mob Sweep

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: January 20, 2011

In a blanket assault against seven mob families in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, the F.B.I. and local authorities began arresting close to 130 people on Thursday on charges including murder, racketeering and extortion, federal law enforcement officials said.

The sweep began before dawn, and the targets ranged from reputed small-time book makers and crime-family functionaries to six reputed senior mob figures from three crime families, including the entire current leadership of the Colombo crime family, according to the authorities. Among those charged, some of the people said, were roughly 30 made members of New York’s five crime families and the families in New Jersey and New England, along with scores of mob associates and several union officials.

The arrests, including one expected in Italy, were based on 16 unrelated indictments handed up in federal courts in four jurisdictions. Taken together, they amounted to the largest such sweep of organized crime figures conducted in recent history by federal authorities.
“Early this morning, F.B.I. agents along with our law enforcement partners began arresting over 100 organized crime members for various criminal charges,â€

Mafia Takedown Largest Coordinated Arrest in FBI History

01/20/11

Early this morning FBI agents and partner law enforcement officers began arresting nearly 130 members of the Mafia in New York City and other East Coast cities charged in the largest nationally coordinated organized crime takedown in the Bureau’s history.

Members of New York’s infamous Five Families—the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Luchese crime organizations—were rounded up along with members of the New Jersery-based DeCavalcante family and New England Mafia to face charges including murder, drug trafficking, arson, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering, labor racketeering, and extortion. In one case involving the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) at the Ports of New York and New Jersey, the alleged extortion has been going on for years.

New York's Five Families (pdf)

More than 30 of the subjects indicted were “madeâ€

Duplicate deleted by JD2

Wow. They're going to turn Otisville into a nursing home.

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