Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Police raids net illegal drugs

Northern Territory police say they have seized about $350,000 worth of illegal drugs in the past week.

In separate raids on three laboratories and two vehicles, police allegedly found 12.5 kilograms of cannabis, six cannabis plants, 65 kilograms of kava and $90,000 in cash.

In the most recent bust yesterday, members of the drug squad believe they found a permanent drug lab in the bedroom cupboard of a home in Tiwi.

A 48-year-old man was arrested and charged with several drug offences.

Vito Genovese

Vito Genovese was a Mafia kingpin allegedly engaged in the trafficking of narcotics and slitting of throats. That didn’t necessarily make him a bad guy, Granbury resident Billie Sol Estes said. “He didn’t kill anybody that didn’t need killing, and I say that in a kind way.”
Estes believes Genovese saved his skin in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in 1965.
“I considered him a friend. If he hadn’t been, I’d be dead. They tried to kill me. They put a contract out on me. Nobody fooled with me in prison because of Vito.”
Genovese, who died in prison in 1969, was appreciative of Estes’ loyalty.
“The ring his mother gave him to come from Italy that he loved and cherished, he left it to me.”

Friday, May 27, 2005

Australian guilty on drugs charge

Schapelle Corby in court - 27/5/05
Corby appeared shocked by the sentence
An Indonesian court has found Australian woman Schapelle Corby guilty of smuggling drugs into Bali and sentenced her to 20 years in jail.

Corby's family said she would appeal against the verdict, which could have seen her sentenced to death.

Corby, 27, said her luggage had been tampered with, after she was arrested last October with 4.1kg (9lbs) of marijuana in her bags at Bali airport.

Her case has stirred widespread public sympathy in Australia.

Corby fought back tears and there were screams from her supporters in court, as the verdict and sentence were announced.

"Judges are of the opinion that the accused imported marijuana," Judge Wayan Suastrawan said.

"She was arrested red-handed at the airport."

The beautician from Queensland had continually pleaded her innocence to the charges against her, claiming that baggage handlers in Australia put the drugs in her luggage as part of a smuggling operation that went wrong.

Major Bust By Feds Nets Millions In Drugs, Cash

Federal investigators netted several million dollars in drugs and cash in a major drug bust Thursday, spanning cities and neighborhoods in three counties.
NewsChannel5's Joe Pagonakis reported that the sweeping drug investigation uncovered more than $3 million in heroine, 28 kilos of cocaine, and several bags of cash totaling more than $250,000.

Ex-mob leader freed from prison

Free after nearly 16 years in prison, former Mafia captain Vincent M. Ferrara strolled out of the federal courthouse in Boston yesterday holding the hand of his 20-year-old daughter, saying he felt vindicated by a judge's decision to cut several years off his sentence because of government misconduct.

Friday, May 20, 2005

Fugitive Mafia man hands himself in after Pope's address

A fugitive Mafia boss has turned himself in after seeing Pope John Paul II deliver his historic speech to the Italian parliament.

Benedetto Marciante said he had been overcome by the Pope's comments on family values.

He surrendered to Italian authorities at Rome's Rebibbia prison.

His lawyer, Roberto Tricoli, quoted his client saying he'd been moved by the Pope's comments and they had awakened his own religious beliefs.

Marciante was convicted in absentia in September of Mafia association and murder.

In Video, Jailed Mafia Bosses Give Orders

ROME - Mafia bosses openly passed notes and whispered to family members during visiting hours at a Sicilian prison, continuing to run their affairs from jail in a video aired Thursday on Italian TV that sparked calls for tougher vigilance of imprisoned mobsters.

Politicians and commentators expressed outrage at the video, which prosecutors initially showed Wednesday at a murder trial in Palermo, Sicily.

"If the bosses can do what is shown in those images, clearly there is no control," Luciano Violante, an opposition lawmaker and former head of parliament's anti-Mafia commission, was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency ANSA.

Many demanded to know why the inmates were allowed to lean over the low glass that separated them from visitors and whisper into relatives' ears. Some bosses were seen passing notes.

"Clearly, it's necessary to look closely at the problem of the meetings in prison between inmates and relatives," said Roberto Centaro, a deputy from Italy's governing center-right coalition who leads the commission.

The Department of Prison Administration began an inquiry into possible negligence or connivance by guards, an official at the department said.

Prosecutors collected the images from closed circuit cameras in the visitor's hall of Palermo's Pagliarelli prison after Carmela Iuculano, the wife of one inmate shown in the video, started collaborating with magistrates, Rome daily La Repubblica said.

Hidden microphones recorded parts of the inmates' conversations, the daily reported.

In one section, Iuculano is heard lobbying an inmate to have her father's protection fee lowered, La Repubblica said. In another, a man identified as convicted boss Pino Rizzo, Iuculano's husband, discusses with his brother what to do about a turncoat, La Repubblica reported.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

National Geographic Channel Infiltrates Centuries of Deadly Secrets INSIDE THE MAFIA

Four-Hour Series Pierces Inner Workings and Violent History of the Criminal Corporation With Global Reach

Through a pop culture lens, the notorious and mysterious Mafia is typically seen as entertainment: The Godfather; The Sopranos; Goodfellas; Donnie Brasco. Now the National Geographic Channel (NGC) exposes the dramatic history and infiltrates the legendary secrecy of one of the world's most powerful criminal organizations in the four-hour world premiere event, INSIDE THE MAFIA.

Narrated by Ray Liotta -- star of the film Goodfellas -- INSIDE THE MAFIA will premiere Monday, June 13 and Tuesday, June 14, 2005 from 9 to 11 pm. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel (encore Sunday, June 19 from 7 to 11 p.m. ET). Four programs -- Mafia? What Mafia?, Going Global, The Great Betrayal and The Godfathers -- chronologically trace the growth of the U.S. and Sicilian Mafias, as well as the determined American and Italian efforts to stop it.

"It's not personal; it's just business" is a popular catchphrase attributed to the Mafia's code of honor. And big business it is -- its global assets were on par with some of the richest corporations in the world, bursting for a time with billions in annual profits derived from much of the world's drug trade.

With remarkable access to FBI and DEA agents as well as members of crime families, INSIDE THE MAFIA provides the complete behind-the-scenes story of this powerful enterprise known for its ruthlessness and brutality.

Featured are new and original interviews with influential mobsters like Henry Hill, portrayed by Ray Liotta in Goodfellas, and Gambino family soldier Dominick Montiglio, and, on the law enforcement side, Joseph Pistone, the fearless real-life FBI agent who infiltrated the Mafia as "Donnie Brasco," and DEA undercover agent Frank Panessa, among many others.

After five years on the run, Mafia mobster is found at London newspaper kiosk

Of all the hiding places for a senior Mafia mobster, one would hardly have thought of a newspaper kiosk at Vauxhall train station in south London.

But, according to the police, that was where they found Francesco Tonicello, an armed robber who has been on the run for five years and who is suspected of having links to a notorious Mafia crime family.

The 35-year-old had managed to keep ahead of the Italian authorities, who sentenced him to nine years in jail in his absence, by donning a series of elaborate disguises. During the past five years he is said to have changed his appearance on numerous occasions, with different haircuts and hair colour, beard, moustache and glasses.

He adopted at least four different identities after moving to London, passing himself off as an ordinary Italian emigrant, doing various regular jobs. For some time he called himself "Gianluca Cappello" and lived in a flat in Vauxhall, a traffic-choked and distinctly unglamorous area. He previously lived in at least three other places in the capital.

But his London adventure came to an end last Wednesday when officers from the Metropolitan Police's extradition squad raided the home in Wandsworth Road, Vauxhall, that he shared with another Italian, after a surveillance operation.

When Tonicello was arrested, in the middle of the night, he tried to make out that he was not the person they were after.

Fugitive Mafia boss said to pose as bishop

ROME - It’s no wonder Bernardo Provenzano, the Sicilian Mafia’s “boss of bosses,” has eluded capture for more than four decades.

According to a Mafia godmother-turned-informer, the 72-year-old mobster turned up to a summit of Cosa Nostra leaders in 1992 disguised in a bishop’s purple vestments.

“At first I didn’t recognize him. It seemed strange that someone would show up at a meeting dressed as a bishop,” Giuseppina Vitale told a court on Monday, according to Ansa news agency. “He was even wearing a violet hat.”

Provenzano has been on the run for 42 years. The most recent photograph police have of him was taken nearly three decades ago.

Mafia boss evaded capture by dressing as bishop

ROME (Reuters) - It's no wonder Bernardo Provenzano, the Sicilian Mafia's "boss of bosses," has eluded capture for more than four decades.


According to a Mafia godmother-turned-superinformer, the 72-year-old mobster turned up at a summit of Cosa Nostra leaders in 1992 disguised in a bishop's purple vestments.

"At first I didn't recognize him. It seemed strange that someone would show up at a meeting dressed as a bishop," Giuseppina Vitale told a court Monday, according to Ansa news agency.

"He was even wearing a violet hat."

Provenzano has been on the run for 42 years. The most recent photograph police have of him was taken nearly three decades ago.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

FBI Nabs Troops, Officers in Drug Sting

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - FBI agents posing as cocaine traffickers in Arizona caught 16 current and former U.S. soldiers and law enforcement personnel who took about $220,000 in bribes to help move the drugs through checkpoints, Justice Department officials said Thursday.

Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, current and former members of the Arizona Army National Guard and the state corrections department, and a Nogales police officer, officials said.

"Many individuals charged were sworn personnel having the task of protecting society and securing America's borders. The importance of these tasks cannot be overstated and we cannot tolerate, nor can the American people afford, this type of corruption," FBI agent Jana D. Monroe, who directs the bureau's operations in Arizona, said during a news conference in Tucson.

All 16 have agreed to plead guilty to being part of a bribery and extortion conspiracy, the result of the nearly 3 1/2-year FBI sting, acting assistant attorney general John C. Richter and Monroe said. Officials said more arrests are anticipated.

The single conspiracy count carries a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of $250,000. The 16 defendants have not been arrested and have agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation, officials said.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Violent gangs loom large at toughest Calif. prison


CRESCENT CITY, Calif. (Reuters) - A large tattoo declaring membership in the "Mafia" decorates Raul Leon's stomach, a proud billboard of gang membership. An inmate at one America's toughest prisons, he openly acknowledges his influence from behind bars.


"We look after a lot of people, whether in here or out there," Leon, wearing baggy white pants, no shirt and his hands cuffed, said through the metal mesh of a holding cell at California's remote Pelican Bay State Prison. "A lot of friends look after me. I'm a lovable, huggable-type of guy."

Isolated in a bare concrete cell for all but 90 minutes a day when the convicted killer is allowed to exercise alone in a small concrete-bound yard, Leon is a major player in the Mexican Mafia, the state's largest prison gang, officials say.

Like many of California's most notorious gang members, he is confined to a "supermax" section of Pelican Bay, 300 miles north of San Francisco. The prison is the end of the line for society's outcasts in a remote coastal corner of the state near the Oregon border.

Yet even under the most restrictive U.S. penal conditions, gangs there order killings, deal drugs and run criminal empires inside and outside prison, inmates and experts say.

Pelican Bay's inner nucleus is the Security Housing Unit (the SHU), a prison within a prison where the most dangerous inmates are kept in dismal isolation. Their conditions are more austere than even California's Death Row at San Quentin, harsher than those meted out to notorious killers such as Charles Manson and Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan.

Devan Hawkes, a guard specializing in gangs, says about 900 of the 1,100 inmates at the SHU are linked to gangs such as the Mexican Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood and the Black Guerrilla Family. And despite the obstacles, he says, many still succeed in continuing a life of crime and violence.

"It's not hard to keep up communications," said Angel, 48, an inmate with elaborate tattoos on his arms and legs who spent 17 years in top-security cells. "You've got your old ladies, you've got your girlfriends, you've got P.O. boxes."

Mail with the return address of an unsuspecting lawyer can deter prison authorities from opening letters, he said.

Gang members also use coded language. "I want to take Jimmy to the barbershop as soon as possible - let me know," wrote one gang member in a letter intercepted in January. Gang expert Hawkes said the author is requesting permission to kill.

Even isolated inmates talk to each other. At the SHU, an X-shaped facility in the middle of a larger prison facility, inmates can be heard chatting through venting pipes between their cells; others shout to neighbors in nearby cells.

LEAVING THE GANG

Angel, also an ex-Mexican Mafia member, is serving two life sentences after murdering outside and then inside prison.

Pelican Bay tells gang members they can earn their way out of the notorious SHU and reside in a less harsh area of Pelican Bay either by leaving the gang and sharing their secrets with authorities or staying inactive for six years.

Three years ago, Angel turned on his gang. Today, he asks that his last name not be used because he fears for the safety of his son who is still in a prison gang.

Duro, 37, a former San Diego area resident who made the same decision as Angel, said becoming what gang members call a snitch is risky. "Yeah, my life is in danger," he said. An earnest and well-spoken man due to be released from prison in three months, David said he once oversaw Mexican Mafia drug sales in the prison yard.

"It's not hard for business to be conducted inside a prison," he said. "If they didn't pay, they (would) get stabbed or taken out."

Relatives, friends and associates often ferry in the drugs. Inmates pay for the drugs either via contacts in the outside world or transfers from their own prison bank accounts. "I'm a convict. I'm a snake. I'm going to try to beat the system," David said of his past activities.

An unrepentant Leon soundly condemns those like Duro and Angel he calls "rats."

At a prison so tough that it has been subject to special court scrutiny, Pelican Bay officials find Leon's ability to circumvent the rules and tolerate the SHU especially troubling. In one six-month period in 1996 alone, Leon sent more than 1,000 letters, about half of which discussed crimes, using code words such as "dog food" for heroin, said prison guard Hawkes.

"They say that, but the way I see it I ain't doing nothing but helping some friends," said Leon, who was convicted of an execution-style murder as a teen-ager.

Like other inmates interviewed, he spoke in the presence of a prison official. "I'm just an individual that a lot of people listen to and respect," he said.

A former San Diego resident, Leon, 40, has been at Pelican Bay's SHU since it opened in 1989, and he expects to die there. For now, his $24,000 bank account is frozen and his mail rights suspended, but he does not regret anything and says prison has not broken him.

"Being a man says whatever comes my way I'm dealing with it," he said. "That's us, all the way, until death."

FBI: Male enhancement drugs illegally provided to mob


NEW YORK (CNN) -- Three doctors from the Westchester suburbs of New York City allegedly provided mob figures with erectile dysfunction drugs in exchange for various favors, the FBI said Thursday.

The FBI arrested the doctors -- Arlen Fleisher, Stephen Klass and George Shapiro -- for allegedly illegally providing large quantities of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra as well as other prescription drugs and drug samples to members of the Gambino crime family.

If convicted of illegally supplying the prescription drugs, Fleisher, Klass and Shapiro each could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday by David Kelley, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, FBI wiretaps revealed that Fleisher, Klass and Shapiro supplied the drugs for more than two years to Gambino family capo Gregory DePalma and his "crew" in return for various favors.

Those favors included receiving discounted prices for construction and auto repair work, done by Gambino family-controlled businesses; and use of DePalma's table at Rao's Italian restaurant in the Harlem section of New York City, according to the complaint.

The FBI said its investigation included a wiretap and a confidential source.

The bureau said the case against Fleisher, Klass and Shapiro grew out of the FBI and U.S. attorney's crackdown on the Gambino family operations that resulted in a 53-count criminal indictment against 32 members of the family, including acting boss Arnold Squitieri and capo DePalma.

On March 9, 31 of the 32 named in the indictment were arrested, including DePalma.

Viagra for the mob? This can't turn out well...


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three New York doctors were charged on Thursday with giving large amounts of Viagra and other anti-impotence drugs to mob members in return for construction and auto repair work done by mafia-controlled businesses.

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Arlen Fleisher, Stephen Klass and George Shapiro, all doctors in Westchester County, a suburban area north of New York City, were accused of trading prescription drugs and drug samples with members and associates of the Gambino crime family. The one-count complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court.

Lawyers for all three defendants said their clients denied wrongdoing.

If convicted, the men could face a maximum 10-year prison term. They were arrested at their homes on Thursday morning and released after each posted a $50,000 bond.

In addition to Viagra, the doctors are accused of giving out Cialis, Levitra and other prescription drugs. According to court papers, Gambino members used the drugs and also gave them to others. In one instance, a high-ranking member of the Gambino crime family asked Klass to get him the cholesterol-lowering drug

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Lipitor for his barber, court papers said.

Federal prosecutors said no value has been publicly stated for the value of the pharmaceuticals that were traded.

Richard Herman, a lawyer for Shapiro, told reporters his client denies the charges. Herman also said Shapiro has a "pristine" record as a cardiologist and no criminal record.

Shapiro had been treating Gregory DePalma, who prosecutors say is a powerful "captain" in the Gambino family, for a heart condition, Herman said.

DePalma was indicted for racketeering in March along with the acting Gambino boss and other members and associates of the organized crime family. The charges against the doctors grew out of the investigation into Gambino family activities.

Three Westchester Doctors Accused of Providing Drugs To Mob
NEW YORK Three Westchester doctors were charged Thursday with supplying the Gambino crime family with Viagra and large amounts of other prescription drugs, prosecutors said.

The physicians, Arlen Fleisher, Stephen Klass and George Shapiro, received personal and financial benefits by supplying the drugs and drug samples to members and associates of the organized crime family, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.

In a release, the prosecutor's office said charges in a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan resulted from a three-year investigation in which an FBI agent worked undercover in one of the family's crews.

The wider probe exposed alleged racketeering activities including extortion, loansharking and the sale of stolen goods. Those crimes were outlined in a March 2 indictment used to arrest 32 defendants including the family's acting boss and underboss.

In a criminal complaint, the government alleged that the Westchester doctors regularly and illegally provided large amounts of drugs, including Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, all of which require a prescription.

In return, the doctors received discounted construction and auto repair work done by Gambino-controlled businesses and the use of a Gambino family table at a Manhattan restaurant, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said evidence included taped conversations in which the doctors were heard discussing the prescription drugs.

In one instance, Klass allegedly referred to himself as the medical "consigliere'' for the Gambino family, prosecutors said.

Barry S. Zone, a lawyer for Fleisher, said the government was trying to turn legitimate medical work such as providing drug samples to patients into a crime.

"These are hard working, honest doctors,'' he said. "Apparently, I guess the rule is that if you're alleged to be a wiseguy, don't get sick.''

Richard Herman, a lawyer for Shapiro, said his client had been treating one of the reputed mobsters for many years for a heart condition but had done nothing wrong.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Mexican Mafia Behind Freeway Shootings And Racial Violence in SoCal Schools.


*Vinni, Southern California:
"(Regarding the rash of freeway shootings in Southern California) Unfortunately, the word on the street (which has been confirmed by a probation officer) is that the Rolling 60s (gang) stole 160 kilos of cocaine from the Mexican Mafia. In retaliation, the Mexican Mafia and other Mexican gangs have decided to target and kill 400-1000 black men of all ages who are wearing white t-shirts.

This is not limited to the freeways. I understand that this is very real and very serious. It's also the reason the kids (blacks & Mexicans) are fighting in school, as well. Please pass this on to EVERYONE that you know.

I suggest you do not wear any white shirts at all if possible. Also, if you have on a dress shirt, consider wearing your jacket over it."
EUR: Thanks for the tip Vinni. In fact, the content of your letter is certainly part of the buzz amongst a lot of black folk in Southern Cali about the situation. Keep mind, however that NOT ALL of the shooting victims have been black, so what about that? In fact at least one was Hispanic. But having said that, we won't be rocking any white t-shirts in public for a while. Also, if it's remotely true that the 60s stole the Mexican Mafia's cocaine stash, all we can say is that was the ultimate stupid move.

Growth of 'new American mafia' follows migrant flows

WASHINGTON -- The violent MS-13 -- or Mara Salvatrucha -- street gang is following the migratory routes of illegal aliens across the country, FBI officials say, calling the Salvadoran gang the new American mafia.

MS-13, which has a significant presence in the Washington area, and other gangs are spreading into small towns and suburbs by following illegal aliens seeking work in places such as Providence, R.I., and the Carolinas, FBI task force director Robert Clifford said.


"The migrant moves and the gang follows," said Mr. Clifford, director of the agency's MS-13 National Gang Task Force. "If you follow the construction trade, this is where a lot of these immigrants go."

Immigrants in search of construction and meat-packing jobs often provide housing for younger relatives who may be involved in a gang, Mr. Clifford said.

"That's why you find them in places like North Carolina," he said.

The FBI is operating a national anti-gang campaign out of its new National Gang Intelligence Center. The federal government last summer appropriated $10 million to set up the center at FBI headquarters.

Mr. Clifford's position was created when the Gang Intelligence Center opened in December, and MS-13 is No. 1 on the FBI's hit list.

"One of the first [gangs] to be targeted is MS-13, a violent gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread across the country," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told the House Appropriations Committee during a March 8 hearing.

Four MS-13 members are on trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on charges of killing a pregnant 17-year-old. The gang's leader is accused of ordering the slaying from his jail cell because he suspected the girl of informing the police.

Three MS-13 gang members pleaded guilty to attacking a teenager in Alexandria, VA with a machete last May. The teenager lost four fingers. Authorities are investigating a similar machete attack on a Fairfax, VA man in January.

MS-13 members use nicknames and code languages in much the same way as organized crime figures did, officials say.

"We have to approach them not as individuals but as an infrastructure, just like we did the Mafia ... utilizing an organized crime strategy," Mr. Clifford said.

But the FBI is still determining whether a national leadership and hierarchy exist.

"We are seeing efforts to try and organize the cliques," he said. "We're trying to figure out if there is an infrastructure. We see all the hallmarks of a nascent infrastructure."

Growth of 'new American mafia' follows migrant flows

WASHINGTON -- The violent MS-13 -- or Mara Salvatrucha -- street gang is following the migratory routes of illegal aliens across the country, FBI officials say, calling the Salvadoran gang the new American mafia.

MS-13, which has a significant presence in the Washington area, and other gangs are spreading into small towns and suburbs by following illegal aliens seeking work in places such as Providence, R.I., and the Carolinas, FBI task force director Robert Clifford said.


"The migrant moves and the gang follows," said Mr. Clifford, director of the agency's MS-13 National Gang Task Force. "If you follow the construction trade, this is where a lot of these immigrants go."

Immigrants in search of construction and meat-packing jobs often provide housing for younger relatives who may be involved in a gang, Mr. Clifford said.

"That's why you find them in places like North Carolina," he said.

The FBI is operating a national anti-gang campaign out of its new National Gang Intelligence Center. The federal government last summer appropriated $10 million to set up the center at FBI headquarters.

Mr. Clifford's position was created when the Gang Intelligence Center opened in December, and MS-13 is No. 1 on the FBI's hit list.

"One of the first [gangs] to be targeted is MS-13, a violent gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread across the country," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told the House Appropriations Committee during a March 8 hearing.

Four MS-13 members are on trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on charges of killing a pregnant 17-year-old. The gang's leader is accused of ordering the slaying from his jail cell because he suspected the girl of informing the police.

Three MS-13 gang members pleaded guilty to attacking a teenager in Alexandria, VA with a machete last May. The teenager lost four fingers. Authorities are investigating a similar machete attack on a Fairfax, VA man in January.

Sinatra nearly got caught with Mafia money: new book


NEW YORK (AFP) - Frank Sinatra had close links to the Mafia and once nearly got caught carrying 3.5 million dollars in mob cash, according to a new book excerpted by Vanity Fair magazine.

Entertainer Jerry Lewis told the authors of a new biography "Sinatra: The Life", due to be published on May 16, how the legendary performer, who died in 1998, volunteered to be a Mafia "messenger".

"He almost got caught once ... in New York," Lewis was quoted as saying in the excerpt from the book by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan.

Lewis told how Sinatra was going through customs with a briefcase that contained "three and a half million in fifties". But there were so many people crowding around the singer and actor that they aborted the search.

"We would never have heard of him again" if the money had been discovered, Lewis said.

According to the new book, Sinatra's grandfather came from the same Sicily town, Lercara Friddi, as mobster Lucky Luciano.

The authors said Sinatra always claimed his family was from Catania or Agrigento and that Sinatra may have deliberately caused confusion because of his family's involvement with bootlegging during Sinatra's childhood.

But Summers and Swan also said Sinatra had a longtime, intimate relationship with Luciano, according to Vanity Fair.

The book says the authors found christening and marriage records which indicated the Luciano and Sinatra families lived on the same street in Lercara Friddi.

The book quotes Sinatra's valet, George Jacobs, as saying Sinatra and Luciano clearly knew each other well and that he remembered them meeting at a Rome hotel where the gang leader rose from his chair and kissed Sinatra.

Summers and Swan wrote that Hollywood studio head Harry Cohn was pressured by the Mafia into giving Sinatra the part of Private Angelo Maggio in the movie "From Here to Eternity".

The book, which is published by Alfred A. Knopf, said that by 1961, when Sinatra was a friend of President John F. Kennedy, the singer had sought to distance himself from his Mafia associate.