Mafia Takes Over Publicly Traded Company

As Occupy Wall Street protestors chant about the criminals in the boardroom, actual thieves -- including men associated with the mafia -- have spent years quietly runningFirstPlus Financial Group(FPFX), a Texas-based company and a one-time subprime lender that boasted former Vice President Dan Quayle as a board member, and used NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino in its ads.

On Tuesday, Nicodermo S. Scarfo, a made man within the Lucchese organized crime family, was arrested at his home. He's one of13 men chargedwith the illegal takeover of the publicly traded company, among other racketeering charges. "The defendants gave new meaning to 'corporate takeover,' " said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.

"Criminal activities have evolved from the back alleys to the board rooms," said Michael B. Ward, special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark Field Office. Still, the tactics remain the same, he says: "physical threats and intimidation to gain leverage and loot lucrative businesses."

Scarfo is not the only one of the 13 with ties to organized crime. Salvatore Pelullo, an associate of the Lucchese and Philadephia La Cosa Nostra families is also charged, as are Nicodermo D. Scarfo (Scarfo Sr.), the imprisoned former boss of the Philadelphia family of La Cosa Nostra, and Vittorio Amuso, the imprisoned boss of the Lucchese family. Others charged include an accountant and five lawyers.

According to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, the men used both physical and finance threats to take control of FirstPlus in order to plunder the company for their own financial gain. Scarfo, Pelullo and their partners replaced the company's board of directors with their own cronies, and then named their accomplice, lawyer William Maxwell, as special counsel to FirstPlus so that Maxwell could use that position's authority to funnel millions back to the mobsters.

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Murder-for-hire plot nets Steele 50-year term

Professing his innocence and blaming a vast government conspiracy, self-described “attorney for the damned” Edgar Steele was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in federal prison for a foiled murder-for-hire plot that targeted his wife and mother-in-law with a car bomb.

In an hour-and-a-half rant before U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Coeur d’Alene, Steele called the case a conspiracy by the federal government, anti-hate groups and the Russian mafia to silence him for his political views and legal work.

“I, too, am a victim. My entire family is a victim. In fact, all of American society is a victim in this case,” said Steele, 66, who defended Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler in the 2000 landmark civil case that bankrupted the racist group. He also authored a book, “Defensive Racism,” and wrote essays on a website, ConspiracyPenPal.com, from his home near Shepherd Lake, southeast of Sandpoint.

“I am not delusional. I am a well-educated professional with a long track record of honesty,” Steele said, wearing a gray sweatshirt and orange jail pants. He vowed to continue fighting to prove his innocence.

Italy entrepreneur defies mafia with tuna and ice cream

(Reuters) - Sometimes Filippo Callipo, one of southern Italy's most successful businessmen, wonders why he is still alive.

Callipo's refusal to play ball with the mob in an area where organised crime forces many businesses to pay extortion money and even dictates which suppliers companies must use has made him somewhat of a local legend.

But it also means he makes the sign of the cross when he leaves home. It is a silent prayer that he will return each day from overseeing four businesses that provide 350 jobs in a region that has one of Italy's highest unemployment rates.

"Sure I'm afraid. Only an imbecile wouldn't be," said Callipo, who drives his own car and has no bodyguards. "But I am a fatalist. If they want to get you they will. It would be so easy in my case," he said in the offices of Callipo Tuna.

The company, which had revenues of about 40 million euros in 2010, sells high-quality tuna to supermarkets and up-market, gourmet specialty shops the world over.