Sicily Mafia watches and waits for Italy to vote

PALERMO, Sicily (Reuters) - Years ago, when the Mafia wanted to influence elections in Sicily, it did not think twice about setting off a bomb or leaving a headless goat on a doorstep as a not-so-subtle message about whom to vote for.Now, as Italy approaches April's general election, the Sicilian Mafia has kept a low profile, a wait-and-see attitude aimed at not drawing attention to itself.

"The Mafia is paying attention. It is watching," said Antonio Ingroia, a top anti-Mafia magistrate in Sicily.

"It realizes that this is a delicate moment which could lead to some changes that might affect it," Ingroia said in an interview in Palermo's heavily protected main court building.

Magistrates and other anti-Mafia experts say the Mob is doing just fine these days. It is making money hand over fist without getting its hands bloody.

A new "Pax Mafiosa" has settled over the island.

The Mafia, realizing that the spotlight is not good for business, has stopped killing its enemies -- police officers, magistrates and politicians -- and even its own members.

"The Mafia is continuing in its strategy of keeping a low profile, a truce: weapons are out, business is in," Ingroia said.

The Mafia makes its money from ensuring that companies it controls directly or indirectly get a share of services and construction contracts, especially public works contracts.

Spain busts Romanian mafia ring, 297 arrested

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested a mafia ring of nearly 300 Romanians in one of their biggest operations against foreign criminals.

The network was organised by one leader, known as Iorgu I or Talanu, with several lieutenants, and operated in eight of Spain's 17 regions, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

"The crimes for which these mafia groups are accused include violent robbery, forgery and fraudulent use of credit cards, drug trafficking, falsifying documents, illegal possession of weapons, prostitution and offences against worker rights," Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told a news conference.

Spanish police arrested 283 people and Romanian authorities detained another 14.

Gotti jury deadlocks in NY Mafia mistrial

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A judge declared a mistrial in the case of suspected Mafia boss John "Junior" Gotti on Friday after deadlocked jurors were unable to reach a verdict for the second time in six months.Prosecutors immediately said they would seek a third trial on racketeering and other charges against Gotti, whose late father was one of New York's most notorious crime bosses.

Judge Shira Scheindlin called the jury's day-and-a-half of deliberations "surprisingly short" but said "the jury has spoken" after it had sent her two notes saying the 12-member panel was hopelessly deadlocked.

A hearing was called for Monday at which a new trial date could be set.

Gotti's defense focused on the claim that he had given up mob life. He hugged his lawyers upon hearing of the mistrial and left the courthouse surrounded by a gaggle of reporters.

"I want to raise my children," he said. "That's all I wanted in life."

A previous trial also resulted in a deadlocked jury, forcing the retrial. The second trial rekindled New York's obsession with the Mafia and Gotti's infamous father, revealing accounts of bloody shootings and secret mob codes.

Gotti, 42, was accused of leading the Gambino crime family, extorting construction companies, loan-sharking and ordering a brutal attack on Curtis Sliwa, the founder of New York's Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol, because of his critical comments about the Gotti family on his radio show.

Sliwa did not believe Gotti had withdrawn from the Mafia, telling reporters, "There's only one way to withdraw from the mob and that's to be at room temperature."

Mills linked to mafia go-between

Fresh doubts about the business affairs of Tessa Jowell's husband emerged yesterday with the discovery that he set up a company whose directors included a man acting as the intermediary between Silvio Berlusconi's political party and the mafia.

David Mills, a corporate lawyer, carried out the appointment of Marcello Dell'Utri as a director on the board of Publitalia International, a London-registered media advertising agency on the day of the company's incorporation in 1985.

Yakuza members arrested

This morning at 3 AM in Japan, four members of Yamaguchi-gumi’s top committee were arrested in relations to events surrounding the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 12/31/2003 Kobe Wing Stadium show. The arrests made were in relation to events concerning Mirko Cro Cop’s non-appearance on the event, and also attempts to stop Emelianenko Fedor from working the show.

Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan’s largest crime syndicate.

I-Team: Size, Impact Of N.E. Mafia Dwindling

The late Raymond L.S. Patriarca ran a mafia empire in New England for decades until his death in 1984.

And after his son, Raymond "Junior" Patriarca, was deposed as mob boss, the Patriarca Mafia family still controls the rackets in New England, but the illegal clan's membership is dwindling.

The current boss of the Patriarca family, Louis "Baby Shacks" Mannacchioi, also known as "The Professor," is an old-school Mafiosi, according to state and federal law enforcement sources.

He lives below the radar above a Laundromat on Atwells Avenue in Providence.

"He is the head of the Patriarca crime family, which runs the rackets in New England," said Maj. Steven O’Donnell of the Rhode Island State Police.

Law enforcement intelligence officers are keeping an eye on about a dozen made men remaining in the Patriarca family in Rhode Island. The last to be made, Alfred "Chippy" Scivola, is now in prison for shaking down a strip club operator in Connecticut.

MAFIA DON DIES

Anthony Civella, the head of the mafia in Kansas City, has died. Nicknamed Tony Ripe, the mobster was 75. He became the city crime boss when his father, Carl Civella, was jailed in 1984.

'Godfather' Actor Dies

The 'Godfather' actor Richard Bright has been killed by a bus in New York City. He was 68.Bright played Al Pacino's character Michael Corleone's bodyguard Al Neri in all three of the mafia movies.He was hit by the back wheel of a bus and dragged along the street after the driver failed to notice he had hit him.During a successful career Bright also had roles in 'Marathon Man,' 'Once Upon a Time in America' and guest spots on The Sopranos.

Court acquits policemen in Mafia trial

An Italian court acquitted the head of Italy's secret services and a senior police official on Monday on charges related to the arrest of the Mafia boss of bosses, Salvatore "The Beast" Riina.

Secret service chief Mario Mori and top Carabinieri officer Sergio De Caprio were feted as national heroes for the prominent role they played in capturing Riina, who was seized in 1993 after 23 years on the run.

But the initial euphoria faded when it emerged that the police had failed to search Riina's hideaway until 19 days after his arrest, giving the Mafia enough time to strip the building, clean the floors, paint the walls and remove all fingerprints.

Investigators last year demanded the trial of Mori and De Caprio on charges of aiding and abetting the Mafia - a move that infuriated Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government which said the two men were victims of the justice system.

GOD'S BANKER MURDERED BY MAFIA HITMEN

A MONEY man dubbed God's banker was the target of a mafia hit for bungling a cash-laundering operation which implicated the Vatican, it was claimed yesterday.

Roberto Calvi fled Italy as his banking empire crashed 25 years ago.

Nine days later, he was found hanging from scaffolding under London's Blackfriar's Bridge in an apparent suicide, with five bricks in his pockets, along with £10,000 in mixed currency.

A court in Rome, sitting in a specially fortified bunker, was told yesterday that Calvi's death in June 1982 was on mafia orders.

Mobster-turned-supergrass Francesco Mannoia told the murder trial Calvi was targeted by Cosa Nostra bosses furious that the cash laundering plot - involving millions of pounds - had gone wrong.

Mafia widow wants money from makers of the Sopranos and a T-V movie

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A real-life Mafia widow says she's the real "Carmela Soprano" and wants to be paid for it.

Lynda Milito is seeking compensation from H-B-O as well as the screenwriter of a 1998 made-for-TV movie.Her husband, Gambino family associate Louis Milito, disappeared in 1998. She says others are unfairly cashing in on details of her life.H-B-O says "The Sopranos" is an original work. Producers of the T-V movie couldn't be reached for comment.Milito says she's prepared to file suit if need be.

Venezuela arrests Colombian drugs lord

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan police this week arrested Colombian-born Carlos Ojeda, on wanted lists in Colombia and the United States as one of Latin America's biggest drug lords, the Venezuelan government said.

Ojeda, sought by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration, was arrested on Thursday by agents from the CICPC anti-drug squad in a commercial district in the east of Caracas, the interior and justice ministry said.

Up to seven international arrest warrants had been issued in the past few years for Ojeda, nicknamed "the Engineer" and suspected of coordinating much of the drug trafficking through Venezuela, the head of the country's anti-drug agency said.

There is no warrant out for him in Venezuela, however.

Venezuelan authorities were studying extradition requests for Ojeda, in his early fifties, who was also in Interpol's so-called "red file," Luis Correa, head of the CONACUID anti-drug agency told Reuters by telephone.

Drug Smuggling Air Marshals?

For a law enforcement agency that works hard to be invisible, the Federal Air Marshals have been generating a lot of attention lately. On Thursday, two of the agency's several thousand highly trained traveling armed guards were taken into custody in Houston. Although the US Attorney's office would not comment beyond acknowledging that the Air Marshals were arrested by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General's office, Government sources tell TIME that the two Air Marshals, are allegedly involved with the possession or transportation of cocaine, and may have been paid several thousand dollars to move the drugs.

Report: Charges dropped against two alleged Sicilian Mafia leaders

All charges have been dropped against two alleged Sicilian Mafia leaders accused of bid-rigging and extortion for contracts at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily, according to Italian press reports.

The two alleged leaders, reputed Catania Cosa Nostra boss Nitto Santapaola and Eugenio Galea, who allegedly planned the operation, faced the charges for contracts on base between 1987 and 1993, according to the newspaper La Sicilia.

Under an Italian operation code-named “Saigon,” 47 people were arrested in 1997, including a British civilian working at the base Resident Officer in Charge of Construction (ROICC) office.

The case against Santapaola and Galea, according to La Sicilia, relied on testimony of two mobsters who had been given new identities and immunity against prosecution — similar to the U.S. witness relocation program. However, the evidence wasn’t sufficient to convict either Santapaola or Galea, the paper reported.

The original charges stated that, for a number of years, Mafia-influenced companies had virtually every on-base construction contract. In 1998, a U.S. federal court document showed that those companies merged to form a group that bid, and won, a five-year janitorial contract.

Suspect in mafia associate's slaying discovered dead of apparent suicide

HAZLET, N.J. - A former Newark police officer, described as the "principal suspect" in a a mafia associate's 2002 murder, has apparently committed suicide, according to authorities.

Nicholas Baglione Jr., 48, was found dead Tuesday evening in a Hazlet parking lot, slumped over in the driver's seat of a limousine he drove for a living, according to local police.

Baglione, who was reported missing Friday, died from a single gunshot would to the head. Authorities have ruled the death a suicide, pending results from an autopsy.

'Mafia' man in extradition appeal

Antonio La Torre is appealing against extradition

An Aberdeen businessman with alleged mafia links has launched an appeal against extradition to Italy.

A sheriff ruled in December that Antonio La Torre should be sent back to his native country.

The 49-year-old food importer is wanted in Italy to face charges of robbery, extortion and the production of counterfeit money.

Mr La Torre's lawyer claimed his client's life could be in danger if he was returned to Italy.

Arrest warrant

An Italian anti-mafia department described Mr La Torre as the "undisputed head of a criminal organisation".

He was found guilty of various crimes in Naples at a trial held in his absence in 2004 and was sentenced to 13 years in jail. He is also currently appealing against that conviction.

He has been in custody since March 2005 when he was served with a European arrest warrant for offences allegedly committed between October and December 2001 in Mondragone near Naples.

'MOB COPS' GET WIN

A Brooklyn judge yesterday said the names of jurors deciding the fate of the two reputed mob cops will not be kept a secret and that they have nothing to fear by being part of a Mafia trial.

But, federal Judge Jack Weinstein also ruled that only prosecutors and lawyers for ex-NYPD detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa will know their identities.

"For over half a millennium, jurors have made their decision in public then have gone home," said Weinstein.

Police seize drugs in pub raid

A pub in Leamington was raided on Friday night by police who discovered a quantity of Class A and C drugs.

A 28-year-old man was arrested during the operation at the Pacific Rim pub on Bedford Street. He was later released on bail pending further enquiries.

About £6,000 in cash and other items including four laptop computers, a handheld computer and nine mobile phones were also seized.

Before the raid took place 26 people were asked to leave the pub.

Inspector Bob Musgrove, from Warwickshire Police, said: "We are keen to work with licensees to prevent drug dealing taking place in their premises.

"Where necessary, we are prepared to take strong action including closing licensees' premises while we carry out these operations."

2 charges tossed

The feds have quietly dropped two murder charges against reputed Mafia cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, the Daily News has learned.

Sources familiar with the government's strategy insist the evidence against the ex-NYPD detectives in those gangland killings is solid.

But a decision was made to streamline the indictment after Brooklyn Federal Judge Jack Weinstein warned prosecutors last June that he would not allow them to call 100 witnesses to testify as they had planned.

"Obviously a decision had to be made," one source said.

Deleted from the racketeering indictment is the May 1990 slaying of James Bishop, the former leader of Painters Union Local 37, whose cooperation with the Manhattan district attorney's office allegedly was leaked to the mob by Eppolito and Caracappa. He was found riddled with bullets in his car in Queens.

Also dropped from the case is the 1991 slaying of the late John Gotti's former bodyguard, Bartolomeo (Bobby) Borriello, who was gunned down in front of his Brooklyn home. His address allegedly was given to the mob by the cops.

Cops smash mafia clan

Rome - Italian police have arrested 182 suspected members of the powerful Strisciuglio mafia clan in the southern region of Bari, said public prosecutor Giuseppe De Benedictis on Monday.

About 1 500 civil and military police officers were involved in the massive operation on Sunday night against the Strisciuglio, considered by the Italian courts to be the most powerful and most fearful mafia clan in the entire Bari region.

The suspects were accused of involvement in the mafia, murder, drug and cigarette trafficking, extortion and possession of illegal weapons.

De Benedictis said that in total, 215 members of the Strisciuglio clan were being sought by police or had been jailed.

On January 11, French police arrested an high-level Italian Mafia suspect accused of links to a vast Sicilian drug trafficking network. Italy was expected to seek his extradition.