Hackers, identity thieves working more like mafia; profits increasing
Ars Technica Jul 16, 08 5:20 PM CDT
(Newser)
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There’s serious money to be made in cybercrime, and its perpetrators are beginning to reflect that fact, Ars Technica reports. Lone hackers have been replaced with hierarchical organizations that divide the criminal risks inherent in stealing and reselling (usually financial) information. The cybercrime "firms" are growing steadily as they generate more revenue, internet security firm Finjan notes in its quarterly report.
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Detectives aim to link secret bullion with long, bloody case
Guardian (UK) Jun 8, 08 8:12 PM CDT
(Newser)
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After a long, bloody trail, British investigators may be close to cracking the case of six robbers who lifted $51 million in gold from a London warehouse 25 years ago. Last week, while tracking proceeds from organized crime, Scotland Yard detectives uncovered six suitcases packed with $15 million worth of gold inside a deposit box, the Guardian reports.
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Slain informant was helping cops bust garbage gangs
Guardian (UK) Jun 3, 08 2:18 AM CDT
(Newser)
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The boss of a garbage disposal firm with Mafia links who had turned informant was gunned down in a bar near Naples yesterday, the Guardian reports. The murdered man had been helping police target gangs that control waste disposal in the city, currently gripped by a garbage crisis. He had been due to testify this week against an accused gangster who's a member of Italy's ruling party.
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FBI helped one crime boss with his visa
Los Angeles Times May 30, 08 4:21 AM CDT
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Four Yakuza gangsters, including one of Japan's most powerful crime bosses, had liver transplants at UCLA Medical Center between 2000 and 2004, the Los Angeles Times reports. Organs were particularly scarce in those years, with over 100 people on the waiting list dying each year. There is no indication that the hospital or the surgeon were aware of their patients' underworld connections.
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'We have to take back our streets,' prez pleads
BBC May 11, 08 6:39 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A third key police officer was assassinated yesterday in the intensifying war between Mexican officials and drug cartels, the BBC reports. The deputy police chief of the border town of Juarez was killed when gunmen peppered his car with bullets as he left home. The head of Mexico's anti-kidnap unit was killed Friday, and the chief of police operations against drug trafficking was shot dead the day before.
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Organized crime cited; 2nd shooting in 2 days to target rancher
AFP May 5, 08 5:48 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Sixty gunmen opened fire on a Mexican ranch yesterday, killing 10 and injuring six more, AFP reports. The shooting came a day after another in the same state killed at least seven. Both attacks were on the head of a local cattlemens' organization; both carried signs of organized crime in a wave of violence linked to drug cartels. The motive for yesterday’s shooting was unclear, the BBC notes.
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Crooks claim to have kids; terrified
parents pay up
New York Times Apr 29, 08 6:02 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Mexican crooks are putting a new twist on an old crime with "virtual kidnapping," the New York Times reports. The criminals are cashing in on the widespread fear of kidnapping by calling families and pretending to have snatched a loved one—usually a child—for ransom. Many panicked parents pay up before they realize that their loved one is safe.
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NY mob busts expose stronger links between Italians and Yanks
BBC Feb 28, 08 8:40 AM CST
(Newser)
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The Sicilian Mafia is sending people to the US to revitalize old family ties with its American cousins that faded in the '80s, according to a new report by the Italian government. The FBI nabbed more than 80 New York mobsters in a recent swoop code-named "Old Bridge," reports the BBC, referring to the transatlantic the mob link.
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Entire Gambino family leadership among more than 60 indicted
New York Times Feb 7, 08 11:42 AM CST
(Newser)
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Authorities in New York and Sicily unleashed a massive mob takedown today, indicting more than 60 suspects, including the entire Gambino family leadership, the New York Times reports; 52 have already been arrested, including underboss Domenico Cefalu and consigliere Joseph Corozzo. “I can't think of a larger single-day roundup,” a source told the New York Post. “It dismantles the infrastructure of the family.”
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NJ cops bust dozens
in major blow to
Lucchese crime family
Star-Ledger Dec 19, 07 3:56 AM CST
(Newser)
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New Jersey officials have nabbed a cadre of suspected mob bosses to bust up a sophisticated $2.2 billion gambling ring, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Others among more than two dozen arrested included a prison officer and a Bloods gangster, said to be part of an "alarming alliance" between the Mafia and Bloods that smuggled drugs and phones to inmates in a Jersey prison.
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13 unexplained killings in 18 months plague grupero scene
New York Times Dec 18, 07 12:45 PM CST
(Newser)
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Some of Mexico’s biggest music stars are being murdered, often in gruesome fashion, and no one’s sure why, the New York Times reports. The past year and a half has seen the killings of 13 Mexican musicians, all purveyors of grupero, a country-esque style often dealing with drugs and crime. Police suspect gang involvement, but they have no evidence and usually no motives.
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Ruling could open floodgates of compensation for thousands of others
Guardian (UK) Dec 16, 07 12:46 PM CST
(Newser)
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In a groundbreaking decision, Britain has awarded four women smuggled from eastern Europe to the UK and subjected by their captors to "forced prostitution, multiple rapes and beatings" more than £140,000. The decision, the first to consider false imprisonment and forced prostitution as categories for awarding damages, will serve as a legal precedent, the Guardian reports.
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Attraction will display history of crooks who helped build the city
Associated Press Dec 11, 07 11:03 AM CST
(Newser)
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Las Vegas will create a museum showcasing the Mob's role in turning a tiny desert settlement into America's gambling mecca. The $50 million project is slated to be completed in 2010. "Let's be brutally honest, warts and all. This is more than legend. It's fact," said the mayor. "This is something that differentiates us from other cities."
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Chicago's top kingpin nailed in 'Family Secrets' case
Chicago Tribune Sep 10, 07 5:20 PM CDT
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Chicago’s top mob boss was one of five men convicted today in a trial federal authorities dubbed “Operation Family Secrets” after one defendant's relatives offered unprecedented cooperation. Testimony from the son and brother of alleged hit man Frank Calabrese was key in convicting him, along with three Outfit cohorts and an ex-cop, the Chicago Tribune reports.
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