Gambino, Bonanno family mobsters arrested in connection to Italian Mafia

February 19th

This story gives a new meaning to "sleeping with the fishes", something most people thought was only a quote from The Godfather. Members of the Gambino and Bonanno families have been arrested in connection with an Italian Mafia and a very creative way to smuggle drugs. The cocaine was transported inside of frozen fish, and an undercover agent acted as a buyer and an associate, so he had recorded conversations of the plan. Read the article below for more details...

The cocaine would sleep with the fishes.

The feds have broken up the marriage of a dreaded Italian crime syndicate and the U.S. Gambino crime family that schemed to smuggle cocaine stashed inside frozen fish across the Atlantic Ocean.

Eight reputed mobsters with ties to the Gambino and Bonanno crime families were arrested early Tuesday in New York by the FBI, while in a coordinated raid in Italy police rounded up 17 members of the Calabria-based ’Ndrangheta crime organization.

“We feel we have put an end to ’Ndrangheta’s attempt to gain a foothold in the New York area,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

Dominic Ali, 55, was busted as part of a drug trafficking investigation involving the ‘Ndrangheta syndicate in Italy.

Officials described Gambino associate Franco Lupoi, 44, as the linchpin of the unholy alliance with ’Ndrangheta through his father-in-law, Nicola Antonio Simonetta, and a cousin, Francesco Ursino. Both are members of the group that in recent years has eclipsed the Sicilian Mafia and Neapolitan Camorra in influence and wealth.

Simonetta and Ursino were among those busted in Italy.

Lupoi, a co-owner of the Royal Crown Bakery in Bensonhurst, hatched a global drug-trafficking scheme with Alexander Chan, 46, and Jose Alfredo (Freddy) Garcia, 47, that originated in Brooklyn and stretched its tentacles to South America and the boot of Italy, according to court papers.

JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

An alleged member of the New York Mafia is walked out of a federal building on Tuesday to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court. 

During a two-year joint investigation by the FBI and Italian police, Lupoi proposed to an undercover agent that he had assembled an ethnically diverse crew — “a Chinese guy, a Greek guy and a Mexican with the cartels” — put together to ship cocaine hidden inside frozen fish from Guyana to Calabria.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/30-mobsters-nabbed-connection-italian-mafia-article-1.1609347#ixzz2tmPdms8v

Christine Mazzarella, Special Ed. Teacher, Accused In Sex Abuse Of 13-Year-Old Son

Though the rise in teacher sex scandals has been prominent lately, it is still a shock when the news is released, as each situation seems worse than the last. That is definitely the case with this release, as the accused teacher had sex with her own son. Read the article below for more details.

A Tucson, Ariz., special education teacher faces sexual misconduct charges after police said she had a relationship with her own son.

Christine Mazzarella, 47, was booked this week in Pima County jail on four counts related to having sex with minor. Police told Tucson News Now that Mazzarella had sexual relations with her son on multiple occasions last July.

Mazzarella teaches at Lineweaver Elementary school in Tucson. Investigators do not believe she had inappropriate conduct with students at the school, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

Shantia Dennis, Woman Accused Of Selling Heroin In Happy Meals, 'Crushed' By Charges

This woman is charged with distributing heroin through the guise of Happy Meals. She had her "customers" utter a code word and allegedly had ten doses of heroin ready for distribution when authorities caught up with her. Read the article below for more information.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A woman charged with selling heroin hidden in Happy Meals when she worked for a Pittsburgh McDonalds is "emotionally crushed" by the charges.

But defense attorney David Shrager stopped short of denying the charges against 26-year-old Shantia Dennis, of East Pittsburgh.

Dennis' preliminary hearing was postponed Tuesday. 

Read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/shantia-dennis-heroin-happy-meals_n_4773533.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

Antonio Yarbough, Sharrif Wilson Exonerated For Triple Murder After Decades In Prison

This story shows that there are always two sides to every story, and illustrates the need for criminal defense attorneys. These boys were only teenagers when this happened and they were terrified. Their fear and naiveté caused them to go to jail for twenty one years, falsely convicted. Read the article below for more information.

Two Brooklyn men who spent more than two decades behind bars for murders they didn't commit were freed this week.

A Brooklyn district attorney decided that new DNA evidence called into question the convictions of Antonio Yarbough and Sharrif Wilson who were in prison for more than 21 years, according to CNN.

The pair were teens at the time they were convicted of the 1992 murders of Yarbough's mother, younger sister, and a cousin.

Yarbough discovered the three bloodied bodies of his loved ones and alerted police. Then cops asked him to come down to the station to help them figure out who killed his kin.

"Before you know it, I had this photograph shoved in my face, and I was being threatened and slapped around, and they wanted me to sign a false confession. And I wouldn't," Yarbough said.

Wilson was also brought in for questioning and, after being pressured, gave a false confession that also implicated Yarbough in the killings.

"I was scared, afraid; I was lied to, manipulated into believing that I was going to go home, if I do tell ... what they said happened." Wilson said.

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/09/brooklyn-men-exonerated_n_4755897.html?utm_hp_ref=crime 

Killing Of Houston Family Of Four Baffles Police

This is a baffling case, as they were a quiet family and seemed to keep to themselves. The police still haven't determined a motive or identified the bodies to the press. My thoughts go out to the family of these victims; it really is a senseless tragedy. Read the article for more information...

Police are baffled by the gunshot killings of a Houston-area family of four, including boys aged 7 and 9, as they lay in their beds.

One week ago, a husband and wife from China and their two sons were each discovered with at least one gunshot wound by Harris County sheriff's deputies, according to TV station KTRK.

The deputies entered the quiet suburban home on Jan. 27, TV station KHOU reported. Neighbors had spotted several broken windows and co-workers of the husband -- a mechanical engineer -- reported that he hadn't been to work in several days.

"It is baffling," said Harris County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Felipe Rivera, according to the Associated Press. "From all indications, they were a quiet family, they were the average family.

"I am bothered by the loss of life of two children."

The victims have not been officially identified because police were trying to contact next of kin. Nor has the sheriff's department publicly discussed a motive for the quadruple slayings.

Read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/05/houston-family-killed-police_n_4731169.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

Michael Worsham, Robbins Man, Shoots Wife And 2 Children To Death Before Dying Himself

This man was obviously unstable, though they can't figure out his motive yet. Read the article below for more details.

Updated story

Four people are dead after a father shot and killed his wife and son and then shot his daughter in the back as she ran from their suburban Chicago home Sunday night. A 14-year-old boy managed to escape with his 5-year-old nephew unharmed.

Police in the southwest suburb of Robbins, Ill. arrived to find a trail of blood at the front door and a family dead inside a home after they responded to a report of shots fired around 10:40 p.m. Sunday, CBS Chicago reports.

Officials say Michael Worsham, 43, carried out the brutal attack on his familybefore dying inside the home of a heart attack, WGN reports.

"I cannot imagine what could bring someone to such a dark place where the [sic] believe they need to take the lives of his whole family," Robbins Police Chief Mitchell Davis said at a Monday morning news conference according to the Tribune.

Police confirmed Worsham as the shooter and named his wife of 12 years, 42-year-old Michele Ollie, and their children, Steven, 17 and Trisdion, 15, as the deceased, according to ABC Chicago.

Read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/michael-worsham-robbins_n_4717886.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

Amanda Knox 'Saddened' By Guilty Verdict

The sentencing in the Amanda Knox trial is a shock for some, while others feel it is justified. There still remains a lack of evidence against Knox. Read the article for a full explanation of the entire situation.

Amanda Knox said Thursday she is "frightened and saddened" by the guilty verdict handed down Thursday in the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher.

"Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system," Knox said in a statement provided to The Huffington Post by her spokesman, David Marriott.

"The evidence and accusatory theory do not justify a verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," the statement continues. "Rather, nothing has changed. There has always been a marked lack of evidence. My family and I have suffered greatly from this wrongful persecution."

Knox said it's also important to recognize that there is no consolation for the Kercher family. "Their grief over Meredith's terrible murder will follow them forever," she said. "They deserve respect and support."

Thursday's verdict followed a four-month trial, the result of prosecutors' request for a new trial after a prior guilty verdict against Knox was overturned.

Anne Bremner, a Seattle attorney and spokesperson for the Friends of Amanda Knox organization, said she is shocked. "I and the Friends of Amanda Knox are confident that if the facts had been fairly viewed, [she would have] been acquitted. There is no justice ... in Italy in this case."

Moments after the verdict was announced by an Italian court, thousands took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the matter.

Read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/30/amanda-knox-verdict-reaction_n_4697609.html?utm_hp_ref=crime