The 18 months leading up to the Dadeland Mall Massacre set the tone for what was to come. If the Dadeland Mall Massacre was the tipping point that took Miami and Dade County into Cocaine Cowboy overdrive, the writing was on the wall when it happened. Coke was officially big business and South Florida was
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The brazen robbery of drug kingpin German Jimenez Panesso’s Miami home in the spring of 1978 set off a chain of events eventually resulting in the infamous Dadeland Mall Massacre in nearby Kendall, Florida over a year later. Panesso, 37, and his bodyguard Juan Carlos Hernandez, 22, were gunned down at Dadeland Mall’s Crown Liquors
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Drugs, guns, money and a monster black market economy proved an explosive combination in Miami of the 1980s. Narco czars representing different South American cartels made South Florida both their lavish playground and body-splattered battle field.  Last week was the 40-year anniversary of the infamous Dadeland Mall Massacre, a brazen double homicide carried out in broad
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Historians trace the birth of the entire crazy “Cocaine Cowboys Era” in South Florida to a single event: the headline-grabbing Dadeland Mall Massacre on July 11, 1979 where two Miami drug world figures were slain in a Wild-West style shootout in the upscale mall’s liquor store. The audacious gangland hit foreshadowed a coming decade marked
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The Indianapolis underworld was shaken to its core by the emergence of Richard (Ricky Rich) Grundy and his Circle City “Mob Family” this past decade. Taking Hoosierland by storm in the early 2010s, the Grundy crew left a trail of bodies in its wake on the way to cementing a place for itself on the
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July 11, 2019 — Ricky Rich is known around the Circle City for his luck, having a knack for avoiding death from his enemies on the street and long sentences behind bars from his foes in law enforcement. His rivals in the drug world have a half-million dollar bounty on his head. The government has
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When Bonanno crime family don Carmine “The Cigar” Galante declared himself the so-called “capo di tutti i capis,” or “boss of bosses” of the New York underworld, the mafia’s ruling body declared him a dead man walking. On the sweltering-hot afternoon of July 12, 1979, the 69-year old Galante and two of his men were
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Demetrius (Big Meech) Flenory took his Black Mafia Family to epic heights: from the streets of Detroit down to Atlanta and from coast to coast. New York to L.A., the names Big Meech and BMF rang loud as could be across the United States in the early 2000s. BMF was unlike any other African-American criminal
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July 6, 2019 — Detroit mob luminary Antonino (Tony Cigars) Ruggirello died this week of natural causes. The 85-year old Ruggirello was a crew boss in the Tocco-Zerilli crime family for decades and had been acting in an advisory capacity to mafia administrators in the Motor City during his final years, per sources. His father,
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July 5, 2019 — His drug dealing days appear to be behind him. Sketchy real estate deals, those might be another story. Back in the 1980s, Sylvester (Seal) Murray was one of the biggest drug world figures in Detroit, Michigan, a high-ranking lieutenant in Young Boys, Incorporated (“YBI”), the most impactful and infamous of the city’s
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July 3, 2019 – Veteran Philadelphia mobster Salvatore (Shotsie) Sparacio died in prison recently, the owner of a dubious distinction. The 96-year old Sparacio passed away late last year as the oldest inmate residing in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He was convicted of racketeering in November 1995 at age 72 and lived out of the remainder
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Philadelphia mob captain Santo (Chester Sam) Idone had his tenure as a mafia administrator derailed by a dispute with New York’s Gambino Crime Family over a video poker machine, snippets of which were caught on tape by the FBI for posterity. Idone, who led a Philly mafia crew out of Delaware County, Pennsylvania for two
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The sexy and seductive Harlem gun moll Beverly (Shamecca) Ash was at the center of a romantic feud that pitted legendary New York crime lord Nicky Barnes versus his protege in the drug game Guy Fisher. The fallout from the bad blood crashed Barnes’ Black mob ruling body known as “The Council” which operated in
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June 27, 2019 — Jimmy Hoffa doesn’t appear to have been laid to rest in Hillsdale, Michigan. A search for the remains of the slain Teamsters boss by the Michigan State Police last week at a parcel of property in southern Michigan once owned by a family member of a known mob capo came up
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June 23, 2019 — The Michigan State Police searched a property in Hillsdale County, Michigan for the remains of iconic slain labor leader Jimmy Hoffa last week. The search is the latest in a long line of digs and property surveys hoping to unearth the bones of the former Teamsters union boss and mob associate,
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Detroit mobster John (Johnny Bananas) Sciarrotta was recently busted in a federal drug sting and is facing a maximum 20 years in prison as punishment due to his checkered rap sheet. The 63-year old wiseguy and three others were arrested in Canton, Michigan back in March for trying to purchase $300,000 worth of cocaine from
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June 20, 2019 — According to sources, when Chicago mobster Albert (Albie the Falcon) Vena was promoted to Outfit street boss four years ago, he was allowed to staff his own cabinet. These sources say James (Jimmy I) Inendino has acted in the capacity as Vena’s underboss and Joe (The Builder) Andriacchi has served as
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Chicago mob soldier Robert (Bobby Pinocchio) Panozzo pleaded guilty to a single count of federal extortion this week out of U.S. District Court in Rockford, Illinois. Panozzo, a member of the Outfit’s Grand Avenue crew, is already serving an 18-year sentence in state prison for racketeering and faces up to a 14-year term, most likely
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June 19, 2019 — Two men in Clarksville, Tennessee were gunned down in the parking lot of a Longhorn Steakhouse location earlier this month after getting into a verbal altercation with members of the local Outlaws Motorcycle Club chapter inside the restaurant witnessed by the city’s sitting mayor. Tennessee Outlaw Michael (Mike the Hulk) Craft
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June 17, 2019 — Philadelphia mob figure Joseph (Joey Electric) Servidio pleaded guilty to narcotics trafficking charges in federal court this week. Local mobologist Dave Schratwieser was the first to report the plea deal on his social media accounts on Monday afternoon. The 59-year old Servidio was popped in the spring of 2018 for pushing
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Pagan’s Motorcycle Club boss Steve (Gorilla) Mondevergine survived an assassination attempt 20 years ago this summer when a beef between Mondevergine’s Philadelphia Pagan’s and the 10th and O Gang, an independent mob ring that has long operated in South Philly, erupted into a brief shooting war. Mondevergine was shot eight times at close range in
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Gangster Report correspondent Dave McEvers reports on a generational divide in Chicago’s Black Disciples street gang and an accompanying gangland assassination that took place back in the winter on the Windy City’s south side. November 13, 1989 was an unseasonably warm day for Chicago, temperatures reaching close to 70 degrees by the afternoon and matching
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June 15, 2019 — The Gorilla has climbed his way back to the top of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club in Philadelphia. Famous biker boss Steve (Gorilla) Mondevergine was reinstalled as president of Philly’s Pagan’s chapter in recent years, according to the new episode of Mob Talk on Youtube hosted by award-winning Philly crime reporters Dave
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The upper crust of the Detroit mob gathered at a plush hunting lodge near Ann Arbor 40 years ago this week to officially anoint Giacomo (Black Jack) Tocco the new boss of the Tocco-Zerilli crime family. And how do we know that? The FBI was on hand to snap photos. It was the first and
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The month-long trial of Detroiters George (G.G.) Rider, Marcie Griffin and Eric Gibson for the 2017 murder of Julii Johnson ended late last week with guilty verdicts across the board in Macomb County Circuit Court. The verdicts bring the curtain down on an intricate and compelling saga of a lover scorned on a rampage of
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June 8, 2029 — New York gangland legend Nicky Barnes died seven years ago and it was just revealed this weekend by The New York Times. The storied and famously dapper drug kingpin ran the Harlem heroin trade in the 1970s, heading a consortium of African-American crime bosses known as, “The Council.” Barnes succumbed to
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June 1, 2019 – Retired Detroit mafia figure Joseph (Joe Hooks) Mirabile died recently of natural causes having avoided many of the pitfalls that come with being part of the “Life.” He took his last breath six weeks ago at home surrounded by family, free from the constraints of the federal governments for the last
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May 31, 2019 — According to an initial Michigan State Police lab report, convicted Detroit drug dealer Jimmy Lattner’s DNA was on the murder weapon tied to the killing of his girlfriend Julii Johnson on the morning of January 13, 2017 in front of his residence in Warren, Michigan. A second test of the 9
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May 30, 2019 — Frank Lucas, the Harlem drug lord of the early 1970s portrayed on the big screen by Oscar-winner Denzel Washington in the 2007 film American Gangster, died of natural causes this week at 88 years old. At the peak of his power, Lucas sat atop the Harlem heroin trade, making millions of
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Detroit’s almost-mythic Murder Row Gang has received some fresh ink this month. The mafia-supported drug trafficking organization and hit-for-hire crew hasn’t been active in more than 30 years, but made quite the impact in their gangland heyday of the late 1970s, building a mystique and mammoth reputation that still resonates on the streets of Motown
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New York mafia don Joseph (Joe Bananas) Bonanno sent his criminal empire into chaos in the early 1960s when he unsuccessfully plotted to murder three rival mob bosses and take total control of the Five Families. The Commission found out about Bonanno’s plans and deposed him, naming capo Gaspar DiGregorio his replacement. Bonanno retreated to
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May 24, 2019 — Aryan Brotherhood leader Thomas (Terrible Tom) Silverstein, one of the most infamous men in the American prison system for the past four decades, died of heart failure behind bars this month in Colorado at 67. Terrible Tom spent 35 straight years in solitary confinement after killing four people as a part of
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Philadelphia mob captain Anthony Staino was released early from prison this month after serving six years of an eight-year sentence courtesy of a federal racketeering conviction. Award-winning investigative reporter and Bruno-Scarfo crime family insider Dave Schrawieser broke the news of Staino’s return home to New Jersey on his social media accounts Tuesday. The 62-year old
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Police in suburban Detroit first had convicted drug dealer Jimmy Lattner as the prime suspect in the 2017 murder of his girlfriend, Julii Johnson, before eventually charging Lattner’s ex-girlfriend and two others, per sources, in a case that will finally make it in front of a jury this week in Macomb County Circuit Court. Lattner
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Alleged Chicago mob street boss Albert (Albie the Falcon) Vena was found not guilty of murdering low-ranking Northside crew member Sam (Needles) Taglia at an April 1995 bench trial in Cook County Circuit Court in front of Judge James Flannery, Jr. That’s one homicide he no longer has to worry about. On the other hand,
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According to sources, the 1985 murder of Chicago mobster and porn king Patrick (Patsy Rich) Ricciardi is one of the many cold-case gangland hits being probed in an ongoing federal racketeering investigation of current Outfit leaders. The long-gestating inquiry’s principle target is alleged to be reputed Grand Avenue crew chief and overall street boss Albert
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The Gangster Report welcomes contributor Ricardo Ferrell from Detroit. May 15, 2019 The long anticipated murder trial of George G. Rider is slated to begin this week in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, just outside of Detroit. There have been numerous postponements and delays in the high-profile case charging Rider and two
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A new book titled Down The Rat Hole (www.tacabusbooks.com) by a retired U.S. Treasury Agent dissecting a cold-case mob triple-murder from suburban Detroit, Michigan, known as the Time Realty Massacre, provides critical fresh insight on the brutal slayings and pokes holes in past theories surrounding the motive. Detroit bookie Eugene (Gino) Mancen, his best friend
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There are members of law enforcement that think it’s possible the 2016 torture-murder of Chicago area businessman Jim Gerage was mob related. Two sources in different branches of law enforcement told Gangster Report that they view the Gerage homicide as having hallmarks of a mob hit. Gerage’s beaten and battered body was found set ablaze
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Heavily-feared Chicago mafia figure Charles (Chuckie the Electrician) Russell is on his last legs. The 70-year old Grand Avenue crew gangster who is out on bail awaiting sentencing on a weapons conviction has been moved to a hospice facility, per sources. Russell’s brother-in-law is Grand Avenue capo and alleged Outfit street boss Albert (Albie the
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Former Mexican Mafia hit man Rene (Boxer) Enriquez once again had his hopes for freedom dashed last week when Governor of California Gavin Newsom overturned his parole, deeming Enriquez, locked up since 1990, still a danger to society. Enriquez has been granted parole four different times in the last five years, but in each instance
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In a murder case out of suburban Detroit, Michigan hampered by conflicts of interests and a deluge of delays, the name you hear least and who the government has no direct evidence connecting him in any way to the crime, may be the person driving the whole prosecution. According to sources, law enforcement in Motown
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Led by the violent and ambitious Jimmy Coonan, The Westies was New York’s Irish mob of the late 1970s and 1980s. Backed by the Italian Gambino crime family, the Westies turned Hell’s Kitchen upside down, flooding the streets with massive amounts of narcotics, murder and mayhem. While latter-era Irish crime lords from Hell’s Kitchen like
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His last name couldn’t get him out of trouble anymore. Those days were long gone. Pretty-boy Toronto mob prince Domenic Racco, 34, met his end on a desolate railway track in Milton, Ontario on the night of December 9, 1983, shot five times in the head, neck and chest after tempting fate one too many
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The “Bombing Baker,” Tony Musitano passed away peacefully in Ontario, Canada this week at 72 with little fireworks or fanfare. The Hamilton mafia figure served seven years in prison (1983-1990) for staging a bombing campaign in an effort to extort a string of bakeries and playing a role from behind bars in the murder conspiracy
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Montreal mobster Jonathan (Jonny the Kid) Mignacca was granted a full parole last week from a stint in prison for reckless discharge of a firearm. The 34-year old Mignacca, once the driver and bodyguard for renegade Canadian mafia leader Raynald Desjardins, served three and a half years behind bars before being sent to a halfway
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The state of Connecticut has always been open mob territory, “no man’s land,” meaning it doesn’t belong to one single crime family. Several different mafia syndicates from all along the East Coast have had a presence in the state for decades, including the Genovese (NY), the Colombos (NY), the Gambinos (NY), the DeCalvacantes (NJ) and
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Derrick (Big 38) Crumpton, the former boss of the Gangster Disciples in Tennessee, was slapped with a 27-year federal prison sentence for narcotics trafficking and racketeering last week in Memphis. If he had been convicted, he could have gotten life. The case was known as “Operation 38 Special.” When Crumpton was arrested three years ago,
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The man claiming to be the inspiration for the hit television show Empire died of natural causes in California last month. Ron Newt, a flamboyant pimp turned aspiring music impresario, passed away at 69 on March 11. Running a gang and a prostitution ring out of San Francisco in the 1970s and 80s, Newt eventually
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The senseless murder of on-the-rise L.A. rap star Nipsey Hussle this week tragically places the beloved, Grammy-nominated MC on a growing list of California hip hop artists who have died in gangland-style slayings. There have been five murders of West Coast rappers in the past four years. Below is a breakdown of every Cali killing
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