Organized Crime United States

In the dead of night, a man pulled his van into a driveway in a peaceful Santa Clarita neighborhood and quietly opened a multimillion-dollar stash house for one of the most violent drug cartels in Mexico. He had picked a neat two-story home in Valencia to store millions in income from drug deals before the money was shipped to Mexico.

The U.S. Justice Department is issuing stricter guidelines for handling underworld informants--rules prompted by embarrassing allegations that FBI agents in Boston were overly cozy with mobsters. The guidelines, expected to be approved this week, will require department agencies to tell prosecutors when informants are suspected of committing serious crimes, U.S. Atty. Donald Stern said. The FBI's policy has been to zealously guard informants' identities from outside agencies.

Mexican authorities say a suspected gunman for the Tijuana drug cartel, slain in a Thanksgiving Day attack on a Tijuana journalist, may have been a member of the California prison-based Mexican Mafia. The involvement of David Barron Corona in the assassination attempt on editor Jesus Blancornelas was the latest twist in a series of cross-border crimes that underscore the transnational character of the drug empire allegedly run by the Arellano Felix brothers, U.S. and Mexican federal sources say.

In the dead of night, a man pulled his van into a driveway in a peaceful Santa Clarita neighborhood and quietly opened a multimillion-dollar stash house for one of the most violent drug cartels in Mexico. He had picked a neat two-story home in Valencia to store millions in income from drug deals before the money was shipped to Mexico.

Drug cartels are not the only criminal enterprises to employ money-laundering services. Take the case of the Gambino crime family. Two of its reputed high-ranking members are accused of trying to launder more than $30 million in stolen and counterfeit checks. Before their arrests, they told confederates the money was to help finance imprisoned mob boss John Gotti's legal appeals.

Federal agents Tuesday announced the arrests of three reputed leaders and 15 members of the Genovese organized crime family--the nation's most powerful Mafia group--on charges ranging from murder to gambling. A 60-count indictment, obtained after a two-year investigation, charged a dozen of the defendants with 31 separate acts of racketeering. Five members were charged in two murders--including the execution of one mob member they believed was a government informant.

Andrey Kuznetsov made his way in just two years from a dank cell in a Soviet prison camp to the glamour of the Beverly Hills art scene. Dashingly handsome, he seemed to always have a beautiful woman on his arm, a champagne glass in his hand and a scheme to make a million dollars overnight. Ten weeks ago, one of those illegal schemes got Kuznetsov, 28, killed.

House Panel Warned About Money Laundering: Organized crime in the banking system, including money laundering and other financial scams, is raising national security and foreign policy concerns, witnesses told the House Banking Committee. Money laundering--used by drug dealers and other criminals to deposit illegal profits--now moves as much as $500 billion through the system annually.

Asserting that organized crime wants to regain influence at the Teamsters Union, a senior Justice Department official asked Congress to continue funding the government's oversight of the union's election. Acting Assistant Atty. Gen. John Keeney defended the $17.5 million the government spent on the 1996 election and urged House Republicans to drop opposition to a request for $7.4 million to underwrite a rerun ordered after Teamsters President Ron Carey's victory was overturned.

The U.S. Justice Department is issuing stricter guidelines for handling underworld informants--rules prompted by embarrassing allegations that FBI agents in Boston were overly cozy with mobsters. The guidelines, expected to be approved this week, will require department agencies to tell prosecutors when informants are suspected of committing serious crimes, U.S. Atty. Donald Stern said. The FBI's policy has been to zealously guard informants' identities from outside agencies.

A Phoenix judge denied a request to drop drug charges against Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano after lawyers argued the former mob hit man was arrested without a proper warrant and was denied an attorney at his initial hearing. Attorney Larry Hammond made the arguments during a bond hearing for Gravano, who was arrested Feb. 24 and charged with involvement in an Ecstasy-selling ring.

Former Mafia hit man Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano--whose testimony helped send crime boss John Gotti to prison for life--was arrested Thursday in Phoenix for his role in allegedly financing a drug ring that supplied the drug Ecstasy to the area's burgeoning "rave" scene, police said. Gravano and his wife, daughter and son were among 35 people arrested in early-morning raids around the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the famed New York mob underboss-turned-informer, is making a new life in Phoenix with no fears that his former Mafia compatriots will come seeking revenge. Since leaving the federal witness protection program, Gravano has a business, a publicist and a lawyer. In a rare interview, Gravano told the Arizona Republic that he feels safe because he's become pals with FBI agents and U.S. marshals, who visit and talk with him by phone.

Mexican authorities say a suspected gunman for the Tijuana drug cartel, slain in a Thanksgiving Day attack on a Tijuana journalist, may have been a member of the California prison-based Mexican Mafia. The involvement of David Barron Corona in the assassination attempt on editor Jesus Blancornelas was the latest twist in a series of cross-border crimes that underscore the transnational character of the drug empire allegedly run by the Arellano Felix brothers, U.S. and Mexican federal sources say.

Asserting that organized crime wants to regain influence at the Teamsters Union, a senior Justice Department official asked Congress to continue funding the government's oversight of the union's election. Acting Assistant Atty. Gen. John Keeney defended the $17.5 million the government spent on the 1996 election and urged House Republicans to drop opposition to a request for $7.4 million to underwrite a rerun ordered after Teamsters President Ron Carey's victory was overturned.

Federal agents Tuesday announced the arrests of three reputed leaders and 15 members of the Genovese organized crime family--the nation's most powerful Mafia group--on charges ranging from murder to gambling. A 60-count indictment, obtained after a two-year investigation, charged a dozen of the defendants with 31 separate acts of racketeering. Five members were charged in two murders--including the execution of one mob member they believed was a government informant.

A Phoenix judge denied a request to drop drug charges against Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano after lawyers argued the former mob hit man was arrested without a proper warrant and was denied an attorney at his initial hearing. Attorney Larry Hammond made the arguments during a bond hearing for Gravano, who was arrested Feb. 24 and charged with involvement in an Ecstasy-selling ring.

Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, the famed New York mob underboss-turned-informer, is making a new life in Phoenix with no fears that his former Mafia compatriots will come seeking revenge. Since leaving the federal witness protection program, Gravano has a business, a publicist and a lawyer. In a rare interview, Gravano told the Arizona Republic that he feels safe because he's become pals with FBI agents and U.S. marshals, who visit and talk with him by phone.

House Panel Warned About Money Laundering: Organized crime in the banking system, including money laundering and other financial scams, is raising national security and foreign policy concerns, witnesses told the House Banking Committee. Money laundering--used by drug dealers and other criminals to deposit illegal profits--now moves as much as $500 billion through the system annually.

It was a check forgery case that brought deputies to the quiet Rowland Heights cul-de-sac. But what they found at the home of Ming Chin Jin and his wife, Pifen Lo, was $400,000 worth of counterfeit copies of Microsoft's Encarta '95 CD-ROM encyclopedia and 48,000 fake holograms from China.