Racketeering

A federal law often used to attack organized crime syndicates and interstate business scams has been leveled by a Chicago-area pizzeria owner against village officials he thinks are making a grab for his land. Tod Curtis has launched a civil racketeering lawsuit aimed at Mt. Prospect Mayor Irvana Wilks, other municipal employees and local real estate developer Errol Oztekin, alleging that they have formed an "ongoing enterprise and scheme" for nearly a decade to force him out of Ye Olde Town Inn, which he has owned for 41 years.

Former Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), who gained national attention after federal agents found $90,000 in his freezer, was convicted Wednesday of political corruption. Jefferson, 62, was found guilty in federal court in Alexandria, Va., of 11 of 16 criminal counts including bribery, racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud. He faces more than 20 years in prison. "We have been reminded today that we are a nation of laws and not men," said Dana J. Boente, U.S.

Federal authorities on Wednesday announced the arrests of 11 additional members of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens street gang, which is at the center of a massive racketeering case dubbed Operation Knock Out. At least 16 members and associates from other gangs wanted on state and federal charges were also taken into custody in what federal officials said was the second phase of the operation.

Former Mongols motorcycle gang leader Ruben "Doc" Cavazos faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to a single racketeering charge among 86 counts accusing gang members of murder, assault, robbery and drug-trafficking, court documents show. The plea deal between Cavazos and the U.S.

Shackled and sitting at the front of a courtroom, Alex Sanchez looked on with somber eyes as the judge called him a danger to society and a potential flight risk. The anti-gang worker who could face life in prison if convicted in a federal case was ordered held without bail. Outside the courthouse, dozens of Sanchez supporters -- clergy, professors, lawyers, community organizers and youths from Latino, black and Asian communities -- pleaded for his freedom.

A federal judge on Tuesday denied bail to a nationally known gang interventionist who was arrested last week on federal racketeering and conspiracy charges. Judge Alicia G. Rosenberg said Alex Sanchez, the executive director of Homies Unidos, poses a risk to the community. Sanchez, who has been praised for his role as a charismatic peacemaker among Los Angeles gangs, is accused of conspiring with fellow gang members to kill a man in El Salvador, as well as other crimes. Federal prosecutors said Sanchez had duped the community while leading a double life as a gang leader.

A nationally known anti-gang activist was arrested Wednesday on federal racketeering and conspiracy charges stemming from his alleged involvement in one of the most violent street gangs in the United States. Alex Sanchez, executive director of Homies Unidos, a gang-intervention nonprofit with offices in Los Angeles and El Salvador, was among two dozen alleged members or associates of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, also known as MS-13, charged in a 66-page indictment that was unsealed Wednesday.

The case of the shattered windshield, a dead fish and a rose is finally moving forward. Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and his alleged hired hand, Alexander Proctor, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that they threatened reporter Anita Busch in 2002 to scare her off a story. Pellicano and Proctor, both 65, were charged four years ago in the threat on Busch's life.

George Torres' future looked pretty bleak: The supermarket mogul had been stripped of his riches by government prosecutors, convicted in a massive racketeering case and was awaiting a potential life sentence in federal prison. But in a stunning reversal of fortune Tuesday, the government released its grip on Torres' assets, a judge tossed out the most serious convictions against him, and he was ordered set free -- at least for now. The turnaround came after prosecutors in the U.S.

Bank of America Corp. has lost a bid to dismiss most of a combined lawsuit accusing its Countrywide unit of steering borrowers into subprime and other high-risk mortgages during the housing boom. In a May 18 ruling, U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego said borrowers represented in several lawsuits could pursue claims that Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. engaged in racketeering and unfair business practices before it was acquired by Charlotte, N.C.-based BofA.