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Topic: The Prosecutor, the Feds, the Mob and Aladdin Casino
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Zerilli had been able to cover his tracks until then. Contractors had to pay the street taxes or get beaten.

It was a Saginaw case that caught Giacalone in extortion. The nephew of Tony Jack was William (Billy Lee) Loicano who watched over the tri city gambling and loan sharking business of his uncle and Anthony (Tony the Bull) Corrado, Billy Lee was said to have killed numbers runners who failed to pay tribute.

Contractor Tony Dambro agreed to sell Billy Lee a liquor license and construct a pasta house in Saginaw. When Billy lee refused to pay, Dambro filed a lawsuit. Billy Lee made multiple threats to kill Damro over the lawsuit. Frightened Dambro dropped the lawsuit. In a bold move Tony jack shows up at Dambros home and demands $100,000 to drop the multiple hits placed on Dambro. Dambro paid and then called the FBI.

The arrest was in late 1978 and the crew was convicted in 1980.

The 1996 cases listed crimes going back over 20 years and included conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, bookkeeping, loan sharking,attempting to gain from a hidden interest in Nevada casinos.
Post Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:54 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

58 IN MICHIGAN HELD IN BIG GAMBLING RAID

SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMESMAY 12, 1970
Continue reading the main story

DETRIOT, May 11 (AP)— More than 200 F.B.I. agents staged a series of raids in Detroit and Flint, Mich., today in an effort to smash what Federal officials described as a numbers operation with a daily handle of $250,000.

Fifty‐eight persons were arrested and several others were still being sought in what Attorney General John N. Mitchell described as the largest Federal gambling raid in history.

The Federal bureau of Investigation said the raids had been conducted simultaneously over a five‐hour period at 58 locations it the Detroit and Flint areas, Agents confiscated adding machines, cash num bers slips, tally sheets, files, firearms ah F.B.I. spokesman said.

Those arrested were taken before United States Commissioner Warren Kraypohl for arraignment on charges of violating and conspiring to violate provisions of the Interstate Tranasportation in Aid of Racketeering Law.

J. Edgar Hoover, F.B.I. director, said conviction under any of the charges against those ar rested could result in an penalty of five years imprisonment, a $10,000 fine or both.
The article as it originally appeared.
May 12, 1970, Page 32 The New York Times Archives
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

The Gangster Report

MLB ALL TIME GREAT DIZZY DEAN, EDDIE KARAM LINKED TO SAME DETROIT MOB CASE
Scott BurnsteinDetroit and Featured and Mafia and Mafia Insider and Midwest and SportsdetroitDetroit LionsDetroit mafiadetroit mobDizzy Dean
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What do imprisoned Detroit mafia associate Mitchell (Steady Eddie) Karam and St. Louis Cardinals legend and MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Jerome (Dizzy) Dean have in common? They were both unindicted co-conspirators in a big 1970 Motor City mob gambling bust, which nailed major Michigan underworld figures, Donald (Donnie Dice) Dawson and Jack (Fat Jackie) Lucido. An unindicted coconspirator is a person the grand jury considers a part of the illegal activity taking place, but doesn’t think there is enough hard evidence against them to earn an eventual conviction.



The colorful and universally-popular Dizzy Dean, 60 years old and a television broadcaster at the time of the February 1970 federal indictment, died of natural causes in Nevada four years later. He sternly denied any links to organized crime in his comments to the press following the news breaking of his ties to the case.

Dawson was a renowned point-spread manipulator in his day. Karam, who learned the tricks of the sports-fix trade from the “Dice Man,” is expected to be sentenced to six years behind bars for his role in masterminding the University of Toledo football and basketball point-shaving scam at the end of the month. That federal indictment came down in 2009 and he pled guilty in 2013. His co-ring leader in the game-fixing operation, Gary (the Cigarette) Manni, was slapped with a six-year term Tuesday. Steady Eddie has been incarcerated on horserace-fixing and bank fraud charges since 2012.

The 58-year old Manni, already serving time for a food-stamp scam being run out of his family-owned grocery store and illegal firearm-and-weapons possession, and Karam, 84, both spawn from the large contingent of Middle-Eastern hoodlums conducting business in the Detroit area. Manni (Iraqi) got his start in the rackets as Karam’s driver. Karam (half-Iraqi-half Lebanese) has allegedly been a part of the Detroit mafia’s notorious Giacalone crew for the last three and a half decades, per sources. Before his incarceration, he had been developing real estate.

Back as an aspiring wiseguy in the 1960s, Karam was schooled by Dice Dawson.

Possibly the largest bookmaker in the whole Midwest when the 1970 indictment was filed and definitely the most prolific handicapper in the state of Michigan, Dawson was an expert game-fixer dating back to the early 1950s. Lucido, tagged by prosecutors as Dawson’s No. 2 in charge of the multi-million-dollar-a-year sports book, would go on to become a capo in the Detroit crime family in the years after the bust. Both pled guilty in the case.

Elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1953, Dean was known as a heavy gambler in his days as an All-Star pitcher. While the ace of the Cardinals’ vaunted “Gashouse Gang” of the 1930s, winning MVP of the National League and guiding the franchise to a Word Series championship in 1934. Dean led the “Bigs” in strikeouts four separate seasons and racked up 150 total wins. His jersey No. 17 was retired by the St. Louis organization upon him dying in 1974.

He had some reputed demons though. MLB Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis was so worried about Dean’s gambling habits at the peak of his career in the mid-to-late 1930s, he hired a former FBI agent to keep tabs on him off the field, per court records connected to the gambling case in 1970.

The FBI raided the residences of Dean, Dawson, Lucido and Karam on New Year’s Day 1970. Dean was living in a Las Vegas hotel, the rest in Metro Detroit. Dizzy’s nephew, Paul Dean, Jr. the son of his baby brother, fellow Gas House Gang hurler Paul (Daffy) Dean, was also named an unindicted coconspirator in the case. The indictment alleged Dizzy delivered a $6,000 payoff from a Lansing, Michigan businessman and political powerbroker to the mob in Detroit. According to sources in federal law enforcement close to the investigation, Dizzy cooperated with authorities to avoid being indicted.

The same week the indictment hit in February, Detroit Tigers’ All-Star Pitcher and Cy Young-winner Denny McClain was suspended by MLB for his connection to an underworld gambling ring in Flint, Michigan, a smoky factory town 45 miles north of the Motor City. Rackets in the Flint area were overseen by the Ruggirello brothers (Luigi aka “Louie the Bulldog” and Antonino, Jr. aka “Tony the Exterminator”) in the 1970s. The Ruggirello’s were sent away to prison later on in the decade for attempting to blow-up a renegade numbers operator in a car bomb.

McClain had a Sports Illustrated article in early 1970 tie his foot injury that caused him to miss a key chunk of the 1967 A.L. pennant race to a physical confrontation with Detroit mafia capo Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone over McClain’s unpaid gambling debts. Dean and McClain are the last two MLB pitchers to win 30 games in a single season in the “the Show,” – Dean in the N.L. in 1934, McClain in the A.L. in 1968.

The 1970 indictment brought an end to the gangland career of Dice Dawson, a legendary bookie and king of the point-shave. This is the man that a young Steady Eddie studied under to learn how to fix professional sporting events. Unlike his student, Dawson never got arrested for it. He did like to boast about it though.

In an interview with award-winning author Dan Moldea for Moldea’s book “Interference — How Organized Crime Influences Pro Football” (1989), Dawson admitted to coordinating point-shaving schemes in more than 30 NFL games throughout the 1950s and 60s. His friendships with NFL Hall of Fame quarterbacks Bobby Layne and Len Dawson raised eyebrows in the league office. Dice Dawson admitted to using Layne to fix Detroit Lions games in the 1950s. Len Dawson (no relation to Dice) had his name surface as part of the feds case in Detroit in 1970, pegged a major gambler with the Kansas City mafia in the Missouri area where Dice Dawson held additional interests in gambling operations. Lions Hall of Fame defensive lineman and future Hollywood actor Alex Karras’ season-long suspension by the NFL in 1963 was partially linked to his association to Dice Dawson.

Karras and Layne were often observed in Dice Dawson’s company at Dawson’s restaurant headquarters, The Fox and Hounds, in the heart of swanky Bloomfield Hills, a suburb less than 10 miles outside of Detroit and home to large, neatly-preened estate upon estate of auto executives, CEOs and the old-money manor born. By the late 1950s, Dawson was spending so much time at the restaurant and high-end cocktail lounge, he bought it.

Built in 1927 at the corner of Long Lake Road and Woodward Avenue, throughout its 80-year existence, the castle-shaped Fox and Hounds was a dining staple for high society in Southeastern Michigan. Closing its doors in 2007, the posh restaurant and its grounds have since been transformed into a strip mall.

Born and raised in Detroit, Dawson’s dad owned a string of Chevrolet car dealerships and through business his dad did with the Lions organization he got a job as a ball boy for the pro football franchise as a teenager. Local street lore traces his nickname, “Dice,” to his prowess shooting craps with the players on the team bus and in the locker room. For decades, the Lions held their summer training camp at Cranbrook Kingswood, an east coast-style prep school, a half-mile down the road from The Fox and Hounds, where players as far back as the 1930s used to congregate for long hours of drinking and carousing.

Attending college at Holy Cross and then serving in the Marine Corps in World War II, Dawson returned home to the Motor City after his time in the military to take a job selling cars at one of his father’s dealerships. Within months, he was gravitating towards members of organized crime and in the late 1940s began work as a bookie under the auspice of Fat Jackie Lucido’s uncle and surrogate dad, Salvatore (Sammy Lou) Lucido and Billy Giacalone, the pair of men in charge of all sports gambling for the mob in the Detroit area in the mid-to-late 20th Century. He quickly rose in the ranks to being the most influential and successful bookmaker in Michigan with a stable of mafia goons and no-neck thugs at his disposal for collection and intimidation purposes.

When he was arrested in 1970 along with nine others (added to the five unindicted co-conspirators), the U.S Department of Justice hailed the bust as taking down “one of the biggest and most influential bookmaking rings and bookmakers in the country.” Serving nearly eight years in prison, Dawson was released in 1978 and retired to Las Vegas, allegedly living off his previously-garnered illegal earnings until the day he died of old age in 2012.

Fat Jack Lucido assumed command of Sammy Lou’s crew upon Sammy Lou’s passing in 1985. He died himself in 1995 under federal indictment for a gambling and racketeering case he got hit with two years prior.
Post Sat Oct 29, 2016 4:11 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Flint is usually left out of the mafia sagas. Prosecutor Leonard often spoke of Denny McClain and his visits to Flint.

This story repeats the story of the Ruggirello Brothers and mentions an underworld gambling ring in Flint, Michigan Once again Flint was either smog filled or smoky factory town.


"The same week the indictment hit in February, Detroit Tigers’ All-Star Pitcher and Cy Young-winner Denny McClain was suspended by MLB for his connection to an underworld gambling ring in Flint, Michigan, a smoky factory town 45 miles north of the Motor City. Rackets in the Flint area were overseen by the Ruggirello brothers (Luigi aka “Louie the Bulldog” and Antonino, Jr. aka “Tony the Exterminator”) in the 1970s. The Ruggirello’s were sent away to prison later on in the decade for attempting to blow-up a renegade numbers operator in a car bomb.

McClain had a Sports Illustrated article in early 1970 tie his foot injury that caused him to miss a key chunk of the 1967 A.L. pennant race to a physical confrontation with Detroit mafia capo Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone over McClain’s unpaid gambling debts. Dean and McClain are the last two MLB pitchers to win 30 games in a single season in the “the Show,” – Dean in the N.L. in 1934, McClain in the A.L. in 1968.'
Post Sat Oct 29, 2016 4:18 pm 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Chaldean 'Godfather' and former Oakland County restaurateur's parole rescinded WITH VIDEO
By SCOTT M. BURNSTEIN
POSTED: 05/15/12, 12:01 AM EDT | UPDATED: ON 05/15/2012 0 COMMENTS
Louis Akrawi and his family might have thought someone was playing a cruel joke on them.

However, what has happened to Akrawi is no joke.

It's a stark and somewhat confusing reality.

A Chaldean refugee from Iraq who fled Baghdad and the personal wrath of Saddam Hussein, eventually landing in Metro Detroit in the spring of 1968, Akrawi -- described in federal records as the one-time "Godfather" of the area's vast Chaldean community -- was convicted in Wayne County Recorder's Court in 1996 of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 to 25 years behind bars.

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After serving 15 1/2 years in prison, the former Oakland County restaurateur and businessman was paroled back in November and released to his family in late February.

That's where things get complicated.

In a rare move, following five days as a free man -- spent with family and friends in Macomb County -- the Michigan Parole Board decided to rescind Akrawi's parole. The 64-year old, who wasn't known to have violated any of his parole restrictions while free, was called into a meeting with his parole officer on Monday, Feb. 27 and taken back into custody.



Almost three months later, Akrawi claims he still hasn't been informed why his parole was rescinded.

"Nobody is telling me nothing," said Akrawi, currently being housed in Lansing at the Cooper Street Detention Center, in a recent phone interview. "They took me away from my family for no reason and they won't even let me know why."

When reached for comment, Michigan Department of Corrections media representative Russ Marlin said Akrawi was never supposed to have been released in the first place.

"It was a mistake," said Marlin. "We were under the belief he was going to be deported."

Following his parole in November, Akrawi was turned over to Immigration and Naturalization Services and held for close to four months until it was decided that he wouldn't be deported and, in turn, was let go.

The state wasn't aware of Akrawi's release until several days after the fact when a report in the local news of his return to the area sent prison and parole officials scrambling.

"We weren't aware he was released, so when we found out, we went out, got him and brought him back," Marlin said. "Our intention was always to turn him over to INS, not let him out free to the community. The rescinding of parole is not something that is done very often, but in this case we felt it was necessary."

Troy-based attorney Bill Calunas, Akrawi's legal counsel, believes the rescission could be determined to be unfounded.

"I am working tirelessly for the Akrawi family to make certain Mr. Akrawi is not being arbitrarily deprived of his rights," he said. "It's my opinion that the wording of the rescission order is contradictory. One way or another, this issue is going to find its way in front of a judge before it's all said and done."

Akrawi's conviction stems from a 1993 grocery store shooting in Northwest Detroit where Michael Cogborn, a 34-year old bystander in the check-out line to purchase a gallon of milk, was killed. Akrawi was charged with hiring shooters to go into the market, owned by one of his rivals, and spray it with gunfire in retaliation for a number of prior attempts on his life and the lives of members of his family in an on-going street war.

During this time, Akrawi owned several eateries and a series of other businesses in Oakland, Wayne and Genesee counties, including Ribbies, a popular ribs and chicken restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, off Telegraph, where he was known to often be behind the counter tending the grill.

"Everything that has happened these last few months has been very frustrating," said Victor Akrawi, 30, of Clinton Township and one of Akrawi's five sons. "I thought I got my father back, my whole family did, and then they pulled the rug out from underneath us for reasons I still don't really understand.

"I just want him to be treated like anyone else would be. He did his time, he's expressed remorse and accepted responsibility for his crime and now he should be allowed to come back home."

In 1991, the elder Akrawi was acquitted in Oakland County Circuit Court of drug and racketeering charges, yet he served eight months in the Oakland County Jail on a state income tax evasion conviction. His co-defendant in the second-degree murder case was paroled almost five years ago. The victim's family has not opposed either' release.

Akrawi paints a compelling figure. At various times, he's been described as a charismatic and benevolent community leader, a passionate political activist and a cunning crime lord.

The examination of stacks of government documents, court records and interviews with those who know him the best reveal seeds of truth in all three categorizations.

"Lou Akrawi has done a lot of good things for a lot of people in this area," said a local Chaldean party shop owner in Oak Park who declined to be identified for this article. "He was someone to go to for help back in the early days when all of us first came here from Iraq, someone who made sure we were treated fairly and stood up for our rights. He's got a big heart."

A group of current and former members of the law enforcement agencies that tracked Akrawi during his time on the streets don't exactly view him the same way. Some contend he could still be a danger to society.

"I believe there's a good chance, when he's released, he will return to making his living by criminal enterprise," said Tim Houghtaling, a retired INS agent who headed a joint federal task force investigating Akrawi in the 1990s.

Possibly the most fascinating aspect of Akrawi's backstory is his past history as a fervent opponent of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his long-standing Bath Party Regime. Sources within law enforcement and the Akrawi family itself confirm reports that Akrawi came to the United States after he was part of an unsuccessful political coup to oust Hussein and the Baathists from power in 1968.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Akrawi was a vocal leader in the national movement to persuade the United States to oppose Hussein's leadership, famously picketing Detroit City Hall when Hussein was awarded with a key to the city by way of a delegation of Michiganders sent to Iraq in March 1980.

By the latter half of the decade, however, he was becoming more known as the family spokesman for a clan deeply involved in violent turf disputes over gambling and drugs, resulting in the gangland-style killing of his nephew and surrogate son Harry Kalasho of West Bloomfield in 1989, as well as other grisly homicides that took place in Troy and Southfield in 1986 and 1988 respectively.

Ray Jihad, owner of Target Sports in Royal Oak and West Bloomfield, was charged in the high-profile Kalasho slaying but acquitted by a jury in a 1990 trial.

"People called my dad a 'crime boss' or whatever, but to me he was just my dad, someone who worked hard every day behind the counter at Ribbies and let me be by his side as much as possible," Victor Akrawi remembers.

The state could hold Akrawi for up to another seven years and when he's paroled again he could still face another deportation attempt.

"I am sorry for what I did and I just want to go home, become an upstanding member of society and care for my family," Louis Akrawi said. "I have grandkids that I just met that want to get to know their grandfather."

The Chaldean Federation of America, based in Southfield, strongly opposes deportation of Chaldeans back to Iraq due to the unstable conditions of the country, where Christian-faith Chaldeans are often persecuted for their non-Muslim beliefs.

FYI

Author Scott M. Burnstein will be a guest on the Charlie Langton Show on WXYT Talk Radio 1270 AM from 8-9 a.m. Wednesday, May 16.

Scott M. Burnstein is a local true-crime author, expert and historian, who is also a frequent contributor to The Oakland Press. Parts of his upcoming book: "Detroit True Noir: Chronicles of Murder & Mayhem in the Motor City" (August 2012) deals with the Chaldean underworld. Burnstein's 2007 book: "Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit" was a regional best-seller.
Post Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:00 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Everyone talks about the Italian/Sicilian Mafia and sometimes the Jewish "Purple Gang", but there s little mention here about the Chaldean Mafia. Mafia is probably an incorrect term but it has come to be used for any kind of organized crime group.

When the King Party Store was busted, the attorney for the defendant argued they should be given mercy as Iraqi christians. That enterprise operated their illegal food stamp, guns and drug operation through party stores here, MT Morris , Lapeer and the Detroit area.

The Chaldean Mafia is a criminal organization composed of ethnic Assyrian people (Assyrian/Chaldean/Syrian and they are sad to move drugs in Phoenix, San Diego, and through Detroit. The Chaldean Mafia itself supposedly formed in 1985 in Detroit, but there is evidence that there was activity long before that.

It would be interesting to know what businesses in Genesee County the "Godfather" owned.


Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:07 am; edited 1 time in total
Post Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:08 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

San Diego Union-Tribune August 18, 2011
Kristina Davis

60 arrested in El Cajon Chaldean organized crime case
The Chaldean social club, at 811 E. Main St., in El Cajon. Investigators allege the club is the hub of an Iraqi drug- and gun-trafficking organization.


For its many regulars, the Chaldean social club in El Cajon is a place to drink tea or coffee, play Dominoes and discuss the news of the day.

But federal and local authorities say the social club, tucked in a nondescript brick strip mall behind a metal security door, is also the headquarters of an Iraqi drug- and gun-trafficking organization with ties to a Mexican drug cartel and a Detroit crime syndicate.

Sixty people associated with the social club at 811 E. Main St. have been arrested over the past 10 days in the investigation, dubbed “Operation Shadowbox,” and investigators were continuing to hunt for others implicated in the scheme.

SWAT teams served search warrants on the club late Wednesday night, seizing more than $16,000 in cash as well as evidence of illegal gambling, authorities said.

More than 100 people inside the club at the time were detained and then released.

The cornerstone of the alleged operation involves club members arranging narcotics shipments from Mexico with help from the Sinaloa drug cartel. The illicit products were then trafficked to the Chaldean Organized Crime Syndicate in Detroit, officials said.

The syndicate has operated since the early 1980s in Detroit, which has the largest concentration of Chaldeans in the nation, and has been associated with crimes including murder, arson, money laundering, fraud, human smuggling, kidnapping and armed robbery. The El Cajon area boasts the second-largest concentration of Chaldeans, with a population of more than 47,000.

Undercover agents made several drug buys over eight months, in El Cajon and around San Diego County, with the amounts getting bigger and bigger, said El Cajon Police Chief Pat Sprecco. Agents and confidential informants also purchased or were offered guns, explosives and even a hand grenade supplied from a Mexican military source.

The operation began in January, two months after Sprecco asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for help to combat a spike in drug sales and violence on the city’s streets.

After a number of hand-to-hand undercover drug buys, investigators realized all roads led to the social club, Sprecco said.

The club has long been a source of complaints from the public and a suspected hub of criminal activity, officials said.

Crimes documented there have included attempted murder, drug sales, gambling, illegal liquor sales and firearms sales.

Complaints have also been plentiful over the years. Wives of men who attend the club have complained about how their family’s money is being gambled away. Neighbors have complained about drug sales and prostitution. Even club members have registered their distaste for a criminal element hanging around the club.

Investigators learned that the club managers were aware of the criminal activity and demanded a portion of the proceeds. Armed guards are often on hand during high stakes card games, Sprecco said.

There have been a number of busts and arrests at the club over the years, including a 1998 investigation into illegal gambling and a 2009 probe of gun and grenade sales.

Infiltrating the tight community of Iraqis proved to be difficult, Sprecco said. Help from the DEA, as well as from a host of state and federal agencies, helped strike at the heart of the organization this time, he said.

“We didn’t expect this level of success,” Sprecco said. “We were happily surprised with the inroads of this investigation.”

Eight defendants, including one of the alleged leaders, Nofel Noel Suleyman, 22, were arraigned in federal court in San Diego Thursday afternoon, and a ninth has also been indicted.

At least 21 defendants are being prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office, mostly on methamphetamine-related charges.

Other agencies that participated included Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, Internal Revenue Service, sheriff’s and FBI bomb squads, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“This is one case that has the ability to have a real impact on life and on the enjoyment of the quality of life,” said San Diego U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

The investigation has culminated in the seizure of more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine; more than 5 pounds of ecstasy, pharmaceuticals, crack cocaine, heroin and cocaine; and more than 3,500 pounds of marijuana, most of which was likely smuggled through maritime routes controlled by the Sinaloa Federation.

The cartel, headed by one of the world’s most wanted men, Joaquin “El Chapo,” Guzman Loera, has recently been allowed access to areas the Tijuana cartel once controlled.

Investigators also seized more than $630,000 in cash, three luxury cars, 34 firearms and four improvised explosive devices. The club has been shut down by the city and will undergo an abatement process.

Several club patrons said Thursday that for the most part the club hosted good Chaldeans who were just there to socialize. But they said the club also drew a bad element, with illegally stashed liquor and people doing drugs in the back alley late at night.

Saud Khairo, who has run the Kevin’s Hair Salon barbershop at the front of the strip mall for 12 years, said he hopes the raid will help his business by bringing back customers who may have been scared away by the club’s activities.

Mark Arabo, a local Chaldean and president of the Neighborhood Market Association, applauded police for making the city safer.

“This in no way, not even a half of one percent, is representational of the Chaldean community at large,” Arabo said. “Chaldeans are hardworking, great family people, Christians and give back to the community. There are so many great things Chaldeans do for the community, so this just comes as a shock.”
Post Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:28 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Liquisearch-Chaldean mafia


Chaldean Mafia - Infrastructure of The Mafia

Infrastructure of The Mafia

There is a clear hierarchy of authority in the Chaldean Mafia; one man is basically the “top dog”. He is a type of "godfather" to the gang. His name is Bahaa Kalasho.

Bahaa, born January 31, 1962, is currently serving time under the name Bahaa Kalasko, MDOC #181993. Regarded in the 1980s as “the leader of a strong-arm gang of thugs”, Bahaa received a life sentence in 1985 “after he and his gang murdered an elderly woman during a home invasion robbery”.

Bahaa’s uncle is Louis Akrawi who is an entrepreneur, but had a dual identity: “while Akrawi held the appearance of a respectable businessman on the surface, the residents of the Chaldean community recognized him as their version of the local mafia boss”. Following Uncle Akrawi’s footsteps, Bahaa’s younger brother Khairi “Harry” Kalasho would try to corner the drug market in Detroit in the time frame 1986–1989, only to be killed himself. With Harry gone, this left one bold energetic figure to keep the crime family alive: Bahaa stepped up to the plate. And he plays the movie role “script” version of a gangster quite well, even though he is still incarcerated in a state facility. But remember, Larry Hoover was able to direct and micromanage his gang, the Gangster Disciples, from behind bars: by using visits, the telephone, etc, and Bahaa definitely has this same tendency.

There appear to be two levels of authority underneath the top leader: primary and secondary operatives. Primary operatives enjoy the trust and appointed “missions” given to them by the godfather. The primary operatives, in turn, delegate some aspects of the “work assignments” to secondary operatives somewhat lower in the chain of the command. When three members of the Chaldean Mafia were killed on November 20, 2002, Christopher Kasshamoun, Wesam Akrawi, and Rany Sharak, these were secondary operatives: they did not know where the “stash” was located, even under brutal torture, they could not reveal anything, because they just did not know where the “stash” of drugs and cash was located. Only a primary level operative would know such “inside” secrets of the gang. And it would have been a primary operative that directed these three victims to have contact with the gang that ended up killing them. Their mission would have been simply to work out the deal for drugs, indicate the terms of the agreement such as prepayment, etc. They would not be privy to the kind of information their torturers thought they might have (i.e., where is their “drug house”). There also appear to be contractual associates: persons, particularly in the area of gang violence, who will be given a “contract” to assault, threaten, harass, or possibly kill someone who is a problem for the Chaldean Mafia. In the “drug underground” of America, there are as many potential “contractors” as there are distributors of marijuana and cocaine. They could be on a college campus, or in a corporate office, or in any community anywhere: demonstrating the terroristic impact of illegal drugs in America today. An example would be the Two-Sixers who are known for their contract killings, they rent themselves out to anyone who will offer a price. This contractual means of carrying out “hits” is done in and outside of prison. In one contract hit paid for by Khairi “Harry” Kalasho, the victim Munthir Saleem who was killed by multiple gunshots, the shooters collected only $10,000 for the work. They could have made an extra $10,000 if they had cut off Saleem’s head and thrown it in the street. Harry was upset that Saleem, a drug dealer, was encroaching on his sales territory. Harry also contracted the killing of another Detroit drug dealer named Sam Gaggo who was killed in 1988.

As in any criminal syndicate, family connections are important, and some “messages” may be relayed for purposes of secrecy only through direct family members or an attorney. This situation is necessitated by the fact that the leader is currently serving a life prison sentence and faces scrutiny in his mail and telephone and visiting situations. Among the known primary operatives are the “enforcers” for the Chaldean Mafia. These are the “muscle” of the organization in the Detroit area, and include: Chris, Norman, Flash, Sacco, and Safa. Other Kalasho family members operate in California and Arizona include cousins of Bahaa. Another primary operative, who serves as a kind of “ambassador” but who is not a “fighter”, is Bahaa’s longtime trusted friend Beretta. There is an active female gang auxiliary unit of the Chaldean Mafia. They visit incarcerated members of the gang and are often involved in violent fighting behavior in their communities.
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

US wants convicted man to return to Iraq
By Jim Schaefer, Detroit Free Press
Updated 2/26/2012 3:47 PM



DETROIT – Convicted of murder and once labeled a godfather of organized crime in Detroit, Louis Akrawi has done his time —15 years in state prison.
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Akrawi, 64, was freed last week on parole. But he may not be in Michigan for long.

Although he has been a U.S. resident since 1968, Akrawi never became a citizen and is now facing deportation to his native Iraq, a strife-torn nation where he fears for his life.

"If I told you otherwise, I'd be lying," Akrawi said in an interview earlier this month.

Leaders of the local Chaldean community say that in Muslim-dominated Iraq, Chaldeans such as Akrawi are a small Christian minority who are being viciously persecuted.

For now, Iraq is balking at the efforts of U.S. authorities to deport Akrawi, but not because of his criminal record. The Iraqi Consulate General for Detroit has declined to issue travel papers for Akrawi because he claims to have no documentation of his Iraqi origins.

The federal government has wide latitude to deport immigrants who commit crimes, and those deemed dangerous top the send-away list for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

People who don't know Akrawi but fight for Chaldeans facing deportation to Iraq say such situations embody a tough debate over American values: Should criminals who have paid their debt here be exposed to additional punishment, possibly even death, elsewhere? Or should people once considered dangerous be freed in Michigan? In the last five years, the Michigan Department of Corrections says it paroled more than 1,000 prisoners who, like Akrawi, were convicted of second-degree murder.

For Detroit Police Lt. Charles Flanagan, who helped put Akrawi in prison, there is no debate. He wants him gone.

"Without a doubt, he's a dangerous guy," Flanagan said Friday.

Professor David Koelsch, a lawyer who runs the immigration law clinic at the University of Detroit Mercy, said deporting people such as Akrawi would be much simpler if the situation for Chaldeans hadn't worsened in Iraq since the U.S. toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

"There's a genocide going on there right now," Koelsch said. "I personally have very mixed emotions about this."

In recent years, Chaldean neighborhoods in Iraq have been bombed, and Christians, including some priests, have been executed, according to news reports. The BBC said at least 52 people died and dozens more were wounded when gunmen besieged a Catholic church in Baghdad in 2010.

Koelsch recounted the story of a 27-year-old Chaldean man who was deported from Michigan in 2010 and left in Baghdad, where his family was afraid to pick him up for fear of being seen associating. Eventually, relatives spirited the man into Turkey and then Canada, which gave him refugee status.

Barring that escape, "he would have been a prisoner in his family's home in Iraq or he would have been likely killed or kidnapped," Koelsch said.

Joseph Kassab, who heads the Chaldean Federation of America in Southfield, said: "It doesn't make sense to send an Iraqi Christian back home for a crime they have paid for already."

Victor Akrawi, one of Louis Akrawi's sons, pleaded in a recent interview for his father to stay in the U.S.

"I just want him to be treated like everyone else," Victor Akrawi said . "He's an old man. He wants to come home."

Louis Akrawi was fairly well-known around Detroit in the 1990s -- as a brash, barrel-chested defender of his family honor, or the murderous boss of a Chaldean crime syndicate, depending on who was describing him.

In 1989, Akrawi, formerly a local restaurateur, obtained local notoriety after his nephew, Harry Kalasho, was assassinated amid a drug war in Detroit. Akrawi became the family spokesman and a public critic of federal law enforcement agencies.

Akrawi said agents had labeled his nephew a drug kingpin though he had never been charged with any crime (Kalasho's lieutenants, years after his death, were charged and convicted in drug conspiracy cases).

Akrawi beat a drug conspiracy charge in Oakland County in 1991. Afterward, his defense attorney, James Howarth, praised the fairness of the U.S. justice system, even for immigrants.

Two years later, gunmen burst into a Detroit party store, spraying bullets that killed Michael Cogborn, 34, of Detroit, who was a customer. Akrawi wasn't the trigger man, but prosecutors proved to a jury that Akrawi ordered the attack to get a drug rival.

Accounts of the trial described it as a circus, with witnesses recanting, charges of police coercion and then-Sgt. Flanagan jailed briefly for contempt until the state Court of Appeals overruled the trial judge. Flanagan had investigated Akrawi for years and pledged publicly to put him away.

Akrawi, in turn, freely spoke to the news media during his trial, proclaiming his innocence and contending he was being framed. Akrawi taunted law enforcement authorities and said Flanagan was obsessed with him and motivated by racism, a charge Flanagan denied.

A jury found Akrawi guilty of second-degree murder, reduced by the judge from first-degree murder. Akrawi was ordered to state prison for up to 27 years. He has served his minimum sentence.

"He got a slap on the wrist as far as I'm concerned," Flanagan said. "And the guy he had killed, their family still suffers the painful loss of their loved one while this guy walks free. So I say send him back to Iraq."

Akrawi was paroled from state prison in November, but was held until Thursday while the U.S. tried to deport him.

In the recent telephone interview from jail, he was defiant, steadfast that the government is punishing him for publicly demonstrating against U.S. policy in the Middle East. He said he just wants to live peacefully back in the Detroit area, maybe starting another restaurant.

"I've been here 44 years. I have five sons in the United States. I have no family in Iraq. No friend," Akrawi said. "I've been in the prison all this time. If they send me right now, who's going to support me?"

Immigration authorities released Akrawi because of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that prevented holding him for more than 180 days.

For now, Akrawi holds out hope of settling back into Michigan, even as he considers whether he could make it in Baghdad.

"At my age? I don't know. I really don't know," Akrawi said. But ever outspoken, he added, "Because of my mouth … I wouldn't last a week."

On Friday, after a day of freedom, Akrawi said he was just happy to be spending time with his grandchildren. And he said he spoke with his parole officer about following the rules while he's free.

"That's what I'm going to do," he said. "That's what I told her -- she'll have the easiest guy she ever had."
Post Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:55 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Just over five years from Hoffa's disappearance, Flint had it's own mystery disappearance when 5th Ward Councilman Fred Tucker, 49, and his new wife, Lucille (Bobbie) Caston Tucker, 33, were abducted from their W. Dartmouth Ave, home.Married on December 12, 1980, the same day Tucker's first wife died after a long illness, in the Toledo City Hall.

The question is why drive 108 miles to get married and why on such a tragic date. The current Toledo website states the waiting period will be waived if one party is a resident. So did they apply earlier or was Bobbie a resident? Very little is written about Bobbie, so I am unable to answer that question.

Fred Tucker was last seen at 11 p.m. on December 15th at his late wife's wake. When he did not show for the funeral the next day, the police were asked to do a security check. The police found the back door forced, the kitchen upturned and Tucker's car missing. Nothing material appeared to be missing and Tucker's wallet was found. Missing were the bed sheets and pillowcases.
Post Mon Oct 31, 2016 6:56 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

On December 19, 1980 the bodies were discovered in an old city landfill on Creekside Avenue along the Ottawa River in N. Toledo. The photo of the scene depicts a dirt lane through abandoned TVs and other debris.

Tucker was gagged but still wearing the suit he was last sen in and Bobbie was in a robe and nightgown and wearing curlers. According to the Toledo Blade, both had their heads covered with plastic bags and pillowcases. Bobbie had a cut on her head. They were believed to have been asphyxiated in their home with dry cleaning bags.

Toledo Police were said to be glad to relinquish the case to Flint as they had up to 60 murders that year and were overwhelmed.

A potential witness was uncovered in April of 1981. Two suspects were observed but only one was seen clear enough to make a composite drawing. The description was 30 to 40 years old, about 5'10", stocky with a dark complexion.
The car was said to be brown full size and late 70's with a dark top. This may have been the transport vehicle.


Last edited by untanglingwebs on Mon Oct 31, 2016 7:39 am; edited 1 time in total
Post Mon Oct 31, 2016 7:31 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

When the State Police attempted to reopen the case in 2005, it was discovered that all of the original evidence was missing. Bobbie's nightclothes had semen on them and the detectives had hoped to find usable DNA. It was believed she had been sexually assaulted before Tucker arrived home.

The police found binding cords in the home, but there is no mention in the news of evidence the two had been bound. Also the phone cords had been cut twice.
Post Mon Oct 31, 2016 7:38 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Since this was no bungled robbery, there must have been an alternative motive. Tucker was known to be influential politically. He worked in union politics when it was influenced by the communist party. He became a Buick union committee man, he was the fifth ward Councilman and he served on many committees. He was on the Board of Directors for Flint general Hospital. After news articles surfaced showing very high medicaid reimbursements for Flint General and other irregularities, the hospital was put under investigation for fraud and bribery. Tucker had been under investigation for allegedly using hospital maintenance workers to work on his rental homes. However, he was cleared.

Flint had several controversies over urban renewal, new construction projects, and rebuilding downtown. Flint had started to lose population and was trying to come up with new ideas. Tucker and Cronin were accused of bribery when they voted to stop the construction of senior housing on land that was once Flint Park Carnival land. Cronin insisted the land was polluted and despite court battles, the project never went forward. Cronin was vindicated years later when the Sugar Law Guild and the NAACP proved at least a portion of the land was polluted.
Post Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:05 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

Company Name: FRED TUCKER, INC.
File Number: 217734
Filing State: Michigan (MI)
Filing Status: Automatic Dissolution
Filing Date: September 22, 1980
Company Age: 36 Years, 1 Month
Registered Agent:
Fred Tucker
2217 Detroit St.
Flint, MI 48505

Just months before he died Tucker formed a corporation and according to his sister, he planned to run for mayor in 1983. While local news sources hinted at paid hitman from botched Flint deals, I wonder if the answer is in Toledo.

Scott Burnstein writes some of the best gangsta books, blogs and Detroit news stories! His series on the Toledo mafia activity and Detroit are truly eye opening.
Post Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:53 am 
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo

There is a lot of research that details how Toledo was a mob territory belonging to the Detroit Family or a long time. It is said that during the last days of the Prohibition, the Detroit mafia wrested power from the Northwest Ohio Family. FBI files indicated that in 1955 Toledo became the responsibility of Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone after capo Peter (Horseface Pete) Licavali relocated to Arizona.

Retired Detroit FBI agent Mike Carone stated in an interview how Toledo has always been an important part of the Detroit Family. "there was lots of emphasis from up top (the syndicate administration)and a lot of attention.

It has been estimated how at one time that one-quarter of the Detroit mafia annual profits came from Toledo.
Post Mon Oct 31, 2016 9:18 am 
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