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US Issues Urgent Travel Warnings Covering 2 Countries: What To Know
The US State Department is warning Americans against traveling to part of one country and has issued a do not travel warning for one of its neighboring nations.
A Level 3 Reconsider Travel Advisory covers these parts of eastern Colombia:
Arauca, Cauca (excluding Popayán), and Norte de Santander departments in Colombia;
The Colombia-Venezuela border region.
"Violent crime, like murder, assault, and robbery, is common in many areas in Colombia," the advisory says. "In some places, organized crime is rampant. This includes extortion, robbery, and kidnapping."
A Level 4 Do No…
High-Ranking MS-13 Leader Arraigned On Terrorism Charges On LI After FBI's 'Most Wanted' Arrest
A top leader of the notorious MS-13 gang, who was recently added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, has been arraigned in federal court in New York.
Francisco Javier Roman-Bardales, 47, was taken into custody in San Diego, California, on Tuesday, March 18, after Mexican authorities located him in Veracruz and expelled him from the country, the US Attorney’s Office said. He had been a fugitive for nearly three years.
Roman-Bardales, a founding member of MS-13’s leadership structure known as Ranfla en las Calles, was arraigned in the Eastern District of New York on Wednesday, March 1…
Joseph Nocella, Former Nassau County District Court Judge, Named U.S. Attorney For Region
Joseph Nocella, Jr., a veteran prosecutor and judge with an extensive legal background, has been named the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, according to a statement from former President Donald J. Trump.
“Judge Nocella has a strong record of bringing Law and Order to the incredible people of New York,” Trump said in the announcement. “Congratulations, Judge Nocella!”
Nocella served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District from 1991 to 1995, prosecuting cases involving racketeering, extortion, and fraud. His work earned recognition from the FBI direc…
'Things Will Get Ugly': Gambling Debt Collector From Long Island Convicted, Usao Says
Two men, including one 86-year-old Long Islander, have been convicted for extorting money from someone who owed them a gambling debt, authorities have announced.
Anthony Romanello, age 86 of Franklin Square, was convicted alongside his co-conspirator Joseph Celso, 50 of Queens on Monday, Dec. 11, according to the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York,
Romanello and Celso, along with another Queens resident named Luan Bexheti, conspired from March to June 2017 to collect a gambling debt from an unnamed victim and a family member (named John Doe 1 and John Doe 2…
MS-13 Gang Leader Sentenced To Life In Prison For At Least Three Murders, Racketeering
An MS-13 gang leader from the region has been sentenced to life in prison for taking part in at least three murders, racketeering, and possession of drugs.
Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno, aka “Insolente” and “Trankilo,” age 24, of Landover, Maryland was sentenced on Monday, April 25, said Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly.
Alvardo-Requeno was found guilty in Maryland of the charges during a four-week trial last year.
According to the evidence presented at the four-week trial, between 2015 and 2018, Alvarado-Requeno and his co-defendant, Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, a/k/a “Reap…
Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult Leader In Westchester Found Guilty On All Charges
Larry Ray, the leader of a sex cult run out of his daughter's dorm room at Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester, will face life in prison after being found guilty by a jury of sexually exploiting and trafficking girls.
Ray, now 62 years old following multiple delays in his trial and prosecution, was found guilty of 15 counts that include racketeering, sex trafficking, conspiracy, forced labor, extortion, tax evasion, and other crimes in relation to his scheme.
Related story - DOJ Accidentally Publishes List Of Alleged Clients In Sarah Lawrence Case
It reportedly took the jury le…
14 Colombo Family Members From NY Indicted For Variety Of Crimes, Feds Announce
Fourteen New Yorkers in the Colombo crime family, including 10 Long Islanders, have been indicted on a host of charges that includes labor racketeering, extortion, and money laundering.
In federal court this week, a 19-count indictment was unsealed charging the 14, including the entire administration of the Colombo organized crime family, with a variety of offenses.
According to federal officials, those arraigned will face charges that include labor racketeering involving multiple predicate acts of extortion conspiracy, attempted extortion and extortion, extortionate collection of credit co…
LI Moving Company Owner, North Jersey Employee Admit $540,000 Low-Ball Extortion Scheme
A Nassau County moving company owner and a Passaic County woman who worked for him admitted in federal court that they extorted customers out of nearly $550,000 with the old “low-ball” scam.
Lior Atiyas, 42, of Hewlett, Long Island began regularly low-balling estimates to move household goods, then jacking up the price by two to three times once the items were on the trucks, in early 2016, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said Friday.
He then refused to deliver the goods until the customers paid up, Carpenito said.
Atiyas recruited Lola Larios, 37, of Haledon into the scheme when she joined t…
Man Who Led Colombo Family's Long Island Rackets Dies
John “Sonny” Franzese, Sr., a Colombo mob underboss who ran the family's rackets on Long Island, has died.
Franzese, of Roslyn, died on Sunday, Feb. 23 of natural causes in an upstate New York nursing home. He was 103 years old.
Franzese took over the mob family’s operation on Long Island in the 1960s and was renowned for his business interests in Nassau and Suffolk County, including financing the 1972 porn film “Deep Throat,” which reportedly made millions.
In 1967, Franzese was arrested and sentenced to 50 years in prison for bank robbery, though he was paroled in 1978.
He served …
