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Organized Crime

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$850K Stolen In 'Theft-Return Scheme' By Organized Crime: PA AG $850K Stolen In 'Theft-Return Scheme' By Organized Crime: PA AG
$850K Stolen In 'Theft-Return Scheme' By Organized Crime: PA AG A criminal organization made $850,000 in illegal profits in a sophisticated theft-return scheme targeting TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshalls stores, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office said. Nine people involved with the Philadelphia-based organization, which has been in operation since 2022, were arrested and charged with numerous felonies, according to a Thursday, Oct. 24 news release from the attorney general. Davon Whitfield, 40, of Roslyn; Naima Scott, 47, of Abington; and Zonay Griffin, 26, all of Philadelphia, were named as the leaders who personally made about 1,500 transactio…

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by Merriell Moyer
Police & Fire
Four Philly Men Stole Millions In Seafood, Meat, Alcohol From Trucks: Troopers Four Philly Men Stole Millions In Seafood, Meat, Alcohol From Trucks: Troopers
Four Philly Men Stole Millions In Seafood, Meat, Alcohol From Trucks: Troopers Four Philadelphia men were accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of food and alcohol over several years, authorities said. In a news release on Monday, Sept. 16, New Jersey State Police announced the arrests of 23-year-old Shaun Coleman, 37-year-old Salahudin Reddy, 31-year-old Hanif Tucker, and 26-year-old Rashan Clark-Reddy. They were charged after a two-month investigation into nine burglaries at New Jersey Turnpike service areas that troopers called "Operation Beef Bandit". Investigators said an organized criminal crew broke into parked and often occupie…

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by Chris Spiker
News
9-County Retail Theft Ring Busted: PA Attorney General 9-County Retail Theft Ring Busted: PA Attorney General
9-County Retail Theft Ring Busted: PA Attorney General Five people involved in a major organized retail theft operation have been charged with targeting stores across nine counties, authorities said. Marlin Polanco, Malik McDonald, Cartier Hardy, Homario Oldacre, and Lorenzo Walters were charged in Dauphin County with corrupt organizations, organized retail theft, and related crimes, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said on Monday, Aug. 26. The total value of stolen goods is estimated to be worth more than $71,000, Henry said. Between February 28 and May 30, the group allegedly stole over-the-counter medications and other health an…

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by Jon Craig
Traffic
State Agency Director ID'd As Driver, 55, Killed By Motorist Running Red Light On Route 130 State Agency Director ID'd As Driver, 55, Killed By Motorist Running Red Light On Route 130
State Agency Director ID'd As Driver, 55, Killed By Motorist Running Red Light On Route 130 The driver killed in an early-morning crash Wednesday, July 10 on Route 130 in Hamilton has been identified as the director of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI). The agency identified its executive director Chadd W. Lackey as the 55-year-old Voorhees driver who died in the Hamilton crash. Police in their initial report said the crash was caused by a 51-year-old Bordentown woman who allegedly ran a red light at Klockner Road and struck a 2020 Ford Edge SUV heading east around 6 a.m.  Lackey's 44-year-old passenger from Hamilton was left critical. “We are deva…

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by Jon Craig & Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Reality Bites NJ ‘Real Housewives’ Ex Convicted Of Hiring Mobster To Beat Wife’s New Man Reality Bites NJ ‘Real Housewives’ Ex Convicted Of Hiring Mobster To Beat Wife’s New Man
Reality Bites NJ ‘Real Housewives’ Ex Convicted Of Hiring Mobster To Beat Wife’s New Man 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: Reality bit the ex-husband of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” cast member Dina Manzo when he was convicted Tuesday of getting a mob soldier to throw her new beau a beating. Restaurateur Thomas Manzo, 59, who lives in the affluent Bergen County suburb of Franklin Lakes, rejected a plea deal from federal prosecutors and took his chances with a jury. That didn’t go so good. Jurors in U.S. District Court in Newark convicted Manzo on June 4 of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering, along with conspiracy and falsifying documents during a grand jury investigation. Althou…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
COLD CASE: Alleged NYC Gang Member Was Found Dead In Barrel Off I-95 In Bucks County COLD CASE: Alleged NYC Gang Member Was Found Dead In Barrel Off I-95 In Bucks County
Cold CASE: Alleged NYC Gang Member Was Found Dead In Barrel Off I-95 In Bucks County State troopers are investigating the murder of a suspected New York City gangster more than 25 years ago.  Jia Qiang Li, 27, was found murdered on Jan. 2, 1997, according to Pennsylvania State Police.  The Chinese national's body was discovered in a plastic garbage can at the bottom of an embankment off Interstate 95 in Lower Makefield Township, investigators say.  Troopers said his remains had been "intentionally mutilated to some degree after his death." According to detectives, Li was affiliated with the Pell Street Flying Dragons, a street gang active in Manhattan's Chi…

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by Mac Bullock
Police & Fire
2 Broken Thumbs Down: Gambino Family Hothead Nearly Torches Jersey Shore Restaurant, Feds Say 2 Broken Thumbs Down: Gambino Family Hothead Nearly Torches Jersey Shore Restaurant, Feds Say
2 Broken Thumbs Down: Gambino Family Hothead Nearly Torches Jersey Shore Restaurant, Feds Say Life imitated art when a reputed Gambino crime family captain threatened to burn down a Jersey Shore restaurant, then went to a service station across the street and tried to buy and fill a plastic gas can, federal authorities said. In what could’ve been a scene from any number of modern-day mob movies, Joseph Lanni of Staten Island became a walking cliché, the Justice Department said in announcing an organized-crime takedown that stretched all the way to Sicily. Lanni and fellow Staten Islander Vincent “Vinny Slick” Minsquero “became belligerent” after being asked to leave Roxy’s Bar and G…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Burglar With Hit List Of Asian Homeowners In NJ, NY, PA, DE Gets 50 Months In Federal Prison Burglar With Hit List Of Asian Homeowners In NJ, NY, PA, DE Gets 50 Months In Federal Prison
Burglar With Hit List Of Asian Homeowners In NJ, NY, PA, DE Gets 50 Months In Federal Prison UPDATE: A member of a second-story crew who targeted Asian and Asian-American homeowners in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware for burglaries was sentenced to a plea-bargained four years and two months in federal prison, authorities said. Randi Barr, 42, of Union County, NJ, was part of a group that worked from a hit list of dozens of homes based on “stereotype and opportunity,” federal authorities said. Local, state and federal law enforcement authorities who teamed up to smash the ring found notes in the defendants’ cars that had the home addresses of individuals of Asian des…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COLD CASE: Gruesome Home Invasion Homicide Under Investigation In PA COLD CASE: Gruesome Home Invasion Homicide Under Investigation In PA
Cold CASE: Gruesome Home Invasion Homicide Under Investigation In PA Investigators are taking another look at a gruesome home invasion turned execution of a wealthy Pennsylvania man. Jeffrey Charles Horwith, 37, was the heir apparent to his father's Northampton-based business, Horwith Trucking Incorporated, state police say.  He was headed to his North Whitehall home after a dinner at a local restaurant with his wife on July 29, 1988, according to Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers. When he arrived back home, Horwith was greeted by a masked gunman, according to an Allentown Morning Call article published a week after the fact.  Horwith an…

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by Mac Bullock & Jillian Pikora
Police & Fire
Suburban Philly 20-Year-Old Ran Illegal Gun Trafficking Ring, Says DA Suburban Philly 20-Year-Old Ran Illegal Gun Trafficking Ring, Says DA
Suburban Philly 20-Year-Old Ran Illegal Gun Trafficking Ring, Says DA A 20-year-old Montgomery County man ran an underground gun-running business in greater Philadelphia for years, authorities believe — and dozens of those weapons may still be on the streets.   Clayton Robinson of Glenside is accused of buying legally purchased guns, removing their serial numbers, and reselling them on the black market in Montco and Bucks County, said District Attoney Kevin R. Steele in a release on Thursday, Nov. 3.  Also charged were Robinson's brothers, 31-year-old Julian Robinson and 18-year-old Kenneth Robinson, both of Glenside, 23-year-old Maurice B…

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by Mac Bullock
News
Fugitive Dubbed 'Real-Life Tony Soprano' Couldn't Hide From The Law, Even In Death Fugitive Dubbed 'Real-Life Tony Soprano' Couldn't Hide From The Law, Even In Death
Fugitive Dubbed 'Real-Life Tony Soprano' Couldn't Hide From The Law, Even In Death He was considered one of the last of the old-time mobsters, a "real-life Tony Soprano" listed as one of New Jersey's most wanted fugitives. Even six feet under, though, Tony Mota couldn't evade his pursuers. After eluding capture for nearly 25 years for a gruesome murder committed in Hudson County, Anthony Mota was found buried in the country where he was born, the Dominican Republic. Mota had been collecting debts for high-level Colombian drug dealers in New York City when he and a group of accomplices abducted a Queens man on Dec. 13, 1997, authorities said. The victim, 38-year-old …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Ring That Dealt Fentanyl, Crack Smashed By Federal, County, Local Crime-Fighting Team NJ Ring That Dealt Fentanyl, Crack Smashed By Federal, County, Local Crime-Fighting Team
NJ Ring That Dealt Fentanyl, Crack Smashed By Federal, County, Local Crime-Fighting Team Eleven accused members of a drug ring that authorities said openly peddled crack and potentially fatal fentanyl in a Newark neighborhood were charged federally on Wednesday. The ring's "primary supplier," Frazier Burton, 46, was caught with 100 bricks of heroin and fentanyl when tactical officers arrested him Wednesday morning, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. At 50 bags per brick, that's 5,000 individual packages -- all of which Honig said carried the neighborhood drug network's particular stamps. The case took several months for an ad hoc team of local, county and federal inve…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ, PA Trio Trafficked Dozens Of 'Ghost Guns,' Indictment Charges NJ, PA Trio Trafficked Dozens Of 'Ghost Guns,' Indictment Charges
NJ, PA Trio Trafficked Dozens Of 'Ghost Guns,' Indictment Charges Two Philadelphia men and one from Camden trafficked no fewer than two dozen untraceable “ghost guns” from Pennsylvania into New Jersey, a grand jury indictment alleges. Even more guns, as well as parts, large-capacity magazine and ammo, were seized during the investigation, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Tuesday. According to the indictment returned in Trenton, Eduardo T. Lazo Jr., 26, of Camden, organized the operation and sold the illegal guns in Camden. Juan Enrique Fernandez, 29, and Ericknell Rivera-Mercado, 31, both of Philadelphia, are accused of bringing th…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
AG: 4 Philadelphia Men Arrested Following Morgantown Gun Show Investigation AG: 4 Philadelphia Men Arrested Following Morgantown Gun Show Investigation
AG: 4 Philadelphia Men Arrested Following Morgantown Gun Show Investigation Four Philadelphia men were arrested following a Morgantown gun show investigation that uncovered a ghost gun trafficking operation, authorities announced. Authorities seized five fully assembled ghost guns, four 80% receiver kits, one 80% receiver, one Smith and Wesson revolver, extended magazines, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Ghost guns typically start as “80% receivers” that are often sold in kits without background checks. They can be easily and quickly put together, lack serial numbers so they cannot be traced, and, once full…

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by Nicole Acosta