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Sex Slave Sting: Women Held In NJ Homes, Forced Into Brothels, AG Says
Eight people have been charged with racketeering and human trafficking for running a prostitution ring out of several homes in Trenton and Camden, authorities said.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced the charges on Tuesday, July 1, following a months-long investigation that began in May 2024. At least 15 victims were located during raids at five properties, investigators said.
According to the criminal complaints, Vilma Deleon Bracamonte, also known as “Janet,” 55, of Hamilton, and Maria Soledad Xec Chan, 42, of Trenton, were the alleged ringleaders. They face charges …
27 Suspected 'Terrorist' Gang Members Nabbed On Sex Trafficking, Gun, Drug Charges, Feds Say
Twenty-seven suspected members and associates of the violent criminal organization Tren de Aragua are facing federal charges in New York.
These charges follow a large-scale investigation into racketeering, sex trafficking, drug smuggling, robbery, and firearms offenses, authorities announced.
The two indictments, unsealed this week in the Southern District of New York, accuse the defendants of participating in a broad range of crimes.
The crimes include smuggling women from Venezuela into the United States, forcing them into commercial sex work, distributing a pink powdery drug…
Lucchese Mob Ran Illegal Gambling Ring Across NJ; 39 Arrested Including Councilman: AG
A two-year investigation into an underground gambling empire allegedly run by members of the Lucchese Crime Family has led to charges against 39 individuals, including mob leaders, poker club managers, sportsbook agents — and even a sitting Prospect Park councilman, authorities said.
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced the takedown on Friday, April 11, following multi-agency raids at 12 locations across northern New Jersey earlier in the week. Among the sites: four poker clubs operating out of Totowa, Garfield, and Woodland Park, including two hidden behind functioning restaurants,…
Iran Sent Hitmen To Kill NY Journalist: Two Mobsters Convicted In Foiled Plot
Two Eastern European mobsters were convicted in a chilling plot to assassinate an Iranian-American journalist on US soil—at the behest of the Iranian government.
A Manhattan federal jury found Rafat Amirov, 46, of Iran, and Polad Omarov, 40, of Georgia, guilty on all five counts related to a murder-for-hire scheme targeting journalist and human rights activist Masih Alinejad on Thursday, March 20.
The pair orchestrated the plan under orders from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), offering a hitman $500,000 to kill Alinejad outside her Brooklyn home, according to prosecutors.
…
Two Men Plead Guilty In Deadly Shooting Of Philadelphia Police Sgt. James O’Connor
Two men pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder and racketeering charges in the March 2020 shooting death of Philadelphia Police Sgt. James O’Connor IV in Frankford, federal authorities announced.
Hassan Elliott, 26, and Khalif Sears, 23, admitted their roles in the death of Sgt. O’Connor during a federal court hearing on Jan. 15, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said.
O’Connor, a 23-year police veteran and SWAT officer, was fatally shot on Friday, March 13, 2020, as police served a warrant at Elliott’s apartment on Bridge Street near Duffield Street, authoriti…
Reading 'Sevens' Gang Kingpin Gets Life In Prison: Feds
The "general" of a Reading street gang who "raped, robbed, caged, shot," and "violently beat" his way to the top of the city's underworld will spend the rest of his natural life in federal prison, authorities say.
Karvarise Person, 33, was convicted last June of a litany of racketeering and conspiracy charges related to Reading's "Sevens" street gang, of which he was the "most ruthless leader," said US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero in a statement.
During the trial, federal prosecutors said Person was already a member of Gangster Disciples — "a national gang with roots…
4 Convicted In PA Sex Trafficking Ring 'The Sevens'
Four members of a sex trafficking ring that ran out of a boarding house in southeastern Pennsylvania have been convicted, federal authorities said.
Shaquile Newson, 29, Alexander Malave, 31, Karvarise Person, 33, and James Goode, 47, were convicted on multiple charges, including conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, the US Attorney’s Office said.
Federal investigators linked the quartet to "The Sevens," a "violent gang" that operated out of a 50-room boarding house on South 4th Street in Reading, t…
Pagans Shoot At Hells Angel On NJ Turnpike After Baseball Bat Bar Brawl, Feds Charge
Two high-ranking members of the Pagans who were beaten with baseball bats in a barroom brawl sought revenge by shooting at one of the Hells Angels on the New Jersey Turnpike, federal authorities charged.
Larry "Savage" Ortiz, 31, of Elizabeth, and Junius "Jayo" Aquino, aka 38, of Vauxhall, were in a Verona bar when they were attacked on Oct. 21, 2020, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
A week later, the pair shot at an associate of the rival biker gang "in retaliation for the Verona assault," an indictment returned by a grand jury in Newark charges.
The indictment retur…
