2008 in organized crime

Events

January

February

March
  • March 6 - Police in Thailand arrest top Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout at a luxury hotel.
  • March 7 - Police in Sydney break up an international Korean-based sex trafficking syndicate.
  • March 13 - Drug lord Gustavo Rivera Martinez is captured by Mexican authorities in Tijuana.
  • March 20 - The police have detained the biggest lot of heroin in Moldova. The matter is of 200 kg of heroin from Afghanistan worth about 10 million euros. Drugs were designed for one of the European countries, they were of the Afghan origin and packed in Turkey. Several days later, the General Prosecutor's Office announced that Chief of the Operative Services of the Ministry of Interior Corneliu Savca and two of his subordinates were arrested on the suspicion of being involved in this drug trafficking. It was envisaged that the policemen had had to provide for the transit of drugs, hidden in sacks with French beans in a microbus. After this the press spread rumors that ex-Minister of Interior Gheorghe Papuc was involved in this case, however, the General Prosecutor's Office denied these rumors.
  • March 22 - 'Ndrangheta boss Luca Megna is shot dead, his wife injured and his five-year-old daughter is put in a coma after an attack.
  • March 27 - Mobster Giuseppe Cavallo is shot dead in a retribution attack.
  • March 28 - Francesco Capicchiano is killed by two gunmen, amidst fears of a gang war.
  • March 29 - English Mob Boss Anthony "The British Bulldog" Burnes is shot dead outside a pub in Liverpool.

April
  • April 7 - Bulgarian organised crime author Georgi Stoev is killed by a single shot to the head in the capital Sofia.
  • April 25 - Moroccan drug lord Mohamed Ouazzani is recaptured by Spanish police after escaping prison last year.
  • April 27 - 15 people are killed in a gun battle between the Arellano-Felix cartel and a rival gang.

May
  • May 8 to May 10 - Three prominent Mexican officials (Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, Juan Antonio Roman Garcia, Esteban Robles Espinosa) are gunned down by drug traffickers.
  • May 23 - Italian Police arrest Ndrangheta boss, Giuseppe Nirta, in San Luca
  • May 26 - Raids in Caserta lead to the arrests of 50 alleged Camorra gangsters, targeting the Iovine clan.
  • May 28 - Seven policemen are killed and four injured in a drugs raid in Culiacán.
  • May 29 - Nicholas Corozzo, boss of the Gambino crime family, turned himself in to Federal authorities after almost four months on the run.
  • May 31 - The United States announces it is using a drug trafficking law to impose financial sanctions on the PKK, 'Ndrangheta and a Mexican drugs cartel as well as individuals from Turkey, Afghanistan and Venezuela.

June

July
  • July 1 - Hideo Mizoshita, the third president of the Kudo-kai, a yakuza organization based in Kitakyushu, Japan, died at the age of 61.[2]

August
  • August 5 - former Gambino crime family acting boss John Gotti, Jr. is charged with conspiracy connected to cocaine trafficking and three murders.
  • August 7 - Italian police arrest Paolo Nirta, the head of the Nirta-Strangio 'Ndrangheta clan.
  • August 18 - Acting boss Gambino boss John D'Amico sentenced to two years
  • August 20 - 'Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe Coluccio is extradited from Canada to Rome.
  • August 22 - Dominick Cirillo, consigliere of the Genovese Crime Family, was released from prison.
  • August 27 - Mexican police find three headless bodies in a rubbish dump in Tijuana killed by drug cartels.

September
  • September 5 - Spanish police arrest Colombian drug lord Edgar Guillermo Vallejo-Guarin at a luxury hotel in Madrid.
  • September 17 - Over 200 people across Mexico, Guatemala, Italy and the United States, including members of the Gulf cartel and the 'Ndrangheta are arrested in a major anti-drug trafficking operation, Operation Solare.
  • September 18 - 'Ndrangheta boss Francesco Pelle, linked to the long-running San Luca feud, is arrested in Pavia.
  • September 18 - former NYPD officers Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa's convictions reinstated by Appeals Court
  • September 18 - Leading figures in the Montreal Mafia, including Nicolo Rizzuto, Rocco Sollecito, Paolo Renda, Francesco Arcadi, Francesco Del Balso and Lorenzo Giordano, pleaded guilty Thursday morning to charges of conspiracy to traffic drugs, extort, run illegal bookmaking and possess illegal goods.
  • September 18 - 6 African immigrants are shot in what is believed to be a dispute between immigrant African drug gangs and the Casalesi clan of the Camorra in Castelvolturno This event begins to get labelled the Castel Volturno massacre by the media and public.. This is followed by a riot the next day.
  • September 19 - Mexican police seize $26m in drug money in Culiacán.
  • September 20 - Frank Valenti, boss of the Rochester crime family in the 1960s and 1970s died at the age of 97.
  • September 22 - Arms dealer Viktor Bout's trial begins in Bangkok.
  • September 22 - Police arrest Camorra member Alfonso Cesarano in connection with the shooting of the African immigrants in Castelvolturno. The government also announce they are deploying 500 troops in the area.
  • September 29 - A prisoner with ties to organized crime is shot dead by a sniper outside the prison in Varces, France.
  • September 29 - Anti-Mafia police seized apartments, businesses and property belonging to Giuseppe Setola, boss of the Casalesi clan, of the Camorra.

October
  • October 3- Vincent Artuso, Capo of the Gambino Crime Family, was convicted of RICO conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering charges in Palm Beach, Florida.
  • October 13- Frank Rosenthal, former Chicago Outfit bookmaker, died.
  • October 16- Nicolo Rizzuto, boss of the Montreal Mafia, or the Rizzuto Crime Family, was freed today and sentenced to 3 years probation. Francesco Del Balso, 38, and Francesco Arcadi, 55 - were each sentenced to a 15-year prison term and will serve 11 years due to time served.
  • October 22 - Police capture Mexican cartel boss Jesus Zambada of the Sinaloa cartel after a shootout in Mexico City.
  • October 24 - Mexican criminal investigator Andres Dimitriadis is shot dead by drug traffickers in his car on his way home.
  • October 26 - Colombian police seize a shipment of cocaine worth $200m en route to Mexico.
  • October 26 - The Mexican army captures drug lord Eduardo Arellano Felix after a shootout in Tijuana.

November
  • November 2 - Senior Mexican police officer, Victor Gerardo Garay, resigns amidst claims one of his aides was on the payroll of the Sinaloa cartel.
  • November 2 - Michael "Mikey Cigars" Coppola, a capo in the Genovese crime family, was indicted on the 1977 murder of John "Johnny Coca-Cola" Lardiere.
  • November 4 - 88 gangsters are arrested in raids targeting the Camorra, including Gemma Donnarumma, wife of Camorra boss Valentino Gionta.
  • November 7 - Domenico Magnoli, suspected drug trafficker for the 'Ndrangheta, is arrested after a liposuction sting at the La Madonnina clinic in Cosenza.
  • November 17 - Israeli mafia boss Yaakov Alperon is killed in a car bombing.
  • November 19 - Mexican Interpol chief Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas is arrested on suspicion of links with drug traffickers.
  • November 21 - Noe Ramirez Mandujano, ex-head of Mexico's anti-organized crime agency, is arrested on suspicion of links with drug traffickers.
  • November 24 - Eight members of New York's Lucchese crime family, including acting capo, Anthony Croce, on illegal gambling and narcotics charges by the FBI. If convicted, Croce faces up to five years in prison.

December
  • December 8 - Ten suspected drug traffickers and one soldier are killed in a shootout in Guerrero, Mexico, while another six people are killed when fire is opened on a pool hall in Ciudad Juárez.
  • December 11 - New York Federal Prosecutors state that Genovese crime family capo Tino Fiumara ordered the killing of former capo Lawrence Ricci. Ricci was killed during his 2005 trial and his body was later found in the trunk of a car at a New Jersey diner.
  • December 16 - The Carabinieri arrested nearly 100 people in anti-Mafia raids across the southern island of Sicily and in the central region of Tuscany. The police statement said that Matteo Messina Denaro was organizing a new Cupola to restructure the Sicilian mafia and become its top boss.
  • December 16 - Gambino crime family capo, Vincent Artuso who runs the family's South Florida crew was sentenced to nine years in Federal prison. He was convicted of defrauding the security company through real-estate deals in which the Gambino crew bought ADT office buildings far below market value, then leased them back to the company at inflated prices. ADT paid his crew millions of dollars in excess lease payments over a five-year period.
  • December 17 - Mafia boss Gaetano Lo Presti is found hanged in his cell following his arrest several hours before.
  • December 18 - Angelo Prisco, a reputed capo of the Genovese crime family, has been charged for the 1992 killing of Angelo Sangiulo.
  • December 22 - 9 decapitated bodies of eight soldiers and policeman are found in Guerrero, Mexico. The incident is believed to be linked to drug cartels.
  • December 29 - Salvatore Scala, former capo of the Gambino crime family, died at Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina while serving a six-year sentence for shaking down the owners of a Manhattan strip club.

Arts and Literature

Deaths
  • January 1 - Salvatore Bonanno "Bill", son to Joseph Bonanno and Bonanno crime family member
  • February 1 - Wilber Varela, head of Norte del Valle cartel.
  • February 4 - Irish gangster Paddy Doyle.
  • March - 'Ndrangheta members Luca Megna, Giuseppe Cavallo and Francesco Capicchiano are all killed in what may be the start of a gang war.
  • April 7 - Bulgarian crime writer Georgi Stoev.
  • April 27 - 15 people are killed in a gun battle between the Arellano-Felix cartel and a rival gang.
  • May 8 to May 10 - Three prominent Mexican officials (Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, Juan Antonio Roman Garcia, Esteban Robles Espinosa) are gunned down by drug traffickers.
  • May 28 - Seven policemen are killed in a drugs raid in Culiacán.
  • June 14 - Italian anti-corruption activist Giuseppe Basile.
  • June 26 - Mexican police commander Igor Labastida.
  • July 1 - Hideo Mizoshita, the third president of the Kudo-kai.[2]
  • September 18 - 6 African immigrants are shot in what is believed to be a dispute between immigrant drug gangs and the Camorra in Castelvolturno.
  • September 20 - Frank Valenti, boss of the Rochester crime family in the 1960s and 1970s died at the age of 97.
  • September 29 - A prisoner with ties to organized crime is shot dead by a sniper outside the prison in Varces, France.
  • October 13 - Chicago Outfit bookmaker and former casino boss, Frank Rosenthal dies
  • November 17 - Israeli mafia boss Yaakov Alperon.
  • December - Anthony Trentacosta, Gambino crime family Capo
  • December 8 - Ten suspected drug traffickers and one soldier are killed in a shootout in Guerrero, Mexico, while another six people are killed when fire is opened on a pool hall in Ciudad Juárez.
  • December 17 - Mafia boss Gaetano Lo Presti is found hanged in his cell.

References
  1. "Boryokudan Situation in 2007" Archived 2015-11-12 at the Wayback Machine, April 2008, National Police Agency (in Japanese)
  2. "Hideo Mizoshita of the Kudo-kai dies" Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine, 2 July 2008, Fukuoka Kenmin Shimbun (in Japanese)
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