Related Research Articles
The Gambino crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. The group, which went through five bosses between 1910 and 1957, is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963, when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering, gambling, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, fraud, hijacking, and fencing.
The Genovese crime family, also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia. They have generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York, including ties with the Philadelphia, Patriarca, and Buffalo crime families.
The Colombo crime family is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was during Lucky Luciano's organization of the American Mafia after the Castellammarese War, following the assassinations of "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, that the gang run by Joseph Profaci became recognized as the Profaci crime family.
The Irish Mob is a usually crime family–based ethnic collective of organized crime syndicates composed of primarily ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and have been in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish-American street gangs – famously first depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1927 book, The Gangs of New York – the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, especially in the Northeast and the urban industrial Midwest, including Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.
The Pittsburgh crime family, also known as the LaRocca crime family or Pittsburgh Mafia, is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The LaRocca family is one of the original 26 mafia families in the United States. In 2021, the boss Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti died, he was also the last known made member of the family.
The Detroit Partnership is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Detroit, Michigan. The family mainly operates in the Greater Detroit area, as well as in Windsor, Ontario, Toledo, Ohio, South Florida, and Las Vegas.
The Velentzas Organization, also known as the Velentzas crime family, or the "Greek crew" is a Greek-American criminal organization operating in the New York City area. During the 1980s, into the early 1990s, the Greek organization controlled a number of illegal gambling operations in and around the New York City area. After the organization's leader, Spyredon "Spiro the Greek" Velentzas was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1992, the organization gradually declined in power.
Cellebrite DI Ltd. is an Israeli digital intelligence company that provides tools for federal, state, and local law enforcement as well as enterprise companies and service providers to collect, review, analyze and manage digital data. On April 8, 2021, Cellebrite announced plans to go public via a merger with a blank-check firm, valuing the company at approximately $2.4 billion. Their flagship product series is the Cellebrite UFED.
Duax "Dax" Hohepa Ngakuru is a New Zealand outlaw biker and alleged gangster.
In January 2020, the FTI Consulting company claimed that in May 2018 with "medium to high confidence" the phone of Jeff Bezos had been hacked by a file sent from the WhatsApp account of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. The Saudi Arabian embassy to the United States has denied the allegations. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post newspaper and founder of the company Amazon, engaged FTI Consulting in February 2019 after the National Enquirer in January 2019 reported details of Bezos's affair. FTI Consulting did not link the National Enquirer to the hack. In December 2021, the FBI stated they could not find proof to substantiate claims that Saudi Arabia hacked Jeff Bezos phone, and has considered an investigation into those allegations a low priority.
EncroChat was a Europe-based communications network and service provider that offered modified smartphones allowing encrypted communication among subscribers. It was used primarily by organized crime members to plan criminal activities. Police infiltrated the network between at least March and June 2020 during a Europe-wide investigation. An unidentified source associated with EncroChat announced on the night of 12–13 June 2020 that the company would cease operations because of the police operation.
John Kinsella was an English criminal from Everton, Liverpool. He was shot dead in May 2018 by killers using encrypted EncroChat handsets to co-ordinate the murder.
Phantom Secure was a Canadian company that provided modified secure mobile phones, which were equipped with a remotely operated kill switch. After its shutdown, criminal users fled to alternatives including ANOM, which turned out to be a honeypot run by the FBI.
The ANOM sting operation is a collaboration by law enforcement agencies from several countries, running between 2018 and 2021, that intercepted millions of messages sent through the supposedly secure smartphone-based proprietary messaging app ANOM. The ANOM service was widely used by criminals, but instead of providing secure communication, it was actually a trojan horse covertly distributed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), enabling them to monitor all communications. Through collaboration with other law enforcement agencies worldwide, the operation resulted in the arrest of over 800 suspects allegedly involved in criminal activity, in 16 countries. Among the arrested people were alleged members of Australian-based Italian mafia, Albanian organised crime, outlaw motorcycle clubs, drug syndicates and other organised crime groups.
Ennetcom was a Netherlands based communications network and service provider.
Martin Kok was a Dutch criminal turned blogger.
Lawrence Ronald Amero is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster affiliated with the Hells Angels and the Wolfpack Alliance.
Ciphr is a secure messaging company that produces encrypted phones. In 2022, it changed its reseller business model. The move was part of the attempt to clean-up its client base after a series law enforcement actions against similar companies that cater to the black market. The new model shifted responsibility to resellers of its encryption technology. The company later announced that it will cease operations after resellers refused to sell Ciphr's products due to the assumed legal liability.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Cox, Joseph (2019-10-22). "Inside the Phone Company Secretly Run By Drug Traffickers". Motherboard . Retrieved 2022-05-31.
- 1 2 3 Cox, Joseph (2018-10-24). "Encrypted Phone Company Helped Plan Crime Blogger's Murder, Cops and Source Say". Motherboard . Retrieved 2022-05-31.
- ↑ Barnes, David (2018-02-08). "The Strange Life of a Murderer Turned Crime Blogger". Wired . Retrieved 2022-05-31.
- ↑ "Man denies role in sex club murder of Dutch crime writer". BBC News. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- ↑ "Scottish gangster lured crime writer to 'execution' outside sex club". STV News. 2022-04-22. Retrieved 2022-05-31.