Grandmas Gone Wild

Two stories out of the Sacramento area have me wondering if there's something in the air besides the smoke coming from all those wildfires.

Thankfully, the two Grandma's who have gone wild have not gone the shirt lifting wild, instead they've gone the thieving wild.

The first story involves a Rocklin, California woman named Valerie Harris who was called the "Grandma Bank Robber."

During the early stages of the investigation, the task force dubbed the perpetrator “the grandma bank robber” because surveillance photos depicted the robber to be between her early 50s and early 60s.

Harris brandished a “Colt 454 Cowboy Style Pistol”during commission of a December 12, 2007 bank robbery at the U.S. Bank located inside the Safeway grocery store in Roseville, California. On December 18, 2007, HARRIS was arrested based on a citizen tip that she attempted to pay a debt with bank robbery loot. During the course of the investigation, the FBI uncovered additional fraud crimes committed by Harris . She also pleaded guilty to executing a fraudulent scheme to defraud Bank of America by cashing stolen and forged checks.

The Second story being prosecuted by the Sacramento United States Attorneys' Office involves a 74 year old woman from Stockton, California who plead guilty this week to stealing thousands of dollars in Social Security benefits.

Ramona Soto, a/k/a Feliciana Cortez Castro, is an undocumented alien from Mexico who came to the United States around 1960. Sometime around 1968 she somehow obtained a birth certificate of a United States citizen which she used to apply for a social security card. In 2000, Soto applied for and began receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration to which she was not entitled as an undocumented, illegal alien.

What is perplexing to me is that in the time that Soto has been in the United States there have been amnesty programs which she certainly should have qualified for, why she choose to live a charade and defraud the U.S. Government go beyond reason.

Mike Tyson Implicated in Murder for Hire

Dwayne Meyers, a former member of the Cash Money Brothers gang and now a federal witness testified today that Mike Tyson paid $50,000 for a contract to kill members of a Brooklyn drug gang that murdered his bodyguard in 2000.

Meyers said that Tyson and another person named Muhammad Nur each paid a $50,000 bounty on the heads of CMB leaders Damion "World" Hardy and Edward "Taz" Cooke.

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Loonam asked "Why would Mike Tyson put a hit out on Taz and World?" To which Meyers replied, "He was close friends with 'Homicide,'" referring to victim Darryl Baum by his nickname.

Darryl Baum, who was Tyson's bodyguard, was also suspected of shooting rapper 50 Cent the month before he was killed. Coincidentally 50 Cent later purchased Tyson's Connecticut Mansion.

Judge Kozinski calls for investigation into his porn postings

The Los Angeles Times reported today that Federal Judge Alex Kozinski, who acknowledged maintaining his own publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos, called for an investigation of his own conduct. Read more here.

Colombo Mafia Boss Charged with Racketeering Conspiracy

The Department of Justice announced today that Thomas Gioeli, the acting boss of the Colombo organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Colombo family”), John “Sonny” Franzese, the Colombo family underboss, and ten additional Colombo family members and associates were charged with racketeering conspiracy, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking. The charged racketeering predicate acts include, among others, four acts of murder, murder conspiracy, and felony murder.

The defendants were arrested today in New York were scheduled to be arraigned at the U.S. Courthouse in Brooklyn. Colombo family underboss John “Sonny” Franzese is currently incarcerated based on a violation of supervised release for a prior conviction.

According to the indictment and a detention memorandum filed by the government today, the charges are the product of a three-year investigation into the illegal activities of the Colombo family. The broad scope of the investigation includes historical acts of murder by the Colombo family as well as more recent criminal activity. The evidence relating to many of the charged crimes consists of hundreds of hours of recorded conversations secured by multiple cooperating witnesses who infiltrated the Colombo family.

Those indicted today include Thomas Gioeli, 55; John “Sonny” Franzese, 89; Dino Calabro, 41; Michael Catapano, 42; Frank Campione, 65; Joseph “ Joey Caves” Competiello; 36; Joseph Digorga, 67; Orlando Spado, 63; Angelo Giangrande, 55; John Capolino, 39; Nicholas Bova, 31; and Christopher Curanovic, 26.

The indictment and detention memorandum document the Colombo family’s brazen use of violence – including murder – to earn money, seek revenge, and obstruct justice, including:

• The Felony Murder of Carlos Pagan. Colombo family captain Dino Calabro is charged with the January 9, 1992, armed robbery and felony murder of Carlos Pagan. Pagan, an armored truck guard, was shot and killed during a botched effort by Calabro and others to rob Pagan as he and a co-worker were delivering money to a check-cashing store in Brooklyn.
• The Murders of John Minerva and Michael Imbergamo. Colombo family acting boss Thomas Gioeli and captain Dino Calabro are charged with the March 25, 1992, double murder of Colombo family soldier John Minerva and Minerva’s friend, Michael Imbergamo. Minerva was murdered as part of the bloody Colombo family war, which pitted two factions of the Colombo family against each other in a violent struggle for control of the family. Imbergamo was not a target of the murder, but was killed because he was with Minerva at the time of the attack. Colombo captains Joseph “JoJo” Russo and Anthony “Chucky” Russo and soldier Joseph Monteleone were previously convicted in the Eastern District of New York for their participation in this double murder.
• The Murder of Frank Marasa. Acting Colombo family boss Thomas Gioeli, captain Dino Calabro, and soldier Joseph “ Joey Caves” Competiello are charged with the 1991 murder of Frank Marasa. On June 12, 1991, Marasa was shot multiple times outside his home in Brooklyn in retaliation for his perceived involvement in the murder of a Colombo family associate.

Drug Dealer Occupational Safety

A San Francisco drug dealer was recently sentenced to 22 years in prison following a conviction under federal RICO laws. Aquil Peterson, 24, of San Francisco, is a member of the Page Street Mob and had participated in the kidnapping, beating, and murder of Joseph Hearns in 2002. Last week another Page Street Mob member, Raymon Hill, was sentenced for his part in a murder conspiracy plot that was in retaliation for the killing of Eugene Hill.

Unfortunately CalOsha doesn't track occupational hazard statistics for drug dealers, but it would seem that it has to be one of the most dangerous career paths, even more so than skyscraper construction worker, police officer, or postal worker. I work at a computer all day long and can barely hang on from all the stress. I can't imagine having to worry about rival drug dealers, police, or working in those bad neighborhoods.

There has to be a better way to make a buck, especially if you don't mind your brains being splattered all over a sidewalk. So why do they do it? I know, the money obviously, but how good can it be? Most drug dealers are still living in the ghetto, have no medical/dental, and definitely no 401K. Doesn't sound like a good deal to me.