Frank Nitti vault discovered

A Chicago restaurant owner stumbled upon a hidden vault in the basement at Harry Caray's restaurant. He chanced upon something that appeared to be a doorway in the brick wall closed up with newer bricks. "I went to the Chicago History Museum and they got the plans. This was the vault for the building," DePorter said.

He ultimately decided to take his own life the day before his scheduled grand jury appearance.

Frank Nitti was an Italian-American gangster. One of Al Capone's top henchmen, Nitti was in charge of all money flowing through the operation. Nitti later succeeded Capone as boss of the Chicago Outfit in 1931. In 1943, many top members of the Chicago Outfit were indicted for extorting the Hollywood film industry. Severely claustrophobic, Nitti dreaded the idea of another prison confinement.

Alphonse 'Little Al' D'Arco dead at 86

Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco was a New York mobster who became the acting boss of the Lucchese crime family. He was the first boss, acting or otherwise, of a New York crime family to become a government witness. Among the Mafia heavyweights brought down by D’Arco’s testimony at more than a dozen trials were “Mafia Cops” Stephen Caracappa and Louie Ippolito; Genovese family boss Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante; Colombo boss 'Little Vic' Orena; ex-Luchese cronies Vic Amuso and Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso; and Bonanno consigliere Anthony Spero.

Stephen Caracappa (l) and Louis Eppolito

The deal was done on Sept. 21, 1991, with the feds signing up perhaps their unlikeliest cooperator ever. In return for his work as a witness, D’Arco was sentenced to time served and fined $50 in November 2002. D’Arco's defection to the federal Witness Protection Program delivered a devastating blow to New York's five Mafia families. He passed away this month from complications of kidney disease.

See ----->NYC cops Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito
See ----->Vincent Louis Gigante - 'The Chin'

300 kg of Cocaine found on latest cruise ship bust

Federal police in Brazil arrested sixteen passengers aboard the Costa Favolosa cruise ship who were reportedly carrying 300 kilos of cocaine in their luggage. The Costa cruise ship was in the port in Santos, Brazil, on the coast of São Paulo, en route to Europe.

At least a dozen people were detained on suspicion of smuggling more than $2 million worth of cocaine aboard the MSC Opera cruise ship when it docked in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal earlier this week. 18kg (40 pounds) of cocaine with an estimated street value of $2.6m was found in that case.

Months ago a British couple in their seventies were arrested after cops discovered 22 pounds of cocaine in their cabin aboard the Marco Polo cruise ship while it was docked in Lisbon, Portugal.

HA Ken Wagner in the big house again

Ken Wagner, Jason Meyer, Gerald Ward, Donald Bachensky, Timothy Panetta and John Cane.

A founding member of the Niagara chapter of Hells Angels remains jailed in connection with an investigation into threats and extortion. Kenneth Wagner, 53, faces a slew of charges including extortion using a firearm, uttering threats, possession of proceeds of crime and unauthorized possession of a firearm.

It was 2008 when police took 2kg of meth, 10kg of cocaine and 500,000 ecstasy pills off the streets. Of the 24 people arrested, 15 were Hells Angels. Kenneth Wagner was sentenced to 11 years in prison, the first man convicted using the new “boss offence” law. Wagner forfeited $150k cash, a Harley-Davidson and his truck. Wagner’s associate was Gerald “Skinny” Ward, the man who acted as boss and was considered the “number one man.”

UK Botox beautician a gangster's moll

Bretony Gallimore, 27, tours the country carrying out cosmetic procedures on men and women at their homes in events often dubbed "botox parties". She has no insurance or any medical qualifications. In June 2016 she was jailed for three years for helping her drug dealer boyfriend hide after murdering a gang rival. The gangster's moll helped career crook Anthony Henry evade cops after the cold-blooded shooting of Kieran McGrath, 26.

Gallimore was jailed alongside Henry, then 31, and his two accomplices Jace Smith, 31, and Troy Beckford, 23. They received life sentences. Gallimore's cosmetic surgery site offers "anti wrinkle treatments", "derma fillers", "lip enhancement" and "vampire facials". Lip fillers alone cost an average of £300 in a clinic, but are around £220 at her parties.

Mobsters acquitted in racketeering and extortion case

Two mobsters, including Joseph “Joe C” Cammarano Jr., the acting Bonanno crime family boss, were acquitted on all charges in a racketeering and extortion case. Cammarano and his consigliere John “Porky” Zancocchio were acquitted on two counts of conspiracy. Prosecutors argued at trial that the men directed others to carry out loansharking, drug dealing and violent extortions of Staten Island and Long Island businesses from 2002 through 2018.

Jurors heard from over 30 witnesses, including from four cooperating witnesses, one of whom Zancocchio beat up for the mob.

QuadrigaCX Bankrupt

Canada's major cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX has been officially declared bankrupt. A so-called asset preservation order extends to all assets held by Jennifer Robertson — the wife of Quadriga’s late co-founder Gerald Cotten — and the Cotten estate. The order prohibits Robertson from selling, removing and transferring any assets. The exchange reportedly owes more than $195m to over 115,000 customers.

See ----->QuadrigaCX - Gerald Cotten

Kevin Patrick Hobbs and Lisa Cheng targeted for civil forfeiture

The couple ran Vanbex Group Inc. and Etherparty Smart Contracts Inc. that launched a cryptocurrency coin called a FUEL token. Vanbex raised $30m in the fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). Cops launched a fraud investigation into Etherparty and Vanbex, as well as Hobbs and Cheng, in May 2018.

Hobbs has a criminal history, including money laundering and marijuana trafficking. The forfeiture office is seeking a luxury Coal Harbour townhouse, two Range Rover SUVs, and funds in Bank of Montreal accounts as proceeds of crime.

The three-bedroom townhouse with views of Coal Harbour was bought in late 2017 by Hobbs and Cheng for $4.1m in cash, but was recently listed for sale at $7.8m. The 2017 and 2018 Range Rovers, owned by Hobbs, sell for as much as $90k and are still believed to be in his possession. Hobbs is also accused of using the “misappropriated funds” to buy a Bay Street apartment in Toronto for just under $3.7m and to purchase a three-year lease for a $500k 2018 Lamborghini.

Biker shoot out in Vegas

A biker gang shooting unfolded inside of the El Cortez Hotel and Casino in Vegas last weekend. A fight broke out between two biker gangs: the Vago and the Sons of Hell, which is a support club of the Hells Angels. Three Sons of Hell members were arrested, Matthew Norris, Travis Callahan, and Roberto Romero. The police report says Callahan pulled out a gun and shot one Vagos member in the chest at close range. He then fired several more shots, hitting one man in the leg, another in the chin and a fourth man in the arm before running away.

Each faces four counts of conspiracy to commit murder and four counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon.

Hugh 'Apples' McIntosh

By the mid-1950s, Carmine Persico and his associates were neck-deep in the New York underworld. The mob world was rocked in 1957 by the murder of Albert Anastasia in a Manhattan barbershop by a team of assassins—among them, cops believed, Carmine “the Snake” Persico. The New York Times added “Slightly built at 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing about 150 pounds, (Persico) was usually accompanied by his favorite sidekick and bodyguard, Hugh McIntosh, a 6-foot-4 mobster with a frame like a tree trunk.”

As Persico climbed up the Colombo family ladder, McIntosh earned a reputation as a good earner and fearsome enforcer.

While there were many capos outranking him, Macintosh was considered to be Persico’s most important ally in the Colombo family despite the fact he couldn't be 'made'. With a size 42 suit McIntosh always made a big impression. In 1969 he went to prison on hijacking charges. By the 1990s, after a string of serious health problems, it seemed Apples had gone straight. Hugh McIntosh died in November 1997.

Godfather of Harlem - Bumpy Johnson

Forest Whitaker is the lead in 'Godfather of Harlem'. Bumpy Johnson was born Ellsworth Raymond Johnson in Charlestown. Johnson was a mob boss and bookmaker.

Godfather of Harlem examines Johnson’s association with the Genovese crime family, along with his business relationship with Malcolm X, who was assassinated in 1965. The 1971 film Shaft was inspired by Johnson, and the 1979 prison thriller Escape from Alcatraz includes a character based on him.

HA Michael 'Diaz' Deabaitua-Schulde shot dead - Update IV

A large turnout is expected for the funeral today of Michael (Diaz) Deabaitua-Schulde, 32, a full-patch HA who was murdered March 11. All of Ontario's Hells Angels are required to attend and charters from across the country must also send members. Four Montreal men are now charged in the brazen daylight shooting. Marc Issa El-Khoury was arrested Wednesday while trying to cross the border into the United States.

A Montreal man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for his alleged role in the murder of a Hells Angels member in Mississauga surrendered to police. 38-year-old Joseph Pallotta, turned himself in to authorities in Montreal on Sunday. He has been charged with first-degree murder.

Michael Deabaitua-Schulde. 32

Montreal police arrested Marckens Vilme, 28, and Brandon Reyes, 24, in Deabaitua-Schulde's death. Vilme is being charged with first-degree murder, and Reyes with accessory after the fact of murder. Joseph Pallotta, 28, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for first-degree murder. He is considered armed and dangerous.

A full patch member of the Hells Angels was the victim of a fatal shooting Monday in a Mississauga plaza that sent bystanders scrambling for cover.

Deabaitua-Schulde was rushed to hospital where he died. A burnt-out car was found in the area.

Michael Deabaitua-Schulde, 32, was murdered in the parking lot in a targeted gangland-style assassination. The shooting outside a popular gym comes amidst a massive shuffling among the Hells Angels in Ontario.

A senior Hells Angels member from London, Ont., has recently moved to the Niagara Region to bolster the club there while Keswick-area Hells Angels have moved to Ottawa. The Hells Angels have about 175 Ontario members and 450 members across Canada. Deabaitua-Schulde was a member of the Niagara charter. Marckens Vilme has a lengthy criminal record that shows a long-standing association with a Montreal street gang called the Ruffriders, associated with a larger Montreal street gang called les bleus, who in turn are close to the Quebec Hells Angels. One of his fellow Niagara Region members has been seen in Montreal recently. Deabaitua-Schulde had two small children, 4 year old Michael and 14 month old Domaso. A 'Go Fund Me' has been established.