'Dreamland: Surrealism At 100' Exhibition Coming To Philadelphia Museum of Art In November

The Philadelphia Museum of Art announced that they will be offering an exhibit called Dreamland: Surrealism At 100 in November. 

You can read about the exhibit, which includes Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936, by Salvador Dalí (seen above).

You can read about the exhibit at the PhillyDaily.com website via the link below:

Dreamland: Surrealism at 100 Exhibition Coming to Philadelphia Museum of Art in November - Philly Daily 

PhillyDaily.com, where I am a contributor, is part of the Fideri News Network. 

Member Of Vast International Alien Smuggling Organization Extradited From Mexico

The U.S. Justice Department released the information below:

A Mexican man made his initial appearance in court in Del Rio today after being extradited to Texas from Mexico to face charges relating to his role in an international alien smuggling organization.

In September 2023, a federal grand jury in the Western District of Texas returned an indictment against Efrain Zuniga-Garcia, 37, of Mexico, for conspiring to smuggle aliens from multiple countries into the United States for financial gain.

Beginning in November 2020 and continuing through September 2023, the defendant and others were part of a vast international alien smuggling organization (ASO) that illegally brought thousands of aliens from Afghanistan, Yemen, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Ecuador into the United States across the border with Mexico. The ASO operated stash houses in Monterrey, Mexico, and Piedras Negras, Mexico. A Pakistani smuggler based in Brazil originally contracted with aliens to enter the smuggling venture. In turn, this Brazilian-based smuggler worked with a San Antonio, Texas-based smuggler and Honduran national Enil Edil Mejia-Zuniga to facilitate travel of the aliens from South America to the United States. Mejia-Zuniga directed operations, as well as paid armed “coyotes,” load drivers, and stash house operators. According to court documents, Mejia-Zuniga admitted that the ASO smuggled between 2,500 to 3,000 aliens into the United States in just two years. Mejia-Zuniga stated the organization charged between $6,500 to $12,000 per alien, totaling approximately $16 to $30 million in financial gain.

Efrain Zuniga-Garcia operated the stash house in Monterrey and coordinated with other members of the ASO to transport aliens to the stash house and then into the U.S. illegally. The defendant worked with others to house aliens for a period, after which the aliens would meet foot guides, ‘coyotes’, who led them across the U.S.-Mexico border by crossing the Rio Grande River.

Zuniga-Garcia was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 at the request of the U.S. government. Zuniga-Garcia’s extradition was the result of extensive coordination and cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement authorities.

Zuniga-Garcia is charged with one count of conspiracy to bring illegal aliens to the United States and three counts of bringing in illegal aliens for profit. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison. Zuniga-Garcia’s co-defendant, Monica Hernadez-Palma was extradited to the United States from Mexico in January 2025. She pleaded guilty to smuggling offenses in April 2025 and is scheduled to be sentenced in November 2025. Defendant Mejia-Zuniga was sentenced in July 2025 to the statutory maximum of 120 months in prison.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Lippa of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Antonio Field Office made the announcement.

HSI Del Rio led U.S. investigative efforts, working in concert with the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center International Interdiction Task Force, and U.S. Border Patrol. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Mexico to secure the arrest and extradition of Zuniga-Garcia.

Trial Attorneys Jenna Reed and Bethany Allen of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) are prosecuting the case.

The indictment and extradition are the result of the coordinated efforts of Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) and the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) Program. JTFA, a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been elevated and expanded with a mandate to target cartels and transnational criminal organizations to eliminate human smuggling and trafficking operating in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Canada, and the Caribbean. JTFA currently comprises detailees from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices along the southwest border, the Northern District of New York, the District of Vermont, and the Southern District of Florida. Dedicated support is provided by numerous components of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, led by HRSP and supported by the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, Office of Enforcement Operations, and the Office of International Affairs, among others. JTFA also relies on substantial law enforcement investment from DHS, FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and other partners. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 415 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling; more than 355 U.S. convictions; more than 305 significant jail sentences imposed; and forfeitures of substantial assets.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. 

A Look Back At A Mafia Prince: My Q&A With Former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra Crime Family Underboss Philip Leonetti

Back in 2013, the Washington Times published my review of Philip Leonetti's book Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra. 

I interviewed the former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra organized crime family underboss who became a government witness for both the Washington Times piece and for my online Crime Beat column. 

You can read the 2013 column below:

In my Washington Times review, I wrote that Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the boss of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Cosa Nostra crime family in the 1980s, has been described by law enforcement officers and former criminal associates as ruthless, homicidal, greedy and paranoid - even by organized crime standards.

Today, Scarfo, 83, sits in federal prison in large part because of Philip "Crazy Phil" Leonetti, his close nephew and criminal underboss, who became a witness against him.

In the book Leonetti tells the inside story of the dark and deadly life in organized crime. 

As I noted in my review, being half-Italian and raised in South Philadelphia - the hub of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Cosa Nostra organized crime family - I was aware of Cosa Nostra culture at an early age. I know or knew of many of the people in this book. I've also interviewed Philadelphia cops and FBI agents from that era, and I found Leonetti's descriptions of events, people and places to be frank and accurate.

Philip Leonetti called me from an undisclosed location, as Scarfo has placed a $500,000 contract on his life, and I interviewed him over the phone.

Below is my Q&A with Philip Leonetti:

Davis: Why did you write this book?

Leonetti: First, I thought it was a great story. I have a son and I really didn’t have much time for him when he was growing up. But by writing this book he now knows what I was going through when he was a little kid and he now realizes my situation. Of course, I never really talked to him. I never went into any details about my life. He knew what type of guy I was and all, but I never explained anything to him. Now he understands a lot better.

Davis: Have you adapted well after a life in organized crime?

Leonetti: Yeah, it’s great. To be honest with you, the way I’m living now is how I wanted to live my whole life. I was doing my duty by the way I was raised, wanting to do the right thing by them, but this is really what I enjoy.

Davis: Many organized crime guys don’t adapt well after they testify, like Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, who went right back into a life of crime. I suppose they like the excitement, the action. You don’t miss that?

Leonetti: I miss the money. But no, it’s too cutthroat. Nobody is your friend. They’re scared of you, that’s why. What I found out afterwards was everyone hated my uncle, and me, because I was with him all of the time. They hated us because of the way we treated everybody. So, no, I don’t miss anything about that life. I make a good living this way.

Davis: In your book you paint a truly chilling portrait of your uncle. How would you describe him?

Leonetti: Psychopathic. You know, you watch The Boardwalk Empire, that guy Rosetti? He’s crazy. My uncle’s like him a little bit. I see my uncle in that guy. But my uncle didn’t go as far as putting a general’s hat on like Rosetti. That guy was really out of his mind.

Davis: The Rosetti character was a psychopath.

Leonetti: Yeah, but my uncle was more devious. He was a lot smarter than this guy on TV. He was the same way, but in a smart way. He was calculating.

Davis: You were born to a life in Cosa Nostra. What did your uncle teach you about the life?

Leonetti: From when I was little, he would tell me we don’t talk about our life to anybody. We’re different. We don’t live by the same rules that everybody else does. Like the laws they have in this country. If somebody bothers us we’ll kill the guy ourselves. We don’t go rat to the police. This is the environment I grew up in.

Davis: Do you have any regrets about your past life, or any regrets about becoming a witness?

Leonetti: Becoming a witness is not a nice thing. You go up on the stand and testify against people that you know. I didn’t enjoy that at all. But I made an agreement with the government, and I testified truthfully about everything.

Davis: Was testifying about your crimes cathartic in any way? Do you regret any of the crimes you committed?

Leonetti: I try to weigh things in my mind. All the crimes I committed, like the murders I was involved with, were all against bad people, guys that were involved in our life. So I really didn’t think anything of it. They were looking to kill us and we were looking to kill them. We weren’t looking to kill no legitimate people.

Davis: You admittedly met and committed crimes with some major crime figures, such as your uncle of course, and Meyer Lansky and others. Can you give a brief impression of Lansky?

Leonetti: He was a little old man when I met him, walking this little white dog. He would meet us at the Eden Roc Hotel. We would go there and meet him, Nig Rosen and a couple of other fellas hanging around. We would sit around and have lunch with him. They were characters, these guys, especially Meyer. He told stories about his buddy, Ben Siegel, who robbed the money and how he couldn’t save him. He felt bad about him. It was just talk, generally. It was like an honor just to be sitting there.

Davis: From a crime historical point of view, you don’t get much bigger than Meyer Lansky.

Leonetti: No, you don't.

Davis: You also met John Gotti. What was your impression of him?

Leonetti: John Gotti was a gangster. He was a real tough guy. He acted like a tough guy and he didn’t put up with any bullshit. He got along with us and he liked my uncle and he liked me. We met him a few times in New York, and he just wanted to be friendly with us. He wanted to have us as his friends.

Davis: He was looking for an ally on the commission, right?

Leonetti: Yeah. We were friends with him because of Sammy - Sammy “the Bull” Gravano - I was real close to Sammy, but we were aligned with the Genovese family.

Davis: What was your impression of Sammy Gravano?

Leonetti: The same type of guy as John Gotti. These guys were all treacherous. Frank DeCiccio and Sammy the Bull were buddies. When John Gotti approached them to kill Gambino boss Paul Castellano, Sammy and Frank DeCiccio talked it over, you know, after John left, and said look, let’s do this because Paul’s not a bargain. So we’ll kill him now and if John does not work out, we’ll kill him too, that’s all. That’s the type of guys these are. They are all stone killers. This is what you get with the mob. That’s why I don’t miss that life.

Davis: What was your impression of Vincent “the Chin” Gigante?

Leonetti: I was never in his company. I dealt with Bobby Manna (the Genovese consigliere).

Davis: You mentioned that these guys were “real gangsters” and you write in your book that your uncle differentiated between a “racketeer” and a “gangster,” and your uncle was proud of being a gangster. What is the difference between the two?

Leonetti: Gangsters are guys like John Gotti, Vincent the Chin and my uncle, and the racketeers are guys like Paul Castellano and Angelo Bruno. They are business-like guys. They were guys who were more involved in business, they weren’t like street guys.

Davis: Who stands out in your mind from the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family during your day? 

Leonetti: When I was around there were guys like me and Chuckie (Merlino) and Salvie (Testa) and Lawrence (Merlino). We were like a close-knit family. When Phil Testa was alive we were with him. These were the guys I was really friendly with.

Davis: You guys were bringing in a lot on money. Do you blame your uncle for spoiling a good thing with his violent leadership of the Philadelphia-South Jersey crime family? There are those who say that his viciousness and murderous ways pushed guys into witness protection.

Leonetti: That’s the life. He couldn’t handle the job. He talked about everybody else going power-crazy, but he went power-crazy. He wanted to kill everybody.

Davis: I lived around the corner from Angelo Bruno when I was a kid and the general impression of him was that he was involved in gambling, but not drugs and murder. In your book you offer a different portrait. You write that he was involved in drugs and he did in fact order murders.

Leonetti: He was the boss of the Philadelphia family. He ordered murders. Before I was made I did beatings for him that he ordered. But let me tell you something, Angelo Bruno was the biggest drug dealer in Philadelphia. He was smart. He was low-key. He was a real businessman. He didn’t want anybody knowing anything. Long John (Martorano) dealt all the drugs for Angelo Bruno, the P2P, with all the motorcycle gangs and the different connections he had.

Davis: Now ongoing is the big federal mob racketeering trial with Joseph Ligambi and others. How do you think it will turn out? And do you think Joe Ligambi is like Angelo Bruno, a low-key businessman type?

Leonetti: Joe Ligambi has more balls than Angelo Bruno. Ang never killed anybody, Joe did.

Davis: I thought that was a requirement.

Leonetti: That was a requirement, yeah, but he got in because he did things for certain guys and they made him.

Davis: Do you think Joe Ligambi and his crew are going to prison?

Leonetti: I was would say yes if it was not for Eddie Jacobs. He is a good lawyer.

Davis: I interviewed Joe Pistone, the FBI Special Agent who went undercover with the Bonanno crime family for six years. He debunked the idea of glamour and honor in Cosa Nostra. He saw mob guys constantly scheming, scamming to make money and worrying about arrested or killed. In your book you recount the high life of organized crime, but you also note the apprehension and fear that goes along with the criminal life. Do you agree with Joe Pistone’s view?

Leonetti: Yeah, we always watched ourselves. We had to be careful with everybody we dealt with. Once you become the boss someone is always looking to get close to you, make a move on you, or something. We were pretty strong. We had everything covered since that was our thing. It would be pretty tough to trick us.

Davis: But even at your leadership level, you lived in fear of your uncle, at least in the later years, didn’t you?

Leonetti: In my later years, yeah. Eventually I knew he would have killed me. He was getting sicker in his mind, thinking that I might make a move against him, which I thought of, but I just couldn’t do it. You know, I killed a lot of people, but I’m just not a killer. I’m not like him in that way.

Davis: From what you wrote and from others I heard that your uncle enjoyed killing.

Leonetti: Yeah, that was his thing.

Davis: But you would not say that about yourself?

Leonetti: No. I tried to do my best to be a good soldier for him with the killing - and I was good at it - but no, that’s not my thing.

Davis: And that is the difference between the two of you?

Leonetti: Yes. He enjoyed it.

Davis: You wrote approvingly of the FBI Special Agents you dealt with when you became a witness. Did that surprise you that they were good guys?

Leonetti: Well, I take everybody as I meet them. I met bad people and these fellas I met happened to be good guys. There was one other guy in the FBI office that didn’t live up to things that he told me, but Jim Maher and Gary Langan took care of me and whatever they said to me they did. They really helped me out after this transition, when I got out of jail and all.

Davis: I interviewed former FBI Special Agent Bud Warner a while back. He was an aggressive street agent in Philadelphia. You didn’t mention him in the book, but I was wondering what you thought of him?

Leonetti: I remember him. I never really dealt with him, but I know my uncle hated him.

Davis: You mentioned Boardwalk Empire, do you watch mob movies like the Godfather and Goodfellas?

Leonetti: Yeah, I do. I liked Goodfellas. It seemed real. The Godfather was a good movie. 

Davis: You mentioned that the reason you wrote the book was for your son, but is there a message for the general reader? 

Leonetti: Well, yes. Don’t get involved with the mob. It looks good from the outside. Everybody thinks you get the best seats in any restaurant and all the money. But it is a different story from the inside. Depending on your personality, you don’t know how long you’re going to live. 

Davis: Do you think your uncle will read your book in prison? And if so, what will he think of it?

Leonetti: Definitely, he'll read it. I think he’ll curse me; he’ll curse the book and say it stinks. He’ll say it’s all a lie. I wish I could listen to him talk on the phones from prison after he reads the book.

Note: The above photos of Philip Leonetti and Nicodemo Scarfo in prison appear curtesy of Philip Leonetti. Scarfo died in prison in 2017. 

You can read my Washington Times review of Mafia Prince via below:

By Paul Davis - Special to The Washington Times - - Friday, January 4, 2013

MAFIA PRINCE: INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST VIOLENT CRIME FAMILY AND THE BLOODY FALL OF LA COSA NOSTRA
By Philip Leonaetti with Scott Burnstein and Christopher Graziano
Running Press, $24, 320 pages 

Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the boss of the Philadelphia-South Jersey La Cosa Nostra crime family in the 1980s, has been described by law enforcement officers and former criminal associates as ruthless, homicidal, greedy and paranoid — even by organized-crime standards.

Today, Scarfo, 83, sits in federal prison in large part because of Philip “Crazy Phil” Leonetti, his close nephew and criminal underboss, who became a witness against him.

Scarfo will not be happy with this book.

In “Mafia Prince,” Leonetti tells the inside story of his uncle’s rise to the leadership of the crime family and his violent seven-year reign. Leonetti also writes about his own criminal acts, which include 10 murders. 

Leonetti tells of being born into Cosa Nostra. In the absence of Leonetti's father, Scarfo became a surrogate father, raising Leonetti from childhood in their way of life.

Leonetti committed his first murder when he was 23, and he went on to commit countless other murders and criminal acts at his uncle’s side. Between 1976 and 1987, Scarfo and Leonetti made millions of dollars through illegal gambling, loan sharking, extortion and skimming from the Atlantic City casinos.

The two were feared and respected by those in the underworld. A radio DJ called Leonetti “Crazy Phil,” and the nickname stuck. Leonetti said he hated the moniker, but his uncle said most mob guys would love to have a nickname like that.

In “Mafia Prince” Leonetti offers a history of the Philadelphia mob, including the murder of longtime mob boss Angelo Bruno in 1980 and how Scarfo became the boss after Bruno’s successor, Philip “Chicken Man” Testa, was murdered a year later by a powerful nail bomb on his front porch in South Philly. 

Scarfo became the boss in 1981 and began an internecine mob war, leaving bodies on the streets of South Philly. He shook down drug dealers and gamblers and beat or murdered anyone who did not show him the proper “respect.”

Leonetti also writes about accompanying his uncle to meetings with notorious gangsters including Meyer Lansky in Miami and John Gotti and Sammy “the Bull” Gravano in New York.

When Scarfo and Leonetti finally were convicted and received long sentences in prison, Leonetti made a deal with the feds and testified against his uncle and other organized-crime figures.

Being half-Italian and raised in South Philadelphia — the hub of the Philadelphia-South Jersey La Cosa Nostra organized-crime family — I was aware of Cosa Nostra culture at an early age. I know or knew of many of the people in this book.

I was in my late 20s and early 30s living in South Philly during Scarfo's reign, and I recall vividly the mob war and the many murders that occurred in South Philadelphia and Atlantic City. I’ve also interviewed Philadelphia cops and FBI agents from that era, and I found Leonetti's descriptions of events, people and places to be frank and accurate.

I spoke recently to Philip Leonetti, who called me from an undisclosed location, as his uncle has placed a $500,000 contract on his life. Leonetti told me he wrote the book because, first, it is a great story. Second, he wrote the book so his son will understand his life in organized crime and how he was schooled in Cosa Nostra from an early age by his uncle.

“From when I was little, he would tell me we don’t talk about our life to anybody,” Leonetti told me. “We’re different; we don’t live by the same rules like everybody else. If somebody bothers us, we’ll kill the guy ourselves. We don’t rat to the police. This is the environment I grew up in.”

He described his uncle as smart, devious, calculating and psychopathic. Leonetti admitted to committing murders and said he tried to be a good soldier for his uncle by killing — and he was good at it — but he didn’t enjoy the act like his uncle did.

“All the crimes I committed, like the murders I was involved in, were all against bad people, guys that were involved in our life, so I didn’t think anything of it,” Leonetti explained. “They were looking to kill us, and we were looking to kill them. We weren’t looking to kill no legitimate people.”

Leonetti said he is happy in his new straight life, and he wishes he had lived this way all his life. He said he did not miss the treachery and killing from his past life in La Cosa Nostra, but he admitted, “I miss the money.”

“Mafia Prince” offers an insider’s history of the dark, violent world of Cosa Nostra.

• Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime, espionage and terrorism. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime@aol.com. 

My Threatcon Column: A New War On Terrorism: Making War On Drug Cartels

Counterterrorism magazine’s website ran my latest Threatcon column. 

You can read my column via the link below link or the text below:

IACSP - ThreatCon Articles

New War On Terrorism: Making War On Drug Cartels  

 

By Paul Davis

 

There is a new war on terrorism. The new war runs parallel to the efforts to stop terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS.  

This past January, President Trump signed an executive order Monday stating that the United States would designate the Mexican drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) as foreign terrorist organizations.

“The Cartels have engaged in a campaign of violence and terror throughout the Western Hemisphere that has not only destabilized countries with significant importance for our national interests but also flooded the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” the order read.

President Trump has also put pressure on Mexico to crack down on the cartels and cooperate more fully with the U.S. in bringing to justice the cartel leaders.

Thanks to that pressure, on August 12^th, the United States announced that it had taken into custody 26 fugitives from Mexico. According to the Justice Department, the 26 faced a range of federal and state criminal charges from around the country, including charges relating to drug-trafficking, hostage-taking, kidnapping, illegal use of firearms, human smuggling, money laundering, the murder of a sheriffs’ deputy, and other crimes.

Among the fugitives taken into U.S. custody were leaders and managers of dangerous drug cartels, such as those designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, including the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), and Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas). These fugitives are collectively alleged to have imported into the United States tonnage quantities of dangerous drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, and heroin.

“Today is the latest example of the Trump administration's historic efforts to dismantle cartels and foreign terrorist organizations,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “These 26 men have all played a role in bringing violence and drugs to American shores -- under this Department of Justice, they will face severe consequences for their crimes against this country. We are grateful to Mexico’s National Security team for their collaboration in this matter.”  

Included in the transfer were the following fugitives:

• Abigael Gonzalez Valencia (seen in the above photo) - also known as “Cuini” – is one of the leaders of Los Cuinis, a major Mexican drug cartel responsible for trafficking multiple tons of cocaine from South America, through Mexico, into the United States.
• Kevin Gil Acosta and Martin Zazueta Perez – According to court documents, Gil Acosta and Zazueta Perez are leaders of the security apparatus for the Chapitos, a powerful faction of the Sinaloa Cartel that engages in prolific fentanyl trafficking. Both men have led sicarios armed with military-style weapons – such as AK-47s, M-16s, AR-15s, and grenade launchers – in attacks on Mexican government and military officials. Gil Acosta leads sicarios tasked with protecting fentanyl labs and distribution routes while Zazueta Perez provides personal security for a leader of the Chapitos.
• Abdul Karim Conteh, a national of Sierra Leone, allegedly led a human smuggling organization that smuggled thousands of migrants to the United States through Mexico. These smuggled migrants originated from countries around the world, including Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Somalia, Cameroon, Senegal, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Egypt, and others. The migrants paid smuggling fees, often tens of thousands of dollars. Conteh allegedly oversaw the migrants’ unlawful entry into the United States by various surreptitious and unlawful means, including the use of ladders and tunnels.
• Leobardo Garcia Corrales is believed to be an important figure in the Sinaloa Cartel who has trafficked kilogram quantities of fentanyl into the United States, sometimes in exchange for military-grade weapons such as AK-47s, grenades, and submachine guns. He claims to be close friends and associates with Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, aka “El Chapo.”
• Luis Raul Castro Valenzuela, also known as “Chacho,” a member of the Sinaloa Cartel, has been charged with kidnapping and holding hostage a U.S. citizen.
• Juan Carlos Felix Gastelum also known as “El Chavo Félix,” a major Sinaloa Cartel cell leader and son-in-law to former Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, is alleged  to be a principal operator of the Sinaloa Cartel’s clandestine methamphetamine manufacturing laboratories located in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Sinaloa and Durango, Mexico involved in the manufacturing and distribution of large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico into the United States.
• Roberto Salazar is wanted in connection with the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Juan Escalante, who was killed in 2008 when he was leaving his home during the early morning hours.
• Pablo Edwin Huerta Nuno, also known as “Flaquito,” is a violent Tijuana Plaza boss who has operated with impunity during the last 15 years. Huerta-Nuno is alleged to have supplied thousands of kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine to distributors and cells located throughout San Diego and Los Angeles. And in return, millions of dollars in narcotics proceeds were delivered to him and his organization via shipments of bulk cash from San Diego into Tijuana.

And the new war on terrorism is not exclusive to Mexico. On September 2^nd, a U.S. naval strike on a high-speed drug cartel boat in the Caribbean killed 11 drug traffickers from Venezuela and destroyed the drug-carrying vessel.

 

Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth said in a TV interview that the mission sent a signal to criminal gangs like the Venezuela based Tren de Aragua that the U.S. is prepared to take them on.

 

“President Trump is willing to go on the offense in ways that others have not been,” Mr. Hegseth said. “You’re poisoning our people, we’ve got incredible assets, and they are gathering in the region.”

 

Although he would not go into detail, Hegseth said, “We knew exactly who was in the boat. We knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented, and that was Tren de Aragua,” Hegseth said.

 

On September 3^rd, a Joint Statement on Security Cooperation between the United States and Mexico was issued:

The Governments of Mexico and the United States reaffirm our security cooperation, which is based on the principles of reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust. The aim is to work together to dismantle transnational organized crime through enhanced cooperation between our respective national security and law enforcement institutions, and judicial authorities. Additionally, we are working to address the illegal movement of people across the border. This cooperation through specific and immediate actions will strengthen the security along our shared border, halt the trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and stop arms trafficking. 

The two governments have established a high-level implementation group to meet regularly and follow-up on mutual commitments and actions taken within their own countries, including measures to counter the cartels, strengthen border security, and eliminate clandestine border tunnels, address illicit financial flows, enhance collaboration to prevent fuel theft, increase inspections, investigations, and prosecutions to stop the flow of drugs and arms. 

Our close coordination has allowed us to secure the border, reduce fentanyl trafficking, and advance intelligence sharing, all within our respective legal frameworks. The two governments further intend to strengthen collaboration in public health and coordinate campaigns to prevent the abuse of illicit substances and opioids. 

Both governments reaffirm their determination to cooperate, protect our citizens, and make our communities safer. 

Paul Davis’ Threatcon column covers crime, espionage and terrorism.

A Philly Spy Story: Espionage Case Ends In Prison Sentence For Former Defense Contractor

 Broad + Liberty ran my piece on a Philly spy story.

You can read the piece via the link below or the text below:

Philadelphia spy case ends in prison sentence for former defense contractor  

Spy stories in fact and fiction generally take place in exotic locales like Hong Kong or Berlin. But a spy story ended right here in Philadelphia on September 15th with the sentencing of a former defense contractor for attempted espionage. 

David Metcalf, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced that John Murray Rowe Jr., 67, of Lead, South Dakota, was sentenced to 126 months in prison, three years’ supervised release, and a $25,000 fine by United States District Judge John M. Gallagher for attempted espionage.

Rowe pleaded guilty last April to one count of attempted delivery of national defense information to a foreign government, and three counts of willful communication of national defense information.

According to court documents, Rowe was employed for nearly 40 years as a test engineer for multiple defense contractors. In connection with his employment, Rowe held various national security clearances from SECRET to TOP SECRET/SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information) and worked on matters relating to U.S. Air Force electronic warfare technology, among other things. After several security violations and concerning inquiries and statements about Russia and sensitive information, Rowe was identified as a potential insider threat and terminated from employment.

Before I retired from the Defense Department to become a full-time writer, I was the civilian administrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia that oversaw defense contractors of the type that employed Rowe.

The Philadelphia area has many companies that are defense contractors. These companies, from major corporations to mom and pop shops, manufacture numerous classified items for the U.S. military, ranging from cruise missiles to special parachutes for Navy SEALs and other special operators.

As the administrative officer, I oversaw all security programs for the command, and I served as an investigating officer. I investigated security violations, various crimes and cases of fraud, waste and mismanagement. In addition to military and civilian employees stationed in our offices across the tri-state area, the command also had many quality assurance specialists stationed at the contractor’s plants and offices. The contractors weren’t paid by the Defense Department until the quality assurance specialists signed off that the goods and services met the goals of their contract. 

For more than 21 years, I often ventured out to our assigned defense contractors and met with our quality assurance specialists as well as the contractor’s executives and their security people, many of whom were former military and law enforcement members. I also met with special agents from the Defense Security Service (now called the Defense Counterintelligence and Security agency). Maintaining security of military classified and sensitive information was a condition of the contract with the companies. 

Foreign spies often target defense contractors, I was often told at periodic briefings in Washington D.C. that were conducted by the FBI, the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.

Defense contractors, like federal agencies, were always on the lookout for the insider threat from trusted employees who become spies for a foreign power. I recall in particular one case in our area in which an employee of a major defense contractor that we oversaw was uncovered as a spy for the Communist Chinese. 

Trusted employees who are cleared for classified and sensitive military information can become spies for reasons that the FBI calls MICE: Money, Ideology, Compromise and Ego.

Which brings me to Rowe. 

In March 2020, Rowe thought he was meeting a Russian agent. In fact, he was meeting an undercover FBI agent. Rowe told the undercover agent that he was not loyal to the United States and that he was interested in helping Russia. During this meeting, the Justice Department revealed that Rowe disclosed national defense information classified as SECRET that concerned specific operating details of the electronic countermeasure systems used by U.S. military fighter jets, among other things.

According to the Justice Department, over the course of the next eight months, Rowe exchanged more than 300 emails with the FBI agent he believed to be a Russian agent. The emails confirmed his willingness to work for the Russian government and discussed his knowledge of classified information relating to U.S. national security. 

In one email, Rowe explained, “If I can’t get a job in the United States, then I’ll go work for the other team.”

In another email, Rowe disclosed classified national defense information concerning the U.S. Air Force. In September 2020, Rowe had a second in-person meeting with the undercover FBI agent. During this meeting, Rowe again disclosed classified national defense information.

Rowe was arrested on December 15, 2021, and was detained pending a trial. During his pretrial detention, Rowe again disclosed the same classified national defense information concerning the U.S. Air Force to relatives and an associate during recorded prison calls.

“Despite his knowledge, training, experience, and decades of work as a military contractor, Rowe chose to betray the trust placed in him by his country,” said U.S. Attorney Metcalf. “His repeated, willful efforts to harm the U.S. by divulging sensitive defense information to an adversary are inexcusable. My office and our partners will continue to hold fully accountable anyone seeking to compromise the national security of the United States.”

Wayne A. Jacobs, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office, also weighed in. “Mr. Rowe’s actions were not only dangerous but also reckless, as he sought to provide sensitive defense information to a foreign adversary. This sentencing serves as a powerful reminder of the FBI’s mission to protect the American people. In collaboration with our law enforcement partners, the FBI remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding our nation’s security and holding those who threaten it accountable.”

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes their online Threatcon column. His work has also appeared in the Washington Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Weekly. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com  

My Online On Crime Column: My Q&A With Michael Cannell, The Author Of 'Blood And The Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, And A Scandal That Shocked The Nation

Michael Cannell is the author of five non-fiction books, most recently Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation. He has worked as an editor for The New York Times. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Time, Sports Illustrated and many other publications. He lives in New York City. 

You can read my Q&A with him below:

Davis: I read and enjoyed Jimmy Breslin’s book The Good Rat some years ago. Why have you now written about the same subject so many years later in Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked a Nation?

Cannell: I enjoyed The Good Rat, as well. The great Jimmy Breslin was nearing the end of his storied career as a tabloid columnist when he wrote it. He was scouting for a book subject. He sat in the back of the courtroom, alongside other reporters, when two disgraced detectives, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, went on trial after secretly working for the mob. Breslin didn’t write anything like a conventional account of their depravities. Instead, he published a pastiche, with long transcripts and excerpts from his notebooks. I aspired to write something entirely different: a thorough and detailed narrative of the detectives’ corruptions. I’ve come to think of their history as a perverse, dark side of the American story. I felt, and my publisher agreed, that it warranted a full telling rendered in vivid detail.

Davis: How would you describe one of the corrupt cops, Louis Eppolito?

Cannell: Oddly enough, Detective Eppolito was born into a Mafia family. His father was a Gambino capo known as Fat the Gangster. No surprise, the father was abusive and violent. Weeks after Fat the Gangster died of a heart attack Eppolito joined the police academy. He enlisted, he said, on a whim, but it was more likely a form of rebellion against his father. Eppolito earned a reputation as an effective cop, but his family eventually drew him back into their illicit schemes. Who among us can escape our families?  

Davis: How would you describe the other corrupt cop, Stephen Caracappa?

Cannell: Successful partnerships are often a pairing of opposites. Eppolito was a loud, sloppy, boorish man. Caracappa was the reverse: immaculately dressed in dark suits. He was quiet and shrewdly calculating. Eppolito postured as the tough, but it was Caracappa who pulled the trigger.

Davis: How and why did the two detectives become informants and killers for the mob? What crimes did they commit? 

Cannell: It was known in certain circles that Eppolito and Caracappa would do favors for pay. Their criminal careers escalated after the Lucchese crime family put them on their payroll. In return, the detectives shared sensitive law enforcement information — who was under surveillance, whose phones were bugged, who faced arrest. And most crucially, who in the mafia ranks was secretly informing on their brethren. In other words, who was a rat. In more than a dozen cases, the detectives helped facilitate the murder of the Mafia informants. 

Davis: How were they able to commit these crimes over such a lengthy period of crime? 

Cannell: In 1984, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of a Sicilian heroin dealer named Rosario Gambino. To their astonishment, they found that Gambino had his own police file in his possession. Agents discovered Eppolito’s fingerprints on the pages. He had presumably passed the file to Gambino in exchange for cash. As a result, NYPD internal affairs had Eppolito dead to rights. Amazingly, they dismissed the case. It appears that the police brass could not stomach another corruption scandal. Eppolito not only got off, but the NYPD brass promoted him to detective second grade.

Ten years later Lucchese underboss Gaspipe Casso made a deal to cooperate with the FBI. He implicated the detectives. Shockingly, prosecutors abandoned the case for political reasons. Casso went to supermax prison and the detectives retired to Las Vegas. They had gotten away with it all, at least for now. 

Davis: Burt Kaplan was the career criminal who served as a link between the Lucchese Cosa Nostra crime family and the two killer cops. Who was he and how did he end up becoming a cooperating witness?

Cannell: Kaplan was a lifelong degenerate gambler who paid off his debts with proceeds from a long series of illegal schemes, many conducted in partnership with the Lucchese family. It was Kaplan who, as you said, mediated between the detectives and their mob patrons. And it was Kaplan who eventually proved their undoing.

Davis: How would you describe Lucchese underboss Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso? Why was he called Gaspipe?  

Cannell: Gaspipe Casso likely inherited his nickname from his father, a longshoreman who enforced union rules along the waterfront with the swing of a pipe. Even by Mafia standards, Casso inspired fear. The majority of mafiosi simply followed the established underworld protocols, as they would have in, say, the military or a conventional workplace. Casso, on the other hand, was a true sadist, a man who derived satisfaction from killing. (He would later confess to participating in more than thirty murders.) When the FBI finally caught up to him, he flipped. The man who had spent his entire adult life killing informants became an informant himself. Until he proved too vicious and erratic for his government handlers.

Davis: The hero of your story appears to be a good NYPD cop named Tommy Dades. Who was he and how did he help break the case?

Cannell: Dades was raised by a single mother in Sunset Park, among the toughest Brooklyn neighborhoods of the 1970s. As a detective, he often made a special connection with the mothers of both perpetrators and victims. He helped them understand the confusing judicial procedures. He ran errands. He sent Christmas cards. He did so out of a sincere sense of concern, but he knew, on some level, that mothers hold secrets. One such mother phoned Dades years after Eppolito and Caracappa had safely retired to Las Vegas. She shared with with him fresh evidence that she uncovered by chance. Her phone call led Dades to revive a dormant investigation. Without Dades, the detectives would almost surely have gotten away with it all.

Davis: What takeaways do you hope your readers glean from your book?

Cannell: I think Eppolito and Caracappa fascinate us because they were effective cops with lauded records — good family men, as well — and yet they committed atrocities. While I wrote, I found myself thinking about the anti-heroes of black-and-white gangster movies and, before them, the frontiersmen who operated outside the law in Westerns. The interplay of light and dark runs throughout these American stories. As much as anything, I think that is the takeaway.