Third Coconspirator In Fatal Benghazi Attacks In U.S. Custody, Charged In Washington D.C. With Murder and Terrorism Counts

On Friday, February 6, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department announced that Zubavar Al-Balkoush was charged with multiple charges concerning the Benghazi Embassy attack in Libya in 2012:

Zubayar Al-Bakoush, an armed coconspirator in the 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, was charged in an eight-count indictment unsealed today in U.S. District Court on multiple terrorism and murder counts.

Bakoush, who is in federal custody, is expected to make his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya for the District of Columbia.

“The terrorist attack on our Benghazi Embassy was a dark and tragic day for our nation that robbed us of four American heroes,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Now, thanks to our brave federal agents, one of its alleged key participants will be prosecuted in an American courtroom on American soil. Under President Trump’s leadership, this Department of Justice will never rest in our mission to Make America Safe Again and deliver swift, severe justice to our enemies.”

"The FBI and our U.S. government partners have worked tirelessly to hold accountable those responsible for the heinous terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya that resulted in the deaths of the U.S. Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens and U.S. government personnel Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The latest result of our efforts is bringing  Zubayar Al-Bakoush  to the U.S. to face charges for his alleged role in the attacks against our citizens and our facilities in Libya. You can be assured that no matter how long it takes, or where you are located, the FBI remains steadfast in our duty to see justice served against those who harm our citizens. I’m grateful to the men and women of the FBI for their unrelenting efforts to bring us to where we stand today – this defendant will be prosecuted on U.S. soil.”

“Today’s indictment against Zubayar Al-Bakoush is indicative of President Trump’s resolve to hold accountable anyone who harms Americans, no matter where,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia. “Al-Bakoush is now on U.S. soil, because the FBI and Department of Justice never forgot those Americans who were seemingly forgotten in that outpost in Benghazi, Libya. President Trump, Attorney General Bondi, FBI Director Patel, and I will do whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes, to pursue justice for the victims and their families.”

“Over thirteen years have passed since the 2012 attack in Libya, and over eight since the last arrest in this case, but the Department of Justice’s resolve has not wavered,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg. “We never forgot those four Americans who were killed in service of our Nation, and we will continue to seek justice for them, their families, and for the United States.”

“In September 2012, Zubayar Al-Bakoush allegedly facilitated the terrorist attack on the United States Mission and Annex in Benghazi in which four Americans – including an ambassador – were murdered in an effort to incite additional violence against our country’s presence in Libya” said James Barnacle, Assistant Director in Charge of New York Field Office. “This bloody campaign waged unnecessary brutality against Americans and forever altered the lives of the victims’ families. May today’s significant disruption send a clear message: the FBI New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will never cease its tireless pursuit of any terrorist involved in the massacre of our nation’s citizens, regardless of when or where the onslaught occurred.”

The indictment charges Bakoush with:

• Conspiracy to Provide Material Support and Resources to Terrorists Resulting in Death
• Providing Material Support and Resources to Terrorists Resulting in Death
• Murder of an Internationally Protected Person
• Murder of a United States National Outside of the United States (Two Counts)
• Attempted Murder of a United States National Outside of the United States
• Arson and Placing Lives in Jeopardy Within the Special Maritime and Territorial

Jurisdiction of the United States and Attempting to Do the Same

• Maliciously Destroying and Injuring Property and Placing Lives in Jeopardy within the Special Maritime and Territorial Jurisdiction of the United States and Attempting to Do the Same

The charges stem from the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission and nearby CIA Annex that killed Ambassador Stevens and U.S. government personnel Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty.

According to the indictment, Bakoush was a member of Ansar Al Sharia (AAS), an Islamist extremist militia in Benghazi, which had the goal of establishing Sharia law in Libya.

On the evening of Sept. 11, 2012, a group of more than 20 heavily armed men – including Bakoush assembled outside the main gate of the U.S Special Mission in Benghazi.  They were armed with assault rifles, other firearms, and explosive devices.  At about 9:45 p.m., the group of armed men violently breached the main gate of the Mission. Upon entry, the men fanned out across the Mission complex, setting fires to building within the Mission compound.

When the attackers could not gain entry to the secure area of Villa C, the Ambassador’s residence, they set fire to it.  Ambassador Stevens and Mr. Smith suffocated from the thick, black smoke that enveloped the residence. Diplomatic Security Services (DSS) Special Agent Scott Wickland, who had tried to guide Ambassador Stevens and Mr. Smith to safety, was injured and repeatedly took small arms fire while trying to rescue the two Americans.

The extremist group also attacked the Quick Reaction Force building, which was occupied by local Libyans serving as guards for the Mission.

About 10 p.m., Bakoush entered the Mission compound with other conspirators, and conducted surveillance of the Tactical Operation Center and the Villa. After Bakoush attempted to gain entry to vehicles belonging to Mission staff, he and his co-conspirators temporarily retreated to an area just outside the Mission.

About 11:15 p.m., conspirators assembled outside the southern gate and launched a second violent attack on the Mission using AK-type assault rifles, grenades, and rocket-propelled grenades. After 30 minutes, the group entered the compound and plundered the Mission’s office of documents, maps, and computers containing sensitive information about the location of the CIA Annex.

At 12:30 a.m., conspirators attacked the Annex with small arms, assault rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades.

Following the attack at the Mission, in the early hours of September 12, 2012, the violence continued at the CIA Annex, first with gunfire and then with a precision mortar attack. While defending the Annex, Mr. Woods, Mr. Doherty, DSS Special Agent David Ubben, and CIA security specialist Mark Tiegen were hit by a precision mortar attack, leading to the deaths of Mr. Woods and Mr. Doherty. Special Agent Ubben and Mr. Tiegen were seriously wounded but survived.

The Department of Justice previously charged and convicted two leaders in the Benghazi attack on federal terrorism charges and other offenses. Ahmed Abu Khatallah, aka Ahmed Mukatallah was sentenced in June 2018 to 22 years in prison and resentenced in September 2024 to 28 years in prison. Mustafa al-Imam was sentenced in January 2020 to nearly 20 years.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s New York Field Office with substantial assistance from the Department of War, the CIA and the Department of State. The National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section provided additional assistance.

The case is being prosecuted by the National Security Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.                                                                           

My Crime Fiction: 'The Seventh Street Shooting'

Below is my crime fiction short story The Seventh Street Shooting. 

The story originally appeared in American Crime Magazine.

The Seventh Street Shooting

By Paul Davis

After a late evening dinner with my wife, I headed upstairs and took a shower.

I shaved under my neatly trimmed short beard and brushed my teeth. I applied a roll-on deodorant under my arms and splashed a bit of aftershave on my neck. I walked into my bedroom and began to dress. I slipped on a pair of dark gray slacks, a black leather belt, black socks, black Italian leather loafer shoes and a powder blue dress shirt, sans tie.

I placed my reading glasses in my shirt's pocket, and I placed my gold wedding band on my finger, and I slipped on my Rolex Submariner watch with the black leather band on my left wrist. I placed a gold chain over my head, and it fell to my chest under my shirt. The gold chain held the original U.S. Navy dog tag that was issued to me way back in February of 1970 when I entered Navy Boot Camp. The gold chain also held a small, finely carved and detailed Scuba diver.

My beautiful wife, who bought me the Rolex Submariner watch just prior to our wedding, also bought me the gold Scuba diver to commemorate her first Scuba diving experience with me in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

I placed my key ring with my house and car keys and my other Navy dog tag into my left pants pocket, and my cellphone and a pocketknife with a short but sharp blade into my right pants pocket. I slipped a clip-on holster with my .38 hammerless Ruger revolver to my belt on my left side. If need be, I could cross-draw the gun with my right hand.

I put on my black sports jacket and placed my slim, black leather long notebook/wallet into my jacket’s left breast pocket. I placed my mini-tape recorder into my jacket’s right breast pocket.

I was showered, shaved, well-dressed, and armed. I was on my way to meet a murderer.

I was meeting Robert “Bobby Buddha” Regalbuto at a neighborhood bar in South Philly. Regalbuto read my crime column in the local paper and emailed me using the email address I listed below the newspaper column. He wrote that he remembered me from school and the old neighborhood, and he wanted to offer me a story for my column.

I remembered Regalbuto as well. I recall that he was a violent and half-crazed hoodlum who became a drug addict and was sent to prison for murder in the 1970s.

As I stood at the bar and sipped a vodka on the rocks, I watched the front door. Mark Terranova, my good friend and a retired Philadelphia police detective, sipped his beer at the other end of the bar. Like me, he was armed. I had mentioned to Mark that I was meeting Regalbuto in a bar, and he insisted on backing me up from a short distance. 

When Regalbuto walked in the bar I recognized him immediately, although he was older, grayer and much thinner than the last time I saw him. He walked up to me and shook my hand. He said that I had changed, but he recognized me from my photo that accompanied my column.   

Regalbuto was a member of the Dalton Street and Oregon Avenue street corner gang back in the late 1960s. The teenage gang, known as the “D&O,” was a notorious and troublesome group, well known to the police and other street corner gangs in South Philadelphia.

I knew Regalbuto as we both attended Thomas Junior High School together in the mid-1960s, although he was more than two years older than me. We had several friends in common as I was good friends with several D&O gang members.

Regalbuto thanked me for meeting me and suggested we take an empty table at the back of the bar. He ordered a Ginger Ale from the bartender, explaining to me that he no longer drank, took drugs or smoked. We sat at the table and Regalbuto began to tell me his story.

Regalbuto said he moved away from South Philadelphia some years ago after he was released from prison. He had served 10 years for shooting and killing a man in a quarrel while both of them were high on heroin. He was guilty of second-degree murder, he acknowledged, and he served his time. He told me that he rekindled his Catholic religion while in prison. And although many years had passed, he now felt compelled to confess to the police about another murder he committed back in 1968.

Regalbuto spoke of the Seventh Street shooting that saw two men murdered and several others wounded.

 

I recall vividly the 1968 murders on Seventh Street in South Philly. I was there.

I’ve seen more than my share of violence. Growing up in South Philly in the 1960s, I saw a young soldier fresh from basic training shoot and murder his romantic rival in a hallway in the South Philadelphia High School. I also witnessed a drive-by shooting that murdered two young men on a corner on Broad Street.

And later, as a newspaper crime reporter and columnist, I’ve been on the scene almost immediately after several murders. I recall drinking in a bar when we heard a car crash. We rushed out of the bar and saw a car that had crashed into a home on Oregon Avenue. The driver was slumped over the steering wheel, two bullets in his head, the latest victim in an internecine mob war in South Philly. And later, while out for a morning walk, I heard police and ambulance sirens close by, so I hurried over to a scene where a notorious mob guy had just been shot to death on his doorstep.

A few years later, while out on a ride-along with a Philadelphia police sergeant, he was called to the apartment of a waitress who had been shot and killed. The young woman had been shot through her mouth, we learned, while playing a sex game with her boyfriend.

But the Seventh Street shootings were the first murders I ever witnessed.  

 

I was 15 years old going on 16 in 1968. I was a half of hoodlum hanging on the corner of 13^th Street and Oregon Avenue, three block west of the D&O gang’s hangout at George’s Luncheonette. We were friendly with the D&O teenagers as we all went to school together and we freely mixed at the teenage dances.

Two of the wildest D&O hoodlums liked to come to 13^th and Oregan and hang out in our luncheonette, JP’s. Joseph “Crazy Joe” Villotti was “scary crazy,” as one of the 13^th and Oregon Avenue teenagers described him.

Villotti was tall, lean and muscular with a rough face and dark brown hair. He had a raspy voice and an insane laugh. He reminded me of a thinner version of the actor Marlon Brando in the film On the Waterfront.

The teenagers at both the D&O corner and 13^th and Oregan feared being the focus of Villotti’s attention. Villotti was sadistic and a bully with a warped sense of humor. He would shake down the focus of his attention, taking their money or car, and he would also force the teenager to accompany him on some crazy errand.

Thankfully, he never picked on me as he was afraid of my older brother Eddie. My brother, who stopped hanging with us on 13^th and Oregon Avenue and graduated to hanging out with our “old heads,” the previous generation who were then in their mid-20s and went clubbing throughout the city. Eddie, a genuine tough guy, was no bully and he often defended those who were bullied.

Although Villotti was “bat shit” crazy, he was sane enough to know that he could not beat my brother, and a loss to Eddie would hurt his fearsome reputation.

When Villotti visited JP’s, he was often accompanied by another wild man, a big and heavy teenager named Robert Regalbuto, known as “Bobby Buddha.”

He was given the nickname by a teenager who one day saw Regalbuto’s huge bare belly over baggy swim trunks at the Bellmawr Lake, a man-made lake surrounded by sandy beaches that was a popular South Jersey resort for South Philly teenagers back in the 1960s.

Having earlier seen a photo in school of the statue of Buddha with a huge stomach, the teenager began to call Regalbuto “Bobby Buddha,” and the nickname stuck.

When Villotti and Regalbuto walked into JP’s, many of the guys stiffened. As I was protected by my brother’s reputation, I found the two bruisers to be amusing, although I felt bad for the guys they bullied and abused.

One warm evening, as we stood on the corner outside of JP’s, Villotti pulled up in a car with Regalbuto and other D&O hoodlums. Two other cars loaded with D&O gang members pulled up behind Villotti’s car.    

Villotti urged us to get into a car and follow them to Seventh and Edwin Streets, where they were going to “fuck up some black guys.” Villotti explained that the black guys had “jumped” a white guy and put him in the hospital.  

One of the D&O guys opened up his car trunk and handed out baseball bats and pipes to our guys. Michael “Mikey Head” Tabone took a bat, as did Anthony “Big Man” Manfredi. Harry “Bud the Dud” Keitel took a five-inch pipe. I didn’t take a weapon as I was the youngest kid there, and I had no intention of fighting. As an aspiring crime writer, I got into the car and drove to Seventh Street as I wanted to watch the fight.

When the four cars screeched to a halt on Seventh Street, we piled out of the cars, bats and pipes in hand. Several black guys came out of the candy store. In the lead was a big and tough-looking guy. I also saw several black guys come out of a bar from across the street as well as other boys and men from row homes on Edwin Street.

The big, tough looking guy asked Villotti, “What the fuck, Joe?”

Obviously, the hoodlum knew Villotti. Villotti responded by pulling out a .45 automatic and shooting the man in the chest. Regalbuto pulled out a .38 revolver and shot another black guy.

Pandemonium ensued. The white and black guys clashed on the street, swinging fists, bats and other weapons. Tabone, not the bravest of guys, left his car running on the corner and took off running up Edwin Street. Not too brave myself at the time, I followed Tabone. About halfway up Edwin Street, a large elderly black woman stood in her doorway, called me a “white motherfucker,” and threw a large, cast-iron frying skillet at me.

The skillet hit me on the right side of my forehead. I fell to my knees and prayed – “Dear God, please don’t let me pass out.”

Thankfully, I didn’t pass out, and I was able to get up and run for two more blocks. Then I walked several more blocks back to 13^th and Oregon Avenue.

Tabone beat me home. He was telling the other teenagers on the corner about the street fight and how gunshots rang out. He also spoke of beating up a couple of black guys, which was of course a lie.

I too lied, explaining the huge lump on my forehead. I told the guys that I was hit by a baseball bat.

“The neighborhood, the newspapers and the TV all said this was a racial thing,” Regalbuto explained as we sat in the bar. “Yeah, race relations were not good back then, but the shooting had nothing to do with race. Me and Joe made a drug deal with Martin King, known as “The King,” a black heroin dealer who hung out at a candy store at Seventh and Edwin Streets.

“We bought heroin on credit from King as we were steady customers of his. We were supposed to sell the dope and then pay King. But Joe and me were stone cold heroin addicts then, and we shot up more dope than we sold.”

Regalbuto said that Joe had the crazy idea of instead of paying King what we owed him, we should just kill him.

“Joe also had the idea of making the murder of King look like a race war between the Italians and the blacks.”          

Regalbuto said Villotti murdered King and he murdered King’s number two, a hoodlum named Billy Jones.

“Villotti was a cold-hearted psychopath,” Regalbuto said. “He often spoke of the murders with great relish and showed no regret. I’m different.”

Villotti died of AIDS some years prior in prison, while Regalbuto said he renewed his faith in Jesus Christ while serving his sentence. He confessed his murder to a priest and now he planned to turn himself into the police the following morning.

There was no statute of limitations on first degree murder.

 

I wrote about the Seventh Street shooting in my next newspaper column. I included my own involvement.

This was the first time, publicly or privately, that I admitted to being beaned with a cast-iron skillet by an elderly woman and not hit in the head with a baseball bat by a gang member.  

© 2025 Paul Davis 

Note: You can read my other crime fiction short stories via the link below:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction Stories

My Crime Fiction: 'The Small Timer'

The below short story, my first published crime fiction, originally appeared in The Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine in 2002: 

The Small Timer

 By Paul Davis

The shooting victims were discovered at 9 o'clock that night in an old warehouse along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. 

I was on a "ride-along" with a Philadelphia police sergeant when his car radio alerted us to the triple homicide. The sergeant, Bill Francini, was the subject of a column that I was writing for the local paper. Not wearing a seat belt, I braced myself as Francini raced for the river. 

Arriving at the crime scene some ten minutes later, Francini pulled into a vacant space among a dozen hastily parked police vehicles. Francini ushered me around to the side of the warehouse bay, where I would not be violating the official crime scene, yet I could observe Philly’s finest do their work. 

Francini called out to his lieutenant and introduced me. The lieutenant looked at me sharply, perhaps placing me from the photo that ran with my column, and then simply nodded. He took his sergeant by the arm, and they entered the warehouse. 

From my vantage point I was able to see the three dead men in the center of the warehouse bay. All were dressed casually. A short, elderly man lay crumpled with his squat legs twisted under his torso. A snarl appeared to be etched across his face and a gunshot wound was visible just above his right ear. 

The second victim had been a big and heavy man. I’m no little guy, but this guy was truly big. He lay face up and stretched out across the ground. He died with a dumbfounded expression on his face, just below the large wound on his forehead.

The third victim sat in an upright position against a wooden crate. Like the other two, he had a gunshot wound to the head. His face retained a goofy grin that looked familiar to me. 

I heard one of the crime scene investigators from South Detectives tell the newly arrived homicide detective that an anonymous caller had dialed 911 and reported the shooting. The scene looked like a professional execution, organized crime style, so the detectives called the city's organized crime intelligence squad and asked for someone to come and help ID the bodies. 

When a detective named McCollum from the squad arrived some 15 minutes later, he quickly walked among the three bodies, sidestepping the spent shell casings and blood puddles. He immediately identified the short, older man - the one the detectives with their usual black humor had nicknamed "Grouchy" - as James "Jimmy First Nickel" Martin. Martin was a known associate of the local mob in his capacity as a receiver of stolen goods. 

McCollum identified the second victim, nicknamed "Dopey," as Joey Aurelio, a strong-arm enforcer for Martin. The third victim, nicknamed "Happy," was dismissed as some small timer, as McCollum, the organized crime expert, had never seen him before. 

"Hey, McCollum," one of the detectives shouted, "This guy should be happy – he’s still alive!" 

 

A month later I entered the Federal Building in Center City Philadelphia and rode the elevator up to the 8th floor. I stood before the FBI’s receptionist, who was securely housed behind a sheet of protective glass. I told her that I had an appointment with Special Agent Frank Kaplan. I had come to interview Kaplan’s protected witness, Harry Sullivan - a.k.a. "Happy." 

I had been granted an exclusive interview with the sole survivor of the warehouse murders, who was now a star witness for the prosecution in the upcoming federal murder and racketeering trial of Francis "Frankie Raven" Ravelli, a particularly vicious mob captain of a particularly vicious crew of thieves, extortionists and hit men. 

Sullivan had granted me an interview, as he liked my column on the warehouse murders, and we knew each other from the old neighborhood. 

I joined the Navy on my 17th birthday and traveled to Southeast Asia aboard an aircraft carrier about the same time the 20-year-old Sullivan was heading to state prison for the first of his many periods of incarceration.

Years later, I would see him at neighborhood bars and clubs, and he would play the criminal insider, feeding me tips for my column. He liked to show me off to his cronies. He was quite impressed with the notion that I had become a writer. Of course, the only other writers he knew were number writers. 

Kaplan came out to the reception area and directed me to a vacant office where I saw Sullivan sitting at a conference table. Sullivan’s head was adorned with a turban bandage, and he used a cane to navigate his way back to his chair after he stood and came forward to shake my hand. I sat on the other side of the table, laid my tape recorder down and took out my notebook and pen. I threw out some obligatory questions about his health and his family before I launched into asking him a series of questions about the events that led up to the warehouse murders.

 

Harry Sullivan was a small-time thief. He was in his early 50s, slightly built with a drawn, pock-mocked face that was framed with longish, unruly and scruffy blond hair. Despite his looks and his profession, he was not a drug addict. Sullivan barely managed to make a proper living from his small time stealing and he often had to supplement his illicit income with a straight job. Despite his failure as a criminal, he yearned to be an arch-criminal, like Willie Sutton the old bank robber. 

Sullivan wanted to be respected. 

Sullivan’s graduation to the big time came on the day he happened to witness a head-on collision between a Volvo and a city trash truck. The driver of the Volvo was killed instantly, and the city workers were unhurt but badly shaken. Sullivan was one of the first to come to the aid of the Volvo driver, but seeing that he was beyond it all, Sullivan's criminal instincts kicked in and he lifted the man’s brown leather satchel from the front passenger seat. 

Sullivan slipped away and sprinted the two city blocks to his apartment. Once there, alone in his kitchen, Sullivan broke the lock on the satchel and dropped the contents on the kitchen table. He cried gleefully at the sight of the assortment of diamonds spread across his table. Sullivan surmised that the accident victim had been a diamond salesman or courier. 

Later, after he calmed down, he placed his haul into a large paper shopping bag and walked three blocks to Jimmy First Nickel’s appliance store. Even though Martin had a reputation of being somewhat tight with his money – hence the nickname that indicated he retained the first nickel he ever earned – Sullivan knew that he was mobbed-up and he was the man to see. 

Martin was sitting behind the counter, talking to his much younger and pretty girlfriend Gloria when Sullivan walked in. He handed Martin the bag and told him how he came to be in possession of the diamonds. Martin, a short, heavy man in his 70s, breathed hard as he rose from his chair and came around the counter to lock the door and hang the closed sign. 

Martin ran his hand through the sparse gray strands of hair that were slicked back across his head as he looked into the bag. Sullivan stood there feeling awkward, smiling a goofy smile at the strikingly beautiful, dark-haired girl. She returned his smile with a cold look of boredom. 

"I’m impressed Harry," Martin said. "This is some piece of work here. Lemme make a call and see if I can unload it tonight." 

Martin mumbled into the phone for a few minutes and then announced that he had arranged a meeting with "the Man." Sullivan felt a surge of perverse pride of a professional thief, but he was also felt fearful of entering the world of big-time crime. 

"I don’t know, Jimmy," Sullivan whined. "I think it’s better wit you as the go-between." 

"Harry, this is the big time! There must be $100,000 worth of diamonds in this bag," Martin exclaimed. "The Man wants to meet you personally." 

 

A few hours, a few beers later, Martin and Sullivan drove in silence to a riverside warehouse. Once inside, Martin introduced Sullivan to a large man named Joey, who lumbered towards them, his hand placed on a gun in the waistband of his slacks. Sullivan knew instantly that this was no major league buyer. He knew that Martin had gotten a bone crusher to help steal his diamonds. 

In desperation, assuming Joey had planned to kill him, Sullivan scooped a handful of the diamonds from the bag and flung them towards Joey’s face. Sullivan then dove for some stacked crates half-heartily, fully expecting to be shot and killed. 

The blast sounded like heavy artillery in the open warehouse bay. Sullivan, surprised not to be dead, scampered up and saw that Joey was stretched out. He also saw two young dark guys, neat dressers, who looked like a hundred guys Sullivan knew from the bars and clubs of South Philly. 

One held a large semi-automatic handgun, a Beretta, Sullivan guessed. The other held a shotgun, which was now trained on Martin. Getting a better look, he realized that the one with the Beretta was Frankie Raven. 

Ignoring Sullivan on the ground, Ravelli smiled cruelly as he held his Beretta to Martin’s head. 

"We’re your life-long partners, Jimmy. Didja think ya could cut us out of this deal?" 

"No, no, please," Martin cried. "I was jes introducing a couple of guys, its small time." 

"That’s not what Gloria told me, ya fuckin’ weasel," Ravelli said as he fired into Martin’s head. 

Martin dropped down to the ground like a hangman’s weight bag. Ravelli then walked slowly with a pronounced South Philly strut to where Sullivan rested against a crate. 

"I know you. You’re a small timer from Donny’s bar," Ravelli said. 

"I’m no small timer," Sullivan scoffed. "This was my job." 

"When you’re right, you’re right," Ravelli said coolly. He lifted the Beretta and pulled the trigger. 

 

Kaplan brought us another refill of coffee just as we were finishing up the interview. Sullivan sat in his chair puffing on one of a long string of cigarettes that he had smoked while telling his story to me. 

"You know why I really want to testify against Ravelli?" Sullivan asked. 

"Well, for starters, I would think his shooting you," I said in response. "And I know Frankie, he will certainly finish the job if given the opportunity." 

"Yeah, yeah, sure. But I really want to get up in court and put that bastard away," Sullivan said. "I want him and everybody else to know that I’m no small timer." 

 

Frankie Raven received a life sentence. Quote the judge, Frankie Raven, nevermore. Sullivan was booked into the federal witness protection program and was moved out west somewhere. 

As he wished, Sullivan received his moment of glory, his proverbial 15 minutes of fame. But I had to laugh when I spied what my editor placed over my column about the trial. 

"Small Timer Testifies Against Mob Boss." 

© 2002 Paul Davis  

Note: You can read my other crime fiction short stories via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction Stories 

United States Secures The Extradition From Canada, Colombia, Germany, Honduras, Kosovo, Israel, Mexico, Spain And Thailand Of Fugitives Wanted For Murder, Drug Trafficking, Child Sexual Abuse And Cybercrime In California, Florida, Georgia And Michigan.

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

Extensive coordination and cooperation efforts between the United States Department of Justice and law enforcement authorities in Canada, Colombia, Germany, Honduras, Kosovo, Israel, Mexico, Spain, and Thailand resulted in the extraditions last week of individuals alleged to have committed murder child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, cybercrime, money laundering, and fraud.

The fugitives extradited to the United States include:

• Roberto Avina-Casillas, 30, a Mexican citizen, was extradited from Mexico to stand trial in Franklin County, Ohio for murder, felonious assault and endangering children. Avina-Casillas evaded arrest for more than 11 years after he was accused of the Aug. 7, 2013 death of his former girlfriend’s 3-year-old son.
• Justin David Lanoue, 44, a Canadian citizen, was extradited from Canada to stand trial in Washington County, Utah, on charges filed against him in 2015 related to child rape and felony sexual abuse of a minor. The Washington County Attorney’s Office is handling the prosecution.
• Dominik Rydz, 24, a Polish national, was extradited from Germany to stand trial in the state of Michigan, where he faces two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree and one count of unlawful imprisonment. On the night of Sept. 3, 2023, Rydz allegedly lured a woman away from her friends at a social gathering and proceeded to sexually assault the victim and would not let her leave. Rydz’s extradition was first sought from Poland, where he resided. While out on release from the Polish proceedings, Rydz travelled to Germany and was arrested there on an INTERPOL Red Notice.
• Olof Kyros Gustafsson, also known as “El Silencio,” 31, a Swedish national, was extradited from Spain to face conspiracy, wire and mail fraud, and money laundering charges in a 115-count federal indictment filed in the Central District of California alleging that he licensed the rights to use the name and persona of the late Colombian narco-terrorist Pablo Escobar and defrauded investors around the world by marketing and selling products — including flamethrowers and cellphones — that did not exist and that he never delivered to paying customers.
• Ardit Kutleshi, 26, and Jetmir Kutleshi, 28, both Kosovo nationals, were extradited from Kosovo to face identity theft, access device fraud, and money laundering charges in the Western District of Pennsylvania for their roles as the alleged administrators of the Rydox cybercrime marketplace, an illicit website dedicated to selling stolen personal information, access devices, and other tools for carrying out cybercrime and fraud. The Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania are handling the prosecution.
• Rene Javier Santos Alfaro, 53, a Honduran citizen, was extradited from Honduras to stand trial in the Southern District of Florida for drug trafficking offenses. Santos Alfaro is an alleged leader of a drug trafficking organization based in Honduras that was allegedly responsible for importing large quantities of cocaine from Honduras directly into Miami via commercial aircraft.
• Cristian Eduardo Garcia Jerez, 36, a Colombian national, was extradited from Colombia to face drug trafficking charges in the Northern District of Georgia. Garcia Jerez is alleged to have owned two cocaine processing laboratories and coordinated the manufacturing of cocaine in Colombia and the smuggling of cocaine from Colombia into the United States.
• Jose Guillermo Granja Rojas, 36, a Mexican national, was extradited from Colombia to face a money laundering conspiracy charge in the Northern District of Georgia. Granja Rojas was allegedly a money launderer for a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) who collected hundreds of thousands of dollars of proceeds from the sale of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in the United States and transferred them to Mexico. DTO members directed the deposit of drug proceeds into accounts allegedly controlled by Granja Rojas, and Granja Rojas also allegedly traveled from Mexico to the United States to receive cash drug proceeds in person.
• Tien Vy Tai Truong, 46, an alleged leader of a transnational drug trafficking organization, was extradited from Thailand to face conspiracy to export methamphetamine charges in a 2024 indictment filed in the Central District of California. Truong is alleged to have engaged in negotiations with a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confidential human source to export about 200 pounds of methamphetamine from the United States to Australia for sale.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs (OIA) provided significant assistance in securing the defendants’ arrests and extraditions along with the U.S. Marshals Service. OIA and the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia provided significant assistance in securing the arrests and extraditions from Colombia. The Criminal Division’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) also provided assistance with the extraditions from Kosovo. The Justice Department thanks and acknowledges the instrumental role of its law enforcement partners in Canada, Colombia, Germany, Honduras, Kosovo, Israel, Mexico, Spain, and Thailand for making these extraditions possible.

An indictment and criminal complaint are merely allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Philadelphia Man Pleads Guilty To Murder In A Case Involving Two Carjackings Of Food Delivery Drivers

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, released the below information.

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that John Nusslein, 19, of Philadelphia, PA, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to commit carjacking, one count of carjacking resulting in death, and one count of carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury.

Nusslein was charged by indictment in June 2022 with these offenses, in connection with a series of carjackings of food delivery drivers in Northeast Philadelphia during November and December of 2021.

According to the indictment, the defendant and others committed two carjackings during the course of the conspiracy that took place between November 29, 2021, and December 29, 2021. The incidents detailed are as follows:

• On December 2, 2021, Nusslein and two others placed a food delivery order to an address on the 3000 block of Teesdale Street in Philadelphia, as a ruse to lure their intended victim to that location. At approximately 7:00 p.m., when C.C., a food delivery driver, arrived at that location, Nusslein, Person 1, and Person 2 approached C.C. and struck him repeatedly to facilitate the taking of C.C.’s vehicle, a 2004 Toyota Camry. Nusslein, Person 1, and Person 2 then fled the area in C.C.’s stolen Toyota Camry. C.C. was later taken to the hospital by first responders. On December 21, 2021, C.C. succumbed to his injuries and the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the cause of death was the assault that C.C. sustained during the carjacking.
• On December 16, 2021, Nusslein and Person 1 placed a food delivery order to an address on the 9000 block of Hilspach Street in Philadelphia, as a ruse to lure their intended victim to that location. At approximately 9:10 p.m., when W.Z., a food delivery driver, arrived at that location, Nusslein and Person 1 approached W.Z., pointed a firearm at him, demanded his money, and struck him to facilitate the taking of W.Z.’s vehicle, a 2015 Infiniti QX5. Nusslein and Person 1 then fled the area in W.Z.’s stolen Infiniti QX5.

“The fact that these carjackers specifically lured two innocent people trying to make a living is despicable,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “That Nusslein and the others so brutally beat one driver that his injuries proved fatal is horrific. We and our partners on the Philadelphia Carjacking Task Force simply won’t permit violent offenders like Nusslein to victimize people with impunity. They will be prosecuted, and they will go to prison for a very long time.”

“Carjacking is a serious federal crime with lengthy prison sentences. This case also demonstrates that carjacking is a deadly dangerous crime,” said Eric J. DeGree, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Philadelphia Field Division. “ATF Philadelphia Field Division is working diligently with our partners in the Philadelphia Carjacking Task Force, sharing the ATF’s unique forensic and investigative tools to ensure justice for the victims and to make our communities safer through federal prosecution.”

“This case is a tragic reminder that carjackings can have deadly consequences,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel. “The senseless assault on these food delivery drivers is appalling and unacceptable. I commend the outstanding collaboration between the Philadelphia Police Department, the ATF, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for their work in bringing this case to justice. Our carjacking task force remains vigilant in investigating these crimes and will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the safety of Philadelphians.”

Nusslein is set to be sentenced on July 31, 2024, before United States District Court Judge John M. Younge, and faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Philadelphia Police Department and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lauren E. Stram and Assistant United States Attorney Robert E. Eckert.

Additional Federal Charges Brought In Superseding Indictment For Murder Of Philadelphia Police Sergeant James O’Connor

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia released the below information:

 PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that a Superseding Indictment was unsealed today in relation to the murder of Philadelphia Police Corporal James “Jimmy” O’Connor, posthumously promoted to Sergeant. The 31-count Superseding Indictment includes a RICO conspiracy, three additional counts of murder, nine non-fatal shootings, and related charges for Hassan Elliott, a/k/a “Haz,” age 25; Khalif Sears, a/k/a “Leaf,” a/k/a “Lil Leaf,” age 21; and two previously unnamed defendants, Kelvin Jiminez a/k/a “Nip,” age 32; and Dominique Parker, a/k/a “Dom,” age 31, all of Philadelphia.

The original Indictment charged the murder of Sergeant O’Connor, as well as related drug trafficking and firearms offenses.

The Superseding Indictment charges all four defendants with:

• conspiracy to participate in a racketeering (RICO) enterprise (1 count); and
• conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance (1 count).

Additional charges include:

• murder in aid of racketeering (4 counts);
• assault in aid of racketeering (9 counts);
• attempted assault in aid of racketeering (2 counts);
• possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking (1 count);
• using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence (5 counts);
• murder in the course of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm (4 counts);
• possession with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance (1 count);
• maintaining a drug involved premises (1 count); and
• possession of a firearm by a felon (2 counts).

The Superseding Indictment alleges that the defendants were members of a violent drug trafficking organization known as “1700 Scattergood,” which operated in the Frankford section of Northeast Philadelphia. The defendants allegedly sold large quantities of narcotics over a multi-year period, using violence and threats of violence to protect their reputation and drug territory. The Superseding Indictment alleges that in furtherance of that conspiracy, Elliott and others killed Kaseem Rogers on December 3, 2018; Tyrone Tyree on March 1, 2019; and Dontae Walker on August 22, 2019.

On March 13, 2020, Elliott, Sears, and others previously indicted were inside a stash house on the 1600 block of Bridge Street when Sergeant O’Connor and other members of the Philadelphia Police Department’s SWAT team arrived with a homicide warrant for Elliott related to the March 2019 murder of Tyrone Tyree. As Sergeant O’Connor and his fellow officers ascended the staircase to the second floor of the residence and announced their presence multiple times, Elliott allegedly fired a semi-automatic assault rifle 16 times, striking and killing Sergeant O’Connor.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum possible penalty of lifetime imprisonment. In addition, contained within the Superseding Indictment is a Notice of Special Findings for defendant Elliott for each of the four charges of murder while using or carrying a firearm. These Notices make Elliott eligible for the death penalty.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Philadelphia Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher Diviny, Ashley Martin, and Lauren Stram.

An indictment, information, or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Updated March 31, 2023