FBI: Leader Of Violent New Haven Grape Street Crips Street Gang Going To Prison

The FBI web site reports on a multi-agency investigation that dismantled a criminal organization in New Haven, Connecticut:

He headed a dangerous criminal organization responsible for not only a great deal of the gang violence occurring on the streets of New Haven, Connecticut, but also for the large-scale distribution of cocaine in and around the city. But earlier this month, Donald “Main” Ogman was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal drug charges. Nineteen of his fellow gang members and other associates have previously pled guilty to various federal charges.

And as a result, the streets of New Haven are a little safer these days.

Under Ogman’s leadership, his criminal enterprise—the Grape Street Crips—was a force to be reckoned with. Much of the violence—a lot of it in the Hill neighborhood of New Haven—was attributed to the turf battle occurring between the Crips and other gangs. The Grape Street Crips wanted to maintain their influence over drug trafficking and firearms trafficking in the Hill, and they used intimidation, threats of violence, shootings, assaults, and homicides to make sure that they did.

But Ogman also had a direct hand in the trafficking of drugs—he would purchase large quantities of cocaine from criminal suppliers, and then, after processing the cocaine into “crack,” redistribute it to gang members and others in the Hill and other neighborhoods. Ogman often cooked the cocaine into crack himself and used drug addicts (or “friends,” as he called them) to test the batches he made.

Trying to get a handle on the drug trafficking and violence being perpetrated by the Grape Street Crips and other gangs, the FBI’s New Haven Safe Streets Task Force—which includes the Connecticut Department of Corrections, the Connecticut State Police, and the New Haven, Hamden, and Milford Police Departments—began to investigate and soon honed in on Ogman and his associates.

The FBI has 164 Violent Gang Safe Streets Task Forces in field offices nationwide, staffed by nearly 850 Bureau agents, more than 1,500 state and local law enforcement personnel, and almost 100 other federal law enforcement agents. These task forces go after violent gangs through sustained, proactive, coordinated investigations—often using federal laws targeting racketeering, drug conspiracy, and firearms violations to identify and prosecute the leadership of these gangs and obtain lengthy prison sentences. Our Safe Streets initiative is the principal federal, state, and local partnership engaged in reducing violent crime throughout the country.

For the investigation into Donald Ogman and the Grape Street Crips, Bureau agents and task force officers working side by side used a variety of techniques to uncover the extent of the group’s criminal activity, including court-authorized wiretaps, the execution of search and seizure warrants, electronic and physical surveillance, and confidential informants. Between March and September 2011, law enforcement also set up a series of about 75 controlled drug buys—using confidential informants to purchase cocaine from members and associates of the gang, including Ogman.

The wiretaps on Ogman’s phone were fruitful as well, providing evidence of his leadership of the Grape Street Crips and his involvement in drug trafficking. During one particular conversation he had with an associate, the two discussed a couple of unrelated federal drug investigations in New Haven and mused on the perils of being the target of such an investigation.

Ogman soon found out how perilous it could be. In March 2012, investigators executed a series of search warrants, seizing drugs, drug paraphernalia, cash, firearms, ammunition, and other items. Ogman was charged and taken into custody, as were a number of his fellow gang members and associates. In March 2014, he pled guilty to drug conspiracy charges prior to his sentencing.

And not long after Ogman was taken into custody and his criminal enterprise was virtually dismantled, New Haven police reportedly noted a reduction in crime in the neighborhood areas where the Grape Street Crips operated.

Note: The FBI released the above photo of the New Haven gang leader's house.

Republican Members Of Congress Cite Castro Espionage Apparatus, National Security Risk, in Opposing Opening of Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC

 

Communist Cuba is as well known for spies as it is for cigars.

Cuba's KGB-Trained General Directorate of Intelligence (DGI) has a well-deserved reputation for "punching above its weight." The DGI was and is a very successful intelligence agency.

So Republican Cuban-American Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen (seen in the above photo) released the below:

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, was joined by her colleagues Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Albio Sires (D-NJ), and Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), in sending a letter to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson and National Security Council Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs Ricardo Zuniga in opposing the opening of a Cuban embassy in Washington, DC. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen: 

“Contrary to popular belief and the propaganda of the Castro brothers, the Cuban espionage apparatus remains one of the most advanced in the world, and is almost exclusively focused on targeting the United States and keeping the regime in power. By allowing the Cuban regime to open an embassy in our nation’s capital, and potentially additional consular offices around the country, the administration risks allowing Cuban spies even more access to sensitive information that can be sold to the highest bidder.

“Cuba’s long history of espionage in the United States has already had severe consequences for our national security. There is no doubt that the regime will continue to jeopardize the security and economic prosperity of the United States by stealing and selling the intelligence it gleans here in order to stay in power and oppress the Cuban people. It’s time for the Obama administration to put aside its aspirations for a foreign policy legacy, end these misguided talks with the thugs in Havana, stand up for the human rights of the Cuban people, and stop putting politics before US national security.”

You can read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of Scott W. Carmichael's True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba's Master Spy via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/08/my-philadelphia-review-of-scott-w.html

And you can read an earlier post on Cuban spies via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/07/traitors-spies-and-castros-true.html

As Sentencings Approach, A Look At Mob Ties In FirstPlus Case

Veteran organized crime reporter and author George Anastasia (seen in the above photo) offers a look at the organized crime ties to the FirstPlus case for bigtrial.net.

Unless there are some unforeseen developments -- and in this case that's always possible -- the hammer comes down next week in the multi-million dollar FirstPlus Financial fraud case.

Nicodemo S. Scarfo, Salvatore Pelullo and the brothers John and William Maxwell each have sentencing hearings before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Kugler in the same federal courtroom in Camden where a jury delivered guilty verdicts last year.

Scarfo, the 49-year-old son of jailed mob boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, is looking at a sentence that could land him in prison for the better part of the rest of his life. The same can be said for Pelullo, 47, described as a mob associate and with Scarfo the brains behind the 2007 takeover and looting of the Texas-based mortgage company.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2015/03/a-look-at-mob-ties-to-firstplus-case-as.html#more

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer of George Anastasia's latest true crime book, Gotti's Rules, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/02/my-philadelphia-inquirer-review-of.html

America's Greatest Weapon: Mesmerizing Pictures Capture America's Aircraft Carriers Sailing The World Through The Years In All Their Humongous Glory

 

As an old carrier sailor who served on the USS Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War, I was pleased to discover a piece on the history of American aircraft carriers that the British newspaper the Daily Mail offered on their web site.

The piece offers some great old photos and videos of America's aircraft carriers, including the above photo of the USS Kitty Hawk making her final voyage from Japan in 2008.

On September 11, 2001, the USS Enterprise was cruising the Indian Ocean when news broke that the World Trade Center and Pentagon had been hit by hijacked airplanes. 

The aircraft carrier was immediately turned around towards the Middle East, and for weeks carried out air raids on the terrorist cells believed to have carried out the attack.

When it comes to military might, America's greatest weapon is its large fleet of aircraft carriers that patrol the world and can respond to incidents in a matter of hours from international waters. 

No other country in the world maintains a fleet as large as the U.S., giving America no uncertain advantage. There are currently 10 supercarriers in commission, two under construction and another in planning. The few countries that can afford to invest in aircraft carriers usually maintain just one - at the most two. 

See how America's aircraft carriers have changed over the years, from one of the first launched in 1920 to the modern super carrier. 

You can read the rest of the piece and check out the photos and the videos via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2996580/Stunning-pictures-capture-America-s-aircraft-carriers-humongous-glory-sail-world.html

Note: You can see photos of the USS Kitty Hawk via the link below:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/05/look-back-at-aircraft-carrier-uss-kitty.html

A New Biography Of The Most Famous American Of His Time: Mark Twain

Michael Dirda reviews Roy Morris Jr.'s book, American Vandal: Mark Twain Abroad.

There are probably more studies and biographies of Mark Twain — the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) — than of any other figure in American literature. And why not?

After all, Twain produced at least three or four titles that rank high on almost everyone’s list of favorite books. “Huckleberry Finn” is a leading contender in the The Great American Novel sweepstakes. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” as biographer Roy Morris Jr. observes, “seems to take place in perpetual summer” and conveys an “ineffable magic.” Twain’s own favorites, if no one else’s, were “The Prince and the Pauper” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Instead of those “English” novels, I would argue for “Life on the Mississippi.”

However, Mark Twain was more than just an author. The barefoot boy from hardscrabble Hannibal, Mo., rose to become a global celebrity, the most famous American of his time, rivaled only by Teddy Roosevelt (whom he once derided as the “Tom Sawyer of the political world”). His quips and yarn-filled performances in “Mark Twain at Home” took him to lyceums, opera halls and auditoriums around the world. In fact, as “American Vandal” reminds us, he spent more than a dozen years of his adult life outside the United States.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-new-biography-of-the-most-famous-american-of-his-time-mark-twain/2015/03/18/f5b9a48e-cbf7-11e4-a2a7-9517a3a70506_story.html

Ouch: Conan O'Brien On New Sex Survey

Conan O'Brien told a good one on his late night show:

A new study has shown that women who get more sleep have better sex. Unfortunately, the study was conducted by Bill Cosby.

Ouch, indeed.

You can visit Conan O'Brien's web site via the below link:

http://teamcoco.com/

Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary: 'America's Most Haunted Building'

 

Some years ago I was given an interesting and informative tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia by Francis X. Dolan, who was then the site manager of the historic site and the author of Eastern State Penitentiary. 

I was interested in visiting the creepy old prison, as it was the site where notorious criminals like bank robber Willy Sutton and gangster Al Capone were held.

Willie Sutton reportedly was asked why he robbed banks and he replied, "That's where the money is."

Capone, who was caught with an illegal gun by Philadelphia detectives, served a year in the pen. The story goes that Capone arranged his own arrest and imprisonment to avoid the intense heat brought on by his ordering the infamous "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre" murders in Chicago.

Capone, due to his wealth and criminal influence, lived a good deal better than the other inmates, as one can see from a photo of his old cell at the Eastern State pen:

 

Eastern State Penitentiary is also noted for holding all prisoners in total solitary confinement.

According to the Eastern State Penitentiary web site:

In the ambitious age of reform following the American Revolution, the new nation aspired to change profoundly its public institutions, and to set an example for the world in social development. Every type of institution that we are familiar with today--educational, medical and governmental--was revolutionized in these years by the rational and humanistic principles of the Enlightenment.

Of all of the radical innovations born in this era, American democracy was, of course, the most influential. The second major intellectual export was prison design and reform.

Most eighteenth century prisons were simply large holding pens. Groups of adults and children, men and women, and petty thieves and murderers, sorted out their own affairs behind locked doors. Physical punishment and mutilation were common, and abuse of the prisoners by the guards and overseers was assumed.

In 1787, a group of well-known and powerful Philadelphians convened in the home of Benjamin Franklin. The members of The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons expressed growing concern with the conditions in American and European prisons. Dr. Benjamin Rush spoke on the Society's goal, to see the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania set the international standard in prison design. He proposed a radical idea: to build a true penitentiary, a prison designed to create genuine regret and penitence in the criminal's heart. The concept grew from Enlightenment thinking, but no government had successfully carried out such a program.

It took the Society more than thirty years to convince the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to build the kind of prison it suggested: a revolutionary new building on farmland outside Philadelphia.

Eastern State Penitentiary broke sharply with the prisons of its day, abandoning corporal punishment and ill treatment.

This massive new structure, opened in 1829, became one of the most expensive American buildings of its day and soon the most famous prison in the world. The Penitentiary would not simply punish, but move the criminal toward spiritual reflection and change. The method was a Quaker-inspired system of isolation from other prisoners, with labor. The early system was strict.

To prevent distraction, knowledge of the building, and even mild interaction with guards, inmates were hooded whenever they were outside their cells. But the proponents of the system believed strongly that the criminals, exposed, in silence, to thoughts of their behavior and the ugliness of their crimes, would become genuinely penitent. Thus the new word, penitentiary.   

You can read the rest of the pen's history via the below link:

http://www.easternstate.org/learn/research-library/history

Today the Eastern State Pen is also famous for their annual Halloween event. The old prison is a good place to come for a good scare, as the pen has a reputation for being haunted.

The British newspaper the Daily Mail reports on the supposedly haunted prison and offers some good photos. You can read the piece and see the photos via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3001010/America-s-haunted-building-Tortured-souls-inmates-believed-roam-dank-ruins-prison-pioneered-solitary-confinement-held-Al-Capone.html

Dolan's book also has some fine historic photos in it. You can purchase the book via the below link:

http://www.amazon.com/Eastern-State-Penitentiary-Images-America/dp/0738550396/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426795349&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Francis+X.+Dolan+Eastern+State+Peniteniary 

Note: The above photos are from the Eastern State Penitentiary web site. You can click on them to enlarge.