If the Feds are linking current debt collections schemes to Italian organized crime, it sure appears some things never change. When you look at the article below, there seem to be connections to organized crime members/associates (at least former), drug trafficking, and these call center/debt collection companies.NickleCity wrote: ↑Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:01 amTo your original question for years I've been intimating the Buffalo Crime Family is heavily involved in collections scams which I believe got started with the call centers of the mid 90's. (That is why I included so many links about them in my "Dead Years" post a while back.) From what I understand thru the Buffalo News and the Bella case there is an active investigation into mafia links to the numerous collections agencies in WNY.UTC wrote: ↑Thu Apr 08, 2021 8:38 pm I asked the question because it seems that the discussions center around what Buffalo people are doing or influencing in Canada. It seems logical to me that if they have the reach and clout to be important in another country they would have very significant things going on in upstate NY.
The screenshot above is from the Bella detention hearing transcript. In it prosecutors spend a couple of pages describing the debt collections scheme they believe is connected to the Italian mafia.
See the detention hearing transcript here: https://assets.documentcloud.org/docume ... earing.pdf
See the Buffalo News article here: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... f3d51.html
See also: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/kenm ... 536ed.html
New Today: Feds seize $392K from Lockport firm that processed payments for debt collectors
They are connecting this seizure of money in Lockport to the Kenmore debt collection companies owned by Mark Miller. See last link in quoted post. Here is a relevant portion of the article:
Link to quoted article above: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... -top-storyA former employee of Miller’s, Frank J. Morrocco, contacted The News to say he believes Miller may have been victimized by some unscrupulous people working for him.
“I worked for Mark and have known him for about eight years. He’s a class act ... a really good guy. The government has put a target on his back,” said Morrocco, an ex-convict. “I know Mark told his employees, including me, that all collections were to be done following the law ... But Mark was not a hands-on guy with his collection companies. He was not there when the calls were being made.”
Some things never change!
About Frank J Morrocco: He was convicted for his role in the Grazaiedei Drug ring.
Here is the link to article quoted above: https://buffalonews.com/news/refusal-to ... ff929.htmlREFUSAL TO HELP POLICE PORTENDS HARSHER TERM DRUG DEALER FACES AT LEAST 21 YEARS
By Dan Herbeck
Dec 12, 1994
Frank J. Morrocco says he is taking the fall for one of the biggest drug rings ever broken up by police in Western New York.
Under federal guidelines, Morrocco, a former Bailey Avenue car dealer and longtime cocaine user, faces a probable prison sentence of at least 21 years when he is sentenced Tuesday for helping Michael Graziadei run a ring that prosecutors say circulated hundreds of pounds of cocaine.
...snip
William Koopman, another associate of the ring, admitted to committing or assisting in five underworld murders. He also took part in $1 million worth of cocaine deals.
But Koopman served less than five years in prison, joined the U.S. Witness Protection Program and was released in September.
How did Koopman and Graziadei get off with easier sentences than the one Morrocco faces?
Both became police informers and testified against Morrocco and others in court.
Morrocco refused. Now, he is paying the price.
"The FBI agent wanted me to be his informant. He wanted to put a wire on me and send me out to do drug buys," Morrocco said in a recent prison interview. "He wanted me to go out and inform on guys who have been friends of mine all my life. I told him no, I wouldn't do that. I wasn't raised like that.
As many of you know Koopman was a mob hitman who served as a henchman for Luciano "Dilly" Spataro and was arrested for the Pinelli hit. See: https://buffalonews.com/news/koopman-im ... 8463b.html
More articles on Morrocco and the Grazisdei drug ring:
https://buffalonews.com/news/curtin-won ... 09813.html
https://buffalonews.com/news/w-side-coc ... a1523.html
https://buffalonews.com/news/convicted- ... a9c8b.html
https://buffalonews.com/news/executive- ... b221f.html
https://buffalonews.com/news/cheektowag ... fdbcb.html
https://buffalonews.com/news/9-are-indi ... 525d9.html
https://buffalonews.com/news/cheektowag ... fdbcb.html
Here is a article that links the Graziadei drug rings to the Buffalo Mafia and to the telemarketing scams that were imported to Buffalo form Vegas.
See this link for the article quoted above: https://buffalonews.com/news/testimony- ... c7518.htmlTESTIMONY BY TWO MOB FIGURES LINKS TELEMARKETER TO 1980S COCAINE RINGS
Dan Herbeck
January 10, 1998
...snip
Two government witnesses with organized crime ties testified Friday against Joseph Amoia, 41, who faces felony cocaine-trafficking charges.
Michael Graziadei, a former drug kingpin who is now in prison, and admitted drug dealer Andrew "Babe" Novino told jurors that Amoia was involved in large-scale drug dealings with them and others.
Novino also claimed that in the mid-1980s, Amoia tried to hire one of Novino's close friends to kill him because of a dispute over drug money. Novino said his friend came to him and told him Amoia offered him $5,000 to perform the "hit."
Defense lawyer Patrick Brown asked Novino why Amoia would hire his friend to kill him.
"Usually, your best friend will kill you," Novino testified. "From what I know of, that's how it works."
If this is true, some things never change: Drugs (Bella), call center scams, and organized crime.