NickleCity wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 5:54 am
NickleCity wrote: ↑Sun Apr 11, 2021 10:52 am
NickleCity wrote: ↑Fri Apr 09, 2021 9:01 am
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.
To 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.
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
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.
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:
A 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!
Link to quoted article above:
https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... -top-story
About Frank J Morrocco: He was convicted for his role in the Grazaiedei Drug ring.
REFUSAL 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.
Here is the link to article quoted above:
https://buffalonews.com/news/refusal-to ... ff929.html
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.
TESTIMONY 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."
See this link for the article quoted above:
https://buffalonews.com/news/testimony- ... c7518.html
If this is true, some things never change: Drugs (Bella), call center scams, and organized crime.
Kenmore debt collector is target of civil lawsuits, federal probe
Dan Herbeck , Lou Michel
May 9, 2021
Link:
https://buffalonews.com/news/local/kenm ... op-story-1
From the Article
Miller said he believes federal agents have targeted him because "my father was in the Mafia," and he thinks agents want to link him to an ongoing investigation into organized crime in Western New York.
Miller declined to identify his father by name. He said that, in his opinion, there no longer is any viable Mafia organization in the Buffalo area.
U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy declined to comment when asked if the investigation of Miller and any other debt collectors is related to the organized crime probe.
For what it is worth, rumors indicate most and maybe all of these debt collection companies pay monthly tribute to the mob in Buffalo.
Why Buffalo is a hub for illegal debt collectors who scam thousands across the country
Dan Herbeck , Lou Micheal
LINK TO ARTICLE:
https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... -top-story
A Relevant Section Copied Below:
Links to organized crime
At least two of the defendants targeted in a wide-ranging probe into alleged organized crime in the Buffalo area have run debt collection companies.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi outlined ties between mobsters and debt collection during a court hearing last year for Joseph C. Bella III, a former debt collector with alleged mob associates who was charged with drug trafficking and weapons-related offenses.
Tripi told a judge that investigators believe people in the “upper tier” of Buffalo’s Mafia family are involved with debt collection businesses.
Quoting a federal agent’s grand jury testimony, Tripi said, “I would say, associates or members of the Italian Mafia will typically appoint someone to operate these organizations on their behalf, but they are still manipulating, making decisions and they are drawing money from illicit – from that activity.”
The prosecutor explained that the ongoing federal probe into organized crime found that debt collection was one of the mob’s methods of making money.
Tripi said Bella was an associate of Buffalo Mafia members and, in particular, cited his connection to Frank J. “Butch” BiFulco, who died in October and was known to many as “Butchie BiFocals.”
The state attorney general in 2013 entered into an agreement with Bella requiring him to pay $165,000 in restitution and penalties for illegal debt collection practices. Two years later, the state and Federal Trade Commission fined him $112,000 after he was accused of using lies and threats to unlawfully collect $8.7 million. Bella was also permanently banned from the debt collection industry.
Attorney Thomas J. Eoannou, who represents Bella on the federal drug and weapons charges, has said his client is not involved in organized crime. Eoannou said he also disagrees with Tripi’s claim that organized crime is involved with some of the region’s debt collection firms.
Tripi and U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy declined to comment on the probe into organized crime and the Buffalo Mafia's suspected links to debt collectors.
The New York State Attorney General’s Office, which has pursued numerous civil actions against debt collectors in Buffalo, said it too has suspected links between some collection outfits and organized crime.
“We have seen debt collection used to launder money for drug and gun-running operations and other businesses with suspected links to organized crime,” a staff member from the Attorney General’s Office told The Buffalo News.
Hub for illegal debt collecting
How did Buffalo become such fertile ground for the debt collection industry?
Debt collection provided thousands of job opportunities in a region where unemployment is traditionally high.
“Debt collectors continue to open in Buffalo because of the cheap office space and no statewide licensing requirement for debt collectors in New York,” according to the staffer in the Attorney General’s Office, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
James C. Morrissey is a retired assistant attorney general who spent decades suing corrupt debt collectors. He said he believes many unsavory people got into the business because they were impressed by the huge profits made by some legitimate Buffalo debt collection firms in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Started in Buffalo in the early 1970s, the Great Lakes Collection Bureau grew into one of the nation’s largest collection firms, with nearly 2,000 employees. In 1997, the owners – Joel Castle and the late Joseph Mosey – sold the business for a reported $40 million.
“People became aware of all the money that could be made in a legitimate debt collection business, with a fairly small capital investment,” Morrissey said.
A legitimate debt collection firm gets hired by credit card companies, department stores, health care companies and other businesses to collect debts that are actually owed by consumers, Morrissey explained.
But dishonest people also learned that big money could be made by running illegal debt collection companies, Morrissey said.
“People found out that you can buy ‘old debt’ for a few pennies on the dollar,” Morrissey said.
He said “old debt,” also known in the industry as “bad paper,” is a list of people who are believed to owe money. Some of these debts are legitimate, but are many years old.
Some of these debts are fictitious, and never were owed. Some of the debts have been discharged in bankruptcy cases. Others were paid off years ago.
“Some companies buy old debt, collect what they can on it, and then – instead of canceling the debt, which they are supposed to do – they just sell the list of debtors to another company,” Morrissey said. “Some of this old debt gets sold and collected on two or three times.”
"Extorting New Yorkers with lies and deceit to steal their money is inexcusable,” State Attorney General Letitia James told The Buffalo News. “Over the years, Buffalo has unfortunately become a hub for this method of debt collection.”
Kennedy has likened the proliferation of unlawful debt collection companies to the illegal telemarketing operations that once boomed in Buffalo.
In the 1990s, Buffalo was a focal point of a national effort by the Justice Department to rein in illegal telemarketers, sometimes known as telesharks. There were hundreds of arrests and convictions across the country, including dozens in Buffalo.
Another target
Ronald C. Serio is another debt collector whose name has been associated with the feds’ investigation into organized crime.
Ronald C. Serio mug shot
Ronald C. Serio is awaiting sentencing on felony drug and weapons charges stemming from a 2017 raid at his former Lebrun Road mansion in Amherst. The case against Serio is part of a federal investigation into organized crime in Buffalo. Serio pleaded guilty to the charges.
Provided photo
Serio has pleaded guilty to felony drug and weapons charges stemming from a 2017 raid at his former Lebrun Road mansion in Amherst, and is awaiting sentencing.
Serio and a business partner have run into additional legal problems involving debt collection activities in New Mexico. The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office in September alleged in a civil case that Central Mediation Services and its operators, Serio and Jason “Jay” Camacho of Buffalo, attempted to collect on debts that did not exist, lacked authority to collect debts in that state, and were abusing and threatening consumers. The threats allegedly included claims they would be arrested on fraud charges, see their vehicle registrations canceled and have their wages garnished.
Matt Baca, a spokesman for the New Mexico attorney general, said the office has been receiving complaints against Serio and Camacho’s company for at least three years. Baca said it is his understanding that Central Mediation Services is no longer operating.
Attorney Christopher J. Tebo, who represents Serio in the debt collection case, declined to comment.
