Blog posts with "racketeering"

  In an exciting story pulled from the leaves of a crime thriller paperback, we have news from Las Vegas, by way of Macau. From the city that pioneered the casino, violent organized criminals strike again. This time hailing from the east.   Macau, an island off the cost of Hong Kong, is a vibrant city of industry and entertainment. Five men were convicted of crimes in a Hong Kong court last year stemming from a plot to punish, and kill, a dealer from the Sands Macau casino. The perpetrators...

In the eclectic political and economic system of China, a significant crackdown on organized and white collar crime has been in the works for the past few years. China's rich history from dynastic monarchies, a repressive communist revolution, to a capitalism-infused modern economy has long had a connection to the powerful semi-criminal organization commonly referred to as the Triad. In fact, underground groups were a powerful force in the overthrow of the dynastic system in China at the begi...

It is now final, Rep. William Jefferson (D), of Louisiana, the notorious Congressman who froze a $90,000 bribe, was sentenced last Friday to 13 years in Federal prison. The prosecutors on the case had asked for 27-33 years, but still managed to get a sentence longer than any other Congressman has ever received.   When imposing the sentence, Judge T.S. Ellis III characterized Jefferson's acts as “a cancer on the body politic.” Jefferson's attorneys have ten days to appeal the sentence.