Police in New York have arrested 27 alleged mobsters, and in the investigation have turned up a gambling link to Costa Rica.

The New York allegations are extensive and based on court-ordered telephone intercepts, according to a statement from the office of the U.S. attorney in New York.

The key figure as far as Costa Rica is concerned is Joseph Caridi, 54, identified as the consigliere of the Luchese organized crime family. He and two associates had a nationwide sports betting operation in the United States that provided bettors with access to a betting office in Costa Rica through a toll-free number, said the release.

Caridi also is charged with defrauding the Internal Revenue Service. Despite a lavish lifestyle, Caridi, the indictment alleges, failed to file personal income tax returns from 1997 to 2001.

Not a lot about the Costa Rican operation was given by U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf, but the release from her office said that Caridi ran the gambling operation from his residence in East Northport, Suffolk County, from at least April 2002 through August 2002 and brought in thousands of dollars. 

Also involved in the betting operation were two 

Internet betting is a gray legal area in the U.S., but using the telephone to place a bet is a crime. Costa Rica is home to many betting operations, run primarily via the Internet. 

Last May the personal bookmaker of Gambino family crime boss John Gotti was arrested here, and he was believed to have maintained some kind of betting operation in the La Sabana Oficentro where he was arrested. However, the Luchese family and the Gambino family are frequent rivals, and this probably was not the operation in which Caridi was involved. That man is Dominick Curra, who was a convicted fugitive when he arrived here a year ago.

"We and our partners in law enforcement have successfully uncovered and uprooted organized criminal activity in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, Kings, Richmond and Bronx counties and have dismantled a violent and enterprising crew operated by the  Luchese family consigliere Joseph Caridi," said Ms. Mauskopf. She has been waging a campaign against the Mafia over the last two years.

A consigliere is a trusted adviser in a Mafia family. However, in such loose-knit operations each Mafia leader generally runs his own criminal operations.

Now that two high-interest investment operations collapsed, the complaint is why didn’t anyone step in and protect the investors.

Those who had money with Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho and/or Savings Unlimited are looking for someone to blame. There is plenty of blame to go around: Regulator agencies that didn’t regulate. Banks that might have been a bit slow to report strange transactions. Happy investors who sucked in their friends.

When The Tico Times published stories nearly two years ago on Keith Nash, the Canadian who could not withdraw his money, Villalobos investors rushed to his defense. The newspaper and reporter Christine Pratt were vilified.

Yet in the final analysis, The Tico Times could be accused of not printing enough. This reluctance was generated by a major slander suit filed by Villalobos that had the effect of tying the newspaper’s hands. Recent events would seem to have taken the newspaper off the hook.

Any investor who read the news stories about Keith Nash could have concluded that they should get their money out of the Villalobos operation right away. Villalobos went to court to get Nash declared incompetent. He disregarded paperwork that designated someone to act on Nash’s behalf if the investor became unable to act on his own behalf.

Then Villalobos unleashed a public relations campaign to suggest that Nash’s son or other person were trying to steal the elderly investor’s money. Then Villalobos said he was paying the Nash medical bills. Nash’s only crime seemed to have been in letting his $189,000 investment compound to about $1.5 million.

Investors probably should have paid more attention to this case and the newspaper accounts that are still there to see. They perhaps should have been a bit more skeptical of the greedy son scenario.

The big problem for newspapers in Costa Rica is that the law is stacked against investigative reporting. Defamation is a criminal as well as a civil allegation, and the courts have high respect for reputation.

In retrospect, one wonders how much a curious reporter could have found out about Villalobos and Savings Unlimited. Each seems to have protected itself with layers of shell corporations and, in the case of Savings Unlimited, misstatements about who actually owned the firm’s casino properties.

Ofinter S.A., the Villalobos money exchange house, was featured in Tico Times advertising right up to the time the Nash stories appeared. Good newspapers have a tradition of ignoring advertising contracts when following a good story.

The action of the Spanish press and television in the Villalobos case is curious. Although both Teletica and La Nación reported the July 4 raids on the Villalobos enterprises, little appeared in print or on the air until an investor’s committee actively started courting the media.

When investors rallied Nov. 25 at the court complex, television was there for the visual images. Financial stories are too complex for most television reporting, and Villalobos stories even today are accompanied by unrelated stock footage of someone stacking blocks of money.

Yet once print reporters got ahold of the story and Savings Unlimited folded to the tune of about $250 million, the local media became very interested. Al Dia with bilingual reporters seems to have done the best job to date.

Yet even Al Dia did not follow up when Minister of Seguridad Rogelio Ramos reported that other high-interest operations were under investigation. The newspapers would be opening themselves up to legal action to do more than report the minister’s statement.

José Milanes gets
two months in jail

A  judge has approved two months pretrial detention for José Milanes and Enrique Pereira.

Prosecutors in the Sección de delitos economicos y financieros  sought the detention as part of the investigation into the collapse of Savings Unlimited and the disappearance of operator Louis Milanes, the brother of José.

Investigators arrested both José Milanes and Pereria Monday afternoon and held them 24 hours for investigation. The detention ruling made late Tuesday means that they will be around to answer prosecutors’ questions.

No word has been heard on the whereabouts of Louis Milanes or Luis Enrique Villalobos Camacho, operator of another high-interest investment firm that closed owing investors up to $1 billion. Louis Milanes vanished the weekend of Nov. 23.

Villalobos has been gone since Oct. 14 when he closed up his operation because, he said, he feared another police raid.

Both firms catered to North Americans, who found they had no security for their massive investments except the word of the operator.

LIMA, Peru — A conference sponsored by the United Nations International Labor Organization is seeking solutions to the economic problems afflicting Latin America and the Caribbean.

The conference, in which several officials from the U.S. State and Labor Departments are participating, is being held in the midst of "the new and serious economic crisis that is affecting the region," said the UN organization.

The agency said that urban unemployment in Latin America and the Caribbean rose in the third quarter of 2002 to 17 million people, with an average unemployment rate of 9.2 percent, the highest that has been registered in the region in the past 22 years.

According to the labor group, the total urban unemployment rate will rise to 9.8 percent, the worst in the region in the last 30 years. That figure represents about 18 million people.

The delegates at the conference are considering issues such as the effect of globalization on the region, gender discrimination, the social and labor dimension of regional integration, and "decent work deficits," which include deficits in employment and incomes, social protection, and social dialogue.

A report released at the meeting, entitled "Globalization and Decent Work in the Americas," calls attention to the "serious crisis affecting a number of countries in the region" that "requires the immediate application of emergency social policies to prevent an explosion of poverty, hunger and despair among millions of unemployed and those displaced by violence."
 

Colombian president avoids plot by rebels

MEDELLIN, Colombia — Security forces rushed President Alvaro Uribe Velez to a military base early Wednesday after learning of a possible assassination plot by leftist rebels. The security alert coincided with a rash of foiled car bombings.

President Uribe was scheduled to appear at an awards ceremony at a hotel in Medellin, about 300 kilometers (about 186 miles) northwest of Bogota. But he abruptly changed his plans and took a helicopter to a nearby military base after learning of a possible assassination plot.

Meanwhile, in the nation's capital, Defense Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez revealed that police had de-fused five remote-control car bombs.

Security forces say some of the cars were packed with at least 250 kilograms of explosives and rigged with remote control systems capable of steering the vehicles to their intended targets. 

Defense Minister Ramirez said the bombs could have caused unimaginable damage.  Authorities blamed the foiled bombings on the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and arrested six people.

The FARC have been protesting what they consider a corrupt political oligarchy for 38 years, but until recently they fought their battles in the countryside. Now, they are vowing to bring the violence to city streets. 

The guerrillas known as the FARC also are suspected of planting a smaller car bomb that exploded Monday in the parking lot of a Bogota supermarket. Nearly 60 people were hurt. 

Colombia has been mired in a 38-year civil war involving the FARC and a smaller rebel group, rightist paramilitaries and the government. The conflict has left at least 40,000 people dead in the past decade alone.

Agents from the Judicial Investigation Organization are looking into the death of a man, believed to be an elderly American, in Puerto Jimenez.

The body of the unidentified man was found Monday on a boat docked at Kakataymka harbor. The privately owned boat is estimated to be about 30 feet long.

According to a source in the area, the man’s death may have resulted from a severe head blow. The man is believed to have fallen from a boat ladder.
 

Professional Directory A.M. Costa Rica's professional directory is where business people who wish to reach the English-speaking community may invite responses. If you are interested in being represented here, please contact the editor. Psychiatrists Dr. Luis Carlos Sancho Torres   bilingual psychiatrist (UCR) • consulting • depression  • schizophrenia  • psychiatric disability VA Affairs • evaluations for gun permits   • bipolar disorders • addictions  • methadone Available 24-hour a day children and adults office: 233-7782 beeper: 233-3333 lucasancho@yahoo.com Lawyers INVESTMENT RECOVERY CENTER Learn how to best protect your interests in the Villalobos case. Explore your options at http://www.irccr.net Also, we invite you to join one of the most active discussion groups on the case.  Find out what people who care are saying. Join at irccr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com 2/16/02 tem Law Offices of Lic. A.A. Hernandez Mussio Attorney, Notary Public, Official Translator English and Spanish Specializing in Criminal  and Corporate Law Practice e-mail: legalxpt@racsa.co.cr www.forovial.com                            Ave. 10, Calle 19, No. 1906 Cell: 365-3088                                            San Jose, Costa Rica 132-5/29/03 Real estate agents MARGARET SOHN  of Carico 15 years Costa Rican real estate experience Member of the Costa Rican Real Estate Association, Lic. #1000  Member, Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce margaret@caricohenderson.com www.caricohenderson.com (506) 232-5016 home   (506) 233-8057 office  (506)382-7399 cell  2/9/03 Investigators Empresa de Investigadores Internacionales S.A. Telephone (506) 280-5217  FAX (506) 280-5120 P.O. Box 297-2100 Costa Rica Cédula Juridica #3-101-097681-32 investigators@prodigy.net johnniechaverri@policeone.com 112-5/18/03 Web design iStarMedia.net - Custom Website Design & Development - Website Hosting - Website Marketing & Promotion - E-Commerce Solutions - Internet Consulting One Price Websites - "A great service at an unbelievable price! " For more information visit our website at www.istarmedia.net or call  399-9642 or email at: info@istarmedia.net 52-12/25/02

Seguridad Pública officials returned Wednesday five cars stolen from México and Guatemala.

The recent recovery is a result of an alliance by Central American countries to crack down on international car theft rings. The project, "Central American Recuperation of Stolen Cars," involves the sharing of information between police departments within the region.

During the past several months, the Fuerza Pública’s center of information has compiled intelligence about car robberies in countries of the region.

According to Policía and Seguridad Pública reports, the car thefts were committed by an international organized network with outfits in 

The majority of the stolen cars were found abandoned in public places, according to police reports. Officials determined that one of the stolen vehicles was taken in México and entered Costa Rica with false Guatemalan papers.

Since the agreement was established in 2000, Costa Rica has returned 30 stolen vehicles. The majority came from Panamá (21). Four were from Nicaragua, two from Honduras, while Guatemala, México, and the United States each recovered one car. 

Costa Rican authorities also recovered 12 stolen cars. Nine were recovered in Panamá and three were in Nicaragua.

WAHINGTON, D.C. — The Bush administration, monitoring political unrest in Venezuela, is again appealing for support for Organization of American States’ mediation efforts and for a resolution involving an electoral process.

It is also condemning attacks on the news media attributed to both supporters and opponents of embattled president Hugo Chavez. 

U.S. concern about the situation in Venezuela was underscored late Tuesday by the State Department, which authorized a voluntary departure of non-essential U.S. diplomatic personnel and embassy dependents from the country and warned private Americans to defer all travel to Venezuela for the time being.

The U.S. travel warning the second issued since last Friday, cited a deteriorating political and security situation in the country and severe shortages of food and fuel stemming from the general strike begun early last week.

Though it's been a critic of Chavez's populist policies, the Bush administration has sought to avoid the appearance of taking sides in the latest turmoil, which has slashed oil shipments by Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, and roiled the already nervous markets.

"We reiterate complete support for the Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria's efforts to mediate a peaceful, democratic, constitutional and electoral solution to Venezuela's crisis," said Fleischer.

The State Department meanwhile said it was troubled over what it said were efforts by both opponents and supporters of President Chavez to intimidate the news media. And it fully agreed with the statement by the OAS chief Monday night condemning what he termed clear violations of the freedom of expression. 

Chavez supporters have staged rallies outside the offices of private TV channels seen as opposing the president, while Chavez's opponents were accused of firing shots late Monday at the building occupied by the state-run TV. Labor, business and opposition groups called the general strike to demand an early referendum on the Chavez presidency. Voters are not due to go to the polls until next August when a recall election is to be held at the mid-term of Chavez's current six-year term.