The rise and fall of Scarface

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea


(Warlords' Chronicle of Crime)


The Rise and Fall of Scarface


He has three heavy scars on the left jaw inflicted by a teenage guy in a quarrel over a girl and hates this nickname dubbed on him by the press. His criminal career started in his native Brooklyn when he joined a teenage gang managed by an adult mob named Johnny "The Brain" Torrio.


Torrio brought him to Chicago, considered a peaceful city of criminal organization that eventually became a byword for the worst excesses of gangland warfare. During the Prohibition in the sale of alcoholic beverages, the enterprise of Torrio's uncle being managed by him, collapsed.


But it did not stop him from operation of prostitution houses, gambling dens and the production of alcoholic beverages. During the "Beer Wars" he made Scarface his business partner. This propelled the latter to earn the title "Public Enemy No. One." Scarface is Al Capone.


In 1924, Dion O' Bannion, head of the North Side Irish mob, double crossed Torrio and Capone. He sold them his brewery and announced his retirement. On the night of the transfer, police swooped down and closed the brewery.


Capone learned that O'Bannion deliberately arranged the fiasco and still, continued doing business. O'Bannion was advised to make peace with Scarface but the Irishman merely responded; "Oh, to hell with the Sicilian." For that as widely believed in the underworld, he signed his death warrant.


Later, two of Capone's hit men Albert Anselmi and John Scalise assassinated O'Bannion in the back room of his own florist shop. O'Bannion's friend, a certain Hymie Weiss then commanded the gang. Weis and his mob planned to retaliate by killing Capone and Torrio.


In 1925, Torrio was shot as he stepped out of his car. He survived but immediately went back to Italy. Capone now "The Big Man" headed the biggest mob in Chicago on his own. The Weiss gang tried a new technique by George "Bugs" Moran, cruising slowly past Capone's car in their own limousine and rocked it with machine pistol and shotgun fire.


His driver died but Capone survived. In 1926 a convoy of eleven cars drove past Capone headquarters at Hawthorne Inn in Cicero, poured over 1,000 bullets from machine guns. Only one gangster and a woman passerby died but Capone again survived.


A month later, his men eliminated Weiss from the windows of two rented rooms across the latter's doorway. War raged on with Moran now leading the Northsiders. They didn't have the faintest idea that Capone's men have already hatched the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" plan.


Disguised as raiding police officers, Capone's mob wiped out five of Moran's men, a mechanic and an optometrist who just like to hang out with crooks in their garage. Although Moran threatened a fearful revenge, the brutal slaying ended his effectiveness.


Capone's worst atrocity was seen in the killing of his own men John Scalise and Albert Anselmi after he learned of their treacherously planned to betray him. He gave them superb banquet and proposed a loving toast. But when the meal was over, he had their arms pinned and seizing a baseball bat, he broke every bone in their bodies he can reached.


He then threw his guns on the mayoral election of Republican "Big Bill" Thompson, who eventually let the mobsters give order to the City Hall. But in 1928, Capone had overplayed their electioneering with threats, intimidation and bomb-throwing. The electors revolted. There was twice the normal turn-out of voters and the Republicans were badly routed.


From 1930, Capone was targetted by a team of Inland Revenue agents who disregarded his no-income claim to evade payments totalling millions. They attempted to disrupt the course of justice by putting their own selected people in the jury.


But Federal Judge Wilkerson is wise if not clever. He repaced the jurymen with his own at the last minute. Capone was finally convicted of tax evasion. Slapped with eleven years imprisonment and payment of $80,000 in fines and cost, Capone got the heaviest ever handed down for tax offender. Secured in Alcatraz prison, his reign in Chicago finally ended.

"The Voice"

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea


(Warlords' Chronicle of Crime)


Frank Sinatra's mess


I have already wrote the link of US Pres. John F. Kennedy (JFK) and FBI Director J.Edgar Hoover with the Mafia. I believe 1975 is not yet too far to look back to the story of these popular people and their absurd messy-legacy.


As told, it was Attorney-General Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, brother of JFK, who pressured Hoover to turn the FBI heat on organized crime. it is widely believed in the underworld that this ignited the ire of the bosse on why JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.


Talking about the popular figures in the Mafia organization, one of them was the Hollywood actor and singer Frank Sinatra, better known to friends as "The Voice." He was also instrumental in the presidential election victory of JFK in gangland areas.


Chicago's Mafia boss Sam "Momo" Gianciana who replaced Al Capone was among the close-friends of Sinatra in the organized crime. Gianciana has worked for Capone in 1920s and was imprisoned for offences from bootlegging and burglary.


His post-war rise to Chicago gangland supremacy paved the way for his straight contacts. Sinatra introduced him to Hollywood starlets and enlisted his support in the presidential election of JFK. Like what happened in the Philippines, the Mafia doctored the result in Cook County, Illinois, swinging the photo-finished election from Richard Nixon to JFK.


Under Pres. Kennedy's presidency, the Gianciana-Mafia connection with the administration has expanded. After the "Bay of Pigs" fiasco (failed invasion of Cuba), the CIA talked to John Rosseli and Gianciana about rubbing out Fidel Castro..


The Mafia also longed to regain their Havana gambling and prostitution interest but they did not bite the plan. They doubt these CIA agents as nuts for only professional spies could take seriously that exploding fountain pens and potions to pull out Castro's beard. 


Gianciana also secretly shared JFK mistress, lovely Judith Campbell, who bounced between the two men's bed without the president getting wind of it. But FBI Dir. Hoover warned JFK that his affair with Campbell and his connection with Gianciana are about to explode.


Gianciana resented the move of the FBI director. As the heat turned on by JFK's Attorney-General brother Bobby to organized crime was gaining ground, the Mafia boss who believed that he has the administration in his pocket, realized he was wrong. He broke ties with Sinatra and Kennedy.


Feeling the FBI's zeroing-in on him, he decided to tell the Senate Investigating Committee about all the shenanigans. But he never did it. Before his scheduled appearance at the Senate, he was shot dead by an intruder at his home in Oak Park.


Now he will never do so. He forgot that in underworld business there is double-cross, betrayal, jealousy, swindling and other messy things of the wise and clever. Well, in the end, the CIA publicly and the Mafia privately, both pleaded complete innocence of his murder. 


In the case of Frankie "The Voice" Sinatra, until his death, he never look eye to eye with Mario Puzzo, the Mafiosi writer who exposed his intimate relationship with the president's wife, Nancy Reagan. It is all about his dropping-by at the White House everytime Pres. Ronald Reagan was out on official tour of duty. On why, just guess the rest!

The Proud Mary

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea

Warlords' Chronicle of Crime:


The "Gay" Mafia Puppet


He is an architect of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a powerful office of expert law enforcers of the government tasked to deal with criminal syndicates and other organized crime. But among underworld characters he is known as "Proud Mary."


As head of the bureau, he is feared especially on the widespread belief that he had an African blood. Unfortunately, crime syndicate bosses knew that he is a homosexual often seen in sex parties at private hotel room where his bulldog feature hid in wig and dresses.


Worse, he was fully identified by many to be in the pocket of a crime boss who acquired picture of him enjoying sex with a man in his late thirties. They used it to force this very proud-brutal man to hands-off on organized crime. He is FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover


The rumor that Hoover was controlled by a syndicate makes sense. His failure to stop the "Crime Commission's" nationwide rackets has raised suspicion the Bureau would fail in handling it as the director resorted in running after bank-robbers in the Mid-West.


British investigative writer Anthony Summers' revelation about Hoover tells of a steady drip of information that linked the Mafia to US Pres. John F. Kennedy's assassination. The informants claim that the Mafia had also a damaging evidence of JFK's promiscuous sex life.


It was not clear on why the Mafia wants to destroy the president they have a bite-on. But Atty.-General Bobby Kennedy has a story that can tell all. He once forced Hoover to turn the FBI on the Mafia in a bid to win back public trust.


The attorney-general ignored the threats on his life, any price would be worth paying just to get back Hoover's neutrality. But as the Mafia associates had always said, the best way to disarm Bobby Kennedy is to kill his president brother - Jack.


It was through Bobby on why the FBI has won back the public trust. The experienced officers of the bureau has rocked the Mafia organization state by state. Its law enforcers has gone from strength to strength in combatting organized crime after Hoover's death.

The FBI's crime-busting operation resulted to the conviction of godfather John Gotti  in 1992. As New York's "capo di tutti capi" (boss of the bosses) his conviction is as important as that of Don Vito Genovese, a former "capo di tutti" betrayed by Lansky and Frank Costello on approval of another ambitious mob "Lucky" Luciano.


In the underworld business, there is always jealousy, betrayal, double-cross, swindling and many other mess of underworld characters. As the story goes, the treacherous Luciano was also convicted later by Tom Dewey's effective crime-busting operation.


Summers implies there was carrot as well a stick for Hoover, a compulsive gambler following the horses being near as he came into a cultural life. It is said that "Prime Minister of Crime"  Frank Costello paid him off by providing tips on fixed races, accepting his bet, but never demand payment when Hoover lost. 


They say gays are more brutal and violent when angered compared to real men. It's true as the past record speaks of a despot ruler of a government office whose whims and caprices forced him to yield into becoming a Mafia puppet.


But whatever else is remembered of him, FBI Dir. Hoover has left his mark in history as the "Proud Mary" of the bureau, a homosexual with a bulldog feature and most of all, an evil smelling "gay" of his time.




(Until next issue)

Hong Kong as a British colony

Hole of Justice

by Peter G. Jimenea

How Hong Kong became a British colony

The rise and fall of the Western Empires has shaped the narcotics traffic in Asia. In 1500s, opium abused and narcotics trafficking were unknown until Portuguese warships arrived into the very web of Asian life.

Before the European powers arrived, China and other Asian states were isolationist empires. Less than a decade after Christopher Columbus discovered America, Portuguese explorers has already reached China with import opium from India.

In 1800s, European powers financed their colonial ambition through opium trade. The British led the drive to mass merchandise opium and became the first Western government to engage in the trafficking of  narcotics despite the moral objection of its people.

As the Indian opium shipments increased, so is the number of Chinese addicts. The Emperor banned opium as it is considered a desecration of the body and violation of Confusian philosophy being taught by the Chinese teachers.

The British captains, however, ignored the imperial bans and sailed into Chinese ports with more opium shipments. The British opium shipment to China zoomed from 200 tons in the year 1800 to ten times more, 2000 tons in 1840.

Although the C'hing dynasty was politically weak and riddled with corruption, it resented being exploited by the British colonial aspiration and tried to stop the drug. The Chinese seized and destroyed $6M worth of opium and arrested some British traders at the port.

The traders were exiled in the frozen tundra of Central Asia and one was crucified on the Canton docks to publicly show their resentment against the use of opium. The frustration extended to the Far Eastern Boston Tea Party as Cantonese officials dumped several tons of British opium into the sea.

Angered by the Chinese act, British warships responded by shelling the coastline and a full scale war erupted from 1840 to 1856. The Chinese junks and rusted cannons were no match against the modern and powerful British fleet that the war resulted in total British victory.

Dubbed "the Opium Wars" by the Chinese, they became powerless to stop Britain's drug trade and even charged with a high cost of war damaged. Unable to pay the onerous reparations, China ceded Hong kong to British control on the condition that it will be returned to them after a lapse of time which prescribed on July 1997.

After the "Opium Wars" the British increased their opium trafficking. By 1880, 6,500 tons of opium annually were instrumental in creating 100 million smokers and 15 million addicts. Britain has made opium the world's largest cash commodity.

The Chinese government finally tolerated domestic opium cultivation in two provinces. By 1900, it was turning a blind eye to an annual yield of 20,000 tons. Addiction spread from China to Southeast Asia, that in 1906, the London House of Commons pronounced Britain's involvement immoral.

Sad to say, before Hong kong was returned to Mainland China in July 1997, the 14K, the dominant Triad gang in the colony immediately migrated to the West and other neighboring countries acting like passengers catching the last plane out. On what misfortune, they brought with them their wares!

In Mainland China they have a very simple solution to drug problem, a bullet in the head done in public. Western powers addicted millions of Chinese people and dragged us into this mess due to their colonial aspiration. Well at least, they get the dose of their own medicine, the Triads are now returning the favor to the West with a vengeance!

(My new column will be posted next week)

Warlords' Chronicle of Crime

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea


Warlords' Chronicle of Crime


When I started writing about illegal drugs in 1994, nobody inquires as they don't have the faintest idea what it's all about. But after the return of Hongkong to Mainland China in 1997, they do, only after illegal drugs have become a global crisis.


The story of notorious criminals and their prime activities based on the books of investigative US journalists Anthony Summers and Gerard L. Posner have more linkages to drugs and prostitution compared to any other form of underworld business by crime-syndicates.


In 1985, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prepared report concludes that the Southeast Asian heroin constitutes one-half of the street-level consumed in the United States but more higher in Europe which is dominated by Chinese drug-traffickers known as Triads.


The Federal Bureau of Investugation (FBI) for the first time in 1986, listed the Chinese Triads as a priority target. In front page story of the New York Times in 1987, it stated that Chinese criminals have taken over the dominant role in New York City's heroin industry from other crime groups.


Before the Chinese criminals, US law enforcement had already been festered by the operation of the Italian mob - the Sicilian Mafia (La Cosa Nostra). The difference is that the Chinese Triads are more sophisticated and armed with much more money than the Mafia.


In 1800s, Britain became the first Western largest organized drug trafficker in history, targetting China's million of inhabitants as the most profitable market. They eventually transformed the country into a nation of addicts. Today, the Chinese Triads are returning the favor to the West with a vengeance.


The Golden Crescent in mountains of Iran, Pakistan and Afhaganistan is the second largest source of opium.  But in the underworld, the number one producer is the Golden Triangle, situated in the rugged mountains of Laos, Burma and Thailand. It has the best heroin called "China White."


Since 1985, the Chinese have already the Mafia, the Cocaine cowboys of America and Auguste Joseph Ricord of the French Connection as clients for drugs supply. The Triads were reported in control of drug-supplies of most night clubs in London and in the US.


They are also remorseless drug traders. For only few hours delay of promised payment for  their merchandise, two young Chinese teenagers murdered Chicago Mafia boss Anthony Turano who came out to greet them in front of his apartment in 1988. 


But Triads cannot operate under a totalitarian regime as they can in a free democratic country like ours. Thus, in 1997, before the return of Hong Kong to Mainland China, the 14K Triads migrated to the West and to some Asian countries bringing their wares with them.


Due to our notoriety as a country with easy to corrupt government officia, illegal drugs soon flourished and we noticed its proliferation everywhere. It's true, drug money can buy judges, prosecutors, police, the military, national and local government officials and even hoodlums.


Add the growing economic disparity, the jobless are easily swayed by drug lords to engage in this trade to survive. In fact, some of our policemen and law-enforcers are fighting each other as if fighting criminals on the streets because of drug money


As we see it today, war on drugs is a battle-in-eternity. All the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) can do is make the drug lords more careful, spend more for security, sacrifice some pushers, but stop them - never!


(Next issue: The Opium War and how Hong Kong became a British Colony)

The Ballad of Monalisa

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea


Where's Monalisa?


Monalisa, is a legendary portrait of a beautiful lady, obssessed by men of her time. In fact, a song inspired by her was born and became a hit in the music market of yesteryears. 


Today, we have an alive and modern Monalisa, the resigned Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. The story of cases filed at her office replicates the many dead dreams of foolish men at the doorstep of Monalisa the legend.


Like Monalisa, Omb Gutierrez' story would never go away. Never has there been public official so derelict and irresolute in duty and responsibility than her - the Monalisa of today.


Her deliberate neglect on that Low-Cost Housing scam filed against then Mayor Jerry Trenas and few city officials, gives us the  impression that she is bent on protecting the errant stooges of the Arroyo administration.


The Iloilo City low cost housing project site for city hall employees is in the eight hectares city government lot in Pavia, Iloilo. It was bankrolled by the P120M loan for the construction of 413 houses as stipulated in the contract between the contractor and the city government.


During the first month of the construction by Ace Builders of Alex Trinidad (a close friend of Mayor Trenas), the P120M loan with PNB was transferred to the Philippines Veterans Bank (PVB). On why, only God knows.


But the cost of transfer from PNB to PVB amounted to P12 million, making the new obligation of the city government to P132M. But this P12M is too much for documentation. On who shared the loot, just guess the rest!


The new problem is the discovery of substandard materials used by the contractor. The city council passed a unanimous resolution urging the mayor to rescind the contract and sue the contractor for that matter.


But the mayor ignored them, instead, he continued paying the contractor's billing in millions. He only suspended the project after two members of the city council filed a case against him and few city officials with the Office of the Ombudsman. 


Yet, Trinidad had already pocketed P90 million before he abandoned the project. Worse, despite the slippage of the project, the city continued paying P17,000 daily interest including holidays for over a year or another P24M plus.


The project for the 413 houses that started during the first term of Mayor Trenas in 2001, ended in 2009, months before he stepped down without a unit built. Lowly employees are most sorely tempted to steal but don't. Yet Trenas is an honorable man!


The case was filed with the Ombudsman against the mayor and few city officials about eight-year ago. But it slept there without result until Omb Gutierrez was forced to resign due to impeachment threat. This is what got me so disgusted about.


Congress is forum non convenience - an inconvenient place for conducting judicial business. so, finally she stepped down badly beaten by her looks. At last the arrogant lady make fun of crass words to save face. I hope the new Ombudsman takes this lesson to the heart. 


An employee at the office of the Ombudsman in Quezon City, claimed that Monalisa... ehe, este Omb. Gutierrez took the case folder of that Housing Scam on the premise of reviewing it personally. Well said, it is a review-in-eternity!


Monalisa wherever she is now, may have already learned that qui peccat ebrius luat sobrius - he who offends when drunk will be punished when sober. This pathetic government is not Ninoy Aquino's dream, because as usual, it's still Juan de la Cruz who get screwed in the end! 

Death - a logical solution

Hole of Justice
by Peter G. Jimenea


Death - as a logical solution


I should have refrained from writing about the murder of fellow mediaman Lito Jimena, but my columnist-friend Mr. Alex Vidal has mentioned me in his column "Look what you've done Musa Amiong" which referred to the former intelligence chief of the Iloilo City Police Office.


What's more, another writer Adobo Ilonggo, in his analysis of Jimena's murder, also posted a blog citing the same column of Mr. Vidal with my name and whom the latter claimed to be the one who informed him about the death of Jimena.


There are so many speculations about the motive of the killing and as to who is the mastermind who ordered to kill him. Lito (Jimena) as we fondly called him, was also an insurance agent and at the same time a mediaman. It was only a misfortune that he decided to join Cinsp. Musa Amiong as sidekick of the latter.


What propelled Lito to befriend Amiong is his obssession to become a gun-holder. When I'm still  writing about illegal drugs, Cinsp. Amiong and I often meet at the office of then PDEA-6 Regional Director Roybel Sanchez who provided me information about drugs.


As host of a blocktime cable tv program "Smart Views" with DOJ Sec. Raul Gonzalez, I learned that Amiong is also a bodyguard of the secretary. Sad to say, it did not take long after Lito joined him when they were implicated in two shoot-out incidents in the city. 


By then Amiong and Lito are widely known hunter of drug-pushers and Lito as I see it, enjoyed the job being a civilian agent of PDEA. Unfortunately, rumors  has also started grinding overnight about their involvement in messy activities. One issue against them is "hulidap."


But that is not only what we are looking for.  Before Lito was killed, a retired police official is said to have been asking his background, regular hang-out and handler.The man is an identified aide of a city official who is the favorite target of Lito in his radio program.


I set aside this speculation knowing the negative tirades of Lito over the radio against this public official does not suffice to warrant this concept of justice at odds with due process. The reported swindling perpetrated by the victim against the bigtime supplier of illegal-drugs in Negros could have more weight.


The first attempt on Lito's life was linked to illegal drugs. This is known among friends in local media industry. Another report reached this writer that Amiong was also nearly collared by unidentified gunmen at Bacolod pier the other day. Lucky for him the presence of few police officers intimidated his supposed assassins.


In the business of the underworld, there is always jealousy, betrayal, swindling, double-cross and all other mess of gangsterism. Underworld characters involved in illegal activities have no recourse to court of law for settlement of differences. Death is the most logical solution to all judicial problems!


It is good that Malacanang had issued an order to the PNP for the investigation of this murder of Lito as no media killing has yet been resolved to date. This reminds me of a former PDEA agent, police officer Frederick Capasao who was killed in front of his house in La Paz, Iloilo City, few years ago. 


He is a police officer, yet, no positive result of police investigation has been reported. His murder has created an erroneous suspicion without affirming the perception that the police has no way to reach a conclusion for this case as the culprit-perpetrators are widely believed members of the police!


I hope the PNP investigation of this murder case of Lito Jimena will not redound into another unsolved crime added to the long-list of journalists killed. We need positive result or else, like the murdered PDEA agent in La Paz, the public may tend to believe that those who killed Lito are policemen themselves!