George " Boy George" Rivera
George "Boy George" River was a multi-millionaire by the age of 19. brilliant and powerfully ambitious drug entrepreneur who saw an opportunity and seized it. It’s alleged he made over $15 million in his two year run. Government sources say... that Boy George and his Bronx, NY based heroin organization grossed $250,000 a week. Boy George, barely out of his teens, built himself a reputation of being one of the wealthiest druglords to come out of New York and one of the youngest to be charged with the kingpin statute. At the end of the 80’s while America concerned itself with the crack epidemic, Boy George was running one of the most lucrative and aggressive heroin organizations in the city. Flamboyant and charismatic, the Puerto Rican drug baron was one of a kind. Equal parts gangster, CEO and gentleman who juxtaposed street smarts, innovative marketing and ruthless efficiency to create a heroin empire, while other kids his age were still worrying about what clothes to wear or what girls to date. Boy George and the Obsession case are street legend-the exotic James Bond cars, the Christmas Eve yacht party, the harem of girls tattooing his name on their bodies, the glamour, the jewels, the stacks of money, Boy George had it all. And he had it all as a teenager. He was definitely one of the best to ever do it in the drug game.
José Figueroa Agosto, or Junior Cápsula
José Figueroa Agosto, or Junior Cápsula is an international Puertorican drug kingpin who operated in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republican, captured in 2010 after 11 years as a fugitive.[1] He has been referred to as "the Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean", in reference to an infamous Colombia-based drug kingpin.
At the time of his capture, he was on the lam after being convicted in Puerto Rico for a 1993 murder. His capture was a law enforcement priority in the Dominican Republic and the United States and Dominican President Leonel Fernández and United States Attorney General Eric Holder were personally involved in the decision-making process leading to his capture. Dominican Police Chief Rafael Guillermo Guzmán had called Figueroa Agosto's capture “the Dominican state’s biggest challenge”. his estimated net worth is 100 million. Dominican authorities have sought Figueroa Agosto for multiple violations including kidnapping, money laundering, drug trafficking and murder. He also has been linked to criminal activity in Colombia and Venezuela, according to the DEA, but they haven't charged him for narcotrafficking. He is now in a federal cell awaiting trial in Brooklyn NY.
At the time of his capture, he was on the lam after being convicted in Puerto Rico for a 1993 murder. His capture was a law enforcement priority in the Dominican Republic and the United States and Dominican President Leonel Fernández and United States Attorney General Eric Holder were personally involved in the decision-making process leading to his capture. Dominican Police Chief Rafael Guillermo Guzmán had called Figueroa Agosto's capture “the Dominican state’s biggest challenge”. his estimated net worth is 100 million. Dominican authorities have sought Figueroa Agosto for multiple violations including kidnapping, money laundering, drug trafficking and murder. He also has been linked to criminal activity in Colombia and Venezuela, according to the DEA, but they haven't charged him for narcotrafficking. He is now in a federal cell awaiting trial in Brooklyn NY.
George Calderon and Angel (Cuson) Padilla/ C&C Mafia
Seventeen people identified as gang members were indicted yesterday on murder and racketeering charges in what Federal prosecutors called a sophisticated operation that forced dealers to pay rent in order to sell drugs on street corners in the South Bronx.
For seven years in Mott Haven, prosecutors said, the gang, called C & C, controlled drug trafficking in the area by strictly enforcing where and during what hours it could occur. Those who did not cooperate, the authorities charged, were killed or tortured.
C & C, named for its founders, George Calderon and Angel (Cuson) Padilla, grossed more than $100,000 a week through an intricate extortion system, the authorities said. While other drug gangs made profits selling heroin and cocaine, they said, this one profited primarily through the intimidation and control of a seven-block area.
Mr. Calderon, investigators said, mixed brute force with careful gestures intended to gain the acceptance of the community. For example, they said, he set up a rule that forbade dealers to sell when children were on the way to school, and imposed limits on the number of customers congregating on a corner at any one time.
The arrests of C & C members have already led to upheaval among the area's drug sellers, investigators said. But they said it was not clear whether the arrests would lead to new violence as newcomers vied for position, or whether a disruption of the tribute reportedly exacted by the gang would alter the economics of the neighborhood's drug trade.
In Mott Haven yesterday, residents said that neither the price of heroin nor the torrid pace of sales had changed.
"You have leaders and you have followers," said a young man with close-cropped hair who lives on East 139th Street. "The followers have been trained to step up when the time comes. They know what to do."
The United States Attorney, Mary Jo White, said the indictment was only part of a larger plan to prosecute C & C, which she called one of the five largest gangs operating in Manhattan and the Bronx. A continuing investigation, she said, may lead to more charges against C & C members.
"We hope to obliterate them entirely, but that has not happened yet," Ms. White said.
Ms. White said prosecutors had evidence that since 1986, gang members killed 14 people who in some way obstructed their business, including Juan Cruz, a professional boxer who was murdered in 1992 after inquiring about the death of his brother Luis. An investigator added that the gang was suspected of committing dozens of other murders that would be harder to prove.
All 17 defendants were charged with murder, including Anna Rodriguez, 63, the mother of Mr. Calderon. Sold Their Own Brand
Those indicted yesterday were arrested over a period of many months, investigators said. Some, including Mr. Padilla, have been in jail for almost a year. Others were arrested in recent weeks. Ms. Rodriguez was the last to be taken into custody, arrested at her home at 647 East 138th Street in the Bronx at 5 P.M. Wednesday.
The gang was formed about 1987 by Mr. Calderon and Mr. Padilla, who were first cousins, according to the indictment. They sold their own brand of heroin, "D.O.A.," and groomed a cadre of 20 to 30 loyal lieutenants.
Investigators said that as the leaders of C & C devised a system of collecting protection money for street-corner drug sales in the area of Brook Avenue and East 139th Street, they found that extortion carried a far better risk-to-reward ratio than drug dealing. Although they and their gang members did not abandon heroin trafficking entirely, extortion became their main source of income, investigators said.
For seven years in Mott Haven, prosecutors said, the gang, called C & C, controlled drug trafficking in the area by strictly enforcing where and during what hours it could occur. Those who did not cooperate, the authorities charged, were killed or tortured.
C & C, named for its founders, George Calderon and Angel (Cuson) Padilla, grossed more than $100,000 a week through an intricate extortion system, the authorities said. While other drug gangs made profits selling heroin and cocaine, they said, this one profited primarily through the intimidation and control of a seven-block area.
Mr. Calderon, investigators said, mixed brute force with careful gestures intended to gain the acceptance of the community. For example, they said, he set up a rule that forbade dealers to sell when children were on the way to school, and imposed limits on the number of customers congregating on a corner at any one time.
The arrests of C & C members have already led to upheaval among the area's drug sellers, investigators said. But they said it was not clear whether the arrests would lead to new violence as newcomers vied for position, or whether a disruption of the tribute reportedly exacted by the gang would alter the economics of the neighborhood's drug trade.
In Mott Haven yesterday, residents said that neither the price of heroin nor the torrid pace of sales had changed.
"You have leaders and you have followers," said a young man with close-cropped hair who lives on East 139th Street. "The followers have been trained to step up when the time comes. They know what to do."
The United States Attorney, Mary Jo White, said the indictment was only part of a larger plan to prosecute C & C, which she called one of the five largest gangs operating in Manhattan and the Bronx. A continuing investigation, she said, may lead to more charges against C & C members.
"We hope to obliterate them entirely, but that has not happened yet," Ms. White said.
Ms. White said prosecutors had evidence that since 1986, gang members killed 14 people who in some way obstructed their business, including Juan Cruz, a professional boxer who was murdered in 1992 after inquiring about the death of his brother Luis. An investigator added that the gang was suspected of committing dozens of other murders that would be harder to prove.
All 17 defendants were charged with murder, including Anna Rodriguez, 63, the mother of Mr. Calderon. Sold Their Own Brand
Those indicted yesterday were arrested over a period of many months, investigators said. Some, including Mr. Padilla, have been in jail for almost a year. Others were arrested in recent weeks. Ms. Rodriguez was the last to be taken into custody, arrested at her home at 647 East 138th Street in the Bronx at 5 P.M. Wednesday.
The gang was formed about 1987 by Mr. Calderon and Mr. Padilla, who were first cousins, according to the indictment. They sold their own brand of heroin, "D.O.A.," and groomed a cadre of 20 to 30 loyal lieutenants.
Investigators said that as the leaders of C & C devised a system of collecting protection money for street-corner drug sales in the area of Brook Avenue and East 139th Street, they found that extortion carried a far better risk-to-reward ratio than drug dealing. Although they and their gang members did not abandon heroin trafficking entirely, extortion became their main source of income, investigators said.