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Associated Press
5 days ago
- Associated Press
Oahu jail killing shines a light on prison gang mayhem
Four inmates were packed into Cell 201 in the gang module of Hawaiʻi's largest jail, and some of them were angry. For days, cellmate Chris Vaefaga had been deep in a methamphetamine binge, and he wasn't showering. He had also urinated on himself. Nobody talked to corrections officers about the problem. Involving the guards was forbidden in that part of the jail. Instead, one of Vaefaga's cellmates approached a leader of the prison gang known as Murder Inc., told him what was happening, and asked to be moved. The response was quick and ferocious. Within the hour, Aaron 'Rona' Tuitelapaga and his brother, Bronson Tuitelelepaga, entered the cell with a crew of accomplices and attacked Vaefaga, according to grand jury testimony in the case. Vaefaga screamed for help as his attackers beat him and stomped on his head, but jail staff did not intervene. Inmate witnesses said his face was battered and he was 'bleeding all over the place.' Reputed gang enforcer Manu Sorensen then summoned another inmate with a tattoo machine and used it to cover Vaefaga's 'patch,' a gang symbol tattooed on his neck that identified him as a member, according to court records. Vaefaga, 36, died later that day of blunt force head trauma that caused bleeding in his brain, but remained on his bunk for hours after his death. Another inmate finally used a contraband cellphone to text a woman on the outside, instructing her to call the jail and tell the staff about Vaefaga's death. Those details of the killing on July 6, 2023, at the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center are emerging in grand jury testimony and pretrial motions for the trial scheduled to begin Monday of Sorensen, Aaron Tuitelapaga and Bronson Tuitelelepaga, who are each charged with manslaughter (the two brothers spell their last names differently). The case has provided a rare glimpse of the control exercised by gangs in parts of Hawaiʻi's prisons and jails, and raises troubling questions about whether the correctional system is failing to manage active gang members who pose a threat to inmates and staff. Richard Subia, a gang expert and former director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said one major concern in the case is the inmates were apparently allowed to 'conduct discipline amongst themselves without staff intervention.' The reported screaming and yelling during the beating should have alerted corrections officers to trigger an alarm and respond, Subia said. That would include taking the inmate aggressors into custody, and immediately providing medical assistance to the victim. 'That's normal operating procedures in any prison system,' he said. 'So, there's a lot of problems here.' The revelations in court also raise obvious questions about what happened — or didn't happen — in the hours after the attack, but Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Director Tommy Johnson declined a request for an interview about the case. Rosemarie Bernardo, public information officer for DCR, said in a written statement that the department 'does not comment on ongoing investigations or litigations.' Managing Active Gang Members Mark Patterson, chair of the Hawaiʻi Correctional System Oversight Commission and a former gang intelligence officer, worries the correctional system has so many other problems — such as staff vacancies and run-down facilities — that gang activity may be going unchecked. Patterson said he does not have inside knowledge of gang activity today because the commission does not receive that intelligence, but he said gang issues are nothing new. 'There have always been gang members, but normally with the security protocols that are already in place, you can manage them,' he said. Gang assessments are supposed to be done on every inmate when they enter a facility based on their tattoos, he said, and every facility should have a gang intelligence officer who assesses prisoners. Intelligence should be gathered from known gang leaders by monitoring phone calls, mail and inmates' behavior. But when there are staff shortages and people are tired, 'is the job getting done?' Patterson asked. 'Are the people being assessed? Are the people being assigned to the right housing based on what the gang intelligence is coming up with? And are they still being managed while they are in the facility?' Patterson said department leadership is supposed to ensure it all gets done, but, 'I don't think that's happening.' Certainly the OCCC killing points to problems in the system. For one, Subia questioned the practice of housing active gang members in a relatively open module setting where they can readily interact with other inmates. Active gang members are typically housed together only when they are in a highly restrictive 'lockdown housing' setting that essentially eliminates their contact with one another, Subia said. 'You don't typically see high-level offenders who have a long time to serve who are active gang members housed in a modular setting, just because of the dangerousness of that,' he said. That clearly includes at least two of the three defendants in this case. Aaron Tuitelapaga, described in court records as 'the brains' of Murder Inc., was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole last year for second-degree murder. He received a second life term for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, with the terms to be served consecutively. That sentence came in connection with the fatal shooting of Sausau Togiai III on Aug. 12, 2020, during a robbery of an illegal game room in Pālama. Bronson Tuitelelepaga was awaiting trial on a charge connected to the same incident — he was later acquitted. Sorensen was sentenced to three consecutive 20-year prison terms last year for a botched robbery of another illegal game room in the Ala Moana area in 2018. He and another man were trying to rob the operation when Sorensen fired a single shot, killing Jacob Feliciano, 31. Sorensen was convicted of manslaughter, use of a firearm in a separate felony and another firearms offense. Consecutive sentences were imposed because he had prior federal felony convictions for extortion and assault. Vaefaga was awaiting trial for second-degree assault and harassment when he was killed. A Puzzling Staff Response Subia also said nationally accepted correctional protocols prohibit inmates from entering each other's cells, yet inmates in the OCCC case reported gang leaders actually assigned inmates to cells in Module 13, and moved them as needed. On the day of the attack, gang leaders instructed a prisoner to clear out of Vaefaga's cell after the beating, and assigned a gang member to move in to ensure Vaefaga did not report the attack, according to court records. Another issue is the lack of an immediate staff response after the attack. Staff members typically are required to conduct health and welfare checks in each cell of a housing unit every hour, Subia said. 'If this guy ended up getting beat up by these guys and left in a cell, that should have been picked up by the staff members conducting the security checks,' he said. Inmates said the assault occurred about 12:40 p.m., and that afterward, Vaefaga was lying on his bunk for hours, struggling to breathe. But the Module 13 logbook shows a standing head count of every prisoner was conducted at 3:20 p.m, with nothing out of the ordinary reported, according to one court filing. OCCC records also show additional 'walk-through wellness and security inspections' were done every 30 minutes in Module 13 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. that evening, yet medical staff were not summoned to Vaefaga's cell for a 'medical backup call' until 8:30 p.m. Yet another troubling allegation surfaced in connection with evidence recovered at the jail. Vaefaga's body tested positive for methamphetamine, and a cell-by-cell search of OCCC was launched days after his death. An array of contraband was seized in the search, ranging from steroids and vapes to illicit cellphones and methamphetamine. Deputy Attorney General Adrian Dhakhwa, who is prosecuting the case, told 1st Circuit Court Judge Paul Wong on May 15 that contraband seized in the shakedown 'mysteriously disappeared,' a situation Dhakhwa said is now under investigation. Fear And Fallout Inmates or former prisoners who agreed to speak with investigators or testify in the Vaefaga case say they have been threatened and now fear for their lives, including one who testified his son was beaten in Waiʻanae in retaliation for his cooperation with authorities. Jared Kinikini, another witness in the case, testified on July 8 that his lawyer told him to cooperate with investigators, but 'I knew that if I cooperated, my life would be at risk.' But Kinikini said his lawyer warned him he would probably also be charged in the case if he did not cooperate. Kinikini's sister, Lea Lani Kinikini, said Thursday her brother ended up cutting himself and swallowing part of a prison-issued razor earlier this month so he would be hospitalized to prevent corrections officials from moving him out of the protective custody module at OCCC. Lea Lani Kinikini said the system has not done enough to protect her brother, and the influence of the gangs — particularly the gang known as Murder Inc. or Westside — has been rapidly growing inside the system. 'This whole thing has made visible what is going on at OCCC, which in my brother's view is the gang is controlling the ACOs,' she said, referring to adult correctional officers. 'They're influencing movements, and that's why he hasn't felt safe.' 'It's an institution that has been captured,' she said. Subia said the state must provide cooperating inmates with safe housing, and move them out of state if necessary if that cannot be done within the Hawaiʻi system. The lawyers who are defending Vaefaga's alleged attackers forced each of the witnesses who cooperated with investigators to testify in open court this summer in an effort to have the grand jury indictment in the case thrown out, a maneuver that has further exposed the witnesses to public scrutiny. Judge Wong has banned electronic devices from the courtroom, including cellphones, apparently in an effort to limit that exposure. To make the case even more complex, court records show another prisoner has provided the defense with an entirely new account of the killing that implicates two of the witnesses. Almost lost in all of these courtroom machinations is Vaefaga, a father of four. Danielle Majewski, Vaefaga's former partner and mother of two of his children, was surprised to hear the criminal case against his attackers has not been resolved more than two years after Vaefaga was killed. She said they met in a Honolulu park and found 'love at first sight.' But the couple struggled to survive when they lived together and finally found themselves living in their cars. He took the girls with him everywhere, Majewski said, and would watch them when Majewski went to work at an auto parts store. She watched the girls when Vaefaga found jobs as a mechanic. Vaefaga 'very much was a family person' who had gotten into trouble and been jailed before, but did well when they were together, she said. Majewski said she finally moved to the mainland with her daughters because she couldn't handle living homeless anymore, and Vaefaga had hoped to join them. Instead, he landed in jail again. She said people won't understand the life he lived because they didn't walk the path that he did, and can't understand the choices that he made. She said she tells her oldest daughter: 'Whatever was bad, just let it go, forget about it, and just remember the good times.' ___ This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Black America Web
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Black America Web
10 Famous Figures Who Beat RICO Charges — Including Diddy
Source: Getty / Sean 'P Diddy' Combs Sean 'Diddy' Combs just dodged the biggest legal bullet of his life. In a ruling that dropped today, he was cleared of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges tied to a sweeping RICO case. He was convicted on lesser counts, but the racketeering charge was the headline. And now, he joins a very exclusive group: public figures who've managed to beat the feds on RICO. If that sounds rare, it is. The RICO Act was designed to dismantle organized crime and criminal enterprises. Once the government charges you under RICO, they've usually spent years building the case. That's why beating it is such a tall order—and why it's national news when someone walks. Diddy's not the first, though. Murder Inc. co-founder Irv Gotti beat federal money-laundering and RICO charges tied to drug money. So did John Gotti, the so-called 'Teflon Don,' who beat multiple RICO trials before his eventual conviction. You've also got names like Jackie DiNorscio, a mob figure who famously represented himself in court—and won. And in the world of hip-hop, 6ix9ine avoided full conviction by flipping, taking a plea deal, and testifying. Whether it's music, mob ties, or viral trials, RICO cases make headlines because they're built to stick. But these 10 figures all found ways—some clean, some controversial—to walk away. And yes, Diddy's name now sits on that list. Diddy Verdict: Not Guilty On 3 Counts; Guilty On 2 Suge Knight Addresses Diddy's Sex Trafficking Trial: 'Tell The Real Truth, And Bring Everybody Accountable' Here Are Some Notable Moments Of Black Culture In 2025 10 Famous Figures Who Beat RICO Charges — Including Diddy was originally published on DJ Drama and Don Cannon were hit with RICO charges in 2007 after an Atlanta raid seized over 80,000 mixtapes. But remarkably, they beat the charges and never served prison time. Partially cleared: acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, convicted on lesser prostitution counts in 2025.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ja Rule Claps Back at 50 Cent After Irv Gotti Disrespect: ‘Go Ahead and Lie'
Ja Rule has fired back at his longtime nemesis 50 Cent after the latter made disrespectful comments about the late Irv Gotti. On Sunday, Ja hopped on X to fire a few shots at 50 Cent, who clowned Ja's appearance on The Breakfast Club last week. During that interview, Ja had told The Breakfast Club that Kenneth 'Supreme' McGriff talked him out of fighting with the G-Unit leader after Fif uploaded a picture of himself smoking hookah next to Irv Gotti's faux gravestone. Ja Rule, who has had beef with 50 Cent dating back years, said the antics made him want to go 'nuclear,' which 50 Cent clowned almost immediately. More from Billboard Ja Rule on 50 Cent Mocking Irv Gotti's Death: 'I Was Ready to Go Nuclear' Katy Perry Posts Video of Her Blue Origin Flight Featuring Outer Space Reveal of Tour Setlist Lil Nas X Reveals Partial Paralysis of Right Side of His Face: 'I Can't Even Laugh Right' 'The Breakfast Club should be ashamed of themselves asking questions that perpetuate violence,' 50 wrote on IG. 'This fool has been ready to go what he calls nuclear for 22 years. LOL.' 50 Cent then continued to clown the late Murder Inc. CEO by adding: 'Ya man in my Runtz right now!' In his tweets, Ja told 50 to 'suck my di–' and demanded he shut his mouth until he do something about the people that shot him back in 2000. 'Until you do something to the n—as that shot you you can't troll no more…,' Ja wrote in the tweets below. '[Laughing face emoji] handle your business chump lmao…' He went on to say: '@50cent N—a you're a used car salesman everything you do is trash music 1 good album after that trash liquor trash tv shows yeah I said it TRASH how many times you gonna make the same show that coke stepped on parenting trash character trash n—a you the garbage man.' Ja closed things out by insinuating 50 Cent cooperated with the feds. 'From now on your name boo boo that's what they called you on the streets right lmfao,' Ja Rule wrote. 'Boo boo the fool… [laughing face emoji] 50 cent is a street n—a from Brooklyn you boo boo from Queens… Mc gusto cb4 a– n—a. You're right he told the Feds murder inc had him shot and they put us under federal indictment… [rat emoji]…@50cent Go ahead and lie tell these good people tell the paperwork fake so I can send this next shot… WE GOT RECEIPTS boo boo…' 50 Cent has yet to respond to Ja Rule's incendiary allegations, though he's previously denied snitching on anyone in Murder Inc. 'They'll say, 'He a rat' or, 'He this, this and that.' All you gotta do is ask them who I told on?' 50 Cent said on the Cigar Talk podcast in 2020. 'I ain't never told on no n—a in my life.' See all the tweets below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
CRIME HUNTER: New Mafia movie Alto Knights focuses on Costello-Genovese war
'This is for you, Frank,' the young hitman snarled before firing at mob boss Frank Costello outside New York's Waldorf-Astoria. The bullet only grazed Costello – known as the Prime Minister of the Underworld for his diplomatic skills – but it was enough to send him into retirement, leaving the reins of the Luciano Crime Family to arch-rival Vito Genovese. The rivalry between the two gangsters is the premise of a new mob movie, Alto Knights, starring Robert DeNiro playing both arch-criminals. In addition to DeNiro, the crime drama also stars Debra Messing, Cosmo Jarvis, Kathrine Narducci, and Michael Rispoli. The film – directed by Barry Levinson and was written by Nick Pileggi, who also penned GoodFellas – was out Friday. *** The year 1957 was a blockbuster year in the American underworld. Costello was hit in May by up-and-coming gangster Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante, later called The Oddfather by the New York tabloids. Costello never pointed the finger at 'The Chin' and decades later the former boxer would become boss of the Genovese family. Once Costello was out of the way, the greedy, violent and ambitious Genovese was looking to tie up loose ends. One of those loose ends was Albert Anastasia. Known as the Mad Hatter and Lord High Executioner for his volatile demeanour, the 55-year-old ran what would become the Gambino crime family. 'A glare from Genovese's dark eyes from beneath bushy eyebrows intimidated the bravest mafioso,' mob expert Selwyn Raab wrote in Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. Costello found himself in the Genovese's crosshairs. The bloodthirsty rebel wanted to be capo di tutti capi – boss of bosses. That meant taking over the commission, the board of directors of the national crime syndicate. Genovese and Carlo Gambino decided to take out Murder Inc. founder Anastasia. On Oct. 25, 1957, while getting a shave in the barber shop of New York's posh Park-Sheraton Hotel, two gunmen entered and shot Anastasia to death as he rested in the barber's chair. Everything was going Genovese's way. Three weeks later, on Nov. 14, 1957, Genovese ordered a summit of the nation's mafia leaders for what he hoped would be his coronation. The meet would be held at the rural home of mobster Joseph 'Joe the Barber' Barbara in Apalachin, New York, west of Binghampton. On the agenda were drugs, loansharking, Cuba and divvying up the spoils of Albert Anastasia's empire. Around 100 mobsters from the U.S., Canada and Italy were in attendance. Then it all came off the rails when a local state trooper noticed all the limos with out-of-state licence plates. Cops moved in and more than 60 gangland czars were pinched. Some were jailed, and some were hit with hefty fines, but the true damage was that Cosa Nostra was no longer in the shadows. The debacle was the beginning of the end for Genovese. *** Vito Genovese's throbbing resentment toward Costello went back nearly three decades, according to author Tony DeStefano, who wrote the 2018 book Top Hoodlum: Frank Costello Prime Minister of The Mafia, followed in 2021 by The Deadly Don: Vito Genovese, Mafia Boss. Both criminals had been under the command of Mafia visionary Lucky Luciano during the days of prohibition. 'I think the main problem was that Genovese felt envious of Costello, who was the more polished, politically connected and more astute businessman,' the author said. 'For those reasons, Costello was given the leadership of the family by Luciano after Genovese left for Europe in the face of the murder rap.' And that grated on the petty Genovese. 'Upon his return to New York City in 1945, [Genovese] realized he had missed out on many opportunities in the rackets and wanted Costello to compensate him a share, which didn't happen,' DeStefano told MobMuseum. He added: 'Genovese saw Costello in the 1950s as the main impediment to his control of the family. So Genovese got Gigante to try and kill Costello in the failed assassination attempt.' *** Genovese's ride at the top didn't last long. In 1959, the cold-blooded killer was convicted on narcotics conspiracy charges for peddling heroin. There has long been a belief among cops and gangsters alike that Genovese was set up by his old boss, Lucky Luciano. According to the narrative, Luciano – by then living in exile in Rome – had soured on Genovese for his machinations and belief he was bad for business. So the mobster paid $100,000 to a Puerto Rican dope dealer to falsely implicate his former protege. Genovese got 15 years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. There, he gave longtime trusted soldier Joe Valachi the infamous kiss of death. Valachi flipped and gave the feds a birds-eye view of the Cosa Nostra's inner workings and with the publication of the Valachi Papers, a pop culture star. Genovese died of a heart attack in 1969. HUNTER: Mob-like Morris Conte dismemberment murder a personal affair LAMEFELLAS: Mafia bosses moan about 'low' calibre aspiring wiseguys MOB WAR: Bloodbath feared in Mafia heartland after scion's murder *** Unlike Genovese, Costello remained respected elder statesman in the underworld. The Godfather character of Don Vito Corleone was long-reputed to be based on Costello. Four years after Genovese pegged out in a Missouri prison, death came for the Prime Minister of the Underworld. Costello died quietly of natural causes in 1973. He was 82. 'If ever there was an organized crime figure who came out pretty good, it was Frank Costello,' screenwriter Nick Pileggi said. bhunter@ @HunterTOSun
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ja Rule, Jay-Z pay respects at Irv Gotti's funeral
Friends and family of the late music czar Irving 'Irv Gotti' Lorenzo have attended the Murder Inc founder's funeral service. In a post shared by TNT, Gotti's artist and good friend, Ja Rule, is seen emotionally remembering the mogul who brought him, DMX and JAY-Z to Def Jam Records, essentially saving the label in the mid-late 1990s. "I just want to say, Irv, I love you, everyone in this room loves you. You touched everybody in their own way. Everyone had their moment with that, with him," the Put It On Me rapper expressed through tears. "We're here, at the celebration of your life, because it will live on forever. "I love you, my brother. See you when I get there," Rule concluded before stepping down from the pulpit. Gotti's service brought out a host of stars who filled the pews at the Greater Allen AME Cathedral Church in Jamaica, Queens. Alongside his family, TMZ reports his Murder Inc. artists Ja Rule, Ashanti, Lloyd, Charli Baltimore and Vita were all present, as were Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Steve Stoute, Hype Williams, Benny Boom, Angie Martinez, the Ruff Ryders and more. Gotti died on 5 February. While an official cause of death has not yet been released, he reportedly suffered a second stroke following a first one last August that reportedly caused a brain bleed. He was 54.
