Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Three U.S.-Based Mercenaries Convicted in Fatal Shooting in Philippines

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Joseph Hunter learned the hard way that being a mercenary isn’t what it used to be

NEW YORK — Two former U.S. soldiers and a professional weapons trainer who led second lives as mercenaries, have been convicted of gunning down a real estate agent in the Philippines in a murder-for-hire plot.

Ringleader Joseph Manuel Hunter, 52, was accused of hiring Adam Samia, 43, and Carl David Stillwell, 50, to gun down the woman in 2012 on behalf of global gun and drug runner.

According to prosecutors, Sami and Stillwell, both of North Carolina, posed as real estate customers and then shot the woman in the face as they drove through the countryside. They left her body on a pile of garbage where it was found days later. The motive for the killing has never been made entirely clear.

The men all face up to life in prison in the killing.

Hunter, a former first class sergeant in the U.S. Army,  had already pleaded guilty to a 2013 plot to kill a DEA agent in Thailand and has been serving a 20 year sentence.

He allegedly ran a private security and mercenary outfit called Echelon Associates for the smuggler, Paul Le Roux. Hunter arranged private security to businessman buying gold in Africa .

 

Brooklyn Mobsters Threatened Doc to Write Scripts for 230K Oxycodone Pills

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The mobsters admitted capitalizing on the opioid epidemic

NEW YORK — Two mobsters strong-armed a Brooklyn doctor into writing prescriptions for hundreds of thousands of Oxycodone pills by threatening to put a bullet in his head if he stopped, federal prosecutors said.

Anthony Grado, a 54-year-old foot soldier in the Luchese family, was caught on tape telling the doctor that he would feed him “to the f**king lions” if he ever wrote prescriptions without the family’s permission, prosecutors said.

The shakedown came to light as Grado and his accomplice, Lawrence Tranese, 55, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone in Brooklyn federal court.

The men admitted that they enlisted the help of other gangsters to fill the prescriptions and they would then sell them, the US Attorney’s office said. In all, they purloined 230,000 of the highly addictive pills through the scheme.

Grado used a mixture of threats and violence to keep the doctor in line.  At one point, Grado was recorded saying, “I’ll put a bullet right in your head,” if the doctor’s new prescription pads “go in anybody’s hands” but his.

Later, the doctor was stabbed by a Luchese associate on Grado’s orders, prosecutors said.

“Lucchese family member Grado imperiled our community, threatening a doctor to force him to write prescriptions for Oxycodone and then trafficking in the addictive drugs,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue. “Violent threats to a doctor by Mafia defendants, combined with their trafficking of Oxycodone pills, posed an especially serious danger to our community.”

The defendants face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million when sentenced.

 

NYC Man Celebrating Legal Win, Loses $96K Settlement in Romp With Prostitutes

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Cops say these three working girls were partying with the victim just before robbers stole his legal settlement cash

NEW YORK  — A man celebrating a $96,000 windfall from a legal settlement by frolicking with three prostitutes in a Bronx motel, lost it all when two armed, masked men barged in and stole the cash, police said.

Saul Mata Vellegas, 30, had the money with him in a suitcase at the Van Cortlandt Motel on Sunday night, when he called an escort service for some female companionship, cops said.

After partying with the women for a few hours, one of them suggested she call a friend to bring over some beer and cigarettes. But instead, two masked men brandishing guns showed up and snatched the cash.

“I am haunted by this,” Vellegas told the New York Post. “I keep playing it over in my mind. I was surprised they pulled a gun. I said ‘What is going on. I yelled help,help. I was depending on that money to move my family. I am nervous all the time now. I keep replaying it over and over. I see the weapon they used clearly over and over. I needed that money badly.”

Cops are hunting for both the suspected gunmen and the three women, who are wanted for questioning.

Police said Vellegas had received the cash as part of a settlement of a lawsuit involving a car accident.

 

Woman Busted After Trying to Order Breakfast Sandwich at Jail Security Booth

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Lizabeth Ildefonso was busted after cops saw white powder on her nose while she tried to order a breakfast sandwich

RIVERHEAD, New York — Let me get a bacon, egg and cheese with a side of jail time.

Guards at a New York jail were stunned when a woman drove up to a security booth and tried to order a breakfast sandwich.

Suffolk County police say Lizabeth Ildefonso, 44, drove up to the Riverhead Correctional Facility Friday morning and attempted to place an order for a “bacon, egg and cheese.”

When told she was at the front gate of a jail, cops say Ildefonso insisted that she “really wanted a sandwich.”

The deputy manning the booth then noticed that Ildefonso’s eyes were dilated and glassy and that she allegedly had white powder residue on her left nostril.”

A further check revealed that she was also driving without a valid license. Ildefonso was arrested after failing to adequately perform a field sobriety test, and was charged with DWI.

International Manhunt Launched For Suspect in Nursing Student Slay

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Nursing student Haley Anderson was found dead in her apartment on Friday

BINGHAMTON, New York — An international manhunt was launched for a former lover of an Upstate New York nursing student who was found murdered in her home, after police determined he had fled the country shortly before her body was found.

Haley Anderson, a 22-year-old nursing student at Binghamton University, was found dead in her off-campus apartment on Friday. On Saturday, police declared her death a homicide although they have yet to disclose how she died.

“This incident and the circumstances of the death was not a random act or involving the conduct of a stranger,” police said, according to the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin.

Police say one of her ex-boyfriends — a nursing student who has not yet been publicly named — is considered a person of interest in the case, but had left the country before police found Anderson’s body on Friday.

Police discovered Anderson’s body when asked to check on her by relatives after they hadn’t heard from her in a few days.

Anderson was expected to graduate in May

Anderson was a senior and was expected to graduate in May.

In a statement, the school said the “community is deeply saddened to learn of the death of senior nursing student Haley Anderson.”

“Our entire University community extends our deepest condolences to Haley’s family and friends, both here in Binghamton and in her hometown of Westbury, N.Y.,” the statement continued.

Femme Fatale Charged in Poison Cheesecake Plot to Steal Lookalike’s Identity

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Russian scam artist Viktoria Nasyrova used poison cheesecake as her weapon of choice

NEW YORK — A devious Russian scam artist has been charged with trying to kill a lookalike with poisoned cheesecake in a bid to steal her identity, prosecutors said.

Viktoria Nasyrova, 42, of Brooklyn had been a client of Olga Tsyvk, a hairdresser to whom she bore a striking resemblance, and became friendly with her. In August 2016, Nasyrova came to Tsyvk’s home and brought her a piece of cheesecake.

But instead of it being a friendly gesture, prosecutors say the cake was laced with a powerful Russian tranquilizer similar to Xanax. Tsyvk, 35, immediately grew ill and fell unconscious, while Nasyrova ransacked her Queens apartment, stealing her passport, immigration papers and a gold ring and other jewelry.

Before leaving, Nasyrova dressed Tsyvk in lingerie and left pills scattered around her bed to make it look like a suicide, prosecutors said.

But Tsyvk survived and after coming out of a coma three days later, fingered Nasyrova to police. Testing revealed the cheesecake contained a near lethal amount of phenazapam.

“This is a bizarre and twisted crime that could have resulted in the death of a Queens woman, whose only fault was that she shared similar features with the defendant,” Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said.

Olga Tsyvk barely survived the tainted cake

Nasyrova, who works a masseuse, is  charged with attempted murder and is also awaiting trial for allegedly drugging and robbing two men she met on online dating sites as well as for allegedly robbing a pawn broker. She is also wanted for the 2014 murder of a neighbor in Russia whose badly burned remains were found in a shallow grave near the city of Krasnodar where Nasyrova is from.

 

Man Charged With Sending Bomb to Wrong Address, Killing Elderly Man

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Victor Kingsley plotted for years to get revenge on the cops who arrested him, but had the wrong address in the end

NEW YORK — A furious felon hell-bent on getting revenge on cops who arrested him in 2014, sent a package bomb to an address he mistakenly thought was the officers’ homes, killing an elderly man who lived there instead, authorities said.

Victor Kingsley, 37, of Brooklyn had plotted to get back at the officers who had arrested him for carrying a stun gun four years ago — charges that were later dropped — and had been slowly assembling bomb-making materials for months, the FBI said.

But Kingsley had mistakenly identified a Queens address as being where one of the officers lived and sent the bomb — packed in a cardboard tube — there in July. It was instead opened by the 73-year-old landlord, George Wray, who was severely burned by the explosion and died days later.

“Kingsley’s cowardly act was meant to target a New York City Police Officer for doing his job and resulted in the tragic death of an unintended victim,” said New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill.

Authorities say despite the botched bombing, Kingsley continued to collect bomb-making material and appeared to be preparing to attack others involved in his arrest.

Initially cops thought the bombing may have been gang-related, but were able to zero in on what really happened after they were able to recover the singed address label from the package. On it was the name “Mac” — a reference to the targeted officer — and a return address that was that of the NYPD’s 67th Precinct where Kingsley was arrested.

Kingsley was charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and could face up to life in prison in convicted.

 

Ex-Teacher and Twin Brother Charged With Stockpiling Explosives in New York

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Tyler (l) and Christian Toro had allegedly amassed a huge supply of explosives in their Bronx apartment

NEW YORK — A former high school teacher and his twin brother were busted for stockpiling more than 30 pounds of explosives in their apartment that they had paid teenage students to help collect, authorities aid.

A raid of 27-year-old Christian and Tyler Toro’s Bronx apartment revealed a cornucopia of dangerous chemical compounds, including 20 pounds of iron oxide and aluminum powder, which become explosive thermite when combined, according to an FBI affidavit.

Investigators also found a notebook scribbled with alarming declarations such as, “We are the twin Toros. Strike us now, we will return with nano thermite,” and “I am here 100%, living, buying weapons. Whatever we need.”

An index card found in a backpack contained the disturbing message: “Unde the full moon, the small ones will know terror.”

Authorities caught wind of the Toros’ explosive obsession in December when Christian Toro, resigned from his job as a teacher at Democracy Prep High School, a charter school in Harlem where he worked.

His resignation came shortly after a student called in a bomb threat to the school. When Toro turned in his school-issued laptop, a technician found a making manual on the hard drive, so the school contacted police.

Further investigation revealed that Toro had been having an affair with a 15-year-old student who later was determined to have phone in the bomb threat to the school. He was arrested on Jan. 31 for raping a minor.

When asked about the manual on his computer, Toro said he had only looked at it when doing research about the Boston Marathon bombing and had not meant to download it. He insisted he had never made a bomb.

But when investigators spoke to students, they were told the Toros sometimes paid teens $50 an hour to remove the explosive powder from fireworks and place it in storage jars, the affidavit said.

That led to a search warrant for the brothers’ apartment. Although it was not clear what they intended to do with the explosives, both face federal bomb-making charges.

“This case likely saved many, many lives,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

 

Tragic Lotto Winner Dies Weeks After Hitting $1 Million Jackpot

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Donald Savastano found out he had late-stage cancer after seeing a doctor for the first time in years following his lotto win

SIDNEY, New York — A man who thought his life was changed forever when he struck it rich with a $1 million lotto jackpot, has died just weeks after his big win.

Donald Savastano, 51, said after he won New York Lottery’s “Merry Millionaire” game the he intended to buy a new truck, take a vacation and go see a doctor as he hadn’t been feeling great but didn’t have health insurance.

But when the self-employed carpenter went to the doctor he discovered that he was suffering from stage 4 cancer in his brain and lung.

“This is gonna change our lives, to tell you the truth,” Savastano prophetically told WBNG-TV when he was picking up his winnings.

Danielle Scott, the cashier who sold Savastano the winning ticket said the situation took a turn for the worse quickly.

“He was self employed, he didn’t have insurance, he hadn’t been feeling good for a while I guess, and when he got the money he went into the doctor,” she said.  “He had a friend come and talk to me, and they told me that he was very sick and that he had brain and lung cancer and that he was in the hospital and they didn’t think he was gonna make it.”

On Friday Savastano passed away.

“I just hope that they can use the money and can give him the best,” Scott said. “He was a good person, he deserved it, I just wish he had more time with it.”

Men Busted With Enough Fentanyl to Kill All of NY and NJ Sentenced to Prison

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Jesus Carillo-Pineda and Daniel Vasquez had enough fentanyl on them to kill 18 million people, cops say

TRENTON, New Jersey  — Two drug dealers busted with enough fentanyl to kill the entire populations of New York and New Jersey have been sentenced to jail.

Jesus Carillo-Pineda, 31, of Philadelphia, and  Daniel Vasquez, 28, of Somerton, Arizona, were busted last June when narcotics cops watched them exchange a 40 kilos of the drug in a parking lot in North Bergen, New Jersey.

Cops later found another five kilos of fentanyl at a home in WIllingboro where Carillo-Pineda had been staying. The owner of the home, Omar Zeus Rodriguez, 38, remains a fugitive, authorities said.

“A seizure of this magnitude, which had enough lethal doses to wipe out the entire population of New Jersey twice over, in all likelihood prevented someone from ever taking their first dose, saving them from a life of misery and addiction,” said Colonel Patrick Callahan, Acting Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police.

Carillo-Pineda was sentenced to 10 years for the drug charges, while Vasquez was hit with six years behind bars.

Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic opioid that drug dealers often mix with heroin and other drugs. But if they mix in too much, it can easily result in an overdose.

Officials say the number of fentanyl overdose deaths in New Jersey — much like the rest of the country — have been skyrocketing. In 2016, 800 people suffered fatal overdoses in the state, up from 517 the year before.