"While high-ranking federal and local officials proclaimed Tuesday's arrests as removing "the head of the hydra," a closer look at court and law enforcement records indicate that Nania is more of a mid-level manager than chief executive. The son of Sicilian immigrants, Nania is alleged to be an associate of the Mexican Mafia, an organization of about 140 men who hold sway over Latino gang members behind prison walls and in the streets of Southern California."
"In an affidavit, a federal agent wrote that Nania delegated tasks - picking up money, delivering drugs - to lower-level members of his gang on the street. According to the affidavit, Nania, nicknamed "Crook," accomplished this with smuggled cellphones. He has been caught with contraband phones eight times in the last eight years, the document said. Nania has yet to enter a plea to racketeering charges filed in federal court, and it wasn't clear if he had a lawyer who could speak for him."
Salvatore Nania has not returned to San Pedro since a 1995 murder arrest at age 17. Authorities accuse him of directing Rancho San Pedro gang operations from prison, using smuggled cellphones to delegate drug distribution, weapon possession, and collection of protection money. Thirteen people were arrested on charges tied to selling drugs, illegal weapons, and extortion in the harbor area. Law enforcement records suggest Nania functioned more as a mid-level manager than the gang's top leader. Nania is alleged to be an associate of the Mexican Mafia, though no full members were charged in the operation.
Read at Los Angeles Times
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]