January 25 – Police raid various homes in Sicily and arrest forty-six Mafia suspects believed to be helping
Bernardo Provenzano elude the authorities.[1] Although they did not catch the elusive Mafia boss himself, investigators nonetheless unearthed evidence that 72-year-old Provenzano was still very much alive and in control of the Mafia, in the form of his cryptic handwritten notes, his preferred method of giving orders to his men.
February 4 – Information about
Bonanno crime family boss
Joe Massino's cooperation with police for a reduced jail sentence is released to the press.
February 9 –
Susumu Kajiyama, a Japanese crime syndicate member dubbed the "loan shark king", was sentenced to seven years in prison for
laundering money.[2]
April –
Massachusettsmafia captainVincent M. Ferrara has his jail sentence ended by a
US District Court six years before the original set date due to prosecutor
Jeffrey Auerhahn using an illegal court tactic. In
1992 Ferrara pleaded guilty to
racketeering,
extortion,
gambling and ordering the
1985 murder of
Vincent "Jimmy" Limoli. Ferrara had only agreed to plead guilty to the murder because he was presented with a witness, one Walter Jordan. The witness, however, recanted his testimony before Ferrara testified. Auerhahn did not tell Ferrara this and so the District Court overturned the sentence.
[1][2]
April 4–17 reputed mafia figures, including two identified as soldiers of the
Genovese and
Bonanno crime families, arrested in New York City's
Queens borough on gambling charges.
[3]