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Rizzuto Associate Lands 10 Years For Cocaine Trafficking
Alessandro Taloni, a 38-year-old man with ties to the Montreal-based Rizzuto Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his involvement in a massive cocaine trafficking operation. Taloni will also serve 5 years of supervised release after his release from prison.
In May 2013, Taloni pled guilty to cocaine trafficking charges as part of a superseding indictment returned on April 3, 2013. As part of his sentence, Taloni will forfeit $2,663,191 that federal agents seized from multiple locations in California that Taloni used to store narcotics and drug proceeds.
The sentence was handed down at the United States Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York, by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and James J. Hunt, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New York (DEA).
“Taloni used his connections to powerful international organized crime groups to distribute deadly narcotics, worth tens of millions of dollars, across North America. His prosecution and sentence demonstrate this Office’s unrelenting commitment to swiftly pursuing and prosecuting transnational organized crime beyond state and national borders,” stated United States Attorney Lynch.
DEA Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Hunt added, “This sentencing is the end result of international, federal, local and state law enforcement’s collaboration. Law enforcement’s effort to thwart organized crime led to identifying Taloni and his associates’ international drug network that facilitated the Sinaloa Cartel’s cocaine distribution network in the United States.”
Taloni was a key player in an organization that trafficked over $1 billion worth of marijuana, cocaine, and ecstasy into the United States between 1998 and 2012. The organization, which included members of the Rizzuto and Bonanno crime families, the Hells Angels, and the Sinaloa Cartel, used transportation networks run by the Hells Angels and Native American co-conspirators from the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation along the U.S./Canadian border to smuggle the drugs into the United States.
During the course of the government’s investigation, federal agents seized approximately $10,000,000 in narcotics proceeds from the organization. The agents also seized 83 kilograms of cocaine, including 49 kilograms from searches of Taloni’s Mercedes Benz sedan, Beverly Hills residence, and a stash house operated by Taloni in Beverly Hills.
The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Steven L. Tiscione, Gina M. Parlovecchio, Amir H. Toossi, and Tanisha Payne.
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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