This story comes to us by way of Naked Security in GPS tracker from stalked woman’s car led to indictment of 20 mobsters. The DOJ news release tells us this:
As alleged in the indictments and the government’s detention letters, the investigation began in November 2016 when a GPS tracking device was found concealed on an MTA bus. Amato had earlier obtained the device to surveil his then-girlfriend and boasted about the resources at his disposal to keep her under close surveillance. ... His then-girlfriend discovered the device on her vehicle and removed it, and it was subsequently attached to and recovered from the MTA bus at a depot n Staten Island. Thereafter, the government obtained court-authorization to intercept communications over various cellular telephones used by the defendants.
As detailed in the government’s court filings, Amato and members of his crew used violence and threats of violence to earn illegal proceeds and solidify the crew’s reputation and standing. ...
The court-authorized wiretaps also captured the defendants’ scheme to fix an NCAA college basketball game. To further the scheme, defendant Benjamin Bifalco offered members of a college basketball team thousands of dollars to intentionally lose the game.
That the girlfriend located the tracker and sent it off on a bus ride is interesting enough. But the shocker is that that's all it took to get a cell phone wiretap warrant. There must be more to the story than what we're told.
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3:34 PM 10/8/2019
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