PHILADELPHIADALLAS -- Mob informant Vincent Teresa and members of his family were indicted on charges of conspiring to smuggle $1 million worth of rare birds and animals into the United States, federal officials said Wednesday.
Teresa, 56, who had been in the federal witness protection program, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy to smuggle and unlawfully offering endangered species for sale, said William Fleisher, head of the U.S. Customs Service in Philadelphia.
Teresa, author of a 1973 book, 'My Life in the Mafia,' operated gambling and fencing rackets in New England before becoming an informant in 1971. He testified before at least 22 grand juries on organized crime activities.
The indictment, dated Nov. 27 and unsealed Wednesday, named Teresa under his new identity, Charles Cantino. Also named were his daughter, Cindy, 27, his sons Wayne, 32, and David, 29, his daughter-in-law, Lynne, and Bobby Lhaksana, 51, a native of Indonesia.
Teresa lived in Washington state under his new identity but now is serving a 10-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, said U.S. Customs agent Joseph O'Kane.
Teresa's son, Wayne, is serving a life term in a Washington state prison for murder. None of the other suspects has been arrested, O'Kane said.
The defendants are charged with smuggling and attempting to smuggle rare animals into the country from Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia from 1982 through 1984, he said. Parrots, golden parakeets, and Greater Sulphur Crested Cockatoos -- some worth as much as $3,000 each -- were among the fowl smuggled.
Also part of the scheme were efforts to transport rare Komodo Dragons from Indonesia, O'Kane said. The animals grow as large as 10 feet, can weight 300 pounds and are worth as much as $15,000.
The animals were to be shipped into Philadelphia and then sold throughout the country. O'Kane said the defendants brought some animals into the country, but he did not know how many.
In a 300-page sworn deposition filed in Miami in January 1978, Teresa said he heard mob bosses planning to assasinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro for $4 million on orders from the CIA in the early 1960s.
In 1981, he was investigated in an alleged plot to kill prosecutors who sent his son to prison. The following year in Tacoma, Wash., he was convicted of conspiring to smuggle cocaine from Bolivia.
Texas' second-largest credit card network will move to Delaware to avoid the state's usury ceiling and other regulations.
MCorp, a Dallas-based bank holding company formed by the merger of Mercantile Texas Corp. and Southwest Bancshares Inc., said its 1.5 million credit card customers may be charged higher interest rates and an annual service fee as a result of the move.
MCorp Credit Corp. will be one of at least 15 credit card operations based in Delaware, which has no usury ceiling and has been long known for its favorable regulations toward corporations.
MCorp is the second Texas bank holding company to move its credit card service out of state. First City Bancorporation of Texas moved to South Dakota earlier this year.
Texas legislators last year set the state's usury ceiling at 22 percent, and bankers warned they might move credit card operations elsewhere.
