Shooter in 2022 Chicago-area parade massacre sentenced to life in prison
Chicago (Reuters) - An Illinois judge on Thursday sentenced a man to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a 2022 mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in a Chicago suburb that killed seven people, local media reported.
Robert Crimo III, 24, pleaded guilty to seven counts of first-degree murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery in March shortly before his trial was set to begin for the shooting in Highland Park that also injured over 40 people.
Crimo was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences by Circuit Court Judge Victoria Rossetti, according to the Chicago Tribune.
"This court hopes this sentence brings a sense of justice and an end to the continued horror," Rossetti said.
Crimo is accused of climbing out the roof of a building in downtown Highland Park, a suburb 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago, and opening fire on spectators and participants at a Fourth of July parade in 2022.
A synagogue teacher, a Mexican grandfather, and the parents of a two-year-old were among the victims. Crimo confessed to the shooting, according to prosecutors.
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The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Trump's tariffs are forcing Canada to address its money laundering problem
On July 31, the Trump administration announced that it would raise tariffs on Canadian imports to 35 percent, citing Canada's failure to meaningfully address the growing use of its territory by fentanyl traffickers. Canada's response has been fractured. Federal officials called for renewed dialogue, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford demanded retaliatory tariffs. If that sounds like an overreaction from the U.S., it's not. It's a reaction to a real and mounting problem: Cartels are using Canada — not in theory, but in practice. Fentanyl super-labs have been discovered in British Columbia. Precursor chemicals from China are entering Canadian ports before making their way into domestic markets or rerouted across the U.S. border. The numbers are still small compared to the southern border. Fentanyl seizures along the northern corridor comprise less than 1 percent of total U.S. interdictions, but they're rising. And while the raw volume was low, the potency was not. According to White House estimates, the fentanyl seized from Canada in the past year was sufficient to kill more than 9 million Americans. The question isn't whether Canada is the dominant trafficking route. It's whether it's increasingly being utilized. And it is. The reason is structural. Canada has long been exploited by criminal networks due to regulatory blind spots, fragmented enforcement and opaque corporate formation laws. Canada is notorious for money-laundering through real estate. Trade-based money laundering schemes are commonly exploited. And bribery and corruption have long been identified as a substantial money-laundering risk. Canada, for too long, has treated organized crime as a localized public safety issue, not a transnational finance and border security risk. The Trump administration's tariff spike isn't just a trade war headline. It's part of a broader strategy of nation-level accountability. Venezuela's Cartel de los Soles, a state-embedded trafficking network directly linked to the Maduro regime, was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity under expanded fentanyl authorities just days before the action against Canada. Mexico has not been spared, either. In February, the U.S. imposed 25 percent fentanyl-linked tariffs on Mexican imports, citing the government's failure to curb cartel flows. In July, those tariffs were scheduled to increase to 30 percent. Although Mexico negotiated a temporary reprieve, committing additional National Guard resources to its northern border in February, the escalation framework remains in place. The goal is not symbolic but structural. Pressure the sovereign, disrupt the enabler. Canada now finds itself in that same pressure chamber. Unlike Venezuela, it is a U.S. ally and a U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement partner. But those relationships don't exempt governments from consequences. Canada's fentanyl enforcement effort has been reactive, fragmented and, until very recently, deeply under-resourced. That posture changed the moment the 35 percent tariff went live. To its credit, Ottawa has shown that it is willing to act with urgency. The newly announced border security initiative includes enhanced lab detection infrastructure, dual-nation strike teams and an aggressive crackdown on shell entities used to obscure cross-border fund flows. These moves are overdue. In 2024, Canada's two largest banks, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank, were at the center of major anti-money laundering failures. Royal Bank of Canada's U.S. subsidiary, City National Bank, was fined $65 million for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, while TD admitted in U.S. federal court to allowing over $650 million in suspected fentanyl proceeds to flow through its accounts. TD paid a $3 billion penalty and agreed to oversight by a government-appointed monitor. Regulators called the sector's anti-money laundering risk ' under-appreciated,' exposing deep structural gaps that persisted until the failures became too large to ignore. None of this is partisan. None of this is rhetorical. It is structural enforcement built around financial leverage, and it reflects a doctrine that has quietly reshaped the American approach to trafficking: Drug routes are no longer just a law enforcement issue. They are a sovereign accountability issue. The tools of response — tariffs, sanctions, financial denial mechanisms — reflect that shift. Canada's economy isn't the target. Its vulnerabilities are. But if they remain unaddressed, the economic impact will be severe. Trade penalties will expand. Correspondent banks will de-risk. Investment flows will hesitate. And trust — financial, diplomatic and regulatory — will erode. The Canadian government has a narrow window to solidify enforcement credibility. That means closing anti-money laundering loopholes, coordinating proactively with U.S. agencies, and enacting a serious national strategy against transnational organized crime. Not just speeches. Not just appointees. Results. Because fentanyl isn't waiting. Neither are the traffickers. And neither, apparently, is the Trump administration.
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Few National Guard troops seen patrolling DC as residents oppose deployment
The White House said the National Guard would establish a "physical presence" in Washington, D.C., but troops were nowhere to be seen on the National Mall or across neighborhoods. WASHINGTON - Residents and tourists in the nation's capitol woke up to relatively few National Guard troops patrolling the streets Aug. 13 amid President Donald Trump's sweeping crackdown on crime and homelessness. Trump mobilized 800 members of the guard and ordered the city's Metropolitan Police Department be brought under the control of the Justice Department. White House officials said between 100 and 200 troops would provide administrative and logistical support to local law enforcement at any given time, along with a "physical presence" in the city. "You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming weeks," Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said at an Aug. 12 news conference. "They will be strong. They will be tough." Mayor Muriel Bowser's staff said on Aug. 12 that the largest part of the surge would happen overnight, and the city planned to keep the guardsmen near tourist hotspots like the national monuments. Commanders of the Guard's 273rd Military Police Company shared images on social media of armored Humvees parked next to the Washington Monument. But National Guards troops were nowhere to be seen along the National Mall, where tourists walked from monument to monument and an increased police presence could be seen standing on sidewalks and in their squad cars.A roaming group of federal agents and park police patrolled the area and at one point stopped in front of a homeless man and ordered him to move, which he did peacefully.A Park Police helicopter flew around the mall in low circles. There were no National Guard troops to be seen. Even the area where a former DOGE staffer was assaulted while intervening in an unarmed carjacking - an example of violent crime in the city highlighted by the White House - was quiet with little law enforcement presence. Area residents told USA TODAY that Trump's actions were excessive and a waste of taxpayer dollars. 'It's unbelievable,' said Isaiah Walter, who was born and raised in Congress Heights, a majority-Black neighborhood in southeast D.C. Violent crime is highest in the southeastern corner of the city known as Ward 8, which includes Congress Heights, Navy Yard and Anacostia, according to an interactive map on the city government's website. But despite that, Walter said he has seen the city become safer over his lifetime, especially in the last several years following the pandemic. 'I don't think it's needed,' he said. Though many residents have expressed disapproval, some have shown support for the president's decision. While out on a walk with her child on Aug. 12, Rebecca Harkey told Reuters that crime had made her consider leaving the capital and that it was "very much an active fear" in her life. Contributing: Trevor Hughes, Michael Loria and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY; Reuters
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Fox News
Treasury sanctions 'brutally violent' cartel for timeshare fraud in tourist destination, warns Americans
FIRST ON FOX: The Treasury Department sanctioned a network of individuals linked to a "brutally violent" cartel for hundreds of millions of dollars of timeshare fraud targeting Americans in popular tourist destination Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Fox News Digital has learned. The Treasury Department is now warning current U.S.-based owners of timeshares and those considering the purchase of a Mexico-based timeshare, to conduct "appropriate due diligence." Officials warn that the scams often target older Americans who can lose their life savings. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on four Mexican individuals and 13 Mexican companies linked to timeshare fraud led by the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). The individuals linked to the fraud are based in or near Puerto Vallarta. "We are coming for terrorist drug cartels like Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion that are flooding our country with fentanyl," Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement. "These cartels continue to create new ways to generate revenue to fuel their terrorist operations. At President Trump's direction, we will continue our effort to completely eradicate the cartels' ability to generate revenue, including their efforts to prey on elderly Americans through timeshare fraud." The three senior CJNG members most involved in timeshare fraud sanctioned Wednesday are Julio Cesar Montero Pinzon (Montero), Carlos Andres Rivera Varela (Rivera), and Francisco Javier Gudino Haro (Gudino). Additionally, Puerto Vallarta native Michael Ibarra Diaz Jr. (Ibarra) was sanctioned. Treasury says Ibarra is "engaged in timeshare fraud on behalf of CJNG." The companies sanctioned are Akali Realtors, Centro Mediador De La Costa, S.A. de C.V., Corporativo Integral De La Costa, S.A. de C.V., Corporativo Costa Norte, S.A. de C.V., and Sunmex Travel, S. de R.L. De C.V. They "explicitly acknowledge their involvement in the timeshare industry." Another company involved in timeshare-related transactions that was sanctioned is TTR Go, S.A. de C.V. They claim only to be a travel agency. Three additional companies were sanctioned for their alleged real estate activities: Inmobiliaria Integral Del Puerto, S.A. de C.V., KVY Bucerias, S.A. de C.V., and Servicios Inmobiliarios Ibadi, S.A. de C.V. "This diverse corporate network also includes tour operators (Fishing Are Us, S. De R.L. de C.V.; Santamaria Cruise, S. de R.L. de C.V.), an automotive service company (Laminado Profesional Automotriz Elte, S.A. de C.V.), and an accounting firm (Consultorias Profesionales Almida, S.A. de C.V.). Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Officials said the cartel is increasingly supplementing its drug trafficking proceeds with alternative revenue streams like timeshare fraud and fuel theft. "Treasury has taken a series of actions targeting the diverse revenue streams benefitting the cartels, including fuel theft, human smuggling, extortion, and fraud," the Treasury Department said. "As Treasury and its partners seek to disrupt the cartels' revenue streams, it is important to remind current owners of timeshares in Mexico: If an unsolicited purchase or rental offer seems too good to be true, it probably is." Treasury added: "Those considering the purchase of a timeshare in Mexico should conduct appropriate due diligence." Officials said Mexico-based cartels have been targeting U.S. owners of timeshares through call centers in Mexico staffed by telemarketers in fluent English. Officials said that beginning in 2012, CJNG took control of timeshare fraud schemes in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, and the surrounding area. The scams often target older Americans "who can lose their live savings," officials warned, adding that the lifecycle of the scams can "last years, resulting in financial and emotional devastation of the victims while enriching cartels like CJNG." Officials said the cartels typically obtain information about U.S. owners of timeshares in Mexico from "complicit insiders at timeshare resorts." "After obtaining information on timeshare owners, the cartels, through their call centers, contact victims by phone or email and claim to be U.S.-based third-party timeshare brokers, attorneys, or sales representatives in the timeshare, travel, real estate, or financial services industries," the Treasury Department said. Officials explained that the fraud may include timeshare exit scams, or resale scams, timeshare re-rent scams, and timeshare investment scams. "The common theme is that victims are asked to pay advance 'fees' and 'taxes' before receiving money supposedly owed to them," officials warned. "This money never comes, and the victims are continuously told to send these 'fees' and 'taxes' via international wire transfers to accounts held at Mexican banks and brokerage houses." After initial scams, officials warn that "re-victimization scams can occur." In July 2024, Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the FBI issued a joint-notice on the timeshare fraud associated with Mexico-based cartels and criminal organizations. In the six month period following that notice, FinCEN received more than 250 Suspicious Activity Reports, and filers reported approximately 1,300 transactions totaling $23.1 million, sent primarily from U.S. based individuals to counterparties in Mexico. Based on FinCEN's analysis, U.S. fraud victims sent an average of $28,912 and a median amount of $10,000 per transaction to the suspected scammers since July 2024. The FBI says approximately 6,000 U.S. victims reported losing nearly $300 million between 2019 and 2023 to timeshare fraud schemes in Mexico. But officials said that figure "likely underestimates total losses, as the FBI believes the vast majority of victims not report the scam due to embarrassment, among other reasons."
