Feds say the mob seized a Dallas County business, stole $12M

The Mafia is known as La Cosa Nostra, which means “this thing of ours.” But this thing is not supposed to be in North Texas. Certainly not in a gleaming glass and steel office tower on the western edge of Las Colinas. Certainly not in a boring mortgage company.

But that’s what federal prosecutors say happened in Irving a few years back. They say the son of the former godfather of the Philadelphia mob and the son’s associate known as “The Consultant” invaded FirstPlus Financial Group by scaring off the old board of directors and installing lackeys in their place.

Feds say that with the help of others, the pair pulled $12 million in cash out of the company in less than a year. They bought a Bentley, an airplane, expensive jewelry, a condo, a home in a New Jersey seaside community and a yacht they named Priceless.

They also arranged for FirstPlus to buy companies they owned for inflated prices. And they paid themselves and their cronies oversized consulting fees, as high as $100,000 a month. The scheme caused the original stockholders of the company to lose money.

More at http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/watchdog/20140614-watchdog-feds-say-the-mob-seized-a-dallas-county-business.ece .