In what federal prosecutors are calling the second largest securities fraud crackdown in US history, charges were brought against 120 people, including members of all five New York City organized crime families. Among the other defendants are two officers of the Ranch+1 restaurant chain, 57 licensed and unlicensed stock brokers, 30 officers and company insiders of the companies issuing the fraudulent securities. The New York City-based DMN Capitol Investments, an investment firm that purported to offer investment banking services to new, developing businesses, is the main focus of the investigation. Prosecutors allege that the investment firm defrauded investors by several methods including bribing stock brokers, creating fake stock trades, and running high pressure sales operations. DMN was also charged with using scare tactics including beating and threatening stock promoters in order to make sure that they would accept bribes in exchange for cooperating with the fraudulent practices. Allegedly, the Internet was also used to promote these fraudulent stocks on the Web, and some of the fake stocks were also touted as dot-com stocks in order to further their appeal. However, Assistant FBI Director Barry Mawn explained: "No matter what market the mob tries to infiltrate, from the fish market to the stock market, their methods are always the same: violence and the threat of violence."
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