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Tue, 03 Feb 2026 12:00:36 -0800
marlon from private IP, post #11334324
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Godfather of the Chaldean Mafia
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2017/06/22/chaldean-mafia-godfather-deportation-target/103092364/
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2026/02/03/godfather-chaldean-mafia-louis-akrawi-set-deported-attorney-immigration-court/88488721007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z11xx58p118150c118150v11xx58d--40--b--40--&gca-ft=41&gca-ds=sophi
‘Godfather of Chaldean Mafia’ among deportation targets
George HunterThe Detroit News
June 22, 2017, 12:03 a.m. ET
A convicted murderer who was known to police as the “Godfather of the Chaldean Mafia” and two of his lieutenants are among the Metro Detroit Iraqi
immigrants with criminal records who were recently arrested and targeted for deportation.
Louis Akrawi, 69, fled Iraq in 1968 after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Saddam Hussein, whose Ba’ath Party had just seized power, according to his
family and a local author and organized crime historian. Akrawi and his deceased sister’s four children first escaped to Turkey before immigrating to
Detroit.
Akrawi never became a U.S. citizen.
Police say Akrawi was a brash, ruthless crime lord from the 1980s until his 1996 second-degree murder conviction. He was paroled in February after serving more
than 20 years for ordering a botched gangland shooting that resulted in the death of an innocent bystander.
During his heyday, Akrawi also had a reputation as an enthusiastic supporter of Detroit’s sizable Chaldean community who helped new immigrants get settled and
start businesses. When former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young gave Hussein a key to the city in 1980, Akrawi organized anti-Hussein protests outside Sacred Heart
Catholic Church on Seven Mile.
“Louis Akrawi is a very complex figure in the history of Detroit,” said author Scott Burnstein, who has written several books about organized crime in
Detroit. “Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a lot of different opinions about him. He was a lightning rod. Some people in the Chaldean community
passionately loved him, and certain members of law enforcement passionately hated him.”
Akrawi, who is being held in a Louisiana federal facility, was arrested May 22 as part of an immigration sweep that netted more than 100 Chaldean Iraqi natives
with criminal records who are in the United States illegally.
A federal judge heard arguments Wednesday after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit claiming the Chaldeans set for deportation were in danger of
being killed because of ongoing radical Muslim persecution of Christians in the Middle East.
Rebecca Adducci, Detroit field office director for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, said the agency’s efforts
will get dangerous criminals off the street.
“The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threat represented by the criminal aliens arrested,” Adducci
said in a statement. “The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions
in many cases.”
Akrawi’s son, Victor Akrawi, said his father has paid his debt to society and should be allowed to stay with his family.
“He was American enough to be in the American prison system for 21 years, but now that he served his sentence, he’s not American,” he said. “He’s 69
years old, he has two artificial knees, and he needs surgery on both eyes. Sending him back to Iraq is unfair.”
In addition to Akrawi, two of his former associates also were arrested: Hatim Zakar and Najah Konja, both of whom were convicted in a 1991 drug conspiracy case
in Oakland County. Akrawi also was charged in that case, but was acquitted.
‘He was into everything’
Police say Akrawi was the leader of a Detroit crime syndicate that dealt drugs and ran illegal gambling operations and extortion schemes. The high-profile 1989
drive-by execution of Akrawi’s nephew, reported drug kingpin Harry Kalasho, kicked off a bloody war that saw rival Chaldean gangs killing each other and
blowing up businesses.
Investigators found 100 sticks of dynamite after raiding a gang member’s garage, said retired Detroit cop Charles Flanagan, whose investigation helped convict
Akrawi.
“He was a big barrel-chested SOB who thought he ruled the world,” Flanagan said. “He used to brag about how the cops couldn’t catch him, and how he was
the baddest guy in Detroit.
“He was into everything,” Flanagan said. “Before the casinos, (illegal) gambling was huge in Detroit, and he ran a major operation. His organization was
heavy into drugs; they had a connection with the Colombian (cocaine) cartel.”
The move to deport Akrawi is the second such attempt. He was first paroled from a Michigan prison in November 2011, but later spent three months in jail while
immigration officials initiated deportation proceedings. At the time, Iraq refused deportees from the United States without travel documents.
Federal officials were forced to release Akrawi after he had spent 180 days in jail because of a U.S Supreme Court decision that detainees couldn’t be held
beyond that period. Five days later, the Michigan Department of Corrections revoked his parole and sent him back in prison.
After his second parole in February, Akrawi lived in his sister’s West Bloomfield Township home until his arrest, Victor Akrawi said. “He’s been working
with me in my coffee shop, not hurting anybody,” he said.
In January, the Trump administration dropped Iraq from the list of Muslim-majority countries covered by a temporary travel ban. In exchange, Iraq agreed to
accept U.S. deportees, opening the door for the recent arrests of Akrawi and others.
Although Metro Detroit Muslims almost uniformly opposed President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, many of the region’s Chaldeans, including the Akrawis,
said they supported his candidacy.
“These days, if you’re not American, you’re a piece of s---,” Victor Akrawi said. “That’s the Trump era for you. The sad thing is, we supported
Trump.”
Flanagan said anyone advocating for Akrawi to stay in the United States is misguided.
“This is exactly who Trump was talking about when he said some illegal immigrants are dangerous,” he said
Baghdad to Seven Mile
Akrawi was 19 when he and other members of the Iraqi Socialist Party tried to overthrow Hussein shortly after the Ba’ath Party seized power, Victor Akrawi
said.
“Someone snitched (about the plan) and set them all up, so my dad had to flee for his life,” he said.
Akrawi immigrated to Detroit’s burgeoning Chaldean neighborhood near Seven Mile and John R. Flanagan said Akrawi embarked on a life of crime, using his
restaurant, LA Ribs & Chicken, as a front.
“They say he was popular in the Chaldean community, but that’s only because he was giving people what they wanted: gambling and drugs,” said Flanagan, who
was in charge of the 11th Precinct Special Operations unit during the early 1990s.
In 1993, a rival gang tried to kill Akrawi, so he retaliated by hiring two men to gun down the owner of a Detroit party store. Instead, 34-year-old Michael
Cogborn was killed by a stray bullet as he stood in line to buy a gallon of milk.
Akrawi was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, although Detroit Recorder’s Court Judge John Shamo reduced the charge to second-degree murder.
It took three years to convict Akrawi. During the raucous murder trial, witnesses recanted their earlier grand jury testimony, and Flanagan and Akrawi gave
media interviews in which they hurled insults at each other.
Shamo held Flanagan in contempt of court for leaving the courthouse after the judge claimed he had told him to stay. Flanagan was locked up in the Wayne County
Jail for 30 hours before the Michigan Court of Appeals overruled Shamo’s decision.
The judge also held Flanagan and two attorneys in the case in contempt for violating a gag order by talking to the media.
After three years of delays and drama, the jury took 40 minutes to return a guilty verdict against Akrawi. Shamo sentenced him to 15-25 years in prison.
“It was a slap on the wrist,” Flanagan said. “He should be in prison for the rest of his life. Louis Akrawi and his whole crew need to be deported.”
Burnstein said Akrawi’s charisma is a double-edged sword.
“He’s one of the most strong-willed men I’ve ever met,” he said. “But that can cut both ways. That was an asset when it came to fighting for the
Chaldean community, but some of that strong-willed nature worked against him because it drew the ire of the police who were chasing him.”
ghunter@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2134
Twitter: @GeorgeHunter_DN
Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:00:30 -0800
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #14181866
Chaldeans seem to have left a bad taste in your mouth. lol. I think they are like Assyrians, but Catholic rather than Orthodox. Anyway, let them have their
ways. We mostly only have Assyrians in Chicago. They are super nationalistic, but I guess that comes with the territory of when governments decide to try to
erase your identity.
Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:54:29 -0800
marlon from private IP
Reply #10807062
🤣
yeah i worked with them
i don't like them.
good negotiators, u'll get raped w/ ur pants on
Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:53:48 -0800
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #16804697
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDv6NE4v-mc
Fri, 06 Feb 2026 16:59:43 -0800
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #16265265
idk why but i used to feel middle eastern christian men were less handsome than muslim men when i was in lebanon. the muslim guys have something weird about
their face that makes them seem more primal and dirtier. perhaps its the heightened gulf admixture. perhaps its the knowledge that they are polygamists and that
makes me subconsciously think they have a heightened sex drive.
bachir gemayel and dany chamoun (redhead) were hotties though. seeing old school pics of them made me think middle eastern christian guys can be hot too. those
militia pics were wow!
all the same, all MENA men age terribly. they are very attractive when young and then get hit with the ugly stick starting very young at 25 or 30. bald, fat,
etc.
Fri, 06 Feb 2026 18:06:33 -0800
marlon from private IP
Reply #10467578
Chaldeans get fat when they get rich. u'll never see a slim rich Chaldean.
annoying, too
Sat, 07 Feb 2026 01:22:21 -0800
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #13778213
They have bad lifestyles in general in middle eastern cultures. They sit around a lot and hit the hookah, but yeah I’ve never seen a hot one over 30. Some of
the women upkeep their appearance as they are heavily into plastic surgery culture, but not the guys. Their baldness comes so early still in 20s and then they
go fully bald. Anyway, happy I’m over that scene and got over it young. Lindsay Lohan and a few other actresses got into that scene in her 30s and quite
honestly she will regret it.
@10807062 zerosugar 🤣
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