Boss of international drug syndicate known as the Sultan arrested following joint investigation by DEA, agencies

Unknown Sunday, 27 August 2017 19:18 0 comments

Boss of international drug syndicate known as the Sultan arrested following joint investigation by DEA, agencies

By David Amoruso

It’s a drug case that has all the ingredients of a James Bond movie. An alleged international drug lord known as the Sultan was arrested at his London home on Friday, following investigations by the National Crime Agency and US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Pakistani national Muhammad Asif Hafeez is wanted in the United States to face charges of conspiring to import drugs and now faces extradition. Authorities allege the 58-year-old man is the leader of a global drug production and distribution syndicate which operates in India, the United States and the United Kingdom and has offshoots in the African nations of Mozambique and Kenya.

In communications with other members of his organization Hafeez is said to have been referred to as "the Sultan." His product consisted of methamphetamine and heroin, both of which he aimed to smuggle into the United States starting in 2013.

Hafeez and certain of his co-conspirators sought to establish a methamphetamine-production facility in Mozambique. But they were forced to abandon their plan after law enforcement authorities seized approximately 18 tons of ephedrine from a factory in Solapur, India, including several tons of ephedrine that the syndicate planned to use as a precursor chemical to manufacture methamphetamine in Mozambique.

Besides the meth, there was also heroin, which Hafeez together with co-defendants Baktash Akasha Abdalla, Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla, Gulam Hussein, and Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami allegedly conspired to import into the United States.

Baktash Akasha Abdalla was the leader of an organized crime family in Kenya known as the “Akasha Organization,” which was responsible for the production and distribution of ton quantities of narcotics within Kenya and throughout Africa and maintained a network used to distribute narcotics for importation into the United States.

Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla delivered a one-kilogram heroin sample, on behalf of Hafeez and the Akasha Organization, to confidential sources acting at the direction of the DEA in Nairobi in October 2014. In early November 2014, Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla delivered 98 additional kilograms of heroin to the sources.

That same month, Baktash Akasha Abdalla, Ibrahim Akasha Abdalla, Hussein, and Goswami were provisionally arrested in Kenya. They arrived in the District for prosecution based on the pending drug-trafficking charges in January 2017.

“This is a hugely significant arrest of a man suspected of being the head of a global drug production and distribution network, with links across Asia, Europe and North America,” NCA branch commander Martin Huxley told the media. “Because of the scale of the criminality alleged here, this is an international investigation and the NCA has worked extremely closely with our partners in the United States and United Kingdom.

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said, “As alleged, Muhammad Asif Hafeez, a long-time, priority target of the DEA known as the ‘Sultan,’ trafficked in drugs on a massive and global scale, working with transnational criminal organizations to manufacture and distribute enormous quantities of heroin and methamphetamine around the world and into the United States. From Kenya and Mozambique to London and New York, Hafeez’s alleged drug operation saw no borders or boundaries – until now. Thanks to the unwavering commitment of the DEA and the prosecutors in this Office, the ‘Sultan’ has been caught and will have to face American narcotics charges.”

Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s news section.

Profile: Genovese family underboss Venero Mangano

By David Amoruso

Genovese crime family underboss Venero Mangano had a long and distinguished career. Two careers, actually. And in both he proved he had a sharp mind and balls of steel. He also showed one could live a long life and die of old age where most of his comrades died violently by bombs and bullets.

Born on September 7, 1921, Mangano was nicknamed “Benny Eggs” because of his mother’s egg store. Growing up in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village in New York City, Mangano became a true neighborhood guy, knowing all the old-timers, beat cops, players, hustlers, and crazies.

And all the mobsters too.

But before he could devote his life to crime and omerta, he found another calling: Killing Nazis. When the German forces of Adolf Hitler threatened the United States after already tearing through Europe and the Middle East in the Second World War, Mangano stepped up as so many young Americans did during those years.

He enlisted, became a tail gunner and flew 33 missions, including two bombing runs on D-Day. His heroic actions earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross and an air medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters and three Battle Stars.

Young Benny Eggs came home a bona fide war hero. The neighborhood was proud of their boy and the local mob was paying attention to this cool-headed fella with a killer instinct.

He became a member of the Genovese crime family. One of New York’s five families of La Cosa Nostra, The American Mafia. It was one of the most powerful crime organizations in the United States with a firm grip on unions and lucrative rackets in the city and beyond.

Mangano was close to future Genovese boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante, another neighborhood native, who was known for his crazy behavior. He walked around in his pajamas and mumbled to himself or imaginary people and things. It was all a ruse to outsmart the FBI and authorities. Better yet, it worked!

Read: "This is for you, Frank!" - The story of mob boss Frank Costello

Still, Gigante needed a lot of help from his disciplined crew. If any other mobsters discussed Gigante or his activities and mentioned him by name, his whole act would quickly be debunked. That is why he ordered his underlings and colleagues never to mention his name, but stroke their chins with their thumb, forefinger and middle finger when referring to him. When doing so they could say “this guy” or “my aunt.”

His good friend Mangano was eager to oblige to protect his lifelong friend. A Genovese family associate who was unfamiliar with protocol was told by him: “Don't mention that guy.” He also told the uninformed gangster that if anyone asked about Gigante, he should answer: “Vincent’s crazy.”

Mangano’s protective and caring streak extended beyond his friend and boss. He ran a social club on Thompson Street where he permitted old-timers, most of them not affiliated with organized crime, to play cards and socialize. “The place was bedecked with American flags and photos of Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and other Italian-American entertainers and celebrities,” Selwyn Raab writes in his book Five Families.

Read: Map shows mob social clubs in New York City

Though he was a war hero who looked out for his neighborhood friends, Mangano was also a hardcore gangster. He was involved in various illegal schemes like extortion and gambling. As a front, he also owned M&J Enterprises, a legitimate business that purchased leftover designer clothing and resold it to other businesses in the United States and overseas. Mangano also had a piece of the carnival amusement games at the annual Feast of San Gennaro in the Little Italy section of Manhattan.

Read: The humble origins of mob bosses Joe Masseria and Lucky Luciano

His crimes caught up with him in 1991, when he was found guilty of racketeering in the “Windows Case.” This racket revolved around the installment of new windows in city housing projects and made the participants tens of millions of dollars.

The money was so good, that it made those involved greedy and hungry for more. During a sit-down at Ruggiero’s Restaurant on June 5, 1989, Mangano discussed the scheme with Lucchese family leader Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso and Gambino family leader Peter Gotti. Both families wanted a bigger piece of the pie, but Mangano was having none of it. “It’s all ours,” he told them. “Nobody’s supposed to touch it.”

While behind bars serving his sentence, in 1997 prosecutors called Mangano as a witness to answer questions about his boss Vincent Gigante. An agitated Mangano was defiant on the stand and refused to answer any questions.

“What do you want to do? Shoot me? Shoot me, but I'm not going to answer any questions,” he told the court. “I'm tired of these charades.” While on the stand, he even refused to admit how he got his nickname. The aging wiseguy went back to prison and was released on November 2, 2006.

Back on the streets, Mangano allegedly served on a rotating panel of mob veterans in charge of the Genovese crime family. On August 18, 2017, he passed away of natural causes at his home in Greenwich Village, the neighborhood he grew up in and where he had lived all his life. He was 95 years old.

Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s news section.

The South Side Cartel: Karma catches up to what was once known as Newark’s most violent street gang

By David Amoruso

Violence begets violence. This was especially true for the South Side Cartel. Once known among law enforcement and the FBI as the most violent street gang operating in Newark, New Jersey, its members rose rapidly through sheer deadly force, only to fall as many went down in a hail of bullets or got locked up in a cell.

The South Side Cartel was founded by Farad Roland and his brother Amin in 2002 as a neighborhood gang whose main activities were selling drugs and using violence to expand their business, many of the group's members were officially brought into the Bloods organization in 2002 and 2003. They officially branded themselves as the South Side Cartel in 2005.

The gang’s center of activities were apartments located inside buildings dubbed the “Twin Towers,” located at 496-500 Hawthorne Avenue. These were the scene of repeated narcotics and gun arrests by local law enforcement between 2002 and 2010. Many of the South Side Cartel members had tattoos showing these buildings and the logo of “SSC” representing the group’s initials.

At its peak, the South Side Cartel had about 20 members or associates, who were involved in numerous murders, shootings, robberies and other violent acts in furtherance of the enterprise.

Though hugely successful in establishing a vicious reputation and supreme dominance over the area, many South Side Cartel gangsters have since been killed in gang-related murders or are serving prison sentences in state and federal prisons for gang-related crimes.

The final blow was dealt in December of 2012, when authorities indicted gang bosses Farad Roland (photo above, right), Mark Williams, and Malik Lowery (photo above, left) and charged them with murder, racketeering, kidnapping, robbery, weapons offenses, and drug dealing. According to prosecutors, they represent the last of the leadership of the group.

“The gang members used murder and violence as tools of their criminal trade, punishing disloyal associates, intimidating rivals, and silencing those they believed were cooperating with law enforcement,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. “They presided over a reign of terror along Hawthorne Avenue for years. These charges finally assign responsibility for more than half a dozen unsolved homicides and represent the latest efforts in our ongoing pursuit of members of violent street gangs.”

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of life in prison for Mark “B.G.” Williams and Malik “Leek” Lowery, while dropping a bombshell of the death penalty on founder Farad “B.U.” Roland (right). On August 10, 2016, 35-year-old Williams pleaded guilty to racketeering and related charges. A few weeks later, Lowery did the same.

Last Wednesday, 36-year-old Lowery received a 315-month prison term for a variety of crimes related to the South Side Cartel. In addition to time behind bars, the judge sentenced Lowery to 10 years of supervised release.

Lowery admitted his role in the October 20, 2007 murder of a fellow gang member that took place on Bragaw Avenue in Newark. He also plead guilty to committing an armed carjacking with fellow South Side Cartel gangsters, to the robbery of a drug dealer and trafficking one kilogram or more of heroin and 280 grams or more of crack cocaine.

Roland’s brother and fellow gang founder Amin was convicted by a jury in July 2012 on gun charges and sentenced to the statutory maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

32-year-old Farad Roland, meanwhile, is slated to go to trial in September. He is charged with playing a role in six gangland murders. The stone-cold killer now faces the death penalty after a life of violent crime he himself initiated by founding the South Side Cartel.

For many years, Roland and his underlings lived and died by the gun. Now all of them end up living in prison, dead by the gun or, in Roland’s case, a formal government execution.

Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s news section.

British authorities on the hunt for imprisoned drug boss Clifton Rochester’s multi-million-dollar fortune

By David Amoruso

If you want to hurt a gangster, go after his money. That’s what British authorities are doing to any criminal who’s made a fortune from illicit activities. The latest to come under scrutiny is 47-year-old drug boss Clifton Rochester.

Rochester was jailed for 14 years in 2005 for heading a drugs operation estimated to have imported almost £50 million worth of cocaine from Jamaica to the United Kingdom using air hostesses as couriers. Tens of millions of pounds worth of narcotics were dealt in Bristol where Rochester admitted conspiracy to import and supply cocaine, deception and money laundering offences.

Read: The Jamaican Shower Posse: A Family Business

In 2007, he was ordered to forfeit his profits with the promise his future finances would be under surveillance. Bristol Crown Court gave Rochester two years to pay £1,000,003 - or face up to six and a half years more in prison.

Since then, he has paid a total of £325,629 leaving an outstanding balance of £425,834. As a result, he was sentenced to serve 821 days in 2014.

The National Crime Agency is now appealing for help to trace Rochester’s assets under Operation Repay – an agency drive to take back criminals’ gains. Nigel Kirby, deputy director, Economic Crime Command, said: “It has been 10 years and we will not give up on getting the full sum back from Rochester. We have far-reaching legal powers to take action and confiscate assets, so if anyone can identify how he has used or invested his dirty money, we would urge them to get in touch with us.”

Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s news section.

Disneyland Rides and Attractions

Unknown 19:05 0 comments

Disneyland Rides and Attractions

Disneyland has almost 60 rides and a host of other attractions. It's easy to get overwhelmed when trying to decide which ones you want to do the most. And unfortunately, someone else's list of top rides or must-dos reflects their preferences, not yours. I'm here to help you figure out which things are best for you.

If you're the do-it-yourself type who would rather decide for yourself than let someone else do it for you, you can get a summary of height restrictions, FASTPASS rides and more, all on one page.

All you have to do is go straight to the Disneyland Rides List Page.

It isn't open yet - and may not until 2019 - but you can keep up with the latest news about Disneyland's new Star Wars Land in this preview guide.

Best Disneyland Rides for You

If you need some help picking and choosing, that's what I'm here for. If you think I have a bad case of Listmania, you might be right. I created lists based on some of the most common interests that can help you plan your perfect Disneyland day.

These lists sort out all the rides and attractions into groups that will meet your needs.

Best Disneyland Rides: These are the ones everybody loves, you could call this the "must-do" list.
Disneyland Rides for Kids: We've sorted them out into the very gentle, the slightly scary, ways to have fun while sitting still and thrown in cautions for specific rides that may help
New Disneyland Rides: If you've been to Disneyland before and want to know what's new, this list will tell you all the new developments in the past five years

Most Popular Disneyland Rides: You could also call this one "Rides With the Longest Lines." You're probably not going to go out looking to ride them all, but you might want to know which ones they are.
Disneyland Roller Coasters: Coaster and only coasters
Best Rides at Night: These rides are either more fun in the dark or worth a second visit after the sun goes down. Some rides close at night (or early), and they're also listed here

Disneyland Shows and Entertainment: They're not rides, but they're things to do that you might enjoy in between all the riding.
Walk Through Attractions at Disneyland: You can have a lot of fun at Disneyland without ever getting on a ride. All of these attractions are things you can walk through and enojy at your own pace.

How to Have More Fun

These resources are useful for managing a day at Disneyland, with ways to stand in line as little as possible.

Enjoy more with these strategies to avoid standing in line for Disneyland rides.
Learn to how a FASTPASS can make your wait shorter, find out how to get one and how to use it
Find out why you might want to use Ridemax to shorten your wait
How to make the most out of Magic Mornings
Check out these mobile websites and apps. They can help you save time, and some of them can keep you entertained between rides, too
Check which rides and attractions will be closed during your visit

Height Restrictions

These are all the rides that have height restrictions:

35 in (89 cm): Gadget's Go Coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds
40 in (102 cm): Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours
46 in (117 cm): Indiana Jones Adventure
54 in (137 cm): Autopia (to drive alone)

Accessibility

Most Disneyland rides are accessible even if you have mobility challenges. However, many of them require you to transfer into the ride vehicle by yourself or with assistance from your traveling companions. Only a few have steps you can't bypass, including Tarzan's Treehouse, the railroad station at Main Street, U.S.A. , and the Columbia Sailing Ship.

If you have a hearing impairment, stop at Guest Relations (in City Hall, on your left as you enter Disneyland) to pick up assistive listening devices and handheld caption controls used for some rides.

You can also stop at City Hall to get a pass that lets you bypass the long lines if you can't stand in them. You don't need a doctor's note, but you will be asked to explain what you need.

Tuck and Roll's Drive'Em Buggies

Tuck and Roll are the Hungarian pillbugs from the Bug's Life film. It may be a bit of a stretch, but they somehow inspired this bumper car ride.

Adults complain about how slow the buggies are. Fans of the rough impacts of traditional bumper cars complain that the impacts are too soft. They also complain that the cars get into jams and it's hard to get out of them. In fact, the best thing about the ride may be the cute design of the cars, which look like the pillbugs it's named for.

Most of them say it's best for younger children. However, with a minimum height of 36 inches, which would make it doable for the average three-year-old.

What You Need to Know About Tuck and Roll's Drive 'Em Buggies

Location: Flik's Fun Fair in Bug's Land
Rating: ★★
Restrictions: 36 in (91 cm)
Ride Time: 90 seconds
Recommended for: This ride is good for children up to pre-teen age.
Fun Factor: Medium
Wait Factor: Medium
Fear Factor: Low, seldom longer than 10 minutes.
Herky-Jerky Factor: The "bumps" are...

Some riders complain that this ride is too slow. If you're a fast-paced kind of rider, you might want to skip it.

Tuck 'n' Roll is one of the rides at California Adventure that you can go on when rain closes the outdoor attractions.

Getting in and out of the cars may be hard if you have knee or back problems.

The ride vehicles have two pedals, in case your child wants to drive but can't reach their own pedal. They don't have brakes. Instead, you stop by taking the pressure off the gas pedal.

The height measurement marker looks like an ink pen with a bent cap. If your child has just grown above the 36-inch limit, it would make a cute photo opportunity.

If you are stuck somewhere and can’t move forward, don't fret. Just turn the wheel all the way to one side, and after a few seconds, the car will automatically back up.

You can hear Tuck and Roll chattering the whole time, but no matter how many languages you speak, you won't be able understand their gibberish which...

Tuck 'n' Roll are pillbugs. You know, those little creepy-crawly critters that roll up into a ball for protection. In the Bug's Life film, their constant fighting and arguing gets them fired.

Don't try to understand what they're saying. They talk all the time, but it's not a real language, just a bunch of sounds strung together to sound vaguely Slavic. The only English words they know are "Hey!", "Tweet-tweet! Tweet-tweet!", "You fired!" and "Charge-a!".

Tuck 'n' Roll's ride is unique to the Disneyland Resort in California. None of their other parks have one like it.

Next California Adventure Ride: King Triton's Carousel

Unknown Friday, 18 August 2017 20:02 0 comments

America's dirtiest cop: Amazing true story of gangster running organised crime network within NYPD

During the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, murders, muggings and robberies paralysed the streets of New York as drug dealers, gang members and pimps fought for supremacy.

But their criminal networks were nothing compared to those run by the most dangerous criminals – those armed with a badge and a gun.

The very men who had sworn to protect and serve raked in millions from crime, and none were more prolific than police officer Michael Dowd.

From the age of 26, Dowd brazenly led a crew of wolves in cops’ clothing to build his own drugs empire.

His enterprise was so vast he became known as “the dirtiest cop ever”, earning at one point more than £44,000 per week on top of his £400-a-week salary.

Dowd was able to fund a playboy lifestyle after lining his pockets by protecting some pushers and robbing others.

But he was eventually caught, convicted and jailed for 14 years.

Now a new documentary film, Precinct Seven Five – named after the Brooklyn precinct in which he served – tells the story of how Dowd rose to become a crime kingpin before his eventual downfall.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Dowd recalls how he first became involved in crime with the “shakedown” of an 18-year-old Puerto Rican driver who he pulled over in a black Corvette.

He had no registration, no insurance, but did have a wad of hundred dollar bills in his pockets.

Instead of making an arrest, Irish-American Dowd, who considers himself “both a cop and a gangster”, offered the teenager a deal.

The motorist knew having no papers could get him sent to jail so Dowd said: “Give me paper and you can leave.”

At the time the officer had just $5 in his pocket, a mortgage to pay and wife and child to support.

“It was all upside down,” he says.

“I told him he was looking at $2,000 in tickets or jail time, so I suggested if he bought me a nice lobster lunch I could let him go.”

The illegal driver duly left $200 on the back seat of the squad car, which Dowd admits left him “buzzing”.

“There was a lot of anger in me,” he says. “These young punks were running around with all kinds of money and I was broke.

“You know the first time I dipped in I was probably making $23,000 [£14,800] a year. It just makes you a little upset. You’re a young man too. But it gave me the comfort to know I could get away with it.”

“Clipping” quickly turned into theft and extortion as he targeted drug dealers on his patch.

In return for turning a blind eye, tipping them off about possible raids and protecting local gangsters, he was rewarded with thousands of dollars in cash and drugs.

“I was a law unto myself and the law to anyone in my area,” Dowd recalls.

“Whenever I took money off these punks it was like taking a drug.

"The adrenaline was something you simply couldn’t describe. I was addicted to the buzz.”

Between 1986 and 1992, Dowd and his blue-collar police crew ran rampant under the noses of department bosses who looked the other way.

This was despite him showing up to work in a new red Corvette, supposedly funded by his police salary.

“You felt like you were a god,” says Dowd, now 54. But rather than being condemned for his actions, it was condoned by bosses.

“A few months after I clipped the Corvette driver I turn up at this reefer spot where there has been a shooting,” he explains.

“I was first at the scene but I couldn’t get in the building because the dead guy’s head is blocking the door.

“I have to push the door back to move him. Inside there was this young guy wiping the blood of his best friend off his hands.

“At the time we didn’t know but it was the same guy who had pulled the trigger.

“There was money and drugs. I could see a stash of about $600 lying on the side.

“This guy’s not paying attention so I just put it in my pocket. Then the sergeant turns up later. There’s still about five pounds of weed and $1,000 of cash.

“The sergeant says to me, ‘Is that it?’ He looks at me and I felt he knew. So I took the cash out of my pocket and gave it back saying I took it for safekeeping.”

Later that night Dowd saw the sergeant at a bar and approached him.

He recalls: “I said to him, ‘Sarge, when I handed you that money today I took it out of my pocket, what did you think?’ ‘I felt bad I had it in there but just wanted to come clean.

"He said, ‘I don’t give a f*** what you do before I get there and if I happen to get there and you’ve already got something just make sure you look after me’.

“It was like he was giving me the green light. He was saying, ‘We all do this, you ain’t the only one’.

“It was like I had permission now. From then on, I made sure I was first on a crime scene.”

Dowd went on to take bags of cash from drug houses, as well as guns and cocaine. At the time one kilogram of the drug was worth £22,000.

“We all knew it was wrong, but it was an addictive excitement,” he says.

The charismatic ex-cop is now an ex-con struggling to keep a job – nearly a decade after being freed from jail.

“My wife left me,” says Dowd. “My kids don’t know me.”

In the end, his partner Kenneth Eurell turned federal informer and caused the downfall of Dowd and other corrupt police officers.

Their arrest in 1992 led to the largest police corruption scandal in New York City history.

Many wondered why it took so long. It must have been difficult not to notice Dowd’s change in lifestyle – he owned four houses, while sometimes he would be picked up from work in a limousine for gambling trips to Atlantic City.

Not to mention the 16 complaints his bosses received alleging he robbed drug dealers and dealt cocaine.

An investigative panel, the Mollen Commission, concluded senior officers shielded the department from scandal by ignoring allegations against Dowd or blocking efforts to check them out.

One performance review in 1987 – a year after the first complaints – described him as an officer with “excellent street knowledge” and “good career potential”.

At the height of his criminality Dowd – who druglords said “was worth his weight in gold” due to the tip-offs he gave – said he was selling 35kg of cocaine a week.

“I would sell 28 kilos to the biggest dealers in the area and then sell seven kilos myself,” he explained.

“I was making $68,000 [£44,000] a week until I was caught.”

It was just two weeks after taking his second shipment of 35kg that his life came crashing down.

Dowd was 32 when he was finally arrested in 1992, not by New York City Police investigators, but by officers from Suffolk County.

They had intercepted telephone conversations between the officer and a small-time drug dealer.

“Internal affairs had me for years on their radar,” explains Dowd.

Speaking about Eurull, the former partner who “ratted” on him, he adds: “In the beginning, of course, I was hurt.

“I felt betrayed. It still hurts when I think about it, but I got over it.”

Dowd’s life story is now set to be turned into a Hollywood film after Sony bought the rights.

Meanwhile, his life has turned full circle. Once a pariah of the NYPD, he has been invited back to advise police how not to follow his footsteps.

“I suffered, I’m still suffering for what I did,” Dowd laments. “But if can help stop those following in my footsteps some good will come from it.”

Disney Parks' Creative Force Awakens

Unknown Thursday, 17 August 2017 19:22 0 comments

February 2016 update: Disney presented a Disneyland 60th anniversary celebration TV special on ABC (the network that is part of its vast media empire) and included a segment about the Star Wars lands hosted by none other than Harrison Ford. The special didn't reveal too much that hadn't already been divulged. Although Disney is still referring to the projects as "Star Wars-themed lands," Han Solo, er Mr. Ford, called them "The Star Wars Experience." That may or may not be the official name.

Previously written in 2015: After many months of vague promises from company honchos and speculation by rabid fans, Disney CEO Bob Iger finally made it official: Star Wars rides are on the way.

Speaking at the 2015 D23 Expo, Mickey's boss said that Star Wars-themed lands -- and yes, that's "lands" with an "s," as in more than one -- will be built at both the original Disneyland Park and at Disney's Hollywood Studios , part of Walt Disney World in Florida. Big Thunder Ranch...

Based on the renderings, the 14-acre lands will include vast amounts of rockwork and other architectural flourishes. That's the Millennium Falcon in the foreground. The iconic starship will be featured in one of the lands' two major attractions.

Disney has not revealed any costs. But the ambitious, elaborate-looking and -sounding Star Wars project will surely cost in the hundreds of millions dollars -- and possibly in the billion-dollar range. That's for each land. That's a lot of Galactic Credits.

Next up: Bustling Frontier Town

Don't look now, but isn't that C3PO and R2D2 chatting with a certain princess? When they open, the lands will include alien creatures, humanoids, and other assorted Star Wars characters. Expect pervasive themeing throughout the new areas.

Next up: Line Up

Disney released this piece of concept art in February 2016. It appears to be one of the queues, perhaps for one of the major Star Wars attractions. Whatever it is, it sure looks sweet.

Next up: Guarded by storm troopers

Another piece of concept art released in February 2016. Storm troopers will, apparently, be scattered throughout the lands.

In another piece of concept art released in February 2016, you can get a sense of the scale of the land. Note how the young visitor in Mouse ears is dwarfed by the ship. Is that the Millennium Falcon?

The temporary Star Wars Launch Bay exhibits opened in California and Florida with the release of the new Star Wars movie in December 2015. They will likely remain open until the permanent Star Wars lands open.

As part of Season of the Force, Space Mountain at Disneyland has been re-themed to Star Wars. For a limited time, the classic ride is featuring new digital projections, new effects, and enhanced onboard audio.

Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the new Star War lands at the 2015 D23 Expo. He and his team also made a bunch of other park announcements at the event, including:

New Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios - A Slinky Dog coaster, alien saucers ride, and an expanded Toy Story Mania! are coming.
Pandora – The World of Avatar - More info was released about the new land coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom.
Soarin’ Around the World - Instead of sticking with California, the fabulous Soarin' ride will take off to locations far and wide starting in 2016.

Just Top 10

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