{"id":201296,"date":"2022-02-11T09:11:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T17:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=201296"},"modified":"2022-02-11T13:26:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T21:26:53","slug":"turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish Gangster Detained in Northern Cyprus Casino Owner Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkish police have arrested a notorious gangster in relation to the Feb. 8 assassination of a Turkish Cypriot casino<\/a> owner who himself had links to organized crime.<\/p>\n

\"Halil
Casino owner and underworld figure Halil Falyal\u0131, above, was gunned down in his car on Feb. 8. (Image: Hurriyet Daily News<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Halil Falyal\u0131 was killed in a drive-by shooting when the motorcade he was traveling in was sprayed with bullets by unknown gunmen. This was as it entered the village of \u00c7atalk\u00f6y in the de facto state of Northern Cyprus. Falyal\u0131\u2019s driver, Murat Demirta\u015f, was also killed in the attack.<\/p>\n

According to the Demir\u00f6ren News Agency (DHA), police on the Turkish mainland have arrested five people in connection with the crime. Among them is Mustafa S\u00f6ylemez, leader of an infamous criminal organization known as the S\u00f6ylemez Brothers.<\/p>\n

Reign of Terror<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The gang achieved notoriety in the 1990s when it fought rival organizations for control of arms and drug trafficking in Turkey via a campaign of kidnap and murder. Many of its members, including Mustafa S\u00f6ylemez and his brother, Faysal, were arrested and imprisoned in 1996. Prosecutors said at the time that the gang was planning to attack a rival gang from a helicopter using flamethrowers.<\/p>\n

But the members were released in 2002 as part of a widespread amnesty designed to ease a prison overpopulation crisis that had sparked protests and hunger strikes among inmates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A warrant was issued for their rearrest in 2004, and the brothers fled to northern Iraq, and later Azerbaijan. Turkish media has expressed surprise at Mustafa S\u00f6ylemez\u2019s reappearance in Turkey.<\/p>\n

He was detained in Istanbul on Feb. 9.<\/p>\n

Who Was Halil Falyal\u0131?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Falyal\u0131 owned the five-star Les Ambassadeurs Hotel & Casino in Cyprus, as well as a slew of illegal online betting sites, according to Istanbul-based newspaper BirGun.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Turkey criminalized online gambling<\/a>, Northern Cyprus became a base for gaming sites illegally targeting the mainland, and Falyal\u0131 cashed in, BirGun<\/em> explained.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Falyal\u0131 was accused by the US government of being part of a heroin trafficking operation that was bringing drugs into the UK. A year later, he was charged with money laundering after washing the proceeds of drug sales in the US.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, he couldn\u2019t be extradited because the US does not recognize Northern Cyprus as an independent state.<\/p>\n

\n

Meanwhile, investigators are examining whether his death could be linked to the Jan. 28 killing of Safak Mahmutyazicioglu. The lawyer and former director of Turkish soccer giant Besiktas was gunned down in a seafood restaurant he owned in the Ye\u015filk\u00f6y district of Istanbul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

According to several reports in the Turkish media, Mahmutyazicioglu and Falyal\u0131 were partners in an online betting company.<\/p>\n

Mahmutyazicioglu was married to Ece Erken, a famous Turkish TV actress and presenter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkish police have arrested a notorious gangster in relation to the Feb. 8 assassination of a Turkish Cypriot casino owner who himself had links to organized crime. Halil Falyal\u0131 was killed in a drive-by shooting when the motorcade he was traveling in was sprayed with bullets by unknown gunmen. This was as it entered the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":201297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTurkish Gangster Detained in Northern Cyprus Casino Owner Murder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mustafa S\u00f6ylemez, leader of S\u00f6ylemez Brothers crime gang has been detained in Istanbul in connection with Halil Falyal\u0131 killing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turkish Gangster Detained in Northern Cyprus Casino Owner Murder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mustafa S\u00f6ylemez, leader of S\u00f6ylemez Brothers crime gang has been detained in Istanbul in connection with Halil Falyal\u0131 killing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-11T17:11:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-11T21:26:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/halil.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/\",\"name\":\"Turkish Gangster Detained in Northern Cyprus Casino Owner Murder\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/halil.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-11T17:11:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-11T21:26:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Mustafa S\u00f6ylemez, leader of S\u00f6ylemez Brothers crime gang has been detained in Istanbul in connection with Halil Falyal\u0131 killing.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/turkish-gangster-detained-in-northern-cyprus-casino-owner-murder\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/halil.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/halil.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Casino owner and underworld figure Halil Falyal\u0131, above, was gunned down in his car on February 8. 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