Petru Ionuț
Petru Ionuț | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 7 April 1980 |
| Died | 21 August 2024 (aged 44) |
| Cause of death | Gunshot and stab wounds |
| Other names | King of Roulette |
| Occupation | Casino operator |
| Years active | 1998–2024 |
| Organization | Bucharest Butchers |
| Known for | Command of Bucharest Butchers operations in California |
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
| Title | Legion Commander |
| Partner | Silvia Wilson (February 2022–2024) |
| Children | 1 |
| Parent(s) | Dumitru Ionuț and Lorena Cingolani |
| Relatives | Iakob Ionuț (brother) |
Petru Ionuț (7 April 1980 – 21 August 2024), also known as the King of Roulette, was a Romanian organized crime figure and senior member of the Bucharest Butchers. He entered the organization in 1998 and initially managed illegal gambling operations in Bucharest. In 2006, he murdered Tiberiu Pintăreanu after Pintăreanu attempted to withdraw his support from Snubable Enterprise.
In 2013, Petru was sent to Hollywood, Los Angeles, to take control of the Bucharest Butchers' operations in California. He expanded the organization beyond Los Angeles and, by late 2023, exercised final authority over its operations in every county of the state. His Hollywood casino, opened in 2019, served as his residence and headquarters and generated approximately $800,000 per month. Petru became the only high-ranking Bucharest Butchers member to openly oppose its central leadership when he refused to surrender his California authority to Marku Ionuț and the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen in 2024. He survived an assassination attempt on 18 June before being killed by his brother, Iakob Ionuț, inside the casino on 21 August 2024.
Early life
Petru Ionuț was born on 7 April 1980 in Bucharest, Romania. He and his brother Iakob Ionuț were the only children of Dumitru Ionuț and Lorena Cingolani, whom Dumitru never married. Dumitru Ionuț operated as a regional Bucharest Butchers controller and was involved in extortion, illegal gambling, and organized criminal enforcement.
In 1989, while Petru and Iakob were still children, Dumitru killed Lorena by strangling her inside the family home. Petru and Iakob witnessed the killing. Dumitru then disposed of her body in the Argeș River. The event became the defining experience of Petru's childhood and marked the point at which he was raised entirely under his father's authority.
Petru did not attend school. From 1990 onward, Dumitru raised him inside the Bucharest Butchers and taught him how to operate in the organization. Petru's first regular work was around gambling operations, where he watched games, kept order, and removed disruptive players when needed.
Petru learned quickly and was often used to oversee gambling rooms while still young. Unlike Iakob, who developed mainly as an enforcer, Petru was taught to handle games, cash, disputes, and discipline. By the late 1990s, Dumitru and other Bucharest Butchers members were preparing him for a larger role.
Career
Petru Ionuț became a formal member of the Bucharest Butchers in 1998. He was initially placed in gambling rooms controlled by his father, Dumitru Ionuț. Petru watched the games, handled disputes and removed customers who refused to follow the house rules. He later began collecting the daily takings and enforcing payment from gamblers who owed money.
During the early 2000s, Petru was entrusted with gambling rooms without Dumitru being present. He supervised the employees, checked the amount collected at the end of each day and directed reprisals against debtors. By 2004, he controlled several gambling locations in Bucharest and reported their income directly to senior Bucharest Butchers members.
In early June 2006, Richard Rambam ordered the killing of Tiberiu Pintăreanu. Pintăreanu had helped Snubable Enterprise obtain land and administrative protection through his office as vice president of the Ilfov County Council, but had begun withdrawing from the enterprise during the previous year. Rambam regarded his withdrawal as a security risk and referred the matter to the Bucharest Butchers. Petru was assigned to carry out the killing.
On 12 June, Petru waited near Pintăreanu's office in Bucharest while Pintăreanu completed his normal working day. At approximately 6:32 p.m., Pintăreanu left through a side exit and walked towards his car. Petru approached him on foot and fired multiple shots at close range, striking him in the upper chest and neck. Pintăreanu collapsed beside the driver's door and died at the scene. Petru left before emergency personnel arrived. The killing was Petru's first documented murder.
Florin Ionuț replaced Pintăreanu as vice president of the Ilfov County Council on 13 June 2006. Florin continued approving the land access and administrative arrangements required by Snubable Enterprise. Petru's successful completion of the assassination resulted in further assignments against people considered threats to Bucharest Butchers interests.
Petru retained control of his gambling rooms after the assassination. He continued collecting their income and personally intervened when employees withheld money or debtors refused payment. By the early 2010s, he had been promoted to Legion Commander.
California operations
In 2013, Andrei Ionuț ordered the transfer of the Bucharest Butchers operations in California from Emil Mătăsăreanu to Petru Ionuț. Petru and Iakob Ionuț travelled to Hollywood, Los Angeles, to assume command of the structure Mătăsăreanu had established in 1999. The California state government and the governor's office had been informed of the transfer before their arrival. Petru nevertheless met the officials and intermediaries who had dealt with Mătăsăreanu, introduced himself as the new authority and explained how payments and protection would operate under his command. After the brothers arrived in Hollywood, Iakob entered the residence of Larry Phillips Jr. and strangled him with a wire. Phillips had cooperated with Mătăsăreanu but had never been admitted as a formal member of the Bucharest Butchers. His killing removed a possible challenge to the transfer and secured Iakob's position as Petru's second-in-command.
Petru first consolidated control over Hollywood and then extended his authority across Los Angeles. He required existing members and business operators to report their earnings through accounts controlled by him. Political payments and territorial changes also required his approval. Iakob enforced these decisions and removed people who resisted the transfer. During 2014, Petru personally established the terms under which officials and regulatory intermediaries would protect his properties. By the end of the year, he had replaced Mătăsăreanu as the principal Bucharest Butchers authority in Los Angeles.
In 2015, Petru and Iakob established a regular supply arrangement with gun dealer Soufian Schwein. Petru used income from gambling to finance expansion outside Los Angeles. Local controllers were placed under his authority in additional parts of California and were required to transfer part of their earnings to him. Petru allowed them to manage daily activity, but retained final authority over territorial disputes and major acts of enforcement. His refusal to permit independent local commands gradually brought the organization's operations in different counties under a single structure.
Petru opened his largest casino complex on elevated ground outside Hollywood in 2019. The building contained public gaming floors, restricted high-stakes rooms and offices used to administer his California operations. Secured service corridors connected these areas to a parking structure and an underground garage. Several private penthouses occupied the upper levels. Petru lived in the largest penthouse on the highest level, which he also used for private gambling sessions and meetings. By 2020, the casino had become his headquarters in the United States, and major financial, political and enforcement decisions across his California network required his approval.
Petru was especially associated with a rigged roulette game that he called Romanian Roulette. A concealed mechanism allowed the house dealer to force the ball onto the number 8 after Petru gave a visual signal. His repeated use of the game led to the nickname King of Roulette. By late 2023, Petru exercised final authority over Bucharest Butchers operations in every county of California through local controllers, protected businesses and political intermediaries. His casino generated approximately $800,000 per month, and he continued to inspect its gaming floors, counting rooms and vehicle entrances without notice. His main subordinates included Iakob as second-in-command and Ruben Istrate as a lieutenant. Matteo Bazzani worked as a close associate, while Schwein remained Petru's principal external weapons supplier. In late 2023, Petru purchased a second residence in Morrison, Tennessee, without informing the central leadership of the Bucharest Butchers.
Personal life
Petru Ionuț entered into a relationship in February 2022 with Silvia Wilson, a Romanian-American casino employee whose mother was Romanian. Wilson worked in Petru's Hollywood casino as a house dealer and was repeatedly assigned to the roulette tables he favored.
Petru required Wilson to act as the house dealer whenever he played Romanian Roulette in the main casino. Wilson was later also required to work the private roulette sessions held in Petru's penthouse above the casino.
At first, Wilson did not like Petru and was unsettled by his behavior and emotional distance. Over time, repeated contact on the casino floor and in the penthouse games led to regular conversation, and their relationship became personal in early 2022.
In autumn 2023, Wilson told Petru that her younger sister Sonia Wilson had failed university coursework after refusing to submit a required paper supporting material on gender transition and gender identity policy. Wilson did not expect Petru to intervene directly. Petru went to the university with Ruben Istrate and Iakob Ionuț, drawing attention because Iakob and Ruben accompanied him.
Petru went directly to the university director's office. He grabbed the director, forced him across the desk, and threatened to kill him if Sonia was not allowed to pass. After the director tried to report the assault to police, Petru used threats and criminal pressure to stop the complaint. The director was warned that if he mentioned the incident again, he would be imprisoned through Petru's contacts. Sonia was then passed by the university.
By 2024, Wilson was one of the few people with direct access to both Petru's public routines and his private upper-level living space. She later became pregnant with his child, although she did not tell him immediately.
Break with the organization
In early 2024, Soufian Schwein, the gun dealer who had supplied Petru and Iakob Ionuț since 2015, was killed by Iakob. Petru was not told that Iakob had done it and believed that Schwein had disappeared. Petru noticed his absence because Schwein had been his main source for weapons.
During the same period, Petru opposed the direction of the Bucharest Butchers, especially the plans supported by Marku Ionuț for closer alignment with the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen and for the use of Petru's California operation as a base for wider activity. Petru refused to hand over authority, money, territory, or facilities connected to his command in Los Angeles.
This conflict made him the only high-ranking Bucharest Butchers member to openly resist the organization while still controlling one of its most profitable overseas branches.
In early 2024, Petru attended restricted meetings involving Marku Ionuț, Bucharest Butchers intermediaries, senior figures of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen, and Julián Serrano, the Governor of California. These meetings covered shared logistics, political protection, overseas infrastructure, and the integration of Bucharest Butchers operations with Tanoa-backed plans.
During these meetings, Petru witnessed ritual activity, elite social gatherings, and planning tied to the Tanoa network. The plans included using California for underground construction, controlled transport, international movement, and high-security protected facilities. Petru regarded them as a break from the operation he had built in Hollywood.
Petru also saw Governor Serrano taking part in the rituals conducted during the meetings. He later learned that Serrano had regularly traveled to Tanoa for sex tourism and had become deeply involved with Tanoa-linked circles.
Two weeks after one of the final meetings, Petru went to the governor's office and strangled Serrano without saying anything. After Serrano's death, Petru arranged for Adrian Salcedo to take over the political contacts that had previously answered to Serrano. Salcedo did not allow Marku Ionuț to establish the trafficking network he wanted to build in California.
The Tanoa-linked trafficking plans were still incomplete when Petru died. After the collapse of the Tanoa Einsatzgruppen in November 2024, the project did not continue.
Final months and death
In March 2024, Petru Ionuț returned to Romania for the last time. During this visit, he confronted Marku Ionuț in Bucharest and rejected any transfer of authority or assets from his California operations.
During the same trip, Petru traveled with Ruben Istrate to the house of his retired father, Dumitru Ionuț. When they arrived, Petru told Ruben to remain in the vehicle and said, "If anything but me walks out that front door, you drive, and keep driving."
Petru then entered the house alone. Security camera footage from inside the property showed him sitting with Dumitru in the kitchen. Dumitru at first acted normally, then tried to strike Petru in the back of the head with a pan. Petru reacted immediately and struggled with him. During the fight, Dumitru tried to reach a knife, but Petru knocked it from his hand and overpowered him.
Once Dumitru had been forced to the floor, Petru pinned him down and repeatedly struck him in the face while shouting, "She didn't do anything wrong!" He kept repeating the phrase while continuing the assault. Petru did not stop until Dumitru was dead. By the time he stood up, Dumitru's face was no longer recognizable.
Petru then walked out of the house covered in blood. Ruben later stated that Petru said nothing. The two left the property and returned to Los Angeles later the same day.
The next day, Iakob Ionuț entered the house and found Dumitru dead in the kitchen. He was visibly angry when he saw the condition of the body. After viewing the internal security footage and confirming that Petru had carried out the killing, Iakob did not delete the footage. He left the house immediately and tried to locate Petru, but was unable to find him. The killing of their father strengthened Iakob's decision to act against Petru later that year.
On 18 June 2024, Marku Ionuț sent Valeriu Petrescu, the son of Dorin Petrescu, to Hollywood, Los Angeles, with orders to kill Petru and abduct Silvia Wilson. The order followed Petru's refusal to surrender his California operation and Marku's earlier contact with Wilson during a visit to Hollywood.
The ambush took place inside Petru's penthouse above his Hollywood casino. Valeriu entered the penthouse from behind Petru, jumped onto him, and forced him to the floor before Petru could react. During the struggle, Wilson struck Valeriu in the head with a glass bottle, stunning him and allowing Petru to force him off.
Valeriu then tried to draw a handgun. Petru kept closing distance to stop him from aiming it, and the gun fired once during the struggle, grazing Petru's shoulder. Petru knocked the weapon away and continued the fight by hand. He overpowered Valeriu, struck him repeatedly, drove his head against the edge of a table, and killed him after Valeriu fell to the floor and tried to stand again.
The gunshot was heard by Ruben Istrate, who was downstairs in the casino complex. Istrate went up to the penthouse armed with a gun and recognized Valeriu. He warned Petru that Marku's side would continue sending men after them. Petru and Istrate later moved Valeriu's body to a field outside the city. While searching Valeriu's jacket before burying him, they found a note stating that Wilson was to be brought alive and delivered personally to Marku. The note angered Petru, who stabbed Valeriu's face several times before the body was buried.
Valeriu's death increased Dorin Petrescu's loyalty to Marku. Marku promised Dorin revenge against Petru, while his own motive remained the failed attempt to take control of Petru's California operation.
On the night of 19 August 2024, Petru told Silvia Wilson and Ruben Istrate to leave Los Angeles for safety and go to his second house in Morrison, Tennessee, taking a large amount of cash that he gave them. During that final meeting, Silvia told Petru that she was pregnant. Ruben remained silent. Petru looked at her for several seconds, hugged her, and told her in Romanian that everything would be all right. Silvia and Ruben then left for Tennessee.
On 20 August 2024, Petru ordered that the casino would not open and sent personnel home. Security footage from that day showed that he spoke to no one. At 3:18 p.m., he was seen standing alone on a bridge near the casino, looking out in silence before throwing down his cigar and walking away. At 4:07 p.m., he was recorded standing in front of a church near the district, remaining there for several minutes without entering. He then returned to the casino penthouse. No guards or staff remained in the building that night.
On 21 August 2024, Petru Ionuț spent most of the day alone inside the casino complex. The building remained closed and largely empty. Security systems recorded no visitors until late that evening.
At 10:41 p.m., Iakob Ionuț entered the building. At 10:44 p.m., Petru and Iakob saw each other in the main hall of the casino. Both drew their weapons immediately. Petru was armed with a revolver and Iakob with a pistol. No words were exchanged.
At 10:44 p.m. and 38 seconds, both men opened fire. Between 10:44 p.m. and 10:46 p.m., they exchanged gunfire across the main hall and adjacent corridor entrances. Petru then fell back after emptying the ammunition in his revolver.
At 10:47 p.m., Petru took cover around a corner and waited for Iakob to advance. As Iakob entered the corridor, Petru rushed him, hit the pistol out of his hand, and forced him into hand-to-hand combat. At 10:48 p.m., Petru threw Iakob into a slot machine and continued hitting him. The fight then moved back into the main hall, where Petru landed harder blows and showed that he was physically stronger.
At 10:49 p.m., the two men entered a close wrestle. During the struggle, Iakob pulled out a gold-colored switchblade and stabbed Petru seven times in the chest and stomach. Petru stepped back, maintained eye contact with his brother, and dropped to his knees.
At 10:50 p.m., Iakob moved into an adjoining room, recovered his pistol, returned to the hall, and fired a full magazine into Petru at close range. Petru died at the scene.
At 10:52 p.m., Iakob left the building. He then traveled to Los Angeles International Airport. At 11:37 p.m., he telephoned Marku Ionuț and informed him that the job had been completed.
Legacy
Petru Ionuț's death ended the most powerful overseas command controlled by the Bucharest Butchers. The loss of his California network weakened the organization financially and disrupted one of its main external centers for revenue, laundering, and political influence.
His career was defined by his long service as a Bucharest Butchers commander and his final rejection of the organization's direction in 2024. His death also ended the Hollywood operation as a base under his personal authority.