Great crimes by Telugu biddas against defenseless Telugus are not new in America.
Long before the world woke up to the name of the Vennas’ murderer Raghunandan Yandamuri, there was the notorious Lakireddy Bali Reddy of Berkeley, California.
Raghunandan Yandamuri was still in high school in Andhra Pradesh when Lakireddy Bali Reddy was committing horrific crimes against young Telugu girls in California.
For 13 years, sex slaver Lakireddy Bali Reddy’s reputation as the worst Telugu bidda in North America remained unchallenged.
Until Raghunandan Yandamuri emerged from obscurity on October 26, 2012 and dethroned Lakireddy Bali Reddy as the worst Telugu criminal in America.
Lakireddy Bali Reddy
(Source: Government Records)
Lakireddy was a savage beast, the metaphorical father of Raghunandan Yandamuri.
Except for one key difference.
Lakireddy was filthy rich, a multi-millionaire when he was arrested while Raghunandan Yandamuri was dirt poor at the time of his arrest for the murders of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi Venna.
And the money made all the difference in helping Lakireddy to get off easily.
For his horrific crimes, Lakireddy spent a mere 8-years in prison while Raghunandan Yandamuri will never leave prison except in a box.
Who is Lakireddy Bali Reddy?
Lakireddy was born in Velvadam village, Mylavaram Mandal of Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh on May 20, 1937.
After completing his B.Sc and B. Tech., from Osmania University, Lakireddy, like countless Telugus since, moved to America.
Lakireddy joined the University of California at Berkeley in 1960 and finished his MS in Chemical Engineering.
The lure of America proved irresistible and Lakirredy Bali Reddy made the U.S. his home.
Lakireddy settled in Amreeka and after a stint in the corporate sector he turned into an entrepreneur, venturing into the Indian restaurant business and subsequently forayed into real estate by buying up apartments and renting them out.
Even as Lakireddy was building his wealth, on the side he was also quietly sexploiting the poor, young Telugu girls he imported from Andhra Pradesh.
Until November 24, 1999, life went swimmingly well for Lakireddy (who was by then a millionaire many times over).
On that fateful Wednesday in November 1999, Lakireddy’s crimes were exposed when a poor Telugu girl Chanti Prattipati died of carbon monoxide poisoning in one of his badly-maintained apartments.
Lakireddy’s life unraveled after the death of 17-year-old Chanti Prattipati.
Lakireddy would have got away but his goose was cooked thanks to the alertness and persistence of a passerby, Marcia Poole.
After a string of lies, arrests of Lakireddy and some of his family members and a long court trial, Lakireddy finally pleaded guilty on March 7, 2001 to trafficking women and girls into the United States to place them in sexual servitude.
U.S. Justice Department documents show that Lakireddy Bali Reddy pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Oakland to an information charging him with transporting minors for illegal sexual activity, conspiring to commit immigration fraud, and subscribing to a false tax return.
Although Lakireddy Bali Reddy faced a statutory maximum sentence of 38 years incarceration, the great tragedy was that he did just 8-years in prison.
Lakireddy also agreed to pay $2 million restitution to the victims as part of a plea agreement.
U.S. Justice Department on Lakireddy Bali Reddy
In 1999, Berkeley authorities who were called to one of Lakireddy Bali Reddy’s apartment buildings discovered two Indian girls who were unconscious, apparently sickened by carbon monoxide in the building. One of them later died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
A subsequent federal investigation revealed that Reddy, certain family members, and others had been carrying out a widespread conspiracy since 1986 to bring at least 25 Indian laborers into the United States through false pretenses.
In addition, Lakireddy Bali Reddy arranged for a brother and sister to enter the United States while pretending to be husband and wife. At Reddy’s direction, these siblings also brought two girls – posing as their daughters – into the United States for the purpose of engaging in sexual relations with him. In another incident in 1993, Lakireddy Bali Reddy brought into the United States a 13-year-old girl from India for the purpose of sexual relations.
“Sex trafficking of minors is a heinous form of modern-day slavery,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General William Yeomans of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We must work together to protect these most vulnerable victims and do everything we can to stop it.”
The case was investigated by the INS, FBI, IRS, Department of Labor, and Berkeley Police Department and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of California and the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The victims in this case were represented by the ACLU Immigrant’s Rights Project
Federal Bureau of Prisons records show Lakireddy Bali Reddy was released from prison on April 2, 2008.
After his release from prison in 2008, Lakireddy Bali Reddy was compelled to register as a sex offender in California.
Court records show Lakireddy Bali Reddy is still in Berkeley, California in luxury while Raghunandan Yandamuri languishes in Montgomery County, PA prison awaiting his arraignment on January 16, 2013.
Related Content:
* Background of Lakkireddy Case
* How an infamous Berkeley human trafficking case fueled reform
* Lakireddy Bali Reddy Prison Record
Raghunandan Yandamuri Dethrones Sex Slaver Lakireddy Bali Reddy as Kingfish of Notorious Telugu Criminals in America added by SearchIndia.com on
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Is Lakireddy the kingfish you are talking about?
Never heard of him because there was no SI in 2001.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Yes, Lakireddy was the Kingfish I was talking about yesterday.
The incident happened in late 1999 and was widely covered in the media.
Perhaps, you were still in Mera Bharat Mahaan then.
No, I was here.. was very near you in 1999.
Now one of the links jogged my memory.
I had heard of “Pasand” and the owner’s notoriety.
We used to avoid going to Pasand because of that.
But didn’t know much details like the creep’s name.
And I had completely forgotten about him and the case. His name doesn’t have a “RA” though..
I should also say that I hadn’t heard of wikipedia in 2001 either.. it was still in its infancy.
I am not sure if he would enjoy this renewed attention given by SI or feel humiliated.
I hope it is the latter.
Why did they let him so fast.
What happened to the white house petitioners?!!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: Why did they let him so fast.
When you have millions, you can do a lot of mysterious things! 🙁
2. The White House Petition fizzled out:
Source: White House site @ https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/justice-vennas-family-death-penalty-raghu-yandamuri-usa-itself/01HZFLhB
I was wondering if there was a petition against Lakireddy.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
I doubt it.
Those days the Internet to a large degree still meant AOL or A-O-Hell, as we liked to call it because of difficulties in connecting.
Wow! Amazing that he only served 8 years.
Why did you think RY dethrones LBR? RY now seems like a petty criminal for something he did in haste.
LBR’s seems like more planned execution carried over several years.
“Women Against Sexual Slavery (WASS) was founded in June 2000 by Diana Russell and B.J.Miller to educate the public and mobilize protest against wealthy Indian-American Berkeley landlord Lakireddy Bali Reddy, 62 and other members of his criminal family….the original group that had tried to abduct the girls started reappearing as if they had just happened upon the scene in passing. Poole gave the police a full account of what she had witnessed but, incredibly, the police decided that nothing was amiss…..”
The heck, didn’t think we need to set up an organization in the US to do the job of the police or is it that LBR had bribed the local police enough (reminds of Gus from the Breaking Bad) ?! On the other hand, I really admire Diana Russell and B. J. Miller for what they did. And the guts of Marcia Poole to confront the kidnappers.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write: Why did you think RY dethrones LBR?
1. Poorly executed or hastily executed, Raghunandan Yandamuri’s direct actions led to two deaths.
2. The death in the Lakireddy case was due to CO poisoning due to poor building maintenance. Lakkireddy was not charged for murder.
Deplorable, am surprised that there was not a link drawn between CO leaks (60 odd leaks are far too many over a continued period of time to be a co-incidence) and murder charge.
Wonder what his other 2 establishments are, other than Pasand (which according to Yelp is now closed) perhaps opened under a new owner and a different name!
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Lakkireddy Bali Reddy had/has far too much money, not good for the healthy functioning of the justice system.
His main business now is apartment rentals although I hear he has some Indian restaurants too.
He’s been traveling around……I’ve seen his applications to the court to be allowed to travel to Egypt and India.
Geez, there’s an engineering college
http://www.lbrce.ac.in/chairman.html
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Wonder what they teach there? 😉
Hello admin,
I’m from Andhra.
Whatever the situtaion, you tries to bring ‘Allu Arjun’ and says he’s superstar of Andhra.
FYI he’s neither superstar or big star of andhra, he’s just a regular hero.
Also, you says we eat lot of biryani (sometimes only biryani), but you must know it’s speciality of only Hyderabad city.
Andhra Pradesh people has wide variety of foods.
Please consider follow telugu people’s feeling when you are writing any articles. God bless you.
Thanks,
Ashok.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: you tries to bring ‘Allu Arjun’ and says he’s superstar of Andhra. FYI he’s neither superstar or big star of andhra, he’s just a regular hero.
Why you telling Allu Arjun not Telugu superstar?
Allu dancing so nicely…sometimes he dance lifting both leg same time. That time, Allu Arjun look so good with both leg in air.
Even Tamil
superstarmegastar Vijay can no dance both leg in air at same time.I thinking you really Nagarjuna fan. But he too aged now, hair dyeing and acting with old aunties like Anushka Shetty.
Superstar Allu Arjun acting with young Bombay chickens like Tamanna.
But pl you have some nice feeling for all Arjun fans like me.
We hurting badly wen u saying Allu Arjun no super star but just “regular hero.”
I says Allu Arjun is Arjun for All.
2. You write: Also, you says we eat lot of biryani
I also eats lot of Biryanis, Dumb Biryani I liking too much.
Gutti Vankaya I enjoying but only winter time. But Gongura Chicken I eats in summer and winter and monsoon time 2 times a day.
Lord Balaji of Seven Hills bless you also.
A spirited reply from SI… finally! 😀
Dear SI,
Ageing is a natural process. Nagarjuna was a good looking hero during his 20/30s. I am sure he is way better looking than tamil film industry heroes like Vijaykanth, Partiban, Rajendran etc. Your dislike for the Telugu folks is evident and that is ok. What can we do? Folks like LBR and RY are making us hang our heads in shame. Another unfortunate thing is Telugu folks are also suffering from accidental deaths; in the last 3/4 years, more than 20 Telugu folks died because of road accidents in US.
PS: I agree that Telugu folks should learn from Tamilians. My former employer (Mr. ****** Raghavan) was from Tamil nadu, he had a few issues with his company: labor audit, tax reviews, a few H1B rejections. Over one weekend, he suddenly absconded to India by taking away funds. We managed to trace his address and went to Madras but learnt that he sold his home and moved else where. Guess, we need to learn that knack of “getting away” from our neighbors.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write: I agree that Telugu folks should learn from Tamilians….Guess, we need to learn that knack of “getting away” from our neighbors.
You seem to be suggesting Tamils are smarter crooks because they have a knack of “getting away” (your words).
Sweetie, is that smart crook envy I see? 😉
2. No, I don’t dislike Telugus.
As I wrote a few months back, manam andaram teluguvalleme (we’re all Telugus in the JFK sense of Ich bin ein Berliner).
3. You write: Nagarjuna was a good looking hero during his 20/30s. I am sure he is way better looking than Tamil film industry heroes like Vijaykanth, Partiban, Rajendran etc.
I’m with you on this, sweetie.
Any time I look at Vijay, Simbhu, Vombhu, Kombhu, Jiiva, Maava, Kovva, Vishal, Pissall I get the black dog that stubbornly lasts for at least six months!
Your timing of this quote – Ich bin ein Berliner is very interesting.
JFK made this comment exactly on this day June 26th 1963 at Berlin.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Sweetie, here’s the YouTube version of Ich bin ein Berliner – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH6nQhss4Yc
Great!
This is an interesting piece of comment I missed to read.
What was the background of this “Ich bin ein Berliner”? I looked at Wikipedia, but still think in the words of SIkipedia it could be better 😉
SI !?!?!
I was expecting an explanation 🙁
SearchIndia.com Responds:
In short, a sense of Identification with those in trouble/Victims.
Empathy!
Honestly, SI should give some more coverage on Tamil crimes / Mallu crimes in Amreeka
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Not many Tamils, these days.
It’s the Telugu Rajyam, be it in IT, restaurants, movie screenings, SEX CRIMES or MURDERS!