Stefan Eriksson

Bo Stefan M. Eriksson (born December 14, 1961) is a Swedish criminal from Uppsala involved in the UK gaming company Gizmondo with his business partner Carl Freer, until it became insolvent in 2005. In February 2006, he became known for wrecking a Ferrari Enzo in Malibu, California, USA. He was the leader of the loose criminal organization "Uppsalamaffian" (The Uppsala mafia) until he began to develop the Gizmondo.

Eriksson became known by the Swedish police as Tjock-Steffe ("Fat Steve") or, The Banker, by the local mob in the city of Uppsala, roughly 60 km north of . An auto body shop worker, he started his criminal career with thefts and a three-month prison term in 1981, followed in 1988 by another term of 3½ years for cocaine and arms-related convictions.

In the early 90s, Eriksson became the head of a group the Swedish press dubbed Uppsalamaffian (the "Uppsala mafia" or "Uppsala mob"), which was responsible for high-profile, violent crimes that were rarely seen in the country. Known as a playboy, he often showed off a 1,200 horsepower (890 kW), 63' Sea Ray offshore race boat, with a top speed of 56 knots (64 mph; 104 km/h). He named it Snövit (Snow White), and docked it on a small river in downtown Uppsala. He was also seen driving a Mercedes SL with the license plate reading "GEO" (in Swedish, it is pronounced similar to the Cuban slang llello for cocaine, used by Al Pacino in the 1983 movie Scarface.) With a legal front Kanoninkasso ("Cannon debt collectors"), the group collected debts using threats and violence. Establishing a reputation, they started to dress in expensive suits and hold "business meetings" in exclusive Stockholm hotels. Attempting to defraud the Swedish Bank Giro Central of 22 million kronor, Eriksson and Peter Uf, the other future executive of Gizmondo, were found guilty of fraud and counterfeiting. In 1993 and 1994, Eriksson was sentenced to ten years in prison, though he only served half his sentence. Court documents show Eriksson and a partner broke into a man's home, destroyed his property, and punched him repeatedly in the face. Eriksson also held a knife to the man's throat, threatened to cut off his fingers, and finally shoved a gun into the man's mouth. The Swedish police had great difficulty finding people who dared to testify, and the head witness later survived two bomb attacks.

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