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Sunday 28 February 2010

cocaine-trafficking Seven Deuce Mob had been operating in Pierce County for several years.

Posted On 11:25 0 comments

cocaine-trafficking Seven Deuce Mob had been operating in Pierce County for several years. Tacoma police first noticed the gang in 1999 after a 23-year-old member of the gang was killed in an East Side Tacoma apartment.After a nine-month investigation by the task force, 10 people associated with the gang were prosecuted in federal court in 2004 for conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, distribution of cocaine and possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. All were convicted.
“That gang has basically not reformed to any degree,” Bakken said.As part of an agreement, one of the members of the Seven Deuce Mob pleaded guilty to killing Brock. The teen had been standing among a group of rival gang members when members of the Seven Deuce Mob drove by.Lionel Irving had long been suspected in Brock’s slaying. He told investigators he fired several shots at the group. Brock, who was not the intended target, was hit and later died. A 17-year-old boy also was struck.Irving, who pleaded guilty to drug charges associated with the conspiracy case and to first-degree manslaughter, was sentenced to 12 years, three months in prison.When the Justice Department grant money ran out in 2005, the FBI started funding gang task forces throughout the country. Tacoma was picked again. Now, the FBI funds the task force as part of the national Safe Streets Violent Crime Initiative.
The law enforcement agencies represented on the task force pay the salaries and benefits of their investigators. The federal money pays for overtime, some equipment and occasional training.In 2008, the task force changed its name to the South Sound Gang Task Force and turned its attention to suspected gang members and gangs causing the biggest threats to public safety.“There are certain people within each gang who are more prone to (shooting),” Bakken said.The task force tends to focus on gang violence.
“Our focus isn’t on the big drug dealers,” said Tacoma police detective John Ringer, who’s been assigned to the task force since its inception. “We are more focused on the guys packing the guns and doing the shootings.”


Saturday 27 February 2010

Jennifer Tafolla, 22, Richard Rolon, 23, and Cesar Lopez, 22 accused of killing 57-year-old Maria Hicks of Pico Rivera.

Posted On 10:24 0 comments


judge ruled Friday there was enough evidence to try three people for the Aug. 10, 2007 fatal shooting of a grandmother who tried to stop one of them from tagging a wall.The preliminary hearing for Jennifer Tafolla, 22, Richard Rolon, 23, and Cesar Lopez, 22, ended Friday at Norwalk Superior Court.They're accused of killing 57-year-old Maria Hicks of Pico Rivera.Judge Dewey Falcone denied the defense's motion to dismiss charges of murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, conspiracy to commit a crime and street terrorism.He also found true the allegation that the crimes were committed for the benefit of a Pico Rivera-based street gang called Brown Authority.
Falcone ordered Tafolla, Rolon and Lopez to return to court March 15 for an arraignment. He kept their bail at $4,070,000 each.The fourth defendant and alleged shooter, Angel Rojas, 18, wasn't part of the hearing.Deputy District Attorney Mike Enomoto said Rojas has a March 8 trial in another court to determine whether he is mentally competent.Hicks' brother, Ruben Quintero, attended the preliminary hearing, which lasted three days."We're completely satisfied the District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Department are doing an excellent job," Quintero said.
"We're just looking forward to the trial."The four defendants belong to Brown Authority, according to sheriff's detectives.
The prosecution alleges that on Aug. 10, 2007, the suspects decided to tag a wall because it bore another group's graffiti.Tafolla was driving her aunt's Lincoln Continental and her passengers included Lopez, Rolon, Rolon's friend, her cousin Rojas, and her 13- and 14-year-old cousins.
The younger cousins weren't gang members at the time and Rolon's friend was a member of a Los Angeles street gang.The suspects' paths crossed Hicks at San Gabriel River Parkway and Woodford
Rolon allegedly ordered Lopez to scrawl over the other group's graffiti on the wall. Lopez told homicide investigators he didn't want to, then Rojas ordered him to tag the wall or said he would do it himself. Lopez also saw Rojas had a gun.Hicks was on her way home when she spotted Lopez allegedly spray painting the wall. She stopped her Honda Element, honked her horn and flashed her headlights.She followed Lopez when he started walking away.The Lincoln drove around the area and returned to Woodford Street. Rojas exited and allegedly fired several times at the Honda Element.One round hit Hicks in the head. She died three days later.
"This is an incident that is absolutely tragic," said Tafolla's attorney, Jeffrey Kent.But he disagreed with the prosecution's argument that the defendants were on a mission to commit gang-related mayhem.He pointed out the car's occupants included two boys who weren't gang members and a teen who belonged to a Los Angeles gang which wasn't an ally nor enemy of Brown Authority.Kent said the tagging was a spontaneous incident and that Tafolla didn't know Rojas was carrying a gun.Lopez's lawyer, Grant Hoagland, said his client thought he would be alone with Tafolla on Aug. 10 and didn't anticipate committing any gang activity. He said Lopez was coerced to tag the wall and was shown a gun."He reluctantly got out of the car. He was angry he had to do this tagging," Hoagland said.Enomoto said there's no evidence Lopez was threatened with the gun.
He also countered the defense attorneys' argument that he didn't prove the charge of conspiracy."This is a gang crime," Enomoto said. He said it all stems from gang graffiti and a territorial dispute.


Timothy M. Schmitt, 27, links to the Chicago-based Almighty Latin Kings Nation

Posted On 10:12 0 comments


Timothy M. Schmitt, 27, links to the Chicago-based Almighty Latin Kings Nation street gang who is on parole for selling cocaine in Ottawa was picked up on a warrant Thursday in Ottawa.Ottawa police arrested Timothy M. Schmitt, 27, 819 Canal St., at his home on an Aurora police warrant for failure to appear in court there for traffic charges. Schmitt was taken to the La Salle County Jail about 1 p.m. He left a half hour later after posting $200 bond.Schmitt went to prison in January 2008 for selling cocaine for $100 to an undercover detective at the Blarney Pub in Ottawa. At that time he had an Aurora address. He was paroled Jan. 5, 2010, and is to remain on parole until Jan. 5, 2012. Schmitt had been to prison before and has other convictions for aggravated battery, aggravated fleeing of police and vehicle invasion in Kane County.
Police have identified Schmitt as a member of the Latin Kings. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Schmitt has tattoos indicating membership in the gang.


Dump Squad's Martin Manley sentenced to life in prison for murder.

Posted On 09:47 0 comments

Newport News street gang member has been sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Federal prosecutors say 22-year-old Martin Manley also was sentenced to 40 years on racketeering and firearms charges Friday.
Manley pleaded guilty in October racketeering conspiracy, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and using a firearm resulting in murder. The charges stem from a deadly shooting outside a Hampton club on Christmas Eve 2007.
As part of his plea, Manley admitted he was a member of the gang known as the Dump Squad. He was one of 11 people indicted in March on charges related to the Dump Squad's activities. Authorities contend the Newport News gang controlled neighborhoods through violence and intimidation.


Dump Squad's Martin Manley sentenced to life in prison for murder.

Posted On 09:47 0 comments

Newport News street gang member has been sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Federal prosecutors say 22-year-old Martin Manley also was sentenced to 40 years on racketeering and firearms charges Friday.
Manley pleaded guilty in October racketeering conspiracy, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and using a firearm resulting in murder. The charges stem from a deadly shooting outside a Hampton club on Christmas Eve 2007.
As part of his plea, Manley admitted he was a member of the gang known as the Dump Squad. He was one of 11 people indicted in March on charges related to the Dump Squad's activities. Authorities contend the Newport News gang controlled neighborhoods through violence and intimidation.


Friday 26 February 2010

Hmong Nation Society gang member known for the black Hummer he drives Kue, also known as "Bonez," was arrested

Posted On 14:38 0 comments

Jer Kue, also known as "Bonez," was arrested about 5:45 a.m. by the Yuba-Sutter Gang Task Force on suspicion of criminal street gang participation and child endangerment, said Mike Hudson, commander of the Yuba-Sutter Narcotic Enforcement Team, or NET-5. Hmong Nation Society gang member known for the black Hummer he drives was arrested early Thursday at his home in the 1400 block of Sicard Street in Marysville, a law enforcement official said.Officers found a loaded .45-caliber Glock handgun in a laundry basket within reach of Kue's four children, ages 5, 4, 2 and 9 months, said Hudson."Also found were numerous pictures of Hmong Nation Society gang members displaying gang signs and several pictures depicting children dressed in gang attire. One of the pictures even depicted an infant dressed in gang attire," Hudson said.
Kue is the brother of Pheng Kue, 14, who was convicted last year in Yuba County Superior Court of the 2008 murder of Raymond Castro in East Linda.Yuba County Child Protective Services released Kue's children to the custody of his wife. Kue was booked into Yuba County Jail, said Hudson.Because of numerous reports of Kue brandishing guns from the Hummer, the Yuba City Police Department SWAT team accompanied the task force. A double-barreled shotgun was also found at the home."The Hmong Nation Society gang is an extremely violent street gang operating primarily in Marysville and Yuba County. HNS gang members are involved in numerous violent crimes, including drive-by shootings and murder," Hudson said.
"It's disheartening anytime law enforcement comes across pictures depicting children as gang members. These kids don't know any better and don't realize the consequences of gang membership. It's either prison, an early death or — as most gang members come to find out — both," he said.

The Hmong Nation Society was originally formed from members of three different gang — the Oroville Mono Boys, the Asian Family Gangsters and the Pacific Lover Boys in the early-to-mid-1990s. The HNC has been documented by Yuba County since 1995, Hudson said.


Thursday 25 February 2010

Luis Aguilar and Cesar De la Cruz were named in a 2007 indictment against members of Florencia 13

Posted On 17:15 0 comments

Luis Aguilar and Cesar De la Cruz were named in a 2007 indictment against members of Florencia 13, a gang that terrorized residents and rivals in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood in unincorporated Los Angeles County, federal prosecutors said.Aguilar and De la Cruz were drug dealers for the gang and not involved in attacks against African Americans, said Kevin Rosenberg, an assistant U.S. attorney who helped prosecute the case in Orange County.De la Cruz's sentence calls for eight years of supervised release after completion of his prison term. Aguilar was sentenced to lifetime supervised release, Rosenberg said.Eight other gang members in the indictment were convicted last year.The indictment painted a chilling picture of unchecked violence in the working-class neighborhood. The gang targeted blacks, sometimes focusing on innocent citizens to send a message, prosecutors said.At times, authorities said, Florencia members took orders from the prison-based Mexican Mafia, a gang that exerts control over Latino street gangs in Southern California.


leader of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) in Texas and one of his enforcers were found guilty this afternoon on multiple charges

Posted On 17:10 0 comments

leader of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation (ALKQN) in Texas and one of his enforcers were found guilty this afternoon on multiple charges related to their participation in a large scale narcotics and firearms trafficking conspiracy, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer and U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas. Specifically, the two men were found guilty for their roles in the May 4, 2008, murders of a pregnant female and another bystander.
"Gunning down people in our streets and distributing illegal drugs throughout our communities, these gangs spread violence and addiction wherever they go," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. "We will not allow their repugnant acts to go unpunished. Today, a jury of Texas citizens sent a message loud and clear to would-be gang members — we can and we will hold you accountable for your crimes."
"For more than a week, this jury listened to testimony concerning the movement of a large amount of drugs and guns throughout the state of Texas by members of the Latin Kings criminal organization," said James T. Jacks, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. "Not only did this gang pollute the streets of Texas with dangerous drugs, as a result of their heinous actions, two adults, one of whom was pregnant, were brutally murdered with an assault rifle. We are proud that we, along with the hard-working members of the agencies that contributed to this investigation, have brought civilized justice to otherwise uncivilized gang wars. This office is proud to have assisted the Department of Justice's Gang Unit in the successful prosecution of these criminals."
Jose Robledo Nava, aka "Chino," 31, of Lubbock, Texas, and James Johnathan Cole, aka "Blitz," 19, of Lamesa, Texas, were each found guilty by a federal jury in Lubbock on two counts of using a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and one count of a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana. The jury also found Nava guilty on one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, one count of conspiracy to engage in the business of dealing in firearms and one count of possession of stolen firearms.
Nava and Cole were found guilty for their involvement in a drive-by shooting in Big Spring, Texas, on May 4, 2008, in which six people were shot with an AK-47 type rifle. According to the evidence presented at trial, the victims included Michael Cardona and Valeria Garcia, who was 26 weeks pregnant at the time of the shooting. Cardona and Garcia ultimately died as a result of their wounds. Evidence presented at trial proved that after the shootings, Nava ordered two of his co-conspirators to destroy the murder weapon.
According to evidence presented at trial, Nava was the Texas state enforcer and representative for the ALKQN. The jury found that Nava and Cole were members of a conspiracy that included Luis Nava, aka "Flaco;" Reynaldo Nava, aka "Rat;" Robert Allen Ramirez, aka "Nesyo;" Marie Chavez, aka "Shorty;" Carol Ann Rivas Nava; Cecily Dominique Juarez; Jesus Martinez, aka "Solid;" David Hellums, aka "Cutthroat;" Eduardo Daniel Mares, aka "Pitt;" Gabriel Lee Gonzales; Michael Conde, aka "Psycho;" John Guzman; Guerrero Olivas, aka "Screech;" Eliseo Perez, aka "Wicked;" Joe Canales, aka "Slick;" and others. The jury found that from 2001 until Dec. 13, 2008, Nava and Cole directly or indirectly agreed to distribute, and possessed with intent to distribute, cocaine and marijuana.
The defendants face a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set by the court.
The case was investigated by the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement and Coordination Center; the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; the FBI; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the El Paso Intelligence Center; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Texas Department of Public Safety; the Police Departments of Lubbock, Midland, Houston, San Antonio and Big Spring, Texas; the Lubbock County, Texas, Sheriff's Office; and the Howard County, Texas, District Attorney's Office.
Trial Attorneys Cody L. Skipper and Joseph A. Cooley of the Criminal Division's Gang Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Williams of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas prosecuted the case.


Valencia was crowned Colombia's Coffee Queen in 2000 and is believed to live in Argentina

Posted On 16:48 0 comments


An international arrest warrant has been issued for a Colombian beauty queen and lingerie model who police believe may have run a drug trafficking operation using models and beautiful women, according to British media.According to The Telegraph, 30-year-old Angie Sanselmente Valencia is wanted for using a squad of beautiful women as drug mules, transporting cocaine from South America to Europe.
Police said they discovered the operation when they arrested a 21-year-old woman carrying 55 kilos of cocaine at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza Airport, the newspaper said.


indictment says the Brighton Place Crips and the Northview Heights/Fineview Crips joined to protect their drug selling territory

Posted On 16:45 0 comments

Two men are still being sought: Phillip Turner, 21, and Teron Jenkins, no age available. Authorities believe they are still in the city. says the Brighton Place Crips and the Northview Heights/Fineview Crips joined to protect their drug selling territory, especially against a rival gang from Manchester. They engaged in robbery, attempted murder, assault and carjacking, and they kept people quiet with intimidation and threats of retaliation.The groups were organized to the point that they raised money for lawyers and bond for members in jail, while looking out for the families of the incarcerated.The indictment says the Brighton Place Crips formed in the early 1990s, continuing ever since, and controlled Morrison Street, Federal Street and Brighton Place. The Northview Heights group formed around 2001.
They formed an alliance within a year or two to expand their dealings in heroin, crack and cocaine and to keep out rivals, particularly the Manchester Original Gangsters, or OGs.The Crips wore blue shirts and tennis shoes, and some got tattoos saying "RIP Silk" in memory of William Thompson, slain in 2003 during North Side turf wars.They used stash houses, either vacant of occupied by women associates, to store guns and drugs.And the indictment lists examples of drive-by shootings and other crimes.
The investigation began in 2005 after a series of attempted murders, authorities said at a press conference today.One of the people charged, Arthur Davis, 22, of Shadeland Avenue, is accused of shooting at three rival gang members in 2005 and 2006. Karl Anger, 21, of Woodlow Street, is accused of shooting at an OG member at the direction of Crips member Robert Colbert, 28, of Summerdale Street.The gangs are being prosecuted under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act. They were investigated by city and county police, Allegheny County sheriff's office, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A roundup was conducted today by city and state police and federal marshals. Some of the suspects were already in jail.


Monday 22 February 2010

Terral Golden, 18, was found driving without a driver's license during a traffic stop

Posted On 15:00 0 comments

Admitted gang member was arrested Saturday afternoon after Salinas police allegedly found a loaded 9 mm semi automatic handgun hidden in the passenger compartment of the vehicle he was in during a traffic stop. Police pulled Terral Golden over for the traffic stop at about 4:50 p.m. at the intersection of North Main Street and East Bernal Drive. The 18-year-old man was driving without a license in his possession and officers allegedly saw marijuana inside the vehicle. During a subsequent search of the vehicle, officers found the handgun. Golden was booked into the county jail. Golden, 18, was found driving without a driver's license during a traffic stop at 4:50 p.m. near the intersection of North Main Street and Bernal Drive.During the stop, police said, officers saw a small amount of marijuana in the car. A 9 mm semi-automatic handgun was found in the passenger compartment during a subsequent search of the car, police said.Golden was booked in to the Monterey County Jail.


Sunday 21 February 2010

Lewis D. J. Johns-Davis, 20, is charged with one count of criminal conspiracy.

Posted On 12:33 0 comments

Lewis D. J. Johns-Davis, 20, is charged with one count of criminal conspiracy.
Pierce County Superior Court Commissioner Patrick Oishi ordered Johns-Davis jailed with bail set at $1 million. He is serving a prison sentence in another case, so he would not be released even if he could raise bail.He is one of 32 men charged last week as part of a case investigated by the South Sound Gang Task Force.Authorities say the gang is responsible for dozens of crimes – some of them violent – in and around Tacoma since 2008.Twenty-six of them have been arraigned. Of the remaining six, four are being transferred from state prisons to Pierce County to answer the charges, and two others remain at large.


Marcus Baily with a Mac-10

Posted On 11:23 0 comments


jailing Tobias Grant for 14 years and Tacumba Wheeler for eight, Judge Trevor Faber described it as a “wicked” weapon capable of causing mayhem and death.He told the defendants: “The public in the city of Birmingham and in particular those who live in Aston, Handsworth and Lozells, have the most grave concerns about the growth in the last few years of gun crime in those areas.“We all know of the tragic circumstances that have arisen in relation to those sorts of crimes in recent years.“You must understand substantial sentences of custody will follow, not only to punish you for your involvement with this wicked weapon and ammunition but to deter others.”Grant, 27, of Linwood Road, Handsworth, had been convicted following a trial in December last year, of possessing the gun with intent to endanger life while Wheeler, 20, of Hunters Road, Lozells, was found guilty of possessing a prohibited firearm.The gun was similar to the one used to kill innocent teenage party-goers Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis.Both men were also convicted of possessing expanding ammunition and ammunition without a certificate. Birmingham Crown Court heard that on December 30, 2008, police received reports of a disturbance going on in Burlington Street, Aston.When officers arrived a number of people fled from the scene while others were seen milling around.One of those was Wheeler, who had previously driven Grant to the scene in a car that had been loaned to him.When police looked into the vehicle they saw the machine pistol lying in the footwell. It was examined and had a magazine loaded with two different types of bullets.Forensic examination revealed Grant’s fingerprints on the magazine as well as a bag which it had been kept in while police also recovered a hat with his DNA.The incident happened just days before the sixth anniversary of the murders of New Year partygoers Letisha Shakespeare, aged 17, and 18-year-old Charlene Ellis and less than a mile from where they were killed.Robert Rinder, for Grant, said tests had shown that the gun was in poor working order, could only discharge one bullet at a time and was not capable of firing as an automatic weapon.He said that the machine gun had not been used during the incident.Mr Rinder said Grant was a family man with two children and that he had worked for community charities that had sought to address this kind of offending.Kirstie Montgomery, for Wheeler, said he had been aware of what had been brought into his car and had “tolerated” its presence.


Friday 19 February 2010

Jesus Lechuga, 26, was indicted this week by a Kane County grand jury on two counts of first-degree murder

Posted On 17:28 4 comments


Jesus Lechuga, 26, was indicted this week by a Kane County grand jury on two counts of first-degree murder stemming from the March 1, 2004, slaying of Jose Covarrubias in the 900 block of Chippewa Circle in Carpentersville.The 23-year-old construction worker was shot in the head just after midnight that morning when he answered a knock on his bedroom window, authorities said.Carpentersville police Cmdr. Tim Bosshart did not have information regarding a motive for the shooting, but said Lechuga and Covarrubias were members of opposing gangs.Lechuga, he said, was a suspect from the start. But because there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, it took investigators significant time to locate witnesses who could link him to the murder and determine if they were reliable."Typically when you're dealing with these kinds of people, there can be credibility questions, so we wanted to get them before a grand jury and get (their testimony) locked in," Bosshart said.Investigators, Bosshart added, knew they could methodically build their case against Lechuga because he has been incarcerated on other charges since shortly after the murder.Illinois Department of Corrections records show Lechuga was sentenced in June 2004 to seven years in prison for separate burglary and weapons offenses. He was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon just 12 days after the slaying when police found him with a loaded shotgun.A Boone County judge later sentenced him to another 18 years behind bars for an aggravated battery with a firearm conviction stemming from a 2005 shooting.Lechuga currently is serving his time at the maximum security Menard Correctional Center. Bosshart said the Kane County State's Attorney's office will take steps to bring him back to the county to face the new charges.
Covarrubias' family has stayed in touch with the case's lead investigator in the nearly six years since the shooting and were relieved to learn of the charges, Bosshart said."The parents have been cooperative from the beginning," he said. "We're really happy to get this cleared for their sake."


Cory T. Campbell, 22, is charged with criminal conspiracy, drive-by shooting, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm

Posted On 17:04 0 comments

Cory T. Campbell, 22, is charged with criminal conspiracy, drive-by shooting, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and three counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance. He was ordered jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.Pierce County prosecutors allege in court documents that Campbell took part in a drive-by shooting that targeted members of a rival gang in September 2009 and also sold drugs to a police informant three times in September and October of last year.Authorities believe Campbell and other suspected members of the gang conspired to commit dozens of crimes over the past 18 months.Last week, the South Sound Gang Task Force served search warrants at multiple locations, and prosecutors charged 32 men with taking part in the conspiracy and committing other crimes.Campbell eluded the initial dragnet but was arrested Wednesday in Lakewood, authorities said.So far, 25 of the men charged in the case have been arraigned in Superior Court. All have pleaded not guilty and been ordered jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.Five others charged in the conspiracy case are serving time in state prisons for other crimes. One was brought to Pierce County and booked into the jail Wednesday. Prosecutors have requested that state prison officials transport the other four back so they all can be arraigned.
Two others – Kerry T. Edwards, 17, and Errol B Mayers, 30 – remained at large Thursday. Warrants have been issued for their arrests.


Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental are believed to be top lieutenants of a gang blamed for a string of massacres, police killings.

Posted On 17:00 0 comments

Arrested Monday in the Baja California port city of La Paz, according to U.S. authorities.Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental are believed to be top lieutenants of a gang blamed for a string of massacres, police killings, beheadings and kidnappings that has caused many residents to flee the border city arrests by Mexican federal police, coming a month after the capture of alleged cartel leader Teodoro Garcia Simental, are the latest blows against the gang.Authorities feared Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental, Teodoro's younger brother, were planning to reignite a gang war for control of Tijuana's drug trafficking routes.Lopez Uriarte was known for his narrow escapes and flair for self-promotion: His nickname, "Muletas," or crutches, stands for the trail of disabled people he's left behind, and he outfitted his crew with uniforms featuring a patch designed with a skull and crutches crossed underneath.
At least 1,400 people have been slain in Tijuana drug violence since the beginning of 2008.


John Brown was a Gangster Disciples "governor" and major Englewood cocaine supplier.

Posted On 16:55 0 comments

John Brown was a Gangster Disciples "governor" and major Englewood cocaine supplier.
And Thursday, Brown, 38, pleaded guilty to drug charges.Brown's 2007 arrest was an outgrowth of a task force created after then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and other leaders met in 2006 about killings in the South Side Englewood neighborhood, said Tom Ahern, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
ATF agents interviewed Brown's 69-year-old father, Buck Fields, who said his son had supplied him with crack cocaine for about two years. Fields said he sold the drugs for about $200 a week.Fields, who also faces drug charges, later recanted his statement, but ATF had other evidence: Brown sold crack to an informant who secretly recorded the deals.Ahern said the case illustrates how gang kingpins hide drug profits in real estate and businesses such as Beautiful Imagez, a salon Brown opened on the South Side in 2005.Brown also used drug cash to buy three homes the government has seized, Ahern said.In 2008, Brown's attorney, Beau Brindley, unsuccessfully argued that his client should be freed on bond to earn a living as a "hairdresser."
"Without this job, Mr. Brown would be completely unable to support himself and entirely dependent upon his family and friends," Brindley said.But the ATF accused Brown of selling two of his homes to sham buyers for a fraction of the properties' total value of about $370,000.Brown planned to have those buyers put up the properties as collateral for bail to get him out of jail, officials said.


Thursday 18 February 2010

Texas leader for the Latin King's Jose Nava, aka Chino, and gang member James Cole

Posted On 20:32 0 comments

Texas leader for the Latin King's Jose Nava, aka Chino, and gang member James Cole are the only two of seventeen gang members and associates arrested that haven't pleaded guilty to several crimes. Documents outline 11 indictments including narcotics and weapon trafficking, and capital murder charges. Nava is indicted on all 11 counts and Cole is charged with eight.During trial, jurors listened to four witnesses give detailed information on the Latin King's extensive cocaine and marijuana drug ring here in Lubbock and West Texas. Surveillance video of a Latin King meeting with Nava and gang leaders from Chicago was also played by prosecutors. Several pieces of evidence like photos and gang paraphernalia were also presented.


Meeting of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation

Posted On 19:52 0 comments

Federal surveillance footage captured one of the defendants, Jose Robledo Nava, among many other Latin Kings at a statewide meeting of the gang's leaders.Nava and James Johnathan Cole are charged with two counts of using a gun to commit murder during and in retaliation to a drug trafficking crime.
They are also charged with conspiracy to sell at least 5 kilograms of cocaine and at least 100 kilograms of marijuana.
Both men face up to life in federal prison if convicted.
Nava and Cole are accused of gunning down two people in a retaliatory drive-by against a rival street gang in May 2008 in Big Spring.
According to an indictment filed in January that supersedes previous indictments, Nava and Cole used an AK-47-style rifle to kill Valerie Garcia and Michael Cardona.
Several witnesses testified Wednesday, including agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Two former Latin Kings also testified, fingering Nava in several photos and surveillance videos and implicating him in numerous gun and drug deals.
The jury saw video of Nava at the meeting of Texas Latin King leaders, during which national leaders from Chicago warned the group about increasing pressure from law enforcement.One leader's words about federal agents cracking down on the gang were somehow recorded despite the group's insistence on strip-searching members and checking them for wires.Testimony is scheduled to resume today in federal court.


unidentified man was taken to the hospital after what police say was a gang-related shooting in the northwest valley.

Posted On 19:47 0 comments

unidentified man was taken to the hospital after what police say was a gang-related shooting in the northwest valley. It happened just before 2 Wednesday afternoon on Rainbow Boulevard near Alexander Road. Police say the victim was transported to University Medical Center, after he told officers someone shot him in the chest from a white, newer model Ford F-150 pickup with at least two people inside. Metro's gang unit is investigating the shooting.


Julian Jose Garza, 28, of Notus, Idaho, and a member of the East Side Locos gang in Caldwell, was sentenced Tuesday to 70 months in federal prison

Posted On 19:30 0 comments

Julian Jose Garza, 28, of Notus, Idaho, and a member of the East Side Locos gang in Caldwell, was sentenced Tuesday to 70 months in federal prison for unlawful possession of a firearm, the United States Attorney's Office announced.He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge, who also ordered Garza to serve 3 years of supervised release after he completes his prison term. He will serve his sentence in a federal prison outside of Idaho.Garza pled guilty to the charge in September 2009. During his plea, Garza admitted possessing a 9mm semi-automatic handgun during a confrontation with two men in Caldwell on May 14, 2008. Where Garza had been previously convicted of Discharge of a Firearm into an Occupied Dwelling in Canyon County, Idaho, he was also prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law.Garza's case was investigated by the Caldwell Police Department, the Treasure Valley Metro Violent Crimes Task Force, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. His prosecution was part of Idaho's Project Safe Neighborhoods Program, which seeks to reduce gun violence in Idaho.Julian Garza's sentencing concluded a multi-faceted investigation into the criminal activities of Julian Garza's family, gang and associates. Julian Garza's father, Gabriel Garza, pleaded guilty in federal court to unlawful possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 12 months of prison on March 30, 2009. Julian Garza's girlfriend, Chelsea Robbins-Gonzalez, was convicted of perjury, after lying to the federal grand jury regarding Julian Garza's possession of a firearm. On June 1, 2009, she was sentenced to two years of probation.


Wednesday 17 February 2010

Supreme Inca of the Sacred Tribe of America Spain detained 54 suspected members of the Hispanic street gang Latin Kings

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Spanish police have detained 54 suspected members of the Hispanic street gang Latin Kings, including its top leaders in the Madrid region, police said Wednesday. The gang had remained under the orders of the Ecuadorian founder of the Spanish branch of Latin Kings, Eric Javier Velastegui, who continued giving orders from prison, according to police.Velastegui is serving a 21-year prison sentence for a rape committed in 2003.
The detainees were arrested on suspicion of offences including violent robbery.
The Latin Kings gang was founded in the United States, but has spread to Latin America and Europe as well.Those held in the Madrid region included the so-called Supreme Inca of the Sacred Tribe of America Spain.


Brandon R. Shell, who prosecutors say admitted to being a member of the West Seattle-based West Side Street Mobb gang

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Brandon R. Shell, who prosecutors say admitted to being a member of the West Seattle-based West Side Street Mobb gang, pleaded guilty in October to unlawful gun possession charges.Shell, 27, was arrested following a June 6, 2008, shooting that left one man injured in the 1900 block of East Pine Street. Shell, who has not been charged in the shooting, was stopped while riding nearby in a car that appeared to have been recently struck by a ricocheting bullet.According to documents filed in a separate state case, Seattle police were called to the shooting location after several witnesses saw a man -- described as in his 20s with "a pencil-thin mustache" -- fire 18 shots while leaning out the window of a moving car. The car then fled the scene before police arrived.Shortly after the shooting, a 30-year-old Seattle man arrived at Harborview Medical Center with a gunshot wound to his forearm. Interviewed by detectives, the man said he'd been shot while driving in the area. He told officers he had no idea why someone would fire on him.

Police searching nearby for the shooter stopped a car carrying Shell. The car seemed to have been damaged by a ricocheting bullet.

Investigators say they found a 9 mm pistol on the vehicle's floorboards as well as about 30 grams of crack cocaine. Shell's girlfriend bought the pistol at Shell's direction, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ye-Ting Woo said in court documents, because he was barred by law from buying it himself.

"The firearm is directly connected to a serious assault involving a drive-by shooting, for which no motive has yet been determined," Woo told the court. "By engaging in this conduct, the defendant has put at risk the entire community of citizens residing, working, and traveling through the Central District, with little to no regard for the safety of those persons."

Police did not arrest Shell at the time, though he has been jailed since February 2009 on a gun-possession charge. Gang detectives say Shell is an active member of the West Side Street Mobb, a Seattle street gang that has recently seen a string of alleged members sentenced to prison for a variety of offenses including pimping children.Shell was initially charged with faces three federal charges -- felon in possession of a firearm, possession of crack cocaine with intent to deliver and carrying a firearm during the commission of a drug-trafficking crime. He pleaded guilty to a single firearms charge.Sentencing Shell, U.S. District Court Judge James L. Robart said he was troubled by the fact that Shell had a firearm, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office statement issued Wednesday morning."You are your own worst enemy," Robart told Shell, according to the statement. "Your behavior needs to change or you will end up a statistic."Shell was sentenced Tuesday evening at U.S. District Court in Seattle. The case was investigated by the FBI's Puget Sound Violent Crimes Task Force, which includes officers from the Seattle Police Department and U.S. Marshal Service.


Body Snatchers are the feared enforcement arm of the notorious 4 Corner Hustlers street gang.

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Body Snatchers are the feared enforcement arm of the notorious 4 Corner Hustlers street gang. Under the leadership of Shawn "Shakey" Betts, police say, the Body Snatchers were akin to the movie Murder, Inc., responsible for dozens of West Side killings and other shootings over the past few years. However, in a criminal complaint filed recently in federal court, the gang's crack cocaine operation along Oak Park's Austin Boulevard boundary with Chicago comes off more like The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.The criminal complaint documents the daily struggles of various gang members with quality control, substandard supplies and unhappy customers. As well as, unbeknownst to them, omnipresent drug enforcement agents, who most definitely were nothing like the Keystone Cops.From February through June 17, 2009, Chicago police and federal drug agents were watching numerous members of the gang, including Dominique "Finball" Finley, 34, a "Five Star Elite" gang leader, Eric Ollison, 25, aka "Murder," Milton Bills, Frederick Taylor and Terrance Jones.
"Murder" is doing six years in East Moline Correctional Center for being an armed habitual criminal. His parole date is October 2014, but he likely won't be getting out from behind bars for quite some time after that.

While the street gang's territory extended from the Eisenhower Expressway to North Avenue, and from Laramie to Austin, much of the action took place around Menard and Superior and the 5800 block of Huron. Agents physically observed, videotaped and audio-recorded transactions and numerous cellphone conversations. And they set up buys with the assistance of two paid confidential informants.Previous gang leaders were well aware of being watched. Mafia Insane Vice Lord leader Troy "King Troy" Martin, another Five Star Elite, was recorded in 2004 repeatedly warning his men to not talk on the phone. In a 2005 phone conversation, Anthony "Psycho" Johnson told Vice Lords boss Ray Longstreet, "We always targets, no matter what."And in May 2008, top gang leader Shawn Betts and 55 others were arrested following an 18-month investigation, Operation Capital Hill, that involved 22,000 intercepted calls and more than 100 undercover drug buys.Martin was arrested and convicted as part of Operation Day Trader in 2004, and is doing a life sentence. Longstreet, swept up in 2005 as part of Operation Street Sweeper, won't be paroled from federal prison until he's 73.Finley and his cohorts, though, acted as if they weren't aware of that recent history.


Francis 'Fraggle' Green collecting on 'Gerbil' Carroll no way these debts will be allowed to die along with him

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Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll an enforcer for the notorious Daniel clan - was gunned down in cold blood last month.But last night a source revealed: "There is no way these debts will be allowed to die along with him."Carroll's close pal Francis 'Fraggle' Green - the son of crimelord Jamie Daniel - is believed to have issued a personal warning to the dealer. And the source told how NONE of the debts will be forgotten.
He said: "A lot of people thought they'd won the lottery when Gerbil was killed.
"Many of them - and there are many - mistakenly thought the money would have been written off."This is not the case and Carroll's sidekicks are going to make sure all the debts are squared up."Carroll had a few trusted friends - including Fraggle - and they are going about collecting the money."The latest threat of violence will worry cops who have been bracing themselves for revenge attacks over Carroll's assassination."Gerbil - the partner of Jamie Daniel's daughter Kelly, and father of her two kids - was killed in his black Audi car on January 13.He was blasted by two gunmen who fired more than ten shots as the motor sat in a car park at Asda in Robroyston, Glasgow.
Fraggle, 27, was one of the first on the scene and saw his dead mate slumped in the back seat.The Daniel clan believe the rival Lyon's family were behind the murder - and are preparing a bloody backlash.But the two families - who fell out over a drug deal - have been locked in a bitter turf war for more than a decade. The feud has already sparked a string of shootings and other brutal attacks.
Last night the source added: "This just adds to the tension.
"Many people thought a revenge attack would have come already. However it might just be the calm before the storm." Earlier this month, Strathclyde Police renewed their appeal for information on the Gerbil hit, as their major murder hunt continues.
The dark blue Volkswagen Golf used by the suspects was found just a couple of hours after the daylight attack at Asda.Then on January 26, a stunned council worker discovered guns dumped in bushes behind a library in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire.Forensic tests later showed the firearms were those used in the shooting, with cops describing it as a "positive step" in the probe.Last night a Strathclyde Police spokesman said: "Our inquiries are ongoing and we are still appealing for witnesses to come forward."


Julian Jose Garza, 28, of Notus , a member of the East Side Locos Julian

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Jose Garza, 28, of Notus , and a member of the East Side Locos gang in Caldwell, was sentenced Tuesday to 70 months in federal prison for unlawful possession of a firearm, the United States Attorney's Office announced.


Tuesday 16 February 2010

The 40 Boys, Ronald Eugene Brewer, 21, of Rogersville, is a member or “wannabe” member of the “Crips” street gang.

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On the night of Dec. 9, 2008, Brewer was allegedly gunning for a member or “wannabe” member of the rival “Bloods.”An errant shot fired from an elevated position above the Wal-Mart parking lot missed the intended victim and struck Sellers, an innocent bystander, in the back of the neck.Brewer’s first-degree murder trial began Monday in Hawkins County Circuit Court.Brewer’s co-defendant, Travis Lee Goins, 23, of Rogersville, is scheduled to stand trial in June.Public Defender Greg Eichelman said during his opening statement Monday he isn’t disputing whether or not Brewer fired the fatal shot.This trial will come down to if the jury believes it was premeditated first-degree murder or a lesser offense. The verdict will determine whether or not Brewer receives a sentence of life without parole.Sellers, 18, had moved to Rogersville a little less than a year prior to the shooting to live with his mother after graduating from high school in his native Ohio. He planned to begin a job as a union welder the following month and had no part of the alleged gang activity or the dispute that led to his death.It took most of Monday morning to seat a jury, and the afternoon session began with opening statements from both sides.Assistant Attorney General Doug Godbee chalked the case up to “gangs, Bloods, Crips, gang wannabes and kids acting stupid.”Two brothers, Josh Hinkle and Jordon Hinkle, who’d reportedly had an ongoing feud with Brewer and Goins, were hanging out at the Wal-Mart that night.
In his opening statement, Godbee said the Hinkle brothers — also known as Big Hinkle and Little Hinkle — are “either affiliated with, wannabe, try to be, or are a gang called the Bloods. They wear red and they want everyone to know that they are Bloods.”Godbee said Brewer and Goins are members of a gang called “The 40 Boys” or the Crips.
“Crips and Bloods are mortal enemies,” Godbee said. “These Crips and Bloods say they have been enemies since 2003 because Josh wrecked Travis’ car.”Godbee said the evidence will show that Goins and Brewer went to the Wal-Mart parking lot that night, had a verbal altercation with the Hinkle brothers and other Bloods, and then left.Godbee said during the trial he will direct the jury’s attention to Brewer’s statement to police. Brewer allegedly admitted he and Goins retrieved a loaded .22-caliber rifle with a scope from Brewer’s bedroom after the initial altercation.
They returned to the Wal-Mart, were taunted by the Bloods again, and drove to the car wash overlooking the Wal-Mart parking lot.Godbee told the jury the murder was premeditated.The intended target was Josh Hinkle. Although Brewer missed, he still “aimed to kill, intended to kill, planned to kill and pulled the trigger to kill.Godbee read from Brewer’s statement to police:
“I put the gun out the window and I asked Travis where Josh was sitting. Travis said he was sitting on the cart thing. Travis asked me not to kill him so I aimed low in the chest area. I pulled the trigger.”Eichelman said during his opening statement that the fact Brewer aimed low after being asked not to kill Josh Hinkle indicates that this was not an attempted murder. Eichelman called it “a very unlucky shot.”“This is not a plea for innocence,” Eichelman said.Eichelman added, “It’s all very stupid. It’s all very wrong. ... Kids acting stupid. Absolutely. But there is not first-degree murder. There is not intent to kill anybody.”The prosecutors called seven witnesses to the stand Monday, most of whom were hanging out in a rear section of the Wal-Mart parking lot that night and witnessed the shooting.Among the witnesses was Megan Brooks, 17, a high school student who testified that she saw Goins and Brewer that night in a black Nissan Maxima and spoke to them. Brooks testified that before Brewer and Goins left, Brewer told her “make sure none of these boys leave the parking lot. I’m serious.”With regard to any gang affiliations, Brooks testified she didn’t know for sure, although the Hinkle brothers “think they are (Bloods). They acted like it.”
Another high school student, Samantha Allen, 17, was also at the parking lot that night. She described the Hinkles as “wannabe Bloods.” She testified that after hearing a “pop,” which sounded like a firecracker, she observed a black Maxima “flying out of the car wash” parking lot.Wesley Lyles, 28, a friend of Sellers, testified that he was riding around with Sellers that night. They came back to Wal-Mart, where Sellers had left his car, and were talking to people there.Lyles said Sellers was talking with a girl about going to get something to eat when he heard what sounded like a firecracker go off.“He staggered around for a minute, was rubbing his face, and kept asking me what happened,” Lyles said. “I didn’t know what happened. ... He just collapsed right there.”Eichelman told the jury in his opening statement that Brewer will testify in this trial.Among the remaining potential prosecution witnesses are the Hinkle brothers, forensic specialists and a street gang specialist.


Revenge attack connected to the gangland murder of Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll last month.

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shots were blasted at a flat where a known crime figure was staying.
There were claims last night that the incident was a revenge attack connected to the gangland murder of Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll last month. The man is said to be linked to Glasgow's notorious Lyons clan.A broken window at the flat was one clue being probed by detectives last night - as well as witness accounts of shots being fired.Police armed response vehicles raced to the scene in Milton, in north Glasgow, after the alarm was raised yesterday afternoon.Sources said last night the armed officers attended "as a matter of course" because of the nature of the callout.They added detectives were still trying to establish "whether or not any shots had actually been fired".A broken first f loor window at the rear of a flat in Scaraway Street was being examined 'The police last night. A police source said: "It might have been that a shot has been fired through it - or it might have been broken by a stone a fortnight ago."A local source added last night: "It's believed there have been shots fired.
"The police were called out and were taking no chances.
"The armed teams were off the scene within a few hours."
Detective have warned rival crime clans not to avenge Carroll's murder.
But it's known leading gangland figures have demanded action against the Lyons family after blaming them for the shoot ing of the drugs boss outside an Asda store.
Carroll was a key member of a north Glasgow drug gang which has been feuding with the Lyons clan for a decade.He also led a kidnap crew who used torture to steal from rival dealers.Carroll, 29, was murdered on January 13 this year as he sat in a black Audi car outside the Asda supermarket at Robroyston, Glasgow.
He was in the back of his motor with associates John Bonner and Stevie McLaggan when he was blasted to death.The killer - who has not been found - fired more than 10 times during the attack .Carroll was at the Asda store to meet another associate, who has since been traced and quizzed by police.Carroll had already survived two other attempts on his life, after being shot in 2003 and 2006.A police spokeswoman said last night: "Officers were called to an address in Scaraway Street, in Milton, Glasgow, following an allegation a firearm had been discharged.
"Inquiries are ongoing to establish if this is the case."


The man's death is King City's first homicide of the year.

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Police say the suspects opened fire on the 22-year-old man Friday night outside a restaurant on Broadway Street. The victim, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and later died.Police Chief Nick Baldiviez say two innocent bystanders — a 12-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl — also were struck by stray bullets as they walked out of a movie theater. They were treated and released from the hospital.
Witnesses reported seeing four males running from the scene. Baldiviez says investigators are looking for more witnesses to help identify the suspects.


Monday 15 February 2010

22-year-old Kevin Aaron Alvarado is wanted after a man was fatally stabbed

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22-year-old Kevin Aaron Alvarado is wanted after a man was fatally stabbed on a Berkeley street around 7:40 p.m. Thursday. The name of the victim was not released.
Berkeley police spokesman Officer Andrew Frankel says though Alvarado is believed to be a member of a gang, the stabbing is not believed to be gang-related.
Investigators are asking for the public's help in trying to locate Alvarado. They believe he may try to flee the country.


Homemade handgun revolvers that use standard 12 gauge shotgun shells are becoming very popular

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Dirty Harry’s day Harry Calahan’s .44 Magnum seemed like the canon of handguns. Times have changed a lot since then. These days if you run into a Chinese gangster, they are likely packing a shotgun revolver like the one above.Homemade handgun revolvers that use standard 12 gauge shotgun shells are becoming very popular with Taiwanese gang members. This one was confiscated from a 19 year old gang gun runner. That handle on the front isn’t just for looks, it’s necessary for the kind of kick this thing delivers.Maybe the Taiwanese police should start using them as well.


Friday 12 February 2010

Anthony D. Singh ties to the Rollin’ 60 Crips street gang

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Anthony D. Singh, 21, fired a bullet through a man’s right shoe after a confrontation in a downtown parking lot that police said stemmed from a dangerous culture of retaliation and intimidation common in gang life.
A jury convicted Singh of several felonies after a trial in December that included unusual testimony about Singh’s ties to the Rollin’ 60 Crips street gang.
Gang affiliations generally are considered inadmissible in trials, but prosecutors argued that Singh’s membership in the violent gang provided motive for the seemingly random shooting, which occurred near a downtown night club in July 2008.
“He has chosen this way of life, and it finally caught up with him,” said Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor on Wednesday.Singh’s father, Elvis Anthony Singh, urged O’Connor to show his son leniency in a letter mailed from a federal prison, where he’s been since 2002. He was sentenced to 10 years after federal drug agents busted a crack cocaine ring the quadriplegic was operating out of his Spokane home with his caregiver.“We missed those important teenage years,” Elvis Singh’s letter reads. “I regret that I was not there to be a positive influence on him.”O’Connor approved an exceptionally high sentence for Singh, ordering him to serve sentences for second-degree assault, drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm before serving sentences for witness tampering and conspiracy to commit assault, instead of serving the sentences at the same time.Singh’s court-appointed lawyer, Thomas Cooney, has said he’ll appeal the verdict, partly based on a Spokane police detective’s admission to jurors that Singh had previous convictions.Jurors were ordered to disregard Detective Michael Roberge’s statement, but Cooney said that made little difference.Singh, Cooney argued in court documents, “was convicted on his propensity to commit crime and for being a bad person who is a gang member, rather than on admissible character evidence.”Singh denies firing the bullet that hit Alex Tauala in his right shoe in a parking lot near Sprague Avenue and Stevens Street on July 26, 2008. Tauala didn’t identify Singh as the gunman during trial.
But police witnesses and Deputy Prosecutor Larry Haskell argued Singh shot at Tauala after Tauala confronted Singh and his brother, 25-year-old Jamal R. Singh, by saying “anyone else got any problems?”The brothers, prosecutors said, were driven to retaliate because of their ties to a gang where “respect is the center of the universe,” according to court documents.
Jamal Singh pleaded guilty to riot in August 2008 and was given a year probation and credit for 24 days served in jail.But police argued Anthony Singh was the shooter, and his extensive criminal history contributed to his lengthy prison sentence.That prison sentence was exactly what Singh’s imprisoned father hoped his son, a father of two, could avoid.“As he is now able to see, the greatest price for his mistakes will be paid by his children,” the letter says.


Stephen ‘Aki’ Akinyemi, 44,‘King of the Hill’ found shot dead

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‘King of the Hill’ found shot dead in the Cheshire mansion of a controversial businessman Arran Coghlan.Stephen ‘Aki’ Akinyemi, 44, was said to be a prominent member of the notorious Cheetham Hill gang, which is believed to be behind major crime and the supply of drugs in Manchester.He was known for enjoying champagne and cruising Manchester’s clubland in his silver Porsche, with the private registration AKI.He had a string of previous convictions and most recently had been jailed for 13 months in 2006 for violent disorder.At the time of his death, he was on bail for allegedly attacking someone with a baseball bat outside the Lounge 31 nightclub in the city centre in November.He was found with serious stab injuries at Mr Coghlan’s Alderley Edge home on Tuesday afternoon. He was wearing a stab vest.But a post-mortem examination revealed he had died of a gunshot wound, not knife injuries.Mr Coghlan was also discovered with stab injuries at the scene and he was taken to hospital under police guard. He was later discharged although he remains in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder.Last night a tribute page to Mr Akinyemi on social networking website Facebook, titled ‘RIP AKI’, had more than 600 members.
Mr Coghlan was cleared in 1996 of murdering Stockport ‘Mr Big’ Chris Little, who was shot dead at the wheel of his Mercedes.In 2003, Mr Coghlan stood trial for the murder of drug dealer David Barnshaw, who was kidnapped and forced to drink petrol before being burned alive in the back of a car in Stockport in 2001.But the case collapsed when it was revealed police had failed to pass on important information about another possible suspect.


Thursday 11 February 2010

Julian Jose Garza, 28 reportedly a member of Caldwell’s East Side Locos gang

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Julian Jose Garza, 28, of Notus was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge, the United States Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.Garza pleaded guilty to the charge in September, admitting that he had a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun during a confrontation with two men in Caldwell on May 14, 2008. Because Garza had been previously convicted of firing a gun into an occupied dwelling, he was prohibited from possessing firearms under federal law.Garza is reportedly a member of Caldwell’s East Side Locos gang and was prosecuted by the special assistant U.S. attorney hired by the Treasure Valley Partnership and Idaho State Police to address gang crimes. His sentencing on Tuesday concluded a string of successful prosecutions of Garza’s family and girlfriend, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports.His father, Gabriel Garza, pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 12 months of prison last March. His mother, Maria Garza, . was convicted as an accessory to a felony in April, charged with assisting Gabriel, in possession with intent to distribute marijuana. And his brother, Alex Garza, was sentenced to five years in state prison last month for aiding and abetting witness intimidation in Canyon County District Court on January 7, 2010.

Julian Garza’s girlfriend, Chelsea Robbins-Gonzalez was convicted of perjury and sentenced in June to two years of probation for lying to the federal grand jury about Julian’s possession of a firearm.


Tacoma Hilltop Crips gang

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gang sweep by local and federal agents in Tacoma.
Twenty-nine men, suspected members of the Tacoma Hilltop Crips gang, have been arrested in a series of raid since Tuesday morning.
One of the men arrested, Manuel Jose Hernandez, pleaded guilty to the Toews murder in 2000. Hernandez was 12 at the time. He was sentenced to state custody until he turned 21 in October of 2008.
Since then, prosecutors say, Hernandez has been an active gang member. He was arraigned Wednesday on charges including: conspiracy, robbery, auto theft and trafficking stolen property.
Cornell hopes Hernandez gets a longer sentence this time, but she said it won't do any good for her or Hernandez.
"I don't have any great hopes that prison's going to improve somebody's outlook on life," said Cornell.
Thirty-two men have been charged in connection with the investigation.
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Sweep against the Hilltop Crips

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Sweep against the Hilltop Crips included serving a series of early-morning search warrants Tuesday. Officers arrested 11 suspected gang members without incident and confiscated guns, drugs and stolen property.
Investigators were still searching for five others. The remaining 16 were already in the Pierce County Jail on other criminal charges or serving time in state prison.
Prosecutors have filed 51 felony counts in the case. Charges include attempted murder, first-degree robbery and drive-by shooting. The 32 suspected gang members, ages 17 to 38, face various counts, but all are charged with one count of criminal conspiracy, according to court documents.
Among those charged are two third-strike candidates and Manuel Jose Hernandez, one of eight youths convicted of fatally beating Erik Toews, 30, as he walked down the street in 2000.
“We’ve got a big chunk of the group, and we’re not stopping,” said Steven Dean, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Seattle office. “We are looking at this group of gang members directly correlating to an increase in violent crime in the area.”
Filing conspiracy charges is a new approach in tackling gang violence, which has plagued the city since the late 1980s and left many dead and or wounded in drive-by shootings.
County prosecutor Mark Lindquist said this case marks the first time in Washington that the conspiracy statute is being used to prosecute gang violence. It’s being modeled after successful gang prosecution elsewhere in the country.
The charge usually is used in drug and identify theft cases. It’s being used against the gang members because prosecutors allege they joined the gang for the sole purpose of committing crimes – including robberies, drug dealing, shootings and car thefts.
In general, prosecutors say, a conspiracy occurs when two or more people get together and agree to commit a crime, and then at least one of them takes a substantial step toward carrying out the crime.
The others “can be legally accountable for the one person’s follow-through,” Pierce County deputy prosecutor Greg Greer said.
Those arrested Tuesday and previously booked into jail will be arraigned on the conspiracy and other charges today. Those in prison will return to Pierce County to face the conspiracy charges.
INCREASED VIOLENCE
Investigators say that the Hilltop Crips have increasingly flexed their muscle throughout the city during the last 18 months, targeting people who showed outward signs of wealth – including gold jewelry and fancy wheel rims on their cars – and working together to threaten or harm the victims to get what they wanted.
“They were active on a daily basis,” Tacoma police homicide detective John Ringer said. “Nothing slowed them down.”
Investigators contacted the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors researched different state statutes and found that the conspiracy charge worked with the facts and cases Tacoma police detectives presented, Greer said.
“The law is appropriate for the facts that we have in this case,” he said. “We want to be a little more proactive in addressing the gang problem.”
Most members of this targeted group have previously been convicted of felonies.
Hernandez was 12 in 2000 when he and seven other youths attacked and killed Toews on North Fourth Street.
Hernandez, the second-youngest person charged, was convicted as a juvenile of first-degree murder and three robberies in the days before the Toews beating. He was sentenced to juvenile detention until his 21st birthday.
Now 22, Hernandez was charged in connection with the gang conspiracy case and was among those arrested Tuesday.
FORMED IN LATE 1980S
About 15 teenagers formed the Hilltop Crips in the late 1980s after gangsters from Los Angeles moved into Tacoma and started selling crack cocaine. The gang was the first local black street gang, claiming South 23rd Street as its turf and recruiting other local teens to join their ranks.
Membership swelled to nearly 300 in the mid-1990s. Some of the original gang members were convicted of killing rival gangsters, while others were killed in gang-motivated violence. Some of the surviving original gang members remain in prison.
“Over the course of the past 20 years, the HTCs have been a powerful criminal force on the streets of Tacoma,” Ringer wrote in a search warrant affidavit as part of the recent crackdown. “They have been the strongest black street gang in the area and have dominated the local cocaine sales.”
Throughout the years, local and federal task forces have targeted the city’s gangs, which now total nearly 50. They’ve charged members with federal drug and gun charges and with shootings, homicides and an array of other crimes.
Among the crimes allegedly committed by the Hilltop Crips recently were burglaries at two secure facilities, including a Lakewood police parking lot where a member’s impounded car was rifled through for evidence.
NEW OUTBREAK OF CRIME
In mid-2008, Tacoma police and members of the South Sound Gang Task Force began to notice a new wave of crimes involving the Hilltop Crips, Ringer said.
Police reports detailed incidents in which victims were targeted for their financial assets, especially gold necklaces. Gang members stalked and jumped their victims around popular Hilltop Crips hangouts, police said.
Among the spots were a South Tacoma gas station, a South Tacoma convenience store, a South End restaurant and nightclubs that featured hip-hop music, police said.
Victims had necklaces ripped off in the clubs, faced armed robbers or were beaten on the sidewalk while others stole their car keys and wallets, court documents state.
The documents detail three incidents in which victims were critically injured. All survived, but one was paralyzed and another suffered permanent injury.
The gang task force focused on gang members who were still committing crimes. Many of the crimes had not been investigated, or charges had not been filed.
“These guys were off the hook,” Ringer said.
During the investigation, homicides involving Hilltop Crips were investigated separately, Ringer said. Other gang members were arrested in other cases.
In addition to interviewed witnesses and victims, investigators used informants, watched surveillance video of attacks and set up a surveillance camera in a Hilltop alley that was a favorite gathering spot.
They also sent shell casings and guns to the Washington State Patrol crime lab for analysis.
The lab matched casings from shootings in December 2008 at Oakland Playfield and in February 2009 at South 56th and Tyler streets to one Jan. 26 at a nightclub in Bellevue. A matching shell casing had been discovered in the car of one of the accused gang members.
Of the 28 shell casings collected after a shootout Dec. 2, 2008, outside a South End restaurant, one was matched with a casing taken from another member’s car during a search warrant.
“We were able to establish the conspiracy,” Ringer said. “When they join the group, they join the conspiracy.”


Valentino Sanchez, 33,allegedly high ranking member of the Latin King street gang

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Valentino Sanchez, 33, whose last known address was 8105 White Ave. in west suburban Lyons, was placed into custody at 12:15 p.m. by Chicago Police in a secure area in a lower level terminal area at O’Hare, according to police.
Sanchez, an allegedly high ranking member of the Latin King street gang who also goes by the streets names of “Shorty” and “Devious” was found in Guadalajara, Mexico by an FBI gang task force and was transported by DEA and FBI officials to Chicago, police said.
A Feb. 2, 2009 U.S. Department of Justice and FBI release offered a $10,000 reward for the arrest of Sanchez, who has been the subject of nationwide manhunt since July 2005 when he was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of drug laws.
The release said Sanchez is allegedly a high ranking member of the Latin Kings and he is accused of overseeing the distribution of wholesale quantities of cocaine in the city and suburbs.
Sanchez remains in Chicago police custody early Wednesday but is scheduled to be turned over to federal authorities who will likely hold him in the Metropolitan Correctional Center pending an appearance in Federal Court, according to police.


They didn’t get the moniker ‘Body Snatchers’ for no reason

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Dominique Finley, 34, was the highest-ranking member among the defendants with the lofty title “5-Star Universal Elite.” Eric Ollison, 26, who goes by the nickname “Murder,” was his second-in-command, officials say.

“They didn’t get the moniker ‘Body Snatchers’ for no reason,” said Chicago Police Deputy Chief Nick Roti of the Organized Crime Section, adding that the faction is suspected of dozens of killings over the years.The charges unveiled Wednesday don’t accuse any of the defendants of murder, but said they were involved in a vast drug business.Since September, though, Ollison has been locked up after he was caught on the West Side with a loaded gun in a car, police said. He pleaded guilty to being a habitual offender and was sentenced to six years in prison, court records show.
According to FBI affidavits, the Body Snatchers were peddling large quantities of cocaine north of the Eisenhower Expy., south of North Avenue, west of Laramie and east of Austin. Two informants were paid a total of $20,000 to help investigators, the FBI said. Electronic surveillance also was used.
Most of the defendants lived in Chicago, but Finley has a Bellwood address and Andre Beard, 29, lives in Glendale Heights. Betts had lived in St. Charles.
“A lot of these guys, when they get higher up, move out to the suburbs and come to the city to work,” Roti said.Ironically, “they feel a little safer there,” he said.


Suspected of being members or associates of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang

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Suspected of being members or associates of the Four Corner Hustlers street gang. The men were arrested as part of Operation Snatched, a coordinated effort by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to target street gangs running drug distribution networks in the Chicago area, Grant said.The men were charged with attempted possession or possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, the FBI said. The charges are felonies and carry a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted, according to the FBI.Investigators electronically intercepted telephone conversations, used surveillance techniques and conducted undercover missions to investigate the network whose turf went from the Eisenhower Expressway to North Avenue, between Laramie Avenue and Austin Boulevard, officials said.The Chicago residents who were charged were Milton Bills, 32, of the 5800 block of West Ohio Street; Clarence Johnson, 45, of the 700 block of East 50th Street; Terrance C. Jones, 32, of the 1400 block of South Christiana Avenue; Damon Westbrook, 32, of the 100 block of East 49th Street; Frederick Taylor, 23, of the 1200 block of North Mason Avenue; and Eric Ollison, 26, whose address was not available but who is in state prison on an unrelated conviction.Also charged were Andre T. Beard, 29, of Glendale Heights, and Dominique Finley, 34, of Bellwood.The men appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in Chicago and were ordered held without bail in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, according to the FBI.


Tuesday 9 February 2010

John Paul 'JP' Joyce, a vicious criminal and member of a heroin distribution gang, had been kidnapped in Coolock on Thursday, January 7, murdered

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first gangland slaying of the year had originated in their district. John Paul 'JP' Joyce, a vicious criminal and member of a heroin distribution gang, had been kidnapped in Coolock on Thursday, January 7, murdered and his body dumped near the airport where it was found two days later.

Joyce, aged 30, was involved in a feud with a gang which has been establishing complete control over the drugs trade in an area stretching from the north inner city to north county Dublin and westwards to Ballymun, Finglas and Blanchardstown. It was responsible for murdering Joyce's brother, Thomas, in June last year and John Paul had vowed revenge. John Paul himself had already survived at least two attempts on his life.


The two murdered Joyce brothers, members of a settled Traveller family from Grove Lane, were notorious in north Dublin. John Paul was imprisoned for a terrible assault on an innocent man at a public house in Rush, Co Dublin on St Patrick's Day, 2006. The man's son had accidentally spilled a drink on someone in Joyce's company. He and another man dragged the man from the pub, beat him to the ground, jumped on him and slammed a door repeatedly on the man's head, causing severe injury. Joyce had only been released from prison last November.


three people yelling "T Block" and "BTG," cliques in the Crips gang. Someone in Maynard's group mentioned the Tre-Tre gang.

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Ryan Daniel Jones-Adams, 16, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree murder committed in association with a gang.He is accused of fatally shooting Marvin Ray Maynard III, who was found Jan. 17 in the street on the 2600 block of James Avenue N. Maynard had his hands in the air when he was shot, according to the criminal complaint.A family member who declined to be named said Maynard was not a gang member and referred questions to his mother, who could not be immediately reached Monday.Police are not looking for anyone else in the case, said Sgt. Jesse Garcia, a spokesman.Garcia and the complaint gave this account:A witness who had been with Maynard and another male told police that they had been confronted by three people yelling "T Block" and "BTG," cliques in the Crips gang. Someone in Maynard's group mentioned the Tre-Tre gang.One male in the Crips group took off a skull cap and yelled a threat, the complaint said. The witness saw that the male, who ran past him, had a gun and that he fired twice at Maynard. The shooter and another male ran east between houses.A police dog tracking them went to a porch on the other side of the block, where police found a black hat with a loaded 9-mm handgun in it. On the gun were two latent fingerprints, one of which was identified as the right thumb of Jones-Adams, the complaint said.Police also found surveillance video of Jones-Adams and three others at a gas station six blocks from the shooting and taken about 90 minutes beforehand, the complaint said. Jones-Adams was wearing the same clothes in the video as the shooter was said to be wearing, Garcia said.


arrested Dandre Davaune Parker, 20, on charges of possession, manufacture and delivery of heroin

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Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement Team officers arrested Dandre Davaune Parker, 20, on charges of possession, manufacture and delivery of heroin, possession of ecstasy, and manufacture of heroin and delivery of ecstasy within 1,000 feet of a school. He was lodged in the Jackson County Jail, where he remained Thursday evening on $100,000 bail.

Acting on a tip that members of the Crips street gang were dealing drugs near Jackson Elementary School, Medford police arrested a man on numerous drug charges Thursday morning.The arrest comes on the heelsof an unrelated investigation that led to three arrests and theseizure of an estimated $40,000worth of heroin and methamphetamine, team supervisor Medfordpolice Lt. Tim Doney said."We suspect Parker is associated with a Crips gang out of Stockton (Calif.)," Doney said.Investigators searched Parker's apartment in the 800 block of Summit Avenue at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, armed with a warrant based on allegations of gang and drug activity, Doney said. They found about half an ounce of heroin, 28 ecstasy pills and seized $3,000 in cash.
Police initially detained three men and a woman, who were in an apartment across from the school and the Jackson community pool. Only Parker was arrested and lodged in jail.California street gangs have made their way into Medford over the years, Doney said."We have had dealings with the Crips and Bloods before, but they are not prevalent in this area," Doney said. "But when you find out about them, you certainly want to act on that information."

The Crips gang is one of the largest and most violent street gangs in the United States, with an estimated 30,000 members in more than 200 cities. It was founded in the early 1970s in Southern California and is well known for committing violent crimes, drug dealing and for its bloody battles with a rival gang, the Bloods.


Medford police arrested Parker's younger brother, Dante Deon Parker, on Monday after he reportedly robbed a man of his wallet in the Minute Market parking lot on Crater Lake Avenue. The younger Parker was lodged in jail on a theft charge and has since been released and cited to appear in Jackson County Circuit Court.The arrest of Dandre Parker was the second incident involving heroin in two days. On Wednesday, drug and gang investigators searched an apartment in the 3100 block of Juniper Ridge Drive in northeast Medford at about 5:45 p.m., Doney said.
They found about three-quarters of a pound of heroin and an ounce of meth. Investigators estimated the street value of the seized drugs at about $40,000. They also seized $10,000 in cash.Four men at the apartment were detained and three of them were arrested.Ricardo Alonzo-Martinez, 24, and Armando Javier Avila, 30, who both live at the apartment, each were arrested on charges of possession, manufacture, delivery of heroin and meth. Both were lodged at the Jackson County Jail without bail on those charges and immigration holds.Mario Castellanos-Arango, 24, of the 3600 block of Antelope Road, White City, was charged with possession of meth. He also is held in jail without bail because of an immigration hold.


Monday 8 February 2010

Crips street gang shots were fired in a fight between a group of black and Hispanic males.

Posted On 16:39 0 comments

Officers did find three shots were fired in front of 1161 Mazatlan Cir., but were unable to locate a victim.Just after 11 p.m., officers were called to St. Francis Medical Center to investigate a shooting victim. A 20-year-old victim admitted being involved in the earlier disturbance and having an affiliation with the Crip street gang.The victim's injuries are not life threatening.


Bulldogs are described by authorities as the nation's largest independent street gang.

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Bulldogs are described by authorities as the nation's largest independent street gang. Police estimate there are about 12,000 members in this city of 500,000.
For most of their 20-year existence, the Bulldogs escaped serious law enforcement scrutiny, even as they taunted cops with barks and howls. Police looked upon them mainly as wayward youth. But the gang that grew out of fights at San Quentin prison over respect eventually showed itself to be a deadly criminal enterprise. The 2006 shooting of a cop became a tipping point.
Now police are trying to bulldoze the Bulldogs, before the next generation takes over.The Fresno police are engaged in year four of tactical warfare against the gang, sweeping through neighborhoods and making more than 12,000 arrests, including many juveniles, and even going after petty offenses such as loitering by seeking injunctions.It's called "Operation Bulldog."
In other cities, such police pressure might have killed the beast. But with the loosely organized Bulldogs, many are independent operators who will turn on one another over territory.
"When you have structure," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer says, "you can cut the head off the snake and it dies. You can't do that with the Bulldogs."
Although gang activity declined across America between 2001 and 2006, gang membership in Fresno County grew by 33 percent, studies show.
"We found that 10 percent of the people in our city were committing 50 percent of the crime," Dyer said. "If you're talking about robbery, that increases to 80 percent."
In July 2006, a motorcycle officer was critically wounded during a traffic stop by a gun-toting Bulldog, Joaquin Maltos Figueroa, 25, who was shot to death days later by police.
In Maltos Figueroa's car, officers found a magazine of bullets and a scanner tuned to police frequencies. They realized gang members were more sophisticated than they previously had believed.
That same summer, 16-year-old Courtney Rice, a prostitute whom gang members feared was snitching, was raped, tortured and murdered by seven Bulldogs and associates.
In November 2006, Chief Dyer went on TV announcing a 10-person "Operation Bulldog" tactical unit to make gang members' lives miserable. This January, he added 100 more officers to focus on intelligence gathering on the 10 percent who are most active and promised to seek longer, federal sentences when possible.
"We know the war on gangs can never be won," the chief said, "but we also know it can be lost."
Today, easily half of those incarcerated in the county jail on any given day are Bulldogs.
"The chief's directive is to arrest as many Bulldogs as we can," said Sgt. Alex Robles. "He doesn't want us to let up the pressure."
Four days a week for 10-hour shifts, Robles and his team swarm Bulldog territory, the scruffy neighborhoods on the city's east side. Armed with lists of names supplied by parole agents, they make unannounced visits.
Parolees have no right to privacy, and the officers take advantage, searching homes for drugs and alcohol — even inspecting cell phones for gang photos or insignias.
If life is made unpleasant, police figure they will either leave gang life or move away.
"I don't know if we'll ever get rid of them" says Robles. "I know the goal is to get rid of them."
In the first three years of Operation Bulldog records show that violent crime has decreased in Fresno by 14.3 percent, ahead of the 9 percent state average, and police attribute the statistic to pressure on gangs. Rape is down 43.5 percent, and there were 26.3 percent fewer vehicles stolen.
After recording 314 shootings in 2006; in 2008 there were 226 and 231 in 2009.
"Still, it is too many, but it's a far cry from 314," Dyer says. "At least we don't have them standing on the corners barking anymore. Our goal is to take away their neighborhoods."
The figures do not capture the uptick in shootings since July 2009, when the History Channel's Gangland series featured the Bulldogs and egos swelled, prompting a summer police sweep that netted 200 arrests and dozens of confiscated weapons.
On one sweep officers arrested Naomi Copple, 27, on parole from Chowchilla State Prison for Women, because her parole agent said she tested dirty for drugs. As they searched her house, she sat on the curb, hands cuffed behind her back. With a shaved head, she could not hide the two dog paw tattoos over her right eyebrow, or the 5150 — police code for crazy person — inked on the back of her neck.
About the tats on her forehead: "It's just some stupid s--- I did a long time ago. I was a kid."
Police see it differently. "It's like a billboard on their face saying 'Hey, stop me,'" Robles said.
On Thanksgiving Eve, a year-long police investigation netted Christopher Chavez, 26, the suspect in the 1999 murder of a transvestite, his two brothers and a 16-year-old. Awaiting trial, Chavez is accused of being the shot-caller of a small Bulldog "cell." He wore a bulletproof vest and carried automatic weapons, police said.
At the arrest scene, police reported finding 50 marijuana plants in a toddler's bedroom.
"You always feel bad for the kids," said Detective Tony Gates. "We always say they have no chance."
Investigators eavesdropping on conversations learned that Chavez, who joined the Bulldogs as a young teen, sold methamphetamine to his own mother, a street dealer, and used juveniles to move drugs and guns. The electronic surveillance reaffirmed the importance of tattoos.
"One of the juveniles had a gang tattoo on his body, and it subjected him to being involved in more crime," said Gates. "Chris Chavez told him, 'You have to back that up.' As investigators, we knew it, but it was surprising to hear it."
Children in Bulldog neighborhoods live amid prostitutes and parolees, surrounded by crime and violence, unemployment and poverty. The gang offers security, a sense of identity and, for many, a livelihood. In the worst Bulldog neighborhoods, drug dealers wear the nicest clothes and drive the newest cars.
"The middle class and upper class think about and do things to plan for the future," says C. Ronald Huff, a University of California-Irvine criminologist who studies gangs. "People who don't have those things are more fatalistic because they don't believe they have a future. Parents don't imagine anything will be different for their children."
The police gang unit has confiscated photographs of infants posed in Fresno State Bulldog onesies, cuddling semiautomatic handguns instead of bottles.
A survey of Fresno County school officials in 2007 found gang affiliations begin as early as kindergarten. And a school survey this fall showed the Bulldog gang with a steady source of new recruits: Fresno County 8th graders were almost twice as likely to join gangs if their fathers were involved.
"We're seeing third generation Bulldogs now, and it's not stopping," said Robles. "It's sad that these parents don't want something better for their children."
Whether Enrique Gonzalez is the kind of parent Robles describes will be decided in court; a hearing is set for Feb. 11. The Fresno County district attorney has charged Gonzalez and his friend, Travis Gorman, with mayhem — plus gang enhancements — for tattooing Gonzalez' 7-year-old son's hip with a dog's paw. If convicted, they could serve two decades or more behind bars.
Police say the boy was an unwilling participant, held down and marked against his will. Gonzalez' estranged wife discovered the tattoo and took her son to police.
Defense attorney Douglas Foster said the tattooing was only a case of poor judgment, not a crime. He denied it was forced, saying the boy made that claim only because he was intimidated by police and upset by his angry mother.
According to the lawyer, friends who were there said the child begged for a tattoo. They quoted him as saying, "Daddy, I want to be like you."


Six Florencia 13 gang members life in prison sentence

Posted On 16:27 0 comments

six Florencia 13 gang members life in prison sentence appears to bring to a close a prolonged and terrifying spate of violence in the Florence-Firestone district allegedly brought on by orders from a prison gang member in solitary confinement 700 miles away.Beginning in 2004, the unincorporated Los Angeles County area north of Watts was the site of one of the region's worst gang sieges since the early 1990s, evolving into what some residents felt was a race war.The violence left dozens of people dead, including many with no gang affiliation, and required enormous county resources to combat."Things have gotten a lot better," said Chris Le Grande, pastor of Great Hope Missionary Baptist Church on Compton Avenue in Florence-Firestone.
U.S. District Judge David Carter sentenced Florencia member Francisco Flores, 24, to life in prison on Wednesday, saying that he "preyed on victims because they were black and for no other reason," according to a U.S. attorney's office news release.
Earlier this year, Carter had handed out life sentences to Florencia members Jesse Vasquez, 36; Alberto Hernandez, 28; Gilberto Oliva, 41; Manuel Hernandez, 27; and Noe Gonzalez, 28. Arturo Cruz, 34, was sentenced to 60 years in prison. Jose Gonzalez, 36, received a 20-year sentence. Two more gang members are scheduled to be sentenced later this month. An 11th defendant, Alejandro Rincon, will be retried in April.
Their trial, which took place in federal court in Santa Ana in 2008, grew from an indictment of 104 Florencia gang members on charges that included racketeering, conspiracy to sell drugs and murder.Of those indicted, 94 have pleaded guilty or have been convicted. Four more await trial; two have died and four are fugitives.The case showed the remarkable power the Mexican Mafia prison gang holds over Southern California Latino street gangs. Prosecutors alleged that Mexican Mafia member Arturo "Tablas" Castellanos essentially created a crime wave in the Florence-Firestone district.Castellanos was not indicted because he is already serving a life prison term in a maximum security cell in Pelican Bay State Prison. He hasn't been on the streets since 1979.Yet he wrote letters, introduced as evidence at the trial, that presumed to control a street gang, most of whose members had never seen him.Castellanos ordered gang members to stop rampant infighting; to tax drug dealers in their neighborhoods, as well as prostitutes, fruit vendors and vendors of phony ID cards in nearby Huntington Park; and to funnel the proceeds to him and other mafia members. He also ordered the gang to attack the local Crips gang, whose members are black."The Mexican Mafia has a powerful grasp on these [Latino] gangs," said Peter Hernandez, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case.
"The prison system is a segregated place. Those rules and letters from Castellanos attempted to adhere those prison rules to the street," he said.
As Castellanos' letters appeared on the street in the fall and winter of 2004, Florencia 13 erupted in a spate of violence against African Americans.
"They just went out and started shooting" at black people, Hernandez said.
East Coast Crips responded with shootings of their own, often targeting Latinos who were not gang members.Few actual gang members died. Instead, residents said, they lived amid a race war.


four accused - Nicola Ciconte, 54, of Rowville, Michael Calleja, 51, of Kew, Vincenzo Medici, 45, of Mildura, and Carmelo Loprete, 41, of Adelaide

Posted On 16:22 0 comments

four accused - Nicola Ciconte, 54, of Rowville, Michael Calleja, 51, of Kew, Vincenzo Medici, 45, of Mildura, and Carmelo Loprete, 41, of Adelaide - will be tried in absentia in the town of Vibo Valentia in Calabria after a failed attempt by the Italian government to extradite them from Australia.Anti-mafia prosecutor Salvatore Curcio has told The Age the prosecution will use testimony from a Mafia turncoat, whose name has been suppressed, to corroborate phone taps, photographic and video evidence allegedly linking the four to a multimillion-dollar drug smuggling network that stretched from Colombia through Spain and Italy to Australia.According to court documents, the turncoat has confirmed the alleged link between the Calabrian Mafia and what prosecutors have termed ''leading crime figures operating in Australia''.
He has told prosecutors the four Australians made several trips to Italy to arrange the shipment of large quantities of cocaine while members of the elite Carabinieri special operations group filmed their alleged meetings in Calabria.
''The essential nucleus of the investigation with which we are dealing can, without any doubt, be confirmed in the statements and accusations made by [unnamed turncoat]; through the taps of telephones and public places; in international documents; and as a result of searches and seizures carried out in identifying assets,'' prosecutors said in one document.Security is expected to be tight at the trial after a bomb attack outside a court building in nearby Reggio Calabria and the discovery of explosives during a visit by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in January.
Court documents allege the four Australians conspired with the Calabrian Mafia in the ''transportation and importation'' of 500 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $35-$50 million from South America via Italy to Melbourne between 2002 and 2004.
The trial is the latest in a series of cases that arose from an investigation into a vast Mafia drug-smuggling network that sought to ship enormous quantities of cocaine inside slabs of marble, plastic tubes and canned tuna across four continents.
Italian court documents obtained by The Age allege that Nicola Ciconte played the lead role in negotiating with the Italians in setting up the operation.
Prosecutors are expected to present detailed transcripts of long-distance telephone conversations allegedly between Ciconte and Vincenzo Barbieri, a senior Mafia figure who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2005.The four Australians are charged with criminal association aimed at international cocaine trafficking and attempted importation of cocaine. If convicted, they would face lengthy prison terms if they set foot on Italian soil.Arrest warrants for them were issued by anti-Mafia prosecutors and Italian police in January 2004.While the Australians are not expected to appear at the trial, a court lawyer will be appointed to represent them.When approached by The Age, the Italian Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the status of the extradition request or whether it had ever been formally put to the Australian Attorney-General's department or the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.


Wednesday 3 February 2010

James Bucheger told deputies -- he's a Juggalo. The Juggalos claim they're just extreme fans of the band "Insane Clown Posse".

Posted On 16:10 0 comments

James Bucheger of Oakhurst, is in jail -- accused of breaking into two cabins near Bass Lake. Bucheger told deputies -- he's a Juggalo. The Juggalos claim they're just extreme fans of the band "Insane Clown Posse". But many law enforcement agencies consider them -- a violent street gang. Deputies found the suspect covered in blood at a third home where a party was taking place. The two burglarized homes had smashed windows and blood splattered throughout them.


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