,Antonio White was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Baltimore City

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, Special Agent in Charge Theresa R. Stoop of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Baltimore Field Division and Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III.On October 22, 2009,Antonio White was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Baltimore City Circuit Court after he pleaded guilty to second degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence in an unrelated case. Today’s federal sentence is to be served concurrent to the state sentence. to 262 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise related to his gang activities as a PDL Blood. Judge Quarles also found that White is a career criminal based on two previous narcotics convictions.According to White’s plea agreement, in the early 1970s, a street gang that went by the name of “the Bloods” was in Los Angeles, California. The Bloods spread to other states and broke into individual units or “sets” – a term for a smaller criminal organization within the larger Bloods entity. Each sect was identified or affiliated with a certain street, neighborhood, or area. ATF agents in Baltimore have been investigating a Bloods sect known as the Pasadena Denver Lanes (also known as “the Lanes,” “PDL,” and “L-Gang”). This Baltimore street gang was responsible for the distribution of large quantities of illegal narcotics, including crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. The PDL gang also committed acts of violence, including murder, attempted murder, assaults, robberies, and other violent activities. Antonio White was a member of the PDL Bloods in Baltimore.From at least January 2008 to May 2009, White participated in the PDL gang activities. Specifically, White sold heroin, crack cocaine, and other drugs, distributed heroin and crack cocaine to other PDL Bloods and participated in gang sanctions and other violence against PDL members for disobedience. White was overheard on numerous calls White is responsible for the distribution of between 500 grams and 1.5 kilograms of crack cocaine and 3 to 10 kilograms of heroin during the course of the conspiracy.Mr. Rosenstein and Mrs. Jessamy praised the ATF’s Violent Crime Impact Teams and the Baltimore City Police Department, for their investigation of this case.The prosecutors expressed their appreciation to Secretary Gary D. Maynard and the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for their assistance in the investigation.

30-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll in Glasgow.

The 29-year-old was shot dead in the Asda car park in Saughs Road, in the city's Robroyston area, on 13 January.He had alleged links to organised crime in Glasgow and had survived two previous attempts on his life.The 30-year-old man being detained in connection with Mr Carroll's death is expected to appear at Glasgow Sheriff Court on WednesdayMr Carroll was shot several times while sitting in the rear of a black Audi in the supermarket car park.Guns used in the shooting were found by a member of the public behind Coatbridge library in North Lanarkshire, almost a fortnight later.Detectives investigating the killing have repeatedly appealed for information about a dark blue Volkswagen Golf seen speeding away from the scene.The vehicle, missing the number plates, was later recovered burned out in Yetts Hole Road, Glenmavis, Airdrie.Police also said they were keen to speak to the driver of a white Ford transit van which was seen on Yetts Hole Road at the same time as the Volkswagen was set on fire.

"F-13" or "Florencia-13" Gang charged with 5th-degree criminal mischief

Three people are accused of spray painting gang-related graffiti on an Ottumwa building.An Ottumwa police officer caught an adult and two juveniles after a short foot chase around 8 p.m. Saturday.The three suspects are all from Ottumwa.
They are Jonathan Huerta, 19, Jose Pivaral, 15, and Jennifer Maciel, 16.
All three are charged with 5th-degree criminal mischief.A couple of them face additional charges. Police said the graffiti on the Wapello County Secondary Roads Building on Mill Street in Ottumwa included references to the "F-13" or "Florencia-13" Gang.It's one of the three largest street gangs in Los Angeles, and it's growing across the country, including in several Iowa cities.

Arrested Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, 45, leader of the Barrio Azteca gang

Arrested Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, 45, leader of the Barrio Azteca gang, which carries out extortion, killings and drug trafficking. Citing court proceedings, the El Diario newspaper in Juarez described Valles as a professional hit man who was paid $2,000 a week to kill and who split his time between residences in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. Some U.S. and Mexican officials fear that the sensational daylight assassinations of the three people in Juarez on March 13 could represent a chilling escalation in the drug war because the three might have been targeted because of their ties to the U.S. government. Lesley Enriquez Redelfs, 35, who worked for the U.S. Consulate in Juarez, and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, 34, who was a detention officer with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, were returning home to El Paso from a children's party sponsored by the U.S. consul in Juarez on a sunny Saturday afternoon when their white sport-utility vehicle was chased and attacked by gunmen as they approached the international bridge. A third person, Jorge Alberto Ceniceros Salcido, 37, of Juarez, whose wife, Hilda Antillon Jimenez, also worked for the U.S. Consulate, was killed at nearly the same time in another part of Juarez. He and his wife had also attended the children's party. After the killings, U.S. agents and local sheriff's deputies swept through El Paso neighborhoods, arresting suspected gang members. Afterward, the Department of Homeland Security issued an alert warning that authorities had received uncorroborated reports that the Barrio Azteca gang had issued a "green light" to kill law enforcement officers in El Paso. The killings have generated attention at the highest levels of government in both countries and were a source of tension and concern at a meeting last week in Mexico City between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and her counterparts. U.S. federal agents are assisting in the probe and passing along intelligence gathered on the Azteca gang and its ties to regional drug-trafficking organizations. By Monday evening, authorities had released little information about the arrest of the Azteca gang member, leaving it unclear what motive, if any, the investigators suspect for the killings.

shooting war between the two groups of the Bulldog gang.

26–year old Celis Gonzalez and 26–year old Richard Solomonian were gunned down Saturday. Investigators have made no arrests. But, they believe their murders are linked to Fresno's notorious gang.The two were visiting friends at an apartment complex near Ashlan and Fruit when they were shot to death.Investigators suspect the possible gang members who pulled the trigger are also responsible for two other drive–by shootings in southeast Fresno.In response Dyer is adding more officers to fight gang violence."It finally took for that to happen for them to actually have some police over here," neighbor Brandi Murphy said. "For us to be two miles away from a police station, you wouldn't think it would be like that."Brandi Murphy grew up in a violent west Fresno neighborhood. She moved to a nicer area because she thought it would be a safe place to raise her one year old daughter, Samyra.
"You think you are getting away from it but the north side is getting just as bad as the west side," Murphy said.She lives on the border of northwest and central Fresno — across the street from The Parks apartment complex where Gonzalez and Solomonian were murdered."The individuals forced their way into an upstairs apartment and killed two people," Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said.Solomonian had ties to the Bulldog gang, Dyer said, Gonzalez did not."She was at the wrong place at the wrong time."Investigators are following up on leads, but no one is in custody."They had the police motorcycles – but, since Saturday I have not seen anyone else," Murphy said.That's about to change, Dyer said. He's adding more officers to break up the possible shooting war between the two groups of the Bulldog gang."It's going to be much more than police presence, we are going to be focused on saturating those neighborhoods where we believe there is a likelihood of retaliation," Dyer said. We are also targeting those individuals from the Bulldog gang that we need to apply extra pressure on. We are going to be conducting a number of probation, parole searches and taking as many of those individuals off the street as possible."
Murphy says she's also taking action and keeping more vigilant."The police, they can only do so much, it's going to take us, who live around here to try and make things happen – try to make a difference in order to make things happen," she said.
According to Chief Dyer — this year there are already four more gang related shootings in the city of Fresno compared to this time last year.

Tavon Williams, 25, and Byron Green, 28, were arrested in connection with the March 12 death of 22-year-old Donatello Fenner ,Young Gorilla Family

Tavon Williams, 25, and Byron Green, 28, were arrested in connection with the March 12 death of 22-year-old Donatello Fenner, who was said to be a ranking member of the Young Gorilla Family gang and was found shot to death in the 2600 block of N. Charles St.Details of the arrest were not immediately available, but they bring, for now, a resolution to one of two recent murders in the Charles Village/Remington area, where homeowners pay extra taxes for private security and street cleaning. Three days after Fenner was killed, 37-year-old Asia Carter was shot in a drive-by shooting at the intersection of N. Howard St. and W. 25th St. Police did not believe those cases were linked.Fenner has eluded serious prison time, but in June 2008, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III singled him out as a "catalyst for violence" and someone police were watching as part of an increased effort to target the city's most violent people. The Barclay neighborhood, where YGF was said to be based, was the location for 10 killings in 2007.Fenner was charged a few months later with attempted murder, stemming from a May 2008 shooting. The charges were dropped by prosecutors in August 2009, and he was released. In November, he was picked up on an assault charge and was awaiting a March 25 court date. In a recent interview, Fenner's aunt denied that he was a gang member and said he was trying to turn his life around. She said police were harassing him with frequent stops and raids.Court records show Green was charged with attempted first-degree murder and armed carjacking in 2005, charges which were dismissed in 2007. Williams was charged in September 2008 with possessing a handgun in a vehicle, and the charges were later dropped. Williams was awaiting a May trial on drug distribution charges

Raymond Campos, a registered Norteño criminal street gang member, has testified he had no idea he ran over a law enforcement officer

Raymond Campos is charged with attempted murder of a peace officer, assault with a deadly weapon and gang enhancements. Both Campos and fellow defendant, Miguel Diaz, are charged with possession of a controlled substance for sale with a gang enhancement and street terrorism.Campos is accused of trying to kill Jesse Pinon, a county gang task force officer, with his car April 10 in the parking lot of 57 Natividad Road in Salinas. Police said Pinon's arm was run over by the car as Campos was making a getaway.Campos was arrested three weeks later in Livermore.
The case was handed over to the jury about 3:45 p.m., nearly three weeks after the trial began.Campos, a registered Norteño criminal street gang member, has testified he had no idea he ran over a law enforcement officer initially and maintains that it was an accident.The prosecution has said that the case is about two men trying to get away with a crime they committed.

Trevor J. Trammel, aka “Boss Man,” 19, was identified as a member of the violent street gang Dayton View Hustlers

Trevor J. Trammel, aka “Boss Man,” 19, was identified as a member of the violent street gang Dayton View Hustlers. About 1 a.m., Ouqessou, was locking up the store when Trammell approached him with a handgun and demanded money. Trammel fired four shots, striking Ouqessou at least once in the lower abdomen.Two others, Thaddius S. Core, aka “Man,” 21, and Charles A. Calahan, aka “Ed,” 23, acted as lookouts. Each was sentenced to 14 years in prison.Carter M. Stewart, U. S. attorney, Keith L. Bennett, FBI special agent in charge, and Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl announced the sentences handed down by U. S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose.
Trammel pleaded guilty on Dec. 30 to shooting Ouqessou. Core and Calahan also pleaded guilty on Dec. 30 to one count of violating the Hobbs Act by interfering with commerce by violence.The gang-targeting FBI Miami Valley Safe Streets Task Force and the Dayton Police Department Homicide Unit investigated the robbery.Video from a store security camera was broadcast locally as part of the investigation.
After the video aired, Dayton Police received a tip through Crime Stoppers that Trammel was involved. Further investigation led to the arrests of the three men on Jan. 15, 2009. They have been in custody since their arrests.“Prompt response from the public and a thorough, cooperative investigation by the FBI and Dayton Police helped solve this senseless and violent crime,” Stewart said.Stewart thanked FBI agents, Dayton detectives and Task Force officers, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Keller, who prosecuted the case.

Dayton View Hustlers street gang pulled over near the intersection of Siebenthaler Road and Philadelphia Drive

Dayton View Hustlers street gang pulled over near the intersection of Siebenthaler Road and Philadelphia Drive around 10 p.m. During the stop, the Tahoe's driver attempted to back into the cruiser to escape, nearly struck one of the officers and fled the scene, Dayton police said.After a short pursuit reaching a top speed of about 40 mph, the two suspects abandoned the vehicle at Kahtleen and Maplewood Avenues. The juvenile passenger was apprehended and taken to police headquarters for questioning.The driver, a man Dayton police identified as Darius Watson, fled on foot. Crews caught up to Watson a few blocks from where the vehicle was found and subdued him with a Taser and pepper spray, Dayton police said.Watson and an officer who suffered minor injuries to his knees during the apprehension were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Demetrius Hendley, 24, of Thompson Street, was sentenced to 10 years in prison

MURDERED for refusing to join the Bloods.in the 2006 shooting of a Bloods gang member he said that was trying to force him into the gang, prosecutor spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said yesterday.Demetrius Hendley, 24, of Thompson Street, was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier today for his guilty plea to aggravated manslaughter admitted shooting 22-year-old Rahquan Jackson to death on November, 26, 2006, then fleeing to North Carolina, where police arrested him three months later.
Prosecutors say the shooting occurred when Jackson and another man came to Hendley’s home to buy marijuana and a dispute erupted. Officers found bullet holes in the walls of the defendant’s house along with his wallet.A witness identified Hendley as the shooter, and he later confessed to authorities that he shot Jackson because he and other gangsters were trying to force him into the Bloods.Hendley initially said he shot Jackson is self defense, but Assistant Mercer Prosecutor Tom Meidt said he may have been under duress, but that could not be considered self defense.

Cheryl Bailey, the mother of Ducarme Joseph’s five children, was arrested last Friday and faces a charge of possession of a prohibited weapon

Cheryl Bailey, the mother of Ducarme Joseph’s five children, was arrested last Friday and faces a charge of possession of a prohibited weapon – a silencer that was found in the apartment she shared with Joseph.The Crown did not object to Bailey’s release on bail on Thursday, providing she not speak to or visit Joseph while the two await their trial.However, Bailey, 41, decided to challenge those conditions.
Communication bans are common practice for co-defendants – even if they are spouses, said prosecutor Anne-Marie Otis, "except, because they have five children together … for the purpose of medical emergency for the child."Bailey will return to court for a bail hearing on Friday.On Monday, Joseph pleaded guilty to charges he breached his bail conditions by associating with individuals named by the court. He was also charged with being in possession of a prohibited weapon — the silencer that was found in his apartment.According to court documents filed by police, Ducarme Joseph is a reputed street gang leader. (CBC)Joseph, 41, whom police have called the most dangerous street gang member in Montreal, was ordered to remain behind bars pending his upcoming trial on assault charges related to a previous incident.During his bail hearing on Monday, police detectives said Joseph is the leader of the 67 gang, named after a bus route in Montreal’s Saint-Michel district, and affiliated with the Crips gang, also known as the Blues.Just 90 minutes after he fled his boutique through a back door, Joseph met with a hitman to plot revenge, the detectives said.Investigators believe Joseph was the intended target of the attack at the Flawnego boutique. Police have speculated that the professionally executed slayings were an act of retaliation connected to the criminal underworld.Police sources have said the incident, which created a stir in an area popular with tourists, may be related to the slaying of Nick Rizzuto Jr., who was gunned down in December. Rizzuto was the son of the reputed head of the Montreal mafia, Vito Rizzuto.Vito Rizzuto is currently in a medium-security prison in Colorado, serving a 10-year sentence for racketeering in connection with three murders in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1981.

Three alleged members of an Auburn gang were charged with conspiring to kill rival gang members.

Gregory Joseph Bolduc, 19, Brian Cortes, 18, and a 15-year-old boy -- who The Times is not naming because he is a juvenile -- were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for planning to shoot three rival gang members in retaliation for an attack at a bus stop on the afternoon of March 15, according to court charging documents. Authorities learned about the plan after being notified by a police informant. The informant said that the three teens encouraged them to buy guns to help them retaliate, charging papers said.Police interceded, confiscated weapons and arrested the youths. A fourth man, Ricardo Martinez-Perez, 19, was arrested and charged with three counts of illegal possession of a firearm. Martinez-Perez is accused of selling firearms to the police informant, charging papers said.King County Deputy Prosecutor Julie Kline said in court paperwork that her office plans to ask that the 15-year-old be prosecuted as an adult.

U.S. neo-Nazis are founding leaders of the Tea-Party Gang, offense of potentially lethal gas pipe riggings in buildings used as weaponry.

Authorities are investigating members of the Tea-Party and the Vagos gang for the same unique offense of potentially lethal gas pipe riggings in buildings used as weaponry.FBI investigations involve both a severed gas line at the home of Virginia U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello's brother after alleged Tea-Partiers posted the man's address online and a gas pipe leak "booby trap" at official's building in California after an investigation had begun on a white supremacy linked gang.AP reports that "a line to a propane tank on a gas grill was cut at Bo Periello's Charlottesville home on Tuesday.
"Tea party activists had posted the address online thinking it was the congressman's home, telling opponents to drop by and 'express their thanks' for his vote."The notorious Vagos gang, with links to white supremacy groups, is under investigation with some 30 members arrested last week for violence, drug and weapons charges. After this investigation began, a gas pipe was rigged for the gas to fill the office building of officials.In both cases, the victims would have been kept under surveillance, "stalked," for the offenders to know when the buildings were unoccupied or when the occupiers asleep, to rig the potentially lethal gas weapons.
Al Jazeera investigative reporters and filmmakers uncovered that U.S. neo-Nazis are founding leaders of the Tea-Party movement, part of which is responsible for extreme racism including inciting racial violence. Both groups are white-based groups, virtually void of people of color members.Gas rigging weapon attacks have been reported by other targeted individuals who are being heavily persecuted. These reports and a groundswell of related assault reports by these individuals have fallen on Department of Justice and health workers' deaf ears.The well-orchestrated, covert crime phenomenon targeting selected people, relatively few of whom are Republicans or hold conservative views, has steadily increased since September 11, 2001. Soon thereafter, while the nation was under the effect of "Operation Schock and Awe," George W. Bush announced that "thugs" were being hired to "root out terrorists."

Vivian Blake former top leader of the Jamaican Shower Posse died in Jamaica.

Vivian Blake, a former top leader of the Jamaican Shower Posse, which United States prosecutors say was responsible for more than 1,400 drug-related killings in this country in the 1980s, died Sunday night in Kingston, Jamaica. He was 54. Blake died after being brought to the University Hospital of the West Indies complaining of breathing problems, said Ruel Rainford, the senior director of administration and operations. He said an autopsy was planned. Mr. Blake’s daughter, Dominique Blake, said he had been suffering from kidney failure and diabetes. Since his release from prison in the United States 14 months ago, Mr. Blake had been living in Jamaica and writing a screenplay about his life, said his lawyer, George Soutar. Mr. Blake, who grew up in poverty in West Kingston, earned a scholarship to St. George’s College, a private high school in Jamaica. He first traveled to New York as part of a cricket team in 1973, and stayed there, establishing the American affiliate of the Shower Posse in Brooklyn. There are differing accounts of how the gang got its name. Many believe it was derived from a 1980 campaign speech by Edward Seaga of the Jamaican Labor Party, who promised “showers of blessings” in economic opportunity for Jamaicans. The gang was widely seen as aligned with Mr. Seaga’s party. Another version contends that the name came from the way the gang would spray its victims with bullets. In the United States, Mr. Blake developed a marijuana and cocaine distribution network that spanned major cities from Miami to New York to Los Angeles and even reached as far as Anchorage. A warrant for his arrest was first issued in 1988 after he and other members of the gang were accused in the November 1984 killing of five people in a Miami crack house. Mr. Blake escaped arrest by hopping on a cruise ship in Miami bound for Jamaica, according to a 2008 profile of the Shower Posse on the BET series “American Gangster.” While fighting extradition in Jamaica, Mr. Blake established a nightclub, motorbike rental agency and a loan company. Another arrest warrant was issued, and in 1999, he was extradited to Miami. As part of a deal to avoid trial, he pleaded guilty to racketeering, criminal conspiracy and drug possession while admitting his leadership role in the gang.

“But what he never admitted to was his responsibility in personally killing anybody,” said his lawyer at the time, David Rowe. “I think he always felt above the fray.” Ms. Blake said her father had shielded her and her older brother, Duane, from his activities. “It wasn’t until a couple years back that I started to learn things in detail,” she said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “There was not one day in my life I did not speak to him,” said Ms. Blake, who won an N.C.A.A. title in the 4-x-400-meter relay while attending Pennsylvania State University and who now directs Black Knight Investments, the loan company modeled after the one her father started, while training to make the Jamaican Olympic team. Her brother chronicled their father’s life in a 2003 book, “Shower Posse: The Most Notorious Jamaican Crime Organization.” “We are definitely saddened, as with any death,” said Dr. Peter Phillips, a former Jamaican minister of national security, “but I think it would do Jamaica well to examine his own admissions in his establishment of high-level criminal organizations in Jamaica.” Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking the extradition of Christopher Coke, the current Shower Posse leader, on charges of drug distribution and firearms trafficking. Besides his two children, Mr. Blake is survived by his wife, Valerie, and four grandchildren

"King of Heroin," Jose Antonio Medina, nicknamed "Don Pepe," was arrested in the western state of Michoacan on Wednesday

Jose Antonio Medina, nicknamed "Don Pepe," was arrested in the western state of Michoacan on Wednesday and is being held for prosecution, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico's federal police.arrested Mexico's so-called "King of Heroin," a powerful drug trafficker allegedly responsible for running hundreds of pounds of heroin into Southern California each year, authorities said Thursday.Medina, 36, ran a complex smuggling operation that hauled 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of heroin each month across the Mexican border in Tijuana for La Familia drug cartel, Pequeno said. The White House National Drug Threat Assessment says that while heroin use is stable or decreasing in the U.S., the source of the drug has shifted in recent years from Colombia - where production and purity are declining - to Mexico, where powerful drug cartels are gaining a foothold in the lucrative market.

Border Patrol agents seized 4.8 million pounds of narcotics at border crossings last year, and heroin seizures saw the most significant increase during that time, with a 316 percent jump over 2008.Mexico and the U.S. are working together to counter a handful of increasingly violent drug cartels that supply most of the illicit drugs sold in the U.S. each year. The arrest came the day after top U.S. Cabinet officials, led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visited Mexico to underscore their shared responsibility for the country's drug-related violence.Nearly 17,900 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an assault on cartels after taking office in December 2006.That violence continued Thursday in Ciudad Juarez, a border city of 1.3 million just south of El Paso, where police on Thursday found a decapitated man lying in a shopping center parking lot, his head inside a black plastic bag nearby.Killings such as this are believed to be the result of drug cartels fighting among themselves for control of the drug trade, a lucrative business estimated to bring $25 billion in cash into Mexico each year.Federal police in Mexico City said Thursday they had seized $1.7 million in small bills and arrested four men, two Colombians and two Mexicans, for allegedly running financial operations for cartels.

Terrence "Squeaky" Richardson dealt drugs, randomly robbed people and killed his enemies as a leader of Pasadena Denver Lanes set of the Bloods gang

Terrence "Squeaky" Richardson dealt drugs, randomly robbed people and killed his enemies as a leader of a "violent and notorious gang in Baltimore City," prosecutors said Monday during opening statements in a federal racketeering and drug conspiracy trial.And after he went to prison, they said, he ordered others to take care of business, directing them over mobile phones that were illegally smuggled into his cell."This case is about gangs, drugs and violence," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kwame Manley said in a repeated refrain Monday.On trial are Richardson and co-defendant Gregory Saulsbury, who is accused of trafficking cocaine, crack and heroin to customers as a "high-end" dealer, which allowed him to drive luxury cars as he made money hand over fist.Their attorneys said the evidence would not support the allegations.
Richardson is accused of belonging to the Pasadena Denver Lanes set of the Bloods gang, the same group that killed a Baltimore County witness in 2007 and wears its signature red bandannas on street corners throughout the city. He was indicted in May along with 33 other defendants, all of them accused of dealing drugs like Saulsbury, and 23 of them, including Richardson, charged with racketeering for the PDL. Richardson and Saulsbury are the first to go to trial in federal court. The rest are scheduled for court dates later in the year, and about a half-dozen of them have publicly pleaded guilty.
It's likely some of those will turn against their so-called former Blood brothers, testifying for the prosecution. U.S. District Court Judge William D. Quarles listed about 10 of the indicted names as potential witnesses in court, and Manley promised to call gang members and their alleged victims, who will describe beatings with baseball bats and the murder of at least one man at Richardson's direction.Manley also plans to introduce video showing an armed robbery that Richardson participated in, as well as recordings of wiretapped phone calls.Richardson's attorney, Pat Woodward, said it was a stretch to call his client "the ringleader" of the robbery and suggested Richardson was all talk."My guy likes to talk and talk and talk," Woodward said. "At some point, you've got to ask yourself, 'What's real here?' "He added that Richardson does not live lavishly as Saulsbury allegedly did. "My man doesn't have anything," Woodward said.
Saulsbury's attorney, Melissa Phinn, said her client "has nothing to do with any gang" and "nothing to do with any violence." The evidence shows that drugs were taken from his home, but it doesn't link him to Richardson or the PDL, she said.Saulsbury is not alleged to be a gang member, just a dealer, according to Manley."In the drug world, Mr. Saulsbury was at the height," the prosecutor said. "He had nice cars, lots of money" and "weight-level customers" who bought by the kilo.Richardson and Saulsbury were arrested as part of a 17-month joint investigation known as Operation Tourniquet, which culminated in mass arrests across Maryland - and two in California - last May at the state and federal levels.Much of the information that led to the arrests came from wiretaps secured by the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office. City police and several county departments also participated in the investigation and raids, along with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.There are dozens of street gangs in Baltimore with hundreds of members, half of them belonging to some set of the Bloods, according to data from the University of Maryland.The gang, with its signature red color, was founded in California in the 1970s and spread eastward as various sets, including PDL. There are several subsets of the PDL operating throughout Baltimore, according to the indictment: the "Devil Lanes" in East Baltimore and the "Low End Lanes" in the northeast, among them.The indictment chronicles a shadowy gang world with big egos, in which members use code words to describe illegal activity - police are "roscoes" and gang leaders are known as "Big Homey" - and nicknames to identify one another. Members allegedly dealt drugs, traded guns, ordered hits and paid dues to Bloods in California to keep up their good standing.

arrested a member of one of the city's most notorious street gangs, the Latin Kings, on charges of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute

Police narcotics officers on Wednesday displayed 42 packages of cocaine weighing 1 kilogram apiece, $12,000 in cash and seven guns. They say they arrested a member of one of the city's most notorious street gangs, the Latin Kings, on charges of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.Police say the cocaine, guns and money were found in the trunk of the man's vehicle.Authorities say the cocaine was stuffed in boxes of soap that were perhaps put there to prevent police dogs from sniffing it out.

GANGWAR has broken out between Los Midnight Locos, which has been in the Northeast for decades, and members of the Lopez Maravilla gang

GANGWAR has broken out between Los Midnight Locos, which has been in the Northeast for decades, and members of the Lopez Maravilla gang, which originated in East Los Angeles but has been in El Paso since the 1970s. The animosity is as clear as the X'ed out graffiti spray-painted on wall after rock wall on Tropicana Avenue across the street from Collins Elementary School.Neighbors, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fear retaliation from gang members who menacingly strut down streets in a normally quiet middle-class area."They would also walk around with baseball bats and they would stand at the corner under the light post -- just stand there and stare down cars," a resident said. "Everybody wants to stay inside. Everybody is all cautious." The rivalry is also carried out in boastful Web pages and a local video on YouTube.com by the Lopez Maravilla gang.In response, a video posted this week, apparently by fed-up residents, warns gang members that they are being watched.
Recently, things heated when a Molotov cocktail was part of an unsolved attempted arson at the home of an alleged gang member, Fernie Gonzalez, in the 4800 block of Tropicana. Firefighters said there was no major damage.Then on March 14, a brawl erupted about 6:20 a.m. when gang members attacked two men and three women at a home in the 5300 block of Viceroy, according to complaint affidavits filed by a gang investigator and obtained by the El Paso Times.
Police said the attack was by the Lopez Maravilla against Los Midnight Locos. It is unclear whether all involved were gang members.According to the documents, Erika Cochran, 17, allegedly drove the attackers to the home. They used a baseball bat, a tire iron and jumper cables, and Gonzalez, 18, allegedly fired a handgun toward two people and the home. Gonzalez was trying to reload when Ernesto Sanchez stopped him. Then another attacker hit Sanchez with a baseball bat. Cochran allegedly used a tire iron to bash the windows of a woman's car. Before the assault was over, Gonzalez allegedly shot Rudy Villanueva, who received a bullet graze to the head. Police stopped the alleged attackers' car a block away. Gonzalez and Coch ran have been arrested and charged with criminal attempted murder, two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity -- aggravated assault and two counts deadly conduct. More arrests are possible.

Police Lt. Miguel Zamora, of the Northeast Regional Command, said families with ties to the Lopez Maravilla moved to the Northeast after being displaced by the floods that struck El Paso in 2006. "The gang is not native to the Northeast and as its numbers grew, so did the rivalry," he said Zamora said police are trying to prevent more trouble by increasing patrols, paying extra attention and encouraging residents to report problems. As for gang members standing on corners with baseball bats, police said it is not illegal.
Gang-intervention counselor Rob Gallardo said the gangs are fighting for territory, for recruits and over personal disputes. "The personal beefs get very serious and sometimes turn deadly," he said in an e-mail.Meanwhile, residents near Tropicana and Kellogg streets are stuck in the middle, frustrated and fearful.Gang members "jumped this guy one time and that day the police didn't even show up. And it was a 911 call," one neighbor complained. "We (authorities) are worried about the violence in Juárez but we aren't worried about what is going on here

Christopher Preston, the 39-year-old operator of Rain Grill and Bar, was critically injured in the blast

Christopher Preston, the 39-year-old operator of Rain Grill and Bar, was critically injured in the blast about 11:15 p.m. Sunday. It was the third suspicious fire at his restaurant in 18 months. man is fighting for his life after a late-night explosion at an Abbotsford restaurant frequented by gangsters.In all three cases, the restaurant was closed for the day.Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald said Sunday’s fire is suspected of being deliberately set, but investigators are not ruling anything out at this stage.“Our investigative theory has been that something gas-related or electrical-related went wrong in the building ...,” MacDonald said. “We are definitely treating it as suspicious. We suspect it is arson.”
Neil Payne, who owns commercial trucks with Preston, said his childhood friend never knew how or why the earlier fires were set.
“There is no real proof of someone targeting him because they never targeted his other company,” Payne said of their trucking business. “None of the trucks has ever been touched. Or the office for the trucks has ever been touched. It was always the restaurant.”The explosion was so intense that houses shook for blocks, windows were shattered across the street and a fridge door from inside Rain “actually blew off and went through a neighbouring business,” MacDonald said.“The fact that other people weren’t hurt is actually incredible,” he said.Two police officers were parked nearby when the building exploded and were on the scene within seconds. They were able to talk to Preston before he slipped into unconsciousness.“We had two cars writing their reports across the street when this happened. So they were there in five seconds,” MacDonald said. “They are going to have to go through some critical incident counselling because it was like something you would see from a horror movie. Pieces of this guy were falling off.”MacDonald said the other two fires at Rain, on Nov. 2 and Dec. 28, 2008 — remain under investigation.“Neither of those two files were closed, but they weren’t resolved with charges,” MacDonald said.
“Obviously with this incident, those two files are going to be brought back to life ... We have some working theories that resulted from the first two fires, but I can’t put those on the table at this point.”The restaurant has had gang clientele, though MacDonald said it is impossible to know why gangsters regularly chose Rain, which was previously called LAX.In July 2008, the restaurant was the scene of a wake for slain United Nations gangster Elliott (Taco) Castaneda. The Integrated Gang Task Force attended and seized two guns from Castaneda mourners.“You never really know what the connections are behind the scenes,” MacDonald said. “We are aware of where there have been people who are gang-associated going to this restaurant.”
But he also said Preston “did not have an extensive history with us.”
Payne said gangsters frequent all the restaurants

4 (Four) Corners of Death

corner of Euclid and Imperial in Southeast San Diego is known as the 4 (Four) Corners of Death, so we decided to take a trip to this notorious intersection. Upon our arrival, we witnessed a young man being chased down Imperial avenue by the San Diego Police Department. He was caught and placed under arrest right before our cameras were rolling. The police in San Diego would not acknowledge that this intersection was known as the 4 Corners of Death. Many people we spoke to in the community have acknowledged that the corner is known by that name because it has a violent reputation, but in recent years crime has dropped in this part of San Diego.

50 female crews in Washington, D.C.

50 female crews in Washington, D.C. alone; twice as many as in the late nineties. Female gang membership is on the rise in other major cities as well. They fight with knives, bricks, ice picks, guns, box cutters, and razor blades; sell drugs; and commit violent crimes against citizens.A journalist who interviewed girl gangs during the nineties heard gruesome stories of drive-bys, games of Russian roulette, and even rape of a rival gang member using an aluminum pole. Trapped in a world where no one seems to be noticing their worth, the gang gives members a valuable sense of identity that they can find nowhere else.Girls Need Gang Intervention Programs to Reverse the TrendIn the New York of the fifties, social workers tried to get involved in juvenile delinquents’ family lives; only to be told by parents that the teenagers “were the court’s problem.” In the nineties, LA battered women’s shelters trying to intervene in girl gang members’ lives heard the same type of argument from unconcerned parents: “Not our problem.” The neglectful mind-set remains the same as the statistics worsen.None of this is to argue that it is more important to help gang-affiliated girls than it is to aid young men and boys in the same situation. It is merely to state that equal time, effort, and resources should be expended on solving the problem of male and female gang violence.According to the Bureau of Justice, the adult female jail and prison inmate population has increased about 5% per year from 1998 to 2004 (the male population rose by 3.3% per annum). Early intervention might prevent a girl gangmember’s budding talents and incipient skills from being wasted behind steel bars or on morgue slabs.

Montreal Gangland Scene

Montreal gangs:
1. 18th Street (St-Leonard)
2. Bandidos
3. Bloods – known as Bo-Gars in Montreal, reported to have a membership of about 200, as of 2000, of mostly Haitian origin. The Bo-Gars reportedly began in Montreal North in the mid-1980s. The gang has since spread to Laval and Longeuil, and has been connected to a host of violent and serious crime, as well as telemarketing fraud.
4. Crips – known as C.D.P’s (Crackdown Posse) in Montreal, reported with a membership of about 200 in 2000, of mostly Haitian origin. The CDP began in the early 1990s in the St. Michel district. The turf war between CDP and the Bo-Gars has recently spread to Laval.
5. Downtown Posse – A Montreal Crip gang in Cote-des-Neige, mostly of Jamaican origin. Rivals of the Uptown Posses.
6. Hells Angels
7. Money Over Bitches (M.O.B ) – Bloods gang
8. Montreal Italian Mafia
9. Montreal West End Gang AKA the “Irish Mob” AKA the “Westies” – according to user sources, a group of older men who control the port of Montreal, and according to the Vancouver Sun, a “group of anglophone criminals” running guns and drugs (4 October 2001). The term “Westies” may have originated from the custom of referring to South Boston’s Irish-Americans as “Southies.” Montreal was the reported place of refuge for Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, an informer in the Boston Irish Mob during the 1970s. Former Boston Irish Mob kingpin Whitey Bulger built a strong underground network with the West End Gang since Bulger went into hiding. The West End Gang (Irish Mob) have been reported to work closely with the Hells Angels, including fixing prices on cocaine for trafficking and distribution.
10. MSBK – a Blood set in St. Hubert, off the Island of Montreal
11. National League (Bonehead group known in late 1980s)
12. N.D.G bloods
13. Piru Park Boyz – a blood/piru gang with affiliation to piru’s in Compton, located in Greenfield Park, from St.constant to Longuiel. 100 to 150 members.
14. Rock Machine – since absorbed by the Bandidos
15. Ruff Ryders, in the West Island. Ruff Ryders began in West Island high schools and graduated to higher level criminal activities such as extortion and weapons trafficking. They developed alliances with the Rockers up until 2001.
16. Surenos (Sur 13)
17. Syndicate – according to user sources, a powerful street gang that works for the Hell’s Angels
18. T.L.R – Toronto Lankan Recruitement
19. Uptown Posse – A Montreal Blood gang in Cote-des-Neige. Mostly of Jamaican origin.
20. White Boy Wrecking Crew

Brooke Harris, a 19-year-old from Boynton Beach, was driving one car. She was shot once in the back

police just released the names of four young people involved in a shooting between two cars early Sunday morning in Lake Worth. Brooke Harris, a 19-year-old from Boynton Beach, was driving one car. She was shot once in the back. The Palm Beach Sheriff's Office reports that Harris is recovering from surgery, as is the passenger in her car, Benedict Fonteil, 21, who was hit in the shoulder and leg.
Harris' record shows an arrest by Delray Beach police last June for fraud and theft.
Two other passengers in Harris' car were not struck -- Lakeisha Moore, 21, and Christian Alcimeus, 20. Alcimeus has arrests for fleeing police and marijuana possession.

Antonio Neftali Urrutia-Barrera, a member of the MS-13 street gang, was a passenger in a vehicle driving in the area of of East Poplar Road

Antonio Neftali Urrutia-Barrera, a member of the MS-13 street gang, was a passenger in a vehicle driving in the area of of East Poplar Road and South Buckingham Court Sept. 17, 2008, when he saw people he believed to be members of a rival gang. Using a revolver, he fired several shots out of the vehicle at them, wounding three individuals, one of whom remains paralyzed from the waist down.He also was charged, along with two other MS-13 members, in the Oct. 6, 2008, gang-related shooting in Reston that left three men critically injured.Barrera had pled guilty to the charges Jan. 5. Following the completion of his 60-year sentence, he would be required to complete five years of supervised release.

Seven of eight alleged members of the Latin Kings street gang

Seven of eight alleged members of the Latin Kings street gang being sued by Boone County took the stand this morning and each denied that they were members of the gang. The case is set to resume at 1 p.m. in Judge Eugene Doherty’s courtroom in the Boone County Courthouse with one more defendant, Cecillio Rubalcava, left to be called. Closing arguments will then begin.None of the defendants has hired an attorney, which has prompted Doherty a few times to explain the finer points of the ongoing court process to the defendants. At one point, the judge even invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on behalf of a defendant. Boone County State’s Attorney Michele Courier repeated nearly identical lines of questioning for each defendant. Each was asked if he was a member of the Latin Kings. When each answered “no,” Courier would ask about specific instances when the individual allegedly told a police officer that they were a gang member, about certain tattoos the individual had and about the clothes they were wearing or the hand signals that they displayed in photographs that prosecutors displayed for the court. This led to various defendants describing yellow shirts as “more beige” and one explaining that a tattoo of a playing card king wearing a five-pointed crown was actually “Jesus Christ, the king of all and master of all.”Prosecutors are attempting to prove that the eight defendants are members of the Latin Kings and should be barred from associating with one another or gathering in areas frequented by the gang. They are also seeking monetary damages from the alleged gang members.
Courier is the first prosecutor in the Rock River Valley to file a lawsuit against alleged gang members under the authority of the Illinois Street Gang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act.She is following in the footsteps of DuPage County, where in the late 1990s, officials began filing lawsuits under the act to deter gang activity.

Domingo Reyes, 35, was at Alberto Barber Shop in Westlake near MacArthur Park

man was shot while sitting in the barber's chair in what police are saying could be a gang-related incident. Domingo Reyes, 35, was at Alberto Barber Shop in Westlake near MacArthur Park when the incident happened around 6:58 p.m., according to the LAPD. Reyes was shot in the head and the chest and rushed to the hospital where he later died. The shooter was only described as male Hispanic wearing a blue hoodie.
The LA Times, which is keeping track of homicides in L.A. County, says there have been 84 homicides within two miles of the barber shop since January 1st, 2007. Four of those took place this month. The LA Weekly says this is the 49th homicide within Los Angeles city limits in 2010.

Mad Cowz street gang and a breakaway gang, the African Mafia.

brought to court Monday to testify in the trial of Jeffrey Cansanay, the street gangster couldn’t remember a thing.The 19-year-old member of the Mad Cowz street gang spent more than two hours on the witness stand, during which time he refused to admit he had any knowledge of the October 2005 killing.Cansanay, 23, is charged with second-degree murder. The Crown alleges Cansanay shot Haiart and another man while firing at two street gangsters fleeing from a McGee Street crack house.
In the hours and days leading up to the shooting, the house was the focus of several violent confrontations involving the Mad Cowz street gang and a breakaway gang, the African Mafia.Crown attorney Gerry Bowering read excerpts from the 19-year-old witness’ 2005 police statement, in which he described a shoot-out outside the crack house the day before Haiart was killed.“I don’t remember that,” the man said. “If I remember, I will let you know.” The man looked bored as he propped his head in his hands and repeatedly claimed no memory of his police statement.At one point the man accused police of beating him until he implicated Cansanay in the killing. Later he blamed his poor memory on his drug use.“Is it not correct, that what you are doing here today is pretending that you have memory loss so you won’t be placed in the position to have to describe what happened to the jury?” Bowering said.
“No. I don’t remember, man,” the man responded.The Crown alleges Gharib Abdullah and Corey Amyotte were the men Cansanay was shooting at when Haiart was caught in the line of fire and killed.Last week Abdullah testified he and Amyotte had approached the crack house “to talk about the problem” when Cansanay pointed a sawed-off rifle at them and a co-accused ordered him to shoot.Amyotte testified Monday he was “in hiding” at his girlfriend’s apartment the day Haiart was killed.“I did a shooting the night before and I would not have been in the area at that time,” he told court.

Ducarme Joseph is one of the most dangerous men in Montreal.

Ducarme Joseph is, according to police, one of the most dangerous men in Montreal.
They said the self-described shop owner was actually a violent gang leader who, when asked about the gun attack that killed his two bodyguards last week, broke into a smile.Within 90 minutes of the attempt on his life, police testified, Joseph was meeting with a gang hitman to plot his revenge.
Police said that when they arrested him last week he was carrying voodoo prayers in his pocket and a list of things to do — which included finding pictures of the men who tried to kill him.A judge was sufficiently convinced Monday that Joseph should remain locked up for violating bail conditions that stemmed from a previous case.
Quebec court Judge Gilles Garneau said the evidence suggested Joseph and two fellow co-accused were a threat to public safety.
“There was a strong probability that they would attempt to identify the authors of this attack and a strong possibility that they’ll commit acts related to the incident,” Garneau said.Garneau made clear the men were being detained because they presented a danger to society and not to keep them safe from potential harm.
Joseph, 41, pleaded guilty Monday to violating bail conditions by associating with two men he had been ordered to avoid.
Dutroy Charlotin and Stevenson Fleurant, who took over as bodyguards after their two predecessors were gunned down last Thursday, also had their bail revoked.
The three had been free on bail after being charged with assault last year. Joseph was also charged with possession of a prohibited item — a black cylindrical object believed to be a gun silencer.
All three men have been ordered separated and won’t be allowed to mingle in jail, or to be in the presence of street-gang members.
Police described the store killings as a professional hit that could possibly be part of a war involving the Rizzuto crime family. They have floated other theories, including a settling of accounts by a rival street gang.
Both the Crown and defence lawyers said they were waiving the right to a publication ban on details of Monday’s bail hearing, which laid out a detailed account of Joseph’s supposed clout in the world of street gangs.
Montreal police street-gang expert Jean-Claude Gauthier, who testified as a witness, said Joseph has been known to authorities since 1986 as a member and, later, as leader of the 67 street gang, named for a bus route that runs through east-end Montreal.
Gauthier said that, in the last quarter-century, Joseph has been involved in a wide range of criminal cases: attempted murder, arson, assault, sexual assault, obstruction of justice, identity theft and inciting prostitution. He entered Joseph’s rap sheet as documented evidence.
“He’s one of the most dangerous figures in Montreal,” the police detective said.
Another witness, Montreal detective Pascal Leclair, testified that Joseph showed little sadness over the death of his bodyguards, Peter Christopoulos and Jean Gaston.
“He said it’s part of life and there’s nothing I can do about that,” Leclair said.
He said that when asked whether he feared he’d be next, Joseph smiled.

Gary Martin, Joseph’s lawyer, said the three co-accused simply had breakfast on Friday, then went to a meeting at the offices of a Montreal construction company to discuss funeral plans for their fallen comrades.
“Being a bad boy isn’t reason enough to keep him detained,” Martin argued.
Police testified that the construction company is owned by Antonio Magi. He is a former business partner to Nicolo Rizzuto Jr., who was gunned down last December in the same neighbourhood where police arrested Joseph.
Rizzuto was the son of Vito Rizzuto, the so-called head of Canada’s Mafia.
While police didn’t find any weapons on the trio, they did find a three-page document that included a to-do list. Those priorities included finding pictures of the gunmen, police said.
There were also voodoo prayers spelled out on the papers, police said.
Crown prosecutor Anne-Marie Otis said she was pleased that Joseph would stay behind bars until his assault trial in September, and that his $50,000 bail deposit would be seized.

RAID ON:money-laundering operation run by British gangsters which may have links to Premier League football transfers

drug and money-laundering operation run by British gangsters which may have links to Premier League football transfers has been uncovered by police in France’s Dordogne region.
Armed officers from both sides of the Channel raided a number of upmarket homes in two isolated villages favoured by British expatriates. There they found drugs and thousand of pounds worth of used notes, along with luxury cars including Aston Martin DB9s and Mercedes SLKs.There have been numerous arrests in connection with the enquiry, all of British nationals who claimed to have moved to France ‘for the good life’, said an investigating officer.

One – so far named only as Stephen C. – was arrested in a car travelling from Narbonne, on the south coast, to the city of Toulouse.Police found half-a-million pounds worth of used notes in his boot, along with traces of cocaine.

‘He told us that all the money came from professional footballer transfers in England,’ added the investigating officer.
‘Those arrested say they had links with big names in the world of Premiership football.’

Asian gangs multiple counts in the violence outside Club Indigo

Thanh V. Do, 23, has been charged with second-degree intentional murder in the death of Eric Pou, the District Attorney's Office said. Pou, 25, died after being shot outside the Asian restaurant after a fight broke out inside during a private Christmas party.The prosecutors' office also said that Do has been charged with five counts of aggravated battery and aggravated assault. Those charges stem from the Dec. 19 fight outside Club Indigo, 126 N. Mosley, in Old Town. Two men, ages 23 and 24, suffered stab wounds in that incident. Another man was beaten. Charged with the same multiple counts in the violence outside Club Indigo are Jason Pou, 24, Cuong Pham, 19, Mark Pou, 27, and Michael Pham, 25, the District Attorney's Office said.
It is not clear whether the victim in the restaurant shooting — Eric Pou — and two of the suspects — Jason Pou and Mark Pou — are related.Authorities did not provide names or charges for the two other people who had been taken into custody earlier. In a news release, the Police Department said one is a 25-year-old man connected to the Dec. 27 restaurant homicide who had been taken into custody on a parole violation. The second person is a 28-year-old man taken into custody earlier this month on unrelated charges.Video surveillance footage helped solve the Club Indigo case, Stolz said. In general, video surveillance has become more common at businesses and residences, and investigators have become adept at using it as evidence, he said.
Landwehr credited detectives for doing good work reviewing video and conducting interviews.Police think some of those arrested also were possibly involved in two shooting deaths at a funeral wake outside a southeast Wichita home on Jan. 24, 2009. The shooting, in the 2900 block of East Dunham, near 31st South and Hillside, killed two bystanders: Keo Intavong, 66, and Jeff Chitanavong, 22. Eight other people were wounded when suspects fired from a passing vehicle.After the shooting, some members of the Laotian community postponed weddings and parties and stayed away from funerals, fearing they could become victims of further violence.Landwehr said Thursday that investigators suspect that some of those arrested this week also could be involved in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Danny Dang in 2006 at the Mid-America All-Indian Center.Arrested and charged five documented members of Asian gangs this week in connection with a fatal shooting outside a restaurant and a violent fight outside a nightclub, it represented a key breakthrough, a police official said.For years, Wichita investigators have struggled to solve violent crimes in the Asian community partly because of that culture's distrust of police, Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said Thursday."And we're trying to break through that,'' he said. A key milestone occurred with the arrests this week of "a very violent group" from two Asian gangs involved in the restaurant shooting and the nightclub stabbing and beating, Stolz said. Both incidents occurred in December."It's the first Asian homicide we've had solved" in quite some time, Stolz said of the shooting.In addition to those five defendants, two other people who had previously been arrested may be connected to the two December cases, police said.Police think some of the same suspects could have been involved in a double homicide in early 2009 at a funeral wake and a shooting death in 2006 outside a wedding reception at the Mid-America All-Indian Center. Police have said the wake shooting came in retaliation for the Indian Center shooting.In announcing the arrests Thursday, police Lt. Ken Landwehr said that some people provided vital information to authorities that helped solve the two recent cases and that those people's courage in coming forward could inspire others to help investigators.

Stolz described the defendants as a "very violent group."

"They're just so violent, that at some point we just have to get this group off the street, or we're going to keep having problems in this community,'' he said. People realized it was time help authorities, he said.

"I think people... they know they're so violent, and if they don't come forward, this is going to continue,'' Stolz said.

"At some point, people have to say, 'Enough is enough' ... and report what you know to police."The defendants are members of two Asian gangs that have been associated with each other but also have been at odds after the fatal shooting Dec. 27 outside Da Nang Restaurant, 1556 N. Broadway, Landwehr said.

Narcobloqueos Monterrey criminals commandeered dozens of tractor-trailer trucks and other vehicles to block Streets

bustling commercial city of Monterrey, where the authorities said criminals commandeered dozens of tractor-trailer trucks and other vehicles on Thursday and Friday to block more than 30 streets and highways. The blockades, called narcobloqueos by the Mexican news media, resulted in traffic chaos, with the trucks parked horizontally across highways and vehicles jammed up behind them.
Luis Carlos Treviño Berchelmann, head of public security for the state of Nuevo León, which encompasses Monterrey, described the blockades as a response by the drug cartels to recent antidrug offensives by the government. Other government officials agreed, labeling the stealing of vehicles and abandonment of them on busy highways as a desperate attempt by drug gangs to show their power. The chaotic scenes that the criminals created did give the impression they had the upper hand. Local newspapers described young men carrying stones, baseball bats and, in some cases, even more deadly weapons, assaulting drivers and stealing their vehicles, only to leave the cars abandoned at odd angles on roadways. In some cases, the vehicles were shot up or burned. Across northern Mexico, rival drug gangs have been clashing fiercely among themselves and with the authorities. On Friday, the army said it had killed two trafficking suspects during a shootout at the front gates of a prestigious private university in Monterrey. Over the weekend it emerged that the two victims were students. On Saturday, there were 53 killings across the country, making it one of the deadliest days in the past three years, Mexican newspapers reported. The sense of lawlessness around Monterrey, a main commercial hub in Mexico’s northeast and home to many American business operations, prompted the State Department to recommend recently that Americans avoid using highways that run between the city and the United States border. Friday’s traffic problems in Monterrey began early, about 3 a.m., when a bus was left blocking a bridge at the intersection of two large avenues, the newspaper Milenio reported. Later, abandoned vehicles were found scattered across the city and surrounding municipalities, the authorities said. As of Friday, one state official was quoted in the local media as saying that two men had been detained. Such mass actions by Mexico’s drug gangs are not unprecedented. Eager to encourage the authorities to back off, drug gangs have organized street protests in Monterrey in the past and blocked some of the bridges running between Mexico and the United States, Mexican authorities said.

Josue Orozco, now 19,plan to retry him.

teenager accused of fatally shooting a Redwood City man in 2005 scared witnesses into changing their testimony or not appearing at all at his trial.
Jurors in December split on whether Josue Orozco, now 19, was guilty of the murder, and a judge declared a mistrial. But prosecutors said Friday that Orozco while in jail directed fellow gang members to intimidate witnesses. Five suspects have been charged with conspiring with Orozco. They appeared in court Friday but did not enter pleas. Orozco is accused of fatally shooting 21-year-old Francisco Rodriguez in July 2005 in what authorities say was a dispute between rival gangs. He has denied he was the shooter. Prosecutors say they plan to retry him.

—

Barrio Azteca drug gang Luis Alberto Camacho Ramos, alias "El Shoker" or "El Flaco," who confessed to participating in the house party

Arrested four more people connected to the killings of 15 people at a January house party in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, bringing the total to seven suspects arrested and one killed, according to documents from the Mexican attorney general's office obtained by CNN.Last Sunday the Mexican military, in connection with federal police, arrested Heriberto Martinez, a self-proclaimed member of the Aztecas, a Juarez street gang that acts as the Juarez cartel's enforcers in the city. State prosecutors say Martinez committed at least four killings and acted as a lookout during the house party massacre in Villas de Salvarcar, a southern suburb of Juarez, in the early morning hours of January 31.The house party slayings of 15 people, most of whom were students with no ties to organized crime, has sparked outrage across the country. The slayings are thought by officials to be the result of bad intelligence by the cartel and by the gang that carried out the killings.
Another one of the four arrested recently was Luis Alberto Camacho Ramos, alias "El Shoker" or "El Flaco," who according to documents obtained by CNN confessed to participating in the house party killings. Ramos, along with admitted drug cartel member Jesus Bustos Renteria, was arrested in the beginning of March, according to the documents.

The documents obtained Saturday, forwarded exclusively to CNN by someone close to the investigation, show that at least one of the four men recently arrested -- Alfredo Arias, alias "Arnold" -- was signaled out during testimony by Aldo Favio Hernandez Lozano, alias "El 18." Lozano was a municipal police officer arrested last month who state prosecutors say was a hit man in the January killings. During testimony, Lozano said it was Arias who originally called him to order the house party hit. Arias also supplied the weapons for the killings, Lozano said during testimony.

Arias had been sought in connection with a different killing. Six people, including 26-year-old U.S. Air Force Airman David Booher, died in a November 2009 shooting carried out at a strip club in Juarez, according to Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz.

In a press release last week by the Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office, Arias was identified as the gunman in the strip-club shooting through surveillance video taken at the club.

Still photos included in the documents obtained by CNN show a man who resembles Arias, wearing a hat and hooded sweatshirt, removing a gun from his waist band and opening fire shortly after entering the club.

Arias was caught on March 16, while driving his son in the colony of Plutarco Elias Calles. In his possession, according to officials, were dozens of rounds of ammunition and at least 3 guns, including an assault rifle commonly known in Mexico as "un cuerno de chivo" or "goat's horn" because of the gun's banana shaped clip. It is the weapon of choice for drug cartel members in Juarez.

According to the press release, Arias was also the apparent leader of the drug cell "Los Linces," and it was that cell that ordered the killing on January 31 in southern Juarez.

Another man identified as the mastermind behind the killings -- Adrian Ramirez Armendariz, alias "El Rama" -- was killed by the Mexican military days after the house party killings.

Arias "was at one time in U.S. custody, but was later deported to Juarez," Reyes said. "It really underscores the fact that many of the criminals we have in Juarez were illegal aliens in the U.S. that have been deported from the U.S. into Juarez."
Reyes said in recent years as many as 100,000 Mexican nationals living illegally in the United States have been deported to Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas."We did a study of the killings during an isolated period recently and cross-referenced to the date we have of deportation. We found that 10 percent of those killed in previous months from the time we made this study actually had been deported within the last two years from the U.S. to Juarez."CNN could not immediately authenticate whether or not Arias was at one time in U.S. custody.On Sunday, Reyes told CNN he was looking forward to meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she visits Mexico this week. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also is scheduled to visit Mexico this week.
The announcement of the arrests comes on the same weekend a funeral was held in El Paso for two of the three people associated with the U.S. consulate in Juarez who were killed last week after they left a social gathering.Reyes said last week that authorities believe those slayings were carried out by the Barrio Azteca drug gang. No motive has been revealed, and no arrests have been made.
About 200 U.S. federal, state and local authorities interviewed more than 100 Barrio Azteca members and associates in El Paso and southern New Mexico on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

GANGLAND

leader of the notorious "Dump Squad" street gang Edward Davis, 25, also known as "Cabbage" was sentenced

leader of the notorious "Dump Squad" street gang in Newport News was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison, plus 35 years in connection with two murders.Edward Davis, 25, also known as "Cabbage" was sentenced in Norfolk Federal Court. Davis pleaded guilty to the shooting death of Terrell Williams in Newport News in 2006, as well as the strangulation death of Tiarra Campbell in 2007.According to a spokesperson for the United States Department of Justice, the murder of Williams occurred during a drug robbery.Campbell was killed after she made it known she was tired of living in fear in her own neighborhood. She was planning to help police rid the neighborhood of the Dump Squad. Davis confessed that's why he killed her.
Campbell's sister, who is now raising Campbell's 5-year-old son, testified in tears Tuesday. She said, "Tiarra's son doesn't remember his mom. He looks just like her and it makes me sad he doesn't have his mom."Newport News Police Chief James Fox told WAVY.com his officers worked with the FBI, the State Police and Hampton Police on this case. "We put a team together that was committed to doing away with this Dump Squad and now that we've been able to do it, it's a safer neighborhood for people to live in and we've seen the decrease in crime since these persons have been arrested. This was a group of individuals that were terrorizing that neighborhood. They were bullying people around, people were scared to death of them."Chief Fox said crime in the neighborhoods where the Dump Squad operated has now dropped by 44 percent.U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride told WAVY.com, "Edward Davis will spend the rest of his life behind bars to pay for the terror he and his gang raged on Newport News."
FBI Special Agent in Charge, Alex Turner, added, "We hope this investigation sends a message that violence associated with criminal enterprises and led by persons such as Edward will not be tolerated."After the sentencing hearing, Edward was hauled back to prison where he will spend the rest of his life. Several other members of the Dump Squad have already been sent to prison.

shootout in the northern city of Monterrey killed two suspected drug cartel gunmen and wounded a soldier Friday

shootout in the northern city of Monterrey killed two suspected drug cartel gunmen and wounded a soldier Friday. Suspected gang members also blocked roads leading out of the city for the second day, in a bold attempt to impede security patrols.Gunmen opened fire on an army patrol outside the gates of a prestigious private university in Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city and a major industrial hub, the army said in a statement.Soldiers seized guns, ammunition and hand grenades at the scene.
The wounded soldier is in stable condition.Hours later, gang members blocked four major roads, including three leading out of Monterrey, according to an official with the Nuevo Leon state Public Safety Department.The gang members fled after parking the trucks and other vehicles across the roads, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Authorities towed the cars away, the official said.It was the second straight day of street blockades, a novel tactic that drives home how imbued Mexico's drug war has become in the daily life of some cities — and how audacious cartels have become in their battle against the military and federal police.Two of the vehicles blocking the roads Thursday were set on fire a few hundred yards (meters) from toll booths.The same day, gunmen in a convoy of six vehicles opened fire on a navy helicopter on a reconnaissance patrol in Fresnillo, outside of Monterrey. Marines aboard the chopper returned fire, killing one of the gunmen.Separately, the navy announced the capture of Alberto "Bad Boy" Mendoza, suspected of being a chief cartel operator linked to the Beltran Leyva gang and others in Monterrey.President Felipe Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police across Mexico over three years in a U.S.-backed campaign to crush brutal cartels battling each other for trafficking and drug dealing turf.
Gang violence has since surged, claiming nearly 18,000 lives.At least 40 soldiers have been arrested on drug trafficking charges and another 38 have been accused of abuse against civilians, including torture and killing, said Brig. Gen. Jose Luis Chavez, Mexico's top military prosecutor.He said ongoing investigations may lead to the arrest of 50 more soldiers on abuse charges.To date, however, no soldier has been convicted of abuse, prompting criticism from local and international human rights groups who also say Mexico should be trying soldiers accused of human rights violations in civilian rather than military courts.
Chavez insisted the military does not systematically engage in abuse or corruption.
"Mistakes are inevitable when working in such a risky situation, in which your life is in danger every day," Chavez said. "But mistakes must be punished."In the western state of Michoacan, meanwhile, a judge ordered the release of yet another of 12 town mayors arrested last year for suspected cartel ties.Zitacuaro Mayor Antonio Ixtlahuac was the eighth to be freed for lack of evidence, a setback for Calderon's efforts to show politicians are not immune to prosecution.
The mayors have all maintained their innocence.After nearly 10 months behind bars, Ixtlahuac walked out of a prison outside the state capital of Morelia hours after the judge gave the order. He smiled and told reporters he felt vindicated before driving off in a black Mercedes Benz with several relatives.

shootout in the northern city of Monterrey killed two suspected drug cartel gunmen and wounded a soldier Friday

shootout in the northern city of Monterrey killed two suspected drug cartel gunmen and wounded a soldier Friday. Suspected gang members also blocked roads leading out of the city for the second day, in a bold attempt to impede security patrols.Gunmen opened fire on an army patrol outside the gates of a prestigious private university in Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city and a major industrial hub, the army said in a statement.Soldiers seized guns, ammunition and hand grenades at the scene.
The wounded soldier is in stable condition.Hours later, gang members blocked four major roads, including three leading out of Monterrey, according to an official with the Nuevo Leon state Public Safety Department.The gang members fled after parking the trucks and other vehicles across the roads, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Authorities towed the cars away, the official said.It was the second straight day of street blockades, a novel tactic that drives home how imbued Mexico's drug war has become in the daily life of some cities — and how audacious cartels have become in their battle against the military and federal police.Two of the vehicles blocking the roads Thursday were set on fire a few hundred yards (meters) from toll booths.The same day, gunmen in a convoy of six vehicles opened fire on a navy helicopter on a reconnaissance patrol in Fresnillo, outside of Monterrey. Marines aboard the chopper returned fire, killing one of the gunmen.Separately, the navy announced the capture of Alberto "Bad Boy" Mendoza, suspected of being a chief cartel operator linked to the Beltran Leyva gang and others in Monterrey.President Felipe Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police across Mexico over three years in a U.S.-backed campaign to crush brutal cartels battling each other for trafficking and drug dealing turf.
Gang violence has since surged, claiming nearly 18,000 lives.At least 40 soldiers have been arrested on drug trafficking charges and another 38 have been accused of abuse against civilians, including torture and killing, said Brig. Gen. Jose Luis Chavez, Mexico's top military prosecutor.He said ongoing investigations may lead to the arrest of 50 more soldiers on abuse charges.To date, however, no soldier has been convicted of abuse, prompting criticism from local and international human rights groups who also say Mexico should be trying soldiers accused of human rights violations in civilian rather than military courts.
Chavez insisted the military does not systematically engage in abuse or corruption.
"Mistakes are inevitable when working in such a risky situation, in which your life is in danger every day," Chavez said. "But mistakes must be punished."In the western state of Michoacan, meanwhile, a judge ordered the release of yet another of 12 town mayors arrested last year for suspected cartel ties.Zitacuaro Mayor Antonio Ixtlahuac was the eighth to be freed for lack of evidence, a setback for Calderon's efforts to show politicians are not immune to prosecution.
The mayors have all maintained their innocence.After nearly 10 months behind bars, Ixtlahuac walked out of a prison outside the state capital of Morelia hours after the judge gave the order. He smiled and told reporters he felt vindicated before driving off in a black Mercedes Benz with several relatives.

Ducarme Joseph, with reputed ties to the Bloods, is a 41-year-old "businessman" - owner of a clothing store on St. Jacques St. now riddled with bullet

Ducarme Joseph, with reputed ties to the Bloods, is a 41-year-old "businessman" - owner of a clothing store on St. Jacques St. now riddled with bullet holes.The street gangs are growing up, says Montreal police Inspector Charles Mailloux.
"The phenomenon has been evolving since the 1980s. Young people of 14 and 15 years old are now 40. So they're more structured and associated with organized crime. They still hire people to sell drugs on the street, but they're evolving."
Some fear the level of violence is evolving with them. Investigative journalist Julien Sher says when gangs like the Bloods in Montreal - also known as the Reds - take over from more established biker gangs and Mafia organizations, it can mean more unpredictable violence."We're looking at the next generation of gangsters," Sher said. "It's always dangerous to cry fire, but we have seen in Vancouver and Winnipeg that when less structured gangs get involved, there can be more violence because they can sometimes be more hot-headed and less disciplined. It may be harder for them to control their members."Maria Mourani, a Bloc MP who has written a book on Montreal's street gangs, says right now, all the groups are divided, including the Italian Mafia, and the street gangs that work with them."It's a very volatile environment," she said. But she believes someone will try to unite the "Italian clan" to take back control over territory, the street gangs and the "gangster-businessmen." "But we're not there yet."

arrested Joseph Ducarme , the owner of a clothing shop in Old Montreal where two people were killed in a shooting

arrested Joseph Ducarme , the owner of a clothing shop in Old Montreal where two people were killed in a shooting Thursday. Montreal police Constable Anie Lemieux confirmed a man who was at the shooting scene Thursday was arrested Friday for breach of bail conditions.The man was arrested for being with known criminals, which was forbidden under the terms of his bail. Media reports said Ducarme was arrested but Lemieux would not confirm that it was in fact Ducarme.Lemieux said the suspect would appear in court Saturday. She said police are still looking for suspects in the shooting as well as witnesses who may have relevant information about the case.
Police patrollers were also fanning out in Old Montreal Friday to reassure business owners and residents following the gangland-style shooting at a St. Jacques St. W. boutique Thursday that left two dead and two injured.The shooting seems to have been a planned hit, and not a random event, Montreal police Constable Anie Lemieux said.
It had all the appearances of a "settling of accounts," Lemieux said.Three of the four victims, whose ages ranged from 27 to 59, were known to police, she said. The upscale boutique where the shooting took place had also come to police attention in the past, she added.Investigators are still searching for two suspects who opened fire Thursday afternoon at FlawNego, a shop owned by Joseph Ducarme, who is believed to be tied to a street gang. Ducarme's bodyguard, Peter Christopoulos, 27, and an unidentified man were killed. Two other men were injured.One of the victims, who is still recovering in the hospital, was an electrician who was working in the store at the time, according to media reports.Ducarme, who managed to escape out a back door, will soon be interviewed by investigators, if he hasn't already spoken to them, Lemieux said early Friday afternoon.

shooting was a flare-up between warring factions of the Gangster Disciples street gang

34-year-old man was shot in the chest and taken in serious-to-critical condition to Stroger Hospital. A 26-year-old man was taken to Loyola University Hospital in Maywood in serious-to-critical condition after being shot in the abdomen, Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said.Two other victims were taken to hospitals in fair-to-serious condition. One of those victims, a 24-year-old man, was shot in the chest and taken from the scene and the other was a 19-year-old man who showed up to a nearby police station wounded in the leg.Only the four men were wounded, despite early reports of more victims, police said.The shooting was an apparent flare-up between warring factions of the Gangster Disciples street gang — one whose territory is west of Ashland Avenue, the other whose turf lies to the east — Chicago police said.

I know where you live. I'll go to your house and kill you and your family.

Roberto Settineri, the reputed Sicilian mafioso snagged by Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein in an FBI sting, had a little brush with the law in January.As he was eating al fresco at Soprano Cafe on Lincoln Road, Settineri opened his leather jacket to flash a handgun at a private security officer, a police report states.
``I will put this gun in your f-----g mouth,'' Settineri told the security officer, the report says. ``I know where you live. I'll go to your house and kill you and your family.'' Miami Beach police eventually caught up with Settineri, who denied threatening the guard with his firearm. The cops arrested Settineri, 41, of Miami, on an aggravated assault charge, a third-degree felony.But that's the least of his problems.Last week, FBI agents arrested Italian-born Settineri, a naturalized U.S. citizen who works as a wine wholesaler, on obstruction of justice and money laundering charges in connection with Rothstein's $1.2 billion investment scam. Federal authorities also accuse him of being connected to the mafia's Colombo and Gambino crime families.At the same time, Italian National Police officers flew to Miami and revealed charges accusing Settineri of belonging to the Sicilian mafia and participating in a slew of violent crimes.Settineri was a regular on Lincoln Road, where he sold wine to restaurants lining the popular pedestrian way.Michael Catalano, Settineri's lawyer, said his client was eating with a couple of other men at Soprano Cafe on Jan. 8 when he had the run-in with the security officer, Cesar Mainardi, who was on his patrol bike. He worked for Security Alliance, a company contracted with the city of Miami Beach.Catalano said Mainardi confronted Settineri over a woman they both knew.Mainardi ``weaved his way through a tight crowd and intentionally harassed him,'' Catalano said. Settineri ``told the security guard to leave him alone, and he made up these allegations.''But Mainardi, in an interview with The Miami Herald, denied the fight was over a woman.In his police statement, Mainardi accused Settineri of threatening him for no reason: ``Apparently he did not like the way I looked at him, and I noticed his reaction and wanted to talk to him, but he acted aggressive.''
Mainardi told police that Settineri flashed the semi-automatic weapon, which was in a holster on his belt. But ``he never took it out,'' Mainardi said.Settineri left the restaurant after the confrontation, but Miami Beach police reached him on his cellphone.According to the police report, Settineri admitted having a ``heated argument'' with the security officer but denied ``threatening him with any type of gun.''Settineri said he owned four guns, but they were all at his Brickell Key condo in Miami at the time of the incident. Police found no weapon on him.State records show that Settineri has a concealed-weapons permit.Rothstein, who came to know Settineri through a Broward security company he had hired for protection, allegedly talked Settineri into shredding documents and laundering $79,000 in November from the Fort Lauderdale lawyer's Ponzi scheme, according to an indictment unsealed last week.Rothstein, 47, who pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges in January, faces up to 100 years in prison at his sentencing in May. But he may end up spending less time behind bars; the feds plan to put him in prison under the witness protection program for helping sting Settineri in the FBI undercover operation.Italian authorities charged Settineri along with 19 other people allegedly linked to the Sicilian mafia. The charges: extortion, drug trafficking and attempted murder.

search warrant at a Hells Angels house

search warrant at a Hells Angels house on East Bonanza Road and 15th. Metro Officer Bill Cassell confirms that members of the Hells Angels are accused of embezzling vehicles, firearms, furniture, slot machines, and other items from the Salvation Army. No one was home at the time of the raid. Possible charges include embezzlement, theft, burglary, and racketeering. Metro wants to hear from people who donated firearms to the Salvation Army between 2007 and 2009. A Hells Angels clubhouse and five Las Vegas homes were also raided last year; police sought records, knives, and evidence of an ongoing feud with rival Mongols. Warrant records show police seized photos, membership and phone rosters, notebooks and insignia vests, among other items

Store SHOOTINGS, Flawnego, is owned by Joseph Ducarme, believed to be a street-gang leader associated with the Reds.

Two people are dead and two are in hospital after a shooting inside a high-end Old Montreal clothing shop Thursday afternoon.
Joseph Ducarme, 41, survived a brazen midday shooting inside his Old Montreal shop that left two people dead.Ducarme managed to flee the building and, as of last night, was still missing - as were the two gunmen. It is not known whether he was injured in the attack.Ducarme's bodyguard, Peter Christopoulos, and an unidentified man were killed. Two other men were injured. One of them managed to flee the scene and drive himself to the hospital.Ducarme is out on $50,000 bail for a charge of assault and was under orders not to communicate with street gang members.He is reputed to have ties to the Reds, a street gang reportedly trying to mark its territory in the city's lucrative drug trade in bars and restaurants on St. Laurent Blvd.The decimation of the Hells Angels in a series of raids last year, in which the majority of the biker gang's members were arrested, left a major void in the city's drug trade.Ducarme has also been mentioned in police requests for search warrants associated with construction magnate Antonio Magi.
In a November request for a search warrant for Magi's office at 5730 Upper Lachine Rd., Montreal police said Magi hired Ducarme in July to collect outstanding loans. In exchange for his services, Magi, who has no criminal record, set Ducarme up in a condominium across the street from Wanda's strip club, above the Eggspectations restaurant at de Maisonneuve Blvd. and Mountain St.
Magi also survived an attempt on his life in 2008 when a gunman ambushed him in his car while he was driving on Cavendish Blvd. in Notre Dame de Grâce.Magi was recently in the news when Nicolo Rizzuto Jr. was gunned down steps away from his office.The son of Vito Rizzuto, the reputed head of the Montreal Mafia who is serving a 10-year-sentence in the United States for a racketeering conviction, was shot dead Dec. 28 on Upper Lachine Rd. near Magi's FTM Construction office.
Last fall, Magi confirmed he had a business relationship with Rizzuto Jr., saying the two had "bought a piece of land together which we are developing."
"He's studied law and he's a smart kid. He's smart in real estate."
A woman who answered the phone at Magi's office yesterday said he was not accepting calls.The warrant request for Magi's office also says Ducarme had an entourage of four to 15 people and feared retaliation from Italians, Arabs, and motorcycle and street gangs because of his involvement in the drug trade, armed robbery and extortion.
Ducarme had hired Christopoulos as a bodyguard, and Ducarme's cousin, Lamartine Sévère Paul, alias Polo, acted as his right-hand man in such criminal activities as intimidation, according to the document.
A police investigation, it says, led authorities to believe that Paul was involved in extortion, drug trafficking, pimping and loansharking and that he had several accomplices.Authorities also speculated Paul was responsible for collecting from several businesspeople to whom Ducarme had made high-interest loans.In November, Paul was arraigned on 11 charges of extortion and weapons possession.
The document says Paul, his brother, Vick Sévère Paul, and Fritz Gerald Michel, alias King, are members of the Reds and had been in an all-out war with a man they got into a fight with at a Laval strip club.Police allege the trio are armed and have been roaming around searching for Joseph Arold, who has a lengthy criminal record that includes charges of extortion.Vick Sévère Paul, who drives a white Mercedes worth about $100,000, is wanted by police in Ontario for attacking Arold with a knife.Vick Sévère Paul also owns a $400,000 condominium - despite the fact he has never declared any income or filed income-tax returns, the document says. The document alleges the condo is financed through pimping.Police, who quickly cordoned off St. Jacques St. in the city's downtown core, were searching for two gunmen.Bystanders milled about on the sidewalk, but none reported having witnessed the broad-daylight shooting.Montreal police spokeswoman Anie Lemieux said it was too early to tell the context of the crime, whether it was armed robbery or if there was some other motive.A reporter arrived to see a body being loaded into an ambulance and driven away.Two ambulances left the scene of the crime, while a third remained parked outside the store, on a strip lined with boutique hotels and offices.
The store, Flawnego, is owned by Joseph Ducarme, believed to be a street-gang leader associated with the Reds.Ducarme was facing assault charges and is alleged to have intimidated business owners in a bid to exert influence over drug territory.Montreal has been the site of a turf war over the illegal drug trade after police operations in recent years decimated the Hells Angels and hobbled the mob.Ducarme's name also surfaced in the wake of the December shooting of Nicolo Rizutto Jr., son of reputed Mafia don Vito Rizzuto.Documents to support a search warrant executed against two of Ducarme's associates identify him as an enforcer for Tony Magi, the construction magnate for whom Rizzuto worked.Rizzuto was gunned down in front of Magi's offices on Dec. 28 sparking fears of reprisals.

Police say a 35-year-old man has been charged with intent to sell or supply, after the drugs, with an estimated street value of about $300,000,

Police say a 35-year-old man has been charged with intent to sell or supply, after the drugs, with an estimated street value of about $300,000, were seized along with more than $200,000 in cash.They allege the drugs were brought into the state by a 51-year-old truck driver from South Australia.He has also been charged with drug offences. Detective Inspector John Adams from the Gang Crime Squad says investigations are continuing."The information that we initially received suggested that there may have been links to organised crime gangs in Western Australia," he said."As a result of that our office has become involved."

Criminal bikie gangs are already setting up shop in Victoria after relocating from other states which have introduced or intend to introduce new laws

"Criminal bikie gangs are already setting up shop in Victoria after relocating from other states which have introduced or intend to introduce laws banning these gangs," Mr Baillieu said."(Premier) John Brumby and (Attorney General) Rob Hulls have turned Victoria into a haven for criminal bikie gangs by refusing to enact laws that would allow these gangs to be declared illegal," he said.

Geelong has faced murders, multiple shootings, an alleged kidnapping, fire bombs and alleged brawls over the past several years as rivalry between gangs, including the Bandidos and the Rebels Motorcycle Group got out of hand.

The Coalition's law changes would see the Chief Commissioner of police or director of public prosecutions able to apply to the Supreme Court to have a bikie or other gang declared a criminal organisation.But Mr Hulls yesterday said the state already had stringent laws for dealing with bikie-related crime."Of course we will continue to liaise with the police in regard to any changes that are needed," he said."But police have made it clear that you need to target criminal behaviour not just proscribed groups because they happen to wear leather jackets."
The pledge comes as NSW police prepare to lodge their first application to have one of the state's bikie gangs declared a criminal organisation.South Australia last year declared the Finks bikie gang a criminal organisation, but in September its Supreme Court ruled that the laws were invalid.

Thirty members of the Vagos motorcycle gang were arrested Wednesday in Riverside County, Calif

Thirty members of the Vagos motorcycle gang were arrested Wednesday in Riverside County, Calif., in an ongoing investigation against the group, which authorities described as “an extreme” threat to law enforcement officers.
About 400 officers took part in the multiagency operation, targeting 73 locations and seizing weapons and illegal drugs, authorities said.The Vagos have at least 600 members in the Western U.S., half of them in California, authorities said.