A 21-year-old Fillmore man was shot in Fillmore on Tuesday night, and police believe the shooting was gang related.

Authorities responded to a shots fired call in the 500 block of Central Avenue at about 8:40 p.m. They found the victim with a non-life threatening gunshot wound.

The suspect fled on foot after the shooting. Police conducted an extensive search of the area with a sheriff's helicopter and K9 teams, but the suspect was not found.

A gang member reportedly shot Wednesday at 111th and Sandy in Portland ended up going to the Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver for treatment.

Vancouver police contacted Portland police Wednesday evening after the 22-year-old said he had been shot in Northeast Portland.

The injury was not life-threatening, said Lt. Robert King.

He said this was the 103rd incidence of gang violence this year.

Two alleged associates of the Hells Angels have been charged after a police officer was put in a headlock and punched several times

Two alleged associates of the Hells Angels have been charged after a police officer was put in a headlock and punched several times in front of a Kelowna nightclub Tuesday.

Shortly after 2 a.m. two uniformed Kelowna RCMP members were on patrol when they saw a fight break out between several men on Leon Avenue. When they moved in to arrest the main aggressor, one of the officers was jumped from behind and attacked.

The officer who was punched ended up with swelling and bruising.

Kelowna RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Morrison was unable to say what caused the fight.

“I can confirm we are having difficulty receiving cooperation from the parties involved,” she said.

Kelowna’s Pedro Amestica, 39, was charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. He does not have a criminal record and police say he is a known associate of the Mission City chapter of the Hells Angels.

Thomas Volker, a 37-year-old from Mission, is charged with assaulting a police officer. He has a criminal record and police say he is a member of the Mission City Hells Angels.

Both men have appeared before a justice of the peace and have been released from custody. Their next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 12 in Kelowna

Guadalupe Rubiozavala of Watsonville, and a 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old boy all were arrested on suspicion of participation in a criminal street gang

 Four teenagers and a 20-year-old were arrested Tuesday night after they fled a car stop and one teen threw a loaded handgun into a planter box, Watsonville police said.

About 8:30 p.m., police and members of the Santa Cruz County Gang Task Force tried to pull over a blue Honda for a vehicle violation on West Beach Street near Rodriguez Street, said Sgt. Brian Ridgway.

The car pulled over and a 15-year-old passenger ran away holding his waist, Ridgway said. An officer chased the teen and saw him throw a loaded, semiautomatic pistol into a planter in a parking lot of a drug store, police said.

Police detained the boy at 475 Rodriguez St. and later recovered the gun, Ridgway said. The teen was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition, possession of a concealed loaded firearm, resisting arrest and gang enhancements, Ridgway said.

The boy's name was not released because he was younger than 18.

While the officer was chasing the 15-year-old, the blue Honda drove off and was pursued by police in a patrol car with its sirens on.

The Honda stopped at a shopping mall at 375 Rodriguez St., and police arrested two men and two boys in the car.

The driver, 19-year-old Salvador Juarez of Watsonville, was arrested on suspicion of failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, a probation violation and participation in a criminal street gang, police said. A passenger, 20-year-old Edgar

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Guadalupe Rubiozavala of Watsonville, and a 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old boy all were arrested on suspicion of participation in a criminal street gang, police said.

Rubiozavala also was arrested on suspicion of a probation violation, said Lt. David McCartney.

Police said the three juveniles were transported to Juvenile Hall and the two adults were transported to County Jail.

Juarez and Rubiozavala are being held in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to jail records.

Centralia Police arrested four adult males in connection with a gang shooting that happened Tuesday in the 400 block of Ash Street N., in Centralia

Centralia Police arrested four adult males in connection with a gang shooting that happened Tuesday in the 400 block of Ash Street N., in Centralia.According to a news release:Ulises Carrillo-Cruz, 20, Centralia, confessed to shooting a 28-year-old Centralia woman who was not the intended target but a close associate. He was booked for first degree assault, and felon in possession of a firearm.Rolondo Carrillo-Cruz, 25, Centralia, was also booked for first degree assault, and felon in possession of a firearm.Francisco J. Robles, 18, Centralia, was booked for felon in possession of a firearm, and rendering criminal assistance.Javier E. Martinez, 18, Centralia, was booked for rendering criminal assistance.Centralia Police K9 officer, "Kayo" was used and located a firearm that was hidden in some bushes nearby the scene of the shooting

Suspect in Juárez consulate killings extradited

 

An alleged prison gang member wanted in connection with the killing of a U.S. consulate employee, her husband and another employee's spouse has been extradited to the United States, Mexican authorities have announced. Joel Abraham Caudillo was handed over to FBI agents Dec. 20 in Veracruz at the same time that Julian “El Piolin” Zapata Espinoza, wanted in the February killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, was extradited. Mexican authorities announced Caudillo's extradition this week. He's one of 35 people charged in a drug conspiracy case that alleges that the Barrio Azteca prison gang, working with the Juárez Cartel, engaged in drug trafficking and murder on both sides of the Rio Grande. Officials say that gang members in Ciudad Juárez on March 13, 2010, killed U.S. consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton; her husband, Arthur Redelf, an El Paso County jailer; and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a consulate employee. Caudillo is accused of destroying one of the vehicles used in Ceniceros' killing. Extraditions in the case have been done surreptitiously during holidays. Near Labor Day weekend in 2010, Jesus Ernesto “El Camello” Chávez Castillo, a suspect in the killings, was brought to San Antonio for a closed court hearing. Court records in his case remain sealed.

all is quiet on Calgary’s gang front.

 

With no killings between FOB and FK in nearly three years and the biggest case of them all — the 2009 triple murder at Bolsa Restaurant — resulting in at least two convictions, it would be tempting to assume all is quiet on Calgary’s gang front. That assumption would be wrong. As detailed in a recent article, no small amount of effort goes into monitoring the gang members who aren’t either dead or in jail to prevent any further violence. However, we live in a society that values quantifiable results: while it’s easy to tally the number of bad guys who have been arrested, the amount of drugs seized or illegal guns taken off the street, it’s much harder to measure how many murders police may have prevented. It has happened, however, and only continued pressure will keep the violence in check. But that’s not the only unfinished business for Calgary police: there are at least 20 homicides connected to the gang war which remain unsolved — investigations police have been able to devote more time to, thanks to the relatively low number of homicides recorded in Calgary during 2011. Prior to the Bolsa massacre, when innocent restaurant patron Keni Su’a was slaughtered trying to flee the eatery, it was common for Calgarians to be indifferent to the death toll as long as gangsters kept killing each other. Bolsa exposed the fundamental flaw in that indifference: allow criminals with little regard for human life to run loose and it’s only a matter of time before an innocent is hurt or killed. The public may not be clamouring for police to solve the murders of 20 people who were either gangsters or people who made the poor choice of hanging out with criminals, but Bolsa demonstrated why all Calgarians have a vested interest in getting their killers off the street. For homicide investigators, an unsolved case is a case that needs solving — no matter if the victim was a criminal himself. “We are looking at cold case homicides, and included in that is, of course, are all the organized crime ones,” Staff Sgt. Grant Miller of the homicide unit said recently. “We’re motivated to solve them.” We live in a country where the rule of law is supreme, and it dictates justice must be available to all — justice that’s meted out in a courtroom, not at the end of the barrel of a gun.

3 people wounded in drive-by shooting on Hudson

 

Three people are being treated at local hospitals after a drive-by shooting on Hudson Avenue this afternoon. According to Rochester police Capt. Peter Leach, officers responded to Hudson Avenue near Weeger Street at 4:20 p.m. for a report of people shot. Upon arrival, they found three people shot outside of a grocery store. Leach said the shots were fired by people driving by in a gray minivan. After the shootings, the minivan drove away on Weeger Street and struck another vehicle, at which point the van’s occupants got out and ran away. Leach said the victims were a 28-year-old Greece woman, a 23-year-old city man and a 25-year-old city man. All the victims’ injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening, he said. The woman is being treated at Strong Memorial Hospital; the men at Rochester General Hospital, he said. Police are searching for the suspects.

Gang Shooting Leaves One Man Dead

Los Angeles: Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Northeast Division Homicide detectives are asking for the public’s help in providing any information that would lead to the identification and arrest of suspects responsible for fatally shooting a 20-year-old man in the Glassell Park area.

Today, around 12:01 a.m., Edgar DeJesus and his two friends were walking in the 3000 block of Estrada Street in the Glassell Park community of Los Angeles. As the group stopped in front of a house in the 3100 block of Estrada Street, an unknown vehicle drove by and stopped. Two suspects got out of the car and confronted DeJesus, asking for his gang affiliation. During the confrontation, one of the suspects pulled out a handgun and shot at DeJesus. DeJesus ran eastbound on Estra Street towards Fletcher Avenue and two suspects gave chase. One suspect continued to fire rounds at DeJesus and struck him multiple times in the upper torso. DeJesus ran a short time and collapsed on the street in the 3300 block of Fletcher Drive.

After the shooting, both suspects ran to their parked vehicle, got into the car and drove off westbound on Estrada Avenue to southbound Andrita Street.

Los Angeles City Fire Department paramedics transported DeJesus to a nearby hospital where he died a short time later. Detectives believe the motive for the shooting is gang related.

Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call Northeast Area Homicide Division, Detectives L. Governo or J. Carillo at 213-847-4261. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also contact Crime Stoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone. All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.” Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.

Eight alleged members of the Sureno gang were arrested Thursday on accusations ranging from violation of probation to illegal possession of a firearm

Eight alleged members of the Sureno gang were arrested Thursday on accusations ranging from violation of probation to illegal possession of a firearm, the Merced Police Department said Friday.

A police officer on his way to work spotted a 17-year-old male he believed faced a warrant for weapons, according to police. The unidentified youth was driving on West 12th Street with two occupants inside.

The officer contacted the Merced Police Department Gang Violence Suppression Unit to verify the warrant. Officers responded to an apartment in the area and waited for the suspects to emerge.

"Before they could drive off the officers detained them," according to Sgt. Chris Goodwin. "Other officers arrived to assist and secure the apartment. The officers could hear people inside and announced for them to open the door. The subjects opened the door and the officers immediately recognized several of them on probation. All eight of the subjects inside were detained and the apartment was secured."

A search of the vehicle turned up a firearm. The juvenile was arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm, having a firearm in his vehicle and participation in a criminal street gang.

The backyards of the apartments were searched and a second loaded firearm was located according to police.

Arrested and booked for violation of probation were Jose Ibarra, 23, and Luis Ibarra, 20, both of Merced.

Five other juveniles were arrested and booked for violation of their probation

AK-47 attack in one of Osceola County's oldest neighborhoods last month is the latest crime jarring the tranquil image of the century-old community

The AK-47 attack in one of Osceola County's oldest neighborhoods last month is the latest crime jarring the tranquil image of the century-old community known as "Soldier City," where Civil War veterans settled in the early 1900s.

In just seven days last summer, St. Cloud police investigated the suspicious death of a 16-year-old runaway, the killings of two brothers outside a popular bar and the death of a woman linked to an Orlando street gang in a shootout with police.

Police have found no clear pattern to the crimes — plus 20 drug-dealing arrests the same week — other than many involved unemployed young men.

But the suspect in the AK-47 attack, 18-year-old David Penney, doesn't fit that image.
 

Described as bright but reclusive, Penney was enrolled at Valencia College, according to police. He also filed papers in October with the Florida Department of State to open his own firearms-accessory business, Lock Enkey Industries LC, records show.

And unlike scores of defendants relying on court-appointed lawyers, the teen's family has hired Winter Park attorney Warren Lindsey, a partner in one of Central Florida's top criminal-defense law firms.

Penney's mother, Joy Penney-Wietor, works as a guidance counselor for the Osceola County School District. His father, Allen Penney, worked as a general contractor in South Florida before moving to Arkansas recently. Neither responded to written requests by the Sentinel to discuss their son.

But after the attack, his mother told detectives that Penney suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a condition associated with poor social skills, lack of empathy and above-average intelligence.

In the early-morning hours Nov. 21, Penney left his home in military-style camouflage clothing and walked more than a mile through darkened neighborhoods with two AK-47s and five or six 30-shot banana clips, according to police.

Shortly before 2a.m., he knocked on the door of a house on Alabama Avenue and called out, "Your son wrecked my car and ruined my life," before firing at least 34 bullets into the cinder-block walls, according to police.

Walking slowly down the street, police say, Penney continued firing until a patrol car carrying officers Spencer Endsley and Clinton Wise came into view. That's when he riddled the vehicle until Wise, hit once in a foot, returned fire as both officers dove for cover, according to authorities.

"This was a very disturbed young man as far as his viewpoints were concerned," St. Cloud police Chief Pete Gauntlett said of a six-page manifesto and suicide note found in Penney's bedroom along with files showing extensive research on fatal confrontations with police. "Part of it was to go out in a blaze of glory."

Rather than surrender, the teen tried to kill himself by firing his 95th shot of the night upward under his chin, according to police. The bullet split his face, apparently without causing brain damage, according to police.

He spent more than four weeks under guard at Orlando Regional Medical Center — where he underwent reconstructive surgery — before being released last week. Penney remains held without bail in the Osceola County Jail on four counts of attempted murder and 21 more charges.

One of the injured officers, Endsley, continues to receive treatment for his gunshot wound. Wise has returned to work despite glass fragments still lodged his face, one eye and an arm.

The apparent target of Penney's rage was Michael Murray Jr., 20, who lives in the apartment on Alabama Avenue with his father and brother, according to police and interviews. The residence has been linked by arrest reports to gun dealing, drugs and burglaries. In one six-month period, police responded there 20 times to handle a range of criminal complaints, court records show.

Penney blamed Murray for crashing his car in early September when they and two friends were driving to shoot at targets in Narcoossee, according to police and interviews. Murray did not help pay for the damage, reports indicate, and Penney told friends he spent money to buy a new vehicle that he had saved to start his business.

"The car crash has almost become a nonissue," Gauntlett said. "It was an excuse to institute his plans."

In late September, Penney attended a gun show in Kissimmee's Osceola Heritage Park. At 18 years old, state law allowed him to buy as many rifles or shotguns as he could afford without a waiting period.

At a display offered by Diavolo Arms of east Orange County, Penney paid $1,149.90 for two AK-47s, according to police.

Upon leaving the show, Penney stopped to talk with Kissimmee attorney Ernie Mullins, who was gathering signatures on a petition to run for county judge.

The teen asked questions about government and spoke about Americans' right to bear arms.

"It just struck me as odd that someone so young could come out carrying two assault weapons yet couldn't buy a beer," Mullins told the Sentinel. "He looked 15 years old."

During the next two months, records show, Penney bought 100 rounds of AK-47 ammunition and a 30-shot every week or two from Signal Zero, a St. Cloud gun shop. Penney told owner Ted Smith he was going target shooting.

"He was always nice," said Smith, a retired St. Cloud police officer. "He never acted strange."

WEST Vancouver gangster Omid Bayani

WEST Vancouver gangster Omid Bayani can look forward to seven years in a federal jail if he makes a public reappearance.

But so far it's unknown whether the UN gang member is on the lam from the law, or has met with a more sinister fate at the hands of gang rivals.

Bayani, 36, disappeared in September, just two days before he was to be sentenced in Ontario for trafficking a massive quantity of the date-rape drug GHB.

The judge in the case described it as "the largest seizure of GHB in Canadian history."

At the time Bayani went missing, police said he appeared to be headed to one of the North Shore gyms he frequented when he left his West Vancouver home that afternoon. He hasn't been seen since.

If he does show up, however, there will be a spot in a federal jail cell waiting for him, after an Ontario superior court justice sentenced him in absentia to spend seven years in jail for his crimes - an eight-year sentence reduced by one year for time already spent in custody.

According to facts set out in court documents, in late 2005, Bayani sold 600 litres of GHB to Mehrdad Bahman, a prospective member of the Toronto chapter of Hell's Angels.

But before any money changed hands, police in Ontario got wind of the deal and the location of a garage where Bahman was storing the GHB through a Hells Angels informant.

Police moved in and seized 350 litres of the drug, making it look like the garage had been burgled.

After Bayani became angry that he hadn't been paid, Bahman and other Hells Angels associates flew to Vancouver and met Bayani at Joe Fortes restaurant to hammer out a deal to repay the debt.

According to the informant, they agreed Bahman would pay Bayani $80,000.

In handing out the sentence, Justice Robert Clark said the amount underscores that "the potential profit of this illicit activity is enormous."

Clark added Bayani, who was born in Iran and is not a Canadian citizen, had shown no remorse for his actions.

A co-accused in the case, Hells Angels member Vincenzo "Jimmy" Sansalone, was sentenced to six years for his role in the case, which included setting up the Vancouver meeting between Bahman and Bayani.

Bayani's lawyer, Joseph Bloomenfeld, told the judge when Bayani didn't show up to his sentencing hearing that his client may have met with foul play.

But the judge said since he had no evidence of that, he would have to assume that Bayani had simply absconded.

FORTNIGHT OF DEADLY SHOOTINGS IN METRO VANCOUVER

• Thuy Yen Vu, 38, of Vancouver, was shot to death while sitting inside a BMW SUV parked in front of a home on the 6400-block Bruce Street in Vancouver at 3 p.m., Dec. 14.

• Bradley McPherson, 28, of Surrey, died after being shot at a house party on the 13100-block 67A Avenue in Surrey at 4 a.m. on Dec. 24.

• Alok Gupta, 27, of Surrey, died after being shot while working at Ken’s Groceries on the 11000-block 96th Avenue in Surrey at around 3 p.m. on Christmas Day, Dec. 25.

• A 38-year-old Langley man was found shot to death inside his Mercedes SUV parked in the driveway of a home on the 9100-block 207 Street in Langley at 9 p.m. on Boxing Day, Dec. 26.

• A man was shot to death on the 9500-block 125th Street in Surrey at around 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 27.

American streets may become much more dangerous.

Military.com reports that, according to the latest National Gang Intelligence Center Report (NGIC), American street gangs are acquiring high-powered, military-grade weapons with increasing frequency, the result of gang members both enlisted and working as contract civilians at military bases who may be funneling the weapons to gang members on the street.

Over the summer, 27 AK-47s were stolen from a warehouse in Fort Irwin, according to the Military.com report, which investigators suspect were gang related.

The NGIC identified 53 different gangs with members serving in the military, as of April of this year.

“The exact number of enlisted gang members is hard to come by,” the Military.com report reads, “as many times investigators only see graffiti or paraphernalia as evidence of gang activity.”

Blood on the streets at the scene of the attack at a North Adelaide restaurant, but the injured party has not been located.

Police say the latest shooting in Adelaide is linked with last week's attack on Comancheros leader Vince Focarelli

Police say shots were fired about 9:40pm on Sunday at and near Caffe Paesano in O'Connell Street.

They say two men linked to the Comancheros motorcycle club were sitting at the eatery when they shot at a third man, who returned the fire.
Photo: Blood near scene but no victim located by police (ABC: Robyn Powell)


Police are hunting a man in his 30s, who fled west along Tynte Street toward Wellington Square.

Police think there were also witnesses who may have more information.

There have been three shootings in Adelaide in recent days with links to gangs.

Police say the latest had a connection with the late-night ambush on Focarelli, which left him with a leg injury.

When we do propose strong measures in this regard and we receive criticism for them I'd ask members of the public to cast their minds back to the events of this week to remind themselves of why we take these steps
Premier Jay Weatherill


Assistant Commissioner Grant Stevens says those involved in last week and last night's shootings have gone to ground, hampering the investigation.

"This is an incident which is related to the first shooting incident and we are continuing to investigate," he told reporters.

"I will not make any conclusions in relation to whether it's payback or how it is related, but we do have information that is suggesting to us that the people involved are connected with each other."
Gangs targeted

South Australian Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond is concerned about the number of shootings in public areas.

"Not only do we have an increase in shootings but they're becoming more brazen and more public and more likely to involve innocent civilians caught in the crossfire," she said.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill says a third gang-related shooting in recent days justifies the Government's focus on dismantling criminal gangs.

He says revised legislation to target criminal gangs will go before State Parliament in the new year.

"When we do propose strong measures in this regard and we receive criticism for them I'd ask members of the public to cast their minds back to the events of this week to remind themselves of why we take these steps," he said.

A man linked to the United Nations gang has been convicted in B.C. Supreme Court for his part in a dramatic gunpoint home invasion

A man linked to the United Nations gang has been convicted in B.C. Supreme Court for his part in a dramatic gunpoint home invasion in Vancouver three years ago.

Justice William Ehrcke found Ibrahim Ali guilty of robbery, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon and several firearms counts in connection with the break-in at Quebec and East 21st Avenue on Dec. 5, 2008.

At the time of the incident, Vancouver police called in the Emergency Response Team to search for the suspects. And police chased a getaway van that smashed into several cars along East 18th.

Area residents reported seeing an armed gunman running down Quebec Street to escape police. Four males were later taken into custody.

Ehrcke heard during Ali’s trial that police were intercepting calls and conversations between him and purported UN gang members Barzan Tilli-Choli and Karwan Ahmet Saed before the home invasion.

And Vancouver police had been alerted and were following the suspects as they made their way from Burnaby to Vancouver just after 6 a.m. to launch the attack.

The Crown argued that the wiretaps clearly showed the accused were prepared to use firearms and violence in the break-in targeting a man named Dashty Babo, who wasn’t home when Ali and his crew arrived. Babo’s roommate, Serajoutdin Mourtazaliev, was in the residence and was assaulted during the home invasion.

“I am satisfied that Mr. Mourtazaliev was unlawfully confined by the men in his bedroom,” Ehrcke said. “He was pushed down in his bed and covered with the blanket by men who threatened him with guns. Later, he was pushed off the bed onto the floor, into the small space between the bed and the wall. These were acts of coercive restraint which intentionally deprived Mr. Mourtazaliev of his freedom of movement.”

Just before the invasion, Ali spoke to Tilli-Choli on the phone: “Now we are driving to the guy’s house.”

And the day before, there were several recorded conversations laying out the plan. Ali spoke to Saed inside a bugged BMW and said he would take cash and a safe box from the house and “if police show up, I’ll leave the pistol inside the car, okay?”

Ali asked how much his associates would be paid for the job, to which Saed replied: “We’ll give each one two, three thousand.”

Ali and Saed scouted out the house on Dec. 4 and are heard on the intercept pointing out which one it was.

“It’s better if they are at home. We’ll beat him at the door,” Ali said.

In a call to Tilli-Choli the day before the home invasion, Ali asked “Yo, man. Are we still going into that guy’s house?” Tilli-Choli said he would discuss it later.

After Ali was arrested, he called Tilli-Choli from jail and said: “We went inside. We broke the door, but there was one Russian guy there. There was a Russian person around. We looked all over there. There were some gold there, ah, no money, no nothing and no safe box were there. We took the gold and then the police, right after we got in to the car, followed us.”

Some of the recorded conversations were in Kurdish and translated for the trial. Neither Tilli-Choli nor Saed were charged, but both are in jail awaiting trial for allegedly conspiring to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates.

Ali’s co-accused in this case, Malcolm Jamel Drydgen, was earlier convicted and sentenced to more than five years in jail. Two young offenders were also charged. Ali will next appear at the Vancouver Law Courts on Jan. 26, 2012, for a sentencing hearing.

Jamaican investigators on Wednesday found the severed head and bullet-riddled body of a man they believe was a high-ranking member of a notorious drug-and-extortion gang known for beheading victims.

A police statement said the bloody head was found Wednesday along a commercial strip in Spanish Town, a southern city where violent gangs are deeply entrenched and authorities impose frequent curfews.

The head, which investigators say matches Navardo Hodges of the Clansman gang, had a bullet wound in the middle of the forehead, common of gangland executions in the troubled area. A headless body with gunshot wounds was found splayed on a nearby street.

Detectives suspect the twenty-something Hodges was butchered in revenge for killing the sister of Chan Tesha Miller, the reputed Clansman leader who was sentenced in April to 15 years in prison after being convicted of robbery, assault and weapons possession.

Miller's arrest set off protests in Spanish Town, where the Clansman have long had a powerful presence.

Authorities said the latest decapitation appeared to be related to an ongoing power struggle within the gang, which has been at war for years with the police and another group, the One Order gang. Over the past year, the Jamaican government's offensive against crime has created power vacuums within the Clansman.

Police had linked Hodges to a dozen slayings and offered a reward of nearly $6,000 for information leading to his capture.

In mid-July, a churchgoing mother and daughter were beheaded by attackers who invaded their home in the Spanish Town area, near where a wanted 18-year-old Clansman member was found with his head chopped off.

To avenge a death, Jamaican gangs sometimes will murder someone who lives in a neighborhood controlled by perceived enemies, and not specifically target a member of a rival gang.

GYOP Boys member Adarius Bullard, of East Point, is considered armed and dangerous, police said. Police said that Bullard had told friends that he would not turn himself in, according to police.

Police are seeking a 19-year-old man who they say was involved in a gang-related shooting last week in an apartment on Penny Lane in East Point.

Adarius Bullard, of East Point, is considered armed and dangerous, police said. Police said that Bullard had told friends that he would not turn himself in, according to police.

Two other suspects have been arrested in the Thursday incident in which a man was shot in the apartment and left there. A maintenance worker found the victim in the apartment.

The suspects appear to be members of a gang called the GYOP Boys or “Get Your Own Paper” gang, and the shooting had to do with drugs and gang activity, police said.

Two brothers, who are members of the Latin Kings street gang in Newburgh, were found guilty in federal court in White Plains on drug and gun possession charges.

Felix and Kelvin Lagares were each found guilty on Monday of conspiring to distribute crack cocaine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana, and using, carrying and possession firearms during their drug conspiracy.

The two were convicted after a two-week federal trial. They are two of 33 members and associates of the Newburgh Latin Kings charged in connection with the case, 18 of whom have been convicted.

The brothers each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for the drug conspiracy count and five years for the firearms count, for a total of at least 15 years when sentenced next May.

The trial of the Lagares brothers was the first of three trials scheduled in the case. Seven defendants charged with racketeering and other crimes are scheduled for trial next June and eight others, who are charged with murder in aid of racketeering, and other crimes, are scheduled for trial in January 2013. Sixteen other defendants have pled guilty to narcotics conspiracy and gun possession charges.

22-year-old Winnipeg man who was shot in the city's West End was scheduled to be taken off life support late Thursday.

22-year-old Winnipeg man who was shot in the city's West End was scheduled to be taken off life support late Thursday.

Darren George was found shot in a back lane between Beverley and Toronto Streets, near Wellington Avenue, around 4 a.m. on Wednesday. He has since been in critical condition in hospital.

"There's no brainwave. He's gone. He's just being kept alive by the machines," Natalie Matinet, George's mother, told CBC News on Thursday.

Matinet said the family would take George off life support on Thursday evening, after his girlfriend arrives in Winnipeg from Edmonton.

According to family members, George was shot in the back of the head. The location where he was found was a three-minute walk from his home, they said.

Sources have confirmed that George is a member of the Native Syndicate, a street gang in the city. Matinet would not comment on the gang link, saying she despises gangs.

Family members described George as a "joker" who loves his family and is about to become a father himself, as his girlfriend is three months pregnant.

Police took some people into custody on Wednesday, but there has been no word on any arrests to date

50 members and associates of the Bronx Trinitarios Gang (“BTG”) for racketeering, narcotics, and firearms offenses.

Charges were announced against 50 members and associates of the Bronx Trinitarios Gang (“BTG”) for racketeering, narcotics, and firearms offenses. The Indictment alleges that BTG operated as a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO), and charges 41 defendants with racketeering conspiracy, related to their participation in this criminal organization, which engaged in narcotics trafficking, murder and attempted murder. 

The BTG is a criminal organization that operates primarily in Bronx, New York. BTG members and associates engage in acts of violence, including murder and attempted murder, and threats of violence, in order to protect and expand their criminal operations and to defend their territory against rival street gangs. BTG members and associates also sell numerous types of narcotics, including marijuana, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, oxycodone and suboxone.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “As alleged, for nearly eight years, the Trinitarios street gang terrorized a wide swath of the Bronx with their drug dealing and violence. Gangs like the Trinitarios are a cancer on New York’s neighborhoods – both in the physical harm they inflict and the atmosphere of despair they create. Today’s arrests again demonstrate this Office’s commitment to eradicating the scourge of gangs throughout the Southern District of New York and to giving back to residents the peaceful enjoyment of their communities. In the past two years, we have prosecuted over 400 alleged gang members and our efforts remain very much ongoing.”

21-year-old member of a Montreal outpost of the 18th Street Gang, one of the largest and most violent U.S.-based gangs

fast-rising member of a Montreal street gang — involved in robberies, stabbings, beatings, gunplay, turf wars and linked to an unsolved murder — has been ordered out of Canada as quickly as possible in order to maintain public confidence in Canada’s immigration control.

The 21-year-old member of a Montreal outpost of the 18th Street Gang, one of the largest and most violent U.S.-based gangs, flagrantly caused mayhem in his adopted city of Montreal while never becoming a Canadian citizen, the Federal Court of Canada heard.

Téofilo Gyampie Massoni Vasquez was 10 when he arrived in Canada from Peru in 2001 and claimed refugee status with his family.

The following year the claim was rejected for a lack of credibility and the family argued against removal in the courts until 2005 when, appeals exhausted, they left.

Vasquez returned, however, and in 2007 obtained permanent residence status here, settling in Montreal where he entered a boisterous life in the city’s tawdry gangland, court heard.

Even before he left in 2005, police had linked him to a street gang, having questioned him at the age of 15 inside a gang hangout. The year he returned to Montreal, police linked him to death threats against a rival gang member made over the Internet.

Over the next two years, police documented both his rise in prominence within the gang and his escalating violence.

In May 2007, he was with two others, one of whom attacked a passerby, believed to be a rival gang member, with a knife and a machete. Vasquez then admitted to police he was a member of the 18th Street Gang.

In March 2008, police stopped him in a metro station and photographed him; his tattoos revealed his rise in gang status.

That same month, he was with two gang leaders in a hotel room near a convenience store that had been robbed when police came to the door, but the trio managed to flee through the hotel’s window.

In April 2008, he was arrested after being caught marking the gang’s territory with graffiti.

That same month, he was found in Sherbrooke in a two-vehicle convoy in which police found a gun, knife and other suspicious items.

“Even though he was not charged, [he] revealed that he had in-depth knowledge of the gang in his comments on the incident, which, again demonstrated his rise in the gang,” Federal Court Justice Michel Shore wrote in his judgment.

The next month, Vasquez was in the Berri Street metro station in Montreal with three others. There, they attacked two men: one was beaten to the ground and the other stabbed, causing a lacerated liver and kidney. Vasquez was charged and convicted for the stabbing.

In November 2008, Vasquez was found to be a roommate of one of the leaders of a faction, following a split in the gang, at the time the boss was murdered.

And in July 2009, he robbed an SAQ liquor store.

Soon afterwards, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board deemed him to be involved in organized crime and ordered him deported, triggering another round of court appeals.

Even after that order, he racked up additional criminal convictions.

Justice Shore was thoroughly unimpressed with Vasquez. Not only did the judge rebuff all efforts to have the deportation delayed, but he urged removal be swift.

“The applicant’s removal is not simply a question of administrative convenience, but implicates the integrity and fairness of, and public confidence in, Canada’s system of immigration control,” Justice Shore wrote in his decision, released this week in English.

“The integrity of the immigration system depends on immigration law being interpreted and administered in support of the legislation; this legislation requires that the prompt removal of those ordered deported must be the rule, and the grant of a stay pending the disposition of legal proceedings, the exception,” he wrote.

“One factor, above all else, weighs heavily in favour of the ministers in the present matter: the Canadian public’s right to be protected from criminal individuals who are not entitled to remain in Canada.”

Canada Border Services Agency was happy to comply. Vasquez was deported to Peru shortly after.

10th funeral in less than a year for a young black man killed on the streets of the South Side

10th funeral in less than a year for a young black man killed on the streets of the South Side, the Rev. Corey Brooks decided he had had enough.

All the men and boys were under 25. The last one was 17. During that funeral, gunfire erupted outside the church as rival gang members refused to allow the living to mourn — or the dead to rest — in peace.

Angry, frustrated and heartbroken, the minister hit the roof.

On Nov. 22, Brooks rode a rented construction lift to the top of a vacant two-story motel that once was a den of drug dealers, addicts and prostitutes across the street from his church on South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. He pitched a green tent on the windswept roof and vowed to stay until he received enough contributions to buy the building, raze it and replace it with a community center. He envisions a place where young people from feuding pockets of the surrounding neighborhoods can learn to live together.

Brooks did not budge for 11 days and nights, even delivering his Sunday sermon via video stream to parishioners inside his New Beginnings Church.

On the 12th day — Saturday — Brooks descended from the roof shortly after dusk. The reason: He needed to provide comfort to another mother who had suddenly lost a son.

Brooks had been in his tent around 5:30 p.m., reviewing notes for his second sermon from the rooftop. He planned to preach about Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in less than two months, a task expected to take two years.

He intended to tell his congregation that the plan to raise $450,000 for the hotel conversion project could be achieved. “Even though we have a large goal in front of us, if Nehemiah could accomplish it in 52 days, then surely we can do the same thing,” he said.

Then Brooks’s cellphone buzzed. A friend of the Fisher family was on the line, saying Dale Fisher had been killed.

“The reason I came down,” Brooks said, “is the same reason I went up: violence and a distraught mother.”

He hurried across town to the morgue in the basement of John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital. The slight, childlike body of a 16-year-old boy lay on a gurney. Dale was encased in a white body bag zipped to his neck. Only his head and face were visible to his family, weeping on the other side of the viewing glass. His eyes and mouth were partly open, as if, Brooks said, “he died calling out for his mother.”

Within three hours, the 42-year-old minister was back on the roof, praying harder for peace, and renewing his vow to stay.

Like other activist Chicago clergy, such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger and the Rev. Gregory Livingston, Brooks wants to take the pulpit to the streets and raise awareness of slaughter in the city.

He said his Woodlawn neighborhood was being stalked by a serial spirit killer called “No.”

“No competitive sports programs, no social things, no conflict resolution, no jobs,” Brooks said. “All of that breeds hopelessness, which in turn causes what we’re seeing — murder.”

The police later said Dale’s death was a drive-by shooting in the 6200 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, as he walked home around 4 p.m. The shooting occurred about 10 blocks from Brooks’s rooftop camp.

William Thompson, a pipe fitter who lives on South St. Lawrence, heard shots and rushed outside. The boy was lying on the sidewalk. “He had two bullet holes on his side here and here, and another on his chest,” Thompson said, his finger drawing across his chest from the left side to the right. “He was struggling for his life; then he died.”

Thompson said he was contemplating selling his building and moving to the suburbs. “I can’t stop thinking about that kid,” he said. “I was up all night.”

Brooks was also shaken. Before the shooting, representatives of four street gangs from around his church had agreed to ride the construction lift to his tent and surrender as many as 20 guns. A fragile peace was in the works, brokered by Brooks and an aide, Undra Colbert, 44, a former gang leader and former prison inmate.

“All it takes is one knucklehead kid to set everything back,” Brooks said. “Now they’re probably going to feel I’m up here on a roof, and I’m bringing a lot of attention and still stuff is happening. I understand their feeling.”

Brooks dispatched Colbert and an assistant pastor to the hospital to see what the Fisher family needed. At first the boy’s mother, Romana Fisher, resisted having him come off the roof. But the preacher persisted.

“I can always go back to the roof,” he recalled telling himself. “But I can never replace this moment, to help somebody hurting, somebody in need.”

Dressed like an outdoorsman in his parka and ski pants, 12 days’ worth of beard growth on his face, Brooks walked into the hospital around 6:40 p.m.

Down in the morgue, Fisher had just identified her son’s body. Minister and mother stood hugging in the barren corridor. The mother told him she recently had pulled her son out of his Hyde Park high school because gangs were after him.

“I was looking for an alternative school to send him,” she said, sobbing into Brooks’s chest.

Upstairs, Fisher introduced Brooks to her adult daughter. “You did her boyfriend’s funeral last year,” Fisher said.

Brooks followed the mother home, where she stood in the middle of her son’s bedroom. “He was a good, humble kid,” she said softly.

Brooks wrote down a telephone number and a name, Cassandra Pharrow.

“Call her,” he told Fisher. “She can help you get through this.”

Pharrow belongs to Brooks’s church. Two years ago, he officiated at the funeral of her 29-year-old son, Jason Cole, a college graduate shot in the head while hanging out with friends in a south suburb.

Now Pharrow counsels other mothers of murdered children sent to her by Brooks, at least eight of them so far.

“When mothers say, ‘I feel like I’m going crazy,’ I understand,” Pharrow said. “I felt like I was going crazy. But I tell them you’re not going crazy, that it’s O.K. to be angry, to wonder why God did this.”

On the wall of Dale’s bedroom hung a T-shirt with a picture of a smiling teenager on the front. Airbrushed on the bottom was Tu Tu, the teenager’s nickname. Across the top was scrawled RIP — rest in peace.

Tu Tu was one of Dale’s best friends. His real name was Carlton Archer. He was 17 when he was shot to death on Nov. 11, about a block from where Dale was gunned down on Saturday.

Brooks stared at the T-shirt.

“I did his funeral,” he said. “That’s the funeral where they did the shooting outside. That’s the funeral that made me go up on the roof.”

Seven members of the G-Rod or 1-4 crew used threats, intimidation and extreme violence to protect their turf.

Seven members of a notorious Columbia Heights street gang have been indicted on robbery, gun and murder charges.

The indictment, unsealed this week, says the seven are members of the G-Rod or 1-4 crew who used "threats, intimidation and extreme violence to protect their turf."

Prosecutors say several of the men named in the indictment were behind a 2010 daytime murder on U Street as mourners were leaving a funeral.

Five of the seven are now in custody but D.C. Police and the U.S. Marshals were still looking for two others as late as Thursday night - Marcellus Jackson and Keir Johnson.

According to the 47 page indictment, the crew carried out robberies, dealt drugs and worked very hard at making sure no one was cooperating with the police.

On September 28th of last year, the indictment says Marcellus Jackson, Keir Johnson and Lester Williams planned an attack against members of a rival Columbia Heights crew as they left a funeral.

According to the indictment, the men were targeting Jamal Coates and other men as they sat in an SUV near the intersection of 13th and U northwest.

A fourth man, Brandon Miller, who is not named in the indictment, had previously been arrested and on the night of the murder, police recovered several guns from the home of his parents.

"Everyone remembers that picture of Jamal Coates lying halfway out of that car at 13th and U Street," said U.S. Attorney Ron Machen in an interview Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Ron Machen says the 80-count indictment is the beginning of the end for the men responsible for the carrying out that crime and other violent acts.

"Some of these shootings were of innocent bystanders, they were trying to hit alleged targets, rival targets, they shot innocent people, innocent civilians with no remorse and so I want the community to know that we and all of law enforcement, MPD and DEA have done a tremendous job in going proactively after these gangs."

One of those shootings took place in June of 2009 outside the Columbia Heights Metro station; an attack that infuriated the community.

According to the indictment, the shooter was Devyn Black, a one time intern of Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham.

We talked to Graham Thursday about the indictment and the now fractured crew.
"It means that we are serious about changing this neighborhood for the better, for everyone who lives there, the old timers as well as the newcomers, we will not tolerate this level of violence," said Ward 1 Councilman Jim Graham.

D.C. Police and the U.S. Marshals are asking for your help in finding two of the men named in the indictment - Marcellus Jackson, known as "Cool" and Keir Johnson, known as "Frank White or K."

Both have been charged with murder.

Klansman gang TERROR returned to Spanish Town yesterday

TERROR returned to Spanish Town yesterday after gunmen, suspected to be members of the feared Klansman gang, attacked a police patrol, sparking a four-hour gun battle which, at one point, was fought close to St Jago High School where classes were in session.

The incident traumatised students who were eventually escorted safely off the premises by the police.

 St Jago High students walk away from the school compound yesterday after a four-hour firefight between gunmen and police ended. The incident traumatised students and teachers as it occurred during class hours. 

Last night, as the security forces maintained a strong presence in the affected areas, the police reported that they found an AK 47 rifle in the aftermath of the firefight, which started about 12:30 pm and sent persons in the normally bustling town running for cover.

"It was like a scene from a movie," said a member of the police team that eventually repelled the attacks of the heavily armed gunmen.

The Observer was told that the police were patrolling an area known to be controlled by the Klansman gang when they came under fire. The police responded, but were subjected to further attacks from gunmen in Rivoli, Ravensworth and areas near the Rio Cobre.

During the fighting, the gunmen attempted to run onto the premises of St Jago High but were prevented from doing so.

At Monk Street, in the vicinity of the school, parents whose children were late in returning from classes panicked. One woman wept as she anxiously waited with her hands on her head.

"I want to see my son. Where is my son?," she asked no one in particular. "School has ended and I do not know what is happening."

As shots continued to be fired, police and soldiers took up strategic positions in the area as they scoured the community in search of the attackers. But their action infuriated some residents who accused the security forces of abuse. Others hurled accusations of political victimisation against them.

"There was no shootout in the community," one man claimed. "The police dem just trying to make the area look bad because is an area that supports the People's National Party."

Yesterday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who is also the education minister, issued a strong condemnation of the shooting, noting that it could have spilled onto the school compound.

He said he was quite disturbed to learn that an educational institution could be placed in such grave danger by virtue of marauding criminals using the school compound to evade the police.

Holness said that the education ministry's counselling team will be at the school this morning at 7:00 to provide general and individual support for the teachers and students who were traumatised by the ordeal.

He also said that the police commissioner has been instructed to provide additional security within the area to ensure that the school will return to normalcy and that no more school days will be lost for the term.

Yesterday, as well, the Opposition spokesman on national security Peter Bunting expressed concern about the violence.

Bunting encouraged residents and business operators in the area to remain calm as the security forces carry out their duties to bring the situation under control. He expressed concern on behalf of the People's National Party that incidents of gun violence continue to traumatise young children and disrupt schools as well as the normal flow of business.

TERROR returned to Spanish Town yesterday

TERROR returned to Spanish Town yesterday after gunmen, suspected to be members of the feared Klansman gang, attacked a police patrol, sparking a four-hour gun battle which, at one point, was fought close to St Jago High School where classes were in session.

The incident traumatised students who were eventually escorted safely off the premises by the police.

 St Jago High students walk away from the school compound yesterday after a four-hour firefight between gunmen and police ended. The incident traumatised students and teachers as it occurred during class hours. 

Last night, as the security forces maintained a strong presence in the affected areas, the police reported that they found an AK 47 rifle in the aftermath of the firefight, which started about 12:30 pm and sent persons in the normally bustling town running for cover.

"It was like a scene from a movie," said a member of the police team that eventually repelled the attacks of the heavily armed gunmen.

The Observer was told that the police were patrolling an area known to be controlled by the Klansman gang when they came under fire. The police responded, but were subjected to further attacks from gunmen in Rivoli, Ravensworth and areas near the Rio Cobre.

During the fighting, the gunmen attempted to run onto the premises of St Jago High but were prevented from doing so.

At Monk Street, in the vicinity of the school, parents whose children were late in returning from classes panicked. One woman wept as she anxiously waited with her hands on her head.

"I want to see my son. Where is my son?," she asked no one in particular. "School has ended and I do not know what is happening."

As shots continued to be fired, police and soldiers took up strategic positions in the area as they scoured the community in search of the attackers. But their action infuriated some residents who accused the security forces of abuse. Others hurled accusations of political victimisation against them.

"There was no shootout in the community," one man claimed. "The police dem just trying to make the area look bad because is an area that supports the People's National Party."

Yesterday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who is also the education minister, issued a strong condemnation of the shooting, noting that it could have spilled onto the school compound.

He said he was quite disturbed to learn that an educational institution could be placed in such grave danger by virtue of marauding criminals using the school compound to evade the police.

Holness said that the education ministry's counselling team will be at the school this morning at 7:00 to provide general and individual support for the teachers and students who were traumatised by the ordeal.

He also said that the police commissioner has been instructed to provide additional security within the area to ensure that the school will return to normalcy and that no more school days will be lost for the term.

Yesterday, as well, the Opposition spokesman on national security Peter Bunting expressed concern about the violence.

Bunting encouraged residents and business operators in the area to remain calm as the security forces carry out their duties to bring the situation under control. He expressed concern on behalf of the People's National Party that incidents of gun violence continue to traumatise young children and disrupt schools as well as the normal flow of business.