Split in the Spanish Town, St Catherine-based ‘Clansman’ gang has sparked tension around the bus park in the old capital.

The police say a split in the Spanish Town, St Catherine-based ‘Clansman’ gang has sparked tension around the bus park in the old capital.Police sources said that thugs from the notorious gang were feuding over the spoils of an extortion ring, which was being operated in the park.“Criminals from the Clansman gang are at odds over the extortion racket which they operate in the bus park … . They have people in fear,” The rift is suspected to be the motive behind the shooting death of a 21-year-old man on Thursday.The man, Shane Hill of Corletts Road in Spanish Town, was reportedly shot and killed about 9:30 a.m. as he walked in the community.
A man is said to have walked up to him and opened fire.Investigators say intelligence suggests that Taylor is part of a break-away group. The men who have distanced themselves from the gang have allegedly started their own racket.“Based on what we found out, it can be summed up that some men weren’t happy with how the gains were being divided, so they created their own group, so to speak, and started their own collecting,” the investigator explained. He added: “This is a very serious situation as it can prove dangerous, both to them, as well as the other persons who use the bus park.”He further explained, “Taxi and bus operators may end up on the wrong side of either group depending on who they decide to pay.”

Read more »

Posted in: Jamaica Clansman gang

Juan Cardenas, 17, and Jose Herrera Gonzales, 23,arrested two suspect members of the Surenos,Sur 13 street gang.

Port Arthur Police say Juan Cardenas, 17, and Jose Herrera Gonzales, 23, were arrested after they were accused of firing shots at someone from a car in the 3000 block of 7th Street. Cardenas and Gonzales are in the Jefferson County Jail on charges of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Bond is $150,000.arrested two suspect members of the Surenos or Sur 13 street gang.Police looking for a third suspect, Mario Cardenas Lopez, 18. They have a warrant for his arrest for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. He's 5'6", 120 pounds. He has a tattoo of the number 13 on his chin.

Read more »

Posted in: Port Arthur

UN gang member Barzan Tilli-Choli, 27, and associates Nicola Cottrell and Aram Ali, made their first appearance behind bulletproof plexiglass

UN gang member Barzan Tilli-Choli, 27, and associates Nicola Cottrell and Aram Ali, made their first appearance behind bulletproof plexiglass in Surrey Provincial Court's room 107 Extra security was in place for the appearance, including metal detectors at the front door, and additional police in the courthouse.The three each face two counts of attempting to kill Fraser Sutherland, 40, and Tyler Willock, 27, with a firearm.Tilli-Choli was charged in Vancouver in 2007, along with UN gangmates Thanh Kiet Kha and Koth Gott Chanthapathet, with assault and uttering threats, but was convicted only of a breach.Two other threatening charges laid in Vancouver in 2006 were dismissed.Cottrell has no other charges in B.C. according to a provincial court database search.Ali, 23, was already facing a series of drug trafficking and stolen property charges in North Vancouver when arrested in the attempted murder.
A fourth accused, Sarah Trebble, was also charged over the weekend with being in the vehicle knowing there was a firearm inside.
Trebble is the former live-in girlfriend of full-patch White Rock Hells Angel Larry Amero, The Vancouver Sun has learned. She and Amero share a car lease for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade, according to personal property records.Prosecutor Ralph Keefer refused to comment on the case outside court Monday. Willock is a close associate of Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon and the Red Scorpion gang, and was the intended target of the shooting outside T-Barz strip club on East Whalley Ring Road and 104th Ave. But Sutherland, who was driving his leased Range Rover with Willock in the back, is the one who ended up wounded when the bullets started flying.Surrey RCMP said at the time that Sutherland's vehicle left the scene and headed for Langley but couldn't make it home. An ambulance attended to him at 216th and Fraser Highway about 12:40 a.m. Feb. 16.
Tilli-Choli has assumed a greater role in the UN gang since leader Clay Roueche was arrested in the U.S. last May on cocaine and marijuana smuggling charges. Roueche remains behind bars in Seattle awaiting trial in April.Tilli-Choli is also close to Mike and Peter Adiwal, twins convicted of a gangland kidnapping who have played leading roles in the Independent Soldiers.Tilli-Choli, Cottrell and Ali were still wearing their street clothes when they were led into court Monday and placed in separate prisoners' boxes.A tattoo reading "Barzan" with a Chinese character underneath could be seen on the back of Cottrell's neck.A young woman in the public gallery began weeping uncontrollably when she saw Ali, gesturing to him through the glass. A sheriff had to calm her down as tears streamed down her face.

Read more »

Posted in: Independent Soldiers,UN gang

Colombia extradited Miguel Angel Mejia on Wednesday, making him the 16th paramilitary warlord dispatched to the United States

Colombia extradited Miguel Angel Mejia on Wednesday, making him the 16th paramilitary warlord dispatched to the United States on drug trafficking charges in less than a year.The 49-year-old Mejia was an anomaly among far-right militia bosses. After initially demobilizing in a peace pact with the government, he returned to being a fugitive and authorities say he ran a major drug gang.His extradition Wednesday aboard a DEA Super King turboprop plane was confirmed by Col. German Jaimes, deputy director of Colombia's judicial police, who said Mejia was bound for Washington, D.C. News media were not invited to witness the departure.
Police killed Mejia's twin brother and alleged crime partner Victor in an April 2008 raid. Mejia himself was captured the next month in a false compartment in a truck cab. The United States had offered $5 million rewards for the capture of either Mejia, who were known as the twins, "Los Mellizos" in Spanish
Miguel Angel was first indicted in the United States in 2000 and is to be tried in District of Columbia federal court.He and brother began trafficking in the 1990s and shipped 4 to 10 metric tons of cocaine to the United States and Europe monthly, according to Col. Cesar Pinzon, chief of Colombia's judicial police.Mejia's lawyer, Angelica Maria Martinez, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her client faced no charges in Colombia but nevertheless confessed to leading a far-right militia that she said was responsible for the massacre of 10 people in 2004 in a town called Flor Amarillo.Prosecutors say they are investigating Mejia's involvement in many more killings.Martinez said Mejia was hoping that in exchange for confessing to his crimes and handing over ill-gotten gains he might negotiate a reduced sentence in the United States.U.S. prosecutors have shown themselves ill-disposed to such deals, however, seeking prison terms of well over 20 years for other Colombian paramilitary warlords extradited there on drug trafficking charges.Since taking office in 2002, President Alvaro Uribe has extradited more than 800 criminal suspects to the United States to stand trial, the vast majority on drug trafficking charges.

Read more »

Posted in: D.C.,Washington

There is no end in sight in the Danish gang war that has been raging for more than half a year.

On Sunday night two masked youths, connected to the immigrant gangs that are fighting out a turf war with the Hell's Angels, attacked a pub on Amager in Copenhagen. They forced a man to lie on his belly at gunpoint and then fired 10 shots into the pub, killing one and injuring two, before shooting the man on the street in his kneecaps. The incident is the third in as many days. On Saturday night a 32-year-old man trying to park his car on his way to a concert was shot by youths on bikes, and on Friday another random victim, a young man, not connected to any of the involved groups, was shot and had his throat cut in execution style at an estate in Copenhagen's troubled Norrebro area, probably by people connected to the AK81 supporters of Hell's Angels.The gang war has been pasteurising life in the Danish capital for far too long. The police have tried to control matters, but rather than being solved, the problems seem to be escalating and the locals are increasingly staying indoors or even moving out of the trouble spots. Normal Copenhagen residents fear being mistaken for a gang member by stressed criminals worried for their own safety. The number of casualties unrelated to the various groups is rising dramatically.

The Danish minister of justice, Brian Mikkelsen, insists that the fight against the gangs is being won, but it certainly doesn't feel that way walking on Norrebro in central Copenhagen on the weekend. The atmosphere, in an area usually full of people in shops and cafes, is tense – the locals just want the problems and the criminals to go away.

The Danish integration minister, Birthe Ronn Hornbech, is now contemplating the introduction of a new set of laws that will in effect mean that all foreigners caught committing a crime involving a weapon will be expelled from the country. The proposed policy is supported by the rest of centre-right government and the Danish People's party, and therefore looks likely to be passed in parliament. But several experts have warned that the new zero tolerance strategy is risking institutionalised inequality. While the tough line might have some effect on the immigrant gangs, it could easily be seen by the Hell's Angels as giving them the upper hand and reason to start an offensive.
Danish police have increased their presence in the Copenhagen trouble spots, but so far they have been hapless bystanders. The gang war is being fought between two factions fighting for control of the lucrative drugs market. But, for all the shootings and stabbings, the real victims are the local residents. It is strange that it should take dozens of episodes with firearms and several deaths before the police are willing to upgrade their presenceThe ongoing gang war, with its clear ethnic tensions, has done little to better the already strained relationship between white Danes and foreigners. But while the Hell's Angels and their supporters are a clear and relatively easily defined group, the immigrant gangs are less well known. It is them the Danish population fear the most. But these gangs do not represent the foreigners in Denmark, they just give them a bad name. While there is every reason to clamp down on the gangs' criminal activity, legislating one's way out of trouble is often not the answer. If a white boy gets a small prison sentence for carrying a weapon while a foreign boy is expelled for the same crime, surely that is bound to make the foreigners feel even more stigmatised. The question then remains: what to do? Few in Denmark seem to have a clear idea. The original plan was to let the gangs fight it out, but that now seems a far too dangerous proposition for the rest of the Danish population.

Read more »

Posted in: Denmark gangwar

60 shootings have rocked Copenhagen, half linked to the gang war that has exploded into a full-blown gang warfare

person was killed and three others were injured in yet another shooting in Copenhagen early Monday in what appeared to be linked to a raft of gang-related shootings there in recent days,
Four people were hit when unknown assailants opened fire outside a cafe in the Danish capital and all were rushed to hospital by ambulance, head of the investigation Tommy Keil told the Politiken daily's website. One of the victims had died, he said, adding that it was too early to say anything about the condition of the others who had been shot. "This appears to be gang related," police spokesman Henrik Olesen meanwhile told the paper. Copenhagen has since Friday been the scene of several violent shootings in what seems to be part of an escalating gang turf war between Hells Angels bikers and their supporters and youths of immigrant origin in the Danish capital in recent months. On Friday, a man of Iraqi origin was shot and killed, while an ethnic Dane remained in critical condition after three men on bicycles shot up his car as he and a friend were looking for a parking spot on Saturday. Over the past seven months, more than 60 shootings have rocked a traditionally calm Copenhagen, with around half linked for certain to the gang war that exploded into full-blown war on August 19 when a 19-year-old man of Turkish origin was executed on the street.

Read more »

Posted in: Hells Angels bikers

Australian cinema chain has said it will no longer show an acclaimed film about Lebanese gang violence in Sydney after brawls erupted

The film is spliced with footage of an alcohol-fueled rampage at Cronulla Beach in Sydney, in which thousands of white men attacked anyone who looked Middle Eastern. cinema chain in Australia has said it will no longer show an acclaimed film about Lebanese gang violence in Sydney after brawls erupted during screenings. The independent movie "The Combination" is a gritty portrayal of racism and ethnic discord between white and Middle Eastern Australians.

The incident sparked Australia's worst racial violence as Lebanese and other Middle Eastern gangs launched retaliatory attacks over two nights in a city that prided itself on its good race relations.

The Greater Union cinema chain said it was canning the film after violence broke out at two screenings last week. On Thursday a security guard was hospitalized after being attacked by a group of thirty people watching the film.
Two nights later a brawl broke out at the same cinema. The police were called but the suspects had left by the time the police arrived.In a statement Grand Union said: "Maintaining the safety and security of our staff and patrons is our main concern and priority. As such a decision has been made to suspend all sessions of this films." The low budget film's director, David Field said he was "devastated" by the decision."It's a beautiful film. It doesn't advocate violence," he said. "I hope people can calm down and I'm hoping we can find a way to amend the situation."
The Australian Film Syndicate (AFS), the movie's distributor, condemned the decision. "The first Australian film to be released in 2009 is experiencing exceptional box office in its first week of release, which makes this unprecedented move all the more devastating for everyone involved, especially for the audiences that are now going to miss out," an AFS spokeswoman said.Keysar Trad, the president of the Australian Islamic Friendship Association, said there was no need to suspend the movie. "From what I know, the incidents were not connected to the movie which itself doesn't glorify violence," she said. "This is a society which celebrates freedom of speech and suspending this movie is an infringement of that."The film has already made headlines for the wrong reasons, when one of its young stars, 19 year-old Ali Haidar, pleaded guilty to an assault charge and was jailed for seven months last week.There are about 180,000 Lebanese in Australia with nearly three quarters of them living in Sydney.

Read more »

Posted in: Grand Union said: "Maintaining the safety and security of our staff and patrons is our main concern and priority. As such a decision has been made to suspend all sessions of this films."

Gangland battle and stabbing at the Southern Hills Mall.

Gangland battle at the Southern Hills Mall. At least a dozen people were involved in the possibly gang-related incident. When officers arrived, they found a man who had been stabbed on his torso and to the face. Police say these kind of incidents can happen anywhere.
"You just have to be more aware of your surroundings, not assume that wherever you're at one place or another. If you see people that look like they're squaring off or starting to yell or hollar, or stuff like that. Get ahold of police, or get ahold of mall security, get ahold of authorities wherever they may be," says Sgt. Dave Bishop, Sioux City Police Department.22-year-old Jeremy Saul of Sioux City was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police did arrest a male juvenile and charged him with disorderly conduct but he is not a suspect in the stabbing.

Read more »

Posted in: Sioux City

Third Gang related slaying to take place in Salinas in the past 24 hours

third homicide to take place in Salinas in the past 24 hours happened Friday afternoon when a man was fatally shot in front of an apartment complex, police said.
The 24-year-old received multiple gunshot wounds to the torso at about 12:45 p.m. at 945 Del Monte Ave.He was pronounced dead a short time after police officers arrived at the scene. Officials are currently looking for the shooter who fled on Del Monte Avenue to an apartment complex on N. Sandborn Road.There is no word at this time if the shooting was gang-related and dozens of people who gathered around the crime scene gave little information to police about the gunman or gunmen, officials said.
The victim is the latest in a string of homicides -- nine in all -- to hit Salinas, a city of about 140,000.Less than 24 hours earlier, two teenagers were shot dead in the parking lot of 918 Acosta Plaza at about 8 p.m.Carlos Mejia, 17, and Francisco Alfaro, 16, were approached by two men who pulled out handguns and fired multiple gunshots, authorities said.Police Chief Dan Ortega said he isn't sure if Friday's shooting was in retaliation the shootings of Mejia and Alfaro.The chief did say, however, that the streets of Salinas would be heavily protected Friday evening and into the weekend."The gang task force is in town tonight (Friday) and we will still have operation Cal Grip with the CHP going on. So we're going to have the streets saturated tonight and this weekend," Ortega said.Police are investigating Thursday evenings shooting as gang-related, but the mother one of the teenagers gunned down said her son wasn't involved with gangs.Carlos Mejia was a bass player in the school band for years and was going to graduate from Everett Alvarez High School, his family said."There is nothing we can do. We were trying as hard as we can, he was always refusing, he was never trying to get in that (gangs). I don't know what to say," said Mejia's mother, Marta.Mejia's dad took him and his sister to school every day to watch his activity, and the family said Carlos refused gang life despite the pressures.Mejia's sister told KSBW Action News 8 she has no idea why anyone would go after her brother."They're going to regret what they did to him, because he didn't do anything bad," Vanessa Mejia said. "I don't know why they went after him if he never did anything to them, and I hope they get what they deserve for doing that to my brother."The rash of homicides comes just one day after Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue attended a summit in Santa Rosa along with officials from 12 other gang-plagued cities to talk about the need for sustained state and federal support.

Donahue said the $2.6 million he learned would be directed to Monterey County pales next to the $14 million he must cut from the Salinas general fund over the next three years.

At the current pace, 2009 would shatter the previous homicide record for Salinas that was set in 2008 with 25.

Read more »

Posted in: Salinas

“Dead Rat” and “Military Justice.” The confessed shooter, retired general Alejandro Flores, was widely hailed as a hero for firing at the 30-year-old

Graphic photos of the alleged thief’s corpse were splashed over the front pages of Mexican tabloids beneath headlines such as “Dead Rat” and “Military Justice.” The confessed shooter, retired general Alejandro Flores, was widely hailed as a hero for firing at the 30-year-old man who had tried to force his way into the military man’s Mexico City home. “Of course he did the right thing,” wrote Felipe Alcocer in one on-line forum on the incident. “I wish everyone would act in the same way and get rid of this anti-social scum.” Given Mexico’s widespread breakdown in security, the praise for Flores’ Feb. 5 act of self-defense is unsurprising. The conviction rate in the thousands of murders and kidnappings afflicting the nation every year is estimated to be as low as 5%. Women and children are also increasingly among those killed by criminal gangs. And the limits on the legal system’s ability to stem the tide of violent crime has produced a growing, shadowy movement for vigilante justice. In recent months, at least three new clandestine groups have promised to hunt down and murder criminals to help restore order. As in the killing of the alleged thief by Flores, such groups have been cheered on in public forums. “My sincerest congratulations to these brave men with their courage and determination,” wrote a reader of Mexican newspaper Milenio. “God help them with their noble cause.”

It is too early to say whether these self-proclaimed avengers will become a significant force in Mexico’s battle with crime. Some of them may simply be angry citizens sending out messages not backed by any action. Others could be fronts for drug gangs, who want to present themselves as public guardians while running their own criminal rackets. But whomever is really behind these particular groups, the growing demand for justice by any means necessary raises concerns about the security situation in Mexico if the government remains unable to suppress the crime wave.

The most widely publicized vigilante campaign has emerged across the Texas border in Ciudad Juarez, which has become Mexico’s deadliest city with 1,600 murders last year. A self-styled Juarez Citizens’ Command sent an e-mail to local media in January saying it will give the government until July 5 to restore order or execute one criminal a day. Signed by “Comandante Abraham,” the group claims it is financed by local businessmen, and includes university students, entrepreneurs and professionals in its ranks. It offers to cooperate with military intelligence and says it supports the government, but argues that the elected politicians have failed.A second shadowy group, called the Popular Anti-Drugs Army, materialized among farming towns in the southern state of Guerrero in November. Displaying blankets with written messages on bridges and buildings, the group claims to be made up of family men who have come to together to force drug dealers off the street. “We invite the people to join our struggle and defend our children who are the future of Mexico,” it said on one of the blankets. Unlike the Juarez group, the Guerrero “Army” has been linked to several killings, including the decapitation of an alleged drug dealer in December. Local press allege the group is commanded by a rancher whose children were targeted by the gangs.Sociologist Rene Jimenez notes that vigilante justice has already become a reality in several parts of the country. “The state is failing to keep control in certain areas so people take justice into their own hands,” he said. “This vigilantism shows that the conflict is entering a new phase. Violence will breed more violence.”
There are certainly some unfortunate precedents: Self-proclaimed anti-gang vigilantes became a key part of the civil war in Colombia, where they morphed into paramilitary armies with thousands of members. These groups fought leftist guerrillas and allied with the government to bring down major drug traffickers such as the notorious Pablo Escobar. Many of the paramilitary leaders later confessed they had funded their own activities by dealing drugs, but claimed they virtually stopped anti-social crime in areas under their control. Gustavo Duncan, who authored a book on the Colombian paramilitaries, says similar organizations could emerge in Mexico amid the breakdown in state authority. “While Mexico may not ever get as bad as Colombia, some of the factors are very similar,” Duncan notes. “When the state cannot keep control in certain areas, it leaves a vacuum for these type of organizations to step in and in many ways they become the state.”

Read more »

Posted in: vigilante campaign

Gunmen killed a police officer and a jail guard Friday and left signs on their bodies saying they had fulfilled a promise to slay at least one officer

Gunmen killed a police officer and a jail guard Friday and left signs on their bodies saying they had fulfilled a promise to slay at least one officer every 48 hours until the Ciudad Juarez police chief resigns.The slayings were a chilling sign that criminal gangs are determined to control the police force of the biggest Mexican border city, with a population of 1.3 million people across from El Paso, Texas.Ciudad Juarez police have long come under attack, and many officers have quit out of fear for their lives, some after their names appeared on hit lists left in public throughout the city.Police officer Cesar Ivan Portillo was the fifth officer killed this week in Mexico's deadliest city.Police already were on "red alert" — meaning they could not patrol alone — after cardboard signs with handwritten messages appeared taped to the doors and windows of businesses Wednesday, warning that one officer would be killed every 48 hours if Public Safety Secretary Roberto Orduna does not quit.Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz insisted Friday that he would not back down."We will not allow the control of the police force to fall in the hands of criminal gangs," he said.More than 6,000 people have been killed in drug violence across Mexico over the past year as gangs battle each other for territory and to fight off a nationwide crackdown by the army. Nearly a third of the slayings have taken place in Ciudad Juarez, and more than 50 of those dead are city police officers.Violence also has spilled across the border into the U.S., where authorities report a spike in killings, kidnappings and home invasions connected to Mexico's murderous cartels.Homeland Security officials have said they will bring in the military if the violence continues to grow and threatens the U.S. border region.
"The violence is spreading like wildfire across the Rio Grande," said George Greyson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. "It's a major national security problem for us that is much more important than Iraq and Afghanistan."Also Friday, the U.S. State Department renewed a travel advisory warning Americans about the increased violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Some Mexicans have questioned whether President Feline Caldron's two-year, nationwide crackdown on drug gangs was worth all the killings.But Caldron and his administration have defended the fight, with Economy Secretary Gerard Ruin Mattes saying on Wednesday that if Mexico gave up its fight against the cartels, "the next president of the republic would be a drug dealer."Portillo and city jail guard Juan Palo Ruin were killed as they left their homes before dawn to head to work, city spokesman Jaime Toreros said.
Three days earlier, assailants fatally shot police operations director Sacramento Peruse, the chief's right-hand man, and three other officers who were sitting with him in a patrol car near the U.S. consulate.The bodies of Peruse and one of the officers were sent to their home states Thursday to be buried, and the city planned to hold a ceremony Friday for the two others from Ciudad Juarez.City spokesman Jaime Toreros said police have been asked to patrol with their guns in their hands.Reyes Ferriz earlier ordered police to travel in groups of three patrol cars, with two officers in each vehicle.Orduna has not spoken publicly since the threats. A retired army major, he took over as chief in May after former Public Safety Secretary Guillermo Prieto resigned and fled to El Paso following the slaying of his operations director.For Orduna's protection, the city has built his bedroom at the police station so he does not have to go home. He also travels in different vehicles when he does go out.

Read more »

Posted in: U.S. State Department renewed a travel advisory warning Americans about the increased violence along the U.S.-Mexico border

Gang related shooting in Ogden late Friday night

Man was shot while driving down a road in Ogden late Friday night. Police say the man was headed west in the 600 block of 7th Street around 10:50 p.m. when a Durango filled with people pulled up next to him. Someone inside the Durango started shooting, hitting the man once in the shoulder. The victim then drove to an apartment complex near 600 North and Lincoln Avenue, where he passed out and crashed into several parked cars. He was taken to the hospital but is expected to survive.
Police believe the shooting is gang related.

Read more »

Posted in: Ogden

Mexican Narco gangsters hurled two grenades at a police station in the Pacific resort town of Zihuatanejo

Narco gangsters hurled two grenades at a police station in the Pacific resort town of Zihuatanejo on Saturday, wounding one officer and four civilians.Police and soldiers stepped up patrols and set up extra checkpoints after the attack in the popular beach town north of Acapulco, according to the Guerrero state Public Safety Department.Three taxi drivers, a woman and a policeman were hurtGrenade attacks have become a fixture in Mexico's brutal cartel-related violence. Last week, five civilians and an officer were wounded in a grenade assault on a police patrol in western Michoacan state.In central Mexico, gunmen wielding AK-47s opened fire on two restaurants Saturday, killing two people. The first attack occurred in the town of Acelia and the second in at a highway eatery south of Mexico City.Police were trying to determine the motive and whether the two attacks were related.Gang violence is surging in Mexico despite the deployment of 45,000 soldiers across the country to root out drug cartels. Beheadings, attacks on police and shootings in clubs and restaurants are a daily occurrence in some regions.Last year, 6,000 people died in violence related to organized crime.Federal police, meanwhile, arrested a man suspected of directing drug dealing in Mexico City suburbs for the Beltran Leyva drug cartel. Gerardo Gonzalez Benavides was arrested Friday at a Mexico City shopping mall and was being questioned Saturday, the Attorney General's Office said.

Read more »

Posted in: Mexican Narco gangsters

All-out Dublin gang war sparked by the murder on Wednesday of Johnny 'Champagne' Carroll

Gardai in Dublin were working last night to head off an all-out gang war which was sparked by the murder on Wednesday of Johnny 'Champagne' Carroll, one of the city's top drug dealers.Eight men and three women were being questioned by detectives in five separate stations around the city centre yesterday evening and arrests are expected.The republican splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army, is at the centre of the threatened war and its members are believed responsible for murdering Carroll, 33, in Grumpy Jack's pub in the Coombe.The gang suspected of carrying out the murder is headed by the INLA leader in Dublin, a man aged in his 30s who currently lives in Finglas, and his close associate, a major Dublin criminal figure who has been involved in drug smuggling since the Eighties. Carroll was killed because the gang wished to take over his drug-dealing turf on the north side of the city.Last night, gardai were on high alert as Carroll's associates, who include some of the most violent criminals in the south inner city, were swearing to avenge his murder.

Read more »

Posted in: Irish National Liberation Army

still identifying the victims of a series of gunbattles Tuesday that left several dead and more injured amid a scene of shot-out cars

Mexican officials Wednesday said they were still identifying the victims of a series of gunbattles Tuesday that left several dead and more injured amid a scene of shot-out cars, homes and businesses.Pedro Sosa López, a chief of Tamaulipas state police department, said six men were confirmed dead. One was identified as Jose Alejandro Rivera Torres, a civilian. On Tuesday, reports of injuries and deaths varied widely, with some reports of as many as 12 people killed.Sosa said no others had been identified and that he could not confirm reports that a high-ranking Gulf Cartel boss was among those killed or possibly captured.He said seven alleged assailants were being detained but did not have further details.
The gunfire volleys between federal police officers and suspected gang members occurred in six parts of the city and were attributed to the Gulf Cartel's struggles to maintain control of one of the key pathways for smuggling drugs into the United States.This city is said to be key territory for the cartel's drug-smuggling organization and its assassins, the Zetas. It is across the Rio Grande from McAllen and is one of Mexico's most important manufacturing centers.The violence involved automatic weapons and grenades and began when police stopped a vehicle at a checkpoint in an upscale neighborhood of Reynosa, witnesses said. That set off running gunbattles through the streets, with gangsters commandeering vehicles and using them to block intersections.
Witnesses said the battles raged on for more than an hour Tuesday morning. Civilians ran for cover and children crouched under desks.
“We were hearing the gunfire,” said Enrique Marquez, assistant director of a middle school near one of the gunbattles. “I was there with my microphone, telling everyone to be calm, to exit calmly.”All got out safely, he said, but that school and at least one other remained closed Wednesday for fear of more violence.
The gunfire was over when Martin Marquez arrived to open his florist shop Tuesday, but evidence of the violence lay everywhere.
The front window was a lattice of bullet holes, broken glass filled the show room, and a mirrored door in a back room was shattered.
“We came to see this,” he said. “Total disaster.”He marveled at the one thing that had survived unscathed — a shelf with small statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.“Not even touched,” he said.

Read more »

Posted in: Mexico

Denmark’s Gang Wars Hells Angels versus Immigrant gangs

Denmark’s national police has proposed employing an extra 140 officers to be deployed in the six police districts hardest hit by gang warfare between bikers and immigrant gangs. The 140 officers will solely be involved in containing the continuing violence between the two groups. Financing for the special units is to be taken from the DKK 850 million funding passed by Parliament last year, and which is designed to strengthen the police force. “It is extremely important that we pull the criminal gangs up at the roots. But it will need a lengthy and insistent effort. So we are satisfied that that extra resources are to be made available. It will be a major benefit if the responsibility for the effort is placed in special police units,” says Parliamentary Legal Committee Chairman Peter Skaarup of the Danish People’s Party. Over a third of the new officers are to be located in Copenhagen, where continuing open street shootings and attacks are causing serious concern.
“This is certainly something that all of the police districts will be happy about,” says Copenhagen Police Spokesman Flemming Steen Munch. Apart from the extra officers, the Prosecutor’s Economic Crime Unit is also to be given added resources in order to strengthen its Al Capone operations – hitting gang members by investigating tax issues and economic crime. The National Investigation Centre is also to be strengthened with eight officers while the Security and Intelligence Service can expect a further 10 employees.

Read more »

Posted in: Copenhagen

Nicole Marie Alemy was driving her husband's Cadillac in suburban Surrey when she was shot.

Nicole Marie Alemy was driving her husband's Cadillac in suburban Surrey when she was shot.The 23-year-old White Rock, B.C., resident's son was unhurt, though traumatized when the car coasted into a tree by the side of the road Monday morning.Vancouver and its suburbs have been under attack as criminals trade shots in an undeclared gang war that's taken as many as half a dozen lives and wounded several people in the last few weeks.Another killing took place Tuesday as federal Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Peter Van Loan met local mayors, police officials and relatives of two innocent victims caught in a gang-style execution that claimed six lives in 2007.Vancouver police would not confirm details but witnesses told reporters a man was killed and his intended victim wounded in what appeared to be a botched murder attempt at a south Vancouver basement suite.

Read more »

Posted in: Vancouver undeclared gang war

Vancouver is a major import and export point for the international illegal drug trade the city's recent violence centers around the illegal drug trade

"They're hitting people in broad daylight in shopping centers," he said, adding the body count is similar to a surge in the fall of 2007. "There were gun battles with armored vehicles in the streets."

Vancouver is a major import and export point for the international illegal drug trade the city's recent violence centers around the illegal drug trade.Criminologist Rob Gordon said gangs have become far more brazen in the past few months, gunning down people in public.Gordon said gangs are likely gearing up for an increase in business during the Olympics. He specifically cited the marijuana business in Whistler where alpine events will be held. And, that he, said, could lead to greater violence as gangs fight over their share of the drug market at that time."Vancouver is not going to look particularly good while the world is watching if we have another one of these outbursts during Olympic events," Gordon said.Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass said the province's criminal justice and bail systems need to be reformed.Last week, the provincial government announced initiatives to employ more police and prosecutors, introduce tougher laws and build more jails and courts. The government also promised to crack down on illegal guns and owning armored vehicles and body armor."Recent gang violence has been both shocking and appalling, and British Columbians have had enough," Premier Gordon Campbell said.

Read more »

Posted in: Vancouver

Mexican authorities found five abandoned bullet-riddled and bloodstained vehicles

Mexican authorities found five abandoned bullet-riddled and bloodstained vehicles on Wednesday, fueling their hunt for drug gang killers following a wave of border-region slayings and clashes with soldiers that left 21 people dead, an official said.The hours-long skirmishes around the town of Villa Ahumada on Tuesday were part of a wave of drug violence that has engulfed parts of Mexico _ and has even spilled across the border _ as the army confronts savage narcotics cartels that are flush with drug money and guns from the U.S.President Felipe Calderon says more than 6,000 people died last year in drug-related violence, and U.S. authorities have reported a spike in killings, kidnappings and home invasions linked to the cartels _ some of it in cities far from the border, such as Phoenix and Atlanta.

Investigators on Wednesday were searching for assailants after finding five abandoned vehicles near Villa Ahumada, where gunmen a day earlier had kidnapped nine people, starting the violence.

They executed six of the kidnap victims along the PanAmerican Highway outside of the town, said Enrique Torres, spokesman for a joint military-police operation in Chihuahua state.Villa Ahumada is 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the border city of El Paso, Texas.An army convoy heading toward Villa Ahumada to investigate reports of the kidnappings Tuesday came across gunmen who had just executed the six kidnap victims, Torres said.A shootout between gunmen and soldiers ensued in which seven gunmen and one soldier died, Torres said. Another soldier was wounded.Soldiers rescued the three remaining kidnap victims and took them into custody for questioning, Torres said. The men say they are businessmen and were wrongly accused by their captors of belonging to the Sinaloa cartel.In the meantime, other gunmen fled on foot as soldiers rappelled down from military helicopters to chase them through the snow-covered desert.Further down the highway, a series of other shootouts left seven more assailants dead.Villa Ahumada, a town of 1,500 people, was virtually taken over by drug gangs last year when attackers killed two consecutive police chiefs and two officers. The rest of the 20-member force resigned in fear, forcing the Mexican military to take over for months.Unable to hire new recruits, the town hired unarmed residents to keep watch and alert state police about crime.The army was patrolling the town's streets Wednesday.Also Wednesday in the town of Reforma in Chiapas state, three suspected drug hitmen died during a shootout with police. Assailants opened fire after police raided a safe house for arms and drugs, a Reforma municipal police spokesman said. He was not authorized to give his name.

Read more »

Posted in: Villa Ahumada

Manila Gang Wars

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has ordered the Manila Police District to put an immediate end to the gang wars in the city citing records of the Presidential Anti Organized Crime Commission that over 30 street gangs caused trouble in Metro Manila. PAOCC Commissioner Grepor Belgica’s report named the notorious among the over 30 street gangs as Trece Hudas, Tau Gamma Phi fraternity, the Bulabog Boys, and Walang Sawa sa Alak (Wasalak).
Most of these gangs are involved in crimes like robbery and even drug trafficking.

Read more »

Posted in: and Walang Sawa sa Alak (Wasalak).,Tau Gamma Phi fraternity,the Bulabog Boys,Trece Hudas

Francisco Velasco Delgado is being questioned by prosecutors in the AG office's organized-crime division.

Francisco Velasco Delgado is being questioned by prosecutors in the AG office's organized-crime division.They said prosecutors planned to ask a federal judge to allow them to hold the police chief without bail.Retired Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñones, 63, was found dead last week inside a van on the Cancun-Merida highway together with army Lt. Gertulio Cesar Roman Zuñiga and a civilian, Juan Dominguez Sanchez

."The result of the autopsy shows that they were tortured before being riddled with bullets,"

the Quintana Roo state Attorney General's Office said.Velasco's arrest followed the arrival at police headquarters in the municipality of Benito Juarez, which includes Cancun, of some 25 soldiers who locked down the station for about an hour Monday morning.Before he was taken into custody, Velasco told reporters the soldiers were conducting a routine inventory and inspection of police weapons and that the military presence did not mean the army was taking charge of public safety in Cancun, as it did earlier in violence-wracked Tijuana, which lies near San Diego, California.Tello Quiñones, who served as military attache at the Mexican Embassy in Spain and as commander of the military zone of the western state of Michoacan, was laid to rest with full military honors after a ceremony attended by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.The mayor of Benito Juarez, Gregorio Sanchez, said that Velasco was "comparing information" with federal prosecutors, and named Gumercindo Jimenez Cuervo acting police chief.Since taking office in December 2006, Calderon has deployed more than 30,000 soldiers and federal police to nearly a dozen of Mexico's 31 states in a bid to stem the wave of mainly drug-related violence blamed for more than 8,000 deaths over the past two years.
The anti-drug operation, however, has failed to put a dent in the violence due, according to experts, to drug cartels' ability to buy off the police and even high-ranking prosecutors.

Read more »

Posted in: Mexico

Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, has declared war .Bodies were strewn across the desert outside the nearby town of Villa Ahumada

Mexican soldiers fought gun battles with drug cartel hitmen near the U.S. border on Tuesday after gangsters abducted local police in violence that killed 21 people, including an army sergeant.Soldiers pursued the hitmen through freezing desert in the northern state of Chihuahua after they dragged nine people, including some police, out of houses and shot six of them at a ranch in the early hours of Tuesday, the army said.Heavily armed soldiers burst into the ranch, near the Texan border, and shot dead several of the hitmen, later chasing another group by helicopter before killing them too, army spokesman Enrique Torres said from the area.

"The bodies were strewn across the desert outside the nearby town of Villa Ahumada," said Torres.

It was one of the bloodiest scenes this year in a spiraling drug war that killed more than 5,700 people across Mexico in 2008.
President Felipe Calderon deployed the army and federal police to tackle drug violence at the end of 2006, triggering a series of vicious turf battles. Daylight shootouts are on the rise in northern border cities.Chihuahua state and its main border city Ciudad Juarez have become the deadliest flashpoints in the drug war as cartels fight over trafficking routes into Texas and murder police accused of working for rival gangs.Residents in Villa Ahumada, a cattle ranching community in the state, said they saw a convoy of SUVs ride through the snow-covered town before dawn on Tuesday and several people were abducted from their homes. Some people later heard shots in the countryside.
"People are really afraid of a revenge attack by hitmen after this violence," a local journalist who asked not to be named told Reuters from Villa Ahumada.More than 2,000 of the drug war deaths recorded last year were in Chihuahua state, including the murder of 13 people at a party in August.The presence of more than 3,000 troops and federal police in Chihuahua has done nothing to contain the violence. Ciudad Juarez, a manufacturing city in the desert across from El Paso, Texas, has seen beheadings, daily shootouts and a surge in kidnappings and extortion.Mexico's army and drug trade analysts say the country's most-wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, has declared war on Chihuahua's drug baron Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, and the Gulf cartel based around the Gulf of Mexico has joined the fight.

Read more »

Posted in: 700 people across Mexico in 2008.,spiraling drug war that killed more than 5

Deadly shootouts between police and organised crime gangs are now a defining feature of police work and life in South Africa.

New war on the streets. Deadly shootouts between police and organised crime gangs are now a defining feature of police work and life in South Africa.In the past two weeks in and around Durban, more than 16 criminal suspects, and an innocent bystander, it seems, have been killed in shootouts with police, bringing to the fore the use of deadly force in apprehending suspects.Do these incidents reflect a new, tougher, if not gung-ho approach to combating crime? Have some policemen interpreted too literally the recent shoot-to-kill utterances of some leading politicians?
'Mkhize opened fire when police tried to pull his car over' And how do we know that vital witnesses are not being deliberately taken out by cops on the take? These are just some of the questions various commentators, including violence monitor Mary de Haas, are asking in the wake of yet another suspect killed in Durban this week.
Police said former Maphumulo taxi boss Bongani Mkhize, 44, had been "positively linked" to the recent murder of inkosi Mbongeleni Zondi in Umlazi, and had opened fire when police tried to pull his car over. He was killed when police returned fire.
The Mercury disclosed this week that Mkhize had applied to the Durban High Court in October last year for an interdict restraining police from "killing, injuring, threatening, harassing or in any way intimidating" him.In applying for this order, Mkhize claimed he was being sought by the organised crime unit in connection with the murder of Kranskop policeman Supt Zethembe Chonco.At the time seven other suspects wanted for Chonco's murder had been killed in separate incidents, either allegedly resisting arrest or while accompanying police on investigations.
Police consider the Chonco murder case closed, with all suspects killed, but could there be a link between the Chonco case and Zondi's murder?Head of the provincial organised crime unit, Johan Booysen, would not elaborate on this, but said two suspects in the Zondi murder were in custody, and one had made a full confession.
The day before Zondi's murder, five alleged criminals died in a shootout on the N3 near Camperdown after police received a tip-off about nine men headed to Pietermaritzburg to commit a robbery.Ordered to pull over at a roadblock, the suspects opened fire on the police, who returned fire in self-defence, killing five men, said SAPS spokesperson Director Phindile Radebe."This serves as a warning to everybody that the police are serious about fighting fire with fire," responded KwaZulu-Natal Safety and Security MEC Bheki Cele.Since then another 11 suspects have been gunned down in separate incidents in and around Durban, described as "Wild West-style" clashes.In reality, though, such shootouts bear little resemblance to the Wild West.

They are more violent, involving sub-machine guns, AK47s, R4 rifles, hijacked vehicles, criminal syndicates operating with military-style efficiency and elite police units often operating undercover.

"Indeed, it is a war out there," said Institute for Security Studies (ISS) director Johan Burger.Burger said the number of suspects killed had risen significantly recently, as had the number of policemen killed.He said this was despite the actual number of attacks on police having decreased over the past few years.He said concerns that police had become "trigger happy" were understandable, but needed to be seen in the context of the dangers of combating organised crime, and legislation governing use of deadly force."The legislation is very clear. Police can shoot to kill to protect lives, but any incident where police do kill someone is independently investigated by the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD), irrespective of the circumstances."Burger said he shared editors' concerns that "shoot-to-kill" rhetoric from politicians might have led to a perception that police were "protected and entitled to use more force than they were legally entitled to"."If they are implying that the police must use deadly force when justified, that's fine, but when it is interpreted by police on the ground that they have wider authority to use more force than legally empowered, it becomes very dangerous."He said incidents where police did shoot to kill also needed to be balanced against the realities of crime in South Africa, particularly the fact that criminal gangs had becoming organised, dangerous, and prepared to kill.
Burger said it was a fallacy that police had to wait until they were being shot at before resorting to deadly force."The moment they judge that their lives are in danger, or members of public are threatened, they are entitled to shoot to kill," said Burger.And it's happening - a new era in the war on crime has begun. Who is winning remains to be seen.

Read more »

Posted in: Durban

Vancouver-area gang wars gained national attention in October 2007, when two innocent bystanders were murdered along with four men with gang ties

Six shootings in six days have prompted British Columbia's attorney general to appeal to the public for help in stemming the gang violence plaguing Vancouver-area streets.Wally Oppal said members of the public have a large part to play in ending the gang strife behind the six shootings - four of them fatal."We're very concerned, very, very concerned with what's going on," Oppal told reporters in Victoria on Monday."The fact is we've got a number of factors at play; One, you have a public out there that apparently wants drugs. Drugs are illegal. They are not governed by any laws, so you have a bunch of outlaws out there who are selling drugs. They are fighting for territory."Oppal said the police need the public to come forward with information instead of clamming up about the outlaw gangs that are fighting a deadly turf war on the streets of Metro Vancouver."The police go to these scenes and they get no help from anybody," he said."There are people out there who know what's happening. People out there who are privy to information, yet nobody goes to help the police. Everybody abides by this code of silence."The gang war has been going on for years but the latest carnage began a week ago when a man was found shot dead in an apartment in Surrey.Within 24 hours another man was gunned down while in his truck at a busy mall in Surrey, while a woman was found shot to death in her pick up truck in Coquitlam.Then on Friday a man was shot in his truck at a mall in Langley. He died over the weekend.It appears most, if not all, of the shootings were gang-or drug-related, although a shooting in Coquitlam on Saturday that left a man wounded was a robbery.The sixth shooting happened Sunday night and targeted a man on Vancouver's west side, with one report suggesting the victim had gang ties.Over the last couple of years the area has seen dozens of gang-related shootings, including brazen daylight attacks in crowded public places.The murder in the mall parking lot in Langley took place during the day, and a stray bullet shattered the window of one nearby vehicle.The Vancouver-area gang wars gained national attention in October 2007, when two innocent bystanders were murdered along with four men with gang ties in a Surrey apartment building.Oppal said the government, from Premier Gordon Campbell on down, is concerned about rising gang violence in British Columbia."We all need to get involved. We have to take back the streets from these people who are out there." We need to help the police."

Read more »

Posted in: Gang war has been going on for years

Jersey City police said that two teens were stabbed at the Newport Centre Mall

Jersey City police said that two teens were stabbed at the Newport Centre Mall Saturday night during a melee that involved at leat 18 persons and was reported to be a gang fight.Responding to a disturbance on the first floor of the mall around 8:53 p.m., police and mall security found a 15-year-old boy who had been stabbed in the stomach, reports said.Another juvenile, of unknown age, ran from the mall after being stabbed and went to the Jersey City Fire Department station on Marin Boulevard.
Firefighters said that he had stab wounds in the shoulder.Additional police units responded to the area and rounded up some of the teens.One of the victims told police that he was with three 15-year-old friends when around 15 males approached them. One youth wearing a ski mask and with his forearm in a cast asked if he was affiliated with a certain street gang and then stabbed him, reports said.

Read more »

Posted in: Jersey City

Outlaw bikie gangs warring for dominance in the illegal drug market could be a motive for the bombing of a Sydney Hells Angels base

Outlaw bikie gangs warring for dominance in the illegal drug market could be a motive for the bombing of a Sydney Hells Angels base, police say.Officers said it was lucky no one was killed by the powerful explosion about 4am (NZ time) yesterday, which left sheets of roofing iron, rubble and shattered glass scattered across Crystal Street at Petersham.As investigators look into the bombing, police fear revenge attacks may follow."Tit-for-tat revenge attacks are not unknown obviously within outlaw motorcycle gangs," Gang Squad Detective Superintendent Mal Lanyon told reporters.Furthermore, he said investigating incidents which involved the gangs often proved difficult."One of the problems with investigating any outlaw motorcycle gang incident is the code of silence that operates within the actual gang structure itself," he said."People ... within gangs are reticent to come forward and provide information to the police and that's why we have to be dedicated and professional in the way we investigate so we can make arrests."Supt Lanyon said detectives were keeping an open mind about the motive for the bombing, but said involvement in the illicit drugs trade was a big part of bikie gang culture."There is obviously a large number of factors that may influence people or may influence other gangs to come in conflict, obviously drug supply and the proceeds from drug supply is something that fuels outlaw motorcycle gangs ... and that would certainly be a motive," he said.
Witnesses have told police they saw two men in a dark four-wheel drive leaving the scene of the bombing on Wednesday, Superintendent David Eardley said.Investigators are also looking at any links between the blast and shots fired into a nearby tattoo parlour."The cause of the explosion is still being determined, but we are satisfied it is as a result of a deliberate act," Supt Eardley told reporters.He was unclear about what role the Petersham building played in the Hells Angels operation and did not say what police had found inside the property."Whether it is the headquarters I'm not quite sure, but it is certainly a premises that's linked to the Hells Angels motorcycle group," Supt Eardley said."I believe it is a premises that has come under notice previously."Nearby resident Kenneth Goodman told News Ltd the explosion damaged windows in his building."I heard the four explosions which we figured were gunshots, then approximately two minutes after, we heard the loud explosion," he said."I came out, walked up the street and then saw all the glass, rubble and carnage, pieces of tin, all across the road."There was heaps of smoke. It smelt like a gun powder, plastic-like smell."Supt Eardley said he was concerned about the potential harm the explosion could have caused."It was probably by sheer luck that no person was killed in the incident ... that no innocent bystanders were killed," he said.

Read more »

Posted in: Hells Angels Sydney

Earnest “Bama” Edwards, a known leader of the Bloods street gang arrested at a notorious East Broadway nightclub

Gangbanger was arrested at a notorious East Broadway nightclub early Saturday morning, after hiding from police for days.Sheriff’s deputies, village police and state troopers said they found Earnest “Bama” Edwards, a known leader of the Bloods street gang, hanging out in the back of the Cinco Estrella Club about 2:30 a.m. Edwards, 26, was wanted on a felony warrant for brandishing a handgun at another man on Broadway last Tuesday.Edwards disappeared into the crowd when he saw police inside the club. He had been wearing an oversized red sweatshirt, but when police next spotted Edwards trying to sneak out of the club he had ditched the sweatshirt for a blue shirt, police said.The wanted man put up a 10-minute fight when police tried to cuff him. Edwards shoved, bit and threw punches at officers who used a Taser and pepper spray to subdue him.“My guys said it was one of the worst fights they’ve ever seen,” said Monticello police Sgt. Mark Johnstone.The fight escalated when Edwards began shouting what police believe were gang commands, prompting others in the club to throw bottles and food at the officers. None of the others was arrested.The Sheriff’s Office charged Edwards with resisting arrest and then turned him over to Monticello police, who were after him on weapon possession and menacing charges. He was being held in police lockup. Edwards had been released Dec. 1 from a New Jersey jail after serving six months on a drug charge.Many violent incidents in Monticello had centered around Edwards these past four years, including several shootings and a tussle with police. The Cinco Estrella nightclub has also been a nest of violence. Over the past two years, police have responded to the club for several gang-related stabbings and beatings.

Read more »

Posted in: Cinco Estrella nightclub

John Chisholm was found guilty witnesses gave evidence anonymously

John Chisholm was found guilty witnesses gave evidence anonymously for the first time in a North East courtroom.A jury was told how Robert Anderson suffered wounds to his chest, arm, leg and thumb after the BMW he was driving was ambushed in broad daylight by Chisholm in Hylton Road, Sunderland.Newcastle Crown Court heard that on May 24, 2007, Chisholm carried out the brutal assault in revenge for an earlier attempted shooting of his son, which Mr Anderson was accused of being involved in, but later cleared.
Chisholm snr denied wounding with intent, violent disorder and intimidation.The 49-year-old claimed he had been the victim of a "campaign of violence" by Mr Anderson and Alan Smart, who was the passenger in the BMW, and had lashed out after he saw a gun in the car.But jurors yesterday found him guilty of wounding with intent and violent disorder. He was cleared of the intimidation charge.
Speaking after the case, Sunderland's top police officer, Chief Superintendent Dave Pryer said: "Any criminal who considers themselves untouchable or above the law will certainly find no comfort in this city."Judge Tony Lancaster adjourned sentence until February 23 so Chisholm can be sentenced along with his son John Chisholm jnr, 27, and Carl Waters, 45, who admitted violent disorder at an earlier hearing in relation to the incident.
The judge ordered an assessment from the probation service of Chisholm snr's "dangerousness". The maximum sentence he faces is life.After the guilty verdicts, Detective Sergeant Paul Milner thanked the terrified witnesses, who saw the horror that day, for coming to court.The onlookers had been too afraid to come to court to give their evidence but were granted anonymity under new laws.

Read more »

Posted in: Sunderland.

Anthony Perry, 22, an alleged member of a Jamaica Plain-area gang was fatally shot

Anthony Perry, 22, an alleged member of a Jamaica Plain-area gang was fatally shot in broad daylight at a busy shopping district in Jamaica Plain yesterday afternoon, shocking passersby who watched in horror as an MBTA Transit police officer tried to save the man's life on a crowded sidewalk.The man was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he later died. Police did not release the victim’s name last night, but two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said he is Anthony Perry, 22, an alleged member of a Jamaica Plain-area gang.Perry was shot in the head, one of the officials said. The officials asked for anonymity because the case is under investigation.The brazenness of the 1:40 p.m. shooting alarmed police, who fear that Perry's associates could retaliate and jeopardize a fragile truce between two rival street gangs with a long history of violence."The victim is well known to us," said Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department. "Investigators believe this was a targeted incident."Perry's family did not want to comment last night.After the shooting, four people were seen speeding off in a Pontiac down Walden Street, and police credited a detective from the B-2 division in Roxbury with seeing the car and stopping it. The men were brought in for questioning, and late last night two of the occupants were charged in connection with the shooting.Chris Jamison, 23, a reputed rival gang member, was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition, Driscoll said. Shaba Olukoga, 19, was charged with being an accessory after the fact of murder, she said. The two are expected to be arraigned today.The shooting occurred at the intersection of Centre and Walden streets, near the Fellowship Church of God and not far from a Stop & Shop shopping plaza.The business district is typically crowded during the afternoon, with car and bus traffic and pedestrians from the Jackson Square train stop.Witnesses said Perry tried to flee after the shooting, making it more than 30 yards along a row of shops before collapsing in front of the 99 Cents shop, at 319 Centre St."He was just on the ground bleeding. People were around him screaming, 'call the police,' " said Johaira Suazo, of the Castillo Services cellphone store. She said a woman came rushing into her store, horrified, and that's when Suazo saw Perry collapse.Several residents took video footage of the scene. A police official - later identified as Detective Lieutenant Mark Gillespie of the MBTA Transit police - can be seen trying to resuscitate Perry. Gillespie struggled for several minutes until an ambulance crew arrived.The area, near the Bromley-Heath housing project, has had violence before - but not like this and not during broad daylight, residents said.

Read more »

Posted in: Jamaica Plain-area gang

Marseilles Gangwar,40 bullets struck the car and the driver was hit 15 times by shots fired from very close range

The city, which has a long history of organised, violent crime, has seen a flare-up in recent months of brutal score-settling among gangs competing in the flourishing drug trade. Kalashnikov assault rifles have become a common weapon after being imported in large numbers from eastern Europe. The new gangs, which are loosely or barely organised, include Balkan criminals and youths from immigrant housing estates and gypsy travellers' camps. Two men were shot dead and two badly wounded in one shooting at a travellers' camp last July. Over a dozen died in drug trade killings last year.
Gunmen armed with an assault rifle and other weapons killed three men and wounded two others in Marseilles today in the worst ambush in recent gang wars among drug dealers of gypsy origin. Attackers armed with a Kalashnikov and up to three heavy pistols ambushed the victims' Peugeot in a rough district in the north of the port city shortly after midnight. More than 40 bullets struck the car and the driver was hit 15 times by shots fired from very close range. One of the wounded was found lying on a nearby railway track with critical chest wounds, while the other was taken to hospital by a friend. The victims, who were apparently unarmed, were ambushed when the other vehicle drew alongside their car while it was stopped at a traffic light in a deserted area. Police assumed that the massacre was prompted by a drug transaction that went wrong. A 250 gram (8.8 ounce) cake of cannabis resin was found at the scene. The five were described as aged 26 to 31 and from semi-permanent camps of travellers which have spread up around the Marseilles area over the past decade. Police have rounded up dozens in raids on the camps in recent weeks but they are struggling to deal with an underworld culture that practises extreme violence. The old Mafia-style gangs that used to rule Marseilles - including those involved in the 'French connection' drug operations of the 1970s - used to impose more discipline.

"The criminal police are working flat out on this new milieu," said Bernard Squarcini, who was Marseiles police chief until President Sarkozy appointed him chief of domestic intelligence last year. "We do not get the time to infiltrate a gang when it has already been decimated," he said. "In the days of Zampa and the Belgian (two notorious gangsters), there had to be a very serious reason for a fusillade. Now they multiply whenever this or that villain comes out of prison."

Jean-Claude Gaudin, the Mayor of Marseilles, insists that the overall crime rate in his city has remained relatively stable in recent years despite the rise in intra-gang violence. However, robbery jumped eight per cent there last year, in line with a surge in Paris and other big cities.

Read more »

Posted in: Marseilles

Prescott Valley police arrested four members of two local street gangs Jan. 15 on charges of assault and participation in a criminal street gang

Prescott Valley police arrested four members of two local street gangs Jan. 15 on charges of assault and participation in a criminal street gang, police said in a press release issued Monday.The four juveniles were fighting outside when police arrested them after dispatchers received several calls from witnesses reporting the fight, police said. Police booked the young men into Yavapai County Juvenile Detention.On Jan. 22, police executed search warrants for five residences connected with the four arrested juveniles and also found illegal weapons in addition to evidence of participating in a street gang.Police officials have been investigating numerous acts of criminal damage graffiti throughout Prescott Valley for the past five months, the release said.During that time, police with search warrants located and confiscated various examples of gang graffiti.Police declined to release the names of the gangs, saying gang members want to get their gang's name in the media.
Police said they expect these types of gang crimes to happen again because gang graffiti is an ongoing problem in the area.

Read more »

Posted in: Prescott Valley police

Limerick gangs have escalated the gang war after a series of arson attacks in which four vehicles have been destroyed.

Limerick criminal gangs have escalated after a series of arson attacks in which four vehicles have been destroyed.Just a month before Christy Keane -- a leading crime figure in the Keane gang -- is released from prison, gardai in the city are on high alert after arson attacks on vehicles belonging to four of his relatives.The 48-year-old is due to be freed from the Midlands prison in mid-February and the feud, which was just beginning when he was jailed in 2001, shows no sign of cooling on the eve of his release.Last year, chief executive of Limerick's regeneration agencies, Brendan Kenny, tried to initiate peace talks following a lull in the feud, but it is clear that old wounds continue to fester following a succession of arson attacks in St Mary's Park last weekend.On Sunday night, a 2008-registered Range Rover was found burnt out following an attack in the coal yard where it was parked. The vehicle, owned by Keane's nephew, Owen Treacy, is estimated to have been worth over €70,000
Treacy was abducted with his uncle, Kieran Keane, in 2003 by the McCarthy-Dundon gang. His uncle was shot dead while Treacy was stabbed repeatedly.Treacy's sisters' car, a Peugeot 306, has also been burned out.Also at the weekend, the 2005-registered Volkswagen Passat belonging to a family member was destroyed.Arsonists also gutted the 2004-registered Toyota Avensis belonging to a female member of the family. The damage to the vehicles is in excess of €100,000, but it is the repercussions that may be inflicted upon the culprits that worry authorities most in Limerick. As far as officers are concerned, the arson attacks are a direct message to the original crime chief of Limerick gangs that his enemies are ready and waiting for his release.Christy Keane (48), who comes out of prison a grandfather, will have to return to jail if he wants to see his only son, Liam, who was yesterday jailed for the same period his father received -- 10 years.

Liam Keane was arrested last May after driving a stolen car with a loaded Glock handgun which had been used to shoot McCarthy-Dundon gang member, Jimmy Collins less than a fortnight beforehand.

When interviewed by gardai, Liam Keane was asked why did the gangs hate each other so much and replied: "That's life, that's the way it goes."Liam Keane told officers he picked the gun up in a field, "out the Ballysimon way", and had it because of the way his uncle, Kieran Keane, ended up.Already some of Christy Keane's closest neighbours are fearing his release and have sold their homes. Fine Gael councillor Diarmuid Scully told a meeting of Limerick City Council's economic and planning committee that two homes in Lynwood Park, Singland, have been sold by residents ahead of Christy Keane's return.
Mr Scully urged the Criminal Assets Bureau to examine whether the home was bought with the proceeds of crime.On top of this, detectives in the city this week uncovered further links between some of country's most dangerous criminals and the Keane and Collopy gangs based in St Mary's Park with the arrest of a major convicted criminal from Dublin.

Read more »

Posted in: McCarthy-Dundon gang

Street gang member who supplied the handgun used in the fatal shooting of a Shirley Avenue teenager last summer was sentenced today

Street gang member who supplied the handgun used in the fatal shooting of a Shirley Avenue teenager last summer was sentenced today to the next ten years in state prison."This is another consequence of people having guns who should not have them," State Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang told Dijon Thomas, 18, in a courtroom filled with friends and relatives of the slain Jermain Martin/

Rayshonne Stevens, the mother of the victim who was gunned down at Bailey and Stockbridge avenues June 7, stressed that her son was not a gang member.

Ms. Stevens told Thomas "a higher power will judge you and you will pay.""I would like to take this moment to apologize," said Thomas, who pleaded guilty Oct. 28 to a first-degree manslaughter charge and has been in custody.
Thomas, who had been a friend of victim, told the judge he could not personally shoot his friend over a street fight but "in God's eyes I'm still guilty."
Gerald "Nana" Gibson, 18, faces sentencing March 16 after pleading guilty in December to first-degree manslaughter plea for shooting the victim in retaliation over a street fight, according to James F. Bargnesi, chief of the Erie County District Attorney's Homicide Bureau.Gibson, of Alexander Avenue, Cheektowaga, has been in custody since his arrest in Pittsburgh as he was about to board a bus for Las Vegas two weeks after the early evening fatal shooting.

Read more »

Posted in: Erie County

Jamie Bacon alleged member of the Red Scorpion gang appears to be the intended target of an afternoon shootout in Abbotsford.

Jamie Bacon, 23, was wearing body armour when gunmen in another car opened fire on his black Mercedes at the corner of South Fraser Way and Sumas Way about 3:50 p.m., hitting the leased luxury sedan several times.

Jamie Bacon alleged member of the Red Scorpion gang appears to be the intended target of an afternoon shootout in Abbotsford. Around 4:00 pm Tuesday, police received several reports of gunfire near the intersection of South Fraser Way and Sumas Way. Witnesses reported two cars firing at each another. When officers arrived on scene they found one of the cars involved, a black Mercedes, had crashed into a concrete stairway leading to a Keg restaurant. Police say the intended target is well known to them and was wearing body armour. He was not seriously injured. Police won't confirm reports the man driving the car was known gang member Jamie Bacon.
Police questioned the driver before releasing him and are still looking for the passengers of the other car. The Bacon brothers -- Jamie, Jarrod and Jonathan -- are all well known to police. In 2006, Jonathan, the oldest brother, was shot several times outside the family's Abbotsford home on Strathcona Court. No charges have been laid in connection with the shooting. In 2008, police took the unusual step of setting up a 24-hour surveillance camera to monitor the house after death threats were made against their family by rival gangs.The youngest of a trio of notorious Abbotsford brothers narrowly escaped death Tuesday after his vehicle was targeted in a wild rush-hour shooting at a busy Abbotsford intersection.One bullet hit another car that happened to be passing, though no one was injured, Abbotsford police Const. Casey Vinet confirmed.Const. Vinet said it is amazing no one was hurt in the brazen shooting.

"We are concerned about the public nature of this shooting," he said. "It is intolerable...somebody could have easily been injured."

"There is a public safety issue absolutely," he said. "It is one of the main thoroughfares. At 10 to four in the afternoon, there would have been a fair bit of traffic coming and going."Abbotsford Mayor George Peary said he was in a police board meeting when he learned of the shooting, near a strip mall that houses a popular Save-On Foods. The public gunplay is extremely troubling, said Mr. Peary.
"It is a matter of great concern to myself and our citizens," he said. "This family of three boys seem intent on wreaking havoc."He pointed to the extraordinary public warning issued by the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force last May saying the Bacons were targets of death threats and anyone near them could get caught in the crossfire.
"It's frustrating because among our citizens, public safety is a very high priority," Mr. Peary said. "They want to be safe as they move about the community and of course, with bullets flying, there is trepidation." He said the police are doing everything they can to control the violence, including camera surveillance on the Bacon family home on Strathcona Crescent in Abbotsford."They are policed as much as possible," he said, adding he will get a full briefing from police on the incident, likely today.

Jamie Bacon, who is facing a series of gun and drug charges, was briefly detained after the shooting but is not cooperating with investigators. He was later released.

The Mercedes, which was riddled with bullet-holes, was found a few blocks from where the shooting occurred, crashed into the concrete stairs in front of a Keg restaurant. Mr. Bacon had apparently bailed out of the car to flee his attackers.Vinet said he could not identify the intended shooting target, but The Sun has learned it was Jamie, who with middle brother Jarrod is facing 24 firearms and drug counts laid last May 31 -- the same day as the police warning was issued.
"We do have a male well-known to us being questioned," Const. Vinet said before Bacon was released. As one of his bail conditions, Mr. Bacon must live at his parents' Strathcona Court home, where shootings occurred in 2002 and 2006. Eldest brother Jonathan was nearly killed in the 2006 shooting.A Surrey shooting in 2007 also targeted the brothers.Just last Friday, Jamie and his two brothers, as well as an associate, were stopped by Abbotsford Police at the busy Sevenoaks Mall after mall security thought one of them had a gun. No weapon was found, but one of the brothers was wearing body armour.The brothers, who are closely aligned to the Red Scorpion gang, have been the target of death threats by rivals in the United Nations gang. Just three weeks ago, an associate named Dennis Karbovanec was wounded in a New Year's Eve shooting.

Read more »

Posted in: Red Scorpion gang

Three young men have died, and police say the rivalry between Bloods and Crips is mounting.

Some who lived through it recall the height of the city's gang violence in the 1980s and 1990s."I have actual gang members saying, 'This is bad out here,' " Michael Johnson, a former Crip, told The Oregonian newspaper.In response, pastors at funerals are appealing from the pulpit to gang members to end the shooting. Police are paying overtime to put more officers on the street.Probation officers are making more contacts with gang offenders on supervision and mapping out safety plans for those who may be targets. Outreach workers are staying visible on the streets and are lobbying to keep their programs going.Dan Saltzman, Portland's new police commissioner, promised to press the City Council to maintain gang outreach programs and to try to keep local community centers open late with programs aimed at teenagers."We don't want to wait for the shootings and just try to arrest people afterward," he told the paper. "There's just a lot of different tacks we have to take."Although the city's homicide rate and overall crime rate are down, gang violence has increased sharply over the past year, police say.They say they identified more than 150 new gang members and seized 112 firearms from gang members in 2008, about one-eighth of all the guns they seized in the year.On Dec. 12, Darshawn Cross, 31, collapsed from multiple gunshots during a funeral in the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.Police say near-daily shootings followed, with bullets flying in drive-by shootings, during car chases, outside busy malls and theaters and into homes.On New Year's Eve, two 18-year-olds were killed at a Gresham apartment complex. One, Willy Butler, was a half brother of the man accused of shooting Cross."We have a crisis," said Lt. Mike Leloff of Portland's gang enforcement unit.

Read more »

Posted in: Portland

$5 million civil judgment against the 5th Hill Gang and 11 named members

"The 5th & Hill Gang has long been heavily involved in the sale of heroin in downtown Los Angeles, and we know they have profited from these illegal activities," said City Attorney Delgadillo, who several weeks ago filed a similar action against the 18th Street gang. "We are going to work aggressively with our Federal, State, and local partners to locate and collect their assets - and every penny we strip away from these criminals will be returned to the neighborhoods they have tormented."$5 million civil judgment against the 5th & Hill Gang and 11 named members as part of a permanent injunction restricting the criminal activity of the gang and its narcotics associates in the historic core of the City´s downtown area. This civil judgment is the first ever obtained against a criminal street gang.Approved by L.A. Superior Court, the permanent gang injunction severely restricts the ability of the gang to commit criminal and nuisance activity, including the sale of heroin and other narcotics within the established downtown Safety Zone as defined within the boundaries of 2nd Street to the north, San Pedro Street to the east, 9th Street to the south and Olive Street to the west. At the core of the Safety Zone is the northeast corner of Pershing Square, at which 5th and Hill Streets converge.
Terms of the permanent injunction include many of the standard gang injunction provisions, including limiting the gang´s ability to associate in public with other members, intimidate witnesses, to sell or possess drugs, or to possess weapons or graffiti tools. A unique provision of the injunction makes the gang injunction effective, not only against gang members, but also against the gang´s "Heroin Sales Associates" - defined as anyone arrested twice for possession for sale, or sales where the alleged controlled substance was heroin, and the arrest occurred within the established Safety Zone. This new provision was sought by city prosecutors because 5th & Hill Gang members attempt to insulate themselves from criminal liability by using non-gang members to move their product on the street."The Fifth and Hill Gang injunction and now the first ever civil judgment of its type, are evidence of a healthy prevention-focused partnership between the community and different components of the criminal justice system," said LAPD Chief William Bratton. "We will use these tools judiciously to improve safety and to help dismantle violent gangs." In addition to granting a permanent gang injunction, the Court also awarded $4,200,000 in civil damages against the 5th and Hill gang as well as gang members Jesus Barcenas, Everado Bautista, Adolfo Catala, Alejandro Delatorre, Jesus Gonzalez, Carlos Hernandez, Juan Bautista Osorio, Carlos Quiroz, Marco Rivera, Gustavo Roman, Jr., and Cesar Tovar. The Court also awarded an additional $857,500 in civil penalties against the gang and the named members for their violations of the State´s Business and Professions Code Section 17200.
"Because of our innovative and creative solutions to the gang problem.like the City Attorney´s new civil damages actions - we´re making Los Angeles one of the safest big cities in America," said L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti. "I look forward to working with City Attorney Delgadillo to ensure that any money he recovers is distributed to the communities damaged by these gangs, as quickly as possible." "I want to congratulate the City Attorney for thinking outside of the box to bring down this opportunistic street gang," said Councilmember José Huizar. "And I´m happy to hear that the gang´s drug profits made off of the misery of others is going to be returned to the communities they originated in to do some real good."
The injunction - prosecuted by Gang Division Deputy Jim McDougal - includes more than 400 pages of declarations from law enforcement officials regarding the long-standing criminal activity of the 5th & Hill Gang located within the historic core of downtown Los Angeles, as well as declarations submitted on behalf of the local Business Improvement Districts regarding the economic harm caused by the 5th & Hill Gang.

The 5th & Hill Gang is known to have a monopoly on heroin sales in downtown Los Angeles. A vast majority of crimes committed within the Safety Zone, including graffiti and assaults, are related to heroin sales business conducted by the gang.
The City Attorney sought a preliminary gang injunction against the 5th & Hill Gang in November 2007, and the preliminary injunction was granted in February 2008. As part of the original filing, City Attorney Delgadillo´s prosecutors included an additional Cause of Action pursuant to penal code Section 186.22 a(c) seeking damages using the 2007 Amendments to the STEP Act signed into law by the Governor. That amendment expanded existing law to provide prosecuting City Attorneys and District Attorneys with the authority to seek damages against gang members under injunction, and to collect from them assets acquired from their criminal activity. "This is exactly the kind of anti-gang impact that we hoped to see with the passage of SB 271 and SB 1126," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said."By giving prosecutors more tools to fight gang activity at the local level, we are protecting our communities at the same time we're able to strengthen our statewide anti-gang efforts."The December 2008 filing against members of the 18th Street gang was a stand-alone damages action filed pursuant to the 2008 Amendments to penal code Section 186.22 a(c), and was the first to make use of the passage of SB1126 which authorized prosecutors to collect damages from any assets the named gang members have to satisfy the judgment, whether or not a direct link is established between the criminal conduct and the asset. Since taking office in July 2001, City Attorney Delgadillo has increased the number of gang injunctions from eight to 40, covering more than 65 gangs and more than 61 square miles of claimed gang territory in Los Angeles. In addition, LAPD reports cite a 33 percent decline in gang membership since 2001, and a 25 percent reduction in gang crime since 2002.

Read more »

Posted in: The 5th Hill Gang has long been heavily involved in the sale of heroin in downtown Los Angeles

Outbreak of gangland violence after two murders and at least three attempted murders in the opening week of the New Year.

Outbreak of gangland violence after two murders and at least three attempted murders in the opening week of the New Year.The long-running feud between two gangs in the south inner city is fully expected to flare up after members of the two gangs bumped into each other in a city-centre take-away in the early hours of January 3. One man was struck on the head with a hammer and then repeatedly kicked in the head as he lay senseless on the floor. The victim is still in hospital and it is not yet known if his injuries will cause permanent brain damage.Shortly before that attack, a gunman called at a flat in Pearse Street, pointed a gun at a man who answered the door and pulled the trigger. The gun failed to fire. Gardai said the victim was an entirely innocent person and they believe it was a case of mistaken identity. They have yet to find the intended victim.Then, within the space of two hours on Wednesday evening last, two men were murdered in central Dublin and another shot and severely wounded at a house in Kinsealy in north Dublin. The Kinsealy victim is expected to recover, despite being shot in the chest and neck.Gardai admitted last week that they are uncertain as to why gangland violence has flared again in the city. Despite an amount of conjecture, gardai do not know the reasons for the murders of Michael 'Roly' Cronin, 35, and his associate James Moloney, 26, a man with no known serious criminal involvement, in Summerhill in the south inner city at 8.40pm last Wednesday. While it was known that Cronin was at odds with other drug dealers in the Finglas, Coolock and Blanchardstown areas, it was not clear why he was back in his old neighbourhood in Summerhill in the north inner city where other gangs control the drugs -- particularly heroin -- supply in the city centre. Gardai have a firm suspect for the double murder, a man in his early 20s from the north inner city area, described as a relatively minor gangland figure. The gunman was in the back seat of Cronin's car as it pulled into Langrishe Place off Summerhill. He apparently shot Cronin, who was driving, in the head, and the car crashed into a barrier. He then turned the gun on Moloney, shooting him twice in the head.
Two hours after the double killing, a gunman forced his way into a house in Drynam Drive about six miles away in Kinsealy, then rampaged through the house looking for his 29-year-old victim. A young woman visiting the house with her baby was cornered in a bathroom where the gunman pointed his gun at her. His victim was hiding in a bedroom barring the door and the gunman fired through it, hitting him twice. It is believed that a drug gang from the Coolock and Darndale area was behind the attack, which is not thought to be linked with the shooting in the north inner city.Senior garda sources said last week that while they were anticipating violence in the Finglas and other north-western areas of the city, the double killing in the north inner city and the rekindling of the south-city feud are worrying developments.
As it does every few years, the character of the gangland scene in Dublin is changing, and younger, and, according to gardai, more ruthless gangs are yet again emerging.

Read more »

Posted in: Dublin

Victims, 34, 28, and 23, were walking or standing in the 100 block of James Street when the shooter emerged from an alley about 2:35 a.m. and fired

Three men were shot near Pioneer Square early Friday, one of two shootings investigate by Seattle police in the span of 30 minutes.The victims, 34, 28, and 23, were walking or standing in the 100 block of James Street when the shooter emerged from an alley about 2:35 a.m. and fired multiple blasts, police spokesman Mark Jamieson said.One of the victims' friends pulled him into the trunk of a car and drove him to Harborview Medical Center. The other two victims were treated by medics and taken by ambulance to the hospital, Jamieson said."We're still trying to sort it out. But it doesn't appear that this is a random thing," he said.Homicide and gang detectives were investigating and trying to identify suspects. No one has been arrested, Jamieson said.Police detained the driver who took the victim to the hospital, but it appears that person was a witness and not involved in the shooting, Jamieson said.About 30 minutes earlier, police were called to a University District bar, where patrons traded gunfire outside.No one has been arrested, but police found a handgun stashed in the wheel well of a vehicle parked outside the bar in the 5500 block of University Way Northeast. Officers also recovered four .40-caliber casings and one spent bullet, Seattle police reported. The gunmen exchanged gunfire in front of the bar and in an alley behind it. Police were unable to find suspects or any victims.

Read more »

Posted in: Pioneer Square,Seattle

19-year-old Juan Vasquez was arrested early Friday on suspicion of killing two teenage boys.

El Paso County sheriff's Lt. Lari Sevene says 19-year-old Juan Vasquez was arrested early Friday on suspicion of killing two teenage boys. It wasn't immediately clear if Vasquez had an attorney. Investigators say a shooting east of Colorado Springs that left two people dead stemmed from a gang-related clash over a stolen iPod.Deputies responded to a report of a fight involving nearly two dozen people at about 4 p.m. Thursday near Cimarron Eastridge Park, and found at least one person performing CPR on a shooting victim.One person died at the scene. The second died at a hospital less than an hour later.The names of the victims have not been released, but Sevene says they attended Sierra High School and New Horizon School.

Read more »

Posted in: Sierra High School and New Horizon School.

Chilling execution of Su'a, a former missionary and self-made contractor, at the hands of city gangsters

Chilling execution of Su'a, a former missionary and self-made contractor, at the hands of city gangsters embroiled in an ongoing rivalry took only seconds to unfold on New Year's Day.Su'a was drinking tea when gun-men burst inside the cafe. Shots were fired, hitting and killing two young men seated at the table next to Su'a. He scrambled to escape the restaurant unharmed, but came face to face with another gangster waiting outside. A few words were exchanged, shots rang out, and Su'a's body hit the pavement. He was killed instantly.Friends and loved ones say they are struggling with their anger at the gang-fuelled violence that claimed an innocent man. "It's important that people know what Keni stood for. What happened affects everyone in Calgary," close friend Tannis Keteca said.

Read more »

Posted in: Calgary

Senior Cpl. Norman Smith,was shot in the head and taken to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, where he was declared dead about an hour later.

Senior Cpl. Norman Smith, 43, was with about six other officers serving a felony warrant in the 4900 block of Wadsworth Drive. Smith knocked on the door of an apartment about 6:15 p.m. and came under fire almost immediately, police said.He was shot in the head and taken to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, where he was declared dead about an hour later.Three suspects were taken into custody, police said. The men were being questioned and had not been identified.
Police Chief David Kunkle said the officers serving the warrant were attempting a "ruse to try to get the suspects to the door without announcing that they were police officers." "This was a high-risk situation," Kunkle said. "The officers were tactically well-positioned, but they were immediately met with gunfire."
Smith joined the department in 1991 and would have marked his 18th year on the force today. Smith had an extensive knowledge of Dallas' gangs and was described by Kunkle as one of the department's finest police officers."I would have thought he was invincible," Kunkle said Tuesday night, choking back emotion. "He was a great, great street officer. He had the heart of a warrior."Smith's death was believed to be the nation's first fatal shooting of an officer in the line of duty this year. He is the first Dallas officer shot to death in the line of duty since Mark Nix in 2007.
Lt. Sally Lannom, a former member of the gang unit, described Smith as a hard worker who knew his job well and would be sorely missed."It's a huge loss for the department and a huge loss for those of us who knew and loved Norm," Lannom said.
Smith was married to Dallas police Lt. Regina Smith. They met when Norman Smith was working at the Dallas County Jail."Norm was working there, and he came up to her and said, 'You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen,' " Kunkle said.Lannom said Smith was an expert on the gangs in the southern sector, where Tuesday's shooting occurred."He worked that area in patrol," she said. "He knew that area. It made sense when he came to the unit to become the expert on the gangs in that part of town."Kunkle said Smith "could go into the toughest neighborhoods and be respected."
On Tuesday, Smith and about six other gang-unit officers were in search of a violent felon at the Oak Wood Place Apartments, police said.Smith, flanked by two other officers, approached the door and knocked. Someone inside asked who was there, and Smith responded with a fake name, police officials said.When the suspected gunman opened the door, Smith yelled that they were the police, according to the preliminary investigation. The suspect then tried to close the door, and Smith pushed back. That's when he was shot.Officers returned fire, frantically trying to pull their fallen comrade out of the line of fire as the gunman opened the door and continued shooting. No one else was injured in the gunbattle.The three men inside the apartment then surrendered, one at a time, within minutes of the shooting.
Hours afterward, a SWAT unit remained at the scene, and police officers roamed the complex on the northeast corner of Wadsworth and Loop 12.Surrounded by a black wrought-iron gate, the apartment complex has long been known as a haven for drug and gang activity.In 1998, it was the scene of a gunbattle between police and drug suspects. Someone fired through an apartment wall, hitting Dallas police officer Edward Menchaca in the hip. A second police officer was grazed by a bullet.
The officers were investigating a tip that a drug deal was going on inside the apartment.Kunkle said Regina Smith, who works in his office, was devastated by the news, just as he was. "These are just people that I have tremendous love and affection for," he said. "They're all tough, but for me this is a really difficult situation."Built like a middle linebacker, Smith stood well over 6 feet tall and was known to be even-tempered, opinionated and even sentimental. Lannom said she was introduced to her husband by Smith. "I still remember Norm standing there all embarrassed, asking me if I wanted to go out with Jon," Lannom recalled. "I owe my husband to Norm."Lannom said Smith's mother is from Europe, and he spent a portion of his youth there. Before joining the Dallas police, Smith worked as a Kaufman County sheriff's deputy.The Smiths have two teenage children, a boy and a girl. Those who knew the couple well said they enjoyed antiquing, collecting fine china and traveling in their off-hours."They were just magical together," Kunkle said.

Read more »

Posted in: Oak Wood Place Apartments

Smashed a dissident Republican cell which was selling weapons to Dublin crime gangs.

Smashed a dissident Republican cell which was selling weapons to Dublin crime gangs.
Five suspected members of the Continuity IRA remained in custody today after officers from the Special Detective Unit raided a number of properties in south County Dublin.Six replica handguns were seized in the operation, which was launched on Sunday night after SDU officers stopped and searched a car travelling through Tallaght.This was followed by a raid on an apartment in Loughlinstown, where the imitation firearms were recovered, along with more than 60 rounds of ammunition.
The guns can be converted to fire live rounds, and officers believe that the CIRA cell was planning to make the conversion and sell the weapons on to figures in Dublin's underworld.A leading member of the Dublin unit of the CIRA, in his 60s, was arrested after the guns were uncovered.Three younger men, all in their 20s, were also arrested. Detectives believe that these men were involved in moving the weapons.
A woman in her 20s, known to the men, has also been detained. All five are from the Ballybrack and Loughlinstown areas of south Dublin.All five people are being held at garda stations in Terenure, Blackrock and Shankill, and can be held for questioning until Thursday under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act -- anti-terrorism legislation.A source said: "The older prisoner is well known to the Special Branch and has a lengthy involvement in subversive activities."We believe that he was running a guns-for-sale scam, where replica and altered weapons were being sold to crime gangs in south and west Dublin."Most of the replicas are sourced from the North and transported by train to the capital, where they are then modified and sold on."The guns and ammunition were brought to the Garda Technical Bureau at the Phoenix Park yesterday, where they are undergoing forensic examination.Ballistic tests on the seven weapons will also be carried out, to establish if any of them was capable of firing.

Read more »

Posted in: Ballybrack and Loughlinstown areas of south Dublin