The White Boy Posse uses the swastika in tattoos and other gang paraphernalia.

White supremacist street gang with ties to the Hells Angels and cells throughout northern Alberta dismantled.During a 15-month investigation, the Metro Edmonton gang unit targeted members of the White Boy Posse.
Officers arrested 17 members after five raids Thursday morning and issued warrants for another five.
It's completely handicapped them. They are not functioning as of this moment," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Galvin.The White Boy Posse has between 50 and 100 members and is involved in trafficking cocaine and other drugs from Yellowknife to Medicine Hat, Galvin said. It often uses the swastika in tattoos and other gang paraphernalia.
Police displayed swords, a handgun, cocaine, cash and gang-related hats and sweaters confiscated during the arrests.Thursday was the end of an initiative police called Project Goliath. Members hit four homes in Old Strathcona, Castle Downs and Clareview and one business in Beverly between 7:45 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Thursday, said gang unit member Const. Brent Dahlseide.Those arrested range in age from 17 to 33. Police confiscated 1.3 kilograms of cocaine and $47,000 in cash.
At the same time, RCMP have been heading Project Krystal, a joint investigation targeting members of the West End Jamaicans and Redd Alert. Sixteen members of those groups have been arrested in the last month.Police Chief Mike Boyd credited members of the public for phoning in tips to help build the cases. "We're getting information on all sorts of gangs every day," he said.
Police forces in Canada have been focusing on street gangs that feed members to more organized criminal networks for the last eight years, Boyd said. That's when it became obvious organized gangs such as the Hells Angels were using specific street gangs to build their reach and their membership.
"Any takedown that culminates in these kinds of arrests is a win for all of us," he said. "But our work isn't finished today. We have to keep working at this problem until we beat it right down."Galvin said those arrested Thursday are mostly mid-level managers, distributors and wholesalers in the gang's drug trade.
Some lower level drug runners were included, but police try to focus on prevention tactics first, he said. Jail time can simply give gang members better street credibility and drug contacts.Galvin estimated there are between 5,000 and 6,000 gang members and affiliates in Edmonton.

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Zetas training camps where hitmen from both sides of the border train with weapons from the United States

Former senior Mexican intelligence official said that the use of training camps has become "standard practice" for the cartels. "Yes, there are training camps where hitmen from both sides of the border train with weapons from the United States," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. There is no firm estimate of the number of people who have received training in the camps, but a U.S. intelligence official said the number was in the "hundreds" across Mexico. It's all part of a strategy by drug cartels to intimidate their enemies and assert control over besieged communities along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, the officials said. The result has been unprecedented violence – at least 5,000 people killed nationwide in two years – and ongoing brutal confrontations with local, state and federal forces.
"The Zetas paramilitarized the situation with training camps and military background," said a senior U.S. law enforcement official and weapons specialist, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They turned battles into a prolonged war."
In small towns along the Texas-Tamaulipas border, the Zetas operate with seeming impunity, driving late-model SUVs and carrying gold-plated rifles. Roadside altars are appearing that pay tribute to "Santa Muerte," the Saint of Death, adorned with candles and Grim Reaper figurines. Residents regard them as a sign of cartel activity. According to the witness testimony and interviews with U.S. and Mexican officials, training in the camps may range from a few weeks to months, and trainees have included American teenagers. One of them is Rosalio Reta, 18, who was sentenced last year to 40 years in prison for a murder in Laredo. Mr. Reta's career as a cartel hitman began at age 13, he told investigators. Authorities say he may have been involved in as many as 30 execution-style murders in the U.S. and Mexico.
Last year, Mr. Reta gave Laredo police Detective Roberto García an account of how he and other high school-age boys were trained as teenage hitmen for the Zetas. Mr. Reta told Laredo authorities he spent months training under Mateo Díaz López, "Comandante Teo," an alleged top Zeta member arrested last year in the state of Tabasco on drug and weapons charges. Mr. Reta's confession led to the discovery of three clandestine cells in Laredo, allegedly carrying out assignments for reputed cartel leader Miguel Treviño. "I know we're fighting terrorism throughout the world ... but here along the border the narco-terrorists operate on both sides of the border, and so far it's gone largely unnoticed by Washington," said Webb County Assistant District Attorney Jesús Guillén, who prosecuted Mr. Reta.
According to the printed testimony, Rancho Las Amarillas was under the control of reputed Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. Mr. Cárdenas has been extradited to the U.S. and is awaiting trial in Houston on 17 counts of importing and distribution of drugs, as well as three charges of threatening a U.S. federal agent and one of money laundering. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Mr. Cárdenas used the ranch to raise cattle as well as to train his personal militia, many of them former army soldiers lured by promises of higher pay, according to the testimony. Pay started at about $300 a week but would double within six months – far higher than salaries for soldiers or police. Pay for hitmen and bodyguards began at $1,000 per week, according to testimony. In September 2001, Mr. Cárdenas, a former federal police officer, began ordering new recruits lured from Mexican special forces units to the ranch for advanced training, according to the testimony. "That course lasted two months," according to the testimony of one protected witness, who said he worked for Zeta leader Arturo Guzmán Decena. "From that point on, the Zetas, numbering more than 50, began to engage in larger operations." Mr. Guzmán was later killed in a battle with the Mexican army in Matamoros. Today, the number of "hardcore" Zeta members is more than 300, according to an internal Mexican military intelligence report.
The training is extensive and includes the use of such weapons as AK-47 assault rifles, AR-15s, grenade launchers and .50-caliber machine guns, according to the testimony and U.S. officials. And the training can be deadly. In September 2002, Zeta member Omar Bautista Hernández drowned during an exercise that required him to swim with his backpack and high-powered weapon, according to the testimony.
The camps serve other purposes. In his confession, Mr. Reta told Detective García that the ranches are used as execution sites, where cartel members dispose of their enemies. In one incident, according to testimony, the bodies of four Nuevo Laredo police officers were set on fire inside barrels filled with diesel fuel. The remains were buried there the next day.

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Gangs around here – they go from harsh to worse, and very deadly

Police are investigating a multiple shooting in a Winnipeg neighbourhood that has left three people dead and two others injured.
Const. Jacqueline Chaput confirms two males and a female were found dead in a home from gunshot wounds on Saturday morning. Two other men and woman were wounded, but are in stable condition in hospital.
The incident is Winnipeg's first triple-slaying since a gang-related killing of three men at a house in August 1996.
"It's a very rare occurrence . . . it's very disconcerting to us," Chaput said.
Chaput says a motive for the shootings isn't known and there are no suspects in custody.
Jordie Williamson, 14, who lives next door to the house, said a family of "really kind people," including up to five children, have lived there for years.
He said the home has no apparent ties to crime, although he said gangs are a problem in the district.
"Gangs around here – they go from harsh to worse, and very deadly," said Williamson.
"I've had a couple friends who went on the wrong path like this, and a couple of them died."
Police refused to reveal any information about those who were killed, except to say that one victim was a man in his early 20s. All three people slain were shot in the upper body."We have no descriptions," Chaput said. "Whether there was one, two, three – we have no idea how many people are responsible."Chaput said investigators do not believe the shooting was a result of a party that went bad, explaining that police don't think whoever was responsible was in the house before the shooting happened.In the 1996 triple-slaying, three men were shot execution-style inside a home as part of an ongoing battle between members of the Manitoba Warriors and associates of the Hells Angels.Two men were eventually convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. A third accused was eventually acquitted by a jury.

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Eight planned assassinations as Gang warfare breaks out in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area

Gardai have linked a number of bomb finds with a major feud between rival Dublin city gangs which has claimed ten lives since 2005.In one of the most significant breakthroughs, the Garda’s Organised Crime Unit discovered two grenades and a high-calibre handgun during a vehicle check in west Dublin earlier thismonth.
Aseries of recent arrests under the auspices of Operation Anvil, which targets armed crime, have led detectives to conclude that several attacks were being planned against a rival gang involving the use of firearms and grenades.
The feuding gangs are based in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area, and have been involved in bloody warfare since a row over seized drugs led to a series of accusations of information being passed to gardai and tit-for-tat killings, which have culminated in at least eight planned assassinations.
But it is the increasing use of home-made bombs by criminals involved in minor disputes which is of most concern to senior gardai. Last week alone there were three bomb finds in central Dublin, including a device left attached to the side of a car outside flats in Pimlico.
Among the concerns that gardai have is the fear that members of the public - in particular, children - will inadvertently detonate a device which they do not realise is a homemade explosive.Describing the threat from recent bombs disabled by the army’s bomb-disposal unit as ‘‘low-grade’’, security risk analyst and former Irish army ranger John Henry said the crude nature of the devices and their deployment suggested that there was ‘‘very fortunately, no significant paramilitary involvement’’.‘‘What we are seeing are really very unsophisticated devices, with none of the components used by expert bomb makers.The natural conclusion is that these devices are made from instructions from the internet,” said Henry, who is the chief executive of Specialist Security Services. ‘‘Their deployment lacks the skill or expertise of trained bomb deployment.”Henry added that this was an indication that the greatest risk of injury caused by such bombs could, in fact, be to members of the public.On a number of occasions, gardai have discovered pipe bombs left in public locations - almost certainly for collection by the criminal gangs who ordered their manufacture.Two such devices were found by a man who was walking his dog in Fairview Park in north Dublin last November. The bombs were left near bushes which are close to a Dublin City Council building and within proximity to a busy pedestrian bridge.Garda forensic experts examined the remnants of the devices after they were made safe. The detonation material was taken from fireworks while the explosive packet was made up of steel screws and bolts. As with several other finds, the bombs in this case were viable but were not primed for detonation.However, despite the poor quality of most of the explosive finds, detectives are concerned that a number of incidents last year included the use of fragmentation grenades, which are military-issue and pose a far greater risk to life than pipe bombs. The grenades most likely originated in the Balkans, though tracing their arrival here is almost impossible.So-called ‘‘frags’’ are designed to kill or maim with maximum effect by propelling fragments of their exterior shell outward at extreme force.
Frag grenades can be used to devastating effect as part of a booby-trap, when the safety pin is removed and the spring-based safety lever is held pressed against another object, such as the steering column of a car, and will not detonate until the foreign object is moved.
Gardai are deeply concerned at the possibility of high-performance military issue explosive devices being freely available to organised criminals here.In one instance, there appears to be a connection between a former INLA activist and the use of frag grenades in a dispute between Dublin-based men. However, Garda intelligence suggests that such military ordnance is not widely in circulation.
Nor is the use of crudely manufactured pipe bombs a purely Dublin phenomenon. Gardai last year discovered a series of pipe bombs outside Limerick city, which they believed were linked to one of the city’s main feuding gangs.
This was not the first time Limerick criminals were shown to have stored explosive devices for use against rivals.

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Bikies are a national menace and require a similar response on a national scale

Drive to break up outlaw bikie gangs is overdue. The gangs indulge in Australia-wide, hugely profitable criminality, including distributing drugs.State and federal attorneys-general have been given details of proposed South Australian laws to break up the gangs. Even before the laws take effect, SA's war on bikie gangs has led to the arrest of 22 gang members and confiscation of $120,000 in cash, cannabis, ecstasy tablets and amphetamines and 35 firearms. Victorian Police Minister Bob Cameron's office last night said he had no intention of signing on to the SA's laws. He believes specific bikie laws are not needed. But Operation Purana's success in ending Victoria's deadly underworld war demonstrates that targeted action works. The bikies are a national menace and require a similar response on a national scale.

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Francesco Capicchiano was killed in broad daylight his wife was also hit by a bullet in the leg

Thursday, 33-year-old Francesco Capicchiano, a known enemy of suspected 'ndrangheta boss Luca Megna, was killed in broad daylight, a slaying investigators believe is linked to the murder a day earlier of 27-year old Giuseppe Cavallo, a police official said.Cavallo's wife was also hit by a bullet in the leg.
On Saturday, Luca Megna, whose father is in jail for ties with the 'ndrangheta, was shot dead in his car as he drove through Crotone with his wife and five-year-old daughter.His daughter is in a coma in the hospital along with his injured wife.
Police said the three men allegedly have ties to the 'ndrangheta, a crime syndicate that has risen in power and international reach in recent years.On Thursday all the teachers in Crotone called in sick, fearing violence around the school that children of the feuding families attend.On Friday the teachers were back at work, and of 450 students only 20 percent were absent.Authorities have said the 'ndrangheta has eclipsed the Sicilian Mafia in power and reach, thanks to its control of Europe's lucrative cocaine market.The group came into the spotlight last summer when six Italians were killed outside a pizzeria in Germany as part of an unrelated clan war.

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White Boy Posse, Graham Schaump,Mark Demeria,Joel Hanson,Cody Roemer,Bobby Jo Gladue,Tyler Corbett,James Surret,

Hells Angels "puppet club" with links throughout northern Alberta.
The operation - dubbed Project Goliath - "completely handicapped them (the White Boy Posse). They are not functioning as of this moment," said EPS Staff Sgt. Kevin Galvin. It was shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday that police, acting on search warrants, began a series of raids on four homes and a Beverly-area business to take down 17 members of the Posse. They all face drug-related charges, while police also have warrants out for five other people still at large. Const. Brent Dahlseide, one of the main investigators on the case, called the Posse a puppet club of the Hells Angels. Many Posse members aspire to join the notorious biker gang, which oversees the importation of drugs in order to distribute them to street-level groups like the Posse, Dahlseide noted. Two police tactical teams made the morning arrests without incident since, Dahlseide said, "everybody was caught napping, sleeping." Those charged include two teens, one of whom got involved with the Posse as a girlfriend of a gang member. Police say the Posse is active throughout northern Alberta, with cells in places such as Grande Prairie, Slave Lake, Edson, Whitecourt, Jasper, Lloydminster, Wainwright and Provost. A parallel RCMP investigation called Project Krystal also resulted in 16 charges targeting so-called dial-a-dope operations in communities surrounding Edmonton. They include Strathcona County, Spruce Grove, Leduc and Fort Saskatchewan. But while police hailed the arrests, Galvin acknowledged they alone won't put a major dent in Edmonton's booming drug trade.
"That consumer base will go somewhere else to find their product," he said.
Still, RCMP Supt. Brian McLeod vowed to continue to clamp down on what he called the "merchants of misery" who traffic drugs.
Edmonton police Chief Mike Boyd echoed those sentiments and called on the public to keep calling cops with the types of tips on gang activity that led to the Project Goliath arrests. "This needs to be a signal to those gang members out there that we will not stop working together to bring a change in our communities," he said.
The homes raided Thursday included one in the Old Strathcona area as well as three in north Edmonton in Clareview and Castle Downs. The arrests, as well as smaller raids earlier in the investigation, resulted in the seizure of about two kilograms of cocaine, $47,000 in cash and weapons, including swords and knives. The White Boy Posse is one of 24 gangs police estimate are active in Edmonton. But while the name White Boy Posse indicates a racial origin of the group, Const. Dale Johnson said it's not only white people and racists who join it. "Does somebody need to be a racist or a Nazi to be part of this group? I would say no," Johnson said. He added that Posse members are very overt about the group, often wearing memorabilia such as ballcaps and sweatshirts with gang insignias. "They use it to their advantage. It sends a message to people that see them," Johnson said.
The following are facing charges as a result of a combined police operation against the White Boy Posse:
Matthew Lavigne, 21. Trafficking cocaine, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession of cocaine for purpose of trafficking, possession of property obtained by crime. Christopher Rayworth, 23. Trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Michael Robert, 33. Trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. Chase Callihoo, 20. Possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Tylor Collins, 18. Trafficking cocaine, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime. Jeffrey Quintal, 22. Trafficking cocaine, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime. William King, 20. Trafficking cocaine, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000.
Matthew Etherington, 19. Possession of a controlled substance and breach of recognizance. Brandon Saint, 20. Possession of a controlled substance and breach of recognizance. A 17-year-old girl. Possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime. Dmitry Vinokurov, 30. Trafficking cocaine and possession of property obtained by crime. Chris Mitchel, 24. Possession of a controlled substance. Ryan Hodgins, 19. Possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a controlled substance, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and breach of recognizance. Daniel Fields, 22. Trafficking cocaine, possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a controlled substance and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Graham Schaump, 19. Possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a controlled substance and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
A 17-year-old girl. Possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a controlled substance and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Mark Demeria, 21. Possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a controlled substance and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
Cody Roemer, 19, Tyler Corbett, 23, James Surret, 20, and Bobby Jo Gladue, 26, have warrants out for their arrest. Joel Hanson, 24, has two warrants out for his arrest.

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Rebels Motorcycle gang are strategically located on the Sunshine Coast

“In Australia, Queensland seems to be the base of (amphetamine) clandestine manufacturing, which supplies the whole country,” the report said.
Outlaw motorcycle gangs are strategically located throughout the North Coast region and the Sunshine Coast for very specific purposes, one of which would be the distribution of amphetamines,” Supt Hanbidge said.
“It’s for this reason that Sunshine Coast police and police throughout the north coast region have commenced an ongoing target of enforcement against outlaw motorcycle gangs.”But he said illicit drug use was a problem everywhere, not just on the Sunshine Coast.“We’ve certainly seen an increase in the number of arrests for drug-related matters but it’s probably more so because of increased enforcement carried out by police, rather than increased drug use,” Supt Hanbidge said.
“But certainly with the use of drugs such as ecstasy there seems to be a mindset amongst young people that this form of drug is not as harmful as others, which is totally incorrect.“The fact remains that it is an extremely dangerous drug with lethal consequences.”Yesterday, detectives from the North Coast Region and State Crime Operations Command in partnership with the Australian Crime Commission arrested 16 people as part of a major police investigation targeting illicit drug supply on the Sunshine Coast.
Seventy police officers were involved in Operation Echo Coma which involved the execution of 22 search warrants on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Ormeau.
Police seized more than $24,000 in cash suspected of being proceeds of crime as well as a range of illicit drugs including MDMA tablets (ecstasy), methylamphetamine, cannabis and steroids with a street value of approximately $50,000.
A concealable firearm and ammunition were also seized.Police laid 37 criminal charges including supply of a dangerous drug, possession of a dangerous drug (exceeding scheduled amounts), possession of an unlicensed concealable firearm and possession of money suspected of being the proceeds of crime.
Detective Inspector Marty Mickelson from the State Drug Investigation Unit said the operation focused on a number of people suspected by police of being involved or associated with the sale and supply of illicit drugs on the Sunshine Coast.
“This is the second major police operation targeting drugs on the Coast in as many weeks,” Detective Inspector Mickelson said.“Our activities here today, combined with the ongoing efforts by local police, send a clear message to people involved in the drug scene here on the coast that their activities are constantly being monitored and it is only a matter of time until they get caught up in one of our ongoing operations,” he said.Detective Acting Superintendent John Maloney, North Coast Regional Crime Coordinator, is encouraging members of the public to keep reporting these sorts of illegal activities to police.“Once again, valuable information from the community has played a significant part in assisting police in identifying those people involved in the supply and use of illicit drugs here on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.A number of those arrested appeared in the Maroochydore and Beenleigh Magistrates Courts yesterday with the remaining people issued with notices to appear in court at Maroochydore at a later date.Just last month 43 people were charged after a series of raids on the coast netted over $100,000 worth of drugs including ecstasy, cocaine and LSD.One of the sheds raided at Kuluin was believed to be owned by the Rebels Motorcycle gang.
The report from the UN drug watchdog, International Narcotics Control Board, found amphetamine and marijuana use in Australia was among the highest in the world.

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Outlaw biker gangs clubhouse in Thunder Bay was an instrument of unlawful activity

An outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouse has been forfeited under provincial civil forfeiture law.Lawyers for the Attorney General demonstrated to the civil court that a Heron Street clubhouse in Thunder Bay was an instrument of unlawful activity,
including drug possession and trafficking. On March 27, 2008, the Superior
Court ordered it forfeited to the Crown.
"Ontario is a world leader in the use of civil forfeiture law," said
Attorney General Chris Bentley. "It's an innovative law that allows the court
to take away property and assets used as instruments of unlawful activity by
outlaw motorcycle gangs and other criminal organizations."
"In Ontario, unlawful activity doesn't pay," said Bill Mauro, MPP Thunder
Bay-Atikokan. "Instead, Ontario's civil forfeiture legislation allows for
forfeited proceeds to support victims and prevent victimization."
"Outlaw biker gangs are not welcome in our neighbourhoods," said Michael
Gravelle, MPP Thunder Bay-Superior North. "The Attorney General is using civil
forfeiture law to help protect our community by taking away property used for
unlawful activity."
"This is a very significant forfeiture," said Detective Inspector Dan
Redmond, Unit Commander of the Ontario Provincial Police-led Biker Enforcement
Unit. "Outlaw motorcycle gangs and their associates need to know that we're
going to use every available criminal and civil law tool to deal with unlawful
activity."
"The outlaw biker clubhouse in Thunder Bay has long been a thorn in our
side," said Thunder Bay Police Chief Robert Herman. "Its forfeiture is a good
news story for our community and demonstrates our commitment to working with
our partners to stop the unlawful activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs."

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Gilroy apartment complex feared retribution by the Sureño gang members.

About 10 police cars flooded a south Gilroy apartment complex late Wednesday night to stop a possible gang fight, police said. Two women and a man were arrested on weapons charges stemming from the incident.
About 11 p.m., somebody in the apartment complex called police to report about ten young adults hanging out in the carport between 160 and 180 Southgate Court - off Church Street just south of 10th Street - said officer Joseph Deras. The reporting party said the people had weapons and were possibly preparing for a fight.
Two patrol cars, including a canine unit, came up to the driveway a few minutes later, Deras said.
The officers "heard sounds of metallic hitting the ground," he said. "We didn't know if that was a gun or what."
One of the men in the group ran to a silver truck at the south end of the carport, through something inside, and then ran and hid behind another car, Deras said. The two officers called for backup.Soon, 10 police cars with more than 10 officers were at the scene holding the group at gunpoint, Deras said. Police found multiple weapons including folding knives, rebar, tire irons and shaved stabbing instruments on the ground next to particular men and women. Police arrested two Gilroy residents - a woman and the man who hid behind the car - and a female San Martin resident for weapons violations, Deras said. One of the women might also have been drinking and, as she was on probation, could be arrested for probation violation. Police did not have the names or ages of the arrestees as of 12:30 a.m. Thursday. Police let the rest of the group go after checking if they had outstanding warrants and giving them a verbal warning, Deras said. In addition, police "identified them for future reference." The whole group was suspected of having been part of the Sureño gang.Deras said that Southgate Court, though "densely packed," was full of working families and was not known to be a problem area.Time to time on weekends we're here for loud music or people have barbecues," he said. "That's primarily what we're down here for."
The street was packed with cars and families peered from behind curtains to watch the arrest. Some groups stood outside in the chill air to see the police at work. However, when approached for comment, people scurried inside their apartments and closed their doors, claiming they did not see anything.
When pressed, they said they could not talk because they feared retribution by the gang members.

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Acquitted David Giles, a full patch member of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Justice Anne MacKenzie acquitted David Giles, a full patch member of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Therefore he could not be found guilty of a second charge of directing a criminal investigation, she said. One of the reasons for dismissing the case was that the judge said she could not understand the audio recordings the Crown submitted as evidence, and the Crown was far-reaching in their interpretation of what they heard on the audio evidence. MacKenzie did find Hells Angels associates Richard Rempel, 24, and David Revell, 43, each guilty of one count of possession of cocaine and one count of trafficking cocaine. In 2005, police conducted a large-scale raid on Hells Angels properties as part of a $10-million investigation dubbed Project E-Pandora. Lenny Hochberg, a criminal lawyer who has defended Hells Angels members in the past, says the B.C. court made the right decision.
"It was the absolute right decision . . . that the Hell Angels Motorcycle Club is not a criminal organization," he told CTV Newsnet on Thursday. "There are so many false urban legends around the Hells Angels, all perpetrated by law enforcement and eaten up by the public." Hochberg admitted that were some "criminal elements" in the organization, but said that did not represent the organization as a whole.
"(The legend is) the only way to get into Hells Angels is to commit offences and the profits of your offences have to be paid into the club," he said. "That's not true, the only way they raise money is by selling T-shirts, hats, calendars -- all that stuff you can buy on EBay."
"The Hells Angels are not a criminal organization but they are anti-establishment. They go against the grain of society."
According to the Hells Angels official webpage, if you have to ask how to join the Hells Angels, "you won't understand the answer." Criminal Intelligence Organization Canada (CISC) said the Hells Angels "remains the largest and most powerful outlaw motorcycle gang in Canada" in their 2004 annual report. In 2007, police in Ontario arrested 31 alleged Hells Angels in an operation called Project Develop.
At the time, police said the raids dealt a significant blow to the organization's flagship chapter in Toronto, said to be the largest in the country.
The Toronto Hells Angels clubhouse was seized as well as $500,000 in vehicles, drugs, weapons and more than $500,000 in cash.

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Ivan Wong ,Michael Lee charged with the murder of Joon Yup Lee

Two alleged members of a new Sydney triad gang preying on overseas Asian tourists have been refused bail, charged with the stabbing murder of a Korean student.
The men, Chinese nationals Ivan Wong and Michael Lee, both 18-year-old students from Carlingford, are charged with the murder of Joon Yup Lee at 1am last Thursday.
The victim died during a running street fight that began in the Liverpool Street Hungry Jack's restaurant and spilled into the adjoining World Square complex.
The pair are also charged with wounding with intent to murder Korean student Jung Ho Song, 20, who was stabbed.They are also charged with assaulting Sui Yoon, who was with Mr Song and Mr Lee.Both Wong and Lee are alleged to be members of the Yee Tong triad style gang whom police allege have been preying on fellow foreign students in a stand-over extortion racket.Wong appeared before Central Local Court magistrate Allan Moore in a videolink from Silverwater jail remand centre while Lee refused to appear on camera.During Wong's brief appearance police alleged that they had 24 CDs of security camera footage of the fight from surveillance cameras in the street and inside the World Square complex.Both men, who did not apply for bail, were formally refused bail and ordered to reappear before the court on May 6.Concerned members of the NSW Asian Crime Squad are understood to have met Department of Immigration officials to detail the activities of the gang that calls itself "Yee Tong". While police have yet to establish how many members the gang has, those identified to date are from mainland China and many are on study visas.
Yee Tong, whose members are in their late teens to early 20s, emerged in the Sydney CBD in the past year amid rising night-time violence in and around the World Square business and residential complex.Police intelligence suggests Yee Tong has laid claim to the World Square complex, bounded by George, Liverpool, Goulburn and Pitt streets, as their turf against the long entrenched rival Big Circle- and Sing Wai-stylised Hong Kong Triad gangs in nearby Chinatown.
Five years ago, the Big Circle and Sing Wai gangs were involved in a series of violent clashes over protection rackets.
Yee Tong came to the attention of police investigating a number of brawls and knife fights in and around World Square in the past year. The gang is believed to prey on Asian students by extorting cash. It is also suspected of break-ins.
It has been at a least a decade since police last saw the emergence of an organised Triad-style gang in Sydney. The last was a gang called the "108 White Tigers" that evolved from the remnants of the 1990s' violent south-west Cabramatta Vietnamese gang, 5T.Like Yee Tong, the 108 White Tigers preyed on overseas students in an extortion racket around the then unfinished World Square complex and the George Street cinema strip.
The 108 White Tigers, whose activities were broken up by police in a two-year operation beginning in 1998, also carried out home invasions on students' accommodation in the inner city and were involved in kidnappings and ransom demands.
Their targets were English-language students on two-year visas studying in the city, who were kidnapped or waylaid in the street and forced to disclose their bank cards and PINs.
Police have yet to establish a motive for last week's attack, which began inside the Hungry Jack's restaurant in George Street with what appeared to be an argument between two groups.
The row continued across the road and into the World Square complex. The victim was stabbed several times and died in hospital.
A 20-year-old male Korean student who was with him survived a stab wound to the upper body.

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Andre Anthony Lewis alleged Union Street BGDs member sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for possession of cocaine

Andre Anthony Lewis, 35, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to more than 12 years in prison for possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. He earlier entered a guilty plea to the charge in January 2007.Seattle police were called to the intersection of East Union Street and 23rd Avenue on the afternoon of May 12, 2006. When they arrived, they found Lewis' black Mercedes-Benz riddled with gunfire, its windows shattered. Shell casings littered the ground around the car.
Lewis, bleeding from what he said were glass cuts, was rummaging in the trunk. When asked to describe who shot his car, Lewis reportedly answered, "a 7-foot white guy." He proved no more cooperative during the ensuing investigation into the shooting.
Police impounded the car and Seattle gang detectives conducted a search, discovering 220.5 grams of cocaine they described as 80 percent pure.
Federal officials decided to prosecute the case because of Lewis' long criminal history, which includes a 1992 conviction for manslaughter and later convictions for drug possession and unlawful possession of a firearm. Lewis also allegedly is a member of a Central District gang, the Union Street BGDs. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Lewis faced up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, but in January 2007 he agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.

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Watts street gang, Grape Street Crips have been indicted on charges

13 members of a Watts street gang have been indicted on charges they ran a PCP drug ring in Southern California over a six-month period.Two indictments, returned by a grand jury last week, charge 13 people who authorities said belong to the Grape Street Crips, considered by police to be one of the city's most dangerous gangs.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey was joined by Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton and other law enforcement officials to announce the indictments.
Those charged are accused of either conspiring to manufacture or sell phencyclidine, commonly known as PCP, between September 2006 and April 2007. The ring produced 54 kilograms of PCP worth an estimated $1 million as well as 40 gallons of the toxic chemicals used to make the drug, prosecutors said.Four of the defendants were expected to make their initial court appearances later Wednesday. Prosecutors said nine people have been arrested, while the other four were being sought.
Mukasey fielded questions from reporters and community members, some of whom suggested the federal government was too distracted by the war in Iraq and terrorism to effectively fight gang violence.Mukasey snapped back, calling domestic crime a high priority — but one that did not overshadow terror threats.
"More attention can always be paid to things that are hurting people and things that are killing people. And we're here to try to pay effective attention to that," Mukasey said.While police statistics show that gang-related violence is down this year in Los Angeles, there has been a recent spate of homicides over the past two months. Among those who have been killed by suspected gang members are a 17-year-old high school running back and a man who was holding a toddler.

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Biker gang gunned down a contractor

Biker gang gunned down a contractor of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) in the city's Khilgaon yesterday apparently for his refusal to pay toll to extortionists. The victim, Shahadatunnabi Apollo, 40, was the owner of three construction firms.
Witnesses said a gang of three in a motorbike appeared near Apollo at Hajipara in Khilgaon area from behind when he was going to a construction site at Purbachal in Rupganj in a motorcycle at around 6:30am. “One of the gang shot Apollo in the head and he fell to the ground,” Officer-in-Charge of Khilgaon Police Station Sheikh Mohammad Abu Jahid quoted a witness as saying.
Sub-Inspector Abdus Salam, who was on patrol duty in the area, rushed Apollo to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) where the doctors declared him dead.
Locals said when the criminals were fleeing the area through an alley their motorbike went out of order. They then ran away leaving the motorcycle on the road.
Police later seized the motorbike.Apollo's brother Anwarunnabi said works on their projects worth around Tk 30 crore are going on.
Family sources said some criminals demanded money from Apollo a few days ago, but he refused to give them money. However, the officer-in-charge of Khilgaon Police Station suspects the murder might have taken place over a business rivalry.
No one was arrested in connection with the murder as of 8:00pm.

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Big Vince Filipelli was caught on tape bragging that he was "made"

Federal Judge Noel Hillman gave Filipelli a stiffer sentence than he might have otherwise gotten — almost six years in prison for extortion — because he considers Big Vince to be a "money maker for an organization that has a history of violence."
But mob insiders say Filipelli isn't a made member of the Philadelphia Mafia, and has nothing to do with the current local regime. "He might have had to pay off the mob to keep his gambling operation going," one local law enforcement investigator tells Underworld. "But from what we hear, he's independent."
Filipelli was caught on tape bragging that he was "made" to an undercover New Jersey state policeman who owed Filipelli's gambling operation $13,000. Big Vince threatened to put the man he thought was a deadbeat gambler "in the hospital" if he didn't pay up.
A mob associate who agreed to talk to Underworld with the understanding that his identity would be protected tapped his chest with two fingers while discussing Filipelli — a sign indicating that someone is a "made member" of the Philly crime family — and said, "That goofball never got this. People who got it don't talk about it. Never."
The gangster is sitting in a charming café inside a Mount Airy train station. He examines the face of every customer who enters the coffee bar. "This is a nice spot," he says. "Nobody from South Philly would ever find this place." Although he's lived off and on in Philly for decades, he's never been to Mount Airy before.
A local organized-crime investigator also says that Vince Filipelli is not a member of the crime family allegedly run by Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi. "The feds got the wrong information about this guy," the source, sitting in a Fairmount restaurant, tells Underworld. "He is not part of the club just because some FBI informant says so." In the early 1990s, Filipelli served as a bodyguard and enforcer for John Stanfa, an old-fashioned Sicilian mafioso who was fighting for control of the local mob against a crew of young, upstart Italian-Americans from South Philly led by Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino. The killings stopped when the feds jailed Stanfa and crew, and Merlino's guys took over. During the Stanfa racketeering trial, Filipelli made headlines as the gym workout buddy of a Channel 29 weatherman who gave Big Vince some news videotapes of a rival mobster's funeral. Filipelli passed the video on to his boss, Stanfa, who used the tapes to identify and target for murder members of the Merlino crew who had attended. Some former Stanfa loyalists were eventually welcomed back into the mob when it was taken over by Ralph Natale and Merlino — they were good earners, and the mob likes money makers. Filipelli, however, was not accepted back after serving a sentence on a racketeerig extortion charge. Before his recent sentencing, Filipelli said in court that his interaction with the undercover officer was "not an organized crime case." The judge apparently didn't believe him. Big Vince, it seems, talked his way into a longer jail sentence because he claimed membership in a criminal organization that wouldn't have him. "He talked his way back into jail," the mob associate says. "You know what they say: 'A fish that doesn't open his mouth never gets caught.'"

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Nicolo Rizzuto, the octogenarian father of reputed mob boss Vito Rizzuto

Six men alleged to be leaders of the Montreal Mafia have decided to proceed with a trial on several charges laid after Project Colisée.
All six, including Nicolo Rizzuto, the octogenarian father of reputed mob boss Vito Rizzuto, appeared before Superior Court Justice James Brunton yesterday via video linkups between the Montreal courthouse and detention centres.
Lawyers representing all six said they are ready to proceed with a trial in Quebec Court before a judge alone. Prosecutor Yvan Poulin said the Crown did not object with the request.Nicolo Rizzuto is taken into police custody in Nov. 2006 in Montreal. He appeared before Superior Court Justice James Brunton on Tuesday through a video linkup.
Lawyers representing all six said they are ready to proceed with a trial in Quebec Court before a judge alone. Prosecutor Yvan Poulin said the Crown did not object to the request. Two weeks in September have been set aside for both sides to argue pre-trial motions. The case is scheduled to be heard at a special courthouse, which was constructed for criminal trials held against members of the Hells Angels a few years ago. Since then, the courthouse has been used for other trials involving several defendants tied to organized crime. Project Colisee was a lengthy police investigation into the activities of the Montreal Mafia and resulted in the arrests of more than 90 people in November 2006. Most of the investigation was conducted while Vito Rizzuto was behind bars and awaiting the outcome of a U.S. case where he ultimately pleaded guilty to racketeering for his role in the 1981 murders of three men in New York. He is serving his sentence in the U.S. The six men who appeared before Brunton on Tuesday were singled out as leaders in the alleged conspiracies probed during Project Colisee, including drug trafficking, extortion and illegal gambling.

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Soperry Chea aka "Babyface," Grape Street Crips on the LAPD's most wanted list

Soperry Chea, 18, was placed on the LAPD's most wanted list after investigators say he stabbed a rival gang member to death in downtown Los Angeles and fled the state three years ago. Officers arrested Chea on Tuesday when he returned to visit some of his old Valley haunts. "Gang members, drugs and guns," Bratton said. "It all comes together - the holy trinity."
Bratton made the announcement during a news conference at the 77th Street Community Police Station in South Los Angeles. Joined by U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the mayor and other officials, Bratton announced several other gang arrests and indictments. The gathering was largely a show of force and solidarity between the different levels of government. The city and federal officials revealed a 10-count indictment naming a dozen members and associated with the Grape Street Crips gang, alleging distribution of the drug PCP in the Watts area. Chea, however, was caught without help from the federal government. Los Angeles police started searching for him just weeks after the April 17, 2005, slaying of Harry Yang, 21, who had once been a member of a rival gang. Yang was stabbed to death during a Cambodian New Year celebration. Chea, also known as "Babyface," was 16 at the time.
Police found the slaying weapon - a knife that had been hurled over a nearby fence - but couldn't find Chea. He left the county almost immediately, and later left the state, said Detective Alan Solomon, a homicide investigator for the LAPD's Asian Crime Taskforce. Van Nuys officers learned that Chea might be in town and recognized him at a fast-food restaurant. They later arrested him at an apartment complex in the 14000 block of Valerio Street. As Chea has been caught, Bratton added a new gang member to round out his department's 10 most-wanted list: Gildardo Peña, a 28-year-old member of the Toonerville gang. Peña killed 45-year-old Donald Nelson on Nov. 6, 2005, in Tujunga for talking to police, Bratton said at the formal announcement.

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Drug raid targeting the Iron Horsemen, has yielded 16 arrests James Weston, Sherwood Jordan ,Daniel Guarino ,Charles Green ,

Drug raid targeting the Iron Horsemen, has yielded 16 arrests, most of them in York County.Records unsealed late last week in federal court indicate 19 people were indicted on one count each of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana. Some face other charges.A wiretapping operation netted 40 telephone calls between July and September last year, implicating the defendants.The yearlong investigation began at the county level and expanded to include the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, York county Sheriff Maurice Ouellette said.Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry, the lead prosecutor in the case, said Monday he is barred from discussing details of the investigation.
Portland police weren't involved in the investigation, but the department tracks motorcycle clubs. Portland Police Sgt. Bob Martin says the biker gangs have been "flying under the radar."The defendants are members or supporters of the Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club, Ouellette said, and most of them live in Old Orchard Beach, Limerick and nearby towns. Three people still at large are Richard Szpyt of Haverhill, Mass., Michael Balot of South Portland and Robert Boothby of Monson.
A home owned by Szpyt in Old Orchard Beach was used as a meeting spot for the Iron Horsemen. Prosecutors want that property turned over to the federal government.
Keith Babin, the town's deputy police chief, said his department was aware that the property was being used as an Iron Horsemen clubhouse.
Five of the 16 defendants who have been arrested remain in federal custody: Robert Sanborn of Old Orchard Beach, James Weston of Old Orchard Beach, Sherwood Jordan of Albany, Daniel Guarino of Old Orchard Beach, and Charles Green of East Dixfield. Ten others were released after posting bond and one was freed on his own recognizance.

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Chad Wilson ,John Midmore two Hells Angels bikers accused of starting a gunfight that injured six rivals in South Dakota.

Two Hells Angels bikers accused of starting a gunfight that injured six rivals in South Dakota.Thirty-two-year-old Chad Wilson of Lynnwood, Wash., and 34-year-old John Midmore of Valparaiso, Ind., face numerous charges. The case stems from a shootout between Hells Angels and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club members in 2006 at a resort in Custer State Park.Their trial has been delayed several times, most recently because of an appeal to the South Dakota Supreme Court.
Retired Circuit Judge Gene Paul Kean of Sioux Falls has since been appointed to hear the case. A hearing is scheduled for April 8 in Rapid City.Two Hells Angels bikerscharged with starting a gunfight acted in self defense because rival Outlaws Motorcycle Club members targeted them, lawyers for the men say. Chad Wilson, 32, of Lynnwood, Wash., and John Midmore, 34, of Valparaiso, Ind., are accused of shooting at Outlaws bikers Aug. 8, 2006, at Legion Lake Resort in Custer State Park, where the Outlaws gathered for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 70 miles away.
According to a federal court document, an Outlaws member who was not wounded said he returned fire at the man who shot at his group. Wilson is a member of the Dago Chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club in San Diego and Midmore is a prospect of the Haney Chapter of the Hells Angels in British Columbia, Canada, according to court documents. Both men are charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and commission of a felony while armed. Wilson also is charged with five counts of attempted first-degree murder. The five Outlaws who were shot are Thomas Hass, Al Mathews, Danny Neace, Claudia Wables and Susan Evans-Martin. Another woman, Crystal Schuster, suffered injuries unrelated to a gunshot. Their addresses were not included in court documents. Wilson and Midmore are being held without bond at the county jail in Rapid City. Their trial in Custer has been delayed several times, most recently because of an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The men's federal court filing in Rapid City for an injunction and declaratory judgment is against 19 defendants, including various federal agencies, officials and the federal government. Lawyers want a judge to prevent the defendants from withholding information that could help their case. State prosecutors plan to argue that an ongoing feud between the two clubs was the motive for Wilson and Midmore to fire on the Outlaws, they wrote. "Defendants believe that the converse is true. In fact, the acrimonious relationship led to the ambush of defendants and that these actions were in self defense," Hells Angels lawyers wrote in the court document.As Wilson and Midmore tried to leave the resort, several Outlaws members attacked them, so they fled to save their lives, the document states.
They felt they were in danger because of information law officers told them before they came to the state stemming from past conflicts and the fact that all Outlaws members were required to attend the 2006 Sturgis rally, according to the court document. Government surveillance and information from informants inside both organizations predicted the Outlaws planned attacks on Hells Angels at Cody, Wyo., in July 2006 and Sturgis in August 2006, but the government agencies and officials have repeatedly refused to turn over videos, photos and other such evidence, the Hells Angels lawyers wrote. "The Outlaws surveillance information gathered with respect to Outlaws members and affiliates planned attacks against Hells Angels is relevant and necessary to show the motivation behind the Outlaws ambush of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Midmore and to prove that the Outlaws, not Mr. Wilson and Mr. Midmore, were the aggressors in the Legion Lake incident," the document states.
Hells Angels attorneys also argue that the indictments of several other Outlaws, including some who were shot at Custer, prove the organization was carrying out attacks on Hells Angels members and that information was gathered before the Custer shooting.

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Jury has ordered the death penalty for Ralph Steven Flores

Victims
Christopher Lynch (1999)
Miguel Reyes (12/26/2004)
Fenise Luna (12/29/2004)
Claudia Rosio Chenet (2003)
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury has ordered the death penalty for an Azusa gang member convicted of killing four people.Ralph Steven Flores, 26, sat impassively at the defense table as the verdict by the jury of nine men and three women was read shortly after 11 a.m. Flores was convicted last year in four separate slayings dating back to 1999. His activities were part of a larger crime wave afflicting the usually tranquil city, authorities said.

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Polish GPS gang robberies in the Netherlands

In a secret report by the National Detective Information Service (DNRI) of the Dutch police, it is noted that Polish gangs are regularly flown into Charleroi Airport in Belgium. There they are given instructions, by SMS, navigation apparatus and even signs on shops, on where they should carry out robberies in the Netherlands. The annual theft amounts to about 220 million Euro. One center of these gangs is the Polish town of Wroclaw; others come from elsewhere in Poland and Lithuania. The gangs often consist of 10 or more people.

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The Bloods "have to put in work."

Calvin Nicholson had asked several days before the drive-by shooting whether he could be a member of a gang called the Bloods. He was told he would "have to put in work."Putting in work, according to the Durham detectives, meant breaking the law but not necessarily shooting someone."It's committing crimes," Cates said. "It's like an initiation process."On the day of the shooting, according to the statement, Nicholson left school early because he was not feeling well.His mother picked him up and took him to his brother's house where they watched a movie. Later that afternoon, they returned to his mother's home and the brothers sat on the front stoop while she went to pick up an aunt from work.At some point, Nicholson got into a car with other teens he knew and they went to The Streets at Southpoint mall.They stayed until about 9 p.m., according to the statement, then stopped at a McDonald's on the way back to the neighborhood.
At some point, according to Nicholson's statements, someone in the car zeroed in on Douglas, a high school teenager who they thought was associated with the gang called the Crips. Douglas was in an open lot not far from a corner convenience store.The driver, the same teen Nicholson had approached about being in a gang, passed a handgun back and said, "It's time to put in work," the investigators recalled in the statement.Nicholson, according to the investigators, shot the gun twice from the back seat and put it in his lap. It was unclear from testimony given at the hearing whether those bullets killed Douglas.Nicholson eventually ended up in front of his house. He left the weapon on the back seat of the car, according to the statement, and ran inside, fearing that his companions would come after his family if he said anything."I prayed to the Lord and asked for him to have his angels watch over me, for me not to get caught and for him to forgive me," Cates said Nicholson told him.
The teen didn't learn of Douglas' death until noon the following day.
Some of the same problems exposed by the Duke lacrosse case, where defense lawyers complained about missing and doctored notes, arose in last week's hearing.Holmes, the defense lawyer, found out late last week that he did not have an investigator's notes from the key interrogation.In his testimony about how he obtained the statement -- by asking questions and then writing Nicholson's answers -- Cates, the investigator, talked about things he had jotted down elsewhere, evidence that Holmes was not aware of. State law requires prosecutors to open their case files to defense lawyers and turn over all evidence.
"You're telling me there may have been handwritten notes," Holmes asked Cates during the hearing.
"It was just scribbling," Cates said.Ronald Stephens, the Superior Court judge who oversaw the hearing, asked Cates: "In getting the general feel for the information, you say you may have made some notations?"Cates also told Nicholson's attorney that he had put his notes in the case file, and after that he did not know what happened to them."You don't keep notes from murder confessions?" Holmes asked with a raised voice. "You can see that it's a problem.
Holmes, the defense lawyer, also argued during last week's hearing that while investigators had Nicholson in the interview room, his mother and other relatives tried several times to come in.
Cpl. A .Z. Jaynes, the first to interrogate the teen, testified that he remembered several run-ins with Nicholson's family on the second floor of the police department. Holmes said an aunt asked about getting a lawyer and Nicholson's mother asked to sit in on the interview.
"I recall her saying, 'He's slow,' or something to that effect," Jaynes said.
The investigators testified that Nicholson waived his right to have a lawyer present. They also said the teen said he did not want a parent present.
"I believe I told her that we had to talk to him and he had to request that," Jaynes said.

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N'drangheta fraud targets £10million Italian government bank account

The Mafia fraud targets £10million Italian government bank account, it was revealed yesterday.The hi-tech scam is thought to have been worked by N'drangheta Mafia from the southern Italian region of Calabria.It was spotted six weeks ago but kept secret so police could investigate.Rome police said: "We are working on the theory they were given the passwords by an insider."The money went to Bologna and then Egypt.

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Luca Megna son and family of jailed Godfather boss, Domenico Megna hit

Luca Megna, 37, was with his daughter and wife when two killers riddled their car with bullets. Megna was the son of jailed Godfather boss, Domenico Megna.
Police in Cataznaro, southern Italy, now fear a bloody reprisal. They said: "The killers would have seen Megna's wife and daughter but it did not bother them." A rival gang is thought to be behind it. Five year old daughter was fighting for her life last night after Mafia hitmen shot her as they gunned down her dad.

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Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny innocent blacks are being targeted

Jesse Lee Peterson is founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny. He says he has family members who live in south central Los Angeles who tell him they are much more fearful of Hispanic gangs than they are of black gangs like the Crips and the Bloods. In fact, says Peterson, those two notorious groups have actually joined forces in a turf war against the Mexican gangs.But according to Peterson, innocent blacks are being targeted. "It is so bad in Canoga Park that the police department sent out a message to black Americans that they should be careful because [blacks] have been shot down at random," he points out.Peterson relates an incident involving a promising 17-year-old south central Los Angeles athlete, who had nothing to do with gangs but was murdered near his own home. "Three doors down from his home, a Mexican gang member walked up to him and [asked if this was his] neighborhood. [When] he didn't respond, they shot him in the chest and the head and killed him ...," he shares.Peterson says in another incident, Mexican gang members drove up to a black family driving on a Sunday afternoon and randomly opened fire, striking a three-year-old child. The situation is getting so bad, he adds, that many black families are being compelled to leave the area.

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The Electro Chopper

The Electro Chopper, a collaboration by Hybrid Technologies and Big Bear Choppers, is being shown now at the New York International Auto Show. The CHP Chopper was also built in with input from the California Highway Patrol, and thus the CHP part of the nameThe California Highway Patrol helped design the bike in commemoration of fellow officer Thomas Joel Steiner, and other male and female police offers who have been killed in the line of duty. The CHP Chopper can go from 0 – 30 mph in 5.2 seconds and has a 40 mile range with its 42 lithium-ion batteries.The prototype was unveiled in 2005, but lives on today not only to commemorate the fallen, but to show the possibilities of the future as well. Green motorcycles are an underdeveloped market segment right now.There are a few electric motorcycles hitting the consumer market right now such as the Enertia, Lectra and Zero, but the high price and lack of range still tend to be a barrier for many looking for a gasoline-burning alternative. A lower cost alternative would be electric bikes for those who want to go this route.
The CHP Chopper though gives a glimpse of what the future will hold a few years down the road. Green and mean, the motorcycle gang of the future may just be one that is spewing zero emissions.

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The red Devils 'Poker Run'

Whyalla police have been an instrumental part of crackdowns on alleged illegal activities by members of the Red Devils OMCG and seized a small amount of alcohol and cash, which was being sold under alleged breach of the Liquor Licensing Act.
Sergeant Steve Sims of the Whyalla Police station said investigations were underway since the seizure on Saturday, March 15 and appropriate charges would be laid later.
About 40 police officers from Crime Gang Task Force, Northern Operations Service, Licensing Enforcement Branch, Star Group, Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie police joined forces to carry out the operations on Saturday.
The officers monitored the behaviour of people participating in the red Devils 'Poker Run' that visited a number of hotels.The run travelled from Whyalla to Port Augusta, Quorn and Wilmington, before returning to Whyalla late in the afternoon."On Saturday, officers from the Licensing Enforcement Branch and other police conducted a search of the Red Devils Motorcycle Club at Jacob Street, Whyalla," Sergeant Sims said."SAPOLS Licensing Enforcement branch continues to investigate alleged breaches of the Liquor Licensing Act.
"Police also conducted vehicle examinations, drivers' license checks and random breath testing of participants, resulting in 21 people being reported for a variety of traffic offences and the defecting of 13 vehicles."On Friday, March 14, 15 officers from the Crime Gang Task Force and Northern Operations Service Tactical Unit attended Port Pirie as part of ongoing investigations into illegal activities of the group in the area.Police spoke to a senior member of the Red Devils and a woman outside a local hotel.It is alleged that the duo was in possession of 48 ecstasy tablets for sale and $1290 cash.A 34-year-old man and 24-year-old woman, both of Port Pirie, will appear in Port Pirie Magistrates Court on Monday, May 19 in relation to the alleged items

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"protection" for Nanaimo's Hells Angels

In a move designed to "protect" the Nanaimo's Hells Angels clubhouse from theft or vandalism, the provincial government has ordered that all signs relating to the group be removed from building's exterior.Police arrived on scene last week to board up the signs and remove the notorious skull-and-wing insignia from the front of the building.The Hells Angels have been in Nanaimo since 1985 and are one of seven recognized chapters in B.C.Metal fencing preventing anyone from entering the property was installed in November and all windows have been boarded up.
The removal of signage was a "precautionary" step, said a ministry spokesman in the department of Public Safety and Solicitor-General's civil forfeiture office.
No vandalism or theft has occurred since the province took control of the building on Nov. 9, when about 50 heavily armed police officers were called in to assist agents from B.C.'s Solicitor-General's office in seizing the property under the province's Civil Forfeiture Act.
The provincial director of civil forfeiture now possesses the property, under an interim preservation order that was issued in B.C. Supreme Court.
Under the terms of the order, the province has an obligation to keep the building safe and secure."We didn't want any rocks thrown to the sign or damage done," said the spokesman.The preservation order was recently extended to May 30.A hearing will take place before that date to determine whether the preservation order will carry through to a civil trial, at which the province will try to prove the property has ties to criminal activity. If successful, the property would be forfeited to the province.No date has yet been set for a trial.

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"posses," "crews," and "massives," Jamaican gangs in London

Jamaican Drug Trafficking Organizations (JDTOs), also referred to as "posses," "crews," and "massives," are generally mobile, loosely knit groups that engage in a variety of criminal activities including; drug and firearms trafficking, money laundering, murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping, and fraud. They deal in several types of drugs, including cocaine, marijuana (ganja), heroin, and PCP.
Violence is an integral part of JDTO operations and their members are usually well armed with modern weapons. Violence is most often directed at individuals perceived to be a threat to their illegal ventures, but they have little regard for bystanders. They are particularly brutal using torture, dismemberment and other extreme measures to intimidate rivals and members. JDTO members often resist arrest and have been in a number of shootings with law enforcement.
While JDTOs have been characterized as loosely knit, they have an extensive national and international network to carry out their illegal activities.
Six men from Jamaica's most wanted list are believed to be living in Britain. They are Donnovan Bennett, 38, nicknamed "Bulbie," the "don" of a drug trafficking gang called Clans Massive based in Spanish Town, west of Kingston, who is blamed for at least 20 murders; Kemar "Natty Patch" Jarrett, 20, alleged to have gunned down a magistrate in Kingston; Mark Bromley, alias "Shotty Mark," a member of the President's Click thought to be in Brixton; scar-faced Glenford Spencer, seen recently in Bristol; Daniel Lowe, nicknamed "Gun Power," wanted for shooting dead a 17-year-old boy who argued with him; and Andrew Meade, known as "Dread", who is alleged to have shot dead his own brother and a girlfriend. Yardie gangsters find it not only easier to enter Britain but can also make bigger profits than in the US, where the street price of cocaine has slumped.
"More and more of the criminals of the Jamaican gangs are going to the UK," said Tony Hewitt, a senior superintendent with Jamaica's Special Branch. "It seems that every time you search for a man, you hear that he is in England."
The consequences can increasingly be seen on Britain's streets. Incidents involving Yardie-style gangs in London more than doubled in January, compared with the same month last year. In England and Wales, a significant proportion of the 9 per cent rise in gun crime last year to a record 4,019 incidents is attributed to Yardie gun culture.So engrained are the Yardies in London that part of Brixton in the south of the capital is known as Little Tivoli, named after Tivoli Gardens.However, it is not just London where the Yardies have established strongholds. Seven police forces covering cities from Leeds and Leicester to Southampton and Plymouth have now launched operations similar to the Metropolitan police's Operation Trident, set up five years ago to tackle black-on-black gun crime.
Detective Inspector Bruce Ballagher, who runs Operation Atrium in Bristol, said: "We believe the major part of the crack supply revolves around Jamaican organised crime groups. They drive their drugs trade dealing by fear, intimidation and violence."
Operation Stirrup, run against Yardies in Leeds last year, led to 160 arrests and 57 people being deported to Jamaica. A new initiative, Operation Safeguard, led to 30 more arrests in a six-day clampdown earlier this month; two have already been deported.
Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Brown, who is heading the Leeds operation, said it was meant to send a strong message to the Yardies.
Jamaican police estimate there are 30 Yardie gangs operating in Britain. Some, like the Black Roses, which they claim to have smashed in Jamaica, operate in Bristol and Brixton. One of the most powerful is known as the President's Click, which was formed out of the notorious Shower Posse. It is headed by Christopher Lloyd Coke, also known as Dudas.
The cocaine is grown by the drug cartels of Colombia and shipped to Jamaica in fast boats that can do the journey across the Caribbean in 16 hours. The Jamaican coastguard, with one patrol boat capable of 12 knots, is powerless to stop the trade.
The cocaine is worth £1,000 per pound in Jamaica. A mule, often a prostitute working her passage, is paid a similar sum for swallowing a pound wrapped in condoms or in pellet form and flying to London. Customs officials at Heathrow and Gatwick suspect that at least one in 10 passengers from Jamaica are drug "mules."

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Hells Angels have always maintained they are mostly law-abiding

The Hells Angels have always maintained they are mostly law-abiding and should not be punished collectively for the misdeeds of a few bad apples.But any pretense that Hells Angels is a harmless brotherhood is shattered by a "simple check with the court cases across the country," says Michel Auger, the former Le Journal de Montreal crime reporter who survived being shot in the back six times on Sept. 13, 2000, the day after he ran a story on the latest round of murders in Quebec's notorious biker wars between the Hells Angels and rival outfits. Also, biker police in Canada got more determined. They realized the only way to take down outlaw bikers was through infiltration - an expensive, lengthy and dangerous enterprise.
In March 2001, police in Quebec arrested 138 bikers, including the entire Quebec Hells Angels Nomads chapter in Operation Springtime, which involved planting two police agents in the Angels-controlled Rockers gang.In Ontario, Project Tandem resulted in the arrest of 15 Hells Angels on drug, weapon and murder charges in September 2006. And last April, 16 full-patch members were arrested in Project Develop after police rammed through the wall of the Toronto chapter's clubhouse and seized $500,000 in cash, 80 weapons including rifles and shotguns, more than nine kilograms of cocaine, and almost 500 litres of concentrated GHB, the date-rape drug.
In both investigations, police had the help of full-patch members.And the current Hells Angels trial in B.C. is a result of Project E-Pandora in which the RCMP paid a Hells Angels enforcer $1 million to help collect evidence against the East End chapter.Drawing on Bill C-24, which was passed in 2001 and defines a criminal organization as three or more people benefitting from serious offences, prosecutors in that trial aimed to prove the Hells Angels chapter as a whole gained from the alleged offences. A conviction will not permanently blemish the Hells Angels patch in B.C. It has to be proven in court with each new trial.But it would carry stiffer penalties for the accused, would allow police to more easily seize Hells Angels assets or prevent them from operating legitimate businesses, and would give law enforcement more discretion in putting Hells Angels under surveillance.It may also cause tension within Angels' ranks, who are under strict orders not to plead guilty to any "criminal organization" charges, Shinkaruk says. Members who run afoul of the law will more and more have to draw on chapter funds to pay for expensive legal defences.And when you add the psychological blow of having been infiltrated by police, there is the potential for some serious rifts among members, he adds. Angels may be less likely to trust their full-patch brothers automatically, or take on new members. And their partners in criminal circles may be less likely to trust the Hells Angels for fear of dealing with informants.

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Hark Hans was the 11th targeted killing this year in the Lower Mainland

The body of Hark Hans, a 28-year-old Indo-Canadian man from Surrey, was found lying partly inside a white Honda on Wednesday night in the parking lot of the Eaglequest Coyote Creek Golf Course.Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said police were "aware" of Hans, but could not say if there was a connection to other recent shootings or to the drug trade."Investigators cannot confirm any involvement in the drug trade or affiliation with any gang," said Morrow.It was the 11th targeted killing this year in the Lower Mainland, according to statistics compiled by The Province.The shooting could have put innocent bystanders at risk of being injured, Morrow noted. Golfers were practising at the nearby driving range and diners were in the course's restaurant at the time.Oppal called the shooting "alarming," but pointed out that killings related to the drug trade in Metro Vancouver are not a recent phenomenon.
"It indicates how evil this whole underworld is, where people end up killing each other all for money and drugs and all the rest of it," he said.
While police generally have success in solving murders that are crimes of passion,gangland slayings are not as easy to crack, said Oppal.
"These crimes are not like ordinary crimes, where you have victims who come forward to the authorities and ask for help," he said.
"[Among drug gangs] the victims exact their own justice. They have their own justice system, and they take care of their own," said Oppal.
In total, there have been 18 murders across the Lower Mainland this year.
"Eighteen [murders], it's an extraordinary year," said RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).
"We need people to stop killing each other."
IHIT is responsible for investigating murders from Boston Bar to Pemberton, including all RCMP and municipal police departments except for Vancouver, West Vancouver and Delta.
He called IHIT "a very effective, very highly motivated unit," and rebutted criticism of its success rate.Carr noted a four-year-old murder case in Richmond was cracked this week and a Malaysian man accused of it is being extradited from Belgium to stand trial. He added that nearly half of the files that IHIT have handled since last May were solved. A man shot to death in a semi-rural area of northeast Coquitlam last week has been identified as Alfred "Fred" Walcott, 22.
Walcott pounded on the door of a house on Mason Avenue shortly after midnight on March 12, then collapsed and died on the doorstep.

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Extreme Auto Detail, John Gerald House,Paul Peterson Drug trafficking and firearms are a deadly mix

Fifteen people, including two Burien men, were arrested today in local raids against what federal law enforcement officials said was a large cocaine distribution ring.
The two local men were identified as John Gerald House, 38, and Paul Peterson, 38. No further details were given.The arrests followed a year-long investigation of a family-based group suspected of buying and selling wholesale quantities of crack and cocaine, said a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
Altogether, 15 people were indicted this week, and arrests were made Thursday morning in Seattle, Kent, Burien, Edmonds and Des Moines. Seized in the raids were eight firearms, more than $40,000 cash and a large amount of cocaine, officials said.
Neighbors of houses in Kent and Edmonds were awakened when local police officers and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms served arrests warrants at a home in each city at about 6 a.m.“A minute to six we heard two loud bangs,” said Gary Chelin, who lives near the Edmonds home. “My wife and I got up, came out and looked at the street and it was lined end to end with minivans and SUVs full of police officers.”According to records filed in the case, some of the suspects allegedly sold the drugs from their Edmonds residence and also from a business, Extreme Auto Detail, 11027-A 1st Avenue S. in Seattle.
Many of those arrested possessed firearms despite multiple felony convictions, according the officials.
The investigation, lead by the ATF Violent Gang Task Force, used court authorized wiretaps to uncover the group’s drug dealing and illegal weapons sales and possession.
In one recorded phone call, Gary Kilcup, 39, of Edmonds, Washington, discussed how he “coulda whacked that (victim) himself,” after his son was arrested in connection with a shooting, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kilcup, his sister, Nicola Kilcup, 36, of Seattle, and her husband Shawn Vanell Piper, 38, allegedly were key players in the distribution ring.
One of their primary cocaine suppliers Jose A. Morales Victoria, 37, of Des Moines was also arrested. All of the defendants arrested today made their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Seattle today at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
“Drug trafficking and firearms are a deadly mix,” said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Sullivan. “The conversations recorded on the court authorized wire tap make clear the threat posed by those willing to protect their drug network with violence.”
“This operation has shown the diversity of the gang members in our communities. It included almost all ethnicities in the gang culture as well as both genders,” said Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle Field Division, Kelvin N. Crenshaw.
According to records filed in the case, Piper and Nicola Kilcup allegedly sold crack and powder cocaine from their home and the auto detail shop.
Throughout the investigation Piper, Kilcup and others sold cocaine to confidential informants. Many of the sales were captured on audio and video. Some of those arrested today are affiliated with area street gangs.
A grand jury returned a 19-count indictment against the group on Wednesday, charging conspiracy, cocaine distribution, and weapons violations.
Other suspects indicted by the grand jury were
Cedric Barquet, 37, Seattle Tanfred Arnez Russell, 36, Seattle John Gerald House, 38, Burien Christopher Terrill Scott, 33, Kent Lavelle Daniel, 31, Seattle Deandre Offord, 31, Seattle Paul Peterson, 38, Burien Daima Anderson-Ross, Seattle Jermaine Satterwhite, 34, Seattle Alicia Sykes, 36, Seattle Jodie Taylor, 35, Seattle

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Harkinder Singh Hans Never, never. My son was never involved in any crime

Harkinder Singh Hans, 31, was found shot dead Wednesday night in his car parked at Eaglequest Golf Course in Surrey here. The police said the victim was "known" to them, without saying whether he was ever arrested for any criminal activities.
They said they were called at about 8.30 p.m. after someone heard shots being fired in the parking lot. When investigators reached the spot, they found the Indo-Canadian youth shot dead in his parked Honda car. However, the family of the deceased denied Hans was involved in any criminal activity. "Never, never. My son was never involved in any crime," Balwant Singh Hans, father of the victim, told IANS. He said: "My son was never into crime. He was a Canadian-born networking engineer. Currently, he was driving a truck locally." Hans leaves behind a 14-month daughter. Though the police have not said whether it was a gang-related killing, most Indo-Canadians believe Hans is another victim of this vicious cycle, which has claimed more than 100 young lives in the community in the past 15 years.
Young Indo-Canadian gangsters have been killing members of rival drug gangs in turf wars here since the early 1990s. Most of the cases remain unresolved. On demands of the community, the British Columbia provincial government set up an integrated task force four years ago to solve these cases and work with Indo-Canadians to find the root cause of the problem.

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Mexican Mafia Eduardo Gonzalez-Gallegos, George Fernandez, Thomas Durkin, Salvador Perez, Richard Valenzuela, Cesar Abarca, and Joshua Cruz

Federal judge in San Diego sentenced seven members of a notorious state prison gang to life in prison Thursday.
The sentence by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw capped an extensive prosecution into the Mexican Mafia that targeted upper echelon members of the gang on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
seven members of the gang sentenced yesterday were convicted by a jury after a month-long trial that ended Jan. 4. The defendants were charged with a variety of acts including two murders, attempted murder, drug sales and money laundering.
In October, two top members of the gang, Raul Leon and Salvador Perez, pleaded guilty to similar charges and will be sentenced in April.
Sentenced Thursday were Eduardo Gonzalez-Gallegos, George Fernandez, Thomas Durkin, Salvador Perez, Richard Valenzuela, Cesar Abarca, and Joshua Cruz. Several already are serving life sentences in state prison.

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"major" Bloods crack cocaine operation in the Hilltop City

Arrests made in what police called a "major" crack cocaine operation in the Hilltop City are now being pursued in federal court.At least two members of the Bloods — a notoriously violent street gang known for running drug rackets in many major U.S. cities — were arrested recently for running a drug operation out of an apartment at 231 High St. Police seized more than $3,700 worth of crack split among 70 packets with a total weight of 23 grams. Police also found ammunition indicating those involved possessed guns at some point.Michelle Tillman, 35, resided at the High Street residence and was charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine. She was released on $50,000 personal recognizance bail.
Charles Nelson, 21 of 473 Pennsylvania Ave., Apt. 43, Brooklyn, N.Y., was charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine and one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell. Tyree Everson, 18, of 611 Blake Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., was also charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine, one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell and one count of sale of crack cocaine. Both Nelson and Everson were discovered to be members of the Bloods, police say, after review of information gathered during the course of the investigation.

Nelson and Everson were scheduled for probable cause hearings Friday, but before that date their cases were "nol prossed" and transferred to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Concord. U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono's office said until further notice no information about the case will be released as the case is under seal.
"Nelson and Everson were in Somersworth with the intention of selling crack cocaine and possibly opening a chapter (of The Bloods) here," according to a press release from the Somersworth Police Department.
Police Capt. David Kretschmar said the department has "no insight" about why these individuals chose Somersworth as a location to form a local chapter.
Four days elapsed before police notified the press about the arrests, which Kretschmar said was due to "the way the investigation was going."
He said there were elements of the investigation that had not been completed and to maintain the integrity of the investigation, information had to be withheld until a certain time.
Kretschmar did say there will be "more arrests down the road" related to this case.

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Edmond Cummings pleaded not guilty to second-degree robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm

Two suspected Seattle gang members have been charged in connection with a drug-related carjacking on Mercer Island, according to court documents.One defendant, Edmond Cummings, 18, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in King County Superior Court to second-degree robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was being held in the King County Jail with bail set at $100,000.The second defendant, a 15-year-old boy, pleaded not guilty last week in Juvenile Court to first-degree robbery and malicious mischief. The second charge pertains to an alleged tirade in an interrogation room at the Mercer Island Police Department, court documents say. Mercer Island police started investigating Feb. 1 when a resident called 911 to report that several associates had threatened him with a gun and had stolen his 1999 Ford Explorer outside his apartment in the 3200 block of West Concord Way.The victim told police he previously had lent the vehicle to the same suspects in exchange for crack cocaine to feed his drug habit, but that he no longer wanted them driving it, court documents say. About 10 days earlier, the Explorer was spotted driving away from a Seattle home-invasion robbery in the 900 block of 33rd Avenue South. In that case, assailants tied up a resident and ransacked the home, Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson said.No charges have been filed in that case.
The defendants are affiliated with the Deuce Eights, a Central Area gang connected to a rash of shootings in the past year.On Feb. 1, they allegedly drove to the victim's home in the Mercer Island man's vehicle and asked him to get in and drive. Two men followed in another car. According to the victim, Cummings asked to borrow the vehicle again and the victim refused. Cummings then opened his jacket to reveal a handgun in his pocket, court documents say.The victim, "fearing for his and his family's safety," got out and called 911, court documents say.On Feb. 2, Seattle police found the Explorer in the 2900 block of East Alder Street and arrested another suspect, 17, with the vehicle. A Seattle detective then contacted Mercer Island police because the vehicle had been reported involved in the home invasion.
One of the suspects from the Mercer Island case matched a suspect's description from the home invasion, court documents say.
On Feb. 6, police from Seattle and Mercer Island, along with an FBI agent, searched a South Seattle apartment that Cummings shared with his mother and found a 9 mm Ruger handgun, a 30-round rifle magazine and two magazines for a .45-caliber handgun. Cummings has four prior felony convictions, making him ineligible to possess a firearm, court documents say.
Cummings, whose birthday was Feb. 6, turned 18 while being interviewed by detectives, court documents say.
The second suspect was booked into King County's juvenile detention center after he was interviewed at the Mercer Island Police Department. During a period when he was left alone in the interview room, he threw two metal chairs at the soundproof walls and door, causing $300 in damages, court documents say.

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Jerrottaye Tyrone Pratcher is accused of attempted murder

Jerrottaye Tyrone Pratcher, of Portland, is accused of attempted murder with a firearm, first-degree assault, disorderly conduct, second-degree trespass and interfering with a peace officer. Portland gang enforcement officers on Wednesday arrested an 18-year-old in connection with a Feb. 2 shooting that stemmed from a gang dispute over a blue knit cap. The shooting occurred about 11:30 a.m. at a bus stop near North Fessenden Street and Richmond Avenue. Pratcher pulled a handgun and fired three shots into the victim because he felt the victim was "disrespecting the Crips gang by stomping on a blue knit cap," Gang Enforcement Team Lt. Mike Leloff said. The victim was transported to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center and survived his wounds. Police have recovered the firearm. Leloff said police are noticing an increase in gang-related violence since December, with some of the recent shootings resulting from clear disputes over gang-related turf.

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Don't trust the Black Cobra and Den Internationale Klub gangs

Don't trust the kindness of hardened criminals -- especially if you are a prison guard. Four sentries in Denmark learned their lesson the hard way
Mom always said not to take candy from strangers. Apparently this tried-and-true advice didn't really sink in for four Danish prison guards who ate some inmate-baked cake Wednesday that landed them in the hospital.And these weren't just your run-of-the-mill prisoners turned bakers, but members of some of Denmark's meanest criminal motorcycle gangs.The guards -- two men and two women -- were being treated for stomach pains after eating what officials have described as a cake laced with an unidentified narcotic, according to the AFP.
The suspected poisoning victims work at the Nyborg State Prison, on Fyn Island in central Denmark. Una Jensen, a deputy prison warden, told the AFP that the bakers included members of the Black Cobra and Den Internationale Klub gangs.
Bo Soerensen, head of the Danish prison guards' union told Denmark's Ekstra Bladet tabloid that the alleged poisoning was "an attack on the entire Danish penitentiary model and the good tradition of where guards and prisoners interact in an informal manner."Guards are now banned from accepting cakes, sweets or other prisoner-made treats. Blood test results could take two weeks, according to the Copenhagen Post.
The top-security prison was the site of riots in 2004 following a decision by prison authorities to remove larger dumbbells and weights. At the time, Carsten Pedersen, chairman of the Union of Danish Prison Officers told the New York Times: "Some inmates have grown to abnormal size. They have become monster men."Apparently the kitchen isn't any safer than the weight room.

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If you have a problem with a distributor or someone who's selling the drugs, you don't file a lawsuit against him. You just kill him

In Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Mexcian federal police excavated 33 bodies in the past two weeks from the backyard of a house where authorities had seized more than 3,700 pounds of marijuana. Most of the bodies had been buried at least five years, authorities said.In Guadalajara, police on Friday investigated the slayings of seven people shot dead the day before in a law office. Its principals counted accused drug gangsters and corrupt officials among their clients.
Authorities in Ciudad Juarez said Friday that they had uncovered the remains of 33 people buried in the yard of an abandoned property, a mass grave believed to be linked to the city's violent drug trade.
The grisly discovery surfaced as part of a recent government crackdown on narcotics traffickers in this city across the border from El Paso that has been gripped by a spasm of drug-related killing unseen in years. Authorities said the Juarez drug cartel might be involved in the deaths.The same area attracted worldwide attention for the violent deaths of hundreds of women and girls beginning in the early 1990s. Many of the cases remain unsolved.Acting on an anonymous tip, federal police on March 1 began excavating a weedy lot hidden behind a cinder-block wall in a low-income neighborhood on the city's west side. Day one yielded six corpses. It took law enforcement nearly two weeks to uncover the other remains, working with sniffer dogs, shovels and a backhoe.All but three of the victims were men. Some were dismembered. Forensics experts said some of the corpses may have been buried for as long as five years. Police confirmed the body count Friday.The discovery stunned neighbors in the normally tranquil La Cuesta neighborhood."We never imagined we were living across from a tomb," said one neighbor, who like others interviewed declined to be named for fear of reprisal.It's the second such find in less than a month. Federal authorities unearthed nine bodies buried in the yard of a Ciudad Juarez home in late February after a drug bust.Security experts say the discovery of old graves is a result of recent government efforts to strike hard at Mexico's drug cartels. Military and federal police have been deployed to Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and other trafficking hot spots across the country, a strategy that has resulted in some major drug and weapons seizures as well as some high-profile arrests.
This week, Gustavo Rivera Martinez, an alleged leader of the Arellano Felix cartel, was nabbed in Cabo San Lucas by federal agents. Mario Montemayor Covarrubias, identified by Mexican news media as a key leader of a kidnapping cell of the cartel, was arrested in Tijuana earlier this month after a seven-hour shootout with authorities.Organized crime has resorted to unprecedented violence to intimidate informants and police. Dozens of people have been killed in drug-related slayings this year in Ciudad Juarez, authorities have said. Drug violence has claimed at least 70 victims in Tijuana. Some have been mutilated and left with gruesome messages warning informants not to cooperate with law enforcement. Police officers have been gunned down in their homes in front of their families.In January, gunmen stormed the home of Tijuana Deputy Police Chief Margarito Saldana Rivera, 43, killing him, his wife and his two daughters, ages 12 and 20. Hours earlier another high-ranking officer and his deputy were shot as they sat in their car at a busy intersection. The attacks were believed to be in retaliation for the officers' helping foil the robbery of an armored car.This week, gunmen also killed an immigrant safety officer as he patrolled a dangerous migrant-smuggling neighborhood near the border in Tijuana.Organized crime's violent reaction shows that the latest crackdown is working, experts say.
"I'm inclined to believe that they are sticking with a confrontational policy that leads to these kinds of gun battles and high-profile shootouts," said Robert Donnelly, the coordinator of the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute. In contrast, experts said the 42 bodies unearthed at the two locations recently in Ciudad Juarez didn't appear to be part of the recent campaign of retribution, but a clandestine, almost routine, effort on the part of drug traffickers to reprimand members in their ranks.

"If you have a problem with a distributor or someone who's selling the drugs, you don't file a lawsuit against him. You just kill him," said Jorge Chabat, a security expert at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City. "It's a way of establishing discipline."Seasoned observers of Ciudad Juarez's drug wars said the latest discovery had a decidedly old-school flavor, if only because the killers took the trouble to bury the bodies. Since the 1990s, drug enforcers have evolved from dumping bodies in shallow graves to hiding them in car trunks to wrapping them in blankets to simply leaving them where they drop, said Louie Gilot, who writes about border affairs for the El Paso Times."In the past they'd be somewhat discreet, but they're getting bolder and bolder," Gilot said. "Now they just kill them in front of people in broad daylight."Residents of Pedregal Street, where the 33 corpses were unearthed, said there was very little coming-and-going at the abandoned property. It consisted of little more than a small garage-type structure and a weed-choked lot surrounded by a cinder-block wall and a solid, locked metal gate that blocked their view.
One neighbor recalled strangers entering occasionally on weekends, and smelling the smoke of their barbecue.
"A lot of guys went in, but it was very quiet," the neighbor said. "We never saw luxury cars or anything suspicious."
Another remembered heavy vehicles entering with what neighbors thought might be loads of produce.

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