Charles L. “Ruthless” Kulow is a reputed member of the Breed motorcycle gang arraigned on charges of persons not to own a firearm

Bensalem woman was seriously injured in a mobile home explosion Friday in Bensalem and her boyfriend was sent to Bucks County Prison in lieu of $500,000 cash bail on charges he was allegedly making methamphetamine in a clandestine drug laboratory.
Alissa Fischer, no age given, was asleep about 9:50 a.m. inside a 14 foot by 60 foot mobile home at 6409 Fulton Ave., said Bensalem Public Safety Director Fred Harran. Volunteer firefighters found her standing outside with cuts to her arms, wrist, forearms and upper thigh. She told them she cut herself after climbing through a window. She had smelled smoke and had to break a window to get out. She was flown to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia suffering mainly from smoke inhalation. Harran described her condition as not critical.Volunteer firefighters from the Newport, William Penn and Penndel companies were called to the property and doused the flames in 13 minutes. Newport Fire Chief Jim McDonough said the Bucks County Radio Room received numerous phone calls for smoke coming from the mobile home.
Fischer's friend, Charles L. “Ruthless” Kulow, 44, who told police he has lived at 6409 Fulton Ave. his entire life with his mother, suffered a minor injury to his right hand.Kulow also was asleep in the mobile home when the fire started. He told police he normally sleeps at 6505 Fulton Ave. Both addresses are owned by his mother, Norma Kulow, according to court documents. Kulow is a reputed member of the Breed motorcycle gang, police said.After dousing the flames, firefighters found beakers, normally used to make illegal drugs. Police were called and obtained a search warrant from District Judge Daniel Baranoski at 6 p.m. Friday. Sgt. Robert Bugsch and Officer Adam Schwartz searched the mobile home and house. They recovered a .45 caliber Colt handgun; one gram of methamphetamine; numerous empty methamphetamine bags; a .32 caliber handgun; iodine; hydrogen peroxide; one gallon of Coleman fuel; muriatic acid; three quarts of liquid Drano; one pint of paint thinner, empty Sudafed packages and other items that are consistent with making methamphetamine, according to the search warrant. State police dressed in encapsulated suits entered the buildings and based on their investigation, they were convinced Kulow was allegedly operating a clandestine drug lab.
By 8 p.m. Friday, Baranoski arraigned Kulow on charges of persons not to own a firearm, intent to manufacture a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession with the intent to use drug paraphernalia. Baranoski sent the self-employed artist to Bucks County Prison in lieu of bail.
Kulow is currently serving four years probation after pleading guilty in October 2007, on charges of altering a prohibited offensive weapon and possession of a firearm not to be owned by a felon, according to Bucks County court records. Kulow's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday before District Judge Joseph Falcone

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"Kings" of Castle Hill are now in prison, indicted and arrested earlier this week on charges ranging from narcotics trafficking to murder

"Kings" of Castle Hill are now in prison, indicted and arrested earlier this week on charges ranging from narcotics trafficking to murder.Their operation allegedly used children to sell and deliver drugs, authorities said.Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson announced the bust of 19 reputed members of the self-proclaimed King of Castle Organization after a 16-month investigation into the gang, which operated out of Castle Hill Houses.
Some defendants also belong to Sex, Money, Murder, a gang affiliated with the Bloods.
The arrests follow a number of similar busts, both local and federal, of drug gangs operating out of city housing projects around the borough.
In the latest drug gang bust, a grand jury returned a 100-count indictment charging all but two of the defendants with multiple counts of conspiracy to sell narcotics and commit murder, attempted murder, robberies and other acts of violence in connection with a million-dollar-a-year heroin and crack-cocaine ring operating out of Castle Hill Houses.The 17 defendants charged with conspiracy face a maximum of life in prison for conspiring to use the children - all under age 16 - to sell and deliver narcotics. Because of their age, they were safe - if arrested - from prosecution as adults.Two defendants were not implicated in the conspiracy but charged with possession and sale of narcotics.Most suspects were taken into custody without incident and more arrests are expected, said Johnson's office.
"During the course of the investigation we seized 11 semi-automatic handguns and revolvers, over a kilo of cocaine in both crack and powder form, 130 bags of heroin, marijuana and more than $63,000 in cash," said Johnson.
Khalil [Dolla] Harris, 26, is alleged to be the head of the King of Castle Organization, said Johnson's office.His younger brother, Hassan [Hocus] Harris, 25, was charged in connection with a shooting incident on Aug. 29, 2007, that left four people wounded, including three bystanders, at Park Ave. and 182nd St.
Khalieh [2-5] McMorris, 20, was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Russell Allen on Feb. 23, and second-degree attempted murder in shootings that wounded Erin Hall and Scott Torres on Feb. 1, 2006.
The alleged ringleader's two younger brothers, Hassan Harris and Shariff Harris - both indicted - are rap singers who were recently featured in the Aug. 26 issue of Billboard magazine.

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Services are to be held Sunday and Monday for Mark "Papa" Guardado, Christopher Ablett is a suspect in the shooting

Services are to be held Sunday and Monday for Mark "Papa" Guardado, 46, the head of the Angels' San Francisco chapter who was shot outside a bar in the city Sept. 2, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.Police estimate as many as 1,000 Hells Angels may roll into California's Bay area to remember a slain leader of the motorcycle riders brotherhood.Christopher Ablett, 37, of Modesto, a member of a rival motorcycle club, is a suspect in the shooting, police said.After a vigil and a memorial service, Guardado is to be interred Monday at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma in what may be the Bay Area's largest two-wheeled funeral procession, the Chronicle reported."However many there are, we're going to be ready," said Officer Shawn Chase of the California Highway Patrol.

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Mexican police said on Friday they have found the bodies of 24 men who were bound and shot to death execution-style outside the capital.

Mexican police said on Friday they have found the bodies of 24 men who were bound and shot to death execution-style outside the capital.The bodies found Friday represent one of the largest single mass executions in Mexico in recent memory.
Police and soldiers were at the scene of the crime in a rural area just west of Mexico City, which has been marked by gangland slayings and land disputes between farming communities.The killings are "without doubt" linked to organized crime, said Alberto Bazbaz, the attorney general of Mexico State, which borders Mexico City.
"The only thing we have to identify them is that they all appear to be between 20 and 35, all of them have military-style haircuts, and they were wearing clothing appropriate for a warm climate," Bazbaz told the television network Televisa.
The mountains around Mexico City are colder, and Bazbaz said it was likely they were from the warmer, drug-plagued neighboring states of Michoacan or Guerrero.
In a statement, the federal Attorney General's Office said it was considering taking over investigations into the case, an additional indication that organized crime — a federal offense — was involved.

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Every day, some fourty SA homes are invaded by large, armed gangs - who rape, loot and murder without any hesitation and use advance intelligence

A reign of terror has been unleashed on all South Africans inside their own homes and driveways by gangs of feral, ruthless armed killers is worsening dramatically. Residential robberies are up by 14,5 percent nationally, according to the police's 2007-2008 crime statistics. Every day, some fourty SA homes are invaded by large, armed gangs - who rape, loot and murder without any hesitation and use advance intelligence and days of observation of such a family before striking. Often, the females of the households are gang-raped, the men often gunned down without hesitation. The US embassy recently described these gangs as 'feral youth gangs with a powerful compunction to kill'.

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Ronald "Bang Boy" Kinston, 30, was arrested in front of his Burlington City home when officers seized four guns hidden in a car

Ronald "Bang Boy" Kinston, 30, was arrested Aug. 16 in front of his Burlington City home when officers seized four guns hidden in a car that had just arrived from North Carolina, officials said. The weapons were part of a guns-for-heroin trade, the officials alleged. alleged leader of the Bounty Hunter Bloods gang in central New Jersey called the shots and dealt in guns and drugs while under electronic monitoring by the state's Parole Board, authorities announced Wednesday. State Attorney General Anne Milgram joined State Police brass and members of 16 other law enforcement agencies at a State Police station in Hamilton Wednesday to announced they'd broken up the gang's leadership by filing racketeering and drug and weapon charges against 13, eight of whom are in custody. Milgram said Kinston was the alleged original gangster or leader of a gang that put guns and drugs on the streets of the state's communities from Essex to Monmouth and Burlington counties. "Gangs dealing drugs and guns are dealing death in our state," she said.
Kinston, authorities alleged, commanded hundreds of soldiers in the gang since at least January, when he was paroled from state prison. "This was an intelligence-driven law enforcement operation," Milgram said. Authorities would provide few details of the beginning of the probe, but State Police Maj. William Toms, the agency's intelligence commander, said: "It started with surveillance -- good, old-fashioned police work." Toms contrasted the investigation's effort with a fisherman casting many lines in a large area of water. "Now, we're putting out a few lines in very rich pools," he said of the collaboration with other agencies. In addition to the seizure of the car and weapons and the arrest of Kinston, authorities Wednesday conducted raids on alleged Bloods hangouts in Edison, South Brunswick and New Brunswick. The New Brunswick raid was at a building listed as a recording studio close to the Middlesex County Courthouse. The raid yielded two handguns that were hidden in the bathroom, along with heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy, police said. Toms said the State Police are working to identify the origin of the out-of-state guns, and whether they were trafficked through the same channels as the four that came from North Carolina to Kinston's home last month. That transaction, Toms said, has been traced to a batch of weapons stolen from a licensed dealer in North Carolina in May. Jaronn McAllister, 28, of Wilmington, N.C., allegedly arranged the transaction, authorities said. Police picked him up in Delaware , also on Aug. 16. Hours later, officers were waiting when the car driven by 25-year-old Torrey Grady of Leeland, N.C., headed up the street toward Kinston's house in Burlington City. State Police said that the guns were eventually found by troopers in a well-concealed compartment under the rear passenger seat, which would have evaded notice on first glance. But troopers dug hard into the car and found wires protruding from the space and used jumper cables to open it. Kinston, originally from the New Brunswick area, spent nearly three years in state prison for eluding police and drug dealing in Middlesex, Somerset and Mercer counties, records show. He was paroled in January and moved to Burlington City. Neal Buccino, spokesman for the state Parole Board, said he could not specifically comment on Kinston, but said before an inmate is paroled from prison, he or she must submit a residence plan with an address and a commitment they will be allowed to live there. The plan is then investigated by a parole officer.
Milgram said Kinston wore an ankle bracelet that monitored his movements, and was only allowed to leave his house a few hours per week. "There's no question we're all troubled that someone who was released and paroled was dealing narcotics and weapons," she said. But she said the Parole Board is a vital agency in the fight against gangs in the state and assisted in the probe. In all locations, officers seized six handguns, 10 ounces of pure heroin worth $30,000, more than 3,000 units of heroin, called "decks," that were packaged for sale, and quantities of cocaine, Ecstasy and $23,000 in cash.

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19 reputed members of the King of Castle Organization, arrested on charges ranging from conspiracy to sell narcotics to murder and other offenses.

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson Wednesday announced the arrests and indictment of 19 reputed members of the King of Castle Organization on charges ranging from conspiracy to sell narcotics to murder and other offenses. Some of the defendants also belong to “Sex, Money, Murder”, a group affiliated with the “Bloods.” Two of the accused are rap singers who were recently featured in the August 26th issue of Billboard Magazine.The grand jury returned a 100 count indictment charging all but two of the defendants with multiple counts of conspiracy to sell narcotics, commit murder, attempted murder, robberies and other acts of violence in connection with a $1 one million a year heroin and crack cocaine ring which operated primarily in and around the Castle Hill Housing Development. The two defendants who were not implicated in the ongoing conspiracy were charged with the possession and sale of narcotics on one occasion on August 28, 2008. Late Tuesday afternoon, authorities began executing arrest warrants for defendants named in the indictment. Most were taken into custody without incident and additional arrests are expected. Eighteen of the 19 defendants were arraigned on Wednesday before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett in Part M-60 and ordered held without bail.

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Jesse Salinas, Norteno gangs was sentenced to 24 years to life for his role in the murder of Christian Jimenez

Jesse Salinas, 24, was sentenced to 24 years to life for his role in the murder of Christian Jimenez, a 15-year-old with no gang ties who was shot and killed at point-blank range in Olinder Park in April, 2003. Salinas, who has served nearly five years, agreed to waive credit for time served, meaning the sentence is essentially at least 30 years in prison, according to prosecutors.In all, 10 members of two affiliated Norteno gangs were convicted and sentenced for crimes related to Christian's death, including witness intimidation, aiding and abetting and accessory after the fact, according to prosecutors. The gang members went to Olinder Park looking to kill a Sureno gang member in retaliation for the stabbing of a fellow Norteno gang member weeks earlier."When those gang members went to Olinder Park they intended to kill someone. They just didn't know who it would be," prosecutor David Ezgar said. "Christian Jimenez had the tragic misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."Three other gang members who were also convicted on murder charges in Christian's death received sentences of 70 and 80 years in prison. Jonathan Pipkin, who pleaded guility to accessory after the fact and received a three-year sentence, testified at the trial of two gang members."We're going to prosecute gang cases vigorously," Ezgar said. "We're going to prosecute every gang member that participates in the crime. Not just the one individual who ends up pulling the trigger."Christian's mother, Angelica Jimenez, regularly attended court hearings during the past four years and was in court Thursday for the final sentencing. "It's over. It feels good, but every day is hard for me," Jimenez said.
Jimenez has talked a few times at schools about gang violence and the death of her son. Her remaining child, Angelo, 19, is now attending college.Christian, an eighth-grader at Willow Glen Middle School, was hanging out with two friends in a park sometimes frequented by Surenos, the Nortenos' rival gang. Salinas and two fellow Nortenos, Javier Ayala and Alexander Diaz, went to the park that day looking to kill someone in retaliation for the stabbing of a fellow gang member.
When they found Christian and his friends, Salinas and Ayala asked the kids what gang they belonged to. When the teens said they did not belong to a gang, Salinas and Ayala claimed to be Surenos in an attempt to coax Christian and his friends to admit to being Surenos. Diaz, meanwhile, was waiting in the bushes with a sawed off shotgun as his partners confronted Christian and his friends. After the initial confrontation, the three gang members conferred in the bushes and decided to attack the teens. Ayala and Salinas emerged first and began beating up both boys. Diaz then emerged and from a distance of not more than three feet and shot and killed Christian.One of the three tried to kill one of Christian's friends, but the gun jammed, Ezgar said. "But for that, we most likely would have had two dead boys in that park."
As Christian and his friends were being attacked, two other Nortenos were circling the park in a getaway car. One of the gang members in the car was in constant phone contact with Diaz, the shooter. After the murder, the five men returned to a house described as the "gang hangout" and began partying and littering the walls with gang tags.Diaz pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder on July 15, 2003 and was sentenced to 80 years to life. He was arrested by police after committing a home invasion robbery while under police surveillance. Police followed Diaz back to the gang's house — and after a standoff that lasted several hours — drew Diaz out with tear gas. Inside, they found the shot gun and same ammunition used to kill Christian and an array of other gang evidence that led to multiple arrests.Salinas was arrested in May 2003 at a relative's house.

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Melvin Omar Velez-Santos was found guilty as the leader in a gun smuggling ring from Florida directly to the gangs in Puerto Rico

Melvin Omar Velez-Santos was found guilty as the leader in a gun smuggling ring from Florida directly to the gangs in Puerto Rico in exchange for cocaine.

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Victor Anthony Ortega is being held at the Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of fatally shooting Marcus Mayes

Victor Anthony Ortega is being held at the Sacramento County Jail on suspicion of fatally shooting Marcus Mayes on May 28, according to Sacramento County Sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran. Ortega already was in sheriff's custody on an unrelated matter.
Detectives are still searching for a second suspect, identified as a Hispanic male adult, 18 to 25 years old with black hair and brown eyes, Curran said. He is believed to be between 5-foot-9-inches and 5-foot-10 inches tall and weighing between 200 and 210 pounds.Mayes was killed about 8:30 p.m. May 28 after a brief verbal fight with the two suspects. One of the suspects pulled out a handgun and shot Mayes.Authorities believe the shooting was gang-related.Detectives believe they know who the suspect is and are actively pursuing him, Curran said. Authorities implore him to turn himself in.

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Bodies of Struan Thomas Bolas a former Black Uhlans motorcycle gang member, and the woman were found

The accused - also charged with arson - is alleged to have killed Struan Thomas Bolas, 48, and an unidentified woman before torching Mr Bolas's home in Raine Place.
The bodies of Bolas, a former motorcycle gang member, and the woman were found at the Downer residence at about 10.30pm by firefighters, who arrived to extinguish the inferno.Police called for calm yesterday as an alleged double murder in Downer added to the national capital's recent spate of suspicious deaths.
A 35-year-old man is due to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court this morning, charged with the murder of a man and woman after their bodies were discovered in a burning Downer house late on Wednesday evening.It is the fourth alleged murder in the national capital in two months.Early yesterday morning, police arrested a man, who was found in stationary car on Sutton Road between Canberra and Queanbeyan.
Police will allege that the man killed the pair before deliberately setting fire to the house.The head of the Territory Investigations Group, Detective Superintendent Michael Kilfoyle, said police were investigating whether there had been a ''wider reason'' for the killings.''There could be other motives which we are still to investigate, particularly in this instance,'' he said.But he called for calm in the community and assured residents that the city was a safe place to live despite the recent spate of killings.Sutton Road was closed to traffic until yesterday afternoon as police scoured the roadside for a weapon. A Queanbeyan house where the alleged offender was said to have been lodging was also sealed off and examined by Australian Federal Police forensics teams.''We are unsure of the relationship between the male and the female at this stage, that's obviously still part of our enquiries and for us to establish why this incident has happened,'' Superintendent Kilfoyle said.''There are a large number of inquiries that are under way. This investigation is only in its infancy and there are a lot of things that still need to be done.''Bolas was a long-time member of bikie gang the Black Uhlans. He is understood to have shed his affiliations with the club more than five years ago.
Bolas is believed to have retained links to Canberra's criminal underworld despite no longer being a pledged member of the notorious gang. Police arrested him in April 1996 and charged him with being involved in an amphetamine ring.
A long-time friend described Bolas as a ''wild boy''. He said, ''I grew up with Struan and this is a real shame.''He was a wild boy but he was also a good, stand-up bloke. He was a mate.''Most recently, Bolas had been working as a groundsman at Hotel Kurrajong, Barton.
Both his colleagues at the hotel and neighbours in Downer were unaware of the victim's bikie connections and criminal links. Neighbour Briony McGregor said Bolas had kept a low profile in the leafy neighbourhood.''He seemed like a really pleasant guy, a lovely guy,'' Ms McGregor said. She said she had never seen the female victim in the area before. A colleague at the Kurrajong said Bolas was a well-respected, clean-living employee, especially admired by younger members of staff.''We called him the professor because we'd have academics and people like that here for conferences and Straun would sit down with them and run rings around them,'' the hotel worker said.

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Hitmen from Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman the Gulf cartel drug gang left a pile of 11 headless corpses piled up near the city of Merida

Hitmen from the Gulf cartel drug gang left a pile of 11 headless corpses piled up near the city of Merida and police say the victims were likely still alive when decapitated.Drug gunmen killed 13 people including a baby and a university professor at a party in the picturesque tourist town of Creel, breaking a taboo against killing children."You are seeing a deterioration, and a very drastic and violent terrorizing factor," said Fred Burton, an analyst for the U.S.-based Stratfor security consultancy.President Felipe Calderon, a strong-willed conservative, made the fight against crime his top priority when he came to office in 2006 but drug murders have soared to a record 2,700 so far this year in a war between gangs.
August was the bloodiest month in three years of clashes that began when Mexico's most-wanted man Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman took on rival traffickers for control of smuggling routes. About 450 people were killed last month, most of them in the border states of Chihuahua and Baja California.

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Members of Sureño street gangs are coming to the Salinas area

Members of Sureño street gangs are coming to the Salinas area in increasing numbers and are becoming better organized, the commander of the Monterey County Joint Gang Task Force said Wednesday.Cmdr. Dino Bardoni made the comment following a statewide summit of anti-gang law enforcement agents at Sherwood Hall in Salinas. The two-day gathering was the third such meeting sponsored by the county gang task force.
Bardoni said the Mexican Mafia, a well-established prison gang also known as "la Eme," is teaching more sophisticated criminal tactics to local Sureño street gangs.
Sureño gang members are regarded as mostly Mexican immigrants with ties to their native homeland. Their rivals are Norteño gangs comprised primarily of U.S.-born residents of Mexican descent.Salinas, long a stronghold for Norteño gangs, is seeing more Sureños coming into the area who are organizing in ways they haven't before, and that iscreating more violence in Monterey County, Bardoni said.Wednesday's summit drew about 360 law enforcement agents from 71 different state agencies. The workshops offer training in curbing gang violence. Some of the topics covered during the 16-hour conference included motorcycle gangs, building a good gang prosecution case, finding hidden car compartments where gang members hide guns and the role gang members play in the military."We need to share patterns of gang violence to help each other," Bardoni said. "We need to network and learn what is working in other jurisdictions."In Salinas, this year's gang violence has seen a sharp increase.The number of homicides has risen from 14 in 2007 to 19 so far in 2008. Shootings have gone up from 39 last year to 60 so far this year."We have seen the problem move for years," Bardoni said about the influx of Sureños. "We just need to network with other agencies, share the information, see what works and share resources."

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Grenade attack was gang related tossed from among a small group of gang-bangers who had congregated around the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital

Failed grenade attack on Carnival Day, September 6th and the senseless shooting which disrupted the Carnival parade and sent hundreds fleeing for their lives can only be described as acts of terrorism.They were random attacks, directed at no one in particular, but at anyone in general. The purpose: to cause pandemonium, with no regard for the damage these acts may cause, or for public safety.There is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism. Most common definitions include only those acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are performed for an ideological goal and deliberately disregard the safety of non-combatants.Since the attacks did not target anyone in particular, and since they were meant to cause pandemonium by endangering people’s lives, many Belizeans have concluded that the Carnival attacks were terrorist in nature, intended to undermine public confidence in law enforcement. Not all are agreed that the attacks were intended to disrupt public order, however. Police insiders say the grenade attack was gang related. Certainly it was tossed from among a small group of gang-bangers who had congregated around the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital’s entry way. The shooting, which injured an innocent boy who happened to be standing near, was caused by a trigger-happy man who reacted violently to a beer bottle being tossed at his car.But the two incidents, coming together on the same day, within minutes of each other, provide reason to suspect that they were related, and the fact that gang people were involved in both incidents should not influence us too much. After all, if someone were trying to destablelize the government through acts of terrorism, who would he choose to carry out those acts? By their deeds you shall know them! By looking at the end result, sometimes you can find the motive for certain actions.The end result of the carnival attack was a substantial deflation of the Tenth spirit. Instead of a Memorial Park full of joyous people getting ready to celebrate, there were fewer than a few hundred. The fallout will also affect the Independence Day celebrations because many parents are preparing to withdraw their children from the traditional parades.If the Government of Belize is satisfied that the Carnival attack was indeed an act of sabotage, it has a duty and an obligation to do something to protect people from similar attacks, and to assert its authority as the Government of Belize.

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Robert Simels defense attorney was arrested Tuesday on charges of witness tampering and obstruction of justice and was released on $3.5 million bond.

Robert Simels defense attorney has represented the mobster immortalized in “Goodfellas,” a drug kingpin with ties to hip hop and other notorious clients in his long career.Now a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn puts Simels in their company: It accuses him of plotting to silence prosecution witnesses against an alleged drug trafficker by, in his words, “eliminating” them.Simels, 61, was arrested Tuesday on charges of witness tampering and obstruction of justice and was released on $3.5 million bond. There was no immediate response to phone messages left for him on Thursday.His attorney, Gerald Shargel, has called the allegations false.“Bob Simels is well-known as a tenacious, effective and highly capable defense lawyer and he was doing his work,” Shargel said.Simels represented Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, once the head of a murderous Queens drug gang, against allegations in 2005 that he funneled $1 million in drug proceeds into Murder Inc., then a chart-topping rap music label. McGriff eventually switched lawyers and was jailed for life last year after being convicted of paying $50,000 for the 2001 killings of an aspiring rapper and another man.According to his Web site, Simels has also represented former football star Marc Gastineau and Henry Hill, whose exploits were the basis of the 1990 Martin Scorsese mob film “Goodfellas.” The site also names Shaheed “Roger” Khan, the Guyanese businessman whose case has landed the lawyer in trouble.
Khan was arrested and brought to the United States in 2006 on charges he ran a cocaine smuggling operation that was protected by a paramilitary organization in Guyana known as the Phantom Squad.Drug Enforcement Administration investigators allege that this May, with Khan awaiting trial in Brooklyn, a Phantom Squad member who was cooperating with them learned that Simels wanted to talk to him.The DEA says that during conversations over the summer, some secretly recorded, Simels asked the cooperator to help him locate potential government witnesses and pondered what to do when they were found. The attorney “discussed a range of options, from offering them money to murdering their family members,” the criminal complaint says.In one conversation recorded in May about bribing an unnamed witness, the cooperator suggested the witness “might suddenly get amnesia” if paid enough money.
“That’s a terrible thing, but if it happens, it happens,” Simels responded, according to the complaint. Later in the same meeting, the lawyer remarked, “Obviously, any witness you can eliminate is a good thing.”In June, the complaint says, Simels gave the cooperator $1,000 for expenses in pursuing the same witness, but cautioned that Khan didn’t want the witness’s mother harmed.
“He’d like as much pressure being put on as possible,” Simels allegedly said. “But he thinks if (the witness’s) mother gets killed … the government will go crazy.”

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Sean Timmins Hells Angels bike gang member has said he would rather go to jail than give evidence in a court case

Sean Timmins, 37, has denied attacking a man at a petrol station in Cardiff, telling a jury at Cardiff Crown court that he was 132 miles away at the time.A Hells Angels bike gang member has said he would rather go to jail than give evidence in a court case because it is against "brotherhood" rules.He told a judge he knows the identity of the actual attacker, but would not reveal it because he is also an Angel.Neil Lake needed three metal plates inserted in his face after the attack.Prosecutor Tony Trigg told the court Mr Lake had stopped at the Asda petrol station in Cardiff Bay, south Wales, in April last year when he saw a group of Hells AngelsHe said: "Mr Lake saw a group of Hells Angels motorcyclists at the pumps."One of the Hells Angels approached him and asked: "Have you got a problem?" "If a man approaches you wearing Hells Angel motorcycle leathers, then asks you if you have a problem - you know you have got a problem."Timmins then punched Mr Lake with a single, heavy blow with his gloved hand causing severe facial fractures."The motorcycles rode off and Mr Lake wrote down the registration number in the dust on the back of his car."Timmins was the registered keeper of that Harley Davidson Road King."Mr Trigg told the court Mr Lake later indentified Mr Timmins as the man who had attacked him.But the court heard claims that Mr Timmins had been laying a driveway near his home in Wolverhampton and he said another Hells Angel had carried out the attack.Mr Timmins , who has been a Hells Angels member for 15 years, refused to say who the member of the "brotherhood" was as he would be kicked out of the club.
'Serious position'"We don't blab on each other and that's a fact," he told the court.
"If that means being held in contempt of this court so be it."I know I'm in a serious position but I can't tell you who it is - I would rather go to jail.
"I've been arrested for something I haven't done."I made a no comment interview to the police because in the Hells Angels we don't make statements - the rules of the club prevent it."Even if you are in jeopardy, these are the rules of the club."Mr Timmins, of Caven, Wolverhampton, denies causing grievous bodily harm and inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Lake.The trial continues.

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Dayne Rose bullet-riddled body found on a busy Toronto highway

Homicide detectives investigating the slaying of a man who was shot and ejected from a luxury car along a busy stretch of Highway 401 have plenty of eyewitness reports of the incident but few strong leads, a police source said Wednesday.Dayne Rose, born in Canada but with ties to Jamaica, was known to Toronto police but had only minor brushes with the law and had no criminal record, a police source told The Globe and Mail.bullet-riddled body found on a busy Toronto highway is that of a 29-year-old man with no criminal record, a police source says.He would have turned 30 next month."He's not a drug dealer, he's not a gang-banger, he's not on the radar," the source told the newspaper.Police were investigating whether Rose was shot before being pushed out of a moving car on Highway 401 in Toronto about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday or whether he jumped out and then was shot, The Toronto Star reported.
Police were unsure if striking the road contributed to Rose's death.
An autopsy was conducted Wednesday night.Police Tuesday seized a luxury Lexus believed connected to the incident and took several people into custody for questioning, but they were later released, The police working theory is that there were three people in the car – Mr. Rose, another man and a woman. But while one witness has described seeing Mr. Rose being shot by a woman who was seated in the back seat on the passenger side, others have disputed that account.
The Lexus is registered to a Mississauga woman whom Mr. Rose knew, and who has been interviewed by police. But she was not in the car at the time and the identity of his two companions remains moot.
“Wouldn't we love to know,” the source said, adding that police are still anxious to speak to anyone else who saw the incident.Tuesday's killing, shortly before rush hour on one of the country's busiest highways, backed up traffic for many kilometres, frustrating tens of thousands of commuters before the road was fully reopened early Wednesday.
The death, Toronto's 49th homicide this year, drew a spirited response from Mayor David Miller, who has long urged the federal government to impose an outright ban on handguns.“People who commit violence in Toronto are going to go to jail and they need to know that. But the sad fact is it is much too easy for them to get guns,” he said.
“That's why this city council is so determined to fight to get handguns off the street.”Premier Dalton McGuinty concurred, saying he too is weary of the violence and that no one should have access to handguns except police.“Handguns are the weapon of choice for the criminal element,” he said. Traffic on Highway 401 returned to near-normal Wednesday as police continued searching for forensic evidence. Cars were at a standstill during the afternoon rush hour and into the evening Tuesday.

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Los Zetas, the ex-military narco hit men in southeast Mexico, was behind the horrendous decapitation murders of 12 men in the state of Yucatán

Los Zetas, the ex-military narco hit men in southeast Mexico, was behind the horrendous decapitation murders of 12 men in the state of Yucatán, reported yesterday. Quick action by federal authorities in setting up "Operation Mérida" resulted in the capture of three of the presumed killers at a highway checkpoint following a brief gunfight.Inside their vehicle, Federal Police found weapons and, most incriminating, a bloody ax. The three arrested included the leader of the cell, a know "Zeta."The group known as Los Zetas was the armed branch of the Gulf Cartel and is made up of ex-military special forces deserters. This year they split from the Gulf Cartel to became an independent crime organization and now work in alliance with the Beltrán Leyva brothers' cartel, distinguishing themselves by their high level of violence. Most of the victims of the Yucatán massacre have been identified as drug traffickers from the states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo with criminal records from Yucatán and Veracruz. [Note: This would suggest a turf war, probably with the Gulf Cartel, the former associates of Los Zetas.]
Before, the settling of accounts between gangs of narcotraffickers used to be by bullets; now, after groups of hired killers mixed in with ex-military, the criminals use psychology against their rivals. In the strategy of generating terror in the opponent, there is a genuine method with which the narco organizations in Mexico have created their own semiotics, that kind of system of signs and codes to send messages that seek not only to intimidate, but to leave the imprint of the fury and violence of which they are capable. They have also copied methods of groups of other latitudes, explains Doctor of Sociology Luis Astorga, because there have also been decapitations in Colombia, but the quantity of deaths has been of such magnitude that that type of homicide no longer brings attention.

The Colombian narcos were precursors in methods copied to the counterinsurgency, in part due to the existence of guerrillas for more than four decades and to the continuing training in which the instructors have been members of the Armed Forces.

The fury that has been present in the violent deaths between nacotraffic bands in Mexico in recent years coincides with the presence of groups of military special forces recruited by the narcos, explains the author of Security, Traffickers and Military (Seguridad, traficantes y militares), a book published last year that covers the complex map of what has been the anti-drug policy of the government in recent years.

"Here in Mexico this was not the norm," Astorga explains. "In fact, there had been no record of this type of thing. This coincides - so far as we know of the type of assassination designated as ‘executions' by the press, but in reality are homicides and the rage with which they are done - coincides with the presence of ex-military, but not in an isolated way; for example there have been military men for a long time, like chiefs of security or hit-men, but not as a compact group."

There had not been any compact group close to the main decision circle of an organization; Osiel Cárdinas introduced this characteristic with the Gafes (Airborne Special Forces) by creating the so called Zetas. For the first time, an organization of narcotraffickers included an elite group of the Armed Forces trained in counterinsurgence and anti-drug warfare.

The type of training that is given these forces is in two fields.

For example, in Vietnam or Central America the strategy was to create terror, that is, a part was the struggle, the conventional war, and the other, the psychological. "Part of the psychological war is that of messages, usually intimidating and associated with techniques of mutilation of the enemy, that is part of the message. It's not the same to kill someone with one shot, as to kill them with one shot, quarter them in pieces and leave a message," Astorga pointed out.
In a review of news reports of violent killings between narco bands, the rage with which the Arellano Félix organization carried out some of their actions placed terror as the main player in the decade of the 90s, as they were the first to dissolve their victims in acid or torture rivals and toss them into ravines. The clan of Sinaloans located on the border of Baja California copied some of the methods of their countrymen in Ciudad Juárez, who introduced this method of dissolving bodies in drums like stew, a method used in other times by the Italian Mafia. Amputating members, writing on the body or leaving written messages was a practice that began to be used by Los Zetas, the paramilitary band at the service of the organization that Osiel Cárdenas Guillén headed in Tamaulipas some years ago. With that tactic what they seek is to use the minimum direct confrontation, says Astorga. They are counting on the psychological war to paralyze the enemy with fear, and for the terror to expand to their immediate circle. Today, a video on You Tube follows the decapitations with a message and, as happened a year ago in the dispute between the organizations of El Chapo and Cárdenas Guillén, a justification was left in a folk song where those who compose and interpret the songs pay with their lives on occasion.

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Crazy Dragons Paul P. Rasmussen pleaded guilty to instructing commission of an offence for a criminal organization, trafficking, criminal conspiracy

Paul P. Rasmussen, 25, pleaded guilty Monday to instructing commission of an offence for a criminal organization, trafficking, criminal conspiracy and possessing proceeds of crime.Saskatoon police laid charges in August 2006 after a nine-month investigation that began after they learned the gang was establishing itself as a major seller of crack cocaine in Saskatchewan, Crown prosecutor Byron Wright said in Saskatoon provincial court.Rasmussen directed local activities of the sophisticated organization, which sold crack 24 hours per day, seven days a week using street-level sellers who worked in shifts, used cellphones and cars to take orders and make deliveries and stashed the drugs in public places, Wright said."They were trying to break their way into the Saskatoon market. They were a very busy group and they were certainly well-organized, with established practices and an established hierarchy," Wright said in an interview."In Edmonton they're causing a lot of trouble," Wright said, noting gang members there have been involved in drug trafficking and violent offences.Another person facing charges is Justin Howard, 25, of Edmonton, Rasmussen's alleged superior in the organization. Howard awaits trial in Edmonton on charges of instructing commission of an offence for a criminal organization, participating in activities of a criminal organization and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine.Clinton Main, 25, who is alleged to have directed others, along with Rasmussen, will return to court Sept. 17. Main is also charged with criminal conspiracy, trafficking and possessing proceeds of crime.Daniel Aube, 20, pleaded guilty Monday to committing an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy and trafficking. He will be sentenced on Nov. 17.Judge Marilyn Gray issued a warrant for the arrest of Curtis McCalla, 20, who failed to show up for court Monday. He is charged with committing an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy, trafficking, possessing proceeds of crime and breaching court orders.Two other men, Jason Peterson, 21, and Dale Kaye, 23, previously pleaded guilty to trafficking, conspiracy and acting for a criminal organization. They will also be sentenced on Nov. 17.Rocky Domingo, 22, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and trafficking, will also be sentenced on Nov. 17.Charges against a woman who was arrested after the 2006 bust were stayed after she co-operated with police, Wright said.Police initially contacted the group by calling a cellphone with the number 880-DEAL, Wright told the court.RCMP and city police investigators eventually obtained a warrant to tap telephone lines, which resulted in their intercepting more than 20,000 conversations over 60 days. About 2,100 of those calls pertained to 600 drug transactions.Crack was being sold in half-gram, one-gram and "eight ball" or 3.5-gram quantities. One gram sold for about $100, Wright said. He estimated the group had revenues of at least $60,000 in that two-month period.

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members of MS-13, well-known for being ruthless, are coming to Arizona because its position on the border makes it a hot spot for drugs

``Murdering someone is not a concern to them, it's a cost of doing business almost," Scioli said. ``Just their initiation to get into the gang is pretty aggressive." One of the fastest-growing and most violent gangs in the world is showing up in Arizona. Mike Scioli with the Border Patrol said members of MS-13, well-known for being ruthless, are coming to Arizona because its position on the border makes it a hot spot for drugs and human smuggling. MS-13 comes from El Salvador and has an estimated 100,000 members throughout Latin America and the United States. Many of the gang's founding members had experience or training in guerilla warefare in El Salvador. It's one of the fast-growing gangs in the world. Scioli said the presence of MS-13 gang members is making federal agents along the U.S.-Mexico border nervous. ``It's not uncommon for a single agent to run into a group of 10 to 13 people and make the arrest alone, on his own, with backup maybe a half-hour away," he said. Many of the gang's founders are highly-trained rebel fighters from El Salvador, he added.

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The death penalty imposed on Ralph "Swifty" Flores, now 26, for three murders.

Los Angeles County Superior Judge Kathleen Kennedy upheld a jury's recommendation and imposed the death penalty on Ralph "Swifty" Flores, now 26, for three of the murders.

Azusa gang member guilty of slaying four people in separate incidents between 1999 and 2004 was sentenced today to death.Three of his victims were Claudia Chenet, Fenise Luna and Miguel Reyes.Flores was also convicted in the shooting death of 16-year-old Christopher Lynch. But Flores was 17 at the time, making him ineligible for the death penalty in that crime.Flores was part of a group of Azusa 13 gang members responsible for spasms of crime, some of it racially motivated against blacks, during those years in the normally quiet San Gabriel Valley town.
Azusa police and L.A. County Sheriff's Department detectives launched investigations into the gang and eventually arrested eight members who have been tried and convicted in the last four years. Flores, convicted last year, was the last of the group to be tried.

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Canadian Reggae party shootings.

When police arrived, they found one man dead and another injured. A third man was found hurt in a nearby field, but declined medical treatment, while yet another person called police around 4 a.m. to say he'd been shot.
reggae party in a community hall rented for a wedding erupted in violence early Sunday as gunfire killed one man and injured another three.Homicide, organized crime and gang unit investigators are trying to piece together what happened in the boisterous celebration that ended with Calgary's 27th homicide of the year.
Police were called to the Albert Park Radisson Heights Community Centre, at 1310 28th St. S.E., at 3:20 a.m. when revellers reported gunfire.
Fortunately for us, this time, there were a number of people that remained at the scene -- a fairly large number so we're going through, talking with all those people to determine what we can," said duty inspector Keith Pollock.That man was taken to hospital. No identities have been released.The hall was booked for a small wedding, but was really the stage for a reggae party by the name of Boustier & Stilletos (sic) organized by Sophie Production, according to flyers and posters printed for the event.Police said it was too early to tell if the dead man was targeted, but said they are investigating to see if there is a gang connection.They have not confirmed that the social gathering was an underground party.Residents who live near the scene said they didn't hear the gunshots, which came from inside the building, but many complained about loud music coming from the community centre.
Leo Cripps, organizer of the Calgary International Reggae Festival, said he saw the flyer promoting the event and had no idea who the promoter was or if the company exists.He said underground parties are often put on by fly-by-night promoters. Flyers are printed and news of the party spreads by word of mouth."I personally would never be caught at any of these events," said Cripps. "The people who are putting them on are just trying to make a quick buck."
Sophie Production was not listed in the phone book and does not have a website.
The flyers promoted performances by Jamaica's Mr. Lexx and Toronto's Exco Levi, with ticket prices up to $30.Cripps said promoters of underground dances, which often lack adequate security measures, are often denied access to other community halls because of past problems with property destruction or noise complaints.
It frustrates him that his festival and reggae music get a bad rap from the parties.
"Every time you find something like this happens, it sets us back. People start thinking 'reggae, drugs, guns and all of that crap,' " said Cripps.The community hall, surrounded by Bishop Kidd Catholic Junior High, houses, a day care and a small church, was behind police tape Sunday and so was the large field nearby. At capacity, the hall fits 160 people and police believe it was full early Sunday morning.Police search-and-rescue crews combed the crime scene and the surrounding neighbourhood looking for any clues that could be connected to the shooting.
Albert Park Radisson Heights Community Association acting president Peter Nugent said the booking called for a small wedding, but he now believes they were duped.
A staff member thought it was bizarre that, by 10:30 p.m., only a handful of people were around. Nugent also thought it was odd they asked him to remove most of the tables and chairs they had set up for the wedding."It's really disappointing and we feel terrible that the incident happened," said Nugent.
Pollock said police are trying to determine how many suspects may be involved and whether they crashed the party."There was possibly some kind of verbal confrontation that obviously turned violent," said Pollock

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Bob Holloway, 60, and his son Brent Holloway, 35, were arrested July 15. Six others also are charged. They are accused of running a racketeering ring

Bob Holloway, 60, and his son Brent Holloway, 35, were arrested July 15. Six others also are charged. They are accused of running a racketeering and extortion ring that trafficked in stolen motor vehicle parts and collecting debts by force or with the threat of force.According to authorities, four of the suspects are associated with motorcycle gangs, another is a former chief executive officer of Indian Motorcycles and the last is a former Merced County sheriff's deputy who allegedly tapped into law enforcement databases on Holloway's behalf.The two-year investigation also snared three others with law enforcement connections: Stanislaus County Sheriff's Capt. Raul DeLeon, retired sheriff's deputy David Swanson and former corrections officer Steven J. Johnson. They are charged with lying to federal authorities. DeLeon was placed on administrative leave in December.An indictment handed down by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Fresno said Holloway was tipped off to the investigation by someone with law enforcement connections.
It also named five people who got motorcycles on credit from Holloway and were threatened with force if they failed to repay, though prosecutors do not allege that any were assaulted.And it said Holloway and his associates exported a motorcycle with a fictitious vehicle identification number to a gang leader in Sweden.
In Denair, nearby business owners said the case has prompted lots of talk, mostly from people who wonder what was really going on behind closed doors or suspect that Holloway may be getting railroaded.Tanya St. John, who lives a few blocks from the motorcycle shop, said she has friends and relatives who got good deals on motorcycles from Holloway. She thinks she would have heard something or seen something unusual if Road Dog Cycle was a dirty operation for 10 years, as prosecutors allege."You would know immediately," she said after she signed the petition. "This is a very small town. Everybody knows everything."
Robert Angel of Turlock said he signed the petition because his friend deserves a chance to prove his innocence. Robert Holloway faces decades in prison and fines of up to $2.5 million if convicted of nine felonies that range from racketeering to extortion to running a chop shop."How can he defend his case when he's in prison?" he said.Holloway's son Brent has been released from custody as he awaits trial.
Petrie, who posted fliers about the petition drive on the windows of the motorcycle shop, said she could not talk about the case or a wiretapped phone call that was intercepted nearly a year ago in which she told a friend about a fellow employee beating his son in the bay of the shop.According to prosecutors, Petrie wasn't too concerned about the incident because such things happened when the bosses needed to teach a customer a lesson -- until she learned that it was her co-worker's teenager in the cross hairs."I thought it was, you know, somebody that they were thumping," Petrie said during the Sept. 21, 2007, phone call. "I really didn't think that much of it."

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Banditos gang stabing 2 bloody knives were found on Jesse Boling, the prospective gang member.

Police also say the brawl involved a motorcycle gang and that one of the men involved was trying to get into the banditos gang. And police say that might have been the motive behind the fight."This wasn't your average bar fight," Sgt. Eric Bravo. Police say 34 year old Vincent Latona was kicked out of the Branch Inn for getting too loud. "It involved a motorcycle gang that has a reputation of violence," Bravo said.Police say a group of bikers from the Banditos gang were drinking at the same bar."One of the group of bikers was a prospect member, meaning he was trying to get into the gang. That may be a possible motive, at this point we don't know for sure," Bravo said.
Police say the prospect is 28-year-old Jesse Boling. He and another gang member confronted Latona, outside the bar. A witness said Latona was carrying a 4 inch knife and after two scuffles, two bikers ended up with minor stab wounds, but Latona was in worse condition."He received some pretty serious stab wounds to his stomach," Bravo said.Latona was taken into surgery at Parkview and is expected to live. Meanwhile, police chased four men on motorcycles, and cornering them about a half mile away at 1st and Santa Fe. They've been arrested for eluding police and two got DUI's. Two others, including one with stab wounds, were not arrested. But so far, the gang's being tightlipped about the fight. "Nobody really wanted to talk to the police. The prospect did talk but he didn't give any valuable information," Bravo said.But crime scene evidence may help. Police say 2 bloody knives were found on Jesse Boling, the prospective gang member."Since he had the knife on him and if we determine one of those knives was used to stab a victim, he's looking at some charges for that," Bravo said.Latona has not been arrested, since he was in the hospital. But police have a probable cause affidavit for 1st degree assault. No word yet on charges for the biker gang, or the prospect.

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Joseph J. "King G" Santiago,The Latin Kings six alleged leaders of the gang's Buffalo chapter were indicted on drug-trafficking charges

Latin Kings and Queens Nation are unlike any gang ever seen The gang's Buffalo chapter holds regular meetingsand requires members to pay dues, according to police. The dues are $5 a week for members who don't sell drugs and $10 to $20 for those who do. The Latin Kings have their own prayers, religion, constitution and bylaws. The book outlining their code of conduct is hundreds of pages long. Members who don't follow the rules receive a brutal beating that can last up to five minutes.
"You are not to put God, religion, family or friends before the [Latin King] nation," reads one of the gang's rules.
Homosexuals, gamblers and users of hard drugs are not welcome, the rules also state. The sale of hard drugs, however, is allowed. "It's the most organized gang we've ever seen here," said James Jancewicz, an FBI agent with the Buffalo Safe Streets Task Force. "The Mafia has all kinds of traditions, but they aren't this structured." The Latin Kings are the targets of a crackdown by the task force and the U.S. attorney's office. In April, six alleged leaders of the gang's Buffalo chapter were indicted on drug-trafficking charges, and they face the possibility of long prison terms. More local members of the gang are subjects of a continuing investigation.Among the jailed men is Joseph J. "King G" Santiago, 43, of Newton Street, who was sent here from Rhode Island to take control of the Buffalo chapter, authorities say. He has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges that allege he ran drug deals from a house on Normal Avenue.
Despite the crackdown, the Kings and other street gangs continue to be influential on the West Side, where police and community leaders say young people are routinely recruited to join and become drug dealers. "We've heard about kids as young as six to eight years old who are hired to stand on a corner all day," said Robert Kuebler, who runs the Youth With A Purpose mentoring program at Holy Cross Catholic Church on Seventh Street. "If they see the police coming, their only job is to run and tell the drug dealers that '5-0' is on the way."
"The kids join gangs because the gang gives them something to belong to," said Juan "Nino" Acosta, an ex-convict who now runs a job-training program for young people on Seventh Street. "We have to give them jobs and skills, alternatives to the gangs." "There's more gang opportunity for these kids right now than there is job opportunity," said Jacob Corchado, a West Side electrician. "So you do the math."
The Latin Kings started as a social organization for Latinos in Chicago in the 1940s, according to the FBI. Over the decades, the organization morphed into a criminal gang that now has hundreds of chapters in cities and prisons throughout the nation.
One of the most powerful Latin Kings leaders was Luis "King Blood" Felipe, a convicted killer who formed the Almighty Latin King Nation of New York State in the 1980s while he was serving time in Collins Correction Facility in southern Erie County. "Many of the guys who were indoctrinated into the Latin Kings in prisons later came out and started their own chapters in the cities," Jancewicz said.
Felipe is now serving a life sentence in the nation's most high-security federal prison in Florence, Colo. He was convicted in 1997 of homicide and racketeering, including sending letters from prison that ordered Latin Kings on the outside to torture and murder people. He is still revered as a heroic, almost godlike figure by some members of the Latin Kings, authorities say. Recruiting young people in neighborhoods racked by poverty and unemployment, the Latin Kings have flourished since they made their big move into Buffalo in 2006. The gang has more than 50 members in Buffalo, according to the FBI and the State Police. "After the takedown in April, some of their members went around putting Latin Kings graffiti in different locations, just to let us know they are still around," Jancewicz said.
In court papers, the U.S. attorney's office alleges that the Buffalo Latin Kings have been heavily involved in drug trafficking, extreme violence and gun crimes.
Those allegations conflict with the views presented on the Latin Kings' official Web site. "While history has put Kings and Queens above the people, we The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation -- proudly wear our crowns as servants of the people," the organization states. "Though we strive for peace, may we always find strength to keep our swords sharp and our shields shiny." The group says it is dedicated to the causes of "evolution, righteousness and community upliftment."
"They use all kinds of flowery language to describe their good causes," Jancewicz said, "but the evidence shows they have been involved in drug-dealing and violence in city after city." The FBI Safe Streets Task Force also includes members of the State Police, Buffalo Police Department, Amherst Police Department, New York State Parole Division, Erie County Probation Office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. Assistant U.S. Attorneys George C. Burgasser and Kurt P. Martin are prosecuting the case. Acosta, 37, the founder of the Urban Community Corp. on Seventh Street, and Lourdes Iglesias, executive director of Hispanics United of Buffalo, are trying to provide opportunities for young West Side residents to better themselves without joining gangs.

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Andre "Baby Gangster" Thomas received 20 years in prison today for cooperating with law enforcement to bring down Dewan "Gully Boy" Dennis.

Bounty Hunter Bloods lieutenant Andre "Baby Gangster" Thomas received 20 years in prison today for cooperating with law enforcement to bring down Dewan "Gully Boy" Dennis.A Mercer County judge shortened Thomas' sentence by five years after approving a plea agreement.The 22-year-old had pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated manslaughter for the May 5, 2005 firebombing deaths of Rasheem Glover, 24, and his two daughters, Janaya Glover, 6, and Jyasia Watson, 7, at their Trenton home, and for the April 21, 2005 fatal shooting of Denneshia Ledbetter, 22, of New Brunswick.He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and aggravated arson.

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Finks and Hells Angel clash Three people shot, two stabbed and $40,000 damaged caused to the Royal Pines Resort's Grand Ballroom at Carrara ,

Brawl involving two rival bikie gangs at a luxury Gold Coast resort two years ago was the result of the attempted theft of a precious jewel, a Brisbane court has heard.Three people were shot, two stabbed and more than $40,000 damaged caused to the Royal Pines Resort's Grand Ballroom at Carrara on March 18, 2006, when members of the Finks and Hells Angels clashed at a kickboxing tournament.Dubbed the "Ballroom Blitz", the bloody incident was said to have been sparked by the defection of one-time Fink and soon-to-be convicted murderer Christopher Wayne Hudson to the Hells Angels in a move that angered his former gangmates.
But lawyers for two men involved in the melee told Brisbane's District Court yesterday bad blood and Hudson's growing drug addiction were behind the bust up, which also saw an innocent kickboxing promoter knocked unconscious after trying to intervene.
Nicholas John Forbes, 39, and Shane Scott Bowden, 36, have each pleaded guilty to bashing and shooting Hudson at the televised event, claiming the burly 30-year-old had tried to steal a sapphire from Forbes' elderly parents so he could sell it for drugs.Barrister Craig Eberhardt, for Forbes, said his client and Hudson were old friends, but things had soured in the lead-up to the incident.
"They had grown up together," Mr Eberhardt said.
"Mr Hudson had developed a significant amphetamine addiction and had been treating people very badly, including Mr Forbes' parents.
"He had tried to steal a sapphire from them to pawn to feed his amphetamine addiction."
Graphic footage shot by Fox Sports television cameras and tendered to the court showed Hudson sitting ringside with "dozens" of Hells Angels bikies when Forbes, a Fink, arrived at the table and called for him to step outside.
"Come on c---," Forbes shouted.
"Let's f---ing go."
Seconds later, Forbes is seen throwing a punch at Hudson and immediately the room errupts.Footage shows bikies - some in in full gang insignia - using chairs and drinking glasses as weapons before several gunshots ring out.Hudson is shot twice in the face and back by Bowden before being pinned against the boxing ring by Forbes and set upon by several men.As he tries to crawl away on all fours, pictures show him being dragged back and struck again.Barrister Anthony Glynn SC, for Bowden, said while it appeared Hudson was a defenceless victim, the opposite was true.
"Hudson could be a man who was extremely violent," Mr Glynn said.
Hudson is in custody in Victoria awaiting sentencing on murder and attempted murder charges after he opened fire on three people outside a Melbourne strip club in June last year.Solicitor Brendan Keilar was shot to death and Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard badly wounded after they went to the aid of exotic dancer Kaera Douglas as Hudson, her part-time boyfriend, dragged her by the hair in the middle of a city street.Ms Douglas was also fired on, losing a kidney.Bowden, who was on parole and a suspended sentence for drugs and violence offences at the time of the 2006 Royal Pines brawl, is facing up to seven years jail after pleading guilty to unlawful wounding with intent to maim and discharging a firearm in a public place.Forbes is facing six years for bashing Hudson as well as attacks on seven others during an unrelated "rampage" through a Gold Coast nightclub and shopping mall.
Mr Eberhardt said in addition to the falling-out with his long-time friend, Forbes - a hospital orderly - had also been upset at the time by an investment gone bad.
Mr Glynn, meanwhile, argued Bowden - in the grip of a drug-induced psychosis - had shot Hudson out of loyalty to Forbes, and only after Hells Angels members had produced guns and fired first.Judge Milton Griffin SC accepted neither man was responsible for starting the "Ballroom Blitz" and that other gang members had acted independently.He has reserved his sentencing decision until this morning.

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Mark "Papa" Guardado president of the San Francisco branch Hell's was found about 10:30 p.m. with gunshot wounds at 24th Street and Treat Avenue

Mark "Papa" Guardado, 45, was found about 10:30 p.m. with gunshot wounds at 24th Street and Treat Avenue, about a mile from the group's clubhouse. He died a short time later at San Francisco General Hospital. Police think Guardado may have been in fight with a rival in another motorcycle group before he was killed. Witnesses told investigators that he and the gunman struggled before the shooting and that the suspect fled on a motorcycle. At the time of his death, Guardado was the subject of an ongoing investigation into an assault with a deadly weapon incident, said Sgt. Jim Stephenson of the Petaluma Police Department. "He beat up a random guy at a bar," said Stephenson. "He beat him with his hands and feet."When police responded to the Petaluma bar, officers said Guardado volunteered the fact that he was president of the San Francisco branch of the notorious motorcycle gang.
"He told us he was president, plus it was on his jacket," said Stephenson, who also told CBS 5 that Petaluma police kept the jacket as evidence in the case.
Guardado filed suit in May against Sonoma County Sheriff's deputies who refused to let him and a co-defendant wear their Hell's Angels insignia in court. A judge later backed up the Sheriff's Department and disallowed the two defendants from wearing the insignia.The San Francisco chapter is one of the oldest Hells Angels branches in the country. The half-centry-old club is known for an outlaw image, and its members have been a target of police anti-gang and anti-drug efforts.

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Mongrel Mob youth accused of murdering Scots backpacker Karen Aim

Youth accused of murdering Scots backpacker Karen Aim blamed a man trying to impress a gang called the Mongrel Mob, it was claimed yesterday.A school security guard said the 14-year-old accused brandished the bloodstained murder weapon in front of him.
Leigh Herewini, a friend of the accused, told a court in New Zealand the schoolboy had fetched the wooden baseball bat from behind a trapdoor at the back of his grandparents' house.He told the committal hearing at Taupo Youth Court: "It had a lot of dents and bits missing off it. It looked like it had blood on it."I felt uncomfortable. It could have been the bat that hurt that girl. He said he had washed it, tried to wash the blood off it."But Mr Herewini said the accused, now aged 15, identified another man as the killer.Calling him Brian, the accused said the man had been trying to prove himself to a notorious criminal gang, the Mongrel Mob.The accusation had first come in a phone call from the youngster hours after 27-year-old Karen, from Holm in Orkney, had been found dying in the street in Taupo, a lakeside resort.Mr Herewini,34, had been called to the scene in the early hours of January 17 when an alarm was triggered by someone smashing windows.He saw a policeman kneeling beside Karen, who suffered horrific head injuries, in a pool of blood and was sent to fetch tape to fence off the area.Later that day, the accused teenager called. Mr Herewini added: "He said he knew the person that supposedly done it. He said it was a guy, Brian, a Mongrel Mob prospect from Rotorua."He said he was prospecting for his father, who was in the Mongrel Mob."

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"Red Command" The caimans are a symbol of power of the traffickers. When they catch a rival, they kill him and feed him to the caimans

Rio de Janeiro police found two caimans in a raid on one of the city's slums on Wednesday, saying the crocodile-like reptiles were used by drug traffickers to intimidate their enemies and dispose of bodies.Police were conducting a raid in the west of the Brazilian city looking for a drug gang boss when they came across the animals in the backyard of a house in the Coreia slum."The caimans are a symbol of power of the traffickers. When they catch a rival, they kill him and give him to the caimans," Ronaldo Oliveira, head of the robbery and car theft unit, was quoted as saying on O Globo newspaper's website.Television footage showed police officers carefully placing the small reptiles in the back of a truck.
Rio's heavily armed drug gangs, with names like "Red Command" and "Friends of Friends," control many of the city's hundreds of slums and regularly battle over territory.Some slums are next to the city's tropical forest areas, where gangs have been known to train and launch invasions of rivals' territories.

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