AUSTRALIAN prisons are increasingly being used by gangsters, nationally and internationally, to further their illegal activities and networks.

The FBI believes Mexican drug cartels have extended their reach into Australia and would use our prison system to further criminal associations.

"The Mexican gangs' influence is far and wide and no doubt would have infiltrated Australia," FBI Special Agent Herb Brown said.

"They use any means to further criminal activity, including social networks and prisons internationally."

The Australian Crime Commission has brought members of the FBI, the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to Australia for a conference to discuss ways of fighting the growth of crime and gangs within prisons.

The ACC believes a national approach to gathering and sharing criminal intelligence is needed.





"At present there is not a Commonwealth body which oversees the prison system. We know from our own intelligence that prison walls are not a deterrent for hardened criminals to continue their illegal enterprises," ACC chief executive John Lawler said.

Mr Lawler said prisons were obvious places for criminals to make contacts and a national strategy was needed to gather and disseminate intelligence from jails across the country.

Tomorrow the ACC will host an international forum in Canberra on challenges faced by authorities in monitoring criminals inside jail.

"We have seen trends overseas and know from cases here and our intelligence that criminal networks continue to exist within prison. Being incarcerated is not a deterrent to continue criminal behaviour," Mr Lawler said.

"Prisoners make associations which will perpetuate their criminality and help them extend it beyond the correction systems."

Mr Lawler said an ACC officer was already attached to Corrective Services NSW: "We are working with Commissioner Ron Woodham towards a memorandum of understanding between the two organisations."

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Housam El-Afchal jailed for four years over involvement in ATM raids

A SYDNEY father of two took time off from a family beach holiday to drive the getaway car in a raid on a Brisbane bank's ATM which netted $118,000, a court has been told.

The Brisbane District Court was told today that Housam El-Afchal, 33, was nabbed when an off-duty police officer spotted him wiping down an abandoned getaway car and jumped into another vehicle.

Police later spotted the second car parked at Dreamworld, on the Gold Coast, and laid in wait to follow El-Afchal back to his Surfers Paradise holiday unit where he and his wife, Alison Renee Afchal, were both arrested.

However, the court heard El-Afchal had made such steps at rehabilitation while on bail he could tender references from elite national sporting stars Anthony Mundine and Justin Hodges, as well popular Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale, property developer John Samios, and the Federal Member for Oxley Bernie Ripoll.


El-Afchal was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to one count each of break, enter and stealing from an ATM, receiving stolen property and unlawful use of motor vehicle on December 6, 2008.

Judge Nick Samios recommended El-Afchal be eligible for parole on May 5 next year.

Alison Afchal, also 33, was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to receiving tainted property between December 5 and December 9, 2008.

Prosecutor David Meredith detailed how New South Wales police had started an operation - codenamed "Picadilly 2" - after a spate of daring raids on ATMs in that state.

The raids - known as "gas attacks" - involve pumping oxyceteline gas into the ATMs and setting it alight causing them to explode - thereby giving the bandits access to the money cylinders.

Mr Meredith that on December 5 two other men had broken into car dealerships and a plumbing supply business to steal two cars and some oxyceteline equipment.

About 4am on December 6, a group of men went to the Bank of Queensland branch in Robinson Road, Geebung in Brisbane's north, and gas-attacked it.

After an explosion, which destroyed the ATM, the group stole about $118,000 in $50 and $20 notes.

Mr Meredith said some time later an off-duty policeman spotted two men wiping down a car in the nearby suburb of Nundah.

Mr Meredith said in all about $43,000 - some of it badly burnt - was never recorded by police.

He said this case was the first time anyone had been before a Queensland Court on charges of blowing up an ATM.

Barrister Tony Kimmins, for El-Afchal, said has client had not been a member of any organised gang and had been called in at the last minute to drive the getaway car.

He said El-Afchal was promised a third of the loot and that was what he had received.

Mr Kimmins said El-Afchal had been detained in Queensland while on bail for two-and-a-half years while his family resided in Sydney.

He said, however, during that time El-Afchal had become a valued employee in mainly property development.

 

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Man arrested as Mexico cartel leader once lived in Yakima County

A man who Mexican authorities say is a leader in a violent drug cartel responsible for the deaths of more than 200 people once lived in Yakima County in the Tieton area, friends and acquaintances said Tuesday.

The man, identified as 34-year-old Martin Omar Estrada Luna, was arrested Saturday by the Mexican navy. Several other suspected members of Los Zetas drug cartel also were arrested.

Friends and acquaintances in the Yakima Valley say the man who was paraded before the Mexican media Sunday had plenty of run-ins with authorities here before being deported.

They and local law-enforcement officials said Tuesday the Estrada they knew was headed for trouble at a young age. He dropped out of school and took up a life of crime.

"Martin made his own choices. He went where the streets took him," said a close boyhood friend who works in Yakima and asked not to be identified.

"A career criminal"

Tieton Police Chief Jeff Ketchum said he has known Estrada since Ketchum started working for the Police Department in 1994, about a year after Estrada started racking up his first criminal charges in juvenile court.

"I would label Martin as a career criminal. He got away with a lot of stuff. He got named in a lot of stuff, but you could never pin it on him," Ketchum said.

Mexican authorities arrested Estrada in a house Saturday in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the state of Tamaulipas in northeastern Mexico. But acquaintances and police officials question whether Estrada could have risen to a post as high in the cartel as Mexican authorities allege.

Mexican authorities, who put up a $1.2 million bounty for his arrest, said Estrada was one of the leaders of the Zetas' San Fernando cell, which they blame for killing more than 200 people found in mass graves in Tamaulipas.

Authorities there began uncovering bodies in mass graves in early April after reports that passengers were being pulled off buses at gunpoint in the township of San Fernando.

There has been speculation that the Zetas gang was forcibly recruiting extra members for its fight against the rival Gulf cartel over access to key drug-trafficking routes into the United States.

As of last week, 145 bodies had been found in 26 graves. San Fernando is the same place where 72 Central and South American migrants were found slaughtered last August.

It was unclear when Estrada, who was last deported in 2009, would have built such strong ties to one of Mexico's leading drug gangs.

"I can't see it, but who knows? I don't know what the investigation part of it established," Ketchum said.

Local records show Estrada falling into the gang life instead of making it to school with any regularity.

Acquaintances said he left the Highland School District well before he would have graduated in 1995. That year, he pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in connection with the theft of a Ford Taurus from the district.

Ketchum said Estrada openly admitted to being a gang member, and court records show "El Kilo" as his nickname in the 1990s. The friend said Estrada picked up the nickname from a fragment of a lyric in a rap song by the late rapper Eazy-E.

Besides the burglary charge, his adult felony convictions in Yakima County involved a burglary and brandishing a knife in Tieton.

When he was sentenced in 2006 for an immigration violation, federal prosecutors pointed out that he had amassed 16 felony and misdemeanor convictions.

Records show he has multiple aliases, including Estrada-Delamora, the name he was charged under in federal court.

"Mr. Estrada-Delamora has not learned how to live in society without preying on others," an assistant U.S. attorney wrote in a request for a higher sentence.

Estrada was ultimately sentenced to 41 months for returning to the United States a third time after being deported twice before.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Tuesday that he was deported in 2009 from Reno, Nev., after completing his sentence.

The ICE database shows no contact with Estrada since that deportation.

Family still in state

However, the friend of Estrada's said that the last time they had contact, Estrada was living in Laredo, Texas, just across the border from Nuevo Laredo.

The friend said he encouraged Estrada to be a good person and to reconnect with his young daughters, who live in the Yakima Valley.

Estrada's ex-wife, who also lives in the Yakima area, declined to comment Tuesday. Other relatives could not be reached or did not respond to messages.

Regardless of his history and the accusations against him, the friend said Estrada had another side to him.

"He was a nice guy. He would let you borrow money, his car or his clothes," the man said.

But he said Estrada always wanted to be a leader, not a follower.

Ketchum said he occasionally checked a MySpace account believed to be Estrada's. Pictures there show a heavily tattooed Estrada, consistent with the memories of Ketchum and a Yakima County sheriff's deputy who once arrested him.

 

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600 people marched to New Scotland Yard to call for a public inquiry into Smiley Culture's death.

A crowd of around 600 people marched to New Scotland Yard to call for a public inquiry into Smiley Culture's death.

The reggae singer, whose real name was David Emmanuel, died of a single stab wound through the heart after four Metropolitan Police officers executed a search warrant at his home in Surrey on 15 March.

His family has been told he stabbed himself while making a cup of tea despite the presence of officers in his home. Smiley Culture's family responded to the police explanation of his death, calling it "bizarre".

Smiley Culture's nephew, Merlin Emmanuel, said the singer's funeral had been held on Friday.

Speaking to Channel 4 News he said: "(The) facts are Smiley died whilst under their custody, they had a duty of care to protect my uncle. They failed miserably. As a consequence you would expect at least a letter of condolence from the police force."

What I do know... is that Smiley would still be alive had they not gone and executed that warrant at his house.
Merlin Emmanuel

He added: What I do know beyond reasonable doubt is that Smiley would still be alive had they not gone and executed that warrant at his house. I have my ideas as to what happened but of course its speculative 'cause I wasn't there.

 

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legislation is targeting the Arellano Feliz, Beltran Leyva, La Familia Michoacana, Los Zetas and Sinaloa and Gulf cartels — the most violent and successful cartels in Mexico.

Drug cartels may find themselves in even more trouble than normal if new legislation in Congress passes.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, introduced a bill Wednesday that, if passed, will designate six top Mexican cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

If the cartels are indeed labeled terrorist organizations, the US State Department would be able to charge drug and gun traffickers with supporting terrorism. According to McCaul spokesman Mike Rosen, this is the first time any member of Congress has tried to designate what the cartels are doing as acts of terrorism.

The legislation is targeting the Arellano Feliz, Beltran Leyva, La Familia Michoacana, Los Zetas and Sinaloa and Gulf cartels — the most violent and successful cartels in Mexico. The war on drugs has already claimed nearly 35,000 lives since 2006.

The proposal is more than just a new title — the distinction would allow prosecutors to tack on 15 years to any conviction of providing aid or supplies to cartels. It would also level a federal death sentence against any cartel action that results in death.

McCaul recognizes that cartel actions are not religiously motivated, but said in the Chronicle that the organizations are routinely found “using similar tactics to gain political and economic influence,” as well as utilizing “kidnappings, political assassinations, attacks on civilian and military targets, taking over cities and even putting up checkpoints in order to control territory and institutions.”

Frankly, any label that can be used to stop the cartel’s criminal operations is fine. Label them terrorists, mafiosos, drug traffickers — the end result is the same.

To put the cartel’s 35,000 death count into perspective, that’s more than 7 times the casualties the US has sustained in the Iraq war — and the cartels have racked it up in half the amount of time America has spent overseas.

McCaul seems to have the right idea. If a label is what’s needed to crack down on the violence south of the border, then a label is what Congress should provide.

 

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Shot girl, 5, is one of Britain's youngest gun crime victims

A five year old girl is in a critical condition in hospital after being caught in the crossfire when teenage gangsters opened fire on rivals.


The girl, who has not been named, was shot in the chest while a 35-year-old man was shot in the face.
The shootings happened inside a newsagent in Stockwell, south London, at 9.15pm on Wednesday night.
The girl, who was visiting a relative at the store with her mother, is one of Britain’s youngest ever victims of gun crime.
Police said that the girl and the man, who are said to be Sri Lankan but not related, were innocent victims of a gangland feud.
The intended victims, two black youths, had been chased into the store and were hiding when their rivals, three black youths, opened fire from outside the shop. The suspects escaped on bicycles.

Kirubakaran Nantheesparan, a family friend of the shop owners, witnessed the shootings. She said: “They were screaming at each other and throwing the bottles. Then I saw one pull out a gun and fire the shots.
“I saw the gun right next to me. I heard the shots fired. At first we thought they had been hit by bottles but there was too much blood. We didn't know that the girl had been shot. She was lying down in the shop in shock.
“The girl was lying on the ground and the mum ran over to her. She screamed ‘call the police, call the police’, there was so much blood. It was everywhere.
"She’s a little girl. She was in shock and on the ground, not saying anything.”
Local resident Mareh Silva, 34, was coming out of the shop with friends at about 9pm and said she saw three black youths, faces covered with scarves and balaclavas drop their bikes outside.
“I looked in and saw a lot of blood on the floor but I didn’t want to look at what had happened and I was very scared,” she said.
Stockwell Road was sealed off at both ends while forensic officers searched for evidence.
Detective Chief Inspector Tony Boughton said that the male victim lived in a flat above the shop while the girl was with her mother visiting the store owner, whom they are related to.
Mr Boughton said: “This is a very serious case. They (the victims) could have died and may still do. If you fire a gun into a crowded shop, there is a chance you will kill someone.
“The assumption is at the moment is that the firearm is fired through the open door because there is no damage on the outside.”

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Andrew Ross, of Hawarden, Flintshire, admitted conspiring to smuggle cocaine at Mold Crown Court in 2009.

Following an investigation into his assets, Ross will have £20,000 seized under proceeds of crime laws, a judge at Mold decided on Monday.

The rest of the money can be pursued if Ross comes into funds in future.

A second member of the gang, who made £620,000, was given a confiscation order for £1,689.

Keiran Foulkes, of Halkyn, Flintshire, had previously been sentenced to 18 months after admitting being involved in supplying cocaine.

Again, the rest of the money can also be pursued in future.

Nine members of the gang were jailed in September 2009 for a total of more than 44 years.

The court was told that Ross, helped by others, organised the distribution of cocaine.

Drugs went from Rhyl, Denbighshire, to Anglesey and also into Flintshire, where they were further diluted at a house in Halkyn.

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Police arrested 21 of London's most dangerous gangsters

Police arrested 21 of London's most dangerous gangsters during a series of dawn raids today.

Eight gangs were targeted in a huge operation involving hundreds of officers. It came as the Met announced it has compiled a database of more than 1,000 of the most active and violent criminals.

The raids on 41 homes in seven boroughs - part of efforts to disrupt organised criminal networks - also saw the seizure of drugs and £10,000 in cash. The 21 men arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A drugs are aged between 15 and 35.

The Standard joined more than 20 riot officers from the Territorial Support Group as they smashed down the door of a Battersea flat and arrested a man in his thirties. Sources said he was believed to be a senior figure in the SUK (Stick'em Up Kids) gang.

At another address officers found 30 drug wraps and dealing kits. Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse, who attended the raids, said: "These are all about taking out the really wicked individuals luring young people into gangs. We want to hammer the gangs in London and get them off the streets."

Other gangs thought to have been targeted by the Met today include a Mitcham-based group known as Terror Zone. Detective Superintendent Mick McNally said: "All of the people arrested have links to gang violence."

Territorial Policing Commander Steve Rodhouse said: "Today's raids demonstrate our determination to continue dismantling the gang networks responsible for a disproportionate amount of criminality in London."

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Virginia Tech fined $55K for response to shootings

Nearly four years after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, victims' family members and campus safety advocates say it isn't the fine amount of $55,000 Virginia Tech faces that matters, but that the school finally will pay for the mistakes it made during the rampage.
 
The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday fined the school for waiting too long to notify students about the shootings on April 16, 2007.
 
"The bottom line is just having a monetary amount points out what they did was wrong. There's really no way you can replace 32 people, or even seek to equate that with money," said Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot but survived. "Even if they charged them a dollar, it would have done the same thing."
 
Department of Education officials wrote in a letter to the school that the sanction should have been greater for the school's slow response when student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 students and faculty and then himself. The amount was the most the department could levy for Tech's two violations of the federal Clery Act, which requires timely reporting of crimes on campus.
 
"While Virginia Tech's violations warrant a fine far in excess of what is currently permissible under the statute, the Department's fine authority is limited," wrote Mary Gust, director of a department panel that dictated what punishment the school would receive for the violation.
 
The university avoided the potentially devastating punishment of losing some or all of its $98 million in federal student aid. While that's possible for a Clery Act violation, the department has never taken that step and a department official said it was never considered for Virginia Tech.
 
University officials have always maintained their innocence and said they would appeal the fine, even though it's a relatively small sum for a school of more than 30,000 full-time students and an annual budget of $1.1 billion. The amount would cover tuition and fees for one Virginia undergraduate student for four years, or two years for an out-of-state undergrad.
 
"I don't think any amount of money would ever be enough, because it's not about that," said S. Daniel Carter, director of public policy for Security On Campus, a nonprofit organization that monitors the Clery Act. "It's about accountability, and it's about making sure students at Virginia Tech and across the country are kept are safe."
 
Only about 40 schools have come under review for Clery Act violations in the 20 years the law has been in place. The largest fine to be levied was $350,000 against Eastern Michigan University for failing to report the rape and murder of a student in a dormitory in 2006.
 
Carter said it's "a shame" the department had only really began fining schools for noncompliance in 2005.

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dawn raids were part of a new Metropolitan Police initiative to try to tackle organised crime in the capital,

Metropolitan Police have made 22 arrests in a series of raids across London targeting gang-related crime.

A total of 41 addresses in Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton, Kingston, Waltham Forest, Lambeth and Croydon were targeted on Wednesday.

Twenty-one men aged from 15 to 35 were arrested for conspiracy to supply class A drugs. One woman was arrested for breaching her bail conditions.

Police also seized drugs, £10,000 in cash and various stolen goods.

All of the men arrested are being questioned at police stations across south London.

The dawn raids were part of a new Metropolitan Police initiative to try to tackle organised crime in the capital, called Operation Connect.

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Raymond “Raymo” Gutierrez, 31, and Alvaro “Tito” Saldana, 26, are facing first-degree murder charges with gang enhancements

Raymond “Raymo” Gutierrez, 31, and Alvaro “Tito” Saldana, 26, are facing first-degree murder charges with gang enhancements in the death of Roger Villanueva on May 25, 2008.

Villanueva was shot to death in the backyard of an Angelus Street home during a memorial barbecue to Moses Rodriguez, who was murdered in Turlock in 2006.

On Monday Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Brennan presented a gang expert witness to prove the prosecutions claim that the killing of Villanueva was done to benefit the Norteño street gang.

Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Teso, a classification and a gang specialist deputy testified to the gang culture inside the Stanislaus County Jail that Gutierrez and Saldana are accused of being a part of.

Teso’s testimony included detailed descriptions of the Norteño’s organization behind bars and what is expected of the members.

When an inmate comes into the jail and they claim a certain gang affiliation or the intake deputy uses other indicators like tattoos to establish a likely gang affiliation, they are placed in segregated housing to protect the general population from recruitment and assaults.

According to Teso’s testimony, new inmates to the jail who claim Norteño affiliation are required by the gang’s hierarchy to fill out a new arrival questionnaire listing everything from their name to the charges against them. These questionnaires are written on “wellas” referring to the tiny handwriting on small bits of paper that gangs use, Teso said.

Both Gutierrez and Saldana had filled out new arrival questionnaires for the gang that were later confiscated during a cell search, Teso said.DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

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Judy Moran put on a show for the cameras.

Judy Moran put on a show for the cameras.

With a smile and a wave to the assembled media, the gangland widow known for her blow-waved tresses and flamboyant dress headed off to jail on Wednesday for orchestrating her brother-in-law's execution.

Earlier, she looked down, her face reddened and she clasped a tissue in her hands as a Victorian Supreme Court jury declared it had found her guilty of murdering Des "Tuppence" Moran.

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She pursed her red lips and appeared stony-faced in a courtroom packed with lawyers and journalists.

At 66, Moran, who has already buried two husbands and two sons to gangland murders, may now spend the rest of her days behind bars for killing off another Moran.

The jury of nine men and three women accepted that, although she didn't pull the trigger, Moran entered into a pact with gunman Geoffrey "Nuts" Armour to murder the brother of her second husband Lewis Moran.

Jurors deliberated for seven days following a month-long trial, and were given several extensions of time after having trouble reaching a unanimous verdict.DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.

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Mexico Arrests Drug Boss Linked to US Agent's Death | Americas | English

Mexico Arrests Drug Boss Linked to US Agent's Death | Americas | English: "Mexico's military has arrested the alleged regional head of the Zetas drug cartel in connection with the recent murder of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent.

Navy officials say Sergio 'El Toto' Mora was detained, along with five other men, during a raid Sunday in the northern state of Coahuila.

Authorities say Mora was directly in charge of Julian Zapata Espinoza, who was arrested last week for allegedly carrying out the killing of agent Jaime Zapata."

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Jockey Danny Nikolic quizzed after murder of father-in-law Les Samba | Herald Sun

Jockey Danny Nikolic quizzed after murder of father-in-law Les Samba | Herald Sun: "Nikolic presented himself at the St Kilda Rd offices of the crime department this morning to discuss the cold-blooded street execution of the millionaire racing identity.

He spoke to officers for about two hours, denying involvement in the killing.

The champion jockey was not accompanied by a lawyer.

Homicide squad chief Det-Insp. John Potter said Nikolic was not being treated as a suspect.

Nikolic is the former husband of Mr Samba’s daughter Victoria, who was a Melbourne Spring Carnival ambassador.

Nikolic, who rode Thorn Park to win the 2004 Stradbroke Handicap for Samba, yesterday said the death was a major surprise.

'It's a huge shock,' Nikolic said."

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Gangland widow takes stand

"For more than two weeks Judy Moran has listened as the Crown outlined its case against her; alleging she drove the gunman to and from the scene, disposed of clothing afterwards and that she dumped the alleged get-away vehicle.

Today she walked to the witness box with the aid of a cane, to appear as the first witness in her own defence.

She recalled the shooting deaths of her two sons Mark and Jason and then her ex-de facto husband Lewis Moran.

She told the Court how she always considered them dead but not gone and continued to talk to them from a makeshift shrine in her backyard.

She told the Court that right up until his own violent death in 2004 Lewis Moran continued to pay her bills and to give her $2,000 a month. 'If I needed clothing or anything' she said 'he'd give me more.'

After Lewis Moran was gunned down his brother started giving Judy Moran money. She told the Court it was a couple of thousand dollars on a few occasions but usually just a couple of hundred every three to six months.

Judy Moran says that six months before he was killed, her brother-in-law, who she calls 'Tuppy', ran out of money. He told her he planned to sell a bull to buy her a new car but the bull escaped its enclosure and got hit by a truck."

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Gangland widow takes stand in her own murder trial 17/02/2011

Gangland widow takes stand in her own murder trial 17/02/2011: "The Melbourne gangland widow, Judy Moran, on trial for murder, has taken to the witness box.

Moran is accused of orchestrating the murder of her brother-in-law, Des 'Tuppence' Moran. He was gunned down in the doorway of a cafe in June 2009.

The prosecution alleges that a long-running dispute over money was the motive for the murder.

Today Judy Moran told the Victorian Supreme Court that she didn't like Des Moran but that she never demanded money from him before he died."

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'137th Street Crew,'Gang Case Arrests Are Made,2 Mafia Family' and 'Goons on Deck' gangs

Gang Case Arrests Are Made - WSJ.com: "arrested 14 alleged gang members who they charged had held their central Harlem community 'hostage' by conspiring to turn it into a drug zone using guns, beatings and intimidating fellow members from cooperating with police.


Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced the indictments of 14 members of a street gang called the '137th Street Crew' on Wednesday.

Known as the '137th Street Crew,' the gang of mostly teenagers was a collaboration between the '2 Mafia Family' and 'Goons on Deck' gangs, according to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. He said the gangs operated on 137th Street between Lenox and Seventh avenues.

'The gang over years created an environment where residents lived in a state of fear, waiting for the next gunshot, or the next drug deal or the next act of violence,' Mr. Vance said. He said defendants recruited children under 16 to haul guns, transport drugs and participate in shootings, and used young women to 'move firearms to reduce the likelihood of guns being detected by authorities.'"

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70 reputed Armenian gangsters arrested

More than 70 reputed Armenian gangsters arrested | Reuters: "70 reputed members and associates of the Armenian Power syndicate were arrested on Wednesday in a state and federal crackdown targeting organized crime, authorities said.

The arrests stem from two federal indictments and state cases that charge a total of 113 defendants with crimes including kidnapping, extortion, bank fraud and narcotics trafficking.

Among the accusations are that Armenian Power members installed 'skimming devices' at cash registers of 99 Cents Only stores and stole customers' information to create counterfeit credit and debit card accounts, officials said.

'The indictments targeting Armenian Power provide a window into a group that appears willing to do everything and anything to generate a profit,' said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr."

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Clay Roueche Says he was "Disappointed to Get a 30-Year Sentence

Clay Roueche Says he was "Disappointed to Get a 30-Year Sentence - The Real Scoop: "convicted founder of the United Nations gang is hoping Judge Robert Lasnik will reduce his jail time Tuesday when he returns to a Seattle courtroom to be sentenced for the second time on drug smuggling charges.

Roueche's lawyer Sheryl Gordon McCloud has filed a 29-page sentencing memo, arguing forcefully against a repeat of the 30-year term Roueche was handed in December 2009. She said the U.S. Attorney has filed inflammatory and unsubstantiated information about Roueche and other members of the United Nations Gang. And it would be unfair if any of the material is used in Roueche's re-sentencing Tuesday, she said.

There are many new letters filed with the court - from Roueche's parents, from his sister, from his young daughters, from a former high school teacher and people who knew Roueche growing up.

But Roueche's letter is the longest - eight pages laying out his positive attributes and apologizing for his role in drug smuggling."

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Chandler police searching for suspect in gang shooting

Chandler police searching for suspect in gang shooting: "Chandler police are on a manhunt for a teen wanted in a gang shooting, police said Wednesday.

'He is considered armed and dangerous,' said Chandler Detective Dave Ramer. 'He tried to kill someone.'

The suspect, 17, is accused of firing multiple shots at Josiah Weisman, 19, on Saturday behind a Little Ceasars restaurant on Erie Street near Arizona Avenue, police said."

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'the buck fifty,' a deep gash along the jaw line.It's called that because it takes 150 stitches to close the cut

How to spot a gang member - NorthJersey.com: "Even veteran emergency room personnel were impressed by the photos of bloody street-gang knife wounds known as 'the buck fifty,' a deep gash along the jaw line.
A detail of a tattoo ON a Latin King gang member. ER workers at Englewood Hospital learned on Wednesday how to spot gang signs on patients who pass through the emergency room.
'It's called that because it takes 150 stitches to close the cut,' New Jersey parole officer Raymond Vonderheide told nurses, doctors, technicians and other staff today at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

An appreciative murmur for 'the buck fifty' went up among the about 70 people who attended the conference on hospital security, including how to identify gang members by their tattoos, jewelry, caps, clothing colors, numerical codes, hand signals, graffiti, dance steps and scars."

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Witnesses tell police deadly fight on Avenue D was gang-related

Witnesses tell police deadly fight on Avenue D was gang-related » TCPalm.com: "An early Saturday morning melee at the intersection of Avenue D and North 11th Street that resulted in the shooting death of a woman and the wounding of a man involved rival gangs, a crowd of about 50, several guns and at least one shot-up car, according to witnesses cited in the arrest affidavit of the murder suspect.

Officers responding around 5:30 a.m. to a pool hall called Wilson's at the southwest corner of Avenue D and North 11th Street found 49-year-old Sylvia Ann Jackson of Fort Pierce laying face down on the sidewalk on the northeast corner of the intersection, gunshot wounds in her upper back and left chest. She later died, while 19-year-old Roy Brooks of Fort Pierce survived a gunshot wound to his upper right leg."

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Redding, then allegedly a 17-year-old member of the violent street gang 30 Deep, became the face of Atlanta crime

Trial starts for killing that galvanized Atlanta | ajc.com: "Jonathan Redding's murder trial starts Monday and it represents more than potential justice for a bartender killed in a Grant Park tavern two years ago. The trial symbolizes Atlanta's war on street gangs. And it touches on the palpable anxiety of a city witness to a recent wave of violent crime.
Redding, then allegedly a 17-year-old member of the violent street gang 30 Deep, became the face of Atlanta crime when he was charged with shooting John Henderson during a robbery of the now-defunct Standard Food & Spirits on Memorial Drive on Jan. 7, 2009. Henderson, 27 when he died, came to represent victims in a city that suffered multiple high-profile crimes in the months following his death."

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Prosecutor: Gang member confessed to murder in suicide note

Prosecutor: Gang member confessed to murder in suicide note | kim, gang, talley - News - The Orange County Register: "Asian street gang member typed a suicide note on his computer addressed to 'the pigs and the media,' in which he confessed to gunning down a young woman at a Cypress café and shooting at six others during an unprovoked gang attack, a prosecutor told a jury Monday.
In the note, murder suspect Stephenson Choi Kim said: 'I choose not to live with it anymore' and claimed he was trying to forget what happened March 14, 2004, when he entered the Fifth Wave Café alone with a handgun and started shooting, Deputy District Attorney Cameron Talley said."

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Judy Moran pleads not guilty to murdering Desmond Moran | Herald Sun

Judy Moran pleads not guilty to murdering Desmond Moran | Herald Sun: "A JURY of 10 men and four women is expected to hear prosecution and defence openings in the murder case of Judy Moran today.

Justice Lex Lasry told a 14-member Supreme Court jury yesterday that Mrs Moran was facing a charge of murder and being an accessory after the fact over the death of Desmond Moran in Ascot Vale on June 15, 2009.

Mrs Moran, 66, dressed in a bright floral blouse and wearing smart-looking reading glasses, pleaded not guilty to both charges."

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Asian gang member faces death penalty trial for café shooting

Asian gang member faces death penalty trial for café shooting | kim, gang, prosecutors - News - The Orange County Register: "reputed member of an Asian street gang nicknamed 'Dragon' faces a death penalty trial beginning Monday for allegedly gunning down one woman and shooting at six other people in an unprovoked attack at a Cypress café in 2004.
Stephenson Choi Kim, 31, of San Gabriel, is charged with murder, six felony counts of attempted murder, street terrorism, plus several sentencing enhancements. He is also accused of the special circumstances of committing a murder for the benefit of his street gang, which qualifies him for a potential death sentence.
It is the first death penalty trial in Orange County this year. Opening statements are expected Monday before Superior Court Judge John D. Conley in the Central Justice Center."

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Gangster gets max prison term in dismemberment murder

Gangster gets max prison term in dismemberment murder - SignOnSanDiego.com: "After six years of painstaking investigation and legal holdups, the man who injected 24-year-old Janina Hardoy with a lethal dose of heroin and then spread her dismembered remains throughout the North County was sentenced Friday to 28 years to life in prison.
Joaquin Martinez, 32, was convicted last year of first-degree murder in the 2005 Oceanside slaying, but his sentencing was delayed until now so he could undergo psychological testing to confirm his mental competency."

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U.S. arrests 'most wanted' fugitive at New York airport after extradition from Ukraine - Oneindia News

U.S. arrests 'most wanted' fugitive at New York airport after extradition from Ukraine - Oneindia News: "Veniamin Gonikman, 55, was charged in Detroit in 2005 in a 22-count indictment with trafficking in persons, forced labor, alien smuggling, money laundering, extortion collection, and conspiracy, among other charges. He absconded from the U.S. before being formally charged.


Gonikman, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on Wednesday in Ukraine before being deported to the United States. HSI agents assigned to the Attaché Office in Germany coordinated Gonikman's arrest and deportation with Ukrainian officials.

According to court records, he came to the attention of HSI special agents in Detroit in 2005 when one of his victim's escaped and agents later confirmed he was operating 'Beauty Search, Inc.' in metro Detroit."

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Johnny K-9 arrested for BC murders

Johnny K-9 arrested for BC murders: "Former WWE jobber and Canadian independent wrestler/strongman Ion (John) Croitoru -- Johnny K-9 -- was one of seven men charged last week in B.C. for murders committed during a violent gang war in 2008 and 2009 that turned Vancouver’s streets into a war zone. Croitoru, 44, is charged with the first-degree murder of Jonathan Barber and the attempted murder of Vicky King.

This is not Croitoru’s first foray into crime. His association with the rival United Nations gang is only the tip of the iceberg: he was once charged with a double murder in Ontario, was alleged to be the head of a biker gang, was charged with trafficking cocaine and was a suspect in a police station bombing"

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Fazakerley murder victim Joey Cummins survived previous attempt on life in street shotgun attack - Liverpool Local News - News - Liverpool Echo

Fazakerley murder victim Joey Cummins survived previous attempt on life in street shotgun attack - Liverpool Local News - News - Liverpool Echo: "Convicted drug dealer and avid LFC fan Joseph “Joey” Cummins, 25, was fired at in 2009, just a few hundred yards from where he was murdered in Fazakerley on Thursday night.

A passing police patrol found the victim on Longmoor Lane at just before 9pm on Thursday.

It is thought he had been shot in the back several times as he got into the passenger seat of a car after being inside a nearby house.

Bleeding heavily, he then staggered to near the Fazakerley Car Sales garage before collapsing.

Police called for the ambulance which took him to the nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Scores of tearful friends and family descended on the hospital in the hours after his death.

It is thought the gunman could have been on foot and used the heavy fog that covered the area in a grey blanket to hide before springing the attack.

The driver of the car Cummins was getting into has been spoken to by police."

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