There are nearly 60 street crews--subsets of gangs--in the Bronx, and they include members as young as eight years old.

SIMMONS, HOWARD/SIMMONS, HOWARD

Jose Webster, killed in September, in gang-related shooting.

HAND OUT

Moises "Noah" Lora, 16. Killed on April 17 at Melrose Houses allegedly by gang members.

NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kevin O'Connor, who heads up the department's new Juvenile Justice Division, urged parents in the borough to seek clues about their children's crew involvement--and made a somewhat shocking suggestion: Don't tell your kids to stay out of them.

"Just because a kid is in a crew doesn't make him a perp," O'Connor told a Youth Summit held at Fordham University last week. "It's called survival."

If you tell a kid to stay out of gangs, he'll likely ask you how he's supposed to safely enter his building, O'Connor said.

"Until we come up with an answer, I'm not telling them to get out," he said.

O’Connor painted the grim picture to 100 people gathered at the summit. He said gangsters aren't just Bloods, Crips, Trinitarios and Latin Kings; each Bronx housing project has a street crew. They go by names like Dymes R Us, Billion Dolla Bosses, Mott Haven Gunnaz, and Violating All Bitches.

A week before the summit, 21 members of the "Murda Moore Gangstas," a subset of the Bloods run out of the Moore Houses in Mott Haven, were busted by the NYPD Bronx Gang Squad and federal agents.

"The Moore Houses takedown was a federal takedown and they're looking at serious time," O'Connor said. "I'd like to see a more preventative approach."

While the feds will put away mostly older gangbangers, it's often teens who are getting killed in gang violence nearly every day across the city, O'Connor said.

He mentioned recent cases of kids killed over gang beefs, including the April slaying of Moises Lora, 16 in the Melrose Houses.

"He was associated with the OGz, formerly GFC (God's Favorite Children)," O'Connor said. "They catch him and they stomped him to death, all because he ran with a rival crew."

Sixteen-year-old Jose Webster was killed last September while walking home his girlfriend.

"Someone said, 'You gunnin'?' and shot him 15 times, for no other reason than he said he was gunnin'," O'Connor said. "If the kid doesn't know the right answer, it can get them killed. Jose had no prior criminal record."

Hakiem Yahmadi, 60, whose son was killed in Mott Haven in 2011, helped publicize the summit.

"I think it's going to help, but there should have been more people here," Yahmadi said. “You've got (rallies for) stop and frisk, Trayvon Martin, and Ramarley Graham, but we don't talk about us killing each other."

O’Connor said about 315 crews have been identified citywide. Some are formed among members of rival gangs (Bloods and Crips) to keep the peace.

The young gangsters usually deal marijuana, and rob iPhones and iPads, pricey sneakers, "biggie" down jackets, and fancy headphones.

“The shootings are on facebook," O'Connor said. "The beefs are on facebook. They're on YouTube. We'd be fools not to take advantage of this information."

Elizabeth Thompson, 65, of Kingsbridge said her 17-year-old son Sean Williams was shot in 1997 after intervening in a fight. Now, Thompson says, her son's own son is 17.

"I'm scared whenever he walks out that door," Thompson said. "It might happen to him."

She said she plans to get her grandson to teach her how to use facebook, after what she heard at the summit

Read more...

Vancouver gangs continue violent power struggle

The brazen daytime shooting of Independent Soldiers founder Randy Naicker won’t be the last of the violent power struggle in Vancouver’s gang scene. Vancouver police said it’s too early to tell if Naicker’s shooting is related to last month’s Port Moody murder of Gurbinder Toor of the Dhak-Duhre gang, but said this new brand of gangster is purely opportunistic. Naicker was gunned down around 4:45 p.m. Monday in a laneway outside a Starbucks in Port Moody. Despite a number of witnesses, Const. Lindsey Houghton said Vancouver Police have no information on the shooter. “They’ll take the opportunity if it’s presented to them. We’ve seen that with the Toor shooting, we saw yesterday with the Naicker shooting — they don’t care who’s around,” Houghton said. Naicker, a convicted nidnapper who in 2009 admitted to the National Parole Board he founded the gang’s current brand and logo, was the intended target in a previous shooting outside his halfway house later that year. Gangster Raj Soomel was gunned down instead. Monday’s shooting leaves James Clayton Riach as the best known Independent Soldier left in a leadership role, said RCMP Sgt. Bill Whalen. Riach narrowly escaped last August’s Kelowna shooting in which Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon was killed and Larry Amero of the Hells Angels was wounded. Whalen confirmed that key players in the Red Scorpions and the United Nations gangs are largely in prison, and the Dhak-Duhre group is down to a pair of senior leaders in Sukh Dhak and Balraj Duhre. What’s left is a dangerous vacuum in leadership being fought over across the province. Whalen declined to comment on the current investigation into Naicker’s slaying. Ranj Dhaliwal, the B.C.-based author of Indo-Canadian crime novels, said the bloodshed will only continue. “I think that there is going to be more violence,” Dhaliwal said. “It’s a whole different scene than we’ve had in the last couple decades because now they’re sending out a message that they will get you anytime, anywhere.” “There’s a show of force going on right now,” continued Dhaliwal, adding he believes the attacks at this point are between gangs posturing for turf. Dhaliwal warns as the external struggle for power settles, the internal fight for leadership will start. Doug Spencer, a former member of the Vancouver anti-gang squad, said the leadership is more fluid, and it’s hard to tell who’s on what side at this point. “It’s fly-by-night leaders,” Spencer said, adding the vacuum has left some turfs up for grabs. “While (gang leaders) are inside, other gangs are running around trying to take over what they started,” Spencer said. “The drug business at the SkyTrain in Surrey here — it’s up for grabs.”

Read more...

High Court Judges to lose Their bodyguards

"This can not be right. They can not just do this from one day to the next," said one judge High Court on Monday after learning the bodyguards That Were Being Assigned To him taken away. The Interior Ministry HAS BEGUN ITS plan to massively reduce the number of bodyguards Assigned to Judges, Prosecutors and other Officials, High Court sources said. The Reductions, Including the elimination of Government vehicles for Some Officials, are to start in September Taking effect from today. Among Those Who will be left without protection are three anti-corruption Prosecutors who are Investigating the Russian Mafia Currently the Gürtel and Contracts-for-kickbacks case. It was the High Court's chief criminal judge, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who Informed His colleagues of the Government's decision. The Reasons? The Government no longer feels pressured by ETA, Which Announced an end to attacks last fall, and the move is part of overall cost-cutting Measures ordered by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. INITIALLY, Grande Marlaska, High Court Chief Judge Angel Juanes, chief prosecutor Javier Zaragoza and Judge Jose Luis de Castro, who covers penitentiary issues, will keep Their bodyguards and official vehicles. The rest of the Judges and Prosecutors will now Have to go to work unprotected and by Their Own means. Interior's decision will Radically change the Manner in Which protection is afforded to Courtrooms Interior's decision, if it is finally Implemented across the High Court, will Radically change the Manner in Which protection is afforded to Courtrooms. Until now, judge and prosecutor Each four police officers HAD Assigned to Them, as well as a vehicle. Some Judges Say That They Will the only protection is now Have Regular surveillance of Their homes. The High Court Judges and Its Prosecutors intendant to file a note of protest With The Interior Ministry, the sources said. Their colds are among a complaint That Neither Justice nor the Interior Ministry Officials to Assess Whether made evaluations at Risk Before They Were Deciding to Eliminate bodyguards. The decision to Affect también said the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) legal watchdog and the Supreme Court. In a statement released on Monday, Prosecutors Say That state has not yet ETA disbanded and the Danger Posed by That terrorists still exists. According To Interior Ministry estimates, police officers who 1.010 Some Were serving as bodyguards will be reassigned to other Duties.

Read more...

Bloods gang member from Paterson gets 89 months in prison

federal judge Wednesday sentenced Michael McCloud, of Paterson, to 89 months in prison for his role with the Fruit Town Brims, a set of the Bloods that authorities said terrorized a section of Paterson for years through violent activities connected to dealing drugs. McCloud, 26, also known as “Ike Brim,” was the second Bloods member to be sentenced this week by U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler for their part in a broad racketeering conspiracy to sell narcotics in Paterson and Newark. Chesler Tuesday sentenced Ricky Coleman, also known as “Pool Stick” and “Sticks,” 39, of Newark, to 151 months for a range of violent crimes and racketeering. McCloud was among 15 alleged members and associates of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims charged in a 20-count federal indictment with racketeering, murder and other crimes. He was arrested by federal agents in Passaic in January 2011 and pleaded guilty to the RICO conspiracy charge in August. In his guilty plea, McCloud admitted to selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer on August 30, 2006, together with two other members of the gang. McCloud also admitted to participating in two robberies in Paterson in 2006. In the first robbery, McCloud and another gang member who was armed with an AK-47 broke up a dice game and took drugs, cell phones and money. In the second, McCloud worked with other gang members to commit a robbery in retaliation for the shooting of an associate by a member of a rival gang. In the sentencing hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa L. Jampol said the Fruit Town Brims had asserted a powerful control of a section of Paterson, centered at the intersection of 12th and 22nd streets. The gang members transformed this section into an area “that was completely uninhabitable,” to the point that residents were too afraid to leave their homes and attend church services, Jampol said. McCloud’s attorney, James Patton, said his client had worked hard to turn his life around, and was working full-time at Domino’s Pizza when he was arrested last January in the RICO sweep. McCloud told Chesler that he couldn’t change the past, but was trying to become a better person for the future. “I’m tired of going in and out of jail,” McCloud said. “I’m tired of letting my family down. And I’m tired of being a failure.” But Chesler was unmoved by this testimony. McCloud’s criminal history is a long one that begins at age 15, and there is nothing to indicate that his repeated contact with law enforcement had done anything to deter the young man from a life of drugs and violence, Chesler said. The sentence – the maximum under federal guidelines, with 36 months subtracted due to time already spent in a state prison – was meant to serve as a deterrent to other gang members engaged in the same activities, Chesler said. “His offenses are horrendous,” the judge said. “He was part of a gang that terrorized citizens of this state.”

Read more...

Alleged gang member held on $1 million bail in weekend shooting of 16-year-old girl

When Antuan Joiner fired several times toward Shakaki Asphy in the 2000 block of West 70th Place Saturday night, he also shot a wheelchair-bound 18-year-old in the leg, assistant Cook County State’s attorney Jamie Santini said. Shakaki and a 17-year-old boy were sitting on the porch of an abandoned home when Joiner, 16, emerged from a gangway armed with a black semi-automatic handgun, Santini said. Shakaki was shot at least two times in her abdomen, according to a police report. Her 17-year-old friend was able to shield himself behind a concrete wall before he ran across the street as Joiner kept shooting at him, Santini said. The victim in the wheelchair was at the bottom of the porch’s steps when he was wounded.

Read more...

Man convicted in Gas Town Gang double homicide

19-year-old Oakland man has been convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for fatally shooting two teenagers in West Oakland nearly two years ago. Prosecutor Charles Wilson told jurors in his closing argument on Monday that Nicholas Harris killed 18-year-old Nario Jackson and 17-year-old Edward Hampton in front of the Acorn public housing project in the 1000 block of Eighth Street at about 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2010, because he wanted to prove himself to his gang. Jurors deliberated for less than a full day before announcing their verdict in the packed courtroom of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson, which was guarded by six sheriff's deputies and four district attorney investigators who Jacobson asked to sit in the front row to provide extra security. Family members of Harris, Jackson and Hampton brawled outside the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse during the lunch break in the trial on Monday so deputies escorted the families from the courtroom separately today to try to avoid more fights. As the families left the courtroom Tuesday, Jacobson told them, "Go in peace. Let this trouble end here." Harris, who faces a state prison term of 100 years to life when he's sentenced by Jacobson on Sept. 21, looked straight ahead and showed no emotion when the verdict was announced. But his family members as well as the family members of Jackson and Hampton started sobbing and breathing heavily. Wilson said Harris belonged to the Gas Town Gang and wanted to prove himself to his gang colleagues because they thought he had let them down by allowing another member to be killed in a previous incident. He said Harris killed Jackson and Hampton because he thought it would put him back in the good graces of his gang. Wilson said Jackson was affiliated with the Gas Town Gang but Harris targeted him because Jackson also was affiliated with other groups, including the rival Ghost Town Gang. Jackson was "a turf hopper" and that wasn't acceptable to other gang members, Wilson said. The prosecutor alleged that Harris targeted Hampton because Hampton belonged to the DNI Squeeze Team gang in East Oakland. Wilson said Harris fired multiple shots at Jackson and Hampton as they sat in a blue Jaguar in front of the Acorn housing project, which he said is in the Gas Town Gang's territory. Jackson had borrowed the Jaguar from someone else, he said. Harris admitted committing the killings in text messages and phone conversations with his ex-girlfriend that were presented to the jury and two eyewitnesses testified that they saw him shoot Jackson and Hampton. Jurors also heard recordings of phone calls in which Harris' mother, Ranine Howell, said she would identify and intimidate witnesses in the case. In the phone conversations, Howell asked Harris about what evidence police had against him and whether he wore gloves during the shooting so that his fingerprints wouldn't be found on the murder weapon. Wilson said one of the witnesses who was threatened was Harris' ex-girlfriend, who he said was shot at after her testimony in Harris' preliminary hearing last year and is now in protective custody. Harris' lawyer, Darryl Stallworth, said in his closing argument that the witnesses who identified Harris as the shooter weren't credible. Stallworth said Harris' ex-girlfriend testified against him because she was angry at Harris for cheating on her and another witness was a fellow gang member who implicated Harris because he was a suspect in the double homicide as well as other crimes. The testimony by the fellow gang member can't be trusted because "he would have done or said anything so he wouldn't be arrested," Stallworth said. He told jurors, "There are so many instances of reasonable doubt in this case that you will be overwhelmed and come back with a verdict of not guilty." Jackson's death was the first of two homicides that his family suffered in the span of eight months. Last July 30, Jackson's younger brother, 16-year-old Najon Jackson, was fatally shot in the 9300 block of Sunnyside Street in Oakland shortly before midnight. Oakland police said no one has been arrested in that case so far.

Read more...

Revenge drove gang killing

Two Fullerton gang members were on a revenge trip in March 1996 when they came across a rival – a 16-year-old boy – waiting outside his girlfriend's house, a prosecutor told a jury on Tuesday. The pair left their car and clobbered Troy Gorena with fists and stabbed him to death with a knife before fleeing the scene, Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin said in the opening statements of a murder trial for one of the two men.   Yellin said defendant Joe Luis Garay, Jr., now 36, wielded the knife in the unprovoked attack, while co-defendant Kevin Jerome Carlson, 38, did the punching. Carlson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2010 and now faces a maximum four-year prison sentence. He is expected to testify against Garay. Members of Gorena's gang had beaten Carlson a few weeks before the killing, a defense attorney said Tuesday. The slaying went cold early on due to insufficient evidence. It remained unsolved for more than a dozen years until the Fullerton Police Department and Orange County District Attorney's office reopened the investigation in 2008 with several re-interviewed witnesses, Yellin told the jury. The prosecutor contended the passage of time motivated some of the witnesses who refused to cooperate in 1996 to come forward now. But defense attorney Jerry Schaffer, in his opening statement, insisted that none of those witnesses actually saw the incident take place, and that Garay was on the street at the instant Gorena was stabbed by someone several feet away. The trial before Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals is expected to last about a week. If convicted, Garay could be sentenced to 25 years to a life term in prison.

Read more...

Leaders of El Salvador’s Mara street gangs said they are ready to start negotiations with the government toward a permanent peace pact

Leaders of El Salvador’s Mara street gangs said they are ready to start negotiations with the government toward a permanent peace pact following the success of a three-month-old temporary truce that has lowered the Central American country’s murder rate dramatically. The gang leaders said during a ceremony at the Izalco prison to celebrate the first 100 days of the truce that they want the government to offer job programs or some other sort of aid to gang members in exchange. “We want to reach a definitive ceasefire, to end all the criminal acts of the gangs,” said Mara 18 leader Oscar Armando Reyes. “But we have to reach agreements, because we have to survive. There was talk of job plans, but we haven’t gotten any answers, and it is time for the government to listen to us.” Mr. Reyes said the gangs weren’t thinking of ending the temporary truce. “We are issuing a call for us all to sit down and have a dialogue, to reach a definitive accord,” he said. There was no immediate response from the government. Former leftist guerrilla commander Raul Mijango and Roman Catholic Bishop Fabio Colindres mediated a truce between the Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara 18 gangs in March that has helped lower homicide rates. Mr. Mijango said the country’s homicide rate has dropped from about 14 murders a day in March to about five a day in early June. “This effort has saved the lives of more than 850 innocent Salvadorans,” Mr. Mijango said. An estimated 50,000 Salvadorans belong to street gangs that deal drugs, extort businesses and kill rivals. Gang leaders say they want to stop the violence that has given El Salvador one of the highest murder rates in the world, behind neighbouring Honduras. In April, authorities rejected a proposal that El Salvador’s gangs receive the subsidies the government currently spends on public transportation in exchange for gang members stopping extortion of bus drivers.

Read more...

Indicted gang member arrested

last of 27 alleged gang members indicted in April was arrested Tuesday afternoon by the U.S. Marshals Service. Darius Smith was taken into custody around 3 p.m. after authorities found him on James Street, officials of the service said. The indictment, handed up April 3, alleges that Smith, 29, conspired to sell more than 280 grams of cocaine and heroin. He was to appear Wednesday in U.S. District Court. Smith was allegedly a member of the Uptown, or Gunners, gang. In an April news conference, U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said the gang used guns to terrorize the neighborhood and its members marked buildings in the Central State Street neighborhood with graffiti to mark their territory. The investigation led to the arrests of 27 alleged gang members listed on the indictment; 23 were arrested

Read more...

Malvern Crew gang member ordered deported

An accused member of the notorious Malvern Crew street gang has lost a last-ditch bid to stay in Canada and is being deported to his native Jamaica for criminality. Raoul Andre Burton, 28, of Toronto, was one of 65 suspected members of the east-end gang rounded up in May 2004 by Toronto Police in Project Impact. Members of the gang were involved in a rivalry with the Galloway Boyz over turf in 2003 and 2004 that left four people dead. Burton was charged with nine offences and sentenced to eight-months in jail along with a 165-day stint of pre-sentence custody. He pled guilty to participating in a criminal organization, known as the Malvern Crew, and two counts of drug possession and trafficking that made him inadmissable to Canada Officers of the Canada Border Services Agency have been trying for years to deport Burton, who arrived here from Jamaica at age 10 and never obtained citizenship. Lawyers for Burton sought to appeal the deportation order to the Federal Court of Canada, but Judge David Near dismissed the application which means Burton will be sent packing. “Mr. Burton was right in the thick of things, an active member of the Malvern Crew, actively participating in the activities of the organization,” Near said in his June 11 decision. “He may have occupied a rather influential or responsible place in the organization.” Near said Burton’s involvement with the Malvern Crew was “significant.” “He was obviously fully integrated and well-invested into the organization,” Near wrote. “He was also prepared to engage in criminal activities on a significant scale for the benefit of the organization.” Police gang experts said Burton was a loyal Malvern foot-soldier who was a “good money-earner” for the gang. Officers said the gang was involved in the trafficking, importation and distribution of drugs as well as other crimes, including murder.

Read more...

Fatal shooting possibly to bolster San Bernardino gang

Anthony Phillips, 26, of San Bernardino, is accused of fatally shooting Maurice Major, 29, of Riverside, at an apartment complex in the 1200 block of North Sierra Way. Phillips was arrested the next day. He is charged with one count of murder, and prosecutors have added a gang enhancement for Phillips' alleged involvement in a San Bernardino gang. Phillips, who was in San Bernardino Superior Court on Thursday, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. During the hearing in front of Judge James Dorr, a detective and an officer from the San Bernardino Police Department were called as witnesses. They testified about the shooting and gangs in the area. Phillips, also known as Ant, is affiliated with the Delmann Heights Bloods, said Officer Jonathan Plummer, a gang investigator with the San Bernardino Police Department. "(The shooting) enhances the gang by sending a message to rival gang members and to the community - that Delmann Heights is very violent," Plummer said. The officer testified about Phillips' reported noteworthy tattoos, including "DH" under his eyes, "Bloods" on his body, "San Murderdino" on his abs and "Delmann Heights" on both arms. Witnesses told police that Major was also a gang member, Detective Albert Tello testified. Advertisement His street name was West and he was affiliated with the West Covina Neighbor Hood Crips out of Los Angeles County. Recently, Los Angeles County gangs have come into the Inland Empire to sell drugs, Plummer said. Delmann Heights, which has more than 150 documented members, claims the boundaries of California Street to the west, Medical Center Drive to the east, Cajon Boulevard to the north and Highland Avenue to the south, according to police. Following a recent gang injunction in Delmann Heights, several DH members have migrated over to the 1200 block of Sierra to sell narcotics, Plummer said. Major's girlfriend told police that on the night of the shooting they were at a party outside a San Bernardino apartment complex, Tello testified. She told police that 20 to 30 people were there, including Phillips. The two men were familiar with each other, she told police, and at one point Phillips approached Major and asked to speak with him, Tello testified. The two walked away, Tello said, and while they were talking they got into an argument. Phillips then allegedly shot the victim several times in the chest, the girlfriend told police. "After he shot the victim, the suspect ran from the complex, put the gun away and ran toward Fame Liquor," on Base Line, Tello relayed on the witness stand. Major was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Deputy District Attorney David Tulcan said prosecutors are still investigating whether Major had a gun on him that night. Authorities did find a clear, plastic bag with several pieces of suspected rock cocaine on the victim, police said. Testimony in the preliminary hearing will continue on Monday, where a judge is expected to set trial dates. May was a deadly month for the city. There were 12 reported homicides - five in one week. The spate of May violence prompted memories of the 1990s, when gang violence peaked in the area. The number of people killed in the city this year is up to 23

Read more...

ranking member of the Fruit Town Brims set of the Bloods street gang was sentenced to 63 months in prison Wednesday

A Jersey City man who is a ranking member of the Fruit Town Brims set of the Bloods street gang was sentenced to 63 months in prison Wednesday for his role in the gang’s criminal enterprises, officials said. Tequan Ryals, 34, had pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy before U.S. District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler, who imposed the sentence in Newark federal court Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. Ryals, with fellow gang members, conspired to distribute quantities of heroin in Jersey City between December 2008 and February 2009, according to court documents and statements. Ryals also made two drug sales monitored by law enforcement in December 2008, officials said. Ryals, who was involved in the daily activities of the Fruit Town Brims from 2004 until his arrest, acted as a middleman drug distributor, officials said. Ryals was supplied “bricks” of heroin by an associate of the set and he resold them to gang members, officials said. The indictment unsealed in January 2011 charged Ryals and 14 other defendants with racketeering conspiracy and other offenses including acts pertaining to murder, murder conspiracy, aggravated assaults, a kidnapping, firearms offenses and various drug distribution conspiracies, officials said. The gang members charged in the indictment ran the gang’s activities in Jersey City, Newark, Paterson and other locations, officials said. In November, Ryals completed a state prison term for drug crimes, corrections records say. Last week, 30-year federal prison terms were meted out to Emmanuel Jones, 28, of Jersey City, and Torien Brooks, 31, of Paterson, both members of the Fruit Town and Brick City Brims set of the Bloods, officials said. Jones and Brooks were charged in the July 2004 murder of 17-year-old Michael Taylor of Jersey City, who was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity during gang retaliation, officials said. Fishman credited a number of law enforcement agencies for the investigation leading to Ryals’ conviction, including the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, Hudson County Sheriff’s Office, and Jersey City Police Department.

Read more...

Mob snitch who botched three hits ratted out Colombo gangster in murder trial

A mob snitch who couldn’t shoot straight easily pointed the finger at a reputed Colombo gangster on trial for murder. Dino Basciano took the witness stand in Brooklyn Federal Court to testify that he heard Frank (BF) Guerra was part of a hit team that successfully whacked Joseph Scopo in 1993. Basciano, 56, wasn’t much of a hit man himself, botching at least three rubout attempts. In one case, he shot Patricia Capozzalo, the sister of Peter (Fat Pete) Chiodo, telling defense lawyer Gerald McMahon, “I knew I didn’t kill her. She was still screaming when we left.”

Read more...

Slain teen Ramarly Graham's twin brothers convicted of heading gang

The twin half brothers of Ramarley Graham, the Bronx teen fatally shot by a police officer in February, were convicted Tuesday for gun possenion and being part of a Harlem street gang. Hodean and Kadean Graham were sentenced to eight years in jail for heading a crew known as "One-Twenty-Nine" and "Goodfellas/The New Dons" between 2007 and 2011 in the area around W. 129th Street, between Lenox and Fifth Avenues. The 20-year-old brothers were cleared of attempted murder. "This violent street gang was as young as it was dangerous, its members having been involved in multiple shootings over a four-year period," Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a statement. Fifteen members of the gang were convicted on charges of drug dealing and weapons possession. Last week, police officer Richard Haste, 31, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter for shooting Ramarley Graham in the Bronx while officers were investigating a drug deal. As officers made the bust, they were radioed that Graham was armed, when he in fact was not. Graham was shot was trying to flush a bag of marijuana down a toilet. Haste's attorney said in court that the officer was conviced the teen was carrying a weapon.

Read more...

shooting a cop dead is now legal in the state of Indiana.

Governor Mitch Daniels, a Republican, has authorized changes to a 2006 legislation that legalizes the use of deadly force on a public servant — including an officer of the law — in cases of “unlawful intrusion.” Proponents of both the Second and Fourth Amendments — those that allow for the ownership of firearms and the security against unlawful searches, respectively — are celebrating the update by saying it ensures that residents are protected from authorities that abuse the powers of the badge. Others, however, fear that the alleged threat of a police state emergence will be replaced by an all-out warzone in Indiana. Under the latest changes of the so-called Castle Doctrine, state lawmakers agree “people have a right to defend themselves and third parties from physical harm and crime.” Rather than excluding officers of the law, however, any public servant is now subject to be met with deadly force if they unlawfully enter private property without clear justification. “In enacting this section, the general assembly finds and declares that it is the policy of this state to recognize the unique character of a citizen's home and to ensure that a citizen feels secure in his or her own home against unlawful intrusion by another individual or a public servant,” reads the legislation. Although critics have been quick to condemn the law for opening the door for assaults on police officers, supporters say that it is necessary to implement the ideals brought by America’s forefathers. Especially, argue some, since the Indiana Supreme Court almost eliminated the Fourth Amendment entirely last year. During the 2011 case of Barnes v. State of Indiana, the court ruled that a man who assaulted an officer dispatched to his house had broken the law before there was “no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.” In turn, the National Rifle Association lobbied for an amendment to the Castle Doctrine to ensure that residents were protected from officers that abuse the law to grant themselves entry into private space. “There are bad legislators,” the law’s author, State Senator R. Michael Young (R) tells Bloomberg News. “There are bad clergy, bad doctors, bad teachers, and it’s these officers that we’re concerned about that when they act outside their scope and duty that the individual ought to have a right to protect themselves.” Governor Daniels agrees with the senator in a statement offered through his office, and notes that the law is only being established to cover rare incidents of police abuse that can escape the system without reprimand for officers or other persons that break the law to gain entry. “In the real world, there will almost never be a situation in which these extremely narrow conditions are met,” Daniels says. “This law is not an invitation to use violence or force against law enforcement officers.” Officers in Indiana aren’t necessarily on the same page, though. “If I pull over a car and I walk up to it and the guy shoots me, he’s going to say, ‘Well, he was trying to illegally enter my property,’” Sergeant Joseph Hubbard tells Bloomberg. “Somebody is going get away with killing a cop because of this law.” “It’s just a recipe for disaster,” Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police President Tim Downs adds. “It just puts a bounty on our heads.”

Read more...

Alleged boss of right-wing Colombian drug gang captured by Venezuelan troops in border area

Venezuelan soldiers captured an alleged Colombian drug trafficker Sunday who authorities say ruthlessly ran the neighboring country’s biggest right-wing criminal gang and conspired to export tons of cocaine to the United States through Mexico and Central America. Diego Perez Henao, 41, is one of Colombia’s “most sinister drug traffickers and murderers,” Colombia’s national police director-designate, Gen. Jose Roberto Leon, told reporters in Bogota. 0 Comments Weigh InCorrections? Personal Post Colombian officials called him the leader of the “Rastrojos,” or Leftovers, a violent offshoot of the Norte del Valle cartel that engages in drug trafficking, extortion and murder as it competes with other criminal bands that grew out of the far-right militias known as paramilitaries. The gang, which is thought to have hundreds of members, operates on Colombia’s Pacific coast and along the border with Venezuela, Colombian police say. Better known by his alias “Diego Rastrojo,” Perez was indicted in 2011 in Florida on charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. The U.S. State Department had a $5 million reward out for his capture. Henao was pretending to be foreman of a rice farm in Venezuela’s border state of Barinas, living with 10 bodyguards who posed as his workers, and was arrested just before dawn Sunday, Leon said. Venezuela’s justice minister, Tareck El Aissami, said at a news conference that Perez was “one of the most wanted criminals in Latin America” and that the government of President Hugo Chavez planned to turn him over the Colombian authorities. Colombian and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents led Venezuelan authorities to Perez, said a U.S. government official, who spoke on condition he not be further identified because of the political sensitivity. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos praised the cooperation of Venezuela’s counter-narcotics police, and Leon said two informants would receive cash rewards from the United States. The U.S. State Department said Perez has “been linked to kidnappings, tortures and assassinations in Colombia, Venezuela, and Panama.” Perez was a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Latin America’s largest leftist rebel band, when the Norte del Valle cartel recruited him in the 1990s. Such shifts in ideological allegiance occur periodically in Colombia’s drug-fueled conflict, often propelled by lucre. Perez became a lieutenant of Wilber Varela, a former Colombian police officer and one of that cartel’s last remaining bosses. He and the other top leader of Los Rastrojos, Javier Antonio Calle Serna, are believed responsible for the 2008 killing of Varela in Venezuela’s western city of Merida, said Leon, the Colombian police director. Calle Serna turned himself in to U.S. authorities last month. Another of his brothers, Juan Carlos Calle Serna, was arrested in Ecuador in March and sent to the United States and a third brother, Luis Enrique Calle Serna, remains a fugitive and is believed to be the titular head of Los Rastrojos, Leon added. DEA regional director Jay Bergman said the Rastrojos have dominated Colombia’s Pacific maritime cocaine-smuggling routes as well as production in the country’s southwest. He said Perez was among Colombia’s most violent criminals. “Violence is what got him there and violence was what was going to keep him in power,” Bergman said. “His pedigree from his early trafficking days is that he came out of the sicarios (cartel hitmen), so violence is in his DNA.” Bergman noted that major Colombian traffickers are increasingly hiding outside their homeland — and being caught there. Perez’s capture was the latest in a series of arrests of reputed Colombian drug traffickers in Venezeula that began after Santos took office in August 2010. Venezuela has been a major cocaine transit country in recent years, responsible for the majority of smuggling flights bound for Mexico and Central America, according the Colombian and U.S. officials.

Read more...

Traveling gang linked to San Luis crime wave

A recent carjacking, the holdup of a business and a string of residential burglaries are presenting this city's acting police chief with a baptism by fire as the new head of the police department. The break-ins, dozens of which have occurred since February, are believed to have been committed by a traveling band of burglars whose tactics have included phoning in false reports to police in an effort to divert officers away from neighborhoods they are targeting, says Police Commander Arturo Ramos. In the short term, the police department will launch a public awareness campaign to stress to residents the importance of organizing Neighborhood Watch programs and taking other preventive measures to curtail home break-ins, he said. But Ramos, who took over as acting chief after the resignation earlier this month of Eddie Munoz, says the department needs additional officers to cover the city's streets. Robberies such as the carjacking and the holdup of Desert Water are rare occurrences in San Luis, Ramos said, but should serve to remind police officers that as the city continues to grow, so could violent crime. In the holdup on March 12, a man whose face was covered by some type of black face or greasepaint walked into Desert Water on 2nd Avenue, displayed a pistol and fled on foot with an undisclosed sum of money from the cash register. Earlier in the month, according to police, a customer leaving a restaurant on the same street was confronted by an armed man with a handkerchief covering his face. The man got into the victim's car and demanded he drive him out of town. At County 19th Street and Avenue 1E, the carjacker let the victim out of the car and drove away in the vehicle, found later in Maricopa County by sheriff's deputies there. No one was injured in either incident, and no suspects have been arrested. The robbery came as police were dealing with a string of home break-ins committed over the past several months by what is believed to be an organized band of burglars from out of town. In all, police have taken reports of 41 residential burglaries since February. Typically the stolen property is clothing and other items that can then be sold at swap meets with little risk of being traced through serial numbers or other means, he said. “We think they are career criminals who don't have any connections in San Luis. They move from place to place.” The break-ins began in residential subdivisions on the city's east side, such as Los Alamos and Los Olivos, but have since moved to the west side to subdivisions such as Rio Sereno. The burglars “know how much time they have” to get in and out of a home, Ramos said. “They work in pairs, just seconds ahead of the officers. They know where the officers are, so if the officers go to one of the locations, (the burglars) hit in another area of the city.” In some cases, he said, the police department has received false reports of crimes in an effort to divert officers from neighborhoods where burglars want to strike. Ramos said one of his goals is to provide for more ongoing training for officers. One of the tools the department uses toward that end is a laser-shooting incident simulator, where a computer is used to mimic an armed confrontation on a screen to test the officers' responses. Officers have been required to complete the simulator training once a year but will now undergo it several times a year. Ramos hopes to be given council approval to increase the number of officers in the department to be able to beef up the department's presence on the streets. “We need more officers. We have the basics now, four officers per shift and a sergeant, but if two are sick at any time, we have two on — and we have an area of 33 square miles to patrol.” He said the department could use at least nine additional officers.

Read more...

If Chicago were a war zone, it would be a deadlier one for Americans than Afghanistan.

In fact, according to the Department of Defense and FBI data, the number of Chicagoans murdered is two and a half times U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001. With NATO in the rear-view mirror, area law enforcement officials and politicians will turn their attention away from unruly protestors back to the city's rising murder rate - up 54 percent from last year, according to police data. Last week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new strategy to combat gang activity in crime hot spots to halt the killing. The strategy, called a "wraparound plan," focuses on improving neighborhood services after police descend on an area to target and remove gangs. "Once we make arrests, and we eliminate a narcotics organization, we are committed to holding onto that turf, to that territory, to squeeze out the drug market and the violence," said Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy last week. Homicides in Chicago have spiked this year, though overall crime is down. Chicago has had 169 murders in 2012, compared to 110 at the same date last year. Overall, the city's crime rate is down 11 percent from last year. According to FBI and Department of Defense data, 5,056 people have been murdered in Chicago since 2001, compared with 1,976 total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan since 2001. Chicago's murder rate even outpaces total NATO coalition fatalities in Afghanistan since 2001 by a difference of more than 2,500 killed. The proposed wraparound plan is part of McCarthy's broader strategy to use data to concentrate police resources in troubled parts of the city, a strategy that reduced overall crime rates in New York by 80 percent in the 1990s. One of the programs developed in New York in the 1990s was a data-mapping system used to identify crime hot-spots. McCarthy brought the system, called CompStat, to Chicago last year; it helps police identify neighborhoods in which crime is likely to occur by tracking crime report trends. "Smart policing is about using resources and information to prevent violence," said Andrew Papachristos, a Harvard sociologist who studies street gangs, violent crime and gun violence. "It's not about going out and arresting people, it's about cooling people down." According to the Chicago Crime Lab, a research program at the University of Chicago, New York's turnaround in the 1990s was accomplished without mass incarcerations. Incarceration rates actually decreased by 28 percent in New York, while the national incarceration rate increased by 65 percent during the same period. Controversial strategies used in New York, such as the aggressive "stop and frisk" program, have not been adopted in Chicago. Explanations for the surge in Chicago murders range from the unseasonably warm winter to a police personnel shortage due to budget cuts. According to City Hall, the police department is short nearly 2,300 officers. Papachristos, however, argues that despite Chicago's need for more cops, a good policing strategy can still reduce crime. "Smart policing is better than more policing," he said. "It's not about how many people you have on the street, but having the right people on the street - one good cop is better than three average cops."

Read more...

Dog 'The Bounty Hunter' Chapman's Show Canceled

Dog "The Bounty Hunter" Chapman will have more time on his hands to catch criminals, because his show on A&E is being canceled ... TMZ has learned. Multiple sources connected with the show tell us ... Dog's people and A&E have been negotiating, but the network has now decided to pull the plug and not do season 9. One source connected with Dog tells us the cancellation is based on "creative differences."  But here's the reality ... saying "creative differences" is like breaking up with a girl and saying, "It's not you, it's me."

Read more...

Motorcyclists beat videotaping driver on Highway 101

A driver who lost control of his Toyota Prius while shooting a cellphone video of motorcycle riders on Highway 101 Sunday in Belmont was beaten and threatened after he slammed into them, injuring two riders. According to California Highway Patrol Officer Art Montiel, the collision happened around 8:08 a.m. near the Ralston Avenue exit as the driver and motorcyclists headed north. The driver, who remains unidentified, swerved into the center divider while recording and then hit one rider. The car then bounced back across two lanes and hit another. After the crash some of the angry riders hit the Prius driver in the head and threatened him with a knife, Montiel said. No riders were arrested and the assault is still under investigation. The Prius driver was cited on suspicion of driving while distracted but was not arrested. Both bikers and the videotaping motorist were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Montiel said all three were expected to be released Sunday. Some of the bikers at the scene of the crash were Hells Angels, Montiel said. The injured riders, however, were members of a different club, and the name was not immediately available. Montiel said it was not clear why the driver was taking the cellphone video. He did not have any further details about the people involved in the collision.

Read more...

Nortenos members indicted for murder in Dodge City

Federal prosecutors in Kansas unsealed charges Friday against 23 members of a Dodge City, Kan., street gang, including counts alleging racketeering and murder. Members of the Nortenos allegedly killed Israel Peralta and wounded another man near a Dodge City trailer park in June 2009, said U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom. “They engaged in drug trafficking, robbery and even murder for the purpose of expanding their power, wealth and influence,” Grissom said. The indictment culminated a two-year investigation of the Nortenos by Dodge City police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and other law enforcement agencies. The racketeering portion of the indictment includes numerous allegations of violent crimes, including murder, attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon. The charges also contend that the Nortenos robbed Guatemalan immigrants who worked in nearby beef packing plants, finding them easy targets because the victims often did not use banks and tried to avoid contact with law enforcement. Dodge City Police Chief Craig Mellecker said increased gang violence prompted authorities to open the investigation. The federal indictment included counts against Jason Najera, 28, who is alleged to have been the leader of the Nortenos. Those facing murder allegations include Pedro Garcia, 25, Gonzalo Ramirez, 26, Russell Worthey, 23, and Anthony Wright, 26. “Gangs of armed men will not be permitted to prey on the weak or to exchange fire while the rest of us scramble for cover,” Grissom said.

Read more...

Massachusetts Art Heist: Search of Alleged Mobster's Home Yields 2 Guns

None of the priceless masterpieces from a record art heist were found today in a search by the FBI on the property of an alleged mobster, according to his attorney. Authorities conducted the search today on the property of Robert Gentile, 75, who was arrested in February on federal drug charges. The warrant allowed ground-penetrating radar to be used so agents could search for weapons, said A. Ryan McGuigan, Gentile's attorney. The search today yielded two guns. "Nobody cares about [the guns]. What they were looking for was stolen art," McGuigan told ABCNews.com at the end of the day. The search warrant marked the second time the FBI had searched Gentile's property. Both warrants were for weapons, McGuigan said, because the statute of limitations on the art theft case had expired. Among the masterpieces stolen more than 20 years ago were works by Degas and Rembrandt. In March, a federal prosecutor said Gentile may have some connection to the art heist at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment today on the search or what connection Gentile could have to the heist. During the early hours of March 18, 1990, two men disguised as police officers were let inside the museum through a security door. The museum's guard was told the officers were responding to a call. Josh Reynolds/AP Photo Empty frames from which thieves took "Storm... View Full Size Art Heist at Boston Museum Watch Video Masterpiece Mystery: Gift or Theft? Watch Video Judge's Son Arrested in Casino Heist Watch Video Once inside, the thieves asked the guard to step away from the security desk, saying there was a warrant for his arrest. The move kept the guard more than a safe distance from the museum's emergency alert button. The other guard was called to the security desk, where the thieves handcuffed the workers and marched them into the basement. The men were secured to pipes and their hands, feet and heads were duct-taped. When the guards' morning replacement arrived, he discovered 13 pieces of art were missing, including work by Degas, Rembrandt, Manet and Vermeer. The art heist has produced few leads -- even with seasoned investigators on the case -- until now. Gentile was arrested on federal drug charges after he allegedly sold prescription drugs to an undercover agent. McGuigan said he believes it was a ruse to allow authorities to search Gentile's home, because the statute of limitations on the art heist had expired. "It is our contention he was set up by the FBI to sell drugs to an undercover agent so they could execute a search warrant on his home," McGuigan said. The first search yielded firearms, ammunition and homemade silencers, adding more federal charges to Gentile's rap sheet. McGuigan said the FBI claimed the first search wasn't thorough enough, so they issued a warrant for a second search, which included the ability to use ground-penetrating radar in Gentile's yard. "They're pretty thorough. The FBI doesn't miss things," McGuigan said, underscoring his point that his client's alleged crimes were a ruse to search his property for the missing paintings. The heist has remained at the top of the list of the FBI's Art Recovery Squad. The works are worth an estimated half a billion dollars, making it the largest art theft in history, according to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Twenty-two years later, empty frames continue to hang in the museum as placeholders for the works the museum hopes will one day be returned. Gentile pleaded not guilty to federal weapon and gun charges last month and is being held without bond.

Read more...

US blacklists sons of Mexico drug lord Joaquin Guzman

The US treasury department has put two sons of Mexico's most wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on its drugs kingpin blacklist. The move bars all people in the US from doing business with Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, and freezes any US assets they have. Joaquin Guzman, on the list since 2001, runs the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel. Mexico has seen an explosion of violence in recent years as gangs fight for control of trafficking routes. The US administration "will aggressively target those individuals who facilitate Chapo Guzman's drug trafficking operations, including family members," said Adam Szubin, director of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control . "With the Mexican government, we are firm in our resolve to dismantle Chapo Guzman's drug trafficking organisation." Ovidio Guzman plays a significant role in his father's drug-trafficking activities, the treasury department said. Ivan Archivaldo Guzman was arrested in 2005 in Mexico on money-laundering charges but subsequently released. As well as the Guzman brothers, two other alleged key cartel members, Noel Salgueiro Nevarez and Ovidio Limon Sanchez, were listed under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. They were both arrested in Mexico in 2011 and are still in custody. Under the Kingpin Act, US firms, banks and individuals are prevented from doing business with them and any assets the men may have under US jurisdiction are frozen. More than 1,000 companies and individuals linked to 94 drug kingpins have been placed on the blacklist since 2000. Penalties for violating the act range include up to 30 years in prison and fines up to $10m (£6m). The US has offered a reward of up to $5m a for information leading to the arrest of Joaquin Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001.

Read more...

FBI offers up to $100,000 for info leading to capture of Eduardo Ravelo

Eduardo Ravelo, born on October 13, 1968 was added as the 493rd fugitive to the FBI 10 most wanted list on October 20, 2009. He is originally from Mexico, however he holds permanent residency status in the United States which gives him free movement across the border. An FBI informant and former lieutenant in the Barrio Azteca, a prison gang active in the U.S. and Mexico, testified that Ravelo told him to help find fellow gang members who had stolen from the cartel. In March 2008, he became the leader of the gang shortly after betraying his predecessor, stabbing him several times and shooting him in the neck. (Eduardo Ravelo: Wikipedia) Eduardo Ravelo was indicted in Texas in 2008 for his involvement in racketeering activities, conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, and conspiracy to possess heroin, cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute. His alleged criminal activities began in 2003. He is believed to be living in an area of Cuidad Juarez controlled by the Barrio Ravelo, with his wife and children just across the border from El Paso, Texas. He is also said to have bodyguards and armored vehicles to protect him from rival gangs as well as rival cartels.

Read more...

Gas canister man storms office

One of the country's busiest shopping streets has been closed as a man wearing gas canisters stormed into an office and threatened to blow himself up, it was reported. Tottenham Court Road in central London was closed after police received emergency calls at midday. Scotland Yard sent a hostage negotiator to the scene amid reports the man had held people hostage inside the building several floors up. Pictures emerged of computer and office equipment being thrown through one of the office windows. A police spokesman said it was "too early to say if the suspect was armed or indeed had taken any hostages" but businesses and nearby buildings were evacuated. Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: "There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building. "All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut. "We don't know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage."

Read more...

Busy London street evacuated over ‘hostage situation’

POLICE have been called to a potential hostage situation after Tottenham Court Road in London, one of the country’s busiest shopping streets, was closed. Businesses and shoppers were evacuated from the area at midday. Scotland Yard said it had sent a negotiator to the scene after reports of a man throwing furniture out of a window several floors up. A spokesman said it was “too early to say if the suspect was armed or indeed had taken any hostages”. Joaqam Ramus, who works at nearby Cafe Fresco, said before being evacuated: “There was talk of a bomb and somebody having a hostage in a building. “All Tottenham Court Road is closed and so are we - the police told us to shut. “We don’t know what it is but it seems someone has a hostage.” A spokesman for Transport for London could not confirm details of the ongoing operation but confirmed they were “aware of an incident”. Staff from news website The Huffington Post UK were evacuated from their building after a man reportedly wearing a gas canister threatened to blow himself up in the adjoining building, they said. People near the scene reported shots being fired and said computers and equipment had been thrown out of the windows of the office block housing the Huffington Post. Huffington Post UK executive editor Stephen Hull posted a video on Twitter of an office worker who saw the man enter the building. Abby Baafi, 27, the head of training and operations at Advantage, a company which offers HGV courses, told Mr Hull the man had targeted her offices and was currently holding four men hostage. In a video posted on YouTube, she said: “What happened is, we were in the office and someone came in. He asked him what his name was and he said it was Michael Green. “I recognised him because he was one of our previous customers but he is not quite stable - mentally stable. “He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office. “He said he doesn’t care about his life. He doesn’t care about anything, he is going to blow up everybody. “He was specifically looking for me but I said ‘My name’s not Abby’ and he let me go.” Ms Baafi said the man failed the HGV training course and wanted his money back.

Read more...

Credit card fraud websites shut down on three continents

Three men have been arrested and 36 criminal websites selling credit card information and other personal data shut down as part of a two-year international anti-fraud operation, police have confirmed. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), working with the FBI and US Department of Justice, as well as authorities in Germany; the Netherlands; Ukraine; Australia and Romania, swooped after identifying the sites as specialising in selling card and bank details in bulk. The move comes as a blow to what is a growing black market for stolen financial data. Detectives estimated that the card information seized could have been used to extract more than £500m in total by fraudsters. SOCA claimed it has recovered more than two and a half million items of compromised personal and financial information over the past two years. “The authorities have shut down 36 websites but it is difficult to know how many other people had access to that data. They could spring back up somewhere else if a gang is not eradicated completely,” said Graham Cluley of internet security firm Sophos. He added: “This is big business and, just as in any legitimate company there are people who specialise in different things, so there are those who actually get their hands on the personal data and those who sell it on; they are not often the same person.” An investigation by The Independent last summer found that scammers were making a “comfortable living” getting their hands on sensitive information and selling it online. Card details were being offered for sale for between 4p and £60 per card – depending on the quality – according to one source in the business. Some cards would be sold with incomplete or unreliable information; others ready to use. Some of the card details for sale on the websites shut down by SOCA were being sold for as little as £2 each. Investigators said that the alleged fraudsters were using Automated Vending Carts, which allowed them to sell large quantities of stolen data. They are said to be a driver of the growth in banking fraud over the last 18 months because of the speed with which stolen data can be sold. Lee Miles, Head of Cyber Operations for SOCA said: “This operation is an excellent example of the level of international cooperation being focused on tackling online fraud. Our activities have saved business, online retailers and financial institutions potential fraud losses estimated at more than half a billion pounds, and at the same time protected thousands of individuals from the distress caused by being a victim of fraud or identity crime.” An alleged operator in Macedonia was one of those arrested, while two British men accused of buying the information were also detained. Britain’s Dedicated Cheque & Plastic Crime Unit also seized computers suspected of being used to commit fraud.

Read more...

Shooting a 'warning' from rival bikie gang

SIMMERING tension between rival bikie gangs exploded on the Gold Coast yesterday with the drive-by shooting of a tattoo parlour in the heart of Bandidos territory. Police fear the attack could be a push for territory by the Hells Angels as the outlaw gang seeks a toehold on the lucrative Glitter Strip. Less than 24 hours after police commissioner Bob Atkinson told the Bulletin that bikie gangs were "one of the greatest challenges to face law enforcement", the Bandido-protected Mermaid Beach tattoo shop was hit by at least four shots in the early hours of yesterday morning.  High-ranking police yesterday said it was "inevitable" that the violence that has plagued Sydney would eventually spill across the border. "We do not believe it is directly connected to the war between the Hells Angels and the Nomads that has been unfolding in New South Wales," said police. "But it is a similar style of attack. "We know the Hells Angels have been pushing to establish a chapter on the Gold Coast -- that push is coming from Sydney. "Tradelink Drive is not their most profitable chapter." While detectives have attempted to play down the shooting, police say there is "no doubt" it was intended as a warning. The Bandidos are the largest and one of the most secretive bikie gangs on the Gold Coast. The club has gained strength as its main rival -- the Finks -- have been severely weakened with so many senior members behind bars and Bandido territory stretches south from Broadbeach. Police said last month's Hells Angels National Run was intended as a direct message to all gangs on the Gold Coast. More than 200 patched gang members descended on Surfers Paradise for the run. "These clubs are so well organised, they do nothing without a reason," police said. "You can bet they had some purpose in coming to the Gold Coast. "They taunted the Finks and nothing happened, now the Bandidos tattoo shop is shot up in the same way the gym controlled by the Hells Angels was hit a few months ago. "You join the dots." The shop is owned by a senior member of the outlaw gang who has been a patched member of the Bandidos "for years", police say. In an exclusive interview with the Bulletin, Mr Atkinson said the danger of bikie gangs was "under-rated" by the community. "The outlaw motorcycle gangs nationally present one of the greatest challenges to police. "I think the degree of that challenge and the risk they present to our society is underrated." The Gold Coast has one of the highest populations of bikie gangs in the country. Mr Atkinson said he would not be surprised if the Hells Angels were not considering a move closer to the Glitter Strip. "They are businesses, they look for opportunity so that wouldn't be a surprise," he said. "They market themselves as a group of mature men who have a love and interest in motorbikes and they do that very cleverly. The reality is they are highly sophisticated, well organised criminal enterprises that pose a genuine risk to the community and many are well represented by the finest and best lawyers who they retain to represent them." South East Region Assistant Commissioner Graham Rynders said the gangs were constantly looking to expand. "One of things about OMCGs is they look for opportunity for criminal enterprise," Mr Rynders said. "Throughout Queensland, throughout the country, probably throughout the world they are looking to expand. It is obviously dictated to by territory, depending on who or what other groups exist in what areas."

Read more...

Jury hears grisly details about murder scene

Police discovered a grisly scene on Sept. 10, 2000, when they entered a Cogmagun Road home in Hants County. “It was a very brutal scene,” Cpl. Shawn Sweeney, who was a constable with the Windsor rural RCMP detachment that day, testified Tuesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Kentville. It was the second day of trial for Leslie Douglas Greenwood, 42, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Barry Kirk Mersereau, 48, and his wife, Nancy Paula Christensen, 47. Sweeney, a Crown witness, testified that he and four other police officers who responded to a 911 call found Christensen sitting upright in a chair in the living room of her Centre Burlington home with a bullet wound in her left cheek, under her glasses. She had a cup of tea in her hand and a small dog was sitting in her lap. There were several bullet casings and lead fragments scattered on the floor. Mersereau was lying face down, with pools of blood around his head and body. Another dog, believed to be a German shepherd-Rottweiler mix, was hiding under covers on the bed in the master bedroom. A third dog was tied to the front porch and another had run off into the woods. Sweeney told Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy and the seven-woman, five-man jury hearing the case that the house appeared to be neat and orderly, with no signs of struggle. “It didn’t appear to be a house that was rifled through or things thrown around,” Sweeney testified. Const. Glenn Bonvie told the court it was immediately obvious that Mersereau and Christensen were dead. “There was no movement. There was no doubt that they were deceased.” Crown witness Ronald Connors owned a hunting cabin in the woods about half a kilometre away from the couple’s house. He testifed that he heard several shots at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 9. Connors said he heard six shots fired in quick succession, followed by a pause and a couple more shots. Moments later, there were more shots. He said he thought at first someone might be jacking deer, but Connors concluded that the shots didn’t sound like those from a high-powered hunting rifle. The jury was shown a video of the two bodies as they were found. Former RCMP officer David Clace, then in charge of the RCMP’s forensics identification unit in New Minas, said a large amount of money was found in plastic bags in a gym bag in one of the bedroom closets. The bag was later determined to contain about $65,000 in cash. Crown attorney Peter Craig has told the court that the victims were shot to death in their home in an execution-style killing as part of a Hells Angels-ordered killing. “They were killed in their home in a quiet community, with a teapot on the stove, with no signs of struggle and their baby in the next room,” Craig told the jury. He said evidence presented by as many as 40 Crown witnesses will show that Michael Lawrence and Greenwood murdered the couple on the orders of Jeffrey Lynds, a former Hells Angels operative who died recently in a Montreal jail of an apparent suicide. Lawrence, who owed Lynds money, pleaded guilty last January to three charges of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Also killed that day, by Lawrence, was Charles Maddison, an innocent man who picked Lawrence up hitchhiking. Lawrence shot him to take his truck to commit a planned robbery. Craig said Lawrence, expected to be a crucial Crown witness, will testify that he and Greenwood shot the couple, one with a .357 Magnum, the other with a 32-calibre handgun, in what he called “planned and deliberate” killings. The couple’s 18-month-old baby boy was safely recovered from the house by neighbour Ruby McKenzie, who went to the victim’s home the day after the shootings. McKenzie said she brought the baby back to her mobile home and called police. Greenwood sat quietly during the proceedings, occasionally exchanging comments with his lawyer, Alain Begin. Begin is expected to argue that Greenwood went to the Mersereau house the day of the shootings to buy drugs, and that Lawrence shot the couple while Greenwood was waiting outside. Also charged with first-degree murder in the killings is Curtis Blair Lynds, 36, who is serving time in a federal prison for drug trafficking. A preliminary inquiry in his case is scheduled to begin July 16.

Read more...

FEARS that gun-fuelled bikie wars are spreading across Australia continue to grow as authorities in three states try to grapple with the spiralling fire arm problem.

Yesterday NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione warned that a US-style gun culture was heading to Australia. He said in NSW said the shootings between rival bikie and other criminal gangs were generally over drugs, turf or organised crime and previously were resolved with a punch-up. "Well, those days appear to have gone," Mr Scipione said. More likely, he believes Australia's biggest city is shifting towards American gun culture, where people settle disputes with firearms. Nine men have suffered gunshot wounds during 19 shootings in Sydney in April with a total of 52 shootings occurring in Sydney in 2012. "Perhaps we're moving down the American path where these sorts of disputes are resolved on the end of a handgun," Ms Scipione said.

Read more...