NYPD detective suspended after kidnapping victim found in his garage

17-year veteran of the New York Police Department has been suspended without pay after a kidnapping victim was found tied up in his garage. The New York Post reports Ondre Johnson, a detective with the Brooklyn north gang unit, was being questioned in connection with the incident and was forced to surrender his gun and badge. A source tells the Post the 25-year-old victim was snatched off the street on July 26. The victim's friends then got calls demanding $75,000 for the victim's release. The call was traced to Johnson's home, MyFoxNY.com reports. When authorities arrived Friday afternoon, Johnson answered the door and identified himself as a detective with the NYPD. Investigators then found the victim tied up in the garage. Four men have been charged in the apparent kidnapping scheme, MyFoxNY.com reports. 30-year-old Hakeem Clark, who lives in the same building as Johnson, was charged with kidnapping and weapons possession along with 27-year-old Jason Hutson and 27-year-old James Gayle. 24-year-old Alfredo Haughton was charged with kidnapping.

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Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson is back on the streets

Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson is back on the streets – less than halfway through his prison sentence for laundering £1million of drugs cash. Scotland’s most powerful mobster has been enjoying meals at expensive restaurants and socialising with pals after being allowed home for a week each month. Stevenson – who was also accused of shooting dead his best friend in an underworld hit – was put behind bars in September 2006 when he was arrested after a four-year surveillance operation by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. He was later sentenced to 12 years and nine months for money laundering. But, we can reveal, he is now allowed out of Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee – just five years and 10 months later. A source said: “He seems determined to show his face all around town to deliver the message that he’s back and, as far as he’s concerned, nothing has changed. “A lot of people are surprised that he’s being allowed out so early. Some are not too pleased about it for a number of reasons.” Stevenson, 47, has been spotted at Bothwell Bar & Brasserie, which is run by his friend Stewart Gilmore. He and his cronies have also dined at upmarket Italian restaurant Il Pavone in Glasgow’s Princes Square shopping centre. And Stevenson has joined friends at various other restaurants and hotels, including Glasgow’s Hilton Garden Inn. A Sunday Mail investigation can today reveal that the Parole Board for Scotland could recommend Stevenson’s total freedom as early as February next year. However, the final decision on his release will rest with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. Yesterday, Labour justice spokesman Lewis Macdonald said: “I’m surprised to hear this and that anyone in these circumstances should get out of jail before the halfway point of their sentence – far less so when the conviction is of someone involved in organised crime. “The only circumstances where that would be conceivable would be if someone completely changed their lifestyle. But even then that should not be before they’ve served half their sentence. “I’m sure the victims of these crimes – and with drugs there are direct and indirect victims – will also be surprised at this.” To prepare Stevenson for his release, prison bosses have allowed him to stay a full week each month at his modest flat in Burnside, near Glasgow. On Friday, we watched him leaving the property with his wife Caroline and driving off in a silver Audi. A prison service insider said: “The Parole Board expect the prison authorities to have allowed home visits to test suitability for release ahead of the first eligible parole date. In Stevenson’s case, that’s next February. “There are conditions attached which vary but usually include the obvious ones like not mixing with other criminals and staying only at the designated address. “For prisoners sentenced to more than 10 years, the Parole Board make their recommendations to the Justice Secretary, who then decides whether to release on licence. “Stevenson is trying to keep his nose clean to convince the Parole Board that he poses no threat to society. “But, given his high profile and significance, it’s inevitable that the authorities will be careful before making any final decision.” Stevenson headed a global smuggling gang with a multi-million-pound turnover when he was brought down by the SCDEA’s Operation Folklore, which seized £61million of drugs. He faced drug and money laundering charges along with eight other suspects, including his 53-year-old wife. But his lawyers struck a deal with the Crown Office to admit money laundering in exchange for his wife’s freedom and the drugs charges being dropped. Stevenson’s stepson Gerry Carbin Jr, 32, was also jailed – for five years and six months – but was freed in 2010. Stevenson was previously arrested for the murder of Tony McGovern, 35, who was gunned down in Glasgow’s Springburn in 2000. But prosecutors dropped the case through lack of evidence. A gangland source said: “He does not fear any kind of reprisal from Tony’s brothers, nor does he regard any other criminals in Scotland as a threat or even as rivals. He did not fear any other operation in Scotland before he was jailed. Why would he now?” Two years ago, the Sunday Mail exposed a backdoor deal when the Crown handed back Stevenson’s £300,000 watch collection, which had been seized under proceeds of crime of legislation. Last June, he was sent back to high-security Shotts jail in Lanarkshire from an open prison after a major SCDEA drugs probe, Operation Chilon. Detectives believed that the gang they investigated was controlled by Stevenson. Haulage firm boss Charles McAughey’s home was one of 11 targeted in raids. In 2009, we revealed that French police had found 684kg of pure cocaine worth £31million in a lorry owned by McAughey. Chilon resulted in the SCDEA seizing 242kg of cannabis worth £1.21million and the jailing of three men for a combined 15 years.

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Four Dead in Gang Related Shooting

Police in Alice are investigating a shooting that occurred near Reynolds Street. According to investigators, it all started on South Nayer Street where police say Isaac Vela was standing on the side of the road waiting for a ride. A vehicle -- with four people inside passed by. One of the passengers, police say, shot Vela in the face. The vehicle fled the scene, but the driver only made it a few blocks before he lost control of the vehicle. It smashed into a nearby school. Three of the four people inside the car died. The other is in the hospital...where investigators will interview him tomorrow. Police say all of the men involved are known gang members.

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Tulisa's Friend, 21, Shot Dead In Gangland Hit

Reece James, 21, a close friend of Tulisa Contostavlos has been shot dead in a reported gangland attack. The 21-year-old, who appeared with Tulisa in a video for rapper Nines, was shot in the head in a "pre-planned and targeted" hit, 100 miles from his home in London, reports the UK's Sun newspaper. Police found James' body in Boscombe, Bournemouth, at around 2.30am near where Somali drug gangs are said operate. A 22-year-old man was arrested. Reece was said to have been in the area with some friends for "a couple of months", though had filmed the video earlier this month with Tulisa and rapper Nines on the Church End Estate in Harlesden, North West London. The former N Dubz star caused controversy at the time, making a "C" symbol to the camera - the same sign that is used by Harlesden's notorious Church Road Soldiers gang. Tulisa claimed it was a reference to Camden, where she was born. Twitter tributes began flooding in last night, with one user writing, "RIP Reece James. Thoughts are with him and his family and friends". Local MP Tobias Ellwood described the killing as "a spill over from the drugs turf war in the capital", adding, "This was one London gang chasing down another, carrying out a professional hit and then going back".

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Invasion of the pickpockets

Britain is in the grip of a pickpocketing epidemic as Eastern European gangs descend on London ahead of the Olympic Games.

A surge in sneak street thefts means more than 1,700 people fall victim every day – an increase of nearly a fifth in only two years, according to official crime  figures released yesterday.

At the same time, police warned that professional gangs from Romania, Lithuania and even South America who operate in capitals across Europe are heading to Britain, intent on cashing in on unwitting tourists at London 2012.

How they do it: A member of the pickpocket gang approaches a BBC reporter investigating the rise in thefts ahead of the Olympics

Keeping him occupied: The man speaks to the victim on the pretense of needing directions while another gang member approaches from behind

A BBC investigation exposed the tactics used by Romanian thieves, who were previously operating in Barcelona, to dupe their victims.

The criminals boasted of their ‘one-second’ theft techniques which leave targets unaware that anything has happened until  it is too late. They can make £4,000 a week taking wallets, smartphones and laptop bags. The goods are then shipped back to Romania and sold on the black market.

 Scotland Yard has made more than 80 arrests already and warned thieves the capital will be a ‘hostile environment’ in the coming weeks.

The Met has even drafted in a team of Romanian police officers to deal with the problem and patrol in the West End of London and Westminster during the Games. They will not have arrest powers.

Distracted: An accomplice (left) then plays drunk so he can get close enough to the target to strike

 

Sleight of hand: The 'drunk' man jostles around with the BBC reporter, making it harder for him to notice what is going on

 

 

Rich pickings: The sneering thief walks away with the wallet from the unsuspecting victim

Teamwork: The thief quickly hands the wallet to another member of the gang, who spirits it away

 

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: ‘These Romanian officers will prove to be a huge asset in cracking down on certain criminal networks who are targeting tourists in central London.’

Official statistics released yesterday showed pickpocketing thefts rose 17 per cent in the past two years.

In 2011/12, a total of 625,000 people fell victim, the Crime Survey of England and Wales showed.

That is an increase of more than 102,000 since 2009/10.

The vast majority of the total are classified as ‘stealth thefts’, but in 83,000 cases the victims’ possessions were ‘snatched’.

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A handful of MOB (Most Organized Brothers) members have split off and recently formed a new gang faction dubbed the “334”

A mysterious rift among members of a notorious Winnipeg street gang has led to the birth of a new splinter group inside provincial jails and on city streets, the Winnipeg Sun has learned. A handful of MOB (Most Organized Brothers) members have split off and recently formed a new gang faction dubbed the “334” — a numerical nod to the tattoos worn by some MOB members, a Manitoba Justice gang prosecutor told court Tuesday. Within the gang, the digits carry the meaning, “MOB for life.” The split took place sometime after mid-December 2011, when longtime MOB member Michael Balingit, 23, was arrested and held at the Milner Ridge provincial jail, Judge Robert Heinrichs was told. Balinjit, known in the gang as ‘Legs,’ was moved by Corrections officials out of the MOB range and into a different area of the jail. From there, he was “running a crew” of about five 334 members despite being locked up in custody, the Crown said. Balinjit admitted Tuesday to selling a small amount of crack cocaine to an undercover cop last winter and breaching several conditions of a probation order. He was sentenced to two years, minus seven months of time already served. Balinjit will be supervised by GRASP — a monitoring program aimed at getting high-risk gang members out of gang life — for a full two years after he gets out. Justice sources couldn’t say specifically what led to the MOB/334 split, only that “something happened” to trigger it. The street gang situation is “fluid” in terms of who represents who, said the source. Winnipeg cops were recently issued an internal warning to watch for a flare up of conflict between the MOB and rivals the Indian Posse (IP). “The gangs are expecting to run into each other and they will clash,” a source told the Sun in mid-June, around the time of the Red River Exhibition. It wouldn’t be the first time tensions between the MOB and IP resulted in violence. Late last summer and into the fall, the rivals were embroiled in a feud that turned deadly. First, IP associate Clarky Stevenson, 15, was stabbed in September in a long-standing beef with rivals MOB. Not long after MOB members allegedly killed Stevenson, David Vincett, 20, was shot and killed on Boyd Avenue. From all appearances, Vincett wasn’t a gang member, but might have told the accused he was connected to MOB during a brief argument.

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Suspect in Sin City killing has been there before

When Carlos Ford was booked into the El Paso County jail Tuesday night on charges of first-degree murder, it was not for the first time. Known on the streets and to police as “Vicious,” the 30-year-old’s extensive rap sheet dates to his teen years and includes 11 convictions, prison time and allegations of gang affiliation. In 2005, prosecutors charged Ford with first-degree murder, but dismissed the charge before trial due to lack of evidence. After serving time for another violent crime — second-degree assault — he was paroled in December, and has since popped up on the radar of federal investigators. Six months after his release from prison, Ford became the sixth man arrested in connection with the March 3 fatal shooting at the Sin City Disciples motorcycle clubhouse. He joins two Fort Carson sergeants, Christopher Mountjoy and John Burrell, and one soldier, Eric Bartholomew, who face charges of first-degree murder. Two other men, 24-year-old Deangelo Wells, and 30-year-old John Severe, were arrested last month on suspicion of accessory to first-degree murder. In December, Ford was paroled from prison after serving most of a six year sentence for second-degree assault – a charge reduced from attempted murder, court records show. In the early morning hours of March 3, a single bullet whizzed through the trunk of a car in front of the Sin City clubhouse, killing Virgil Means. In April, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives caught Ford allegedly stashing a pistol and cocaine powder in a car, according to arrest warrant. Ford’s alleged role in the shooting of Virgil Means has not been divulged. All arrest affidavits in the case have been sealed, and a broad gag order has been placed on law enforcement and attorneys. Details of that night have been slowly unveiled in the courtroom, implicating the soldiers in what might have been a planned, military-style attack on Means, according to court testimony. Ford’s history in Colorado Springs is less nebulous — his lengthy court record has made him a familiar face to local ATF agents, according to court documents. Police claim he is a known member of a local Crips gang, the 81st Street East Side Hustlers. In 2005 Ford was caught up in two violent crimes, one for first-degree murder charges, the other attempted murder, that wound their way through court at the same time. Just after midnight on June 15, witnesses told police that Ford and Joshua Delaney got into a fight in the Platinum 25 nightclub, at 1677 Jet Wing Drive. Delaney was later found riddled with bullets while sitting his car on London Lane near Jet Wing Drive, police a months-long police investigation into his death. Investigators believed that Ford followed Delaney from the bar, flashing his car’s lights to get Delaney to stop on London Lane. Ford walked up, asked Delaney for a cigarette, and allegedly shot him four times, according to an arrest warrant.. Nine days after the killing, Ford went to an apartment  to collect a $40 crack cocaine debt from a woman. She him she didn’t have the cash. Ford punched her in the face, fracturing her jaw. He then pulled a handgun and fired several rounds in the direction of her son, who came at Ford with a baseball bat, court papers said. Ford was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder three days later, on June 27. In early August, Ford also was charged with first-degree murder in the Delaney case. The pending murder case was plagued by lack of evidence, and eventually by the loss of some of it. Undisclosed pieces of evidence in the case were disposed of in 2005, among the 134,911 items erroneously thrown out of the evidence locker by Colorado Springs police that year. Evidence against Ford in Delaney’s death seemed to hinge upon a statement from Rickey Lacour, who told police detectives that Ford admitted to shooting Delaney at point-blank range. “I shot that fool Strap,” Ford told Lacour about two weeks after the killing, according to court testimony. Delaney, also a gang member, went by “Strap” on the streets. The Delaney case fell apart when Lacour fled the state; during his absence of several months, the first-degree murder charges against Ford were dismissed. Ford was convicted of the lesser charge of second-degree assault charge in the cocaine-debt case and he went to prison. Earlier this year in a Wendy’s parking lot on a late April night — a month after the Sin City shooting — ATF agents zeroed in on Tyron Hicks, an alleged drug-trafficker they had been tailing. Hicks and two other men, later identified as Ford and Jatawron Pepper, were seen getting in and out of cars in the parking lot. The officers recognized Ford and Pepper — the men had been together the night Delaney was shot, and both are members of the same Crips gang, court documents said. Pepper faced murder charges in a 2006 slaying, but was acquitted in 2007. In Ford’s car, agents say they found cocaine , a loaded Ruger 9 mm pistol and magazines of ammunition under the driver’s seat. Ford was released after initial questioning, but was arrested and booked into the El Paso County jail Tuesday, according to jail records. He was held without bail on suspicion of seven felony charges.

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Tulisa was photographed making the 'C' symbol, which is used by north London gang Crime Scene Boys

The rap world and family show The X Factor don't easily go hand in hand, and Tulisa is clearly finding it a little tricky to walk the line.

The singer has found herself in trouble after she was pictured using a well-known street gang sign while shooting a music video on Sunday night,

Tulisa was photographed making the 'C' symbol, which is used by north London gang  Crime Scene Boys, who also go by the Church Road Soldiers.

'It was a tribute to Camden': Tulisa has been left red-faced after being ridiculed for using a well-known gang sign while shooting a music video

Denial: The singer alleges that she had no idea the 'C' sign was associated with a street gang

The 23-year-old denies all knowledge of what the sign means, despite the music video shoot taking place on the Church End Estate in Harlesden, where the gang are based.

 Also on set was rapper Nines, who frequently throws up the 'C' sign in his own music videos.

Tulisa is pictured wearing tiny denim shorts, heeled trainers, a white hoodie and a thick gold chain, dancing in front of a car surrounded by a crowd.

Collaboration: Tulisa's new track features the rapper Nines

Night shoot: The video was filmed on the Church End Estate in Harlesden, where the Crime Scene Boys are based

Tulisa claims that she used the symbol to pay tribute to Camden, where she grew up.

But onlookers at the late-night shoot have a different story, telling The Sun: 'She was strutting around throwing gang signs and hanging around outside the blocks of flats.

'She was swearing and trying to fit in with the other people who were around her from the estate.

In trouble with the bosses? The X Factor have yet to comment on the controversy

Tulisa is adamant that she was not trying to fit in, and is maintaining her new cleaner-cut X Factor image.

'When I was holding my hands in the C sign, this was as a tribute to Camden, my home town and where N-Dubz began,' she said in a statement.

'I am not aware that this sign has anything to with any street gang and I 100 per cent do not endorse any gang violence in any form.'

 

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Gang which ruled estate jailed for 67 years

A gang who terrorised neighbours on an estate have been jailed for a total of 67 years. At the sentencing of 13 people linked to the crime group, Judge Michael Byrne read evidence describing how a Lancaster estate became riddled with graffiti of the gang’s tag ‘902 RWA - Ryelands with Attitude.’ Other youngsters chanted: “**** The Law” at officers and said they had been told to chant at police because “902 rules the estate.” Sentencing Anthony Diprose at Preston Crown Court, Judge Byrne said: “Life on the estate had become somewhat anti-authoritarian.” He added: “There are lessons to be learned from this case. “People who live in close proximity to each other should understand the forces of drug-related property and provision cannot be allowed to prevail, and that police and community assistance is available.” Gang ringleader Anthony Diprose, 28, lived a lavish lifestyle with properties on Wove Court, Fulwood, Preston, and in Lancaster. He enjoyed fancy cars and expensive holidays as he used friends and family in the drugs empire to mix and supply cocaine or launder the proceeds - blighting the lives of residents on the Ryelands estate in the process. In a text message the arrogant criminal, of Roeburn Drive, Morecambe, boasted: “I don’t trust no-one except my brothers. All the rest just do as I say and want to be me.” But today he was beginning a 16-year jail term after being found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine and money laundering in addition to admitting fraud by false representation. Brother Jason, 26, of Austwick Road, Lancaster, was jailed for 16 years after admitting conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis and fraud by false representation. Aidan Higgins, 21, of Dee Road, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and possessing heroin. He was jailed for four years. Liam Wiper, 24, of Euston Grove, Morecambe, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was jailed for six years and nine months. Andrew Gunningham, 30, of Ryelands Road, Lancaster, found guilty to conspiracy to supply class B drugs and was pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was jailed for seven years. Brian Coulton, 31, of Tarnsyke Road, Lancaster, was found guilty at trial of conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was jailed for five years. David Threlfall, 28, of Artle Place, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class B drugs. He was jailed for 18 months. Kenneth Smith, 23, of Acre Court, Mainway, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine and was found guilty at trial of possession with intent to supply cocaine. He was jailed for four years. Liam Parkinson, 25, of Norfolk Street, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine; possession with intent to supply heroin and possessing a taser. He was jailed for seven years. Katie Noon, 25, and Paul Noon, 30, both of Austwick Road, Lancaster were both found guilty of a money laundering at trial and were given a six months sentence which was suspended for two years and 50 hours of unpaid work. Rachel Lynch, 42, and Paul Lynch, 45, both of Tarnbrook Road, Lancaster were found guilty of a money laundering at trial and were given a two year community order, a two year supervision order and 40 hours of unpaid work. Supt Andrew Webster, of Lancaster Police, said: “While out on their daily patrols our neighbourhood officers would hear from residents about how they felt that their lives were being been blighted by the two Diprose brothers and their associates. Many felt threatened and intimidated by the actions and activities of these individuals

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Man jailed for carrying proceeds of crime

agreed to transport more than a quarter of a million euro between criminal gangs in Dublin and the Netherlands has been sentenced to three years in jail. Paul Grassick (39), Keenagh, Ballyjamesduff, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to knowingly possessing cash from the proceeds of crime at Lucan Road, Palmerstown, on June 6th, 2011. The court heard Grassick, who worked as a haulier, is one of the first people to be jailed under new legislation dealing with proceeds of crime. Det Garda William Armstrong told Paul Carroll, prosecuting, that a van driven by Grassick had been under surveillance by the Garda National Drugs Unit. He said he saw Grassick moving a bag from a van into his own before driving off towards Blanchardstown. Gardaí stopped the vehicle and two bags containing a total of €262,520 were found. Grassick also had €2,000 on his person. During the first Garda interview, Grassick denied any knowledge of what was in the bags or how they got into the van. He later changed his story and said he was transporting the cash between criminal gangs in Dublin and the Netherlands. He said he was given the cash along with a phone and a contact number and was going to transport the cash by ferry. He said he agreed to transfer the money because of mounting credit card bills and mortgage payments. Judge Patrick McCartan said this was one of the first cases falling under “long overdue legislation” which deals with the proceeds of crime. He said the case involved “a vast sum of money to be moved from one criminal gang here to another in Holland and it was done for gain”. However, he accepted it was “ill thought out” and treated the crime as a first offence. He suspended the final 18 months of the three-year term.

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18-year-old run over and killed in Dubai as rival gangs clash

young man was killed and two others injured in a fight between two rival gangs armed with swords and knives.   18, who holds a passport from the Comoros Islands, died after a car ran over him during the clash in Oud Al Muteena in the early hours of Friday morning. The fight involved four young men from Oud Al Muteena aged from 18 to their twenties, two of them brothers, and three brothers from Al Warqa of about the same age. “The Al Warqa group had come to Oud Al Muteena in a retaliation attack after an earlier fight,” said Brig Khalil Al Mansouri, head of criminal investigations at Dubai Police. Gang violence is becoming more common and more vicious in the city’s low-income areas. In response to Friday’s fight, police have intensified their campaign against carrying knives and swords, and have increased patrols to catch young men with weapons. Police say they do not believe the driver of the car intended to kill the victim of Friday’s fight, but investigations continue. “During interrogation, the driver said he did not intend to kill him but wanted to get him out of his way,” Brig Al Mansouri said. They say that after the Al Warqa group had been beaten severely, they began to withdraw from the area. The victim tried to stop them by standing in front of their car. The car continued moving and hit him, dragging him for several metres. He was rushed to Rashid Hospital but died on the way. The driver escaped with the car, and his brothers also fled. Police later tracked down the car and arrested the driver. The five other people involved in the fight were also arrested in different areas of the city. The case has been referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution. Police say they do not know what caused the initial fight. Residents of Dubai’s low-income areas say gangs of unemployed young men use swords, axes and knives in their fights. The weapons are of particular concern in Satwa and Al Quoz. The gangs consist of young men from low-income and troubled families, and are divided along neighbourhood lines. Police say the problem is not widespread, but two other cases in recent months have heightened residents’ fears. In one incident, an Emirati man was attacked in Al Warqa by two masked men. In the other, Mohammed Ebrahim, a 21-year-old Emirati bank employee, was attacked by six people armed with axes and butcher’s knives as he met a friend outside his home in Al Quoz. Mr Ebrahim was treated in hospital for a head injury, a dislocated knee and several deep cuts.

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Nine charged after fatal attack

Detectives investigating the murder of a man stabbed to death at a busy shopping centre just yards from the Olympic Park have charged nine people over the incident. Liam Woodards, 24, was knifed after a fight broke out between a large group of males at Westfield in Stratford, east London, last Friday. Scotland Yard said three men originally arrested in connection with the investigation, along with a further six men who were detained over the course of weekend, have been charged with violent disorder. Michael Alvaranga, 23, of Leytonstone and Javin Righbie, 22, of Stratford, are due to appear at Barkingside Magistrates' Court. Meanwhile, Jerome McLeish, 20, of Victoria Docks is to appear at Thames Magistrates' Court along with Jason Vaughan, 24, Tony Caton, 21, and Danny Caton, 23, who are all from Stratford. Plaistow residents Rhys Regisford, 20, Emmanuel Oloyede, 19, and Michael Ndefo, 21, will also appear at the court. A 23-year-old man arrested in connection with the investigation was cautioned for affray and released with no further action. A 20-year-old man also arrested has been bailed to return to an east London police station in July pending further inquiries. Mr Woodards, of Stratford, east London, was pronounced dead at the scene of the attack, which happened in a busy area of the shopping centre called The Street. A post- mortem examination later revealed he died from a stab wound.

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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

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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.”

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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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."

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