Pablo Ortiz is a member of the MS-13 national gang, and are probing suspect Marvin Aguilar-Lopez to see if he's connected as well.

Albuquerque Police confirmed that suspect Pablo Ortiz is a member of the national gang, and are probing suspect Marvin Aguilar-Lopez to see if he's connected as well.Up to 10,000 people across the country belong to the MS-13 Gang, according to the FBI. The FBI labels the group as exceedingly violent."We have not had a confirmation yet, but if he hangs out with him, if he associates with him, we can probably assume he has some kind of affiliation with them as well," Albuquerque Police Department Officer Nadine Hamby said.When police arrested Ortiz, they noticed the digits "503" were shaved into the back of his scalp. 503 is the country code for El Salvador.The FBI claims that gang members identify themselves through 503 or gang tattoos on their chest.The gang was formed in Los Angeles by refugees who fled El Salvador, after a brutal Civil War in the early 1980s.Membership is believed to be growing in Southern California and urban areas in the northeastern U.S.
A former Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy with knowledge of gang activity said MS-13 might target Albuquerque."MS-13 specializes in drug transportation, human trafficking, and smuggling in the Mexican-Rio Grande Corridor," Robb Hamic said.
However, sources with the local FBI and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office claim that MS-13 is not organized in the metropolitan area, and has very few members.
Police said they don't consider this weekend's shooting gang related."They committed a heinous crime. And the fact that they killed someone while they were committing that crime, I think that's more important than what gang affiliation they have," Hamby said.Police said they believe that Aguilar-Lopez and Ortiz were involved in several other armed robberies in the past five weeks.The FBI said MS-13 members recruit Hispanic men by using the internet to glorify gang lifestyles.

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San Jose 18-year-old tied to gangs was shot several times while riding a bicycle

San Jose 18-year-old tied to gangs was shot several times while riding a bicycle through the neighborhood. Ten days earlier, shots were fired into a garage next door, injuring two men with gang ties inside. About 12 hours before that incident, two teen gang members were stabbed a couple of blocks away on Sunny Hills Drive.The violence has shaken residents, many of whom have lived in the neighborhood for years. Problems aren't evident from the look of things, except perhaps for the empty sidewalks. Lawns in front of the Mission-style single-family homes along Herman Avenue are neatly trimmed. Landscapes are lush with roses, bougainvillea, jasmine and dahlias. Around the corner, the Sunny Hills condominiums are modest but well-maintained.Though residents acknowledged gangs are a reality in Watsonville, they thought it was a problem for other people in other neighborhoods. They felt their neighborhood was relatively safe. But now with the violence hitting so close to home, they're not so sure."My parents are really concerned," said 20-year-old Maria Orozco, who returned Monday to the family home on Herman Avenue after spending the year studying at Santa Clara University. "The first thing they told me was not to go out after dark."

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Ernest Conley, former leader of the Jungle Junkies, was sentenced to 14 years in prison

Ernest Conley, former leader of the Jungle Junkies, was sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday in a case that exposed the city's tangled gang network and the violence it fuels.Ernest Conley, who joined the Jungle Junkies eights years ago as a 14-year-old middle school student, faced up to life in prison for his role at the helm of West Hill's most notorious gang. His sentencing marks the culmination of a DEA- and FBI-led investigation that broke open three years ago when 28 gang members, all of them already in or headed for federal prison, were rounded up on a drug and racketeering indictment built largely from telephone wiretaps and a trove of street-level intelligence.The predominantly young defendants, about half of whom have survived gunshot wounds, including Conley, were tied to dozens of shootings, murder cases and bloody turf wars. Behind the violence was a labyrinth of drug dealing across inner-city neighborhoods.Conley, 22, provided federal authorities a blueprint of Albany's splintered gang operations. In more than a dozen debriefings, Conley retraced the Jungle Junkies ongoing war with Arbor Hill's Yard Boys and the South End's Original Gangster Killers (OGK), a gang of largely older members whose reputation for violence and gunplay rivals the Jungle Junkies, according to a person familiar with the debriefings.Conley was the only sworn member of the Jungle Junkies to cooperate in the investigation. He put authorities off balance when they had to cut a deal with a gang leader they initially set out to imprison for up to life.Conley turned out to be their most important witness, but prosecutors would yield no more than recommending a 15-year prison term for his cooperation.''It affected me in more ways that I could imagine,'' Conley told the judge Wednesday, reading a prepared statement he wrote in jail while awaiting sentencing. ''I've lost all support from my community and my so-called friends. ... I didn't come from the best family but I knew wrong from right.''Conley apologized to his family, the community and court for the terror and drug dealing that came at the hands of his former gang.Conely did not offer his criminal upbringing as an excuse for his conduct. But his attorney, Kevin A. Luibrand, and the judge, both acknowledged Conley's challenge of growing up with a mother and father with criminal histories.Conley's older brother, Antwon, wrote a letter from state prison to U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe, blaming himself for ''misleading'' his brother into a life of crime. He asked Sharpe to ''have mercy.''''I lead Ernest down that exact path,'' Antwon Conley wrote. ''The road is becoming another statistic, a cancer to our community.''Conley, who is soft-spoken and articulate, sports a tattoo on his right hand in honor of a fallen gang member, Ourson Robinson, known as Pac Man, who was one of at least six Jungle Junkies slain in gang-related violence in Albany. Robinson was 15 when he was shot to death in 2003.

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Quang Vinh Le Red Scorpion Leader has been arrested in the Philippines in connection with the slaying of six men in a Surrey B.C. highrise in October

Founder of the Red Scorpion gang has been arrested in the Philippines in connection with the slaying of six men in a Surrey B.C. highrise in October 2007.Quang Vinh (Michael) Le, 24, was arrested as he landed in Manila Wednesday on a flight from Vietnam and is to be charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of Corey Lal and first-degree murder in Lal's execution-style slaying.Supt. John Robin, of B.C.'s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said his team uncovered enough evidence against Le to present it to the Crown in the Surrey Six case.``There was a Canada-wide warrant that was issued for Le,'' Robin said. ``We enlisted the assistance of the Filipino authorities and they aided in arresting him.''The counts are identical to those laid in April against fellow Red Scorpion Jamie Bacon, 23.Two other Scorpions - Cody Haevischer and Matt Johnston - have also been charged with conspiring to kill Lal, as well as with the first-degree murders of Lal and five others gunned down in B.C.'s worst gangland slaying.Lal, his brother Michael, Eddie Narong and Ryan Bartolomeo, all young drug dealers, along with two bystanders - fireplace repairman Ed Schellenberg and student Chris Mohan - were shot to death in a penthouse suite in a Surrey apartment 19 months ago.Robin noted that IHIT had promised more arrests in the unprecedented gangland slaughter.``We said we would be making other arrests. This is one of those arrests,'' Robin said. ``Evidence was uncovered that was presented for review to Crown counsel and charges were approved.''An official with the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation said the agency's Interpol representative James Calleja made the arrest.Le is expected to appear in court Thursday before Canada begins proceedings to have him extradited.A Canadian citizen, Le is believed to have left Canada in the spring of 2008. He has a business in Vietnam and also spent time recently in the U.S.Le has a long history with police.Both he and Surrey Six victim Eddie Narong were convicted of manslaughter for their role in a fatal beating in 2000.Narong was only 14 when he took part in the attack on Richard Jung, who was bludgeoned to death in the Hi-Max Karaoke club in Coquitlam, B.C.The death occurred after Le, then a friend of Narong's, was beaten by a group of Korean youths.To retaliate, Le called in more than 20 friends to help him in the assault that led to Jung's death.Le was originally convicted of second-degree murder in the death, but won a new trial on appeal, then pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Narong, who testified against some of his co-accused, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter.Le and Narong had a falling out after Narong testified.Some of those convicted went on to form the Red Scorpions while in jail. The gang members sported scorpion tattoos and were involved in drug trafficking in Coquitlam and other Lower Mainland suburbs.

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Members of the Mexican Mafia,demanded that those responsible members of the 18th Street gang be killed

Members of the Mexican Mafia,demanded that those responsible be killed, according to an indictment unsealed this week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
The edict, known as a "green light," was aimed at members of the 18th Street gang, who were thought to have killed the baby during a botched attack on a street vendor who'd refused to pay "rent" to conduct business in the gang's territory near MacArthur Park.Hoping to avoid the Mexican Mafia's wrath, the 18th Streeters decided to take care of the problem themselves, according to authorities. In the days after the baby’s slaying, two gang members lured the shooter to Mexico under the false pretense that he was being hidden from police investigating the murder, the indictment states. Once there, they attempted to strangle him and left "him for dead on the side of a road," according to prosecutors.

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Two alleged Mafia bosses from the town of Dupnitsa, Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov

Two alleged Mafia bosses from the town of Dupnitsa, Plamen Galev and Angel Hristov, might be facing a long wait despite the fact that their immunity begins at midnight on June 14.According to Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassations, the case is within the competency of the Regional Court in the western city of Kyustendil, whose magistrates must rule if and when to release Galev and Hristov.The Galevi defense council - attorneys, Menko Menkov and Iordan Kirov, attempted Saturday to submit with the Kyustendil Court their clients' request to be released from jail. They, however, failed to file the request because the Court is closed over the weekend.
Menkov and Kirov also believe that the procedure might take up to 20 days - the entire period when MP hopefuls are allowed to conduct their election campaign.Galev and Hristov aka the Galevi brothers are set to be released from detention after both being allowed to run for parliamentary seats and thus receiving immunity from prosecution.The news was revealed Friday that Hristov is the only Kyustednil candidate of the Party for Liberal Alternative and Peace - PLAM (FLAME) and his registration documents were submitted Friday afternoon with the Regional Electoral Commission in Kyustendil.On Wednesday, the Regional Electoral Commission confirmed that Galev, had been registered to run in the upcoming general elections.Galev was confirmed as an independent candidate after the Kyustendil Electoral Commission accepted 13 266 of the 14 100 signatures collected to support his candidature.
Galev and Hristov, have been investigated over a long period of time for various crimes in the southwest town of Dupnitsa, most notably racketeering and organized crime.The Sofia City Prosecutor recently officially moved the case against the Galevi brothers to the Sofia City Court and the two are charged with running an organized criminal group.However, as official MP candidates, they receive immunity from prosecution and the Court will not be able to set a date for the trial.

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Des 'Tuppence' Moran, the member of an infamous Melbourne crime family shot dead ?

Des 'Tuppence' Moran, the member of an infamous Melbourne crime family shot dead?.
Moran's brother Lewis and his nephews Jason and Mark were all killed in Melbourne's drug gangs war that raged from 1995 to 2004 and was dramatised in Australia's hit 'Underbelly' TV series. The Age newspaper reported that Moran was killed in an execution-style hit, quoting ambulance officers saying he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and witnesses saying three men had fired at him.
A witness named Joan said the shooting occurred on a busy street with children nearby. 'I was across the road from where it happened, at the post office and I just heard all these gunshots,' she told commercial radio. 'I'm really angry because there were lots of kids and what not going about their business. It's a really busy shopping strip... there was people everywhere.' Another witness, Han Tarkeek, told national news agency AAP that Lewis Moran's wife, Judy, arrived at the scene within 15 minutes of the shooting screaming 'Dessy, Dessy.' Moran survived an attempted assassination in March, when a balaclava-clad gunman fired at him while he was sitting in a car. The bullet lodged in the steering wheel. The incident follows this month's shooting of a Sydney businessman with close links to the city's notorious Kings Cross area. Fadi Ibrahim was shot five times and remains in hospital fighting for his life

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Gang members stormed the John Mullaly Park recreation center and the thugs directed their fire at a member of a rival group.

Gang members stormed the John Mullaly Park recreation center and the thugs directed their fire at a member of a rival group."I heard three or four shots," said Christian Garcia, 13. "Then [the victim] was laying on the floor, bleeding."
Investigators confirmed that the shooting appeared gang-related and that the victim, 18-year-old Claudio Flores, was the target. Flores was listed in critical condition at Lincoln Hospital late Sunday.The 250 partygoers, including dozens of screaming children pushed in their strollers, fled the gunfire, witnesses said."Everyone started screaming and banging on the doors," said Wilson Moracho, 27. "I come from Ecuador. We have parties, but nothing like this."

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Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza, known as the Puma, was arrested with three other suspected traffickers.

Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza, known as the Puma, was arrested with three other suspected traffickers. They were found in possession of drugs and weapons, officials said. In another operation on Sunday, the army arrested 25 suspected drug traffickers in northern Mexico who were apparently disguised as soldiers. The arrest of Juan Manuel Jurado is being seen as a blow to the feared Gulf Cartel's operations in Cancun.

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Arrested five suspected gang members late last week in what they said was a cocaine and weapons-trafficking bust.

Arrested were, 35-year-old Tony Flores, California; Juan Carlos Negrete, 29; and Cagri Bacin, 22, all originally from California; as well as 26-year-old Augustine Padilla and 22-year-old Michael Gorton, both residents of Nampa.

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Notorious World Assassins accused Jose Equihua, 18, of confronting a group of men and firing a handgun at them

Equihua is a member of an Ontario street gang that was initially conceived as a tagging crew, but later became involved in more serious crime associated with violent street gangs, Youngberg said.The gang moniker, "N.W.A.," initially stood for "Nocturnal Wild Artists," but was changed when the group became more violent to "Notorious World Assassins," Youngberg said.Accused Jose Equihua, 18, of confronting a group of men and firing a handgun at them in the area of Fourth Street and Corona Avenue in Ontario.Two people were struck by bullets during the May 8, 2008 incident, but both victims survived their injuries, said Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Youngberg.Equihua and a group of three or four other men were driving around the area the night of the incident apparently looking for a fight, Youngberg said.They came across a group at about 9:30 p.m. who were congregated in an alley south of Fourth Street behind a row of apartment buildings.The men later told police they had just finished watching a Lakers playoffs game and were socializing in the alley.Equihua's group drove up to the men in a truck, and Equihua left the vehicle and confronted the men, Youngberg said.
He asked the men where they were from, and they were nonresponsive. He yelled out the names of several local street gangs and returned to the truck, Youngberg said.When Equihua returned to the truck, the other people with him encouraged him to shoot at the men, Youngberg said.He fired four or five rounds at them, grazing one man's ankle and hitting another man in the arm, Youngberg said.Police identified Equihua as the shooter after officers responded to his home to investigate an unrelated domestic disturbance call, Youngberg said.The officers saw a truck parked at the house that matched witnesses' descriptions of the vehicle used in the alley shooting.When they added Equihua's photo to a "six-pack" lineup of potential shooters and showed it to two witnesses, they identified Equihua as the shooter, Youngberg said. He was arrested on May 30, 2008.As part of his plea bargain, Equihua admitted that he committed the shooting for the benefit of a street gang.
Youngberg said she told the men shot during the incident that Equihua would be offered an 18-year prison sentence, and "they're fine with that

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Sentenced Bryant Williams Black Guerrilla Family member to life in prison

Sentenced a Black Guerrilla Family member to life in prison for executing a learning-disabled recruit who didn't meet standards as a drug dealer.The victim, 18-year-old Derius Harmon, was shot in the eye two days after he joined the gang because he had made mistakes handling drug money. His body was dumped in a vacant house in the 2200 block of Barclay St., where it was found May 2, 2007.On Thursday, Judge John C. Themelis sentenced Bryant Williams, 25, of the 5400 block of Todd St., to the life term, plus 20 years for using a handgun in a violent crime, after describing the killing as "one of the most egregious crimes ... that I've heard in a very long time." Harmon had lived in a group home because of learning disabilities, his mother, Andrea Jones, said in a victim impact statement. Harmon, who had run away from the group home, sought to join the gang because of "a yearning for acceptance," Themelis said as he built up to a lecture about how the education system had failed those with disabilities, leaving them "cannon fodder" for criminals who exploit their desire to belong.The gang "provided him housing, apparently clothing and nourishment in exchange for putting him on the street to sell drugs," Themelis continued.But "there is very little forgiveness by drug dealers with regard to people who mess up with drugs or money," he said.Themelis described the people who perpetrated the crime as thugs, including those who supplied the weapon, ammunition, cell phones and other tools of the drug trade."I would have imposed the same sentence on the man who gave him that gun" as an accessory before the fact, the judge said, his voice rising.The judge sentenced Williams to serve the first five years without parole. Assistant State's Attorney Kevin Wiggins said Harmon had been an impressionable young man who chose the wrong people for support.Many of Williams' family members had died early in his life. "I thought he would maybe have more value for life," Wiggins said.Williams was convicted in April based on testimony by a witness who had heard about the crime but did not see it. During his opportunity to address the court, Williams denied knowing Harmon or being involved in the crime, saying he had been trying to get his life in order.Harmon's mother, speaking outside the courtroom, said through tears that she was happy that justice had been served.
"Nobody has the right to take a life," she said.

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Southside Pomona Village Crip Gang, Darryl Scott Spencer, 41 was selling drugs out of his Adelanto home

Arrested a Pomona Crip gang member after receiving a tip that the man was selling drugs out of his Adelanto home, according to officials from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Adelanto station.Deputies served a search warrant Tuesday morning at a home in the 18100 block of Casaba Road. There they found Darryl Scott Spencer, 41 — a man officials said is connected with the Southside Pomona Village Crip Gang.Inside the home officials said they located a loaded handgun, a large amount of marijuana and packaging materials and gang paraphernalia.
Investigators learned the firearm had been stolen in Corona.Authorities arrested Spencer for being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of marijuana for sale and participation in a criminal street gang. He was booked into Victor Valley Jail and is being held in $100,000 bail.

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Arrested members of the Varrio Sur Rifa clique of the Sureno street gang, while one man arrested was part of the Abstract Minds clique of the Norteno

Arrested members of the Varrio Sur Rifa clique of the Sureno street gang, while one man arrested was part of the Abstract Minds clique of the Norteno gang, Vincent said today.A female associate of a local street gang who had previously been convicted of carrying a loaded gun in a public place was also one of the people taken into custody. A .38-caliber snub-nose revolver was also recovered during the operation.All 17 arrests happened to be of foreign nationals, and at least five will face prosecution on state or federal criminal charges, such as re-entry after deportation and various drug violations, according to Vincent.The other suspects were arrested on administrative immigration violations and placed in removal proceedings. They will be held in ICE custody and scheduled for a deportation hearing before an immigration judge.Vincent said the arrests made Thursday will likely lead to more arrests in the future of additional gang members in the region.
"I don't think it's any mystery that there's a proliferation of gangs in the South Bay," he said.ICE received substantial assistance from the Gilroy and Morgan Hill police departments during the operation, according to Vincent.Gilroy police Sgt. Jim Gillio said eight people were arrested in that city.Since the start of Operation Community Shield in February 2005, ICE agents nationwide have arrested more than 13,000 gang members and associates linked to more than 900 different gangs. More than 150 of those arrests involved gang leaders, according to ICE.

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Jesus Gutierrez, 19, and Jose Bojorquez, 18, both of Yuma, were arrested on charges of participation in a criminal street gang

Jesus Gutierrez, 19, and Jose Bojorquez, 18, both of Yuma, were arrested on charges of participation in a criminal street gang and booked into the Yuma County jail. Bojorquez also has an immigration hold."Those two names, as well as the names of a few others, kept coming up as being involved through the course of our investigations into certain disturbances," Norred said. "As a result, the warrants were drafted and the arrests were made."Recovered during the service of the warrants were numerous items of gang paraphernalia, unidentified property, ammunition and marijuana intended for personal use, he said. Norred said both Gutierrez and Bojorquez were arrested in the 100 block of North 19th Avenue, where four of the warrants were served.The other two warrants were served in the 3600 block of West Trigg Street and 11300 South Cardinal Lane.Norred said the search warrants were served as part of the continuing gang interdiction activity the YPD regularly conducts.He said the investigation into the recent disturbances and activities will remain active and that he expects more arrests in the future and other warrants being served.

"There are still others we are looking for, it just wasn't these two," Norred said.

The search warrants were served by the police gang unit, with help from the Special Enforcement Unit, Investigations and Patrol. The department received further assistance from the Arizona State Gang Task Force, U.S. Border Patrol and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

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Michael Kiely,member of the United Nations gang has been convicted of possessing proceeds of crime after being caught with more than $600,000 and a gu

Michael Kiely member of the United Nations gang has been convicted of possessing proceeds of crime after being caught with more than $600,000 and a gun.Michael Kiely, 22, was pulled over near Clearwater, north of Kamloops, in March 2007 as part of an RCMP road check, Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said in a news release.Kiely was driving a 2002 Chrysler Sebring convertible and "displaying suspicious behaviour."A police drug dog sniffed out a hidden compartment full of cash, and RCMP specialists were able to prove the money was proceeds of crime, he said.Police seized $520,000 Cdn, $90,000 US, and a 9-mm handgun.Kiely is serving an 18-month sentence. He also got two years' probation. The cash and the car were forfeited.In January 2007, Kiely was a passenger in a Lincoln Navigator pulled over on Highway 1 in Abbotsford. Police found $100,000, which was seized under B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Act.RCMP Insp. Wade Lymburner said gangsters should understand that police are going after their ill-gotten gains.

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Marlon Osorio 26-year-old Mara Salvatrucha gang member was found guilty of two counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder

26-year-old Mara Salvatrucha gang member was found guilty of two counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder in a two-day shooting spree in the San Fernando Valley, officials said today.Two years ago, Marlon Osorio approached people he thought were rival gang members, asked where they were from, then opened fire, Deputy L.A. County Dist. Atty. Paul Nunez said in a statement.A Los Angeles jury found Osorio guilty of the first-degree murder of Nelson Ramirez, who was shot five times while he sat in his car in Van Nuys, and Jessie Garcia, who was shot in Canoga Park. Both victims were killed Aug. 7, 2006, the same day Osorio attempted to kill four other people.A week later, Osorio fired on seven others in North Hills, including one woman who suffered a collapsed lung after being shot in the back, Nunez said.Osorio was found not guilty on one count of attempted murder.The jury is scheduled to return Monday to Judge Curtis Rappe’s court for the penalty phase of the capital murder case, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

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Pasadena Denver Lane set of the Bloods gang 30 people rounded up as part of a racketeering indictment targeting Maryland and California leadership

Frank Williams, 25, also known as Lee Kelly, was one of more than 30 people rounded up as part of a racketeering indictment targeting Maryland and California leadership of the Pasadena Denver Lane set of the Bloods gang.Court papers from that indictment allege that the gang's members are responsible for a host of violent incidents, and Baltimore police announced Tuesday that they have placed a detainer on Williams linking him to the Sept. 3, 2008, shooting of 26-year-old Tyrone Bowie.Federal court papers indicate that Bloods leadership in California had become dissatisfied with him and ordered other members to harm him. In turn, he came up with his own revenge plot against a Maryland leader of the gang, records show.In February, law enforcement listening on a wiretap heard Emiliano Aguas, the Baltimore leader of the PDL Bloods, discussing his desire to demote Williams and assume control of people under his command.On April 29, California PDL leader James McCuin ordered Williams to "physically discipline" another member, according to court records. That same day, records show, McCuin got on a speaker phone and ordered multiple members to beat Williams for taking too long to carry out his orders. Federal prosecutors say Williams was attacked that day.After that incident, authorities say they listened as Williams recruited an unknown man to retaliate against Aguas. He instructed the man not to shoot through the door but to "get up close and personal," court records show
Baltimore police say Williams was one of two men who shot and killed Bowie as he stood outside a liquor store in the 2100 block of Ashland Ave. in East Baltimore. Bowie was shot in the back of the head and died at an area hospital the next day.
Williams, as Lee Kelly, was also charged in 2007 with first-degree murder, but was found not guilty of all charges by a jury in March 2008, according to court records. He also received probation before judgment on two separate drug distribution cases in 2004.

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La Familia Michoacana, the drug cartel can, at times, dictate who will run for office and frequently puts its own people up for election

La Familia Michoacana, the drug cartel can, at times, dictate who will run for office and frequently puts its own people up for election, which critics say is a perversion of democracy, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.The newspaper said Mexican federal authorities last week arrested 10 Michoacan mayors and 20 other local officials as part of a drug probe, alleging La Familia has infiltrated many city halls as the state and country prepares for national contests on July 5.
Police say local leaders in Michoacan told them the slaying last week of congressional candidate Gustavo Bucio Rodriguez at his gas station was only a common crime. A few days before, former Lazaro Cardneas Mayor Nicolas Leon was tortured and shot to death, with a message of "FM" (Familia Michoacana) left on his body as a warning to rival drug gangs, the Times said."There are mayors and politicians who 'let things happen,' and there are some who have sold their soul to the devil," an unnamed Michoacan state official told the newspaper.

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