Timothy “Fuzzy” Timms, a 45-year-old member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle club, stood up Monday for his First Amendment right to freedom of expressi

Timothy “Fuzzy” Timms, a 45-year-old member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle club, stood up Monday for his First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
Timms, a resident of the San Diego community of South Park, refused to take off a black leather vest with the motorcycle club's “death's head” insignia when he reported for jury duty. He's a big burly man, 5 feet 8 inches, 250 pounds, with a full beard and auburn-colored, shoulder-length hair. At 7:45 a.m., Timms' stance got him booted from the San Diego Superior Court's Hall of Justice by sheriff's deputies, along with another Hells Angel who also refused to remove his insignia vest. Nine hours later, representatives of both the Superior Court and the sheriff's department apologized to Timms and club member Mick Rush for “misunderstanding” an order issued April 24 by Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser. Rush also had been reporting for jury duty. “It all boils down to a misunderstanding of Judge Fraser's order by court security,” Karen Dalton, a court spokeswoman, said. “He (the judge) does have a case before him involving Hells Angels members and his order applies only to that case and to his courtroom, not to the entire courthouse.” Court documents show that Fraser has banned four defendants in a felony drug possession case from wearing “Hells Angels clothing in/out of the courtroom for security reasons.” Terri Brewton, the court's jury services manager, called Timms and Rush Monday afternoon to apologize for the misunderstanding and to discuss how each man would like to proceed with their jury service. Lt. Brian Conway, a court security supervisor, said: “Based on that misunderstanding, we certainly regret any inconvenience that we caused to these two men. Everybody has since been informed among our security screeners, so we don't expect any similar problem to be repeated.” Timms said he was happy to get Brewton's apology just before 5 p.m. He also was given credit for showing up Monday and told he fulfilled his service. But, he plans to report to jury duty the next time he is called, he said, and will again wear his Hells Angels vest. “She apologized and said they were embarrassed, and she sounded very sincere,” Timms said. “I told her, I did not have any complaint about jury officials, but rather I was embarrassed to be surrounded by six deputies and told I had to leave because of my attire.” “A lot of people try to get out of jury duty, but I feel that people ought to be proud to serve,” said Timms, who works as a real estate loan officer. “Without a jury, all you have is a judge making a decision. Through the jury process, you can choose a jury of your peers to hear your case and decide what is fair.” Attorney Anthony Colombo, Jr., who represents one of those on trial before Judge Frazer, said he plans to file a written challenge to the judge's order on grounds that the defendants' rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association outweigh the court's security concerns.
A hearing on that dispute has not been scheduled.

Rafael Parada-Mendoza,aka “Cheve,” Gabriel Hosman Perez-Amaya aka “Dandy,” charged with murder

Two members of MS-13, Rafael Parada-Mendoza, 21, formerly Fairfax County, Virginia, also known as “Cheve,” and Gabriel Hosman Perez-Amaya, 21, formerly of Fairfax County, Virginia, known as “Dandy,” were indicted today by a federal grand jury and charged with murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to commit murder and assault in aid of racketeering, use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, and possession of a firearm by an illegal alien.The indictment stems from the murder of Christian Argueta in the parking lot of the Springfield Mall on December 2, 2007. The indictment charges that Rafael Parada-Mendoza and Gabriel Hosman Perez-Amaya are members of the Pinos Locos Salvatrucha clique of the street gang known as the Mara Salvatrucha, “MS-13,” who committed the crimes to maintain and increase their position in the gang. The murder in aid of racketeering charge carries a maximum sentence of death or life in prison. The indictment also charges Rafael Parada- Mendoza and Gabriel Hosman Perez-Amaya with being illegal aliens in possession of a firearm and using a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death.

The indictment further charges Rafael Parada-Mendoza, Gabriel Hosman Perez-Amaya, and a third member of MS-13, Jorge Parada, 28, formerly of Washington, D.C., also known as “Rama,” with conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. The conspiracy to distribute cocaine charge carries a minimum of five years and a maximum of forty years in federal prison.All three individuals are currently in custody. Rafael Parada-Mendoza was arrested on March 19, 2008, in the state of Texas. Perez-Amaya was also arrested in Texas on March 14, 2008. Jorge Parada was arrested on April 19, 2008, in Arlington, Virginia.This case was investigated by the Fairfax County Police Department, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, the Arlington County Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Jonathan Fahey and Beth Gibson are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

George Christie, member of the Hells Angels, has been arrested

George Christie, member of the Hells Angels, has been arrested after members of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department's Gang Unit discovered a small amount of cocaine and methamphetamine in his Ventura home, officials said.The drugs were discovered after one of three search warrants was served Saturday at Christie's home in the 400 block of Ventura Avenue. Deputies determined that Christie was under the influence of cocaine and methamphetamine.A second search warrant was served at the home of Joe Cerezo, 34, who deputies said is also a member of the Hells Angels. Cerezo, who lives in the 2900 block of Apache Avenue in Ventura, was arrested after deputies found a stolen shotgun in his bedroom, officials said in a statement.
A search warrant was also served at the Hells Angels clubhouse at 65 Fix Way in Ventura. Several members were detained at the site but no arrests were made.Christie, 60, was booked into the Ventura County Jail on suspicion of possession of cocaine, possession of methamphetamine and being under the influence of a controlled substance. He was later released on his own recognizance.
Cerezo was booked into the Ventura County Jail on suspicion of possession of stolen property. He was released from jail after posting $10,000 bail, officials said.

Gangland war worsens as Super Gangs fight it out on the streets of Stab City

The situation in Limerick,will further worsen later this year when key figures from both the main super gangs are released. Both have sworn vengeance against each other and their families.
Gardai also believe that Russell was murdered because he was suspected of murdering Gerard Byrne, 25, of Ferryman's Crossing, Dublin, who was shot dead in the IFSC on December 13, 2006. A €50,000 contract is believed to have been put on Russell's head. The north inner city feud has been underway for over two years since it emerged that a previous gang leader, Christy Griffin, had been raping and sexually abusing his partner's daughter from since she was only eight years of age. When Griffin was finally jailed for life in April last year the woman, from the Summerhill area, assumed control of his gang. She is thought to be the only woman gang leader in Ireland and is described by gardai as "highly dangerous".
Although it was initially thought last week that there had only been two murders resulting from the feud prior to Russell's killing, it has since emerged that a fourth murder, that of Paul Kelly, 26, who was shot dead outside his apartment off the Malahide Road in April last year, also stemmed from the feud. The other man to die was Stephen Ledden, 28, shot dead in Oriel Street in the financial services district in December 2006.The feud is showing no signs of abating, gardai say. It is one of nine or 10 current feuds between drugs gangs in Ireland, all of whom continue to step up their armed capacity. The Dublin gangs also continue to attempt to develop a bomb capacity. Gardai say that the two bomb makers in Dublin are showing signs of improvement and that it is "only a matter of time" before some one is killed. This followed the discovery by gardai of components for up to 20 pipe bombs in a car parked in Greenhills Road in Tallaght. The feud in Crumlin-Drimnagh, which has been going on for eight years, is now the longest and bloodiest in Dublin and has been made worse by the entry of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) into the fighting on the side of one of the gangs. The INLA is also believed to be behind the introduction of the pipe bombs. The republican terror-turned-drugs gang was once capable of constructing highly sophisticated bombs and used a tilt-switch under-car device to kill the Conservative Party spokesman on Northern Ireland, Airey Neave, in the underground car park of the House of Commons in 1979. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that since leading Dublin and Limerick gangsters have become acquainted in prison, they have formed mutual-assistance pacts where the sides supply each other with weapons and even contract killings out to each other while also assisting in drug trafficking. There is now understood to be an alliance involving the Dundon-McCarthy gang from Limerick, the south inner Dublin gang allegedly led by "Fat" Freddie Thompson, the INLA and figures from Finglas. This is probably the largest crime organisation in Ireland at present. This has exacerbated the situation in Dublin where the leader of the opposing gang, led by a man currently in Mountjoy Prison, still has use of mobile phones in the jail and is understood to be sending out instructions for people to be killed. This gang has formed an alliance with the Dundon-McCarthy's rivals in Limerick, the Keane-Collopys. Both these two "super gangs" are, however, inherently unstable. The groups forming the alliances all have their own personal agendas and vendettas underway. The INLA has been involved in what is effectively side-bar feuding in Dublin since one of its leading members, Patrick Campbell, was killed in a melee at an industrial park in Ballymount in 1999.
At least four men have been shot dead since Ballymount and gardai in Dublin say the INLA is still intent on settling scores over the matter. As some of their targets have been associates of the gang opposed to Freddie Thompson's gang, this has helped continue the eight-year-old Drimnagh-Crumlin feud. While the feuds in the north and south inner city areas remain active, garda action has, temporarily at least, stopped the blood feuding in the Finglas-Blanchardstown areas which claimed over 10 lives in the past three years. Garda arrests are the main reason for the reduction in violence in this area which culminated in the murder of former gang leader, Martin "Marlo" Hyland in December 2006. Much of the violence in the Finglas-Blanchardstown area was a result of the break-up of the once powerful "Westies" gang, whose original leaders, Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, were assassinated in Spain in late 2003. The situation in Limerick remains as volatile as ever. A man in his forties had a narrow escape on Wednesday afternoon when he was the subject of a drive-by shooting, now the favoured form of assassination in the city. He was outside his house in Hyde Avenue, Ballinacurra West, on when the attack took place at around 4pm. Local sources said the attack was linked to one of about seven feuds, though others say that these are now not so much feuds as acts to assert the dominance of the Dundon-McCarthy gang which prompt occasional acts of retaliation.
Some of the families formerly at the forefront of the feuding with the Dundon-McCarthys are now said to be struggling to hold on in the city and their families are being subjected to daily acts of intimidation.
One of the Dundon-McCarthy allied gangs in Moyross has recruited up to a 100 teenagers who cause havoc in the area and have access to weapons.

Justin James Deloretto, Matthew Aaron Weiss,Nathan Andrew Cassidytwo counts of attempted assault in the second degree.

James Packard, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Detective Dave Burroughs of the Eugene Police Department were returning to Eugene from investigative work in the northern Willamette Valley around 6 p.m. when their car was surrounded by vehicles driven by members or associates of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, according to Eugene police."We could see him on his cell phone following us," Burroughs said of one of the men, "and a short time later one of the other gang members were ahead of us on the road to the right."Packard, who was driving, took evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in the busy construction area north of the I-105 interchange.
"They ran us off the road onto the shoulder," Burroughs said. "At that point we put on our lights and sirens and they backed off."
The two officers recognized the drivers of the other vehicles, according to police.
Police arrested Justin James Deloretto, 26, of Turner within minutes of the incident. Police later located Matthew Aaron Weiss, 24, of Eugene in Creswell. Police took Nathan Andrew Cassidy, 22, of Creswell into custody in Eugene following a traffic stop at 11 p.m.Police charged all three men with two counts of attempted assault in the second degree. The charges are subject to change following review by the Lane County District Attorney’s Office.
"It was scary," Burroughs said. "I felt like I was in danger."

Sur 13's and the Norte 14's identified as the most violent in Port Arthur.

Port Arthur police report that 6 of the most violent gang members are now in custody with the Texas Youth Commission awaiting trial on various charges. Port Arthur Police say they're not only using manpower, but technology and federal resources to combat a growing gang problem. Sur 13's and the Norte 14's. They are Hispanic gangs police have identified as the most violent in the city.A major development in the war against drugs in Port Arthur is the police department's close working relationship with federal agents.. both Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Immigration and Customs.Since many of the gang members are not legal citizens, Port Arthur police provide federal agents with the evidence they need to deport them as quickly as possible. Hispanic gang Sur 13, or Sorenos 13, which means south, originated in Southern California."Sur 13 is real violent," said Sgt. Gaspard. "They've been doing everything from robberies to assaults."A quick internet search turns up a wealth of information about the original gang and its rival, Norte 14, which originated in Northern California. Gang members postedthe video.
Both are operating in Port Arthur, and the majority of Nortes are surprisingly young. Many are in their early to mid teens - some even younger."These kids are usually starting at 8, 9, 10 years old, and it's usually influenced by an older brother, older cousin or a neighbor," said Sgt. Gaspard."This is a classic sign," said Ofc. Mike Hebert. "All the stop signs you see start popping up with '14' all over the place."Ofc. Mike Hebert and Heather Primm, two Street Crimes officers, are taking us to a Hispanic neighborhood where the gangs thrive."The majority of the people there are good, hard working people," said Ofc. Hebert. "Even though a lot of them are illegal immigrants, they still want to live the American dream."But Hebert says about ten percent of the illegals here bring their vices from Mexico with them, primarily drugs and gangsHow are people affected by these gangs infiltrating their neighborhoods? You don't have to look very far to find out. One house has been shot up seven times in recent years."You're sitting at your dinner table and all of a sudden you hear gunshots and stuff," said Johnnie Constanzo.Johnnie Constanzo has been living here 30 years. He refuses to leave, even though his house has been the target of seven drive by shootings. So far, no one has been hurt."I've been here all my life, made Port Arthur my home, and I'm going to let some punks, thugs run me out? I'm not going to move somewhere else only for this to happen there," said Constanzo. "I'm going to stand my ground."Friday night at 6 we'll find out what unusual method Port Arthur Police used to solve this most recent drive by shooting in only a matter of days.You'll also see how the gang unit is using technology to help battle the problem, and why its close relationship with federal agents is so important.Why are these young people interested in gangs in the first place? What's in it for them?In Port Arthur, it's more to attain social status than anything else. In fact, police tell us many of the teenagers have after-school jobs and wait until they get off work to commit crimes, primarily burglaries, to get guns they can't get anywhere else.But it starts at a very early age. One of the most disturbing pictures police showed us is one of a young girl who couldn't be more than three or four, and someone has already started dressing her in gang colors.
Port Arthur Police tell us they expect the gangs to begin moving north into the relatively quiet areas of mid-Jefferson County.

Chicago Police officers will soon be equipped with M4 carbines to match the firepower of the street gangs they're up against

Chicago Police SWAT teams are already equipped with M4 carbines, but rank-and-file officers are out-gunned. They're only allowed to carry pistols. When you're up against a street gang member armed with an AK-47, that's like taking a BB-gun to a battle.Chicago Police officers will soon be equipped with M4 carbines to match the firepower of the street gangs they're up against, under a policy change in the works to stop the bloodshed on the city's streets.used by the U.S. Marine Corps, the M4 is an assault rifle that fires more shots in less time than a conventional handgun. The fully automatic version can fire up to 1,000 rounds a minute, although the magazines hold 20 to 30 shots.olice Supt. Jody Weis' decision to arm and train his 13,500 officers with more powerful weapons was disclosed as Mayor Daley emerged from a City Hall summit meeting with a plea to every Chicagoan who cares about children. "I don't want people to wait for Mayor Daley to call a meeting. I want you to call a meeting in your home, with your children and loved ones. I want you to . . . talk to those children next door. I want the parents on the block to say, 'This block will be free of violence. This summer, not one child will be [killed by] gangs and drug dealers,' " Daley told a City Hall news conference."Regardless of whether you live in a high-rise on Lake Shore Drive [or] poor housing or you're middle class or business leaders -- I want you to get energized about saving a child. . . . A mentoring position, a summer job. . . . Reach out to adopt a school. Reach out to a block club. Reach out to an ex-offender program. Let's do things that we've never done before collectively." Last week, police arrested a man suspected of using an AK-47 during a shoot-out with police just after he allegedly used the gun to kill a man at a South Side plumbing business. In October 2006, police were in a shoot-out with three gang members they thought were on their way to carry out a gang hit. Police fired at the men after one of the suspects raised an AK-47 at them. Some of the officers were armed with assault weapons and shotguns. Two of the suspects were killed. "That's a good example of why it's important for police to be equally armed," Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond said. Fraternal Order of Police President Mark Donahue welcomed the change, as long as the Police Department pays for the weapons and officers are properly trained and given discretion in using the M4. "Many people have made statements that they feel outgunned on the street. In certain circumstances, that has been shown to be true," Donahue said.New York City police officers recently started patrolling subways with similar assault weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs. In the Chicago area, some suburban police departments have carried assault weapons since the mid-1990s.Timing and logistics of the change in firepower have not yet been ironed out. First, the weapons must be purchased -- and it's not yet clear who is going to pay. Officers currently chose from a list of authorized handguns and pay out of their own pockets. Second, they must be trained in how to use them. That would be a logistical nightmare that would require all officers to return to the police academy.Finally, the Police Department must determine whether the new weapons would remain in squad cars or be carried by officers.The firepower change is the latest show of force by Weis.This weekend, he plans to flood South and West Side neighborhoods plagued by violence with SWAT teams and Targeted Response Units in full battle dress, with two police helicopters hovering above.

Mira Loma Detention Center rival gangs riot

The Tuesday started as a fight between detainees from rival gangs and spread to the detention center's outdoor yard, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nearby sheriff's stations sent additional deputies to separate the detainees. The brawl was diffused "within minutes" after tear gas was used, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore. Fights among incarcerated gang members periodically break out at state jails, prisons and immigrant detention facilities, sometimes sparking riots. The federal Department of Homeland Security contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to staff and manage the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster, which holds about 900 detainees who are in the process of being deported or awaiting resolution of their cases in immigration courts. Ten detainees were treated for injuries, including two who suffered serious head injuries. Sheriff's officials will evaluate how Mira Loma guards separate detainees based on gang affiliation, Whitmore said. About 45 detainees involved in the riot have been identified as suspected gang members and moved to other federal facilities.

22 Amsterdam Hells Angels jailed for being part of a criminal organisation

public prosecution department said on Thursday it has decided not to continue efforts to have 22 Hells Angels jailed for being part of a criminal organisation.
The case was dismissed by judges in Amsterdam in December because the department broke rules on evidence. It failed to destroy transcripts of secretly recorded phone calls between the suspect and their lawyers. The NRC reports that the decision appears to end efforts by public prosecutors to criminalise the motorcycle gang. Efforts to use civil law to have it branded an illegal organisation have failed repeatedly at courts across the country. And three murder charges brought against a number of Hells Angels also failed to result in any convictions, the NRC says.

James Henry McAuley member of the Hells Angels will spend the next eight years in prison

A member of the Hells Angels will spend the next eight years in prison for participating in a conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering.Fifty-9-year-old James Henry McAuley of Rochester was sentenced Thursday by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Norman Mordue for conspiring to murder members of the Kingsmen Motorcycle Club in Fulton. The Kingsmen, who were affiliated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, were trying to establish a chapter in Hells Angels territory.The scheme was derailed by the FBI after an informant contacted authorities. Nobody was hurt.

Hume crime gang violence has increased

POLICE say they have stepped up efforts to tackle a notorious family crime gang operating in Hume following a series of shootings in the past couple of weeks.
Det Supt Richard Grant, head of Operation Lased, a taskforce set up last October to halt the gang, conceded police were premature with their recent decision to scale down the taskforce's operations following a series of arrests.
"At least one of these people have been released on bail after a three-day contested bail hearing," Det Supt Grant said. "Since this person has been back out the violence has increased and our response to that has been an increase in the number of patrols."We now have in place a strategic plan which we are confident will reduce the crime."On Thursday last week, police arrested two men over the shooting of a man in Gladstone Park on April 9.Police say the victim was a known associate of the crime familyA 26-year-old Port Melbourne man and a 35-year-old man from an unknown address were charged with firearms offences and refused bail.In a second incident police believe linked to the gang, a Coolaroo home was firebombed and at least five gunshots fired on April 14. A further attack on Broadmeadows home may also be linked, police say.
These are in addition to attacks in Broadmeadows, Glenroy, Fawkner, Campbellfield, Gladstone Park, Mill Park and Thomastown during the past 18 months.
Region 3 Det Insp Frank Neagle said the four alleged core members of the gang had been arrested and charged in February and March. But three were released on bail with conditions and curfews.Det Insp Neagle said that, since Operation Lased began, 21 arrests had been made.

Salvador Orozco Hernandez Mexican Mafia leader in the San Bernardino area pleaded guilty to attempted murder charge

Salvador Orozco Hernandez, 43, identified in federal documents as a Mexican Mafia leader in the San Bernardino area, agreed to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder charge and conducting the crime to benefit a criminal street gang. Tribal member Stacy Cheyenne Barajas-Nunez, 25, also pleaded guilty to attempted murder charge and admitting criminal gang activity. She also pleaded guilty to charges of transporting methamphetamine and possessing illegal substances in a jail. Her brother, Erik Barajas, 35, pleaded guilty to one charge of assault with a firearm and admitted gang membership. Both tribal members will receive probation when they return for sentencing Aug. 7. Two others also charged in the case, Janette Amaya, 51, and Alfred Orozco Hernandez, 39, brother of Salvador Hernandez, also pleaded guilty. Amaya pleaded guilty to one charge of transporting methamphetamine and the sentencing enhancement of criminal gang activity. She pleaded no contest to a forgery charge in a separate case. She will be sentenced to probation. Alfred Hernandez pleaded guilty to an attempted murder charge as well as admitting criminal gang activity. He will be sentenced to nine years in prison in August. The Hernandez brothers and Barajas siblings were initially charged with conspiracy to commit murder in September 2006. According to court records, the plot was to kill the manager of The Brass Key, a Highland bar. The business is owned by Greg Duro, son of former tribal Chairman Henry Duro. The pleas emerged after five hours of back-and-forth plea negotiations in San Bernardino County Superior Court before Judge Michael Dest. Defense attorneys said the agreements were better than going to trial, where the accused risked significantly longer sentences. Deputy District Attorney Doug Poston said the case helped keep criminal gangs away from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which own a huge and profitable casino near Highland. "We don't want the tribe members bringing the criminal element onto Indian lands or into Indian businesses," Poston said outside the courtroom. "We've done everything we can in this case to rid that problem from Indian land and Indian business." Today's convictions resulted from Dec. 12, 2006, law enforcement raids lead by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The raids targeted the drug trade in the San Bernardino area. Authorities made 19 arrests and seized more than $1 million in methamphetamine and cash as well as 56 guns. Reservation homes were also raided, documents show. DEA records included in the case file show that Hernandez was collecting "taxes" from Inland Hispanic gangs and making a methamphetamine deal at the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino. Another DEA document said investigators fear the Mexican Mafia has infiltrated the reservation and is extorting money from tribal members, who receive $100,000 checks from casino profits each month.

David (Shaky Dave) Atwell cocaine use in the Toronto Red Line Crew clubhouse was because he was feeling lonely and having “a pity party,”

The cocaine use in the Toronto Red Line Crew clubhouse was because he was feeling lonely and having “a pity party,” Atwell testified. David (Shaky Dave) Atwell met with another club member to discuss murdering a police agent, weeks before Atwell became a paid police agent himself, court heard today. Atwell testified in Superior Court about the meeting with local Hells Angel David Blackwood at an undisclosed location “around Lawrence Avenue and Kennedy” in the fall of 2005. “He wanted to discuss a matter with me,” Atwell told court. “What matter was that?” asked Glen Orr, the defence lawyer representing Thomas (Chubs) Bogiatzis, who faces cocaine trafficking charges. Bogiatzis is not a member of the Hells Angels. “Killing an agent in Project Shirlea,” Atwell replied in a soft voice.
Project Shirlea was a massive police operation in which more than 80 men accused of being outlaw bikers or associates were charged in the spring of 2003.
Atwell is now living under a new identity as part of the police witness protection program. Orr didn’t pursue questioning about the alleged murder plot against the unidentified police agent, as Atwell completed his third and final day of testimony as a Crown witness. There has been no mention by police of a police agent who was injured or killed. Instead, Orr pressed Atwell about whether he tampered with police efforts to secretly record a conversation he had with Bogiatzis.
Orr noted that Atwell was a long-time salesperson at a local store which specialized in secret listening and filming devices. Atwell held the senior position of Sergeant-at-Arms for the Hells Angels Downtown chapter, meaning he was in charge of security and club discipline. His duties included sweeping the former downtown Hells Angels’ clubhouse for hidden recording devices. Atwell denied he used a “jammer” to sabotage police attempts to record the conversation when he met with Bogiatzis and a man named Thomas (Fatty) Christodoulou at a burger restaurant across the street from Winston Churchill Collegiate on June 6, 2006.
“That’s not true,” Atwell said. “Not true?” Orr asked. “No, it’s not,” Atwell repeated. He said he only met with Bogiatzis for a minute or so at the meeting. Under questioning from Orr, he said that Bogiatzis repeatedly declined invitations to meet with him a second time. Atwell, who is being paid about $450,000 for his undercover work, told court that he used cocaine in the London, Ontario and Toronto clubhouses of a Hells Angels-affiliated club called the Red Line Crew while he was working as a police agent. He said the cocaine use in the London clubhouse was to “keep up appearances,” since he had a reputation as a frequent cocaine user.

Denis Jerome Labossiere said the killings were connected to his involvement in the drug trade

Denis Jerome Labossiere said the killings were connected to his involvement in the drug trade but he later retracted that suggestion, saying that linking any criminal organization to the crimes could "bring retaliation upon myself and my family.''
Joel Labossiere and other relatives had also been involved in a dispute with his cousin over the parents' will. An August 2000 will left proceeds from the estate, valued at about $1.3 million, to six nephews and nieces. A second will, dated July 2005, left all of the property to Denis Jerome Labossiere and his wife, Claudette.
He served just 18 months of a six-year sentence for trafficking cocaine for the Hells Angels before he was granted day parole. However, a short time later he was arrested and charged with breaching a court order prohibiting him from contacting any relatives.
The relatives had obtained a no-contact order. "None of us are comfortable with having him out,'' Joel Labossiere said at the time.

Dartford Drug Gang Jason Young,Alister Morin,James Scarciglia waiting to collect a shares of the 42kg of cocaine

Jason Young, of Bath Road, was sentenced at the Old Bailey last Friday (April 18). The 37-year-old pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs.
Young was arrested on April 4 last year in a Dartford pub garden near the proposed transfer point off Cotton Lane, Dartford.He was waiting to collect a share of the 42kg of cocaine.Alister Morin was arrested on the same day as he was driving to the transfer point.The 34-year-old, from Chadwell Heath, Essex, denied conspiracy to supply but he was convicted by the jury and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
James Scarciglia, aged 30, from Harrow, north London, and Michael Linker, from Bristol, both admitted conspiracy to supply drugs.
Linker, aged 37, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and Scarciglia is due to be sentenced on Friday (April 25).
David Quick, from Wickford, Essex, was also on trial charged with conspiracy to supply and possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.The jury could not agree on a verdict for the 26-year-old so he faces a retrial on July 7.

Jarvis McKenzie, a/k/a "Jay Rock," Gangsta Killer Bloods primary supplier of cocaine and crack cocaine

convicted Jarvis McKenzie, a/k/a "Jay Rock," age 30, of Columbia, on drug and firearms violations. McKenzie was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 50 grams or more of crack and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine; three counts of use of a telephone to further a drug felony; and felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. McKenzie faces a mandatory minimum of twenty ( 20 ) years imprisonment and a maximum of LIFE on the charges.The case arose out of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) led Columbia Violent Gang Task Force into the illegal activities of members of the Gangsta Killer Bloods set of the Bloods street gang. The FBI obtained information from confidential sources, cooperating defendants and federally issued wiretaps.
The investigation identified McKenzie as one of the primary suppliers of cocaine and crack cocaine to the gang members. In January of 2007, federal agents executed nine federal search warrants at various residences, including McKenzie's. Agents seized over $250,000 in cash from McKenzie's residence, as well as two automobiles and two firearms. Over $320,000 in cash was seized overall in the nine searches. McKenzie is prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm and ammunition based upon his prior state convictions for voluntary manslaughter, possession of a firearm during a violent crime and possession of crack.
This case was investigated by agents of the FBI's Columbia Violent Gang Task Force.

Gangland Chicago bloody weekend

violent and deadly weekend continues in Chicago. At least 12 people have been shot, two of them killed, since Saturday morning. Two others were stabbed in a home invasion. This comes after at least 20 people were shot, four of them killed, from Friday night through early Saturday.
A 28-year-old man was shot and killed at an auto body repair shop on the Southwest Side Saturday morning. Raul Lemus was shot in the stomach at 2520 W. 59th St. at about 11:20 a.m. Lemus, of 4630 S. Talman Av., died several hours later at Stroger Hospital, making him the sixth person killed in Chicago since Friday night. Police said the shooting appeared to be gang related. Also Saturday morning, Michael Giles, 26, was shot and killed inside his home at 336 N. Avers Av. Harrison Area detectives are investigating. In another case, a suspect toting an AK-47 has been charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder after allegedly killing a man and shooting at police. Bennie Teague, 39, was denied bond in the case Sunday afternoon.It’s amazing no one was hurt during the shootout between police and Teague, who was firing an assault rifle. Police say the gunman opened fire on them Friday night at 110th and South Union. They tracked him down after he allegedly shot and killed 34-year-old Marcus Hendricks inside a plumbing business a few blocks away.
The 34-year-old from Flossmoor died after being shot just blocks from a police-involved shooting on the Far South Side. He died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 8 p.m., a Cook County Medical Examiner’s office spokesman said.
“All I could say is he’s a nice guy,” said neighbor Amos Williams.
The recent gunfire has rattled nerves throughout the Roseland neighborhood.
“It’s not that all the area, all the streets are bad,” Williams said. “It’s that you get bad elements coming through your street.”
“My son is in 8th grade, about to go to high school. As a parent, I’m very concerned,” said neighbor Charles Thomas.
Also, Friday night, two teens were gunned down in front of a church in the 7500 block of South Phillips. Police say gunmen jumped out of a car and opened fire in front of the Free Salvation Methodist Baptist Church. One of the teens suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and back, the other was shot in the neck, police said. Melvin Thomas, of 14922 Washington Ave. in Harvey was pronounced dead at the Stein Institute at 1:20 a.m. Rhonell Savala, of 9750 S. Hoxie Ave. in Chicago, was pronounced dead at 12:50 a.m. Saturday at the Stein Institute.
“I was in my house and my friend came and got me and he said two boys was laying outside on the stairs…dead,” said neighbor Tamara Roberson.
Flowers and teddy bears now serve as a memorial to 18-year-olds, Thomas and Savala.
“I live just a block away on 77th, kids were still outside,” Roberson said.
“To put the shooting in perspective, you have to consider this was a 17-hour window,” said Chicago Police spokesperson Monique Bond about the number of shootings.
Chicago police are now stepping up patrols in areas that they call “hot zones.” Police blame the warmer temperatures for the spike in violence.
“We know that we’re approaching warmer weather, the summer season. We know that this is going to be a very busy season for the Chicago Police Department. There’s no doubt about that,” Bond said. Chicago Police have also recently started using helicopter patrols to try to curb gang violence. Choppers will be flying over areas prone to gang activity, especially on weekends when more shootings seem to occur.
Other shootings included, a 65-year-old man being shot dead outside his home on the Southeast Side during an attempted robbery. Ricardo Sanchez of 8439 S. Exchange Ave. was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Medical Examiner’s office.
Sunday morning, two people were critically injured when an intruder broke into their apartment in Ravenswood and stabbed them both. Police said a 26-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were stabbed in a home invasion at 1932 W. Winona St. about 6 a.m. Sunday.Both victims were in critical condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. The intruder was in custody Sunday morning, but no charges had been filed.
In most of the other shootings, the injuries were less serious, but the violence affected nearly every part of the city. Six of the people shot and wounded Saturday night were injured in two separate incidents less than a block away from each other and less than an hour apart. Three men were shot at about 10:50 p.m. near the intersection of Latrobe Avenue and Madison Street, police said. Two of the men were shot in their feet and one man was shot in the leg. All three men were taken to the hospital in “stable” condition. About 40 minutes later, three more people were shot less than a block away at 5361 W. Madison St. Authorities said a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old were among the victims. One of those victims was in critical condition; the other two were in fair condition. Grand Central Area detectives are investigating. Also Saturday night, a 19-year-old man was driving down the street in the South Side’s Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood Saturday night when shots were fired at his vehicle and he was hit in the arm, authorities said. The man was in “stable” condition at Stroger Hospital Saturday night. On the Far South Side, a 34-year-old man suffered a gunshot to his shoulder while standing in his yard Saturday night. The man was standing in his yard in the 10900 block of South Green Bay Avenue about 9 p.m. when someone began firing, hitting him in the left shoulder. Calumet Area detectives are investigating. In the Southeast Side’s South Chicago neighborhood, two men suffered minor gunshot wounds after hearing shots fired at about 8:15 p.m. The two men, aged 25 and 24, were driving south on the 8200 block of South Muskegon Avenue, when they heard shots fired and realized they had been hit.
Meantime, a 17-year-old male was in good condition early Sunday after he was shot on the 6800 block of South Parnell Avenue in an apparent drive-by. Wentworth Area detectives are investigating. A 24-year-old man was also shot early Sunday on the 1900 block of Howard Street in the Rogers Park neighborhood. A gunman approached the victim on the street and began firing, police said. The victim was shot in the leg and was listed in “stable” condition. Belmont Area detectives are investigating.
Friday night, three teens were shot near 70th and Wood streets in the West Englewood neighborhood. At least one of the victims was in critical condition.
Also Friday night, a 32-year-old man was shot in the 6400 block of South Morgan Street in the Englewood neighborhood. And at 9:42 p.m., a person was shot in the knee in the 11200 block of South State Street in the Roseland neighborhood.
Shortly before midnight, two teenage boys were shot, again in the West Englewood neighborhood. The boys, one 16-year-old and one 15-year-old, were shot in their legs at 6330 S. Damen Ave around 11:45 p.m. Their injuries were not considered serious.
And about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, a robbery victim was shot on the 7900 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue. The robber demanded money from the victim, police said. The victim ran away, but not before the robber got off one shot.
In the 1000 block of West Sunnyside Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood, a man was shot in his upper thigh around 11:35 p.m. Friday. Police said the victim was not cooperating with the investigation, and there were several conflicting stories about the shooting. On the Southwest Side, a man riding in a car in the 5100 block of South Christiana Avenue was wounded when someone fired shots inside around 10:45 p.m. Friday. The man, believed to be in his 30s, was shot in his left arm and taken in good condition to Holy Cross Hospital.
On the West Side, a man was shot multiple times and critically wounded in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The man was shot in the 700 block of North Drake Avenue just after 1:45 a.m., and taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital.
Also on the West Side, 21-year-old man was in good condition early Saturday after he was shot in the right leg on the 4400 block of West Adams Street. The man was standing there abut 2:35 a.m. when someone in a passing car fired shots at him, police said. In broad daylight Friday evening, two teenage girls were shot in the thigh in separate incidents on the Southeast and Southwest sides.
In the first incident, a girl was shot and wounded in the arm in the 2700 block of West 66th Street. A Chicago Lawn District sergeant indicated that another person was also shot in the incident.
In the second incident, a 15-year-old girl was shot in the thigh in the 8700 block of South Euclid Avenue.
Just two blocks from the scene of the first shooting where a girl was wounded, a man was shot at 5:40 p.m., police said.
And around 6:30 p.m., a teenage boy was shot in the 6000 block of South Campbell Avenue. He was taken to the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital in serious condition, police said.

Hells Angel connection in double homicide

Joel Labossiere and his wife Magdalena were found in their home Sunday by a family member who called police.Owner of a local home construction company and his pregnant wife were found shot to death in their home Sunday afternoon Police and paramedics received a call around 1:30 p.m., that a man was seen lying on the floor in a puddle of blood. He didn't appear to be moving, according to the caller. Paramedics were told to wait before entering the home until police could arrive to ensure the situation was safe. Paramedics were finally cleared to enter at about 1:55 p.m. and both victims were found dead inside.Neighbours said police canvassing the neighbourhood asked them if they had heard gunshots anytime overnight."It's unbelievable," a neighbour said breaking down in tears. "He was a great guy and the lady was as friendly as he was. I'm just stunned." Labossiere, the owner of JDL Construction, is the grandson of Fernand and Rita Labossiere, who along with their son Remi, were shot to death in their home on Nov. 26, 2005, before it was set on fire.No one has ever been charged. Mounties believe more than one person was involved in the slayings.Joel Labossiere is also the nephew of Denis Jerome Labossiere, who is currently on parole for a 2006 conviction for selling cocaine on behalf of the Hells Angels.A neighbour said Joel and his wife had a one-year-old daughter who was home during the slayings. She was unharmed and taken from the house soon after police arrived."This little girl is all alone now," he said. "She's got no parents now." City police released no details about the case other than to say the deaths were suspicious. More information was be released Monday.Joel Labossiere, a tall, muscular man, was the family spokesman in an ongoing court case over Fernand and Rita's farm estate.An August 2000 will left proceeds from the estate, valued at about $1.3 million, to six grandchildren, including Joel Labossiere. A second will, dated July 2005, left all of the property to Fernand and Rita's son Jerome Labossiere and his wife, Claudette Grenier, a school teacher.Jerome Labossiere served just 18 months of a six-year sentence for trafficking cocaine for the Hells Angels before he was granted day parole just before Christmas.However, within days he was arrested and charged with breaching a court order prohibiting him from contacting them at their homes and workplaces. Labossiere's relatives had obtained a no-contact order.

Rashawn and Deon Beneby Someone mowed down the brothers, some 15 yards apart, on a grassy strip

''They may have been into drugs but they didn't do anything to harm anybody,'' said their aunt, Cheryl Watkins. ``It was cold-blooded murder to lay them out like that.''Miami-Dade County's 80th and 81st homicides of 2008: Rashawn and Deon Beneby, brothers and suspects in a string of violent robberies, shot dead Thursday afternoon next to the Liberty City middle school they once attended.
''It's cold-blooded, outright killing out there -- and we're not even in the summer yet,'' said the Rev. Richard Dunn, a community activist who lives three blocks away.
Witnesses said a group of men were gathered outside an apartment at the Annie Coleman Gardens housing project when the shooting started.Someone mowed down the brothers, some 15 yards apart, on a grassy strip next to the chain-link fence that separates the community from the baseball field at Charles R. Drew Middle School, 1801 NW 60th St. Rashawn was executed -- shot in the head and torso -- under a clothesline. Tank tops, pink blankets, black jerseys, swayed in the breeze above his corpse. Blood spattered the line's metal pole.Deon, some witnesses said, was killed as he ran away.As Charles Drew students were locked inside their classrooms, assault-rifle toting officers searched the housing project, commonly known as PSU, 6051 NW 19th Ave. A police helicopter scoured from above.
Investigators were not sure how many gunmen were involved; none was immediately found, Miami-Dade police said. Rattled students at Charles Drew Middle and nearby Charles R. Drew Elementary were released to parents hours later.
''There was no threat to any of the students at the school,'' said Miami-Dade Detective Robert Williams, a spokesman.The brothers' deaths underscore what has been an intense year for homicide detectives across Miami-Dade. Before the Benebys' deaths, 79 homicides since Jan. 1 had been recorded with the six police departments in Miami-Dade that investigate unnatural deaths. There have also been a string of multiple-death shootings.
• On March 28, two brothers, Dion Coppet, 21, and Danzel Coppet, 17, were shot and killed during a botched robbery at a gas station near the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition near Sweetwater.
• On March 15, three men leaving the Take One Lounge strip club were killed in a drive-by shooting on Northwest 79th Street and 22nd Avenue.
• On Feb. 24, two men sitting in a blue Monte Carlo were shot dead in Miami Gardens in another drive-by shooting. Two other men were wounded.
Of the 81 homicides, including the Benebys, 37 of those were black men ages 35 or younger, according to county records.''It lies in the lap of the black community,'' Dunn said. ``We've got to stop glamorizing the hip-hop gangster rap, the bling-bling atmosphere of drugs sales and distribution and usage.''The Benebys had certainly come to the attention of police for their involvement in drugs and violence.
They grew up with their six brothers and sisters in the PSU projects. Deon Beneby played little league baseball.In 1997, as a fourth-grade Little League shortstop, he attended a town hall meeting on the poor condition of parks. ''It makes me ashamed -- sad,'' he told then-Miami Mayor Joe Carollo.
Their mother had died of AIDS, family members said. Their father later died, too.
By adulthood, they had run up arrest after arrest: marijuana possession, selling cocaine, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.In December 2006, Rashawn Beneby, sister Tiffany Beneby, and her 3-year-old son were shot in the same housing project. Tiffany and her son received wounds to the ankles; Rashawn was shot in the left arm.On April 4, Anthony Morris Beaubrun, 21, and Lusteveus Dessaint, 18, friends of the two brothers, were fatally shot in a parking lot across the street from where the Benebys died. Stuffed teddy bears, placed as memorials, still decorated the pavement and grass.Another pal, Darnell Parker, 22, was shot and killed at the Studio A nightclub Monday morning in downtown Miami.Meanwhile, Miami and Miami-Dade police had already begun looking at the Benebys as suspects in several recent killings.Detectives say they think Rashawn, 22, Deon, 21, and brother Demetrius Beneby, 18, with handguns, had been robbing people of jewelry and money in drive-through lanes at fast-food eateries in North Miami-Dade.They were, police say, in a gray Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Rodney McDuffie, 24, who is currently in jail on an armed robbery charge. They had been pawning jewelry at the USA Flea Market on Northwest 79th Street and 32nd Avenue, Miami-Dade detectives believe.Demetrius Beneby, 18, was being questioned by Miami-Dade homicide detectives on Thursday evening.He and Deon Beneby had been free from jail on bond after March arrests on charges of grand theft and drug possession.

Hells Angels founder Sonny Barger sues

According to a lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles by famed Hells Angels founder Sonny Barger, the script, concept and elements in the show were developed with his collaboration. However, the complaint contends that HBO, the White Mountain Company, and writer/producer Michael Tolkin cut him out of the project and violated many of his publicity rights when he demanded changes so as not to dilute his own brand.HBO announced the pilot, set in the world of biker gangs, back in October (the "1%" title is a reference to a tattoo used by biker gang members to symbolize life on the fringe of American society). Barger now says he first optioned his bestselling autobiography to 20th Century Fox for movie development. Fox then hired Tolkin (Robert Altman's "The Player") to write the script. Barger claims he shared with Tolkin some of the other fiction projects he had been working on. Together, the two pitched HBO on a new series, and eventually HBO turned to Tolkin to create it.However, after Barger objected to some of the elements in the pilot, HBO "refused to acknowledge the contributions or authorship" of Berger nor sought permission to "use or publish the name, trademark, persona or likeness of Sonny Barger for any purpose," according to the suit. Barger wants the court to declare the "1% Script" as a joint work of Sonny Barger Prods and Tolkin, enjoin Tolkin and HBO from selling or exhibiting the program, and award compensatory damages for exploiting Barger's publicity rights.Barger is repped by attorney Fritz Clapp.

David Burgess Hells Angel Nevada brothel owner guilty

Nevada brothel owner David Burgess guilty of possessing and transporting child pornography.Jurors deliberated less than four hours after Friday's closing arguments in the federal trial of Burgess, 55, a member of a northern Nevada chapter of the Hells Angels.Burgess had pleaded not guilty to the two charges. When the verdict was read, he looked solemnly back at his friends and family members in the courtroom, some of them weeping uncontrollably.Prosecutors say investigators found images of child pornography on two computer hard drives seized from Burgess' motor home during a traffic stop last July along Interstate 80 in western Wyoming

David (Shaky Dave) Atwell was paid about $450,000 to work as a police agent during an 18-month investigation targeting the Hells Angels in Ontario.

Undercover police agent David (Shaky Dave) Atwell was repeatedly scolded by his police handlers and Hells Angels friends to stop his cocaine use, court heard today.
“I was feeling very stressed,” Atwell said during the Superior Court trial of Thomas Bogiatzis, who was charged with trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to traffic. Bogiatzis is not a member of the Hells Angels.
“I was feeling very alone as an agent,” Atwell said. “I felt I had no friends. I let my guard down.”
Court heard that Atwell snorted a line of cocaine in Vienna with a Hells Angel member while discussing the possibility of a drug shipment into Toronto.
He also snorted the drug off a CD case in the washroom of a biker clubhouse near London, Ont.
Atwell said senior Toronto Hells Angel Donnie Petersen and downtown Toronto Hells Angel president John Neale chided him over his cocaine use at the same time he was working with police in his undercover operation.
Atwell said his reputation in the Hells Angels was that of a frequent cocaine user and if he halted use of the drug suddenly, it would have blown his cover.
“It’s all over the place,” Atwell said under cross-examination from defence lawyer Glen Orr. “It’s just like hors d'oeuvres at a party.”
Orr noted that Atwell also smoked at joint of hashish and marijuana with Larry Pooler, another member of the downtown Toronto Hells Angel chapter.
“Why would you do it?” Orr asked.
“It’s a very difficult thing, being an undercover agent, and you have to keep up appearances,” he replied.
Court earlier heard Atwell was paid about $450,000 to work as a police agent during an 18-month investigation targeting the Hells Angels in Ontario.

Melbourne crime family two shootings and the fire-bombing of a house have been linked to the conflict involving the family

In the past two weeks, two shootings and the fire-bombing of a house have been linked to the conflict involving the family.The probe centres on a notorious Melbourne crime family which has been linked to shootings, drug trafficking, bribery, abductions and bashings. There have been claims the family wants to move into the gap left by the dismantling of Tony Mokbel's drug empire. In an email to senior police -- including Assistant Commissioner Simon Overland -- Det-Sgt Paul Lunt of Broadmeadows withdrew from the investigation and threatened to resign over "the total incompetence of those charged with the responsibility of the management of investigations of major crime in this state".
"I can no longer stand by whilst the departmentally sanctioned spin doctors sugar coat what is a very serious gang war in the making and letting a very dangerous family run amok without proper co-ordinated attention," he wrote.
Det-Sgt Lunt wrote that local police had asked for help from the Australian Crime Commission and the Purana Taskforce in the investigation's early stages and had not received a reply. He said the Victoria Police armed crime taskforce had become involved recently. "None of you have obviously learned lessons from what come (sic) out of Purana," he wrote. "The only difference here is that no one has died. And that is only good luck, not good management. "But you're all more worried about your petty squabbles over staff ownership and whether you may get criticised in the media." Two men have been shot in Gladstone Park in the past two weeks in conflict linked to the family. Two men have been arrested by officers investigating one of the shootings, in which a man was shot in the legs.
On Monday, a man and woman were forced to climb down piping from the upper story of a Coolaroo house after it was shot at and firebombed The family, which is at the centre of a taskforce dubbed Lased, is known to deal large amounts of amphetamine. In the past three years, there have been shootings, armed road rage incidents, kidnappings, bashings and armed robberies which police suspect were the family's work. They have allegedly boasted to police about having superior firearms. Senior police last night defended their record, saying Operation Lased had achieved some outstanding results and heavily disrupted criminal activity in the area. Supt Richard Grant, who was one of the officers who received the email, said there had been three significant arrests in the past week bringing the total arrest tally to about 20 in the past six months. "Victoria Police respects the right of its members to express their opinions and concerns to their managers and members of senior command. However, it is confident that it is effectively managing the ongoing investigation known as Operation Lased. "A number of key arrests and firearms and drug seizures is evidence that this highly targeted approach is having a major impact." Supt Grant said Victoria Police believed enough resources had been committed to the operation so far but, if necessary, more resources would be provided in the future. Police Association secretary Sen-Sgt Paul Mullett said Det-Sgt Lunt's attack was proof the force's major crime management model had been an "abject failure". Sen-Sgt Mullett said the situation sounded like an episode of Yes Minister. "This is another example of our members crying for help. The member is right. Victoria Police is being more run by spin-doctoring and propaganda these days," he said. Sen-Sgt Mullett said Det-Sgt Lunt was a dedicated policeman who, he hoped, would not be made to pay for his comments.

National police chief, Sereepisut Taemeeyaves, sacked for alleged corruption.

Thai governments tend to rely on the army or the police (or both) to remain in power. So their commands have always been deeply politicised. Like other public institutions they are dominated by a narrow elite of families with tentacles everywhere. “You find the same few surnames wherever you look,” notes Michael Nelson, a political scientist in Bangkok. Indeed, Mr Sereepisut's replacement as police chief has the same surname as a former army chief—his brother.The prime suspects are often the Thai police. Among current cases are a group of border police accused of abducting innocent people and extorting money from them, and a huge car-theft ring thought to have been run by bent coppers. The prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, this month sacked the national police chief, Sereepisut Taemeeyaves, for alleged corruption. Mr Sereepisut insists he is the victim of a conspiracy by crooked subordinates. Earlier this month the justice minister visited Chalor Kerdthes, a former police general serving life in jail, belatedly seeking progress on the “blue diamond” affair of the early 1990s, which wrecked Thailand's relations with Saudi Arabia. After the priceless gem and other jewels were stolen from a Saudi royal palace by a Thai worker, three Saudi diplomats seeking their return were murdered in Bangkok. The Thai police supposedly solved the case but the jewels they sent back to Riyadh were fake. Mr Chalor arranged the murders of the family of a gem dealer involved in the case. It is suspected he can dish the dirt on other former police chiefs.Cases of police graft and abuse of power are legion. In 2003 Thailand's then prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra—a former mid-ranking policeman and businessman—told police to wage “war on drugs”, resulting in at least 1,300 extra-judicial killings. The army removed Mr Thaksin in a coup in 2006, promising a thorough investigation of the deaths. It had made little progress by last December's election, won by allies of Mr Thaksin. In March the American government's annual human-rights report on Thailand criticised the widespread torture of suspects. Last year 751 people died in prison or police custody. Abuses by police (and soldiers) have worsened an insurgency in Thailand's mainly Muslim southern provinces, in which 3,000 people have died since 2004. Predictably, opinion polls show the police are widely mistrusted. Experts say Thailand's force is not the world's worst: it does have some honest, capable investigators. However, for a country of a fairly high state of development, its record is abysmal. After decades of failed attempts at police reform, a panel set up after the 2006 coup proposed sweeping changes, including creating an independent police-complaints body. Some of the panel's reformists may be sincere. But this looked suspiciously like an attempt to curb Mr Thaksin's power base in the police. Now Mr Samak, although a supposed ally of Mr Thaksin, seems to be building bridges with army chiefs to bolster his own power. So his motives in sacking the police chief and talking of continuing the military government's reforms are also bound to be questioned. Thai public servants are less loyal to the institutions that employ them than to their loose network of connections—relatives, ex-classmates from military training or old university chums. The 2006 coup pitted Mr Thaksin's schoolmates against those of General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the then army chief. Police reforms elsewhere have generally succeeded only where a public-spirited and untainted political leadership forced them through. When will Thailand get that sort of leadership?

Maurice Praill arrested on a charge of child sexual abuse

Maurice Praill, 77, from Harold Hill, Essex, was sent to Nongplalai prison, Pattaya, after Sudarat Sereewat a member of the country’s National Child Protection Committee complained ‘on behalf of the children of Thailand’.Praill had earlier boasted that a local policeman played the keyboards at his wedding to a 15-yr-old child bride in a ceremony blessed by Buddhist monks.
Praill was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to 14 years in jail for the rape of two under-aged girls in Pattaya. But he never did time. He got bail to appeal against his conviction and when he lost his appeal in 2004, he was given bail again to appeal to Thailand’s Supreme Court.He was arrested again last year together with three other foreigners and charged again with child sex abuse. In this case it was alleged young girls were delivered to foreigners on the back of a motorcycle. One of the alleged victims in this case was the daughter of Praill’s latest maid.
Praill was bailed. But the prosecution subsequently offered no evidence against him although an American was subsequently jailed for 16 years.Then last month Praill was arrested for sexually abusing an eight year old boy. Again he was bailed, this time for 400,000 Thai baht (£6,411).

Ivor Chandler, 56, from Skelton, East Cleveland, fatally stabbed in the throat

A Briton was murdered in Thailand by a mentally disturbed man who was jealous of the man’s forthcoming marriage to his sister.Retired ICI worker Ivor Chandler, 56, from Skelton, East Cleveland, had been taken by a his Thai girlfriend, Chumporn, 28, from the resort of Pattaya to meet her parents, in the northern province of Phetchabun at the weend when Chandler was killed.Shortly after his arrival late last week in the village of Khlong Thom he was attacked by the girl’s brother and fatally stabbed in the throat.Police Captain Komchart Kankasaen said: “The brother, Tui Minim, is now in custody. He is not mentally well. He has to be looked after 24 hours a day by his family. He has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals.”“It seems that he was jealous of all the attention the foreigner. He did not like strangers and he was used to getting all the attention.”Mr.Chandler made regular visits to Thailand to visit his girlfriend. They planned to marry later this year.

John Paul Jones Australian was arrested in Thailand

An Australian was arrested in Thailand after a doctor allegedly discovered 65 plastic bags filled with $31,608 in hashish in his stomach, police said.
John Paul Jones, 51, was visiting the island of Ko Samui when he was rushed to the hospital after complaining of severe stomach pain, the Bangkok Post reported.
An X-ray of Jones's intestine showed a sausage-like string of objects that were surgically removed and identified as 800 grams of hashish.
"Before the operation, Mr Jones looked nervous and asked whether police would be notified. We found 62 black objects obstructing his small intestine. Three packs had burst," Dr Worapob said.It is reported that it took doctors two hours to remove the drugs, which were concealed in condoms and probably smuggled into Thailand from India or Pakistan.Authorities said Jones would be held for questioning and charges.

Brit Chetn Dadhwal was stabbed to death after trying to break up a fight between two Thai men.

British reveller at Thailand’s Koh Pan Ghan Full Moon Party was killed, according to a report in the Bangkok Post, which said the 24-year-old Brit was stabbed to death after trying to break up a fight between two Thai men.Chetn Dadhwal, 24, (described as of Indian origin in some press reports) was murdered on Had Rin beach, the main location of the monthly event. The latest tourist killing coincided with an announcement by Thai authorities that they are to issue whistles to tourists and specific travel advice to females, following a spate of murders and rapes in the last few years.Leading Thai behaviour psychologist Pol Maj-Gen Pongpat Chayapan told the Post that ‘many attackers and rapists are psychologically abnormal’ and warned that sun bathing tourists seeking secluded beaches are putting themselves at particular risk. “They tend to choose a quiet spot away from other people, take off the bikini and sunbathe,” he said, describing typical victims. “That’s when the attackers strike.”

Assets of a gang accused of involvement in smuggling Myanmar workers to Thailand siezed

The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) will cooperate with Thailand's police in adopting harsh punishment as well as seizing the assets of a gang accused of involvement in smuggling Myanmar workers to Thailand last week, causing 54 of them to die in a suffocation tragedy, a senior DSI officer said Monday.
Pol. Col. Suchart Wongananchai, commander of the DSI's foreign affairs and international crime office, said after visiting the southern coastal province of Ranong on the Myanmar border to follow-up developments in relation to the 54 Myanmar workers who died of suffocation in a seafood container truck last Thursday that Thailand's response to the incident was being closely watched by international human rights organisations.The workers secretly entered Ranong province and were travelling to Phuket province, locked in the storage compartment of a refrigerated seafood transfer vehicle. A Thai businessman was apprehended Friday in Ranong, but the truck's driver was still at large.As anti-human trafficking laws are not yet enforced in Thailand, Pol. Col. Suchart said the DSI had proposed that assets of those involved in this case should be confiscated.
He said a detailed investigation was conducted after the incident and it was found that an illegal smuggling gang would "earn not less than Bt100,000 per trip".Smuggling of foreign labour into the country should be considered as an economic crime and the freezing of assets should be imposed on the network, Pol. Col. Suchart said.He said 50 survivors from the tragedy would be asked to become witnesses in the criminal case and "not accused persons". Thailand's Ministry of Justice would be responsible for their expenses while staying in Thailand.The DSI is now compiling information on gangs which smuggle Myanmar workers into Thailand via border districts in Kanchanaburi and Tak provinces, he said. The illegal workers are usually sent to work in the fisheries in Samut Songkhram province, near Bangkok

Two koreans girls were murdered on Tarai Beach on Larn Island

Police were called to Tarai Beach on Larn Island early on April 11 morning to investigate the discovery of 2 bodies thought to be two South Korean tourists, Pattaya City News Online has reported.
Specialist Forensic Officers from Chonburi joined Pattaya Police and Tourist Police Officers at the site as they attempted to determine the cause of death.
Evidence was littered around the shoreline and the bodies were closely inspected by forensic teams who determined that one of the women had died after her head was smashed against a stone. It is then thought the body was dragged into the water and the second woman who is thought to have killed her, tied her hands together with the victim and it is thought she then committed suicide by drowning, using the weight of the dead woman to pull her under the water.
The identity of the two women is unclear, however a torn up passport was fond on the beach featuring the name, Park Ji Hee. Witnesses mentioned that the two women were seen hand-in-hand on a beach near the crime scene, the night before the incident and there was no evidence that they were fighting in any way. Despite this, Forensic Teams are confident that a third party was not involved in the case which is ongoing at this time in conjunction with the Korean Embassy in Bangkok.
According to Pattaya Daily News, Korean Embassy in coordinated with Pattaya police, collected more evidence from the incident where the two Korean tourist women were found dead around a deserted area, near the reefs on Tha-Rai beach, Koh Larn (Coral Island), Naklua, Chonburi. On April 12, 2008, at 11am, Pattaya police officers had coordinated with Korean Embassy of Thailand to collect more evidence and gathered the information about the death of two Korean women. They had found out that the victims did not travel with a group tour. They had traveled around Koh Larn privately and expected to leave on the same day as there was no accommodation booking record on the Island. Police made observations that, the bodies were found dead at a place which was very far away from the community and very difficult to access, very disordered with thick woods along the way.
The two deceased bodies were found there suspiciously. However, police team took an hour to investigate the area. Pol.Lt.Col.Sumeht Hanwisai, Pattaya investigator, the officer who is in charge of the case, had stated that this murder case is in the several aspects with no clarification whether it was a robbery or a murderousness.
The wounds on their heads were the evidence that it was a murder, the autopsy had stated. The spot where the bodies were found was about 50 meters away from the sea, obviously there was no water would get to the dead bodies but the autopsy found some bubbles in the their blood.
Police investigated the area and found empty beer cans and a foreign whisky bottle, a shoulder bag with no valuable things inside, except a passport , which the picture of the death person was torn out. The passport indicated the name as "Park Ji Hee", a Korean citizen. Police had kept them as evidence. Police also found some Thai baht and Korean currency in their pockets. Koh Larn volunteer police, Mr. Porn Janhom (52), told officers that he saw those two girls were walking along Sa-Mae beach the day before. Police officers revealed that the victims must be attacked and robbed by at least two people, by hitting a hard object on their heads. On April 12, 2008, at 11am, Pattaya police officers had coordinated with Korean Embassy of Thailand to collect more evidence and gathered the information about the death of two Korean women. They had found out that the victims did not travel with a group tour. They had traveled around Koh Larn privately and expected to leave on the same day as there was no accommodation booking record on the Island. Police made observations that, the bodies were found dead at a place which was very far away from the community and very difficult to access, very disordered with thick woods along the way. The two deceased bodies were found there suspiciously. However, police team took an hour to investigate the area.
Pol.Lt.Col.Sumeht Hanwisai, Pattaya investigator, the officer who is in charge of the case, had stated that this murder case is in the several aspects with no clarification whether it was a robbery or a murderousness. The wounds on their heads were the evidence that it was a murder, the autopsy had stated. The spot where the bodies were found was about 50 meters away from the sea, obviously there was no water would get to the dead bodies but the autopsy found some bubbles in the their blood.

Francesco "Cisco" Lenti Bandidos member fired five shots at the four Hells Angels surrounding him

Armed with a handgun and the knowledge he was a marked man, Bandidos member Francesco "Cisco" Lenti fired five shots at the four Hells Angels surrounding him before stepping over a felled man and firing a fatal bullet.
Lenti took responsibility yesterday for the chilling snapshot of violence that erupted at a Vaughan strip club in 2006.
The 60-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the shooting of Hells Angels sergeant-at-arms David (White Dread) Buchanan and the aggravated assault of then Hells Angels prospect Carlos Verrelli (now a full member) and full-patch member Dana Carnegie. Lenti will be sentenced May 12. Court heard a detailed account of the fatal shooting and the biker politics that fuelled it as Assistant Crown Attorney David Moull read an agreed statement of facts into the record. Lenti was working his job at Club Pro in Vaughan the night of the shooting. Working at the strip club for 20 years, his role was to keep drugs out of the business and to act as a peacekeeper. When Lenti came downstairs Dec. 2, 2006, at 12:53 a.m., he saw four Hells Angels members sitting in the club who quickly surrounded him and began arguing, the statement said. The Hells Angels objected to Lenti's Bandidos loyalties and the fact he was trying to establish the gang in Ontario. "Lenti said he felt threatened and that something was about to happen," the statement said. "He said he saw the butt of a gun in Mr. Verrelli's jacket." He moved to the front lobby of the club where two security cameras captured the escalating argument. Buchanan advanced on Lenti, punching him in the face and giving him a black eye. Lenti shoved Buchanan back, pulled out a 9-mm handgun from his waistband and shot Buchanan, Carnegie and Verrelli. A fourth biker took cover in a utility closet when he saw the gun. Carnegie fled the club as Buchanan and Verrelli collapsed on the lobby floor.
Lenti turned his attention to Buchanan who was still alive but bleeding and trying to pull himself off the floor. "At that point Mr. Lenti shot Mr. Buchanan through his left cheek, killing him," the statement said. As Lenti made his way to the door, he fired one final shot at Verrelli. Seven shots were fired within six seconds. "At no time during the incident were any of the Hells Angels seen to be in possession of or to produce a firearm," the statement said. Lenti turned himself in the same day but his gun was never recovered. He was originally charged with second-degree murder. The statement of facts also detailed how a member of the Oshawa chapter of the Hell Angels serving as a civilian police agent came across a plot to kill Lenti for refusing to be recruited from the Bandidos in June 2006. Two Hells Angels were assigned the job of killing Lenti to stop him from expanding the Bandidos. The third biker recruited for the murder was a paid police informant. "It was proposed the agent kill Lenti and leave him in the middle of the highway in his colours," said the statement. "Lenti couldn't just disappear; he had to be found to prove a point."
When police warned Lenti about the murder plot, he began carrying the gun and assured the officer delivering the message that he was keeping a low profile and watching his back. "He felt he was a target because he was trying to get the Bandidos Motorcycle Club 'off the ground,' " the statement said. The court heard Lenti had faced danger before. In August 1995, the 35-year veteran of outlaw motorcycle gangs was aligned with Satan's Choice and starting a new club called the Diablos when he was the victim of a car bombing in his driveway. The bomb put him in hospital for several months with life-threatening injuries.

John Napoli leader of "Breed" Motorcycle Club used assaults, death threats and intimidation to protect a multimillion dollar meth trafficking busines

leader of a Philadelphia-area motorcycle gang is going to prison for more than three decades. A federal judge Wednesday sentenced John Napoli of Levittown to 36 years in prison for distributing methamphetamine, racketeering and other charges.
Prosecutors say the PA "Breed" Motorcycle Club used assaults, death threats and intimidation to protect a multimillion dollar meth trafficking business. Two co-defendants are also going to prison after convictions in the October jury trial.

Benoit Fortin member of the Killerbeez suspected of stabbing his roommate

Benoit Fortin, 39, Wednesday afternoon. He is suspected of stabbing his roommate, a 41-year-old man, in the face during an argument in their apartment on 12th Ave. in the Lachine borough late Tuesday night. The victim was taken to a hospital to be treated for stab wounds, including a serious injury to his eye, said Montreal police Constable Anie Lemieux. The suspect in the case fled the apartment before midnight Tuesday.In 2004, Fortin was sentenced to four years and 10 months for the crimes he was convicted of in Operation Amigo, a 2002 investigation and roundup of the Bandidos biker gang in Montreal. Gang members and associates were charged with crimes related to Quebec's biker gang war between the Bandidos and the Hells Angels. The Bandidos, an international outlaw motorcycle gang, have since folded their chapters in Quebec.During one trial held in connection with Operation Amigo, it was revealed that Fortin tried to burn down the Chez Parée strip club on Stanley St. in May 2001. He also tried to torch a Montreal workout gym a month later. The strip bar was targeted because two members of the Bandidos were assaulted there the night before by men tied to the Hells Angels. The gym was chosen because the Bandidos thought it was a Hells Angels hangout. The arson attempts earned Fortin his patch in the Killerbeez, a former Bandidos puppet gang. Fortin is described as white, 5-foot-9 and 181 pounds. He has several tattoos, including one of a dragon on his chest, a skull on his left arm and an eagle on his right arm.

San Bernardino chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club in connection with the death of a Yucca Valley man being investigated

Indio police are investigating the San Bernardino chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club in connection with the death of a Yucca Valley man.Indio police served search warrants at three locations in San Bernardino and Highland on Tuesday that they say John Rocco Vanderstine, 41, of Yucca Valley, frequented, Indio police spokesman Ben Guitron said.Police were searching for evidence related to the discovery in February of Vanderstine's body, which was found by the side of the road on Avenida 42 and Madison Street in Indio. He was found shot to death about 8:15 a.m. Feb. 2, after his body was dumped north of Interstate 10 near a senior citizens community.A search warrant was served by Indio and San Bernardino police and San Bernardino County sheriff's SWAT teams at 6 a.m. at what authorities say is a Hells Angels clubhouse in the 1800 block of Medical Center Drive in San Bernardino, said Indio police Capt. Mark Miller.Search warrants were also served at the homes of two possible Hells Angels members, in the 5100 block of Vail Lane in San Bernardino and the 26600 block of Sparks Street in Highland, Miller said.Police have not confirmed whether Vanderstine was a Hells Angel, but he was known to associate with group members at the clubhouse, Guitron said."What's puzzling is why he ended up in Indio," Guitron said. "We don't know if he was already deceased or if he was killed there."The Hells Angels originated in Fontana and San Bernardino in 1948 and have come under scrutiny by law enforcement across the country. Many authorities have said the group fits the criteria of a criminal street gang, while members have long countered it is a motorcycle club.Indio police have had motorcycle groups pass through the region, but have not had any major incidents with the group in 25 years, Guitron said.

The High Value Gang, who were armed with claw hammers, struck at Selfridges and Harvey Nichols

Gangs, who were armed with claw hammers, struck at Selfridges in Exchange Square and Harvey Nichols in New Cathedral Street at 1100 BST. Three men went into Selfridges and smashed glass counters before stealing several watches worth about £400,000.
Two men wearing helmets attacked a security guard in Harvey Nichols, before taking watches worth £300,000. The guard was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The five men left in a red Ford Transit van, which has since been recovered on Mirabel Street. These men were after high-value pieces The van is believed to have been recently stolen from the Prestwich area but had since been fitted with false number plates. The five men then made their getaway in an unknown vehicle. Greater Manchester Police said the two incidents were linked and inquiries were continuing.
Det Sgt Dave Turner said: "This incident has left one man with minor injuries and a number of other people extremely distressed. "These men seem to have had a clear plan of attack, they were after high-value pieces and knew which counters to target to find them." One man is described as 5ft 10in (1.77m) and of a stocky build and was wearing a red fleece jacket and a peaked BMX-style helmet. Another was slightly smaller wearing a light white high-visibility jacket.

200 officers carried out the raids, as part of a major investigation into North Tyneside gangland crime.

"If someone is suspicious about a person's lifestyle and where they are getting their money from, all they need to do is tip us off and we will do the rest.
"They don't need to give their name, or give evidence in court.
"It may take us some time, but we are determined to take action against those who are living a life of luxury through crime - regardless of their background."200 officers carried out the raids, as part of a major investigation into organised crime.The operation, by North Tyneside Area Command, led to 14 people being arrested on suspicion of financial offences including money laundering.
Vehicles and false passports were also seized in the raids at homes in North Tyneside, Newcastle, Northumberland and Durham.The operation, supported Northumbria Police Crime Operations Department, was a joint venture between Northumbria Police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).The raids come hot on the heels of Operation Payback 2, a Northumbria Police initiative targeting career criminals.During the week-long campaign, officers seized nearly £250,000 worth of property and cash. Superintendent Peter Farrell of North Tyneside area command said: "These arrests are the result of many months of hard work."They represent Northumbria Police's commitment to tackling serious criminality whilst continuing to deliver responsive policing in our local communities through our neighbourhood teams.
"Operations like these prove that we are listening to people's concerns and taking action against the small minority who profit from organised crime.

Jerome Labossiere is a convicted drug dealer who got caught up in one of Manitoba's largest crackdowns on the Hells Angels.

Jerome Labossiere is a convicted drug dealer who got caught up in one of Manitoba's largest crackdowns on the Hells Angels.He was arrested in February 2006 as part of "Project Defence" and pleaded guilty to drug charges three months later. Labossiere admitted to selling two kilograms of almost pure cocaine on separate occasions in 2005 to undercover agent Franco Atanosovic, who was paid $525,000 by police to infiltrate the Hells Angels. Labossiere was sentenced to six years in prison, but has been out on day parole since last December. He will be granted full parole next month after serving just two years of his sentence.National Parole Board documents also show his parole officer was concerned that Labossiere's release could be thwarted by the temptation to return to a life of crime. Labossiere claims he's severed his ties with the Hells.

Joaquin Guzman, known as El Chapo, and Ismael Zambada Turf war among drug Gangs claimed more than 210 lives in the first three months of this year.

Turf war among drug Gangs has claimed more than 210 lives in the first three months of this year. Many of those killed were young gunmen from out of town. The number of homicides this year is more than twice the total number of homicides for the same period last year. Several mass graves hiding 36 bodies in all have been discovered in the backyards of two houses owned by drug dealers.At the height of the violence, around Easter, bodies were turning up every morning, at a rate of almost 12 a week.
Desperate, the mayor and the governor of Chihuahua State asked the federal government to intervene."Neither the municipal government, nor the state government, is capable of taking on organized crime," Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said in an interview.So in late March, President Felipe Calderon sent in 2,026 soldiers and 425 federal agents. They continue to patrol in convoys of Humvees and pickup trucks. But even they are intimidated. None dare show their faces, wearing ski masks instead.
"The mortuary is full of more than 50 unclaimed and unidentified bodies, proof that the soldiers in the underworld war come from other states, the mayor said.
Information about who is fighting whom is hard to come by.

The local police chief, Guillermo Prieto Quintana, professed ignorance of the conflict, despite having been an officer here for 30 years. He acknowledged that the 1,600-member force was riddled with corrupt officers, a consequence, he said, of low pay and a lack of opportunity for advancement that led them to seek other sources of money. "As long as freelancing exists, this corruption is going to exist," he said.Since the late 1980s, drug smuggling in Ciudad Juarez has been controlled by a group known as the Juarez Cartel, led by Vincente Carrillo Fuentes since the death of his brother Amado in 1997.The recent violence ripping apart Ciudad Juarez stems from a gang war between former allies. On one side is the Carrillo Fuentes family and its point man here, Jose Luis Ledezma, known as J.L. On the other, are several traffickers based in Sinaloa State, chief among them Joaquin Guzman, known as El Chapo, and Ismael Zambada, known as El Mayo, said a federal prosecutor, who, like some others interviewed, spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Their uneasy alliance has been strained since one of the Carrillo Fuentes brothers, Rodolfo, was assassinated in September 2004, officials say. Guzman is widely believed to have been behind the killing.

One theory holds that the tension reached a breaking point in December when Zambada refused to pay the Juarez Cartel a tax for smuggling drugs through its area.Since then, Zambada and Guzman have begun an offensive against the Juarez Cartel, and Ledezma, the local crime boss, has fought back fiercely, prosecutors and city officials said. "Mayo and Chapo's people wanted to invade, and J.L. was not going to let them, and so the battles started," the prosecutor said.But a Mexican intelligence officer, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that since the assassination of Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, the Juarez Cartel has forged an alliance with the Gulf Cartel, led by the incarcerated kingpin Osiel Cardenas Guillen and his lieutenants in Tamaulipas State, across the border from south Texas.Over the last year, arrests and pressure from federal troops have weakened the Gulf Cartel. Sensing an opportunity, Zambada, Guzman and other Sinoloa drug traffickers who had fallen out with the Carrillo Fuentes clan have tried to take over the town, the official said."What you have is one cartel that is leaving an open space, and it's a takeover attempt by another," the intelligence official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.John Riley, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in El Paso, said the fighting in Ciudad Juarez stemmed from the same battle for territory among various Sinaloa traffickers, the old Carrillo Fuentes family and the Gulf Cartel that has shaken the entire country over the last two years, costing thousands of lives.
He added the alliances among various factions shifted constantly, creating a chaotic situation for law enforcement. "A lot of these lines have been blurred since the first of the year," he said. "It's extremely confusing."City officials said that before the recent gangland war, Ledezma had tried to establish himself as a gangster in the American tradition, controlling extortion rackets, prostitution and gambling, as well as the cocaine traffic.
Officials say he has also recruited local street gangs like Los Aztecas as gunmen and drug distributors. The Gulf Cartel has brought in a corps of hired hit men, known as the Zetas.Federal prosecutors and city officials say that Ledezma has also infiltrated the local police department to an alarming degree. Most of the officers killed in the recent violence had links to drug dealers, prosecutors said.
For residents, the federal police and military patrols have brought a brief respite from the state of terror they have been living under. But in interviews, several said they remain afraid to leave their homes at night or to let their children play outside as they did when they were young. Gunfire was a common sound after sunset, they said."Before, there was not much pressure on those who sell drugs, but with the army, things are changing," Janeth Ponce, 21, a homemaker, said as she sat in the sun last Saturday in the central square. "Now one doesn't feel so much fear, because there is more policing."But other residents said the federal intervention was only a temporary fix. The local police are outgunned, underpaid, prone to corruption and lack the authority to investigate drug dealers, they noted.
It has escaped no one's attention that the federal authorities arrested nine city police officers in late March on charges of drug dealing, and the former police commissioner, Saulo Reyes, was arrested in El Paso in January, on charges of marijuana trafficking.
"The police were doing nothing," said Janet Morales Castellanos, who was tending her father's herbal store in the market last Saturday. "One can't walk around here at night. I can't take her to the parks at night or even to the movies," she said, referring to her toddler daughter. "One stays at home."
The mayor and the police commissioner, who took office last October, agree that the only long-term solution is to clean up the police department and to give police officers the legal power to investigate drug trafficking, which only federal officers have now.To that end, they have toughened standards for recruits and are beginning to use a battery of tests to weed out drug addicts and others prone to corruption. They have bought 100 patrol cars and have permitted the officers to carry semiautomatic sidearms and machine guns, instead of service revolvers.
However, the force has changed little. Only about 30 officers have resigned or retired in the wake of federal arrests and the new tests. The first batch of 150 new recruits came out of the academy in January, but they entered a force where most officers either feared drug dealers too much to move against them or lived on their payroll.
"A municipal policeman knows everything but cannot act," said Jaime Torres, the spokesman for the department.

Avtar Singh, Pargat Masih, Tarsem Kumar, Shankar and Rajesh Kumar.Gang of robbers who were involved in many robberies and thefts

Gang of robbers who were involved in many robberies and thefts. Five members of this gang have been arrested along with sharp-edged weapons.
The arrested persons have been identified as Avtar Singh, Pargat Masih, Tarsem Kumar, Shankar and Rajesh Kumar. All are local residents. From them, the police have seized two knives, two kirchs (big knives) and one iron rod. These persons were arrested late last evening by a police party led by Sub-Inspector (SI) Dilpreet Singh, in charge of CIA-II police station. The police had received a secret information that these persons were planning to commit some big theft and were present near Lohara. The police claimed to have solved nearly half a dozen criminal cases, mainly thefts, with their arrest. The police said that further investigations were on in this connection and the further questioning of the arrested gang members was likely to solve more cases.