Members of two gangs, a Bloods faction and a Crips faction, passed each other in a hallway and exchanged words.

Members of two gangs, a Bloods faction and a Crips faction, passed each other in a hallway and exchanged words.Then, "one coward sucker-punched a kid in the other group," he said.As a scuffle broke out, someone told police that a person in the pavilion had a gun, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman.Before officers could arrive, a member of the Crips had fired a semi-automatic handgun, according to police.One victim lay bleeding on the ground. Another left and was found by police at a nearby amphitheater. Neither shooting victim was willing to give police information about the incident, Bealefeld said, noting that it took hours before the second victim admitted that he had been shot at the Inner Harbor.Law enforcement officials have struggled for decades over how best to monitor and combat gang activity in Baltimore and elsewhere in Maryland. State lawmakers have passed measures aimed at gang leaders in recent years, but prosecutors say the new laws are cumbersome and should be strengthened.Margaret Burns, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore State's Attorney's Office, said it is critical that Maryland define "gang member" in state law and devise enhanced penalties for gang members who are convicted of shootings and other violence. She said prosecutors also want to see a new statute that would allow them to go after anyone who furthers a gang enterprise, such as through drug dealing."It's not a crime to be a gang member," Burns said. "That's the challenge we face."She said police and prosecutors across the state will lobby for new gang legislation next year, but they'll likely face stiff resistance from the House Judiciary Committee, which has questioned the constitutional ramifications of gang-specific legislation."I would hope you don't embark on a crusade to put people in jail because of the color that they wear," Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons, a Montgomery County Democrat, told prosecutors during the 2007 session. Burns also said local law enforcement agencies, including police and prosecutors, are trying to create better information-sharing systems about gangs. But gang members, she said, seem to

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"Sureño Villains 13" street gang Nortes had been marking out the Sureños' graffiti "tags."

Four defendants are members of the "Sureño Villains 13" street gang. Just before midnight Saturday they had argued with several members of the rival "Norte" gang at a South Park gas station. Apparently, the Sureños were angry that the Nortes had been marking out the Sureños' graffiti "tags."When the Sureños warned them to leave their tags alone, the Nortes just laughed, the documents say. The Sureños talked about shooting the Nortes right then and there but decided against it because a gas-station surveillance camera might record them.Meanwhile, the Nortes ran away, down an alley. But about 20 minutes later, the Sureños found their foes behind a house in the 1000 block of South Sullivan Street, the documents say.Gomez-Pablo parked the SUV, and Rapisura, Gomez-Cervantes and Santos got out and ran toward the Nortes. Several shots rang out, and Joshua S. Vanhalteren was hit once in the back, the documents say.Vanhalteren ended up at Harborview Medical Center, but his wound was not life-threatening, police said.After the shooting, the Sureños ran back to the SUV, and Gomez Pablo drove out of South Park, intending to go to his house in West Seattle. But two Seattle police detectives driving toward the scene of the shooting spotted the SUV, and the foursome was stopped on Interstate 5.A police report says detectives found two semi-automatic pistols — both empty — in the SUV, along with some gang paraphernalia and a small amount of marijuana.Of the four men charged in the crime, only Rapisura has a criminal record. Prosecutors say he has twice been convicted of assault.

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Los Palillos ,The Toothpicks Crew impersonated police and used handguns and Tasers to assault, rob, kidnap and often times kill their victims

Suspected drug lord and 16 alleged members of his kidnapping and murder crew believed responsible for nine murders and the attempted slaying of a policeman, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office."This rogue group of individuals is responsible for a string of brutal murders and kidnappings that demonstrate the ugly reality of cross-border violence," said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis."Thanks to extraordinary cooperation from several law enforcement agencies and the dedication of District Attorney investigators and prosecutors, we have essentially dismantled this dangerous organization," she said. The district attorney's office was assisted in its investigation by the FBI, California Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, San Diego Police Department, San Diego County Sheriff's Department and Chula Vista Police Department.The SDPD performed its largest DNA analysis during the investigation due to the number of items seized and individuals processed during the operation.FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Keith Slotter called the circumstances surrounding the murders "absolutely shocking" and "almost beyond human comprehension."More than 120 witnesses testified to a grand jury about violent incidents in which members of Los Palillos -- or "Toothpicks" -- often impersonated police and used handguns and Tasers to assault, rob, kidnap and often times kill their victims, according to the indictment.The nine murder victims were lured to houses rented by members of Los Palillos, or abducted and held at those houses before eventually being murdered, authorities said.The bodies of seven of the victims were found by residents after being dumped in neighborhoods in Chula Vista, San Diego and Bonita.The bodies of the other two were dissolved in acid in May 2007 at a rented house in San Diego, according to the indictment returned Aug. 6 after a two-year investigation.Some members of the ring were arrested in June 2007, when investigators located a kidnapping victim being held at a home on Point Dume Court in Chula Vista.FBI SWAT officers rescued the 32-year-old businessman and apprehended five kidnappers. Two leaders of Los Palillos were convicted of kidnapping for ransom last December and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Two other abductors pleaded guilty, and two defendants are still awaiting trial.
In the new indictment, the alleged ringleader of Los Palillos, Jorge Rojas Lopez, is charged with nine murders and numerous special circumstance allegations, making him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.Fourteen other defendants face similar charges and could also be eligible for the death penalty.Deputy District Attorney Mark Amador alleged that Rojas Lopez formed the Los Palillos marijuana and methamphetamine distribution ring after the Arellano Felix Organization killed his brother."Jorge Rojas Lopez has a deep animosity for the AFO," the prosecutor said.
Rojas Lopez and Juan Laureano Arvizu are also charged with attempted murder of a peace officer for a Sept. 28, 2005, attack in which 19 shots were fired at a Chula Vista police officer.Rojas Lopez, 30, Jesus Lopez-Becerra, 30, Juan Francisco Estrada-Gonzalez, 36, Edgar Frausto Lopez, 35, Jorge Salvador Moreno, 38, Jose Leonel Olivera Beritan, 35, and David Valencia, 39, all pleaded not guilty Thursday and were ordered held without bail. A status conference was set for Sept. 2.

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Derick Johnson member of the Black Gangsters Disciples street gang arrested

Agents arrested 31-year-old Derick Johnson on two charges, the sale of cocaine and trafficking cocaine. Berry says Johnson is a member of the Black Gangsters Disciples street gang. Berry would not disclose the specific location where Johnson allegedly sold the drugs, but the arrest was made at the corner of East Broad and North Central late Wednesday afternoon.“The transaction took place with us monitoring the undercover agent meeting Derick Demetrius Johnson, in making the buy and then setting up another buy, and then we got warrants and arrested him last night over on the east side,” said Major Berry.Agents say they seized just over 50 grams of cocaine. The drugs have a street value of about $5,000.

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WANTED Bloods ringleader Luqman Abdullah

Union County authorities are hunting for a Bloods ringleader who they say keeps giving them the slip but operated an aggressive drug ring out of Elizabeth that netted about $700,000 a week. The elusive Luqman Abdullah, 27, has an extensive criminal history that includes 15 arrests and seven felony convictions for burglary, resisting arrest, manufacturing and distributing drugs, possession of an assault firearm and aggravated assault, authorities said.He is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous.Abdullah rose to prominence on the streets of Elizabeth after he helped kidnap a rival drug dealer in 2003, stuffed the man into the trunk of his car and shot him, according to Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow. He and three other Bloods members sprayed bullets into the trunk, shut it and left the Dodge Intrepid parked on the street, authorities said.The victim survived and was discovered the next day by a truck driver who heard cries from the trunk.
Abdullah served jail time in connection with that shooting, but when he was released he allegedly further tightened his control of the cocaine trade in Elizabeth, then expanded into Newark neighborhood. Anyone selling cocaine on his turf had to purchase it from him, or face violent retaliation, authorities said.Last November, authorities raided several of Abdullah's alleged stash houses, arresting 15 people and recovering more than three kilos of cocaine, more than $80,000 in cash and a collection of guns that included a stolen AK-47 assault rifle, according to Romankow. Authorities said Abdullah was not found during the raids. The drug ring allegedly had been operating in Essex and Union counties and distributed at least two kilos of cocaine every week, with a street value of $350,000 per kilo.
The night of April 23, 2009, law enforcement officers attempted to arrest Abdullah in the parking lot of a mall in Edison. But Abdullah, a former Elizabeth high school track star and college football player, led police on a swift foot-chase through the mall parking lot, dashing across six lanes of traffic and into a large apartment complex, where officers said he disappeared in the dark amid dozens of buildings.
Authorities could not say why Abdullah allegedly went from athlete to drug ring operator. Nor could they say how Abdullah has managed to keep hiding from them.
But since the parking lot incident, he may have surfaced one other time. Authorities said Abdullah was spotted by several witnesses and informants at a Hot 97 Summer Jam concert in June. He apparently was sitting in the third row of at the concert, which was attended by 50,000 people.Abdullah has been charged with racketeering, maintaining a narcotics production facility and numerous drug and weapons offenses. Once arrested, authorities said he will be held on $5 million bail.

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27-year-old Marcello Jones was found shot to death

Police Capt. Jody Suit says 27-year-old Marcello Jones was found shot to death about 5 a.m. Saturday inside a unit at the Oak Ridge Apartments.Del City police are investigating an apparent gang-related killing on the city's southwest side.Suit says investigators are questioning two men who were detained at the complex with a gun in their vehicle, but he says its not known if the men are connected to the shooting.He says officers were called to the complex several times late Friday and early Saturday to reports of fighting and shots fired.

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Raul Lopez, 19, and Jorge Luis Meza Ruiz, 22, pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder.

The men are accused in the fatal shooting of Andres Chavarin on Tuesday night outside his house in the 700 block of Yucatan Way.Defendants usually enter a not-guilty plea during arraignment hearings.This is the second time this year that the District Attorney's Office has charged a teenager as an adult.In April, 17-year-old Ezekiel Lopez-Figueroa was charged as an adult in the death of 11-year-old King City resident Esther Rubio.Lopez-Figueroa pleaded not guilty in June to murder, attempted murder, gang enhancements and conspiracy charges.Esther and her older brother were shot after a soccer match Dec. 2 at King City High School.

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Carlos "Flaco" Espinoza was arrested Friday, along with Juan Nunez, Antonio Gayosso, both 19; and Julio Montoya, 21.

Carlos "Flaco" Espinoza was arrested Friday, along with Juan Nunez, Antonio Gayosso, both 19; and Julio Montoya, 21. They are accused of obtaining a gun, driving around in separate cars in search of rival gang members and shooting at them, according to court papers filed by the Monterey County District Attorney's Office.Prosecutors say Espinoza pulled the trigger in the shooting death of Jose Manuel Perez, 15.
All four defendants are charged with murder and related crimes, and prosecutors said they were acting on behalf of the Sureno street gang.Perez played football for Salinas High and was described Monday by Salinas Police Chief Louis Fetherolf as "an innocent bystander." Perez was fatally wounded at 2:15 p.m. Thursday on the 500 block of Terrance Street. He was walking to football practice at the time.
Nunez, Montoya and Gayosso appeared before Superior Court Judge Adrienne Grover on Monday, but their arraignment was delayed until 1:30 p.m. today because Espinoza had not been transported from Juvenile Hall to the courtroom.

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18th Street Gang linked to three handguns found in a car

Alex Estudyo-Herrera, 30, and Carlos Alberto Reyes, 23, both described as suspected gang members, face weapons charges after they were linked to three handguns found in a car and in Reyes' home, police said. The arrests come as police have stepped up pressure on residents to report weapons and drug dealing after a string of shootings in recent weeks.Police approached the men at 6:30 p.m. Saturday outside a home on Commercial Avenue and Redmond Street after learning they might be at that location, police Sgt. David Martella said. They allegedly tried to flee and got into a Ford Explorer, but were cornered by police.Inside the car, police found a defaced .32-caliber revolver that Estudyo-Herrera is suspected of dropping to the floor of the passenger's side, Martella said. Police also found a chrome .380-caliber handgun in Reyes' front pocket, he said.Both were arrested at the scene with the loaded semiautomatic weapons. A later search of Reyes' home at 823 Nassau St. in North Brunswick netted a third gun — a .22-caliber revolver — and a bag of hollow-point bullets, Martella said.The men are believed to be members of the 18th Street Gang, he said.Reyes was charged with two counts each of possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, along with possession of hollow point bullets. Information about his bail was not immediately available.Estudyo-Herrera, charged with possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, was being held Monday at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $48,000 bail.The effort, bolstered by information developed over more than a week, was carried out by investigators from the department's Street Crimes Unit and uniformed patrol officers, Martella said

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Jorge Luis Meza Ruiz, 22, and Raul Lopez, 19, both of Salinas, made their first appearance in court following their arrests

Jorge Luis Meza Ruiz, 22, and Raul Lopez, 19, both of Salinas, made their first appearance in court following their arrests in the fatal shooting Tuesday night of Andres Chavarin outside his home in the 700 block of Yucatan Way.Chavarin's death marked the 20th homicide in the city this year and the sixth gang-related killing in a string of street violence that began July 27. The city saw its 21st homicide of 2009 on Thursday afternoon.Monterey County Superior Court Judge Adrienne Grover continued the arraignment to 1:30 p.m. Monday. Defendants typically plead not guilty during these initial court hearings.Ruiz and Lopez are charged with first-degree murder and acting for the benefit of a criminal street gang. Ruiz is additionally charged with the personal use of a firearm.At 8 p.m. Tuesday, officers found Chavarin lying in the front yard of his home. The teen, who had suffered several gunshot wounds, was taken to Natividad Medical Center and pronounced dead.Witnesses told police they saw two people drive away from the shooting in a white Ford F-250 pickup, and witnesses immediately pointed police to a mobile home park in the 1200 block of Rider Avenue.Near the location, patrol officers encountered the pickup, pulled it over and arrested its occupants, Ruiz and Lopez.Monterey-based attorney Lawrence E. Biegel, who made a special appearance on behalf of Lopez on Thursday afternoon, said in court that he wanted a chance to review the police reports in the homicide arrests before deciding whether to take the case.Grover extended the hearing to give the attorneys time to informally discuss the reports that police forwarded to prosecutors."I just want to know what the allegations are," Biegel said after the hearing.David Rabow, a deputy district attorney, initially declined to allow Biegel access to the reports, saying he was unwilling to show them to someone who was not committing to represent Lopez.During Thursday's hearing, Ruiz listened to the judge's explanation of the charges against him through a Spanish interpreter. Represented by the Public Defender's Office, he agreed to continue his arraignment to Monday. Ruiz remains in custody on $1.1 million bail. Lopez is being held on just over $1 million bail.Biegel said he was contacted by Lopez's family members who are interested in retaining him for the case. He said Lopez's three brothers, a sister and sister-in-law showed up in court on Thursday. Lopez's parents were not present, Biegel said."They're very concerned, obviously [Lopez] is somebody without a record," he said, adding that Lopez is the youngest son in a large family. "His parents are having a very tough time."

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The “Dream Team.” organized criminal enterprise that committed bank robberies and armed robberies around Genesee County

charged 21 individuals who were part of an organized criminal enterprise that committed bank robberies and armed robberies around Genesee County over the past few years. The names and birthdates of those charged are:
Dwayne Dejuan Alexander, 5/02/90
Raymond Louis Brown III, 4/28/90
Jequillian Tyran Chandler, 5/18/89
Sharron Frederick Criss, 9/07/90
Demetrius Damon Earl, 6/15/88
Denell Dequan Jenkins, 6/28/88
Quavone Corandas Jenkins, 5/29/91
Troy Mackner Jiles, 4/15/89
Robert Lee Lewis, 9/17/90
Shukariya Loetrian Mason, 10/27/91
Javonte Tyreece McMillian, 1/04/90
Isaac Ryan Moore, 4/04/85
Datwain Lee Perkins, 5/16/90
Darrius Jequan Robinson, 1/23/1989
Devonta Montez Smith, 4/24/90
Kalien Kenard Stubbs, 3/21/90
Michael Courtney Wilbon, 12/05/91
Rashulae Alola Wilbon-Streeter, 12/27/90
Eric Darnell Williams, 8/31/89
Tashuan Cortez Woodley, 11/25/89
Prosecutor Leyton said that his office began receiving reports around 3-4 years ago involving a group of young criminals who called themselves the “Dream Team.” They were involved with drug activity, robberies, various other crimes, and conflicts with other local gangs. Over time, they began to associate with members of a local rap group called the “Block Boyz” and, eventually, they combined together and took on the street name of “Dynasty.” Additionally, some of the members of this gang associated themselves with yet another group who called themselves “FOE” which stood for Family Over Everything.Over time, local law enforcement agencies and the Prosecutor’s Office began to piece together a pattern of criminal activity that involved bank robberies and armed robberies in the City of Flint, Flint Township, Grand Blanc Township, and the City of Burton.The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were brought into the investigation and last month, July 2009, 21 arrest warrants were authorized and around 20 search warrants were executed by the ATF and Grand Blanc Township police with the aid of local agencies. During the execution of those search warrants, numerous guns were found along with other incriminating evidence pointing to gang activity. Arrest warrants have been issued against 21 individuals and 20 of the 21 have either been arrested or have turned themselves in and are awaiting preliminary examinations in 67th District Court. In all, More than 260 counts have been charged.Charges against these individuals include:armed robbery and bank robbery which carry a penalty of life in prison or any term of years;conducting a criminal enterprise and conspiracy to conduct a criminal enterprise, both 20-year felonies with possible fines of One Hundred Thousand Dollars along with forfeiture of all proceeds from the criminal activities; and various gun charges.The robberies took place at various gas stations, banks, and stores in Grand Blanc Township, Burton, Flint Township, and the City of Flint.

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Salvatore and Manuel Alas from El Salvador arrested in Saratoga Springs are members of the violent international gang MS13

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Monday arrested three men living above the Big Apple Restaurant & Lounge on Route 9 on charges of illegal immigration, and two of them were found to be "associated with the MS13 gang," ICE spokesman Harold Ort said. The criminal gang is known formally as Mara Salvatrucha, and its members have been involved with contract killings, human trafficking, home invasions, assaults and other crimes. It typically has operated in the Southwest and on the West Coast.Two El Salvador nationals arrested in Saratoga Springs are members of the violent international gang MS13, and police are investigating whether a Salvadoran from Corinth who is charged in the kidnapping of a 24-year-old woman is part of the group, authorities said Wednesday.Two of the men who were arrested worked at the restaurant. Noting that most of the gang's members are Salvadorans, Saratoga County District Attorney James A. Murphy III said they ''have a reputation of being extremely violent, in fact one of the most violent gangs."He said members have typically sported tattoos, but have recently started using tattoos that are visible only under ultraviolet light. Ort would not identify the three men arrested Monday as part of what he described as a targeted enforcement action. He confirmed that one of the suspects had been released.Guy Benacquista, co-owner of Big Apple, identified two of the men as cousins Salvatore and Manuel Alas from El Salvador. He said they had worked as lunch cooks at the restaurant since it opened almost two years ago. An Albany County jail spokeswoman on Wednesday confirmed the two men were there. The third man had been living with the Alas cousins and was freed after making $10,000 bail, Benacquista said."All three aliens were arrested for violations of the immigration law and are awaiting a hearing before a federal judge," Ort said.
The arrests came a week after State Police apprehended Victor V. Hernandez-Perez of Corinth and charged him with felony kidnapping and robbery in a crime that shocked the community. Police say the 23-year-old Salvadoran attacked and abducted a woman in downtown Saratoga Springs and threatened her with sexual assault and death.
The woman escaped naked and bloody from the man's van more than 10 miles away, police said.Authorities say Hernandez-Perez is an illegal immigrant who got his job at Bentley's Restaurant on Route 9 with forged residency and Social Security documents. He is being held in Saratoga County jail without bail; police are investigating if he is a member of MS13, Murphy said. Ort would say only that ICE could seek the removal of Hernandez-Perez from the U.S. A county grand jury is considering Hernandez-Perez's case this week. Police are investigating if his DNA matches that of suspects in open criminal cases, including a report of a Hispanic man who knocked out and sexually abused a woman in the Lake George area on June 30. Warren County investigators could not be reached for an update on that case on Wednesday.The arrests of the Alas cousins shocked Benacquista, a first-generation American who came from Italy in 1955 and is sensitive to helping immigrants. The workers were about 30, and had presented proof of their residency and Social Security numbers, Benacquista said. He had thought the pair were "clean- cut, dependable, hard working."

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William Rodriguez, a 29-year-old Modesto resident and known gang member, was arrested and several other known gang members were detained

Modesto Police Department
William Rodriguez, a 29-year-old Modesto resident and known gang member, was arrested and several other known gang members were detained during the investigation and warrant service.The search warrant was a result of an investigation into the sale of illegal narcotics and gang activity at the home. An assault rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, and other firearms were found in the home. In addition to the seizure of eight firearms, investigators discovered over half an ounce of methamphetamine, approximately an ounce of marijuana, and over $2,000 in cash at the home.Rodriguez was arrested for his involvement in the March 29 assault on a Modesto police officer. During that incident the officer was surrounded by a group of gang members after attempting to break up a street fight.Rodriguez was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, lynching, and false imprisonment of a police officer for his involvement in the March incident.Rodriguez, out on bail from the previous incident, was arrested Monday for possession of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of marijuana for sale, being a gang member in possession of a firearm, committing a felony while out on bail, possession of a prohibited weapon, and participation in a criminal street gang.He will be booked at the Stanislaus County jail.

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Gulfton area is the headquarters for a gang known as the Southwest Cholos.

war zone as rival gangs fight for territory and power. Gulfton area is the headquarters for a gang known as the Southwest Cholos. Three weeks ago, outside of a nightclub on Clarewood, Houston police say a Southwest Cholo gang member was shot several times in the parking lot. Carlos Rogue, 17, died at the hospital. Witnesses said the shooter was Eric Hernandez, an MS-13 gang member. Police found him three days later, and now he’s sitting in jail, charged with murder. 11 News has learned that in recent months, MS-13 gang members have been coming into the Gulfton area, looking to take control. Just last Friday, paramedics and police were called to another scene where an alleged Southwest Cholo was severely beaten by a group of MS-13 affiliates. The victim went into seizures, but survived. Reverend Alejandro Montes of the San Mateo Iglesia Episcopal has witnessed the gang wars firsthand in Gulfton. He’s a member of P.A.C.T., a police and clergy team fighting the violence.
“When I see kids 15-16 years old, it is very hard. I think it could be one of my church kids, you know,” Montes said. Montes said stopping the violence starts with the entire family, because for the youth in Gulfton, gangs and violence have become a way of life. “We just kind of learn to live with it, because it happens so often. It’s kind of like breathing. We don’t talk about breathing, it just happens,” Wendy Pineda, the youth coordinator at San Mateo, said. “I had like 10-year-olds, elementary school children talking to me about it,” she said. The mayor’s anti-gang office said it’s currently working with 10 gang members in the Gulfton area who are looking for a way out, and 300 kids from Gulfton participated in the mayor’s summer camp program. The young singles who moved to Gulfton in the late 70s and early 80s eventually lost their jobs during the oil bust and moved away. Rents plummeted, and Gulfton changed. Now it’s home to gangs fighting for control and innocent residents ducking for cover.

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Mith Phakdy, 30, of Newark, and John Seuasoukeng, 23, of Weed, arrested

Mith Phakdy, 30, of Newark, and John Seuasoukeng, 23, of Weed, were arrested just after midnight on Ninth Street and Newville Road in Orland, the Glenn County Sheriff's Department reported.The men were stopped in a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee by a Glenn County Sheriff's deputy who believed the driver, Phakdy, may have been intoxicated, according to a statement from Sheriff Larry Jones.Phakdy, a registered gang member on probation in Alameda County, was not intoxicated. Seuasoukeng is a registered gang member on probation in Siskiyou County, Jones said.Deputies found two concealed handguns – a loaded Taurus .45-caliber semi-automatic and an unloaded .40-caliber Glock – in the back seat during a subsequent vehicle search. The serial numbers on both weapons were partially removed. Both guns were sent to the state Justice Department for analysis, the sheriff reported.Jones said it was not clear why they were in the area, but added there was evidence the two were gambling at Rolling Hills Casino in Corning."We did find $4,000 they won from gambling in the center console," Jones said. Investigators were able to verify the money as gambling proceeds, he said.Phakdy and Seuasoukeng were booked into Glenn County Jail on suspicion of being felons in possession of firearms, being criminal street gang members carrying loaded firearms in public and tampering with identification marks on firearms, all felonies.Each posted a $35,000 bail bond and were released the same day. They are set to appear Sept. 9 in Glenn County Superior Court.

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Westside gang drug agents raided five homes and businesses, confiscating cars, guns and cash. Sixteen people were arrested.

Cars came and went at all hours at the homes of Daniel Perez, 27, accused of leading the Westside gang, and his brother David Perez, 25. The brothers disappeared for days at a time. Nobody seemed to work.drug agents raided five homes and businesses, confiscating cars, guns and cash. Sixteen people were arrested. Most remain jailed. Two more are on the run.Most are charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Daniel Perez could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of directing the activities of a criminal gang.Like many other gangs, Westside used fronts to wash cash, investigators said.Members operated the hot-dog shop and a secretarial service elsewhere in Winter Garden, arrest papers show. Although they didn’t do much business, a steady flow of money was deposited into corporate accounts. Investigators said it came from drug profits.“It gives it the appearance of legitimacy,” said the lead case agent, Brent Harrison of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.The arrests stemmed from a painstaking 11-month investigation that involved intercepted cell-phone conversations among gang members, surveillance, bank records and the use of informants.The scope of the group’s enterprises was large for a neighborhood gang, said Chuck Broadway, the FDLE supervisor on the case. But gangs of all sizes are a growing problem in Florida and throughout the U.S., experts said.
Once confined largely to South Florida, gangs have spread to Central Florida, Tampa and beyond. Orlando has about 2,500 gang members, according to the National Gang Intelligence Center.In this cyber age, MySpace and Facebook have become strong recruiting tools for young people. In 2007, 15.5 percent of Florida middle- and high-schoolers surveyed said at least one of their closest friends had belonged to a gang in the past year.Last year, Attorney General Bill McCollum unveiled a gang-reduction strategy, citing an “alarming” problem in the state. The Westside arrests were a result of that strategy, which targets kingpins.Most of Westside’s members grew up together in the Winter Garden area and were documented as a gang in 1997. They started with small-time shenanigans such as graffiti, fights and hanging out, rising to trafficking in large quantities of cocaine and marijuana, Harrison said.The gang isn’t nearly as widespread as the notorious Crips or Bloods. But there are about 80 members and associates in Central Florida, Texas and Mexico, including the Perez brothers; their mother, Olga Perez, 47; and a cousin, Adam Medina, 22, who was a drug runner, court papers show.A traffic stop in Louisiana yielded 40 kilos of cocaine. The man transporting the drug from Texas told them it was to be delivered to a man named “Fierro” in Clermont. Investigators say Daniel Perez is Fierro, which if spelled with one “r” means “fierce” in Spanish.Undercover agents delivered the cocaine and arrested a longtime Westside member, Nicolas Heller, 26, a runner for Daniel Perez, documentation shows. He is serving a six-year federal prison term for conspiracy to traffic cocaine and is a witness for the prosecution in the current case.Heller named the No. 2 man at Westside, Hector Escalante, 26, as a cocaine supplier. The two have known each other since they were 14. Escalante, arrested in July 2006 on cocaine charges, told a DEA agent that he distributed nearly 200 kilos of cocaine supplied by Daniel Perez.Escalante also told the DEA that Perez obtained his cocaine in a community in Mexico where Perez’s father owns a home. Investigators think Perez’s stepmother brought the cocaine to Texas, where she owns a clothing store and where Perez’s grandmother and father live, arrest papers state. The stepmother has not been charged.Though the drug trade is risky, gang members earned far more than the average working person, court papers show. Ten vehicles, including Hummers, a BMW, a Chevrolet Tahoe, a Chrysler 300 and a Dodge Magnum, were seized in Clermont and Winter Garden during the May raid.Five guns, $30,000, cocaine and computers also were confiscated. In the past four years, 125 pounds of cocaine and 100 pounds of marijuana tied to the group were seized, Harrison said.Escalante admitted delivering $810,000 in drug payments, hidden in a concealed compartment in a Suzuki Forenza, in three trips to Texas in 2006. He earned $5,000 for the first trip and $24,000 each for the others. On each of the last two occasions, he brought 20 kilograms of cocaine back to Central Florida with him, he told authorities.

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Cnange from Cobras street gang to Young Latin Organization Disciples,Change Gangs get Shot

The Northwest Side man who goes by the name "TK," or "True Killer" was involved in last summer's murder of Alfonso Cintron, 33, and Mario Arteaga, 36 but is not believed to be the shooter, police sources said.Edwin Figueroa was so intent on proving he left the Cobras, he helped kill two of its alleged members to prove his allegiance to his new gang, Cook County prosecutors said.Figueroa, 22, was ordered held without bail Thursday for the July 28, 2008, murders.Figueroa and an uncharged man nicknamed "Smurf" wanted to switch from the Cobras street gang to the Young Latin Organization Disciples, Assistant State's Attorney George Canellis said. So, to show devotion to their new gang, the pair allegedly announced they would go out looking for Cobras to shoot.The two, along with some other Disciples, were around the 4300 block of West Wrightwood when they noticed the two victims sitting in a Lincoln Continental, authorities said. That's when Cintron and Arteaga thought to be Cobras were shot.Figueroa was charged after telling someone else he was involved, police said. He gave a videotaped statement this week saying he was present at the murders, authorities said.Police said they have other suspects in the slaying but that they have not been charged.

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“Down West Boys” street gang, based in Bennettsville, and affiliate themselves with Folk/Crip gangs

Patrick “Big Pat” Broughton; David “Demont” Ward, also known as “Black David”; Demario “Mazo” Baker; Demario “dee” Hasty; Marlon “Fish” Hasty; Lokheim Campbell; and James Luther “Nitty” McLean, also known as “Little Nitty.” Deputies, along with police, SLED agents, U.S. Marshals and S.C. Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole Services agents made the arrests in Bennettsville, Florence and Lumberton, N.C.Investigators said they believe the suspects are members of the “Down West Boys” street gang, based in Bennettsville, and affiliate themselves with Folk/Crip gangs, according to a sheriff’s office press release. It’s thought the suspects have acted together since 2004 to commit several violent crimes, robberies and drug conspiracies.“We feel that we have made a huge impact of violent crime today in Marlboro County and anticipate the development of new information and more arrests related to this case and other cases in the near future,” sheriff’s Lt. Jamie Seales said in the release.The suspects will be arraigned in federal court in Florence on Friday morning, where they will be notified of the counts and specifics of the indictment.“It is my hope that these arrests will wake up some of the younger gang members in Marlboro County and help them realize what a life of crime does to their future,” Sheriff Fred Knight said in the release. “I would also like to say that once again, teamwork and cooperation between agencies has resulted in more successful arrests and a case we feel will impact gang crime in our county.“

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Leroy Frasier, and 14 Indiana and Michigan-based members and associates of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club have plead guilty

Leroy Frasier, who oversaw the Michigan and Indiana Outlaws, will be sentenced Oct. 27 by U.S. District Judge Julian Cook.The original indictment alleged that the Outlaws Motorcycle Club is an enterprise whose members allegedly committed, attempted to, and threatened to commit acts of violence to protect and expand the gang’s criminal operations. Several of the defendants were charged with allegedly assaulting various members of the rival Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, in some cases with dangerous weapons including a hammer, motorcycle parts and a cane. Several defendants allegedly dealt narcotics, including methamphetamine, marijuana, hashish and cocaine, while others were charged with various firearms offenses.The gang as chapters in Indiana, Detroit, the Downriver area and Bay City, officials said. The 13 other defendants began pleading guilty last year. "The guilty pleas by a large number of leaders and members of this illegal motorcycle gang are a good example of the success that comes from effective federal, state and local law enforcement cooperation,” said U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg. “This case has managed to put a damper on the heightened dangers of violence and other criminal acts posed by organized gangs such as the Outlaws." The guilty pleas included leaders, members and gang associates of Outlaws’ chapters in Fort Wayne, Ind., Indianapolis, and areas of Detroit including Eastside, Detroit Westside, Downriver and Bay City.
The defendants were charged with various crimes including violent crimes in aid of racketeering; conspiracy to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeering; distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and hashish; possessing a firearm after conviction for a felony; and sale of a firearm to a known felon. 14 Indiana and Michigan-based members and associates of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club have pleaded guilty to federal assault, drug and other charges.U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg and other law-enforcement officials announced Thursday the pleas were entered in federal court in Detroit as far back as August 2008.The government says leaders, members and associates of Outlaws chapters in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Ind., Bay City, Mich., and the Detroit area pleaded guilty to crimes including assault with a dangerous weapon, cocaine and marijuana distribution and possession of hashish.Prosecutors describe the Outlaws as an international criminal organization.

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Shooting in connection with an ongoing dispute between members of the "Folk" gang, and the Trinitarios

Confrontations between rival gang members led to one teen being shot and two others jailed on charges that they both fired handguns at him and another youth, according to police reports.The victim, identified in court records as "Raul H.," 17, of Nashua, was shot in the pelvis and right forearm, and remains in stable condition at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, Detective Lt. Jeff Bukunt said Wednesday.The victim knew one of the suspects, Jeffrey Ramos, 17, of 75 Lock St., and detectives found and questioned Ramos Tuesday evening, according to police reports filed Wednesday in Nashua District Court.Ramos admitted to shooting in the direction of Raul H. and another youth with him, Cesar Walteros, 18, of 2 Friar Tuck Lane, but said he meant only to scare them, police reported. Ramos is accused of firing four rounds toward the youths. Ramos and another witness also implicated Silvio "Carlos" Torres, 20, of 43 Chestnut St., who is accused of firing a single round. Police found five, .40 caliber shell casings in the street at the scene.Both Ramos and Torres were jailed after arraignment Wednesday in Nashua District Court, with probable cause hearings scheduled next week. Ramos' bail was set at $160,000 cash, and Torres at $100,000 cash. Each faces felony assault and reckless conduct charges.The incident was the first gang-related shooting of a person in recent history in Nashua, Bukunt and Police Chief Donald Conley said, and Conley stressed that gang violence would remain a top priority for police."I want to make sure the community knows that this kind of act, people that involve themselves in this kind of behavior, it's going to end up being on our top priority list," Conley said. "We're going to go after them with everything we have. People are going to be held accountable, and it's zero tolerance for this kind of behavior."
Conley said he expects the two youths will receive significant prison sentences if convicted of the shooting, despite the fact that neither has any prior criminal record as an adult.Until police find the firearms, it may be impossible to determine which of the suspects actually shot Raul H. One of the bullets passed entirely through the teen's forearm, while the other lodged near his lower spine, and was surgically removed and seized as evidence, Bukunt said."The investigation is still very active and ongoing, and we are working toward recovering the weapons," Bukunt said, adding later, "Detectives in the YSD have been working around the clock on this investigation."Witnesses, the victim and suspects all indicated that the shooting was gang-related, as Raul H. and his friends are associated or members of the "Folk" gang, and the suspects are associates or members of the local Trinitarios. The two groups don't get along, for no particular reason, Bukunt said.
"The shooting was in connection with an ongoing dispute between two groups of suspected gang members," Bukunt said. Walteros and Raul H. had been hanging about outside 68 Ash St. with a group of other youths Monday night, and had just left in Walteros' car shortly before 11 p.m. when Raul H. spotted Ramos, Torres and Torres' 16-year-old brother Michael, witnesses told police.Raul H. and Walteros both got out of the car, and yelled back to his friends nearby, to warn them, he later told police. Michael Torres said both Walteros and Raul H. were yelling at them, police report.Handguns were drawn and police charge that Ramos fired four rounds, while Silvio Torres fired one. Michael Torres was already running down Buck Street when he heard the shots, and the other two youths followed hard on his heels, police reported.Several of Raul H.'s friends drove him to the hospital, police report.Police later got video footage from the home security camera of a residence on Buck Street, which shows the three suspects fleeing, although they were not immediately identifiable on the tape, according to court records.In addition to attempted assault charges, for allegedly firing at Raul H., Ramos and Torres each face reckless conduct charges alleging that they endangered Walteros, who was not hit, and a woman who was sleeping in a nearby home at 87 Ash St. Police recovered a round from the wall of her bedroom, which likely would have penetrated the wall had it not hit a stud, Bukunt said.Ramos is unemployed, and lives with his mother and brothers, he told Judge Brackett Scheffy. Torres works at a local laboratory equipment manufacturer, and also lives with his mother and younger brothers, whom he said he helps support.Police caught up with Torres at his home at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, but he declined to speak about the shooting, police report.

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Armando Quintero Guerra La Familia Michoacana targeted arrest

La Familia Michoacana targeted arrests the cartel operates in its namesake state of Michoacan in southwest Mexico.Armando Quintero Guerra, who federal police said was in charge of the cartel's expenses, was among six people arrested Tuesday, said Ramon Eduardo Pequeno, head of the anti-drug unit of the public security ministry.
Also arrested was Lourdes Medina Hernandez, who is in a relationship with La Familia's top boss, Servando Gomez, Pequeno said at a news conference.The string of arrests followed the killing of 12 off-duty federal police officers whose bodies were found with signs of torture off a remote highway on July 14. Hit men for La Familia Michoacana linked to the killings were arrested last week, authorities said.
Authorities more than tripled the number of federal police officers patrolling Michoacan in response to the killings. The killings were among a series of reprisals by La Familia after federal police captured one of the group's top leaders, authorities said.An unprecedented wave of violence has washed over Mexico since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels shortly after coming into office in 2006. More than 10,000 people have died in that time span, about 1,000 of them police.

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MS-13 street gang targeted victims based on race and suspected rivalries

Alexander Aguilar, 18, of Deer Park, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the July 20 slaying of Edgar Villalobos. The case has sparked criticism of Suffolk police cutbacks because Villalobos' body remained on a Brentwood street for at least nine hours.Jose Gomez Amaya, 20, of Central Islip, and Edwin Ortiz, 19, of Brentwood, also pleaded not guilty to killing Villalobos, 28, of Bay Shore.
Assistant District Attorney Denise Merrifield said Gomez Amaya was the one who stabbed Villalobos, while Ortiz was the driver and later went back to the scene "and made sure he was dead by kicking him."Aguilar held Villalobos down during the attack, Merrifield said. All three are members of the MS-13 street gang and targeted victims based on race and suspected rivalries, Merrifield said. Aguilar is also charged with felony assault for shooting Wilson Batista in the face on June 15. Batista, 13, is still hospitalized, said his father, Wilson Batista Sr. "He's up and down," the boy's father said. "He's not talking."Also in court were relatives of Dexter Acheampong, who was shot to death in Central Islip on May 26. Ortiz is charged with second-degree murder for acting in concert by being the driver in that case, Merrifield said, while the shooter remains at large.Merrifield said Acheampong, 24, of Medford, was targeted because he was black and mistaken for a rival gang member.

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Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang member arrested

Leichhardt man presented himself at Glebe Police Station this morning and was taken to Newtown Police Station where he was charged with riot and affray. 37-year-old man has become the latest alleged bikie charged in connection with a fatal brawl between rival gangs at Sydney airport. Police allege he is a member of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang and that he was among those fighting with Hells Angels gang members at the airport's domestic terminal on March 22. Anthony Zervas, 29, was bashed and stabbed with scissors during the fight and died as a result. On Monday, the 37-year-old suspect was refused bail to appear in Newtown Local Court.

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Two suspected members of the MS-13 gang have been arrested and a third is being sought in the Daly City slaying

Two suspected members of the MS-13 gang have been arrested and a third is being sought in the Daly City slaying of a 21-year-old college student who was shot because his friends were wearing red - a color claimed by a rival gang - police said Thursday.One of Moises Frias Jr.'s companions was wearing a red sweater, and another a red-and-white San Francisco 49ers cap, when their car was riddled with bullets near the Daly City BART Station on Feb. 19. Frias died before he could reach the hospital, and two of the other three young men in the car were wounded.None of the victims had anything to do with gangs, investigators said."That's very stupid thinking," Moises Frias Sr. said after learning of the arrests. "They're going to shoot him just because of that? Why don't they just kill each other?"The father said he would ask San Mateo County prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the killing, which he said devastated his family and made him fear for the safety of his surviving 18-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter."I would never expect something like this to happen in my life," he said. "These guys, they destroyed my life, me and family, for nothing."Daly City police Detective Gregg Oglesby noted that Frias' shooting was strikingly similar to the June 2008 killing of a San Francisco father, Tony Bologna, and his two sons in the Excelsior neighborhood. Prosecutors say another member of MS-13 - a subset of the Sureño gang, which claims the color blue - opened fire after mistaking one of the sons for a member of the rival Norteños, who claim red."It's a sad day that young Hispanic men can't wear a red sweater without somebody pointing fingers at them and thinking he's a gang member," Daly City police Lt. Jay Morena said.Around the Bay Area, authorities say several such cases of mistaken gang affiliation in recent years have prompted killings, assaults and robberies. Many young Latino men say they are routinely "checked," or asked whether they are Norteño or Sureño."They don't do much verification of rival gang membership," Oglesby said. "It's a variation of racial profiling, but with potentially deadly consequences."In the Daly City case, Danilo Velasquez, 28, was arrested early Wednesday in San Francisco. Luis Herrera, 18, was already at San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of auto theft and possession of a gun that was later determined to have been used to kill Frias, police said. Both have been charged with murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, three counts of attempted murder and enhancements for participating in a criminal street gang and weapons possession.A third alleged gang member, Jaime Balam, 20, was deported to his native Mexico eight days after the shooting - but before he was identified as a suspect - and is still being sought. Police said Balam, who had been deported once before, was picked up by federal immigration agents in San Francisco on Feb. 24.
Frias, who loved to dance to Mexican big band music and play baseball, was studying business at City College and was preparing to transfer to a state university. He was a technician at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission who hoped to build a career at the water agency.His friends, too, were college students. One was in his first year of law school. On the night they were attacked, police said, they were listening to loud rap music as they drove toward a restaurant in a Buick Regal. About 7 p.m., while the group was stopped at a light on John Daly Boulevard next to the Daly City BART Station, Velasquez and Balam jumped out of a stolen Honda Civic and sprayed the Buick with bullets from an assault rifle and a .380-caliber pistol, Morena said. The men got back into the Honda, which was driven by Herrera, and sped onto Interstate 280, police said.Frias, the Buick driver and another friend were shot. The driver managed to steer 2 miles to Seton Medical Center as the passenger who was unhurt called for help. Doctors met the young men in front of the hospital, but Frias was already dead. The Honda, which had been stolen in San Francisco's Mission District, was found by police in the Castro a day after the slaying.
Daly City police had few other leads until March 4, when a "very alert" San Francisco police officer stopped a car in which Herrera was a passenger and arrested him on suspicion of auto theft and possession of a loaded .380-caliber pistol, Morena said.Ballistics tests revealed that the pistol had been used in the Daly City shooting, Morena said.

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Wheaton man is fighting for his life.

Wheaton man is fighting for his life. Montgomery County Police say he was attacked, beaten and stabbed in the head Tuesday night on Matey Road. Five suspects, including two juveniles, were arrested and charged with attempted murder. Police say the suspected attackers have ties to a local gang. Investigators say the confrontation apparently began after the man called out to some women sitting on a porch. Neighbors say this is just the latest sign of escalating trouble. They are vowing to organize a neighborhood watch.

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Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang sting

Twenty more people have been arrested in an investigation that charges the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang with waging a racist campaign to eliminate black people from a Southern California city.A task force arrested the suspects on Wednesday.The arrests stem from a sting against the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang, which primarily operates in Hawaiian Gardens in southeastern Los Angeles County. An indictment unsealed in May details attempted murder, kidnapping, drug and other charges related to the gang's attacks.Since May, more than 300 gang members and associates have been arrested and charged in state and federal court.

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Alleged member of the Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang arrested with the assistance of West Australia Police.

Alleged member of the Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang arrested with the assistance of West Australia Police. He faced Perth Central Law Court after being charged in relation to an arrest warrant for alleged aggravated robbery, take and detain person in company with intent to obtain advantage, and participate in a criminal group.
He is expected to arrive at Sydney Airport, escorted by Gangs Squad detectives, late this afternoon and then face court tomorrow. The arrest relates to the alleged theft of 12 new motor vehicles from a holding yard on Shepherd Street at Liverpool, in Sydney’s south-west, about 6am on Saturday 14 February this year.Strike Force Eastbourne, comprising detectives from the State Crime Command’s Gangs Squad, with assistance from Liverpool Local Area Command, was established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged theft. It will be alleged that a group of 13 men entered the holding yard before assaulting three male employees, locking one of them in the boot of a car and the other two in a separate vehicle. The group allegedly stole keys from the premises before driving off with a dozen cars. Police will allege the estimated total value of the stolen vehicles is $500,000.Following extensive investigations, police have so far recovered 11 of the stolen vehicles. Detectives are continuing to appeal for public assistance to locate a white Mazda 3.

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Mohammed Haddara was shot dead as he was getting out of his car in the driveway of his parents' home

Mohammed Haddara was shot dead as he was getting out of his car in the driveway of his parents' home in Fifth Avenue around 7.45pm (9.45pm NZT) on Saturday.Neighbours reported hearing at least three shots.His brother, Nazim Haddara, said the victim was a father of two with a third child due next month."He was a gentleman. He was down to earth, easygoing. Loved his footy, loved everything in life, his kids," he told reporters.The spray painter had been for a drive with his younger cousin and was shot on his return, Mr Haddara said."He's got two kids, a son on the way – he is due in a month's time. No one deserves to die like that."Mr Haddara denied suggestions his brother was linked to a Lebanese crime gang.
"No, there's no reason. They're just gutless. Gutless pigs," he said.
Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Day of the homicide squad said police were hunting for two gunmen and a vehicle."It's believed the victim at some stage was in another vehicle, and we are looking for a possible offender from a second vehicle," he said.Police are looking for a gold or champagne-coloured 2005 Holden Commodore SS sedan that was seen in the street shortly before the drive-by shooting.The shooting is Melbourne's second in only a week following the death of gangland figure Desmond "Tuppence" Moran who was gunned down at a cafe in Ascot Vale last Monday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Sentenced Bryant Williams Black Guerrilla Family member to life in prison

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Salvador Perez leader of a Mexican Mafia prison gang has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in San Diego federal court.

leader of a Mexican Mafia prison gang has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in San Diego federal court. Prosecutors say 31-year-old Salvador Perez was sentenced Friday in District Court, after pleading guilty two years ago to racketeering conspiracy charges. The charges followed a lengthy investigation of San Diego street gangs with ties to the Mexican Mafia. Perez is the last of 35 defendants to be sentenced after that probe. In October 2007, Perez admitted participating in the June 2002 murder of inmate Jabila Barragan in Susanville.
U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt says Perez also acknowledged that the Mexican Mafia engages in murder, attempted murder, drug sales, robbery and money laundering.

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Los Angeles Police detectives are investigating a gang drive-by shooting that claimed the life of 18-year-old Christopher Herrera

Los Angeles Police detectives are investigating a gang drive-by shooting that claimed the life of 18-year-old Christopher Herrera and wounded another.On Saturday, May 23, 2009, at around 2:50 a.m., Christopher Herrera and his friend, a 16-year-old girl, were walking in the 700 block of South Normandie Avenue in Koreatown when they were approached by an unknown vehicle. Multiple shots were fired at them, striking both of them. The suspects were only described as male Hispanics who drove away after the shooting. Herrera died from his injuries and his friend underwent surgery and is listed in stable condition at a local hospital.The motive for the shooting is gang-related.

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Dirty White Boys prison gang ,William Harigan Rambo III wife is 39-year-old Grace Kopacz. She is a law partner with Mokaram Freeman Kopacz.

Investigators say while working undercover, they bought the drug ecstasy from Rambo. He then allegedly told them about his wife and how they were able to hide drug money. Police say that is when they began to investigate. Rambo’s wife is 39-year-old Grace Kopacz. She is a law partner with Mokaram Freeman & Kopacz. Their offices are located in the Galleria area, where on Friday afternoon, police came and arrested Kopacz. Kopacz and her husband have been charged with money laundering and are scheduled to appear before a judge in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center this week. Kopacz has also been charged with insurance fraud. The DEA says she recently filed an insurance claim stating that one of her vehicles had been stolen, but she allegedly had arranged for her vehicle to disappear. We don’t know how Kopacz originally met her husband, but he has been in trouble with the law before.
The DEA says he is a member of the Dirty White Boys prison gang, a group that associates itself with the Aryan Brotherhood.

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Elvin Payton, 26, and Beatrice Rosado, 24, both of the 700 block of North Avers Avenue, are both charged with first-degree murder

Elvin Payton, 26, and Beatrice Rosado, 24, both of the 700 block of North Avers Avenue, are both charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Michael Norton, 55, of unincorporated DuPage County near Glen Ellyn. Rosado also faces an unrelated battery charge.Cook County Criminal Court Judge Adam Bourgeois today ordered them both held without bond. Norton was killed on May 14 around 7 p.m. at his store in the 4700 block of West North Avenue, according to police.The corner store uses an address of 1555 N. Cicero Ave.Although police said that the slaying was related to a robbery of the store, residents of the building and neighbors had said Norton was threatened by gangbangers after he evicted a woman from the building, which he owned, about two weeks before his slaying.Today, Asst. State’s Atty. Joy Tolbert Nelson said Rosado, who apparently had the lease on the apartment, was evicted two weeks before the slaying, along with Payton, who lived with her.Payton is an admitted member of the Latin Styler street gang, according to court records.
A witness saw Payton and another man enter the store, lock the door and later leave, Tolbert Nelson said. As the two left, they removed masks that covered their faces and Rosado was seen at a van in the area about the time of the slaying, Tolbert Nelson said.Police officers responding to a robbery call found Norton, with his hands and feet bound, face down on floor, shot once in the back of the head.
The two were arrested after a police radio band alert saying they were wanted in connection with the slaying. After their arrest, both were identified in lineups and gave statements, Tolbert Nelson said. Payton admitted to participating in the robbery and shooting of Norton and Rosado admitted to being involved in the slaying, Tolbert Nelson said.Defense attorneys provided no employment information on Payton but said he stayed home and watched a child the couple had had together and Rosado’s three older children.Payton appeared in court in a red hoodie, and Rosado wore a black-and-white striped jacket.Daisy Rodriguez, Rosado’s mother, said her daughter was “terrified” of Payton. “He made her do this,” she said.Her family said Rosado and Payton had been together for about two years.

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Three dots,tres puntos in Spanish represented: the three words Mi Vida Loca. My Crazy Life.

Three dots,tres puntos in Spanish represented: the three words Mi Vida Loca. My Crazy Life.The tattoo is often seen on the hands of members of MS-13, the gang known internationally as La Mara Salvatrucha.The police gang unit began to log its contacts with the man, Jose Adolfo Aldana-Ramirez, an immigrant from El Salvador. Officers noted his clothing and his companions, some of whom were MS-13 members alreadydocumented by the unit.This month, Aldana-Ramirez pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal gang, a charge that state lawmakers enacted 10 years ago to crack down on gang crimes.Since then, the charge has been used in 116 felony cases in Franklin County, including 25 times against juveniles, a review of court records shows.Though not used frequently, the law has helped lock up some of the 1,000 or so gang members in Columbus, police and prosecutors say. It carries a sentence of up to eight years in prison.''That's a pretty big hammer to hit somebody with,'' said James Sandford, a Columbus police detective who specializes in the MS-13 gang.Defense attorneys, on the other hand, say the law is vague and prejudicial.The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio thinks that it unfairly skews enforcement toward urban areas, education director Shakyra Diaz said. The risk for guilt by association is great and could land innocent people on watch lists, she said.
To establish a person as an active gang member, police use criteria such as dress, hangouts, associates and the person's own admissions.''It starts out as something that simple,'' Sgt. Chantay Boxill of the Columbus police gang unit said of Aldana-Ramirez's tattoos. After Boxill's unit began keeping track of him, police obtained a threatening voice-mail message that Aldana-Ramirez had left for a rival: ''You'll realize the Salvatruchas. No one laughs at the MS-13.''When Aldana-Ramirez was caught with a loaded .38 under his driver's seat in August, the gang unit also charged him with participating in a criminal gang.Ramirez pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and the gang charge on May 13 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court and was sent to prison for four years. When he is released, he will be deported.Though Aldana-Ramirez pleaded guilty, he got his dot tattoos at age 15 and denies being a member of MS-13 today, his attorney, Joseph L. Mas, said.
Mas also questioned whether the gang law is constitutional.''We usually find a police officer or a task force that studies a community and then brings charges,'' he said. ''Then, they act as their own witnesses to support the existence of a gang. . . . I don't think the appeals courts have had an ample opportunity to study the matter.''Both the Franklin County Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court have upheld gang statutes. At least 18 states have anti-gang laws.''It's been helpful,'' Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said. ''But often we face a situation where we know he's a gang member, he knows he's a gang member, and the police know he's a gang member, but we can't prove it in a court of law.''
Usually, he said, gang members are tied to other crimes so prosecutors don't need to rely on just the gang charge to obtain a conviction.In 2002, Ohio added the so-called gang specification, in which more prison time can be imposed by a judge for any felony if the offender commits that crime while participating in a criminal gang.

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Cortez Brown “killing machine,” sentenced the admitted Gangster Disciple to death.

Cortez Brown “killing machine,” sentenced the admitted Gangster Disciple to death.

On Friday, a different judge in the same courthouse — citing “staggering” and “damning” new evidence — overturned Brown’s murder conviction and ordered a new trial.

Cheers erupted in the courtroom, and Brown clenched his fists as Judge Clayton Crane sided with Brown’s attorneys, who said their client confessed to murder in 1990 only after being beaten by detectives working under former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.In making his ruling, Crane said he was at a disadvantage because all three of the detectives who originally interrogated Brown took the stand this week, only to invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to testify.“My advantage is I have some additional evidence as to the behavior of some, if not all, of the detectives in this case,” Crane said. “That evidence is staggering. That evidence is damning.”Crane did not cite specific evidence and declined to elaborate after his ruling. Brown’s attorneys referred to “massive, massive documentation that these particular detectives were corrupt.”“This is a wonderful victory, not only for [Brown], but for the entire human rights movement and the entire movement against police torture in this city,” said Flint Taylor, one of Brown’s attorneys.
Victoria Safforld, Brown’s 18-year-old daughter, said, “I’m just real happy because I ain’t never had the chance to be with my father. ... I stay with a positive attitude because my daddy always stays with a positive attitude.”It was unclear Friday if Brown will be retried. He remains in the Cook County Jail. Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office is handling several cases that include allegations of police brutality overseen by Burge.“Our goal all along has been, and continues to be, to ensure that justice is served by carefully reviewing the merits of each of these [Burge-related] cases,” said Robyn Ziegler, a Madigan spokeswoman. Ziegler said Madigan’s office has not yet made a decision about the next step in the Brown case.Brown says he is innocent. He contends detectives beat him with their fists and a metal flashlight, forcing him to confess to the 1990 gang-related murders of Delvin Botler and Curtis Sims. Brown was initially sentenced to 35 years for Botler’s murder.He was later convicted and sentenced in 1992 to death for Sims’ murder.Former Gov. George Ryan commuted Brown’s death sentence to life in prison.
During this week’s hearing, prosecutors told Crane that if Brown was truly beaten, he would have had marks on his body and he would have reported the abuse much earlier. Prosecutors described Brown as an admitted gang banger who can’t keep his stories straight.On Friday, Crane said Brown — who testified about the alleged abuse this week — was “not a good witness,” and said he has changed his stories about how he was allegedly beaten.But Crane also said he paid particular attention to the fact that none of the detectives who interrogated Brown would answer questions on the witness stand.

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Latino street gang has waged a racist campaign to eliminate black people from a Southern California city through attempted murders and other crimes.

"(Varrio Hawaiian Gardens) gang members take pride in their racism and often refer to the VHG Gang as the 'Hate Gang,'" the main indictment states. "VHG gang members have expressed a desire to rid the city of Hawaiian Gardens of all African-Americans and have engaged in a systematic effort to achieve that result by perpetrating crimes against African-Americans."Latino street gang has waged a racist campaign to eliminate black people from a Southern California city through attempted murders and other crimes.
Five indictments charged a total of 147 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang, and federal and local agencies arrested 63 of them by early Thursday, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien told a press conference.O'Brien asserted it was "the largest gang takedown in United States history," but he did not immediately elaborate. The indictments detail attempted murder, kidnapping, firearms, narcotics and other charges related to attacks by the gang, which primarily operates in Hawaiian Gardens, a city of about 15,000 people in southeastern Los Angeles County. The indictment alleges a string of attacks on black residents, including a shooting into a home with eight people inside. The indictment does not say if anyone was hit. In another instance, two gang members allegedly chased a black man, yelled a racist epithet at him and then beat him with a garden rake. The same man was later repeatedly stabbed by two gang members, according to the indictment, which charges them with his attempted murder. In the 2000 Census, the latest data available, Hawaiian Gardens was roughly 73 percent Hispanic and 4 percent black. The city was incorporated in 1964 and, according to local lore, was named after a bamboo snack shack built in 1927. The indictments mark at least the second time in less than two years that federal authorities have alleged that Latino gang members in Southern California attacked black residents because of their race. In 2007, agents arrested dozens of members of the Florencia 13 gang in South Los Angeles and said the gang had, in some instances, killed black people purely because of the color of their skin. The extent to which race is driving the area's gang conflicts last year sparked an argument between the region's two top cops, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton. Baca said racial bias was a significant factor in gang crime while Bratton, pointing to statistics showing cross-racial crime to be rare, downplayed any tension.
The investigation of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang has been under way for almost four years since the June 2005 murder of Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Luis Gerardo "Jerry" Ortiz. Jose Luis Orozco, a member of the gang, was sentenced to death in 2007 for the killing. Ortiz, 35, died as he searched for Orozco, who had shot and wounded a man while he did yard work. Orozco was later found guilty of attempted murder in that case. "Following the murder of Deputy Ortiz, the Sheriff's Department sought federal and local assistance to help destroy the Hawaiian Gardens gang," the U.S. attorney said. Florencia 13 and Varrio Hawaiian Gardens aren't the only Latino gangs linked to racial attacks. In 2007, four members of The Avenues, a gang from the Highland Park area northeast of downtown Los Angeles, were convicted of hate crimes for killing a black man in what prosecutors called a campaign to drive blacks from that neighborhood. Authorities have also announced a crackdown on the 204th Street gang following the killing of a 14-year-old black girl. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, an author and racial commentator, said racial bias among gang members is high in transitioning neighborhoods where black residents are moving out and Latinos are moving in. "There is a deep-seated animosity between some Latino gangs and African-Americans," he said. "There is no way around it, it is driven by racial animus."

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Jorge Andrade faces a sentence of life in prison after being found guilty Wednesday of murder

Jorge Andrade faces a sentence of life in prison after being found guilty Wednesday of murder and committing a felony while an active participant in a street gang.
Prosecutors say the 25-year-old Andrade and two fellow gang members kidnapped, then fatally shot 16-year-old Innocente Barrera in August 2004. They say Andrade then ordered that Barrera be left in a car and the vehicle set afire. The two alleged accomplices are awaiting trial.

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