GANGLAND GODFATHER

Les Gitans (Gypsies) and Les Maghrébins (North Africans), based in Grenoble housing estates, have adopted ultra-violent methods that contrast with the codes of the old-school Corsican and Italian mafiosi they displaced. Police are battling against a similar underworld shift around Paris, Marseilles and other big cities.Officers managed to arrest Lamiri's alleged shooter as he tried to make his getaway from a wooded hillside overlooking the Varces prison after he had fired six rounds from a distance of 300 yards - but they were lucky. Gendarmes had spotted a parked motorcycle with the numberplate of a stolen car and had decided to wait for the driver to return. He turned out to be a 58-year-old convicted robber who was carrying a 7.65mm rifle with a telescopic sight.Rachida Dati, the Justice Minister, said from the scene that the murder was a blow to the prison system but congratulated the gendarmes on their catch. “The man denies the facts but he was arrested when he was getting to

Six men who posed as police officers were arrested after robbing a Game store in the Joburg city centre.Police spokesperson Captain John Maluleke said the armed gang of 10 entered the store via a gate used by security guards on Saturday night. Two identified themselves to the guards as police officers investigating a theft complaint. While the guards were busy verifying the complaint, four armed men came in and demanded that they lie down.The robbers tied them up with shoelaces and electrical cord. Six security guards who came to relieve their colleagues were also tied up. Some of the robbers started ransacking the store while others stood guard outside.Police swooped on the gang while the robbery was in progress. They recovered some of the stolen goods and an undisclosed amount of money. Four suspects are still at large, but six who were arrested are expected to appear in the Johannesburg magistrate's court soon.A hair salon owner is due to appear in the same court on charges of r

Three members of the Outlaws bikie gang have been charged with multiple offences after allegedly forcing their way into a Hervey Bay nightclub. Police said about six members of the gang's Hervey Bay chapter forcibly entered Seven nightclub last Saturday night, demanding free drinks and trying to incite violence. When asked to leave they allegedly refused. "These acts of thuggery will not be tolerated by the police or the public and will be dealt with by the full force of the law," said Detective Senior Sergeant Leith Lindsay, officer in charge of the Maryborough police district's crime investigation bureau. "We are continuing to pursue other members of the gang believed to be involved." Three men have been charged with offences including assault occasioning bodily harm, common assault, obstructing staff at a licensed premises and unlawful entry to licensed premises. "The actions of some members of this gang have clearly outlined they are not the communi

Five shootings on the streets of Edinburgh Police today said there was a "strong possibility" that shots fired at a private hire cab in Granton last week and a shooting outside the Gauntlet pub in Broomhouse on Tuesday are linked.there have been at least three more incidents involving firearms in recent weeks – including one where a gang member was shot in the head.Sources say criminals from the north of the Capital have found themselves locked in battle with a hardened gang of young dealers from Gilmerton and the Inch.Members of the two groups, who are involved in the cocaine and heroin trade, were friendly until a fight outside a city centre nightclub around a year ago.Since then the gangs are alleged to have become embroiled in a string of "tit-for-tat" shootings, including the attacks at the Gauntlet and on the cab.Other incidents involving the gangs since mid-August are said to include.Two gunmen on a motorbike who fired shots from a semi-automatic pistol at a

Armando Jose Rodriguez, 32, was shot Tuesday at 1:48 p.m. as he was visiting someone near a food truck on Illinois Street between 24th and 25th streets, an industrial area. The gunman shot Rodriguez several times, then ran down the block to a white Ford Mustang driven by another suspect, investigators said. Police have made no arrests and have given only a vague description of the killer.Police sources said Rodriguez was a local leader in the Norteños and may have decided which of the gang's enemies would be targeted for violence. Police say they are gearing up in the Mission District and elsewhere for possible gang retaliatory attacks in response to his killing.The Norteños, or northerners, are based in Northern California and have ties to the Nuestra Familia prison gang. Their main rivals, the Sureños, or southerners, were originally based in Southern California and grew out of another prison gang, the Mexican Mafia.The Mission District, where the Norteños and Sureños are concent

The founder of the Mongols Motorcycle Club's Oregon chapters, who was ordered not to associate with the organization after a June conviction for menacing a pair of outlaw biker investigators, has absconded to California, police said today. Justin "Mooch" DeLoretto, 27, flew from Portland to California three weeks ago, according to Detective Dave Burroughs, a Eugene Police Department gang expert.

Keyvan Abdollahijan, 31, remains in jail, and a next appearance date in Vancouver Provincial Court was set for Sept. 3.He is charged with uttering a threat to hurt or kill the woman in the wheelchair.Co-accused Tanya Lynn Evans, who is charged with assault causing bodily harm, also appeared by video.The victim suffered a broken nose and broken finger.Police allege Abdollahijan is a member of the UN gang. Its reputed leader, Clayton Roueche, is in jail in Washington State awaiting trial on drug charges.U.S. court documents describe the gang as a violent, multi-ethnic group that trafficks and smuggles cocaine and marijuana.It is rooted in the Fraser Valley but is believed to operate in Canada as far east as Montreal.

Solntsevskaya Bratva top a list of worldwide organised crime, pushing the US-based Mafia to the number 10 spot, according to a new report.It says: "From its home base in Moscow, this syndicate runs rackets in extortion, drug trafficking, car theft, stolen art, money laundering, contract killing, arms deals, trading nuclear material, prostitution and oil deals."Ex-FBI agent Bob Levinson warned: "They're the most dangerous people on earth, a terrifying notion if you consider they may be 300,000 strong."Japan's Yamaguchi-gumi took second place, followed by the Ndrangheta in southern Italy.D-Company which operates in India and the United Arab Emirates came fourth. According to the US Treasury, its most wanted boss Dawood Ibrahim has ties to al-Qaeda.Hong Kong's 14k Triad came fifth followed by the Sicilian Mafia of 100 crime families. In seventh place was the Dai Huen Jai of China, followed by the violent North Mexican Tijuana Cartel then Taiwan's United

All four are at the Floyd County Jail. Munoz, Cruz-Aranda and Delgado-Ayala are accused of dealing cocaine. Funes-Maderas is accused of trafficking cocaine. “It’s a significant arrest. They are significant traffickers,” Allen said. “But they’re one of many out there, unfortunately.” One of the four men arrested in New Albany Tuesday, accused of dealing cocaine, is involved in the notorious gang Latin Kings, according to Michael Allen, resident agent in charge at Louisville’s DEA office.He said the other three are at least affiliated with the gang and possibly members too.Armando Munoz, 19, who lives in Columbus, Ind., is the suspected gang member. He is the only legal resident of the United States out of the four.Two of the illegal residents — Jose L. Cruz-Aranda, 23, and Julio C. Funes-Maderas, 27 — live in Clarksville, in the Hamlet Apartments. Funes-Maderas also has a home in Louisville, off Preston Highway, according to Allen. The third, Jorge Delgado-Ayala, 30, lives in Columbus.

Liverpool man shot five times in Puerto Banus in a bungled assassination attempt . The expat, in his 30s and thought to be from Liverpool, was blasted in the face, leg, arm, pelvis and genitals as he left a restaurant.It was the third shooting in the Costa del Sol resort in five weeks, and took place just yards from packed bars and shops.The victim was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery but amazingly survived. Blood stains can be seen on the road outside Solly's Diner where the British man was shot five times.He had just left Solly's Diner, a British restaurant in Puerto Banus, and was about to get into his dark blue BMW when he was shot in broad daylight at 7.30pm last night.The gunman approached him, pulled out a weapon and shot him five times before walking calmly away, witnesses said.The victim collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood as panic broke out among people drinking or shopping nearby. Incredibly, he was still conscious and able to mutter a few words when an

accused cocaine kingpin who allegedly bragged about supplying $30 million of drugs to Australia's A-list of rockers, sports stars and TV personalities will be returned to Australia under heavy guard.The man, whose identity has been suppressed by Victorian courts, is said to have a $1 million bounty on his head. Yesterday he lost his fight against extradition from the Netherlands, where he has been in jail under maximum security since December. It is believed armed police are set to travel to Europe to bring him back to Melbourne. The 40-year-old supergrass fled Australia in May 2004 after becoming a police informant and secretly taping accused murderer Tony Mokbel and others. He told the Supreme Court in the Netherlands yesterday that his life would be in danger if he returned to Australia, not only from former cocaine clients but from corrupt police whom he helped expose. But the court rejected his claim. His extradition is expected within weeks. He can ask for an injunction pendi

murder conspiracy investigation and culminate in GTA-wide raids on a suspected local faction of the MS-13, which stands for Mara Salvatrucha-13, one of the world's most vicious gangs. Eventually the case would build to 13,000 pages of evidence against 17 suspected gang members, including surveillance reports, arrest and occurrence reports, synopses of each facet of the case, digital number recorders that detail the calls made between cellphones and the criminal histories of all of those involved – but no transcripts or tapes of intercepted conversations."There are no conversations in which anyone agreed to do anything," said criminal lawyer Jeffry House, who represents Luis Salas Reyes, one of the accused."I've dealt with more than 60 conspiracy cases in my 30-year career and that's commonly done to build a case."That case has now all but fallen apart. Conspiracy to commit murder charges have been stayed for Hector Sanhueza, 32, Manual Pasos, 19, Ronald

Jayvion Galloway, 18, and Zecorey Marcus, 19, both Gardena residents, are accused of killing Hae Sook roh, 51, who was shot to death May 12 as she worked behind the counter of her business, Julie's Fashion at 2300 W. Rosecrans Ave."She put up no defense or anything," Gardena police Lt. Uikilifi Niko said. "Talking to people in the community, she was very well liked. They could come into her shop and if they didn't have any money, she would say, 'Just bring it up when you can.'" A surveillance camera captured the crime on tape. Investigators called it "ruthless" and unprovoked.Just before the gunman walked in, Roh was counting money and putting it away. The gunman shouted "Give me the money." When she backed away, he shot her. As she screamed and collapsed, he shot her three more times.Investigators issued the video to the media, and the city offered a $10,000 reward.A tipster provided information that five days earlier, the same p

Owen 'Father Fowl' Clarke, reputed millionaire, cocaine-dealing leader of the British Link-up crew, who was described by the judge who sentenced him as one of the most dangerous men in England.There was Vivian Blake who ran the Shower Posse in the States during the 1980s and 1990s with a three-tiered organisational structure that the Mafia would have been proud of. In fact, the name 'don' (a Spanish term denoting rank and authority) draws on the idea of the mafia don. Early dons, were Claudius 'Claudie' Massop and Aston 'Bucky' Marshall who came to prominence in the 1970s as a result of the birth of political garrisons and signalled don-man influence on the Jamaican voters.Scott. was found in a big plastic bag buried near a tree What is common among most dons is that they all become extremely wealthy, by international standards, and have a major influence on our culture. Remember Donald "Zekes" Phipps? Recall the millions in cash he had lying a

Latvian Organized Crime Enforcement Department have reported that the organization has already arrested two drug gangs so far this month. Police have detained a total of six people -- all of whom were in their 20s -- on suspicion of distributing large amounts of drugs. The first gang was found with more than 50 grams of heroin and eight grams of MDMA, the active ingredient in the popular club drug ecstasy. The second gang was found with more than 100 grams of methamphetamine.

Sostenes Alberto "Al" Dempsey, 21, and Hendrick Miguel Morales, 20, were held without bail under a new state law aimed at getting tough on gang-related offenses. County Judge Steven Rogers agreed with the recommendations during first-appearance hearings Tuesday morning.Officials identified the men as members of the 103 Street gang.According to Marion County Sheriff's detectives, Ocala police Officer Matthew Sams was at a birthday party in the 8400 block of S.W. 101st on Saturday around 11:15 p.m. when Dempsey approached him.Dempsey reportedly placed his arm around the officer's shoulder in a friendly gesture and talked with him before going outside. Sams was asked if he was a police officer and he told Dempsey yes, according to the report. Dempsey then grabbed the officer's left arm and asked what he knew about him. The officer told Dempsey that he knew his name and to let him go. At that time, the report said, Morales punched the officer on the left side of his h

The powerful Casalesi Camorra clan is believed to have been behind Thursday's massacre at the town of Castelvolturno, which began with the shooting of an amusement arcade's 53-year-old Italian owner, known to have had links with the Casalesi. Twenty minutes later, in another part of town, the six immigrants were mown down in a 120-round hail of fire from semi-automatic pistols and kalashnikovs. Three Ghanaians, two Liberians and a Togo national were shot dead at an ethnic clothing shop where local residents often brought clothes for minor adjustments. A third Liberian died in hospital on Friday morning. One suspect, 29-year-old Alfonso Cesarano, was arrested on Monday in connection with the murders and police are seeking two fugitives. Police said the murders were drug-related but also ''a signal'' that the Casalesi were still strong in the area despite a raft of recent arrests. The Casalesi clan is one of the most feared Camorra outfits. Its criminal empire was

Alejandro Enrique Ramirez Umana, a/k/a "Wizard" and "Lobo," intentionally killed brothers Ruben Garcia Salinas and Manuel Garcia Salinas on Dec. 8, 2007, in Guilford County, N.C., in aid of an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity. The Department filed a notice of intent today to seek the death penalty against Umana for the killing of these two individuals in aid of racketeering and during and in relation to a crime of violence. Also according to the additional criminal counts, Elvin Pastor Fernandez-Gradis, a/k/a "Tigre" and "Flaco," intentionally caused serious bodily injury that resulted in the death of Ulises Mayo on April 12, 2008, in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in aid of an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity. The first superseding indictment, with an additional fifteen counts, was returned today by a federal grand jury in Charlotte, N.C., and alleges that the 26 defendants conspired to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeeri

Police were called out to yet another shooting in the streets of Copenhagen overnight after a moped pulled up outside a kiosque on Åboulevarden and opened fire with an automatic weapon. Police have no indications as to whom carried out the attack or why, despite the fact that patrol cars were quickly at the scene. Several young poeple were arrested in the vicinity - some of whom were wearing bullet-proof vests. None of them, however, seemed to have anything to do with the attack. Officers believe they have found the moped involved in the attack in a bush on Herman Triers Plads (Ed: Herman Trier's Square), a few metres from the scene. The motive for the attack remains unclear. The 21-year-old Bulgarian shop assistant in the kiosque threw himself on the fllor when the attack began and has been unable to give any indication as to why anyone would want to attack him. The shooting took place a few hours after several hundred people from the Nørrebro quarter walked through the area in a

Quanan Hutchinson, a former member of the Gangster Disciples gang, was sentenced Monday.Hutchinson had originally been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jermaine Southers. But he pleaded guilty to facilitation of second-degree murder in April.Forensic evidence showed the bullets that killed Southers weren't fired from Hutchinson's gun. Prosecutors have said multiple shots were fired and that made it hard to determine who fired the fatal shots.Authorities say the shooting was retaliation for another man's shooting death.

James Willis was convicted Thursday in Sacramento Superior Court and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 17 by Judge Lloyd G. Connelly. According to Deputy District Attorney Leland Washington, Willis, a reputed north area gang member, shot and killed 19-year-old Rajneel Kamal Sharma on Dec. 27, 2006 in the course of robbing him. Sharma, who also was armed, was able to shoot back and hit Willis once, wounding him, before falling dead at the scene of the Norwood Avenue homicide.

Bloods leader "Eugene" promising a financial bailout of the libraries by the gang, which won a bit of applause from the audience. And soon after the paper hit the streets Friday, someone who signed "Concerned and Disappointed'' typed in a reaction under the heading "If This Isn't A Wake Up Call!" The reader agreed with Mayor Doug Palmer blasting the gangs as nothing more than criminal organizations."But we have a serious problem in this county if we are cutting funding to the one place that inner city kids feel safe. The Library! For goodness sakes," the reader said, "It's a wake-up call if you have gang members trying to provide solutions for our city. Where are all the parents, where are all the neighbors, where are all the concerned good citizens of this city?..."Those libraries are more than a 'budget' concern. They may mean life or death for some of the people who use them. Instead of gang members raising money,

Africans were shot to death gangland style Thursday night in a town near Caserta. Police say the Camorra crime syndicate might have engineered the slayings to punish the Africans for getting involved in drug trafficking, one of the Camorra's criminal activities.The interior ministry said Saturday it ordered the police reinforcements to increase investigations and intelligence-gathering to find the killers and deal a blow to mobsters.Angered by the killings, immigrants rioted on Friday, smashing car windows and stoning police vehicles.Separately, Spanish police announced Saturday that they have arrested a suspected Camorra leader, working in cooperation with Italian authorities.Mario Santafede, 55, is wanted for suspected cocaine smuggling from Colombia and Ecuador to the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Italy, and in connection with at least three murders, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.

Manuel Casabielle started on Boston hit man John Martorano, an admitted 20-time killer, who testified that he was "doing the right thing" when he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. A day earlier, he said Connolly was the source of confidential FBI intelligence that Martorano's Winter Hill Gang used to kill potential witnesses against its members. "Were you doing the right thing by shooting Herbert Smith, Elizabeth Dixon and Douglas Barrett?" Casabielle asked Martorano."I don't know what you call the right thing," Martorano said. "It's regrettable. But it happened." Timeline Of Case Regrettable, perhaps, because the killings of two of the three victims were tragically unnecessary — even under the upside-down code of gang justice Martorano expounded as the day wore on. Martorano had been stalking Smith, manager of Boston's Basin Street nightclub, in 1968 because, he said, Smith had "given a friend of mine a beating."

Men from the One Order gang are warring over extortion money ... It started about a week-and-a half ago when a group of men from the gang went and collected money from the sites without informing the other members," an officer from the St Catherine North Division explained. One high-ranking member of the gang denied the claims when contacted yesterday. "No man! Nuttin like that. Wi nuh have no internal thing a gwaan, di whole a wi good," he stated simply. However, the St. Catherine North police have linked at least two recent incidents to the squabble, the latest being the murder of a carpenter on Sunday. Vivian Douglas, 43, of Tredegar Park in the parish, was shot dead on Sunday in a section of that community. Police say about 8 a.m., Douglas was attacked by a group of gunmen as he walked through a dirt track on his way to a hardware store. The men opened fire, killing him on the spot. The police say Douglas was employed to one of the work sites from which the gang coll

A Decade-long boom in motorcycle gang recruitment and a northern push by gangs like the Mongols, primarily based in Southern California, into territories once traditionally held by their rivals.The San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels, established in the 1960s, Schlim said, has reluctantly had to share its turf in the past 10 years with the Mongols."Like all of the other gangs, all of them, they have all spread dramatically in the last 10 years," he said.For the Hells Angels, said Timothy McKinley, a retired FBI agent who specialized in outlaw motorcycle gangs, this general expansion by rival clubs has meant war not just with the Mongols, but with other groups, even in places like Britain and Scandinavia, far from the dust and grit of the Central and San Fernando valleys.Some of the clubs, both Schlim and Gleysteen said, have turned to recruiting members of street gangs, Surenos and Nortenos and others, to serve as soldiers in these ongoing wars. Schlim said that's been e

Francesco Del Balso and five other men who pleaded guilty Thursday to a series of criminal charges, are alleged by the RCMP to be top kingpins in the organization of Montreal Mafia Godfather Vito Rizzuto.Mr. Rizzuto was arrested in January of 2004 and extradited to the United States where he is serving a 10-year sentence for racketeering.Police wiretaps filed in court reveal that, in his absence, his underlings were increasingly under threat from other criminal groups.Mr. Del Balso and another gang captain, Lorenzo Giordano, come across as short-tempered men who scuffle and get into gunfights on the slightest provocation from bikers or street gangs.And despite their fierce reputation, the Montreal Mafia captains met their match in a dispute with an little-known group from small-town Granby, Que. Police wiretaps document a money feud where the D'Amico family of Granby, in alliance with francophone bikers, rattled the Montreal kingpins over a $900,000 debt owed to the D'Amicos.Se

Jason Viet Quoc Luong, 20, died of gunshot wounds, RCMP said Thursday. Police allege a marijuana grow operation was found in his home and that Luong had gang affiliations. Luong was shot just before midnight on Tuesday in the Westlake subdivision where he lived with his family in the town of Chestermere, east of Calgary. A neighbour, who asked not to be identified, said Wednesday she thinks she saw the shooter, but couldn't identify him because she didn't see his face and he was dressed in black. "We woke up last night at about midnight to gunfire," she said. "And ran to the window and saw the guy take off." She ventured outside, but didn't see anything unusual, she said. "As we were heading back inside the house we heard a woman screaming: 'My brother's been shot'." She said she knows most of her neighbours, but not that family. Police said they searched for the suspect and but made no arrests. The homicide was the third shooting i

feuding biker gangs: the Mongols Motorcycle Club and the Hells Angels.authorities were looking into any possible link to the Sept. 2 murder of San Francisco Hells Angels' chapter president Mark "Papa" Guardado outside a Mission District bar near 24th Street and Treat Avenue. San Jose police identified the target in the 3:38 a.m. blasts as Robert Rios, an upper-echelon member of the Mongols' San Jose chapter, and confirmed that suspicion is falling heavily on their often bloody rivals, the notorious Hells Angels. Mark "Papa" Guardado, 46, president of the Frisco Hells Angels chapter, was gunned down Sept. 2; the suspect, a Mongol from Modesto, remains at large. "It's either the Hells Angels are sending a message, or this is a calculated, but ill-advised move," said Sgt. Larry Day, the San Jose Police Department's in-house expert on outlaw motorcycle gangs.Federal law enforcement officials are assisting San Jose's investigation into Thurs

Daniel Joseph Egan, also known as "Dano," was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson to 200 months in prison and six years of supervised release. The 33-year-old Egan was originally indicted in July 2007 and pleaded guilty in July 2008 to two counts of violent crime in aid of racketeering.Egan admitted that he was a leader in the Aryan Warriors, a criminal gang that seeks to control the Nevada prison system and to operate throughout Nevada, including Las Vegas, Reno and Pahrump, 60 miles west of Las Vegas.The Aryan Warriors -- made up of white men who espouse racial purity -- corrupt prison guards, distribute narcotics, extort money from people through threats and the use of violence, run illegal gambling operations and assault other inmates.Egan admitted that he stabbed an inmate to become a member of the Aryan Warriors. Then, as a gang leader, he approved of and ordered assaults on other inmates.Egan admitted to ordering the October 2004 assault on Mark Fechtman, a

Paul Moreno-Gutierres, 18, was booked into Sonoma County Jail for attempted murder as well as attempted murder in furtherance of a criminal street gang, Det. Sgt. Tim Duke of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department Violent Crimes Investigation Unit said in a statement released Saturday. The fight, which occurred in Lucas Avenue’s 18000 block around 2 a.m., sent one teenager to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after one assailant hit him with a garden hoe. “I don’t think my son ever saw it coming,” the victim’s mother said Tuesday morning. “This was a hit from behind.” By the mother’s account, her two sons, age 23 and 17, had returned earlier in the evening from a trip to Vacaville and were standing outside with a 15-year-old friend who was waiting for a ride home when beer bottles, cans and shouted gang slogans came flying out of the darkness. As the case is still under investigation, Duke couldn’t comment on particulars when contacted Tuesday. He expressed sympathy for the victim’s family

200 mafia suspects were arrested Wednesday in an international operation conducted by authorities in Italy, the United States, Mexico, Panama and Guatemala, Italy's anti-mafia department said. The bust included the arrests - six in the US and 10 in Italy's southern Calabria region - of 16 alleged members of a notorious crime family of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian version of the mafia, the Rome-based National Anti-Mafia Directorate said in a statement. Authorities also seized more than 15 tons of cocaine and 57 million dollars in cash, the statement said. The operation was led by the Italy's Carabinieri paramilitary police's special anti-organized crime unit ROS with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). US authorities in Washington said 175 of the arrests were of individual suspected of participating in the drug smuggling ring, including three alleged leaders of the Gulf Cartel. The three men, Ezequiel Cardenas

The Mongols Motorcycle Club states on their website that they have a chapter in Italy. The Mongols Motorcycle Club, shortened to “Mongols MC” is a motorcycle gang headquartered in southern California that was originally formed in Montebello, California in the 1970s. The Mongols motorcycle club is named after the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia, the Mongols that conquered the largest contiguous empire in world history. The Mongols Motorcycle Club, considered one of the nation’s most violent biker gangs, astonished authorities last fall when it quietly chartered the first of four chapters in Oregon. The man’s body lay crumpled in a ditch, face down, unidentifiable except for a blood-soaked leather jacket bearing the Mongols Motorcycle Club insignia. Burly, tattooed bikers stood around admiring their work, taking digital photographs under a blazing sun. Among them was Jay “Jaybird” Dobyns, who had told Arizona Hells Angels associates in advance that he and a companion were going to Mexic

Police in north-east England say they have prevented a bloody turf war by locking up members of a major Jamaican drug dealing gang. The alleged leader, Albert Thoms otherwise known as ‘Papa', was on Monday jailed for 10 years at Teesside Crown Court, after admitting conspiracy to supply controlled drugs. The 32-year-old alleged gang leader was nabbed by police after they found the name ‘Donna' in the cellular phones of several addicts.Donna was another Jamaican, Claudine Neil, 38, who was given a reduced sentence of just two years, because she agreed to give evidence against the gang. Three others were jailed for terms ranging from four to seven years and three more given community sentences.

Florencia Mafia or F-13: The group is based out of South Central Los Angeles, but has an increasing presence in Memphis. The gang tagged an abandoned home on Tennyson. "These are one of the only Hispanic gangs, to my knowledge, which are pretty much racist. They target African-Americans."The detective went on to say the F-13 gang acts in retaliation for crimes and violence committed against Hispanics by African-Americans.The Street Crimes Unit continues to keep an eye on other gangs that have been in operation for several years in the Mid-South.The detective said many African-American gangs in Memphis fall under two separate alliances, "People" and the "Folk Nation". "People" includes the Bloods and Vice Lords. The detective says the signature color for both gangs is red, and their symbol is a five-point star."Folk Nation" includes the Gangster Disciples and the Crips. Their symbol is an upright pitchfork, and both gangs are known for w

The Russian Mafia have blasted their way to the top of the global organised crime league. Moscow's Solntsevskaya Bratva, known as the Brotherhood, have just been named the worst criminal gang in the world in a major survey. And the planet's most famous mobsters, the "Five Families" of the New York Mafia, barely scrape into the top 10. The Brotherhood took over the underworld of south-west Moscow in the 1980s after godfather Sergei Mikhailov learned his criminal trade in the Siberian labour camps.Then, by linking up with other gangs, they built an empire worth tens of billions of pounds across Russia and beyond. The survey says: "From its base in Moscow, this syndicate runs rackets in extortion, drug trafficking, car theft, stolen art, money laundering, contract killings, arms dealing, trading nuclear material, prostitution and oil deals." Anyone who threatens the Brotherhood's business tends to end up dead. They murdered a string of rival hoods in Moscow

Police said they believe that a violent robbery of a jewelry traveling salesman in suburban Chicago was the work of Colombian gangs, according to media reports. On Sept. 11 a 51-year-old jewelry dealer was robbed by at least three men of $1.5 million in broad daylight outside of a Hampton Inn in the village of Schiller Park, just west of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports.When the dealer from Florida resisted, the men slashed his wrist and stabbed him in the thigh, Schiller Park police told the newspaper, adding that it appeared they were trying to cut major veins and arteries and he may not have survived the attack if was not for Hampton Inn employees who rushed to his aid, wrapping his slashed arms in towels and sheets and slowing the bleeding by applying pressure and lifting his arms. The dealer, who lost a lot of blood, was in serious but stable condition and was scheduled to go into surgery on Friday.Schiller Park police said they have heard from law enforcement around the count

Respects paid to Mark "Papa" Guardado, 46, who was killed Sept. 2 outside a Mission District bar in San Francisco. At the time, he was president of the Frisco Hells Angels and was considered by many members as royalty of the outlaw biker gang. Hell's Angels history is known for their on going criminal activity of drug dealing, prostitution, gun running and money laundering along with more and more legitimate business enterprises. The FBI reports that the Angels are believed to now be working with the Mexican drug cartels and their gangs. But their focus was on Mark "Papa" Guardado and the local police reported the Angels were Angels this day of mourning. The vigil began Sunday evening; mourners packed the main room at Duggan's and several smaller rooms, where they watched on closed circuit television. Big bear type men in black leather openly wept as one of them sang Willie Nelson's "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground," accompanying himself

Three men -- described by police as MS-13 gang members -- have been charged with first-degree gang assault in connection with the attack on Marin Morales, which took place around at Antojitos Bar on Main Street, police said.Marin Morales was stabbed around 3:20 a.m. Sunday after he went outside the bar to help a friend who was getting beat up by a group, Det. Sgt. Gregory Quinn of the Homicide Squad said at a news conference.Part of the group then turned on Marin Morales, ripping off his shirt and chasing him into the bar's kitchen, Quinn said."Our victim exited the kitchen area a short time after and collapsed," he said. Marin Morales sustained stab wounds to the torso and was pronounced dead at the scene. The assailants fled the bar and ran north on Main Street to a parking lot at Fulton Avenue, where they victimized a third man, smashing a broken bottle into his temple, police said. The victim, in his early 20s, is hospitalized at Nassau University Medical Center. His

The leaders of a multi-state cocaine trafficking ring known as the Black Mafia Family were sentenced in Detroit federal court Friday to 30 years in prison, reports the Detroit Free Press. Brothers Terry Flenory, 38 of Los Angeles and Demetrius Flenory, 40, of Atlanta, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn. Formerly of southwest Detroit. The siblings pleaded guilty to operating a continuing criminal enterprise involving the high volume distribution of cocaine throughout the U.S. from 1990 through 2005. Authorities said their operation began in Detroit during the early 1990s and eventually expanded to include Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, California and Texas. They used vehicles equipped with secret compartments to transport cocaine and cash. Since 2000, authorities have seized more than 476 kilograms of cocaine and $5 million in cash. Members of the ring used drug proceeds to buy luxury cars, real estate and jewelry. They also purchased winning Michigan lot

Daly City police Sgt. David Mackriss said about 1,000 members and associates of the Hells Angels club turned out at Duggan's Serra Mortuary for the 10 a.m. funeral of Mark Guardado. A similar number attended a vigil in Daly City last night. The funeral for the slain president of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club took place this morning in Daly City without incident, a Daly City police spokesman said. Mackriss said the event was "a little chaotic with just the sheer number of people," but that no problems were reported, and attendees began leaving before 11 a.m. Guardado, 46, was shot dead around 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 outside a bar in San Francisco's Mission District, allegedly by a member of the rival Mongols motorcycle group. The suspect in the killing, 35-year-old Christopher Ablett, of Modesto, is still at large. Police, armed with a $5 million warrant for murder and possession by an ex-felon of a firearm, searched Ablett's home Thur

Paul Moreno-Gutierres, 18, was booked into Sonoma County Jail. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and committing attempted murder in furtherance of a criminal street gang, Sgt. Tim Duke said.The victim, an unidentified young man in his late teens, remained hospitalized Sunday in stable condition.Deputies were sent to Lucas Avenue in Boyes Hot Springs at about 2 a.m.Saturday for a reported fight involving as many as 15 people.They found the victim on the ground with major injuries to the left side of his face. The weapon later was determined to be a garden hoe, Duke said.Witnesses told deputies about a light colored Cadillac sedan leaving the scene and an alert went out to area law enforcement.About 15 minutes later, two CHP officers working on Bennett Valley Road spotted a white Cadillac, stopped it and called deputies.Information from the occupants led deputies to believe they might have been involved and they were taken to the Sheriff’s Department for further questionin

A gang in the United Kingdom (UK) has been ordered by a British court to pay back more than ₤330,000 netted during its days of illegal drug dealing.The 13 gang members, mainly Jamaicans, were arrested in 2006.The judge told the gangsters that failure to repay the sum could result in longer jail terms.The drug dealers were dubbed the "Night Express Gang" because of their tactic of using trains to travel between the Black Country and Scotland.Their illegal trade sometimes netted around ₤40,000 a-week.The members, who were jailed for up to 12 years each, must pay back a total of ₤338,000 within 18 months or face additional imprisonment.A probe by the elite West Midlands Police economic crime team, found the crooks had ploughed their drugs money into properties in the UK and Jamaica, as well as cars, motorbikes and designer clothes.

24-year-old man was shot in Byrne's Bookmaker's on Killester Avenue in Donneycarney. Witnesses said a man on a motorbike pulled up and went inside the bookmakers just before 3pm. They described hearing a number of shots, possibly up to five. Gardaí said the gunman fled the scene on the motorbike, which was later found burnt out nearby. The victim's body is still at the scene of the shooting and the area has been sealed off. Gardaí have appealed for any witnesses to the shooting to contact them.Two men have been arrested at Tallaght South Dublin in connection with the shooting and a van has been seized by gardai and will undergo detailed examination. The victim is believed to have been known to Gardaí and had been a subject of the Operation Anvil investigation into serious crime. Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, has arrived at the scene to carry out a preliminary examination. The scene has been sealed off and Gardaí have appealed for witnesses to contact them. A