GANGLAND GODFATHER

The seven men indicted this week on drug and racketeering charges are part of a violent gang that called itself "773" after the address on Thigpen Road in Gadsden County where they grew up, investigators said.New details on the gang surfaced Thursday during a news conference at the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office. Also, state officials announced a new initiative to crack down on gang activity.The gang members have been tied to at least three homicides, said Lt. Jim Corder. Also, investigators believe the gang was bringing up kilos of cocaine from South Florida each month. At one point, the gang controlled all the street-level drug trade in Sawdust, a rural community of about 500 to 700 residents seven miles outside Quincy. And the gang is involved in drag racing in the county, but it has been difficult for law enforcement to catch them in the act."It happens very quickly, (and) it happens at undisclosed locations," he said.The Sheriff's Office and the Florid...

Armed robbers picked the wrong target when they raided an Australian bar where a biker gang was holding a meeting.Machete wielding masked bandits burst into the Regents Park Sporting Club in Sydney and ordered people at the bar to lie on the floor.But the robbers failed to notice 50 members of the Southern Cross Cruiser Club enjoying a drink in the next room, reports the Sydney Morning Herald."Fifty of us jumped out of our seats and raced out to the main bar," said club president Jerry 'Jester' van Cornewal.Biker club founder Noel 'Bear' Mannix added the robbers appeared to be regretting the heist as soon as they saw the bikers. "It was very hard to see the expression on their faces because of the balaclavas, but I imagine it was something along lines of 'Oh s***, what have we done here?' ," he said.One of the robbers charged through a locked glass door, leapt off a 16ft balcony and ran through a bowling green to escape.The other ran through ...

A man was hospitalised with stab wounds after a savage street brawl erupted between two gangs in Midland last night.During the vicious brawl, feuding gangsters launched homemade petrol bombs and ripped tiles ripped off roofs which they then used as makeshift weapons.Residents of the cul de sac on Wellaton Road, where the fight took place, said the brawl had been brewing since 4pm. Reinforcements of one gang began arriving at a house apparently in preparation for the attack, which flared about 7pm.One resident who did not wish to be named, said the house was a regular trouble spot. Other residents spoke of long term concerns including being heckled and of constant traffic they said was related to drug dealing.“There are cars going in and out all the time,” said one man who did not want to be identified. “It’s like Melbourne Cup day most days.”One man believed to be in his early twenties was last night in Swan Districts Hospital in a stable condition with head wounds.

Five defendants were convicted today by a jury in federal district court of criminal charges that include racketeering, murder, attempted murder, assault, methamphetamine trafficking, and numerous related firearms offenses. The jury convicted the defendants after six weeks of trial and two days of deliberations. The five defendants were the leaders of a racketeering enterprise that originally included 30 defendants in the first indictment.United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of today's verdict, "The truly violent character of this drug gang, which operated out of the small town of Cedartown, Georgia, is demonstrated by the fact that the racketeering convictions are based on several violent crimes, including five murders, attempted murder, and kidnapping, as well as drug trafficking. The five murders for which defendants Villenas-Reyes and Shane Rosser were convicted were 50% of the total number of murders that occurred in Floyd and Polk counties in 2003." Nahmias ...

The gang called itself the TPP Bloods, the TTP standing for Tree Top Pirus- a reference to a group of streets in Compton, Calif., named after trees. But the organization, federal prosecutors said, originated in Maryland, not California, and in less than 10 years it became one of the most violent in the state. A sweeping indictment against 28 alleged TTP Bloods members- 23 men and five women- was unsealed Monday in federal court in Baltimore. Prosecutors charged 26 of them with racketeering conspiracy under a law designed to go after organized crime. They're accused of committing five murders in the past 2 1/2 years, along with crimes including robberies, kidnappings, drug trafficking and threatening and intimidating witnesses. "This is an organization that is alleged to have had a hierarchy, a structure, leadership, goals and rules that govern the conduct of the gang members," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, adding that the racketeering charges allow prosecutors to ...

It was 'Ndrangheta hitmen who, three years ago, carried out the country's most notorious recent political assassination of regional parliamentarian, Francesco Fortugno. It was 'Ndrangheta hitmen who, three years ago, carried out the country's most notorious recent political assassination of regional parliamentarian, Francesco Fortugno. The report said the 'Ndrangheta was spreading 'in the same way as al-Qaeda, with an analogous, tentacular structure, without a strategic leadership, but characterised by a kind of organic intelligence [and] the vitality of cancer'.While the attention of politicians and the media has remained fixed on Sicily's Mafia, the 'Ndrangheta has crept silently into much of the rest of Italy. And following emigration by the inhabitants of Italy's poorest region, it has spread to other parts of the world, as far as Australia.The authors of last week's report highlighted the crime syndicate's remarkable ability to repli...

test case is the trial of a senior member of the East End Hells Angels.If the trial judge rules the chapter is a criminal organization when a verdict is rendered March 27, it will be devastating for the Hells Angels in B.C, said RCMP Insp. Gary Shinkaruk, head of the outlaw motorcycle gang squad."It would be devastating locally, nationally and internationally," he said. "It would be an embarrassment for them."He said the East End Hells Angels are "extremely worried. They're realizing the law is evolving."The trial judge, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie, has heard months of evidence regarding David Francis Giles of the East End Hells Angels chapter and two co-accused.She must now decide whether the trio were acting in a "joint venture," as alleged by the Crown, with regard to nine kilograms of cocaine seized in Kelowna, B.C. in 2005.MacKenzie said this week the Crown needs to prove that the accused were acting in concert in possessi...

Operation Augusta Ink turned out to be the second-largest storefront weapon seizure in the history of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. At last count, 105 men, women and juveniles have been arrested on drug, theft and firearm charges stemming from Colur Tyme Tattooz & Things, the Tobacco Road parlor that served as a black market bazaar for local gangs. In the spring of 2006, investigators approached a tattoo artist nicknamed Lil' John, whose real name is being withheld by authorities to protect his identity, about providing information about gang members. Police knew Lil' John was running an illegal tattoo parlor out of his home and had made a name for himself by tattooing members of south Augusta gangs such as O-DUB and Georgia Deadly Boys. Officers saw Lil' John as a way into the world of Augusta's gangs and offered him money and protection in return for his help. Police had been watching the gang problem grow in Augusta for years and reache...

David John Partridge was left with a shocking gash from his ear to mouth after being slashed with a homemade knife in the Adelaide Remand Centre. Person responsible for the death of a toddler has survived a suspected bikie-sanctioned revenge attack in jail.The man wielding the knife - made from a razor blade - is an associate of the Finks motorcycle gang. Three-year-old David Mamo's grandfather is a senior member of the Finks motorcycle gang. He is currently before the court on multiple firearms and unlawful possession charges. The incident comes almost two years after a relative of Mamo's warned in a death notice placed in The Advertiser of "suffering" for those responsible for his death. The attack on Partridge, 29, happened earlier this month. He was rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital for treatment and is now back at the Remand Centre in a secure unit. The man believed responsible for the attack has been shifted to Yatala Labour Prison. Sources there said he is clos...

In the past two years, there have been at least 17 drive-by shootings in the township in which nine people have lost their lives.In the latest incident this week, Leanne Armugam, wife of Chatsworth taxi boss Duncan Armugam, and her cousin, Donovan Pillay, were victims of a drive-by shooting in Hillary.Armugam survived the second attempt on her life in two years, escaping with a bullet wound in her arm. Pillay, who was shot six times, is fighting for his life.Armugam and his family call themselves the “Dre Boys” but insist they are not part of a gang and are not connected with the Chatsworth underworld. Previous shooting victims include: Five-year-old Dredin-Lee Armugam, who was killed in 2005;Bystander Deon Govender; Smithy’s nightclub owner, Munsamy Gounden, who was gunned down in Croftdene, near his club, last year; and Gounden’s passenger, Nicky Pillay, who was also killed in the incident.The random shootings have now prompted a call by community leaders for the police to set up a t...

Paris cops recently broke up a suburban street-fight between rival gangs—but this time the gangsters were girls, the Times of London reports. "They had knives, screwdrivers, sticks and teargas and they were really going for each other," one officer said. Girl violence has spiked 140% in France since 2002, but police were surprised by the sight of an armed girl-gang battle. • “Some of the girls are incredibly violent these days,” one 16-year-old boy said. “They're tougher than us." Banlieu girls say the fighting isn't about race as much as turf—and, more importantly, boys. One fight "began because one of the Noisiel girls started hanging around the boys in Meaux,” one girl said. But les filles dangereuses dressed nicely and spoke sweetly when meeting with a Times reporter.

Police are looking for two more suspects in connection to a deadly gang-style beating in East Ocean View last summer. 20-year-old Natasha Buie and 18-year-old Curtis Newby both face murder charges stemming from a July 27th fatal beating where a group of people killed a Georgia man and badly beat two others. Eight other supsects have been indicted in the case.The following information was released by the Norfolk Police Department:The Office of the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney announces today the unsealing of direct indictments of 2 individuals, each charged with 1 count of First Degree Murder, 1 count of Lynching, 2 counts of Malicious Wounding, 3 counts of Robbery, and 6 counts of Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony. The Grand Jury meeting in Norfolk Circuit Court on January 16, 2008, returned true bills for the direct indictments of Natasha O. Buie, 20-years-old, and Curtis Wayne Newby, 18-years-old. Those indictments were sealed until today. The charges against B...

Marbella, Spain - Organized crime is increasing on Spain's touristic southern coast, the Costa del Sol, where more than 700 international criminal rings operate, the far-left party Izquierda Unida (IU) said in a report released Friday. The number of criminal organizations present in Malaga province grew by almost 10 per cent in 2007. More than 50 abductions and settlements of accounts occurred in 2006 on the Costa del Sol, where police dismantled over 130 criminal rings, detaining more than 1,200 people, over three years. The report stressed the link between organized crime and political corruption on the Costa del Sol. More than 170 people including mayors, officials and entrepreneurs have been detained in connection with scandals linked especially with the construction sector in the region in the recent years.

RCMP confirm an ex-member of the Hells Angels has been arrested. Billy Bowden has been picked up in Whistler, British Columbia. Winnipeg police Constable Jacqueline Chaput says the arrest was made on the strength of a warrant for failing to appear in court. Bowden was due to appear in court to face charges of firearms and drug possession stemming from when he was stopped on January 20th, 2007 in the back lane behind the 500 block of Corydon Avenue.Members of the Winnipeg Police Services organized crime unit were investigating a member of the Hells Angels being in possession of a handgun.The one-time member of Manitoba's Hells Angels chapter was arrested last week in Whistler, B.C., a source said. Bowden was wanted on an arrest warrant that was issued Jan. 10 after he failed to appear in a Winnipeg court on drug and gun charges. One of the last times he was seen in public in Winnipeg was Nov. 18 at The Empire Cabaret. Jeff Engen, 24, was fatally stabbed in the bar's basement lou...

Wanganui's gang culture has been dealt another blow with the town's Mongrel Mob president being jailed. He was one of more than 60 gang-related arrests following the shooting of toddler Jhia Te Tua last year, and Wanganui has had a 7 per cent drop in crime since. A proposed city bylaw that aims to reduce gang intimidation by banning gang colours and paraphernalia around the central city is due to be heard in Parliament next month.In the High Court at Wanganui yesterday, Mongrel Mob president Peter Nahona, 43, was sentenced to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sell methamphetamine. Four other Mob members and associates - Adene Broughton, 33, Aaron Timoti, 27, Tiari Tipene, 31, and Daniel Wiari, 27 - were also jailed on drugs charges after telephone conversations between the men were intercepted during the massive police investigation into Jhia's murder. Jhia, 2, daughter of Black Power member Josh Te Tua, was shot in the chest during a drive-by sh...

"The Crown has presented no evidence of what Giles actually did," Richard Fowler said of the charges against his client, David Francis Giles, 58, a Hells Angels member for more than 20 years."What cogent evidence is there that he's engaged in criminal activity?" he asked B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie.After a 10-month trial, the prosecution has offered no evidence to prove Giles ever possessed or controlled nine kilograms of cocaine seized by police in Kelowna in 2005, Fowler said. "In this case, there's no evidence of who supplied the cocaine. There is no evidence that he paid for the cocaine," he added. Fowler suggested the Crown has taken evidence and moulded it to fit its theory that Giles was involved in a "joint venture" with two co-accused in possessing the cocaine for trafficking."But it's ill-fitting," he said of the Crown evidence. Giles is accused of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking ...

City police say that while the Bandidos biker gang haven't re-established themselves in Edmonton, they'll be watching to see if their re-emergence in Canada will bring them out West again. "There's no solid information to indicate any developments here, but it's certainly on the radar screen. Our members are certainly aware of the developments out East," said police spokesman Dean Parthenis, referring to recent reports the gang is moving to set up in Ontario again. The reports come just a few months after the gang announced it was shutting down, a development experts chalked up to the April 2006 massacre of eight Bandidos members in Ontario as well as its status as the underdogs to the more powerful Hells Angels. On its website, a statement from the Bandidos says the decision to close was "the wrong way to go" and that the club is now reviving its chapters. "They are just not willing to give it up and they've reopened the Bandidos back up in...

Among those named in a 17-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury last week is a reputed leader of the Crips street gang, 27-year-old Jerron Johns of San Bernardino, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. His girlfriend, Crystal Dillard, a Los Angeles County probation officer, also is named. Police Lt. Paul Capraro said Monday afternoon that Dillard is in her mid-20s and from Upland. No other information about her was available. The crackdown "means a huge dent in the narcotics trafficking that was going on in Pomona," Capraro said. Authorities say 23 suspects transported and sold cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana in Pomona. All are named in the federal indictment. Dillard and Johns were arrested late last month after Johns sold more than 2 pounds of crack cocaine to a police informant, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Police say they are hunting another high-profile gang leader with ties to the operation. They say Raymond King, 37, is the main ...

A confrontation between two gangs led to man being arrested in Raetihi on Monday morning. The man allegedly produced a pistol at the towns Caltex station. It is unknown whether the pistol was loaded, but no shots were fired. Both parties are believed to have gang affiliations, with the men threatened members of the Tribesmen motorcycle gang. Sergeant Mike Craig of Ohakune police said animosity between the alleged gunman and the group of Tribesmen was the likely cause of the incident. "I guess it's got gang connections. Certainly, any time this happens we have to be concerned, but in this case nothing really happened. The alleged offender was remanded on bail to appear in Ohakune District Court

Three full-patch Hells Angels members -- including Manitoba chapter president Dale Donovan -- were among those arrested and charged with drug, weapon and gang offences. Three other Manitoba men were also charged with conspiracy to murder after a plot to kill a drug rival was exposed during the year-long sting. Search warrants obtained last month by the Free Press disclosed the inner-working of a major gang and drug distribution network across Manitoba and western Canada. They also give a rare inside look at the highly-organized structure of a criminal enterprise, the competition that exists and the violence that often results.Manitoba government has authorized a direct indictment in a major undercover drug and gang investigation that utilized the services of an undercover agent. Today’s decision means the 17 people arrested in December as part of Project Drill will go directly to trial without having the benefit of a preliminary hearing.No dates have been set. Lawyers for the accused w...

Italian police on Monday arrested Pasqualle Condello, 57, one of Italy's most wanted bosses of the southern 'Ndrangheta Mafia, who has been on the run since the 1980s, the ANSA news agency reported.Condello had been sentenced to life in prison for a 1989 murder and has been considered since that time as the most important organised crime boss in Calabria. He was arrested at a house in the region's capital, Reggio di Calabria.Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato called it "a great day for Calabria and the fight against organised crime in Italy."Police arrested Pasquale Condello, 58; his nephew, Giandomenico Condello, 28; and son-in-law Giovanni Barilla, 30; and another unnamed person in a raid Monday evening. More than 100 Italian police officials descended on an apartment in the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria, finally arresting Condello, the reputed head of 'Ndrangheta, the Italian news agency, ANSA, reported Tuesday.Police officials said Condell...

Twelve people, including three lawmen, were gunned down Sunday night in the small mining village. The 12 were murdered during a one-hour assault, which forced the Bharrat Jagdeo administration to postpone yesterday's reading of the national budget. Police have also since linked that attack to a gang led by the country's most wanted man, Rondel 'Fine Man' Rawlins. Rawlins is reported to have warned law enforcement authorities that there would be mayhem in the country if his reputed pregnant common-law wife was not released by abductors.The police have offered a G$50 million (US$250,000) reward for Rawlins' capture. He is wanted for several murders, including the April 2006 assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow 'Sash' Sawh, several of his siblings and a bodyguard. In recent weeks, crime has spiraled out of control in this Caribbean Community country.Only three weeks ago, a gang of about 25 men launched an attack at Lusignan, a community in East Coast...

Forty-seven police officers from the Crime Gang Task Force, Licensing Enforcement Branch, STAR Group and Southern Operations Service searched the Old Noarlunga premises at about 9.30pm. two pistols seized by police during the raid of a southern suburbs bikie clubroom on Friday will be forensically tested by police.Police allege that as they approached the clubrooms two loaded semi-automatic pistols were thrown over a side fence. Police said there was evidence suggesting liquor was being sold without a licence. They seized about $3000 of liquor, $480 cash and three ecstasy tablets. It is understood the Rebels gang members were celebrating two members' birthdays.

Detectives from the gangs squad arrested a large, well-built man, dressed in black jeans and a grey t-shirt and wearing white sneakers, in Pyrmont. A luxury waterfront flat believed to be owned by a Hells Angels bikie in Sydney was searched by police this afternoon. A blue Ford FPV GT sedan was also filmed and searched by police, while the muscled man, his hands cuffed behind his back, stood and watched. A sticker on the rear window of the car, with South Australian plates, read: "Hells Angels North Crew". Another sticker on the inside of the car read: "This is a Hells Angels vehicle. F*** with it and find out."The suspect being arrested today in Pyrmont and, left, the Hells Angel warning sign in the car by his home.Officers from City Central command then searched a ground floor flat in the luxury Wharf Crescent complex. The man was then placed in a police car and taken away, while two detectives from the gangs squad left the building holding a small brown evidence...

Blue City, Queens Drive, Finsbury Park Man Dem, Holly Park Boyz and Manor House Boys. Finsbury Park Man Dem par round the Six Acres Estate. Blue City align themselves with FPMD. Holly Park Boys are from the Holly Park estate and are also aligned to FPMD. Highbury Grove Man Dem are present round the Highbury Estate and Holloway Boys from Holloway. Popham Youts are a younger gang in the area close to the City. Islington’s gangs are predominantly mixed with numbers of African and Caribbean manz. There are some man that par round De Beauvoir Town in Islington sides, although De Beauvoir Town extends into the borough of Hackney aswell.

Who are they? Members of Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, who are mostly Salvadoran nationals or first generation Salvadoran-Americans, but also Hondurans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, and other Central and South American immigrants. And according to the FBI's recent national threat assessment of this growing, mobile street gang, they could be operating in your community...now or in the near future. Based on information from their own investigations, from state and local law enforcement partners, and from community organizations, FBI concluded that while the threat posed by MS-13 to the U.S. as a whole is at the "medium" level, membership in parts of the country is so concentrated that they have labeled the threat level there "high." MS-13 operates in at least 42 states and the District of Columbia and has about 6,000-10,000 members nationwide. Currently, the threat is highest in the western and northeastern parts of the country, which coincides with elevated ...

gang member stabbed a city officer who tried to keep him and about a dozen others from killing a man early this morning, police said.Police said this began with a battle between two of the city's Latino gangs. They've made two arrests. This is what they said happened:Officer Richard Hammer was patrolling Mill Street by himself at about 1:45 a.m. when he saw a lone man sprint across the street followed by the group. The men caught the man and beat him, stomped on his head and stabbed him. Hammer jumped out of his car, yelling at the men to stop and calling on the radio for backup. When he grabbed two of the men, the others turned on him.Someone hit him in the back of the head. Hammer lost his grip on the two, and everyone except the beaten man ran north on Mill Street. Hammer got up, chased and caught the two he'd had before. As he pinned them against a wall, five or six others punched him in the back of the head and upper body. One of the men Hammer held turned, punched him...

Morneau, 32, Christian Laurin, 19, and Alan Mulder, 19, are accused of smuggling 130 pounds of Ecstasy into the state of Montana. Convictions would carry mandatory minimum sentences of a decade, and a maximum of life with no chance of parole. Documents filed in district court show the trio was pulled over Feb. 9 by state troopers while driving on an interstate highway in Montana. Police say inconsistencies in statements given by the three suspects led the troopers to search the vehicle, and three duffel bags containing the Ecstasy pills were seized. Morneau told police he had hauled the bags across the Canada-U.S. border by snowmobile, according to the court documents. Police also allege Morneau told them the teenagers were knowing participants, and were to be paid $1,000 for their involvement. Morneau allegedly told police he was being paid $5,000 -- from an unidentified source -- to take the bags over the border and that his accomplices were to be paid out of his take. All three accu...

soldiers seized 23.5 tonnes of cocaine – enough for about 200 million lines of the drug – in the world's biggest ever cocaine bust. It was destroyed in a public bonfire. Calderon is hoping his crackdown will bring his administration rewards from the US, which has frequently urged its southern neighbour to be more aggressive against drug mafias. The US Congress is debating a $1.4 billion anti-drug aid proposal for Mexico, including high-tech phone-tapping equipment and possibly Black Hawk helicopters.The proposal has been tacked onto a bill requesting more funding for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Calderon argues the US government has a responsibility to help out because US drug users fund the traffickers - analysts estimate that Mexican drug trade to the US is worth around $10 billion to $30 billion a year.Most of the weapons fuelling the bloodshed are also bought in US gun stores and smuggled south over the Rio Grande."How are we supposed to confront these g...

Antonio Craig got 20 years behind bars. Investigators said he ran the West Trade Bloods. They said another gang member already picked up where they said Craig left off.Charlotte-Mecklenburg police captain Steve Willis said, "Another member has stepped up and taken the role on that Mr. Craig was working through at the time." Investigators said they have to keep chipping away at the organization. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Detective Steve Parker said, "One thing we do is go after the most violent offenders of the group."FBI Special Agent David McCranie said, "We want to focus on the head of the group, the head of the gang, because you go after the top. We don't want to build from the bottom. We want to go from the top and take it out."Investigators think Craig was the second blood leader they caught since 2006.

Geraldo Bellino, the "managing director" of the Bellino syndicate was sent to jail for seven years in 1991, a member of the family is in the dock as the alleged mastermind of a crime gang. Todd Sean Filippa, 44, the son of Tony Bellino, a senior member of the 1980s syndicate and a prominent figure in the Fitzgerald inquiry who was never charged, has pleaded guilty in relation to a massive drug operation producing and supplying amphetamines, as well as cocaine, throughout Queensland and interstate. The burly, pony-tailed Filippa, who adopted his mother's maiden name because of the notoriety of the Bellinos after the Fitzgerald inquiry, was arrested with 18 other people in 2004 following simultaneous raids on 27 premises in a joint investigation, led by Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission and involving the Queensland police and the Australian Crime Commission. Filippa was arrested at a drug lab in Miles, in southwestern Queensland, where investigators found a p...

British ColumbiaA lawyer for David Francis Giles denied Thursday there was any direct evidence that the senior Hells Angel member was involved in running a drug-trafficking ring out of the East End chapter's Kelowna clubhouse.Revell and Rempel are also charged with trafficking cocaine. The three men were arrested after police seized eight kilograms of cocaine from a storage locker and a vehicle in the Kelowna area in 2005. Crown has argued Giles kept himself well insulated from the handling of the drugs but was in charge of a "cell" that had him giving orders to Revell, who in turn dealt with Rempel, the man at the bottom of the ladder.But lawyer Richard Fowler told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne Mckenzie yesterday that there was no evidence of a "particular act" that proves Giles was in any way linked to the drugs.He said there was no proof that Giles had knowledge of or was in control of the drugs, no proof of any financial transactions and no evidence linkin...

"You have to go bother these people for your money," heard telling a subordinate. "Rough them up a little. Tell them 'You're a f---ing stiff' … Crack a face. F--- them up. Don't you do it, send a f---ing kid to rough them up, a f---ing joke." Joey Vallaro so many people want him killed. Otherwise he could make a killing himself on the speakers' circuit with his story of how even in adversity there is opportunity.In Vallaro's case it would be about how he turned a jail stretch for extortion into a career as a Staten Island trucking magnate. Always a step ahead, so far at least, Vallaro is the Mafia "rat" at the centre of a 170-page indictment against 62 mobsters and crooks, including the bosses of New York's Gambino family, which resulted in 57 arrests last week. It was a crippling blow to one of the city's notorious Five Families.Twelve years and a lifetime ago, Vallaro became pals with the Gambino captain Nicholas "Lit...

Siezed bullet-proof BMW worth €100,000 belonging to a leading member of one of the country's most dangerous criminal gangs after a high-speed car chase.The driver of the car, who is a close relation to the vehicle's owner, was arrested following the pursuit after he failed to stop the high-performance vehicle at a garda checkpoint in Limerick city.Officers also recovered a bullet-proof vest in the vehicle. The arrested man is likely to face charges in connection with the incident.The top-of-the-range black BMW, which was fitted with bullet-proof glass at a cost of €100,000 to the owner, belongs to a leading member of the Dundon-McCarthy gang. The car owner, who is behind bars, and the arrested driver remain a target for gangs based in the St Mary's Park area of the city.The vehicle remains impounded following the high speed chase on Tuesday.The driver of the vehicle who is in his early 20s is well known to Limerick gardai investigating ongoing criminal and gangland activity...

20-year-old Donnie Bryant is accused of participating in what prosecutors call an "ambush-style murder" at a North Las Vegas apartment complex in September 2004. Federal prosecutors have launched their case against a member of what they call a "hybrid" gang. Prosecutors say Bryant was a member of a gang made of up a mix of members from rival gangs. The case was brought in federal court as part of an attempt to crack down on violent street gangs. Bryant is charged with violent crime in aid of racketeering and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. Those convicted in federal court have no chance of parole. Bryant pleaded not guilty. His attorney told the jury that some government witnesses will be looking for a deal to shorten their own

Three men on trial for drug trafficking were engaged in a "joint venture" and were in business on behalf of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, prosecutor Martha Devlin said Wednesday.Questioned by defence lawyers about wiretaps involving David Giles, David Revell and Richard Rempel, Devlin cited several calls involving Giles, a full-patch member of the club, that she says prove that the men were working together to traffic cocaine in association with the notorious motorcycle club. One phone call had Giles referring to how Revell had made $30,000 for him in the past several months.That all simply demonstrates that Revell and Giles are indeed in business," she said. "That establishes that there's a joint venture . . . and that there is an association between the two of them." Citing another call, she said it was proof that all three men were involved in the joint venture and it all went to aid in the bid to expand the East End chapter from Vancouver to...

The gangs being targeted are the G-Unit, the Gambinos, the Sandy, Dufu, Nelson Street, Beverly Hills, John John, Duke Street, Mango Rose, Desperlie Crescent, Africa, Quarry Street, Harpe Place and Trou Macaque. Sources believe the gang leaders may be “losing business” due to the upsurge in violence in Laventille and the deployment of police officers and soldiers to bring crime in the community under control. As a result, the criminals are seeking less secure areas to trade drugs and arms and carry out extortion activities and kidnappings. They need “quick cash” to stay “in business”, said a senior officer. “If the gang leaders are now losing business and control over drug turfs because of the heavy presence of the police and soldiers (in Laventille), they will now be forced to use other means necessary to get the money they require to fuel their drugs and gun trade,” said the source. Most of the gang leaders are in their 20s, and police suspect they are hiding in Diego Martin, Carenage...

Manitoba-based ephedrine smuggling ring were ordered yesterday to stand trial May 28 in Buffalo, N.Y. Hugh Stevens and Sandra Jacobi were caught up with dozens of others by RCMP and the Drug Enforcement Agency in the alleged smuggling scheme which was based in Winnipeg and Lac Du Bonnet.Stevens, 61, and Jacobi, 50, had originally agreed to plea bargains, but those deals fell apart over the last six months. Both will stand trial by jury. Stevens has been in custody since his arrest in September 2004.In Winnipeg, a preliminary hearing for two suspects continues at the Law Courts Building.The case centres on how bulk amounts of ephedrine ended up in a California meth lab controlled by the Mexican Mafia. The ephedrine was legally imported into Canada through a Thunder Bay, Ont., company, but allegedly diverted onto the black market. Ephedrine is banned in the U.S. Its sale is regulated in Canada by Health Canada. Two of the eight Canadian defendants are no longer alive to be prosecuted. La...