GANGLAND GODFATHER

A rock was used to smash the front door window of the family home in Drimnagh, before the grenade was thrown into the property.The attack occurred about 20 minutes after the family had gone to bed. They had been watching television until 2am. The grenade was identified as being a lethal Yugoslav fragmentation device, which exploded with such ferocity that shards of metal riddled radiators and walls throughout the house, even reaching as far as the attic.The indentations in the walls were described as "bullet-like".Garda sources said the attack was the latest violent incident in a murderous feud between south Dublin gangs. It followed an attack on another house in Drimnagh last week in which a grandmother was shot and a baby narrowly escaped injury. There was also an attack on the home of two elderly grandparents.Garda sources said it was a miracle the four adults and two children asleep in the property were not seriously injured or killed in yesterday morning's attack. Th...

Two patched Mongrel Mob members from Christchurch and one from Dunedin were arrested yesterday, confirming reports that reinforcements from further north had arrived in the city, but police said tensions between the Mob's Invercargill chapter and the Road Knights had eased off after reaching boiling point last week.An Invercargill Mob member was also arrested yesterday and appeared in the Invercargill District Court on charges of possessing an offensive weapon and resisting police, while one of the Christchurch members also appeared on a resisting charge.Police maintained a security vigil around the court as six people believed to be connected to the Road Knights appeared on charges unrelated to the tensions.The side entrance to the court was locked, as it had been each time gang members appeared this week, with every person entering the court searched and scanned by a metal detector.Apart from a single drive-by in Don St by four patched Mob members in a Ford Falcon, and a couple o...

Outlaw biker Francesco Lenti showed little emotion today as a judge sentenced him to six years in penitentiary for shooting dead a member of the West Toronto Hells Angels in a Vaughan strip club.Lenti, 61, who goes by the nicknames Frank and Cisco, nodded and waved his handcuffed hands to a half dozen family members in Newmarket Court today before he was led away after hearing the sentence handed down by Mr. Justice Michael Brown.The judge noted that Lenti opened fire on four bikers connected with the Hells Angels early in the morning of Dec. 2, 2006, after he heard from police that the club had taken out a murder contract on his life.Court heard Lenti was targeted for murder because he spurned a membership offer and instead tried to revive the rival Bandidos gang."It (shooting) did involve a measure of provocation," the judge told court.The judge noted that Lenti turned himself in to police and pleaded guilty to manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault. However, Bro...

Federal prosecutors have charged two Canadian men who allegedly ran a drug smuggling ring for the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club that involved stuffing hollowed out logs, cargo containers and propane tankers with cocaine and marijuana. Robert J. Shannon, 38, of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, and Devron D. Quast, 38, of Abbotsford, British Columbia, were arrested in early June after meeting with an undercover federal agent. The pair traveled to the U.S. to discuss a deal with the agent, who posed as a drug trafficker.Law enforcement agents spent three years investigating the operation and have seized more than 1,300 pounds of cocaine, 7,000 pounds of “B.C. Bud” marijuana, and $3.5 million in cash. Thirty-eight people have been charged with drug trafficking and related offenses in the case. According to court documents, Shannon allegedly oversaw the smuggling and distribution of narcotics for the Hell’s Angels, including transporting drugs inside false walls of cargo containers, in loads ...

Twenty-six alleged members of a street gang said to be among the deadliest in the United States faced arrest after indictments were returned against them. Prosecutors said the indictments were returned by a grand jury in Charlotte, N.C., and accuse 26 alleged members of the Hispanic gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, of crimes ranging from murder to drug activity. Law enforcement officials say MS-13 is based in Charlotte and has up to 50,000 members worldwide, about 10,000 of whom are believed to be active in at least 38 U.S. states and is so big that 2004 the FBI created a task force that focuses specifically on it.An official report on the gang said members smuggle illicit drugs, primarily powder cocaine and marijuana, into the United States and distribute the drugs throughout the country, with some gang members also involved in alien smuggling, assault, drive-by shooting, homicide, identification theft, prostitution operations, robbery and weapons trafficking.The 26 were charged under...

Julius Robinson's friends say Robinson was targeted by members of the Omaha Mafia Bloods, a group of largely young white men from Millard that Omaha police consider to be a street gang. 18-year-old Robinson was shot to death Sunday night along a tree-lined Millard street."His dad brought him out here to prevent this from happening," said friend Dan Kuhr, a former Millard South classmate and teammate of Robinson's. Authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of 18-year-old Daniel C. Miller, a graduate of Millard's alternative school, accusing Miller of first-degree murder in Robinson's slaying.Police say they are not yet ready to say whether the killing of Robinson was gang-related. But they say they are aware of Omaha Mafia Bloods members in and around Millard and say the group does fit the definition of a criminal gang. "OMB in Millard? Yes, we do have enough information to consider them a gang in Omaha," said Lt. Richie Gonzalez of the Omaha p...

Heavily-armed police swooped on a house in Scarvell Avenue, McGraths Hill, at about 5.20pm (AEST) yesterday and arrested the 33-year-old man. Investigators also seized several items including a .22 calibre handgun during a raid on a house in Chaucer Road, Riverstone, earlier in the day. Police say it will be alleged the gun was used to shoot a 31-year-old man in the leg while he was standing outside the tattoo parlour in George Street, Windsor, on Monday night.The victim is also allegedly a member of the same outlaw motorcycle gang.The 33-year-old man has been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, possessing a shortened firearm without a permit and firing a gun in a manner likely to injure.He's been refused bail and will appear at Parramatta Local Court later today.The arrest was the culmination of an investigation by Windsor detectives and the State Crime Commands Gangs Squad who combined to form Strike Force Tracksuit.Detective Inspector Steve Blackmore...

Fresno Police are now investigating the city's 20th murder of the year, after the victim succumbed to his injuries on Friday. Police say 26-year-old Francisco Solano of Fresno was shot back on June 18th, near the 3400 Block of E. Woodward. Solano was rushed to Community Regional Medical Center for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries on June 20th. Three arrests have already been made in the case. Police have arrested 19-year-old Joshua Martinez, 18-year-old Eric Almarez and 22-year-old Rocky Gonzales. All of the men were booked in the Fresno County Jail where they have been charged with attempted murder (which will now be changed to murder), conspiracy to commit murder and participation in a criminal street gang. A 17-year-old juvenile was also arrested; he was booked into the Fresno County Juvenile Hall on the same charges as the other men. Police say all of the men are validated 5th Street Bulldog Gang Members.

The leader of Oregon's Mongols Motorcycle Club intends to fight a prosecutor's plan to stop him from associating with his own members. A Lane County jury on Thursday found Justin "Mooch" DeLoretto guilty of reckless driving and other misdemeanor charges in an April 23 incident in which he was accused of trying to run two biker-gang investigators off Interstate 5 during rush hour. The jury acquitted DeLoretto of eight felony charges, including conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping. At his sentencing, set for Monday, prosecutors will seek jail time for DeLoretto and then a term of probation. That would include a "no association" order barring him from contact with the Mongols. DeLoretto, who turns 27 on Sunday and has "Mongols" tattooed on the back of his head, set up Oregon's chapters of the club. A no-association order for the charismatic leader would be a "huge blow" to Oregon's Mongols, said Eugene police Detective Dave ...

Mat Rempit gangs are often likened to sharks in a feeding frenzy, in that they tend to circle and terrorise their victims before pouncing on them. But 21 Mat Rempit in the Klang Valley recently met their match when they were caught in a police dragnet. Sentul police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Sofian Md Yassin said the suspects, all in their 20s, are believed to be involved in more than 30 cases of robbery in the Klang Valley, since the beginning of this year. "The suspects comprise men from two groups - 17 from 'Gang 77' and four who called themselves 'Rempit Town'. "All of them were picked up between May 29 and June 11 in various areas around the Klang Valley."And although they are from two different groups, their modus operandi was similar," Ahmad Sofian told a press conference yesterday. Describing their tactics, he said the suspects would tail potential victims, usually lone drivers in the middle of the night or early in the morning. When...

Federal, state, and Boston law enforcement officials announced last night the arrests of 10 individuals on crack cocaine distribution charges, as part of an ongoing effort to temper street violence.Many of those arrested are involved in one of the city's most persistent and violent gangs, the Franklin Field Boyz, officials said. The gang's drug dealing and gun activity at the Franklin Field Housing Development in Mattapan have caused many of the 1,000 residents there to live in a state of fear, officials said."These are good, decent people who live in this neighborhood, and they should feel safe whenever they walk out their door," US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said during a press conference at the development's community center.Nearly all of those arrested were charged with distributing cocaine within 1,000 feet of a public housing development, a charge that carries a 40-year maximum sentence in federal prison. The families of some of the individuals, who reside...

Casalesi crime family, which takes its name from the town of Casal di Principe near Naples, has been described as the successor of the Corleone family, which ruled Sicily in the 1980s. The bloodthirsty family is thought to have carried out more than 1,000 hits in the past 30 years to establish an iron grip on the area between Naples and Salerno. However, Francesco Schiavone, the head of the clan, will now spend the rest of his life in prison after being successfully convicted. Schiavone is nicknamed Sandokan after a popular 1970s television series starring Kabir Bedi. The ten-year Spartacus Trial, named in recognition of the need to fight a revolution in the Casalesi's territory, charged 36 members of the syndicate with a string of murders and other crimes. Sixteen of them will never be released. "This is the most important trial in the last 20 years," said Roberto Saviano, a best-selling author whose book about the clan, Gomorra, has recently been turned into a prize-win...

100 criminals in Dublin have been told by gardai that their lives are under serious threat.Garda Headquarters has advised officers to tell the criminals they are likely to be shot. It’s an extraordinary state of affairs linked to vicious feuding between gangs in the city. Indeed the 100 criminals reffered to here are only in one part of the city - the south inner city - and one feud in particular. The 100 does not take account of criminals warned about threats to their lives in other parts of the capital. The threats mostly arise from the ongoing feud between INLA boss Declan Duffy and drugs trafficker Fat ‘Freddie’ Thompson. Detectives believe a consortium of criminals have raised €40,000 to have Thompson eliminated. Officers also suspect that a gun and motorbike are in storage for the hit. In an incident yesterday afternoon, gardai were called to a popular bar in south central Dublin and told two masked men had been searching for Thompson. "They were seen acting suspiciously in ...

GYPSY Jokers outlaw motorcycle gang members from across Australia and overseas are converging on Adelaide for the funeral of the SA president tomorrow.Wayne "Chiller" McGrath died last week of natural causes.Hundreds of interstate Gypsy Joker members are expected in Adelaide from today. Motorbikes are being loaded on trains in Perth to cross the Nullabor in time for the funeral.Death notices have been placed in The Advertiser by bikies from Gypsy Joker chapters in the US, Germany, Norway and South Africa, as well as WA, NSW, Victoria and Adelaide.The funeral service will be conducted at the Harrison Funeral Chapel, Golden Grove Rd, Ridgehaven, at 1pm. Later, the funeral cortege will travel to Smithfield Memorial Park Cemetery, Evanston Park, for burial.

Four Tamil gang members were convicted for the murder of another Tamil youth by stabbing him 31 times on a London .They will be sentenced July 7. The police said gangs of violent Sri Lankan Tamil men in South London area, where illegal fund raising activities of the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are quite rampant are "constantly tooled up" and "ready to go", for such crimes . “There have been a number of violent clashes involving groups of Tamil men in Croydon and other parts of south London in recent years”, said a local newspaper Wandsworth Borough News. “They culminated in the murder of 28-year-old Prabaskaran Kannan in Tooting last year. He was chased by a group of four men from Croydon who stabbed and slashed their terrified victim 31 times outside a fried chicken takeaway shop”, the newspaper reported. The casecame to be known as Chicken Cottage Tamil murder after the name of the take away restaurant. The chief detective in the case said Croydon'...

the gang Notorious has become the security muscle for a Kings Cross identity. The gang is the first known in Sydney to follow an international trend of being outlaw "bikies without bikes".While its dozens of city-based members wear full bikie colours, only a few members ride motorcycles.Its members range from seasoned, senior former members of the now-defunct Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang's Parramatta chapter to newly-recruited teenagers as young as 14.They are largely from Sydney's western suburbs and of Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander background.The gang is believed to be focused on criminal activities and have links to the security industry. It is feared they are acting as unofficial security to Kings Cross nightclubs linked to one person in particular.Late last month, police from the Middle Eastern organised crime squad targeted Notorious in an operation on the nightclub strip. They arrested two alleged members of Notorious - one an 18-year-old Guildford man a...

Contra Costa prosecutor Monday asked jurors to convict a West County gang member of first-degree murder in the death of a 15-year-old San Pablo boy gunned down last year because he was wearing a rival's color. The case against Ramon Alejandre Jr., 31, hinges on testimony by two junior gang members who were in a truck with the defendant when they saw De Anza High School freshman Ivan Santos walking home on 11th Street on Feb. 2, 2007, after buying a soda at a neighborhood store. Believing Santos' red pajama pants signified he was in a rival gang, Alejandre got out of the truck and walked toward the boy, firing a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun, deputy district attorney Aron DeFerrari said. Santos, whose parents told the Times last year was not a gang member, was hit nine times and died on the sidewalk.The two other people in the truck, Roberto Garcia, Alejandre's 22-year-old nephew, and Juan Vargas, 19, pleaded no contest to being accessories after the fact and were senten...

31-year-old man, reportedly a member of the Life and Death bikie gang, was shot in the leg at the The Naked Gun 2 Studio on George Street in Windsor about 5.45pm yesterday.He was taken to Nepean District Hospital in a satisfactory condition, police say.The man was reportedly under police guard last night.A worker in Windsor, who did not wish to be named, said she and a male companion were walking to her car down a laneway near the parlour when she heard yelling followed by a gunshot. "I heard some arguing and then a gunshot and I took off," she said."There was a lot of screaming and yelling and I took off up the hill. I wasn't going there," she said. The woman said she saw someone "skinny with a bikie vest on" walking to a motorcycle after a single shot rang out. She could not identify any gang colours on the vest. "When I went to the car I saw someone and I saw he had a gun. It was dark, I just saw a gun silhouette," she said."He looked...

The arrest outside of Kamloops's most notorious strip club last March was was sudden, loud and dramatic.With guns drawn, members of the RCMP detachment's elite emergency response team detonated concussion grenades then swarmed the parking lot of the Rendezvous Hotel before hauling off two unidentified men. Police refused to release names or charges and the city's media soon became impatient for answers. Expectations were high when, two days later, a news conference was called at the downtown detachment on Battle Street.Cameras flashed inside the packed room as Insp. Yves Lacasse, along with Supt. Jim Begley and Kamloops Mayor Terry Lake, announced that city police had dealt a decisive blow to the Kamloops chapter of the Independent Soldiers gang by arresting the men they suspected to be the gang's top two leaders.Arrested on drug and weapons charges outside of the Rendezvous Hotel two days earlier, Lacasse confirmed, had been 26-year-olds Jayme Norman Russell and Thomas...

The incident began when the investigators — Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Special Agent James Packard and Eugene police Detective Dave Burroughs — were searching for the residence of Justin James “Mooch” Deloretto, 26, near Turner.Deloretto, according to trial testimony, is president of a newly formed Oregon chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club — a group the U.S. Department of Justice labels as a 300-member “extremely violent outlaw motorcycle gang” originating in Southern California that is involved in narcotics, assault and murder.The Mongols moved into Oregon last year without permission from the five other active outlaw motorcycle gangs — a major violation of accepted protocol among the gangs, according to Packard, who has investigated outlaw motorcycle gangs for 25 years, instructs other police agencies and is a recognized expert witness on the topic.He noted that the vast majority of motorcycle club members are law-abiding. But Packard said outlaw gang members distinguish thems...

Clay Roueche pleaded not guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to allegations that he conspired to bring more than a ton of marijuana into the United States and import more than 11 pounds of cocaine into Canada. Both charges carry mandatory-minimum sentences of 10 years and up to life in prison.Canadian authorities say Roueche is the leader of the United Nations gang, which got its name from the wide-ranging ethnicity of its members.Roueche recently flew from Canada to Mexico. He was denied entry by Mexican authorities, who put him on a flight to Texas, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents immediately arrested him. The U.S. Marshals Service brought him to Seattle to face trial. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Bill Whalen, part of a multiagency gang squad, said Thursday that the arrest could "destabilize" the drug-trafficking gang."They have been involved in a fair amount of very serious violence in the lower mainland of British Columbia over th...

Melbourne drug czar Tony Mokbel have revealed a trail of deception, hidden funds and a private yacht modified to hide its passenger from officials. The 17m, A$350,000 ($436,000) Edwena, crewed by Greek sailors flown to Australia for the journey, took Mokbel to a new life of luxury in Greece, where he was joined by his pregnant partner after she eluded police in Rome. Mokbel is now back in Melbourne after the Supreme Court in Athens ordered his extradition on a series of charges, including murder. He has already been sentenced to 12 years' jail for importing 2kg of cocaine.Mokbel was on bail awaiting sentence for his cocaine conviction when he vanished in March 2006, leaving his sister-in-law to face jail for a A$1 million surety she could not pay.Yesterday's revelation by police of Mokbel's escape by sea completes a trail that began when he fled a step ahead of a barrage of new charges, and saw him placed on Interpol's most-wanted list, with a A$1 million reward on his...

In an effort to crack down on a gang from gaining traction in the Greater Toronto Area, a co-ordinated effort between police forces in Toronto, York Region and Peel Region has resulted in 21 arrests.More than 20 people alleged to be a part of a growing South American street gang, are facing drugs and weapons charges following a series of police raids across the GTA today, including four in Mississauga. Toronto police headed the large probe, which included raids on homes in Mississauga's City Centre area.So far, 21 people have been arrested. The names of those charged and other details are expected to be released tomorrow morning. During the spring of 2008, investigators from the Integrated Gun & Gang Task Force, which includes officers from Peel, looked into the distribution of controlled drugs, firearms, and acts of violence surrounding a group of men in the northwest area of Toronto and surrounding region. As a result, investigators identified numerous people and addresses al...

Police have located a firearm during a morning raid on an outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouse in Sydney’s west following an investigation into licensing breaches. Operation Indianna, run by Blacktown Local Area Command, saw the gathering of intelligence into a clubhouse run by the Bandidos on Mort Street, Blacktown. It will be alleged alcohol was being sold illegally at the property which does not have a liquor licence. At 8am, police from Blacktown Local Area Command – including the Proactive Crime Team, General Duties, Highway Patrol, Detectives, Crime Management Unit and Licensing – forced entry into the premises which were unoccupied at the time. They were assisted by the Public Order and Riot Squad, the Dog Unit, the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit, Police Airwing and the Gangs Squad.In a garage at the rear of the property police located a bar with hundreds of bottles of alcohol worth thousands of dollars, a semi-automatic pistol, ammunition, knuckle-dusters, cash, and a till.Police al...

2005 execution-style murder in Frayser was a case marked by "gangs, guns and death." And not incidentally, they added, there was an element of revenge when defendant Donald Ragland Jr. shot 26-year-old LaAunzae Grady three times in the back on a cold December afternoon outside of St. Elmo's Market."He didn't have a problem taking this job, because LaAunzae had killed his brother five or six years before this," gang unit prosecutor Ray Lepone told a Criminal Court jury. "LaAunzae was a Vice Lord, and Donald Ragland was a Gangster Disciple."Asst. Public Defender Trent Hall said prosecutors would not be able to prove their case and asked jurors to acquit Ragland, 27, of first-degree murder.On Wednesday, jurors watched a surveillance video from the store that showed an apparently nervous Grady looking out the front door of the store several times before finally leaving.A half-dozen loud gunshots then quickly follow, though the shooting on the outside p...

Los Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos the little-known gang, whose name translates as Brotherhood of Latin Gunmen, seems to be breaking into the big time. A federal indictment accuses 24 members and associates of operating a smuggling ring that sneaked bulk amounts of cocaine and millions of dollars between Mexico, the border city of Laredo and Houston.Despite its ties to Mexico's major drug-trafficking cartels, the organization known as HPL hasn't captured the public's attention like the Texas Syndicate or the Mexican Mafia, officials said Monday."They are lower on the radar, but they have always been there," said Victor Gonzalez, director of program services for the Houston mayor's anti-gang office. "They have a tendency to roll on their own."HPL gangsters are known for such peculiarities as having life-size tattoos of handguns inked onto their waists so when they remove their shirts the marks resemble weapons sticking out of their pants.All members ...

Italian businessman who was helping police break organised crime gangs that operate waste disposal rackets in Naples was gunned down on Sunday in an apparent mafia hit, police said.The latest killing in the southern Italian city, which in recent months has become as famous for its piles of trash as for its reputation for crime, came on a day that thousands of people attended a rally against plans to open new rubbish dumps.Police said Michele Orsi, a businessman with mafia links who had turned informant, was shot three times near his home by assailants who were lying in wait. Orsi, who worked in the waste disposal business, had spent time in jail last year during an investigation into mafia involvement in the trade. He turned informant and gave evidence against a suspect at a court hearing two weeks ago."The case is even more serious than previous ones. This was a businessman from the Caserta area (of Naples) who, although he had colluded with organised crime, was helping investiga...

Joseph Andrew Farnsworth was arrested at a residence on Rheem Avenue in Richmond after Marin detectives arrived with a search warrant, said sheriff's Sgt. Keith Boyd. Investigators seized a 9mm handgun and are conducting ballistics tests to determine whether it was used in the killing.19-year-old El Cerrito man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of shooting a Hells Angels associate to death on Highway 101 last weekend, joining a 20-year-old Mill Valley woman in the Marin County Jail pending a court appearance Tuesday.The second suspect, Jessica Andrea Gordon, has been in custody since her arrest early Thursday. Authorities did not immediately release her name because of security concerns and efforts to "maintain the integrity of the criminal investigation," Boyd said.The suspected motive for the shooting is road rage."This appears to have no tie to any affiliations or relationship that William Maclean may have had to the Hells Angels," Boyd said of the victim.Ma...

California Department of Justice special agents, in partnership with the Stockton Police Department, today arrested members of the violent Norteno street gang, which terrorized Stockton with drive-by shootings and crystal methamphetamine trafficking at the direction of the Nuestra Familia prison mafia. “The Norteno street gang increased its drug trafficking and violent criminal activity in Stockton after our gang suppression team shut down one of its competitors, the Loc Town Crips, last year,” said Attorney General Brown. “Today’s crackdown demonstrates the importance of keeping relentless pressure on gangs that sell crystal meth and terrorize the public. The Stockton Police Department should be commended for its efforts to drive this street gang out of the city.” The California Department of Justice Gang Suppression Enforcement Team, known as GSET, joined the Stockton Police Department in October 2007 to crack down on a violent Norteno gang which had recently increased its activity...