GANGLAND GODFATHER

Gang slideshow

Tyshaun Riley, Philip Atkins and Jason Wisdom -- members of the notorious Galloway Boys, an east-end gang named for their 'hood at Galloway Road and Kingston Road -- could be heard kicking the sides of the armour-plated court services truck bringing them to court on Wednesday morning. They were also found guilty of attempted murder and participating in a criminal organization in connection with the shooting of two people in March 2004 in Toronto's Malvern neighbourhood. The three did not react well to this news. They started banging loudly on the door of the prisoner's box and yelling at the judge when the jury pronounced them guilty while family members began screaming and crying."I didn't kill anybody," Riley -- the purported leader -- shouted over and over again. The other two accused the judge of bias. The judge ordered the men out of the courtroom when the hysteria broke out. "It was a scene of pandemonium inside the courtroom," said CTV Toronto...

Alton Reid, 35, had been attending a birthday party at the Atlanta banquet hall on 1240 Ellesmere Rd. in Scarborough on the weekend when someone walked in and started shooting sometime after 3 a.m. on Sunday.Four people were found wounded at the scene, and Reid showed up later at hospital. He died of his injuries on Monday. Reid's autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

Sara Villella, 27, was convicted of 13 charges, including smuggling firearms across the Windsor border for the "Malvern Crew." Crown prosecutors asked for a 10-year prison term, calling her a "merchant of death" who had a split personality.The judge, however, felt that was too high. He scolded Villella for the poor choices that have ruined her life and shamed her hard-working parents, who live in Hamilton. Villella's lawyer Randall Barrs blamed her fall from grace on her boyfriend, who received a sentence about twice as long for his criminal lifestyle, which included smuggling 23 guns across the border. Villella was arrested in May 2004 during sweeping raids by Toronto police. More than 500 charges were laid against 65 people involved with the street gang. Twenty-eight firearms were seized, along with drugs such as ecstasy, marijuana and cocaine. Members of Scarborough's Malvern Crew are responsible for several shootings throughout the GTA. The gang's No...

Deputy District Attorney Victoria Weiss spent more than 2 hours during closing arguments telling jurors why Miguel Najera should be found guilty. Weiss says Najera, a confessed gang member, was a month and a half out of jail and had something to prove to his gang, the Barrios Cathedral City gang. "He was back on gang turf. He was back hanging out with BCC homies. And he was back in the gang lifestyle," says Weiss.Police arrested Najera in 2006 for killing Adrian Cedeno. He's also accused of stealing Cedeno's wallet and watch. Prosecutors say he wanted to kill another man, but instead he shot Cedeno. His defense attorney told the jury his client wasn't in the gang in 2006 and was just looking for drugs. "He didn't go there for the glory of the gang. He went there to satisfy his craving, his drug addiction," says Defense Attorney Jeff Zimel.Najera told police he accidentally shot cedeno during an argument. The defense says the victim was on drugs at th...

Toronto's 54th homicide victim has been identified as someone who had belonged to the notorious Malvern Crew street gang.Alton Reid, 35, had been attending a birthday party at the Atlanta banquet hall on 1240 Ellesmere Rd. in Scarborough on the weekend when someone walked in and started shooting sometime after 3 a.m. on Sunday. Four people were found wounded at the scene, and Reid showed up later at hospital. He died of his injuries on Monday.Reid's autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday. He had been arrested in 2004 as part of Project Impact, a police crackdown on the gang following a vicious war between the Malvern Crew and the Galloway Boys. Police charged Reid with a number of offences: •aggravated assault •discharging a firearm •participating in a criminal organization •related conspiracy charges Project Pathfinder targeted the Galloway Boys. Three Galloway Boys were found guilty in the March 3, 2004 murder of one men in Malvern. The court heard the trio were allegedly looking...

From federal prosecutor to accused violent gangster, pimp, and drug-dealer...That's the unusual career trajectory taken, say the Feds, by Paul Bergrin, who was indicted earlier this month in a 39-count racketeering indictment. In a drama that could have been made for HBO, Bergrin -- a white-collar defense lawyer who once represented, pro bono, a solider accused of abusing Abu Ghraib detainees -- seems to have allowed his gangster clients to drag him into a world of violent crime. And he may have gone a lot further than Maury Levy ever did for Stringer Bell.

Shane Kelter of Vancouver, 32, was shot several times outside an upscale Bay Street condo tower after he exited a white limousine just after 3 a.m. Sunday. An autopsy Monday concluded he died from gunshot wounds to the chest. Homicide investigators believe the slaying is drug-related. "The evidence to me suggests this person was targeted," Det. Graham Gibson, a homicide squad officer, told CTV News. A discarded revolver was found near Queen's Park shortly after the shooting. Video surveillance is being gathered as Toronto Police look for suspects. Kelter, who was said to be visiting a friend in Toronto, has a lengthy criminal history in British Columbia and the United States. A man by the same name and born in the same year was facing conspiracy charges in the U.S. for alleged involvement in an ecstasy and methamphetamine drug smuggling ring between B.C., Ontario and California. Kelter was one of six Canadians charged in September 2008 as part of a massive two-year intern...

Defendants from the Maryland branch of the “Latin Kings” gang, a group with thousands of members largely based in Chicago and New York, face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, the US Justice Department said in a statement. “Today’s indictment alleges that the Latin Kings gang is an organized criminal enterprise with leaders and members who commit violent crimes,” said US Attorney Rod Rosenstein.The indictment charges that “from a date unknown to the present, the Latin Kings members conspired to commit attempted murders, robberies, witness tampering and arson to further their racketeering scheme,” the Justice Department said.The group is alleged to have been started in Maryland from the spring of 2007 by Miguel Cruz and Erick Roman, who named their “tribe” of the main gang the “Royal Lion Tribe of Maryland.”Thousands of members affiliated with the gang — officially named “Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation” — are said to be spread throughout the United States and Latin...

Las Vegas Police Officer Trevor Nettleton, 30, was mortally wounded by several assailants, while standing in his garage. His wife, two children, and his mom were in the house, only a few feet away. Officer Nettleton died in his mother’s arms that night.Las Vegas police Officer Chrissie Coon told reporters: "He was standing in the garage with the garage door open when he was attacked by multiple suspects. It looks like it was an attempted robbery. There was an exchange of gunfire."Officer Nettleton was in the garage that night, after working his shift, building a toy for his 2-year-old son. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps for ten years, before joining the police department three years ago.In addition to his son, Officer Nettleton leaves behind a wife, and an infant daughter.His brother, Ryan Nettleton, is also in the military and was in Iraq when he heard that his brother had been murdered.Ryan told KING 5 News: "He wanted to be a cop so bad when we were kids, and I wa...

Three 20-year-old men were convicted last Wednesday and sentenced to a combined total of 44 years after a seven-week crime spree through Melbourne’s West, including the brutal bashing of former Australian Medical Association head Dr Haikerwal. Ringleader, Alfer Azzopardi, 20, of Coolaroo, received a cumulative sentence of 18 years and six months for a total of 46 offences.Michael Baltatzis, of Glenroy, 20, received a cumulative sentence of 16 years and six months.Sean Gabriel, 20, of Hoppers Crossing, was sentenced to a cumulative maximum of nine years and nine months.Azzopardi will be eligible for parole in 2022, Baltatzis in 2019 and Gabriel in 2014.Dr Haikerwal said that he didn’t take great comfort that people would be locked up.“None of us will be happy about people being behind bars, but we’re comfortable that justice has been done, and that there is a strong message that violence won’t be tolerated,” he said.On AFL Grand Final night last year, Dr Haikerwal was brutally beaten wi...

Shane Kelter, 32, was just getting out of a white limousine when he was sprayed by gunfire near Wellesley and Bay just after 3 a.m. Sunday."The post-mortem examination determined the cause of death as gunshot wounds to the torso," Const. Tony Vella said in a news release.Kelter was well-known in B.C. and charged last year in a massive undercover investigation along with 17 others for allegedly moving marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine between B.C., Ontario and California. Kelter and Vancouver residents Walther Edgardo (Sharky) Orellana Aguilar and John (Keith) Wark were facing extradition. They were allegedly working with another B.C. man, Jason I. Ming Wei, who was arrested in Los Angeles in September 2008.Two other Toronto men, Jagmohan Singh Dhillon, 35, and 32-year-old Paramijt (Pumma) Singh, allegedly helped facilitate the transportation of Wei's drugs between Canada and the U.S., according to the U.S. indictment. Kelter had a lengthy criminal record in B.C. and was faci...

white supremacist gang member in Orange County was sentenced to death Monday for his involvement in the murder of a fellow gang member who had divulged gang secrets on television, authorities said.Billy Joe Johnson, 46, was convicted last month of assisting two other men in the March 2002 murder of Scott Miller, a founding member of the gang, the Orange County district attorney's office said. Miller was featured in a Fox News broadcast a year earlier that focused on a criminal case against known leaders of the gang.Michael Allen Lamb, 35, and Jacob Anthony Rump, 34, were also convicted for their role in the murder. Last year Lamb was sentenced to death, and in 2007 Rump received life without the possibility of parole.Johnson was charged with this murder Aug. 23, 2007, after the conviction of two previously charged co-defendants. Co-defendants Michael Allen Lamb, 35, and Jacob Anthony Rump, 34, (Case #03CF0441) were convicted by a jury on July 10, 2007, of murder, conspiracy to comm...

The 17-year-old male was shot at 7:30 p.m. during a gathering with other young people at a home in the 3900 block of Thomason Avenue near Dyer Street, police said. The shotgun was fired when an argument began when another group arrived at the gathering, police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said.The wounded teen was taken to Beaumont Army Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.Ambulance transmissions indicated the man had buckshot wounds to the torso and neck.Red and yellow crime scene tape sealed off the area late Monday night."We do have reason to believe it is gang related," Mears said.Police would not confirm comments by residents that the teen was a student at nearby Chapin High School.There had been no arrests. Late Monday night, investigators were talking to neighbors, with the police mobile command center parked on the street.

Return of graffiti markings from the Barrio Williams Street gang whose presence has been almost nonexistent since the mid- '90s."When we do have something that's gang related it's generally going to be something in the library, or something off campus," Laws said. "For a couple of years we were having some gang activity in the teen center on the third floor of the King Library."It took a lot of directed patrol on the part of the library security staff and the officers working in the King Library to minimize and diffuse that problem."Anh Thu Tran, a junior hospitality and management major, said she has not seen any gang activity on campus. "Around my old neighborhood, yes, my brother has been jumped twice at Independence High, but around campus I haven't heard much about any gang violence," she said. "I'm not here on campus often. I'm here for classes, then I leave." Tran said she has noticed graffiti tagging on the fe...

Bronx gang members whose beef led to the accidental shooting of passing schoolgirl Vada Vasquez complained Monday they are being hassled in jail.Lawyers for four of the five men asked for protective custody at an appearance in Bronx Supreme Court, saying their clients fear for their safety behind bars. "He's faced a fair amount of abuse in custody. He's been having a tough time inside," said Matthew Kluger, lawyer for Cleve Smith, 20. "They be bothering him - even the correction officers," said Scylestina Smith, the suspect's mother. "They threw him in the cold shower. It's f----- up." The fifth defendant, 16-year-old Carvett Gentles, charged with pulling the trigger that put an exploding bullet into the 15-year-old Bronx Latin student's brain, is already in protective custody as part of standard procedure. The men might be getting the cold shoulder in prison, but they got a boisterous and warm welcome at their court appearance. While a...

The latest incidents, which occurred early Monday morning, bring to eight the number of café-bars targeted since Oct. 28. Like the other incidents, there was little damage to the premises, but a lot of rattled nerves. The Café Nouba on St. Laurent Blvd. in the heart of Little Italy, and the Café Vegas on Rue Jean Talon east, were both hit with Molotov cocktails, one at 6:18 a.m., the other at 7 a.m. As with the other firebombing attempts, the windows were broken and the flaming device thrown inside, only to quickly go out. The owner of Café Vegas, who would not identify himself, told La Presse that his café does not have a problematic history. "I got no warning, and before this morning, nothing ever happened here. I have no idea who did this. It's a simple café where people come to play ... and drink." It's the second time the Café Nouba has been targeted, the first time being Nov. 15. Police have arrested no suspects and say they're trying to determine if the fir...

One person was killed and two wounded about 11:30 p.m. Thursday in a shooting outside a liquor store in the 3600 block of Santa Fe Avenue in Long Beach, according to city police spokeswoman Jackie Bezart. The murder is believed to be gang-related, and the victim’s identity is being withheld pending notification of his family. [Updated at 11:28 p.m.: The victim was identified as 19-year-old Frank Castro Jr. of Long Beach. A man approached him and the two other victims on foot and shot all three of them. Castro was hit multiple times in the upper body and torso and pronounced dead at the scene. The two other victims, ages 18 and 40, were treated at a local hospital and released.]At about the same time, a driver in the 6400 block of Rosemead Boulevard in Pico Rivera saw a body in the street and called police, who found a Latino with gunshot wounds in the upper torso, said Dep. Aura Sierra of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The victim, whose identity is being withheld until hi...

Set Free Soldiers where arrested for attempted murder after they allegedly got into a bar fight with the Hells Angels. Seven members of the biker gang remained in custody on $1 million bail after their arrest for allegedly stabbing two Hells angels. In what is mostly thought of as an upper middle class naborhood in Newport Beach California late last month. Three members of the Hells Angels were also arrested.

Jean Joseph Violette, 58, was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court to four years in prison for being the ringleader in the beating of Glen Louie, who Violette believed had been using the Hells Angels name while dealing drugs on Squamish Nation reserve.Violette got an additional two years for weapons offences. In handing down the sentence, Justice Selwyn Romilly described the assault as "a particularly callous, vicious, brutal and unprovoked attack" on Louie, who had no opportunity to defend himself.Romilly said Violette used his power and status as a full patch member of the Hells Angels to inflict the beating and intimidation. He also noted that in wiretapped conversations after the beating, Violette showed a total lack of remorse."This type of hooliganism must be deterred," said the judge. At the time of the beating, Louie was loosely associated with low-ranking members of the East End Chapter of the Hells Angels. A police informant who had infiltrated the chapter told...

Estimates put the number of gang members in the Westside United Crips at 20 to 30 individuals, mostly juveniles. The gang is one of about 40 gangs that call Pueblo home. One of its suspected leaders, Louie Romero, also known as "Gooey," was arrested along with four other members of the gang near the end of October by a special task force. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Gun Task Force is made up of two ATF agents and two Pueblo Police Department detectives. They work in conjunction with Pueblo Police Departments Gang and Narcotics units to infiltrate gangs, make arrests, and take guns and drugs off the streets. They've been doing this in Pueblo for 13 months, and they've been successful.With at least five arrests resulting in Federal charges, and each of them resulting in convictions, as well as several other arrests on state charges, the task force has been quietly busy. Now, as word has spread through Pueblo's gang world of their exis...

Ian Grant was eligible for accelerated day parole because he has served one-sixth of his first federal sentence for what are considered non-violent crimes. But the National Parole Board quickly rejected his bid earlier this month, according to documents obtained by the Winnipeg Free Press.“The board is satisfied there are reasonable grounds to believe that, if released, you are likely to commit an offence involving violence before the expiration of your sentence,” the board wrote. Police arrested Grant and 12 other biker associates in February 2006 based on the work of career criminal Franco Atanasovic, who was paid $525,000 to infiltrate the Hells.Grant wasn’t even an original target when police began their investigation in early 2005, but he quickly came on the radar when he began extorting an old drug debt from Atanasovic. Police ended up giving their agent thousands of dollars to pay to Grant to buy him more time. Grant eventually sold two kilograms of cocaine and one kilo of cryst...

William Hynes and John Mangan were key figures in the organised crime group run by Martin 'Marlo' Hyland, who was shot dead in Finglas. Two senior members of one of the country's biggest criminal gangs have been sentenced to 12 and 14 years in prison after they were caught overseeing the delivery of over €2m worth of drugs.Mangan was on bail when he was caught, so today's 14 year sentence is consecutive to another 14 years he was given last year for drug trafficking.Hynes also has a previous conviction for drug trafficking and was only out of jail one year when he was caught for this offence.The two are among 28 people targeted by the garda operation 'Oak' who have been brought before the courts.At the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today Judge Pat McCartan congratulated the gardaí on the success of what he called 'a very carefully orchestrated undercover operation'.

Jason Brown, 35, and his girlfriend Terra George, 24, are facing numerous drug and weapons-related charges following a co-ordinated police raid on Brown's Aldergrove residence Nov. 12, but so far the two have not surrendered to police.The multi-jurisdictional bust took place in the 26900 block of 26A Avenue and nabbed a 9mm handgun, a loaded magazine, boxes of ammunition, $80,000 worth of cocaine, $12,000 in cash, body armour and an RS-logoed jacket along with one kilogram of methamphetamine valued at $25,000.George and Brown are charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking methamphetamine, possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, possession of a restricted weapon and the additional charge against Brown of possession of a firearm while prohibited.Brown has a 10-year-ban from owning a firearm following his arrest in a 2007 police biker investigation dubbed "E-Pandora," and was pegged as an associate of the Angels.He was convicted for conspiracy to commi...

gang member who escaped from a Sunnyside jail in 2006 has been captured in Manzanillo, Mexico.The U.S. Marshals Service said Saturday that Aaron Lopez Garcia, 31, was arrested Friday at an ice cream factory by Colima State Police, assisted by U.S. Marshals.Garcia and three other inmates escaped from the Sunnyside city jail in November of 2006. Garcia's accomplices were captured soon afterwards. He was in jail for illegally possessing a firearm.Garcia is a member of the Nortenos gang with a long history of convictions, the Marshals Service said.He has been flown back to the U.S. to face charges.

Several people were arrested Friday after an alleged kidnapping and dispute about gang affiliations took place last month at Red Hawk Casino.The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said on Oct. 14, several Hispanic men and women confronted two white men and one woman at the casino and asked them if they were “Placerville Peckerwoods.”The group told the others that they weren’t part of a gang, the office said. Investigators said they didn’t find any gang ties to that group.Officials said one of the Hispanic men insulted the woman from the other group, and she got angry and attacked him. When one of the white men tried to break up the fight, deputies said he was punched and hit with a beer bottle.As casino security guards broke up the fight, some members of the Hispanic group went to an elevator and grabbed a woman who wasn’t involved in the fight, officials said.According to the sheriff’s office, the group “told the victim that she was going to get them out of the casino (using her vehicl...

Salisbury police investigators believe Height associates with West Main Chain Gang members and its affiliates and that the bus and cafeteria fights were part of an "ongoing gang war" between two rival gangs in the city: Bloods and Crips. Police allege the planned shooting by Heist was 48 assaults in Wicomico County public schools this school year, according to the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office. Last year there were 259 assaults and one firearm incident.About seven hours before the bus left Thursday, several students were involved in a fight in the school cafeteria. By the afternoon, a sheriff's deputy learned the fight wasn't going to stop with the cafeteria brawl and informed city police that bus No. 70 was going to be "shot up" in the Delaware Avenue and West Main Street area by the same males who seized the bus and assaulted a student, according to court documents.By 3:30 p.m., two city officers were on a stakeout close to a convenience store locat...

Hells Angels, converged on the scene as paramedics tended to the injured 45-year-old man and his 46-year-old female pillion passenger. The pair, both from Craigieburn, were travelling north along La Trobe Tce at the intersection of Roebuck St in Geelong just after 4pm, when witnesses say the man was catapulted above the height of the purple Honda, which was heading east through the intersection. It is believed the pair had been travelling as part of a motorcycle club convoy around the bay when the crash occurred. Both were rushed to Geelong Hospital, where the man was last night in a serious but stable condition, while the woman was considered stable. The elderly female driver of the other vehicle appeared to walk away unscathed. About two dozen motorcycle gang members, including members from the Iron Horsemen, Vigilantes and Hells Angels, were beside the road consoling one another at the scene after the incident. Several held vigil outside Geelong Hospital last night. A police spokesp...