GANGLAND GODFATHER

Prosecutor Barbro Joensson was driving to work when a bomb exploded at the front door of her house, rocking her whole neighbourhood and sending shockwaves through traditionally serene Sweden."It is very hard to describe how I felt when I heard what happened. I think I still haven't grasped how serious it was," Joensson, 53, told AFP more than a year after the attack.She was prosecuting a high-profile case against a violent criminal gang called the Wolfpack Brotherhood and had just left her home in the southwestern town of Trollhaettan on November 20, 2007, when the blast ripped off the front door and shattered the hallway.Two young gang members were remanded in custody just over a month ago on suspicion they planted the bomb, which could have killed Joensson had she been at home.The bombing -- one of the first overt attacks on a Swedish prosecutor -- prompted calls to root out the swelling criminal gangs that have smashed the Scandinavian country's tranquil image. The...

More than 200 members of the Bandidos bikie gang will descend on Melbourne this afternoon. Police have been told to "facilitate" the bikies as they ride in convoy from Geelong to the CBD. The Bandidos will be given a police escort and traffic will be stopped so they can enjoy an uninterrupted run. Once in town, they are expected to hit pubs and strip clubs during their annual national run. "It really is a party," said one Bandidos member. Bikies from interstate and overseas are expected to join the run up the Princes Highway. The order from police command has outraged police already livid over what they say is a soft approach to bikie gangs. Officers will be drawn from regions already struggling to contain crime to monitor the gang from tonight until Monday. Police will devote 395 individual shifts to the operation, including traffic management units, general duties officers and brawler vans. "This operation will be sucking up a lot of manpower at peak trouble ...

Police have today arrested 12 outlaw motorcycle gang members on a range of drugs and weapons charges in the second phase of Operation Golf Cyclone.Two women and 10 men were nabbed on a total of 20 charges after police found drugs including cannabis and methylamphetamines, as well as weapons including two batons and a pellet paint gun. The arrests in the Redcliffe, Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Maryborough, Gympie and Bundaberg districts bring to 24 the total number of gang members charged during the Operation.A police statement said officers from Task Force Hydra targeted places known to the Hells Angels, Rebels, Bandidos, Black Uhlans, Outcasts and Finks groups. North Coast regional crime coordinator Superintendent John Maloney said officers would continue to crackdown on organised crime within the region."Through the ongoing commitment of local police to keep their communities safe, operations such as these will continue to be conducted, ensuring those who are involved in criminal...

Armed with a handgun and the knowledge he was a marked man, Bandidos member Francesco "Cisco" Lenti fired five shots at the four Hells Angels surrounding him before stepping over a felled man and firing a fatal bullet. Lenti took responsibility yesterday for the chilling snapshot of violence that erupted at a Vaughan strip club in 2006. The 60-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the shooting of Hells Angels sergeant-at-arms David (White Dread) Buchanan and the aggravated assault of then Hells Angels prospect Carlos Verrelli (now a full member) and full-patch member Dana Carnegie. Lenti will be sentenced May 12. Court heard a detailed account of the fatal shooting and the biker politics that fuelled it as Assistant Crown Attorney David Moull read an agreed statement of facts into the record. Lenti was working his job at Club Pro in Vaughan the night of the shooting. Working at the strip club for 20 years, his role was to keep drugs out of the business and to act as a p...