GANGLAND GODFATHER

The author of Gomorrah, the book about the Naples gang wars that was turned into a prize-winning film, could be dead by Christmas along with his bodyguards, according to a well-placed supergrass. Roberto Saviano, the 29-year-old journalist whose novel-like chronicle of the brutal rule of the Camorra has sold more than a million copies, has been under heavy police protection for two years. Police in Italy are looking into reports that the Naples mafia plans to carry out its threat to kill the author of the best-selling book "Gomorra," which has been made into a hit movie about mafia brutality, by Christmas.Roberto Saviano, 29, has lived in hiding with 24-hour police protection for the past two years since the "Camorra," as the mob in his hometown is known, decided to punish him for the huge success of his book, which is based on his own investigations.It has sold 1.2 million copies in Italy and been translated into 42 languages. Now that it has hit the big screen and...

Gang activity was blamed for a riot that broke out last week at the jail in Placerville, police said.El Dorado County sheriff's Sgt. Bryan Golmitz said about 10 inmates began fighting among themselves at 2 p.m. Oct. 8. Some inmates suffered minor injuries.Golmitz said the prisoners ignored orders from jail staff to stop fighting.A staff member used a Taser on one prisoner who continued to brawl with another inmate, Golmitz added.Guards eventually regained control and injured inmates received medical care.No jail staff members were hurt.

Police are investigating what was believed to be the gang-related shooting of a man near Wooroloo yesterday as fears grow that a bikie war is about to break out across Perth. About 3pm yesterday a motorcyclist was shot in the shoulder while he was riding on Great Eastern Highway near The Lakes roadhouse. He was flown to Royal Perth Hospital and was last night in a serious condition. It is believed members of the Finks bikie gang, which is trying to establish a presence in WA, were involved. A witness said he had driven past the scene not long after the shooting and saw three bikies on the side of the road. One of the men was lying down. He said the scene looked like a car accident. Roads surrounding the scene are expected to remain closed until noon today.Police Assistant Commissioner Wayne Gregson said it was early in the investigation but police were watching the situation carefully. Members of the police bikie gang response unit were called to the scene and were put on alert late ye...

Bronx gang member already serving prison time for drug dealing now faces life in prison for hiring two teenagers to kill another dealer.Thirty-year-old Chaz Glynn was convicted in the 2000 murder of Frederick Fowler, who police say drove from Virginia to pay a dealer $20,000 for cocaine.Glynn, a member of the the Gangster Killer Bloods "set" of the United Blood Nation gang, is already serving eight years in prison after being convicted of selling crack cocaine to an undercover police officer in 1999.He now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia announced the jury's verdict on Wednesday.The two teenagers, ages 16 and 18, pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.According to trial testimony, the two were given guns and promised a share of the $20,000.

Police are searching for a dark-colored car that may have been involved in the shooting death of a motorcyclist on the Glendale (2) Freeway. An autopsy was performed on the victim Thursday, but the results were not available, authorities said. Manuel Vincent Martin, 30, suffered a bullet wound in the chest but had no other major visible injuries, according to Los Angeles County Department of Coroner spokesman Craig Harvey. Police confirmed Thursday that another motorcyclist riding with Martin was wearing a Mongols Motorcycle Club T-shirt. The Mongols, a biker gang that originated in Montebello in the 1970s, has been warring with the Hell's Angels. Gang involvement is being investigated as a possible motive in the slaying, according to Glendale Police Department Sgt. Tom Lorenz. Several people showed up to the crime scene following the shooting, Lorenz said. "The apparel that they were wearing indicated an association with the Mongols," he said. "There was one individ...

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the kielbasa was really cocaine - not the Polish sausage sold in a popular meat market. Brooklyn butcher called his specialty "hot kielbasa" - for snorting, not eating.According to a criminal complaint, the "hot kielbasa" was kept in the basement.Twenty-six suspects are under arrest, including the butcher, after an informant visited the shop in response to the message: "Come to the store, I have hot kielbasa for you."Law enforcement officials say the ring includes John Guarnieri, a nephew of Louis Eppolito, the former NYPD detective convicted of murdering eight people on the orders of a Mafia boss.Guarnieri is a Department of Sanitation police lieutenant. Defense attorney Ken Montgomery says he doesn't think the suspect is "a major player." .

Hooded gunmen believed engaged in a drugs feud burst into a bar in northern Mexico and shot dead 11 people in the third drugs-related massacre in the state since July, officials said.The black-clad gunmen opened fire with assault rifles at the Rio Rosas bar in Chihuahua city near Texas on Thursday night after pushing their way in and identifying themselves as federal police, the Chihuahua attorney general's office said.The killings were believed related to a feud between gangs jockeying over drug smuggling routes into the United States.Customers stampeded out of the bar as the gunmen fled the usually quiet city neighbourhood. One of the victims was a columnist for the city's main daily newspaper.A few hours later, federal police fought a group of suspected hitmen in a gun battle on the highway south from Ciudad Juarez, which is on the U.S. border, to Chihuahua.Police declined to say if the battle, in which two policemen and two gunmen died, involved the men who attacked the bar...