GANGLAND GODFATHER

Arrests of 14 men and one woman were made between 3 and 7 p.m. on the North Side. Tamarack Circle, and areas around I-71 and Rt. 161 were targeted, officials said. All 15 are in custody at the Franklin County jail and elsewhere, said Cmdr. Jeffrey Blackwell of the Columbus Police Strategic Response Bureau. Their names weren't available late last night.Everyone arrested yesterday was an illegal immigrant and affiliated with the MS-13 gang, which originated in El Salvador, he said. The FBI and Franklin County sheriff's office also contributed to the arrests, Blackwell said. "MS-13 is a Hispanic gang notorious for violence," he said. "With the growing Hispanic population here, this gang has moved in and done its thing. … Over the last several months, there's been a proliferation of felonious-type crimes."Blackwell said gang members are suspected in two slayings, though he wouldn't give details. None of the people arrested had been charged with murder la...

DeQuana “Quanny” White became violent during an appearance in Falls City Court 10 days ago on charges unrelated to his involvement in the killing of Dorothy Joelle Banks.Niagara Falls gang member, already facing a murder charge, created a disturbance in Falls City Court and the city jail and then threatened to kill police officers.White began swearing at Chief City Court Judge Mark Violante as his hearing was concluding, and officers went to escort him back to the city jail. As court officers tired to cut off his expletive-laced tirade against Violante, White became “combative, pushing back against (officers) in an attempt to escape.” Reports indicate officers “took White to the ground” and, after gaining control of him, escorted him back to a cell. Once in the jail holding area, White again became combative with officers.“I’ll murder all you (expletive),” White said. “Just because you wear a badge? I’ll kill all you (expletive). Let me see you outside. I’m a gangster.”Police did not c...

40-year-old businessman was shot dead and his 31-year-old singer girlfriend was injured early on Saturday in a gangland-style ambush in the coastal suburb of Voula. The police have attributed the attack to a settling of accounts by underworld figures with whom the victim is said to have had clashes in the past. Babis Lazaridis, the owner of a string of nightclubs in Attica, and Angeliki Iliadi had just left a hotel and had been getting into a car when they were approached by two assailants wearing motorcycle helmets, one of whom opened fire on Lazaridis with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, police said. An autopsy revealed at least 20 bullets in Lazaridis’s body. Iliadi was transferred to a hospital with leg injuries. A year ago, Lazaridis had been charged as a moral instigator in the attempted murder of a rival nightclub owner. In March this year, a bomb attack on a nightclub co-owned by Lazaridis caused damage, but no injuries.

Arrested two reported gang members who were pulled over on Eaton Road and Constitution Drive Thursday night. The passenger in the car, 21-year-old Johnny Cabrera, jumped out after the vehicle was pulled over and ran across a field into a business complex, according to a release from the Chico Police Department. As officers chased Cabrera, he threw a loaded pistol and methamphetamine in plastic bags to the ground and escaped in the area of Independence Circle. Police later determined the handgun was stolen from a Hamilton City resident. Police established a perimeter around the area and located Cabrera, who is reportedly a local criminal street gang member. He was arrested and booked into the Butte County Jail on eight different charges relating to the incident. His bail was set at $90,000. The driver of the car, 27-year-old Gabriel Holton, was on parole for drug sales when police pulled him over. Police said he is also a street gang member and was carrying methamphetamine at the time o...

Police have arrested two Avenues Gang members in the shooting death of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Juan Abel Escalante, who was gunned down outside his parents’ Cypress Park home in August as he prepared to go to work, according to sources with the Los Angeles Police Department.It is still not known whether the slaying was connected to the Mexican Mafia. Early speculation hinted at the possibility, principally because Escalante worked the highpower unit at the County Jail, and thus had regular contact with a number of Mexican Mafia members. The intrigue only heightens with today’s revelation that the arrested suspects are members of the notorious Avenues criminal street gang. The Avenues is a gang with close ties to Eme (the Mexican Mafia). On the other hand, it is also a rival gang of Cypress Park, the area where Escalante lived, and gang members might simply have decided to target a bald-headed young Hispanic male in rival gang territory as part of the usual gang warfare nons...

longtime Hells Angel was overcome with emotion as he described the risks he's taking to defend himself against allegations of conspiring to murder an underworld rival."I believe my life is in extreme danger and so is my family's," Remond Akleh said Tuesday morning, before dissolving into tears.Mr. Akleh, a member of the Hells Angels' Nomads wing, has taken the extraordinary measure of taking the stand in his own defence and testifying about his activities as a police informant. He told a Superior Court jury Tuesday he had to waive his confidentiality agreement with Durham police and talk about his days as an informant in order to prove his innocence."I needed this all to come out so everyone would know," an emotional Mr. Akleh said, acknowledging at the same time the information places him and his family in grave peril."Today I wish I could take it all back," he said of sharing information with police."I don't know what the future hold...

Gerald (Skinny) Ward, 60, a founding member of the Niagara chapter, had pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and possession of proceeds of a crime. Terry Pink, 41, president of the Simcoe chapter, had pleaded guilty to similar charges but both denied that these illicit activities had anything to do with their motorcycle club. Mr. Justice John McMahon of Ontario Superior Court ruled yesterday that the club is "a criminal organization which is dedicated to the facilitation and commission of serious criminal offences that materially benefit the members of the HAMC," and that Mr. Ward and Mr. Pink carried out their activities "not only for the benefit of the individuals involved but for the benefit of the HAMC, particularly the Oshawa and Niagara chapters."The two men were arrested along with 22 others after raids in September of 2006 on homes and clubhouses in Toronto, Oshawa, Windsor and Niagara Region. The arrests were the culmination of an 18-month undercover opera...