GANGLAND GODFATHER

Members of two gangs, a Bloods faction and a Crips faction, passed each other in a hallway and exchanged words.Then, "one coward sucker-punched a kid in the other group," he said.As a scuffle broke out, someone told police that a person in the pavilion had a gun, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman.Before officers could arrive, a member of the Crips had fired a semi-automatic handgun, according to police.One victim lay bleeding on the ground. Another left and was found by police at a nearby amphitheater. Neither shooting victim was willing to give police information about the incident, Bealefeld said, noting that it took hours before the second victim admitted that he had been shot at the Inner Harbor.Law enforcement officials have struggled for decades over how best to monitor and combat gang activity in Baltimore and elsewhere in Maryland. State lawmakers have passed measures aimed at gang leaders in recent years, but prosecutors say the new laws are cumbersome and s...

Four defendants are members of the "Sureño Villains 13" street gang. Just before midnight Saturday they had argued with several members of the rival "Norte" gang at a South Park gas station. Apparently, the Sureños were angry that the Nortes had been marking out the Sureños' graffiti "tags."When the Sureños warned them to leave their tags alone, the Nortes just laughed, the documents say. The Sureños talked about shooting the Nortes right then and there but decided against it because a gas-station surveillance camera might record them.Meanwhile, the Nortes ran away, down an alley. But about 20 minutes later, the Sureños found their foes behind a house in the 1000 block of South Sullivan Street, the documents say.Gomez-Pablo parked the SUV, and Rapisura, Gomez-Cervantes and Santos got out and ran toward the Nortes. Several shots rang out, and Joshua S. Vanhalteren was hit once in the back, the documents say.Vanhalteren ended up at Harborview Medical Cen...

Suspected drug lord and 16 alleged members of his kidnapping and murder crew believed responsible for nine murders and the attempted slaying of a policeman, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office."This rogue group of individuals is responsible for a string of brutal murders and kidnappings that demonstrate the ugly reality of cross-border violence," said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis."Thanks to extraordinary cooperation from several law enforcement agencies and the dedication of District Attorney investigators and prosecutors, we have essentially dismantled this dangerous organization," she said. The district attorney's office was assisted in its investigation by the FBI, California Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, San Diego Police Department, San Diego County Sheriff's Department and Chula Vista Police Department.The SDPD performed its largest DNA analysis during the i...

Agents arrested 31-year-old Derick Johnson on two charges, the sale of cocaine and trafficking cocaine. Berry says Johnson is a member of the Black Gangsters Disciples street gang. Berry would not disclose the specific location where Johnson allegedly sold the drugs, but the arrest was made at the corner of East Broad and North Central late Wednesday afternoon.“The transaction took place with us monitoring the undercover agent meeting Derick Demetrius Johnson, in making the buy and then setting up another buy, and then we got warrants and arrested him last night over on the east side,” said Major Berry.Agents say they seized just over 50 grams of cocaine. The drugs have a street value of about $5,000.

Union County authorities are hunting for a Bloods ringleader who they say keeps giving them the slip but operated an aggressive drug ring out of Elizabeth that netted about $700,000 a week. The elusive Luqman Abdullah, 27, has an extensive criminal history that includes 15 arrests and seven felony convictions for burglary, resisting arrest, manufacturing and distributing drugs, possession of an assault firearm and aggravated assault, authorities said.He is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous.Abdullah rose to prominence on the streets of Elizabeth after he helped kidnap a rival drug dealer in 2003, stuffed the man into the trunk of his car and shot him, according to Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow. He and three other Bloods members sprayed bullets into the trunk, shut it and left the Dodge Intrepid parked on the street, authorities said.The victim survived and was discovered the next day by a truck driver who heard cries from the trunk. Abdullah served jail time in c...

Police Capt. Jody Suit says 27-year-old Marcello Jones was found shot to death about 5 a.m. Saturday inside a unit at the Oak Ridge Apartments.Del City police are investigating an apparent gang-related killing on the city's southwest side.Suit says investigators are questioning two men who were detained at the complex with a gun in their vehicle, but he says its not known if the men are connected to the shooting.He says officers were called to the complex several times late Friday and early Saturday to reports of fighting and shots fired.

The men are accused in the fatal shooting of Andres Chavarin on Tuesday night outside his house in the 700 block of Yucatan Way.Defendants usually enter a not-guilty plea during arraignment hearings.This is the second time this year that the District Attorney's Office has charged a teenager as an adult.In April, 17-year-old Ezekiel Lopez-Figueroa was charged as an adult in the death of 11-year-old King City resident Esther Rubio.Lopez-Figueroa pleaded not guilty in June to murder, attempted murder, gang enhancements and conspiracy charges.Esther and her older brother were shot after a soccer match Dec. 2 at King City High School.