Sydney's bikie warfare has exploded with a violent brawl between two gangs at Sydney Airport's domestic Qantas terminal

Sydney's bikie warfare has exploded with a violent brawl between two gangs at Sydney Airport's domestic Qantas terminal resulting in one man being bludgeoned to death in front of horrified passengers.The attack happened the same day a drive-by shooting in Sydney's west sent two men to hospital with police investigating if warfare between outlaw motorcycle gangs was to blame.Minutes after a group of men disembarked from a flight that landed about 1.30pm (AEDT) on Sunday, another group confronted them in the arrivals section of the domestic terminal.Witnesses told police an altercation ensued and lasted long enough to make its way upstairs to the departures area.One of the men picked up a portable bollard and repeatedly struck a 29-year-old man over the head, leaving him clinging to life just inside the doors of the terminal.Ambulance officers were called to the scene and treated the man before rushing him to Prince of Wales Hospital, where he later died.Naomi Constantine was waiting to go through security to board a flight to Melbourne when she witnessed the attack."They came running through picking up the big metal barrier poles and swinging them, swinging them like swords at each other," Ms Constantine told ABC Television."I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came up with a pole and just started smashing it into his head."Detective Inspector Peter Williams said the brawl involved 15 men from rival bikie gangs and was witnessed by up to 50 horrified passengers."It would appear a group of males have exited a plane and they were met by another group of males who we believe may be other motorcycle gang members," Det Insp Williams told reporters at the airport."A fight ensued, the fight moved through various parts of the terminal to the ultimate location where the man was deceased."Four men were arrested over the incident, while the others fled the airport - some in taxis, witnesses reported.The attack raised questions about the level of security at the Qantas terminal and the reaction time of security officers.
A Sydney Airport Corporation spokesman said: "That terminal is operated and managed by Qantas."A Qantas spokeswoman would not confirm whether the fight began in the departure lounge or outside the security screening area.She was also unable to confirm whether security guards were working within the terminal at the time.
"I'm not at liberty to comment on that," the spokeswoman told AAP.An unnamed passenger told the Nine Network that response from airport security "took a long time to get there".Traffic into the airport was reduced to a crawl for hours at the domestic terminals after roads leading to the T3 departures were cordoned off as a crime scene.The attack followed an incident about 1am (AEDT) on Sunday at Auburn, in Sydney's west, where seven houses in three streets were sprayed with gunfire.An 18-year-old man was shot in the leg and a 17-year-old male was treated for lacerations and then arrested but later released.Police seized two vehicles for forensic examination and said the houses were most likely caught in crossfire and not deliberately targeted.The NSW opposition wants the government to crack down on bikie violence, and introduce tough legislation similar to new South Australian laws.The laws are designed to dismantle criminal bikie gangs by declaring membership or association with outlawed clubs, illegal. The act also includes new charges, which carry up to 10 years jail, for bikie club members and their associates who engage in group violence."This horrific episode must finally force (Premier) Nathan Rees to stop standing by and doing nothing as criminal bikie gang members murder each other in broad daylight in public and put the wider community at risk," Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell told AAP.NSW Police Minister Tony Kelly said the government would consider the South Australia legislation."I will be meeting with the police commissioner and the attorney-general looking at additional laws that we can bring into place to round these people up," Mr Kelly told reporters in Sydney.

28-year-old man has died following a brawl at Sydney Airport on Sunday, in what is believed to be a gang related incident.

28-year-old man has died following a brawl at Sydney Airport on Sunday, in what is believed to be a gang related incident. The brawl started when two men who arrived into Sydney Airport and were met by rival motorcycle gang members. Police have arrested four men in connection with the fight in which eyewitnesses described how airport barrier poles were used as makeshift weapons.

fullscale gunfight between the warring Comancheros and Bandido motorcycle gangs.

Milperra Massacre wars in full public view threatens to return Sydney to one of the darkest periods of its modern history.The battle at Sydney airport and rival gangs taking their blood feuds into suburban streets takes the city back to an infamous Father's Day almost 25 years ago.In a gun battle that has gone down in criminal folklore as the Milperra Massacre, two bikie gangs turned a local pub carpark into a killing ground. They fought with automatic weapons, shotguns, chains, knives, baseball bats, iron bars and knuckledusters.It happened at a bike swap meet attended by many of Sydney's motorcycle fraternity. On sale were bike and car parts - second hand, new and hot.First reports on that sleepy Sunday afternoon said a man had gone berserk with a rifle at the Viking Tavern in Milperra and "a few shots" had been fired. But the "few shots" were the start of a fullscale gunfight between the warring Comancheros and Bandido motorcycle gangs.There was tension in the air as the Comancheros arrived at the tavern about 1pm, all heavily armed. Soon after, 30 Bandidos rumbled into the carpark, rifles and shotguns in scabbards fixed across their handlebars. A back-up van followed carrying more weapons.Both sides lined up at opposite ends of the car park.The bloodshed began with a signal from William George "Jock" Ross who had founded the Comancheros in 1968.Waving a machete in the air, Ross bellowed the order: "Kill 'em all."Shotgun blasts were drowned out by screams of terror and cries of abuse as the two gangs went at each other.Bystanders ran screaming from the scene while others hid behind trees and parked cars or ran into the hotel. More than 200 police were called but the battle continued for another 10 minutes while they tried to stop it.When the smoke cleared four Comancheros and two Bandidos were dead. An innocent victim caught in the crossfire was 14-year-old Leanne Walters, who was attending the swap meet with a friend. She was hit in the face by a .357 magnum bullet.Four bikies died from shotgun blasts and two from .357 magnum rifle shots. Another 20 people were admitted to hospital.
The scene in the Viking Tavern carpark that afternoon was horrific.Fallout from the gun battle over the coming years would be widespread.Inspector Ron Stephenson, called away from a family barbecue when the call came through from the police radio room, was not hit by any bullet but he became one of the casualties.Memories of the massacre would remain with him for the rest of his days. Another, Mark Pennington, one of the first on the scene, was awarded $380,000 for psychological damage.
One of the bikie leaders hanged himself in his prison cell.The Milperra Massacre was precipitated by the last mass defection among the powerful bikie gangs when a breakaway group of Comancheros formed the first Bandidos chapter in Australia. But quite a number of the gang members who took part in the battle that day belied their popular image of unwashed and dirty misfits.Among those at Milperra was a truck driver, a pay clerk, a marine engineer and an optical mechanic. One ran a family plumbing business, another played classical piano.The carnage was followed by the longest joint criminal trial in NSW history. Armed members of the tactical response group were stationed in the courtroom and police involved needed armed guards to get them home safely.On June 12, 1987, nearly three years later, a jury delivered 63 murder convictions, 147 of manslaughter and 31 of affray. Nine bikies, including Jock Ross, received life sentences.

Corey Ray Johnson, 25-year-old Joseph Kevin Dixon and 24-year-old David Lee Jr.have been found guilty of several counts each of first-degree murder

Three reputed gang members have been found guilty of several counts each of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of a young man and pregnant young woman.
Verdicts came out Friday in the trial that lasted about five months. The suspects were also found guilty of many gang-related charges.It took all morning for the verdicts to be read for 22-year-old Corey Ray Johnson, 25-year-old Joseph Kevin Dixon and 24-year-old David Lee Jr.The three were found guilty in the murders of 21-year-old James Wallace and 19-year-old Vanessa Alcala, who was several months pregnant.They were shot on McNew Court in April 2007.Alcala's family said she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and sister Leticia Veleta was pleased with the guilty verdicts."Very happy, very happy," Veleta said. "We got a good outcome of it."
Veleta said she thinks the guilty verdicts on the gang-related charges send an important message."Hopefully people that are in gangs, they don't have to kill innocent people just because of a gang," Veleta said. "It's not worth it, do something else better with their lives than just kill innocent people."Verdicts were read for Johnson first, but as the judge spoke to the jury about their findings, Johnson denied he was involved."Guilty of what?" he blurted out. "(Expletive) that. Get me out of here."Guards hustled Johnson out of the courtroom.More than a dozen officers ringed the courtroom to provide extra security during the verdict reading. Many of the officers were from the Kern County Sheriff's Gang unit. Extra officers were posted in the hallway and even on the first floor of the courthouse.During a break in the session, relatives of the defendants sobbed in the hallway. None wanted to make any comments. Others muffled sobs in the courtroom when the verdicts were read for Lee.Another of Alcala's sisters said there was justice for the victims but thinks the suspects should pay a steeper price."Their families can still write to them and come visit them and stuff," sister Mayra Pulido said. "We can't bring her back. I feel they should honestly get death."Defense Attorney James Faulkner said the defendants will not face the death penalty. Prosecutor Cynthia Zimmer said the gang charges in the case will mean the three can be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.All three defendants were found guilty on a variety of gang-related charges. That included charges and enhancements like committing murder "for the benefit of" or "in association with" a criminal street gang.Judge Gary Friedman thanked the jury for their work on the long trial. He presented each juror with a special certificate of commendation, and said the court thanked them for their "courageous and dedicated" service.

Johnson, Lee and Dixon are set to be back in court on April 20 for sentencing.

Prosecutor Cynthia Zimmer said this case is important, and a critical part of it were the witnesses who testified at a gang trial.

"We had two witnesses in this case who bravely came forward, who helped us," Zimmer said. "And if we hadn't had them, we wouldn't have had gotten this conviction. So, witnesses that are out there and they know information about gang crimes, you can come forward, (and) we can help you."

Ismael Garcia Jr. of Warden has been shot to death in a fight between two gangs at a park in Othello

young man has been shot to death in a fight between two gangs at a park in Othello.
School officials in the small Eastern Washington town were asked to keep students indoors as a precaution Thursday, a day after the shooting in Taggares (tah-GEH'-ruhs) Park.The dead man was identified as 19-year-old Ismael Garcia Jr. of Warden.
According to a news release from Adams County Sheriff Douglas Barger, two gangs met at the park late Wednesday and a fight developed. Investigators say the shooting was reported at 6:21.Garcia was taken by friends to Othello Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Barger writes that the other group fled on foot.The sheriff says he expects to determine who was responsible and make an arrest.

Dennis Karbovanec has been under constant surveillance by the cops after being targeted for death by a rival gang.

Suspected gangster Dennis Karbovanec has left Port Moody.Port Moody mayor Joe Trasolini says it's a relief Karbovanec is gone and while Jonathan Bacon still lives there, he hopes no other suspected gang members come to town. “We have pride in our safe community, the police department has a motto 'No Call Too Small' and we will focus on these types of individuals, so you know you are not welcome here. If you decide to come here, then we will make life a little too uncomfortable so you might as well think twice before coming here, and if you're here - get out of town.”Police know where Karbovanec has gone but won't say what his new address will be.Karbovanec is known to hang out with the notorious Bacon brothers and he's been under constant surveillance by the cops after being targeted for death by a rival gang.

Warring families and feuding bikie gangs in Sydney's south-west have been fuelled by the discovery of a pistol in a breastfeeding mother's handbag

Warring families and feuding bikie gangs in Sydney's south-west have been fuelled by the discovery of a pistol in a breastfeeding mother's handbag, a gun under a car seat and a list of potential targets.Detectives attached to Strike Force Lieutenant have spent the last week trying to keep a lid on simmering resentment and anger following the murder of Abdul Qadier Darwiche, 37, a father of four, last Saturday.
Darwiche's brother, Moustafa "Michael", was arrested on Thursday night with a hidden loaded gun and the addresses of relatives of the main suspect in the killing, Mohammed "Blackie" Fahda, a court heard.The 40-year-old father of five and a friend, Michael Darwick, 36, were arrested in Bankstown with a loaded Glock pistol allegedly hidden underneath the rear seat. In the car was also a piece of paper with five addresses of people with the name Fahda and an article about Abdul Darwiche's murder, Bankstown Local Court was told.Police allege the men, who said they were going to McDonald's, were "in the proximity" of one of those addresses when they were stopped.But Michael's barrister, Michael Coroneos, told the court his client had no knowledge of the gun and was a passenger in the car.Police appealed yesterday for anyone who saw Fahda not to approach him. They said they believed he was still in Sydney."We urgently need to speak with Mohammed 'Blackie' Fahda in order for the investigation to proceed," said the commander of the Homicide Squad, Detective Superintendent Geoff Beresford.Superintendent Beresford also called on the families not to take the law into their own hands.In a statement tendered during Michael's bail hearing yesterday police also alleged the Darwiches, the Fahdas and members of another family, the Razzaks, "have previously and are currently suspected of being involved in various levels of organised crime … and are believed responsible for a number of incidents of violence"

Howard Anthony Fowler, 43, of 6536 Young St. appeared in Halifax provincial court Friday afternoon and was remanded until a bail hearing can be held

"We have been investigating the possibility of a new motorcycle club establishing itself in (Halifax Regional Municipality)," Ms. Rath said. "But to what extent that club may be affiliated with outlaw motorcycle gangs has yet to be determined."A traffic stop involving a taxi passenger in Halifax on Thursday night led to a middle-aged man being charged with drug and weapons offences, police said Friday.The cab was pulled over near the corner of Chebucto Road and Windsor Street at 11:35 p.m., said Theresa Rath, a spokeswoman for Halifax Regional Police.She said the taxi was pulled over because officers had earlier seen the suspect getting into it. She couldn’t say if other passengers were in the cab.Police later executed a search warrant at a Young Street address and seized drugs, including cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana, and weapons and ammunition.According to a court document, police found a loaded gun, a sawed-off shotgun, a switchblade and brass knuckles.Howard Anthony Fowler, 43, of 6536 Young St. appeared in Halifax provincial court Friday afternoon and was remanded until a bail hearing can be held Tuesday.Sources say Mr. Fowler has Ontario connections and alleged ties to biker gangs.

Bar Watch Member(s) will die. 1 down and 12 to go

A wave of gang violence linked to 16 deaths this year across the Vancouver region, in dozens of shooting incidents, demonstrates that limits on violence have "eroded" to the point that shootings can happen anywhere, Mr. Barry said. That makes the program more valuable, he added.

One of British Columbia's most venerable restaurant chains is standing firmly by a program that targets gang members among its customers, despite one of its establishments in the Fraser Valley being shot up yesterday.The attack, which occurred before the Earls restaurant opened yesterday morning, was clearly a response to Bar Watch operations that have seen bar and restaurant owners share information with police to identify known gang members, who can then be monitored or urged to leave.Someone fired a reported eight shots into the restaurant - in Chilliwack, 100 kilometres east of Vancouver - and spray-painted "Bar Watch Member(s) will die. 1 down and 12 to go" on the building."You've got a building that has been shot up ... with a fairly direct message painted onto that building. I think that's something to take fairly seriously," said RCMP Corporal Peter Thiessen. Earls vice-president Mark Barry said the fact that someone felt strongly enough to take this action speaks to the "effectiveness" of the program, of which the Chilliwack eatery was a member.Roughly half of Earls's 50 restaurants are located across British Columbia, making the chain launched in 1982 a popular dining institution in the province.Ryan MacDonald, chair of the Upper Fraser Valley Bar Watch, declined to comment yesterday on the incident or talk about his group's work, but issued a statement saying the role is to create "safe environments" for the staff and community to eliminate the "threat of violence, abusive language and intimidating behaviours of others."Mr. Barry said that "we think the best way of protecting the safety of our customers and our people is to participate in this program and prevent criminals and gang members from accessing our restaurants and being in our restaurants." He said the restaurant would take a few hours to clean up, then reopen for business.Cpl. Thiessen said an investigation is well under way. "We've got some suspects in mind we're certainly going to try and make contact with," he said.
RCMP, who are effectively the municipal police force in Chilliwack, will step up patrols around the restaurant this weekend.The incident was an unexpected twist yesterday in a continuing gang conflict - what Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu has described as a "brutal" gang war - that has been linked to at least 30 shooting incidents this year. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has used Metro Vancouver as a backdrop to announce new anti-gang legislation.Cpl. Thiessen said the RCMP have a sense of what prompted the incident."We have good reason to believe this is linked to some previous interaction that may have occurred in this particular community, whether it be at this Earls or anyplace else, involving the removal of individuals we feel are associated to gang activity," he said.He said police appear to be making a mark on gang members. "It appears we're having an impact and they are feeling the pressure and [are] uncomfortable and we are disrupting their routines and it would appear, maybe, they are not liking it too much."

killing of underworld figure Abdul Darwiche and a string of bikie-related drive-by shootings has put the police on high alert.

killing of underworld figure Abdul Darwiche and a string of bikie-related drive-by shootings has put the police on high alert. An internal memo, penned by south-west region commander Assistant Commissioner Frank Menelli, has been distributed to officers in trouble-prone areas, urging them to take extra care. The shooting of Mr Darwiche, 37, at a Bass Hill service station has rocked Sydney's Islamic community and sparked fears of imminent reprisal attacks. As detectives work overtime to calm tensions, a parallel feud among outlaw motorcycle gangs has broken out, with fresh attacks around Blacktown. "I thought it was appropriate,'' he said. "I worry about my officers and I tell them to be careful, but I haven't told anyone to back down.''
Mr Menelli said the fresh violence, coupled with events that have seen officers injured in the last week, prompted him to issue the memo. "Bearing in mind the current issues relating to OCMGs (Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs) and other tensions, I told them to make sure they're aware of officer safety when dealing with people,'' he said. Police have praised the Islamic community for being forthcoming with information and working with detectives to further their investigations. Immediately after Mr Darwiche's death, officers met with a wall of silence from family members, who refused to reveal who they thought was responsible. It has emerged that, to ease tensions, a senior officer ushered key family members away from the crime scene to a motel instead of a police station. There, after booking a room, calming tensions and ordering coffee, he gained their trust and asked them to privately explain what was unfolding. Within two hours, the entire story and the gravity of the situation was laid on the table. Detectives believe Mr Darwiche's shooting can be linked to the murder of 25-year-old Ahmad Fadha in 2003. Mr Fadha was an associate of the Razzak family, which at the time was involved in a bitter turf war with the Darwiches over drugs. Late last week, police formally issued a plea for Ahmad Fahda's younger brother, Mohammed "Blackie'' Fahda, 24, to come forward about the shooting. Mohammed Fahda remains in hiding, but is not thought to have fled the country.
A detective close to the investigation said an alert had been circulated through agencies, to ensure police are contacted if Mr Fadha makes an attempt to board a flight out of Australia. Police strike force teams were quickly assembled once investigators established the high likelihood of retaliatory attacks. Detectives are fearful that imminent reprisals are on the cards. Last week Mr Darwiche's elder brother, Michael, 40, and another man, Michael Darwick, 36, were arrested at Punchbowl. When police searched their BMW, they allegedly found a map, a gun and names and addresses of Fahda family members. Later that night, two drive-by shootings, which may be linked to the Notorious bikie gang, occurred near Blacktown.
The gang is believed to be linked to the bombing of a Hells Angels clubhouse at Petersham, as well as a shooting at a new Nomads clubhouse in Chalder Ave, Marrickville last month. Marrickville police have made little progress into the Nomads shooting because of the "code of silence'' strictly adhered to by the bikies.
They have approached Marrickville Council about shutting down the venue, which police allege was set up as a car-repair shop but is being used for late-night parties.

Member of the White Boy Posse — an offshoot of the Hells Angels — and 17 other known gangsters were arrested.

Eight known gang members, aged 16 to 33, have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder following a massive bust on Jan. 10, which netted more than $500,000 in cocaine and guns.
In that bust, dubbed “Project IGAT,” one member of the White Boy Posse — an offshoot of the Hells Angels — and 17 other known gangsters were arrested. The most recent wave of charges, officials say, puts a significant dent into the armour of a sophisticated trafficking network which stretches from Red Deer to Grande Prairie, with Edmonton as its headquarters. “This will create a vacuum, and someone else will replace them,” Galvin said.
Police, Integrated Response to Organized Crime officers, and solicitor general Fred Lindsay stood above a portion of the seized narcotics yesterday, including bricks of cocaine with the characters “H1” stamped on the side. Galvin said the financial downturn has inspired gangsters to diverge from bigger, established groups, forcing senior gangsters to step in to fill the void.“The consumer base is shrinking, and there’s not a need for workers to provide that product,” he said. “People, in the last few years, who would not normally sell drugs, did. It’s quick money, high frequency, and low-risk, in general terms — and it’s not there now.”

Miguel Alvarez, now 23, didn't know that the teenager was tied to a city street gang calling itself Dominicans Don't Play

Miguel Alvarez, now 23, didn't know that the teenager was tied to a city street gang calling itself Dominicans Don't Play, said a defense attorney in an opening statement to jurors Thursday in Alvarez's murder trial."It was the slap heard around Perth Amboy," the attorney, John Perrone of Woodbridge, said.
Alvarez was hounded by the machete-wielding gang members after that, Perrone said.The dispute ended with Alvarez stabbing a man who went by the gang name "Machete" during a brawl in August 2007, Perrone said.Alvarez, afraid for his life, was due to leave for Florida the next day, but the fight changed that, Perrone said.
"It was fear of a gang, a gang that runs rampant in Perth Amboy," Perrone said. "We have every right to use self-defense. On Aug. 26, 2007, Miguel Alvarez used that right. He used that knife because he was being attacked, because his friends were being attacked. That was an attack, that was a wilding, that was a riot."
"Machete," Tony Martinez, 19, was stabbed around 2:30 a.m. that Sunday just outside Kennedy Fried Chicken on Smith Street across from the Perth Amboy train station.Martinez was pronounced dead at Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy a short time later.Charged with his murder, Alvarez faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted. He has remained at Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest hours after the slaying.Perrone spent nearly an hour painting a picture of escalating gang harassment fueled in part by Alvarez's on-again, off-again girlfriend joining the gang.But Kevin Flood, assistant Middlesex County prosecutor, drew a simpler sketch of Alvarez as a killer. Alvarez walked up behind Martinez and stabbed him in the side while Martinez was fighting someone else, a wound that pierced his heart, Flood said.
"He made a conscious decision to arm himself with a deadly weapon — a knife," Flood said. "He made a conscious decision not to go home, not to walk away, but to stay there armed with a deadly weapon....He shoved that piece of steel in the side of Tony Martinez's body."At the center of the case is whether Alvarez was actually being confronted by Martinez and another man who were holding bottles as weapons when he stabbed Martinez, as Perrone contended, or whether he attacked Martinez from behind, as Flood argued.Medical evidence will come into play.There is also choppy surveillance video footage showing parts of the brawl. And witnesses will buttress the state's case, Flood said.Alvarez, a powerfully-built man, will take the stand in his own defense, Perrone said.Flood told the jurors that testimony in the case will last two to three weeks.

Woman allegedly associated with the Notorious crime gang has been charged by police investigating two drive-by shootings

Woman allegedly associated with the Notorious crime gang has been charged by police investigating two drive-by shootings in western Sydney yesterday that police suspect were linked to the group.There are fears a gang war was started when several shots were fired into houses in Doonside and Prospect within five minutes shortly after midnight yesterday.No-one was injured in either shooting but it was a close call for the two adults sleeping inside the Doonside house and the three adults and two children in Prospect.In both cases, the bullets missed their mark and police believe the same stolen gold-coloured Range Rover ferried the shooter or shooters to the two locations. The car was later found alight in Blacktown.

Police yesterday said they suspected the shootings were linked to the Notorious gang, which bears the hallmarks of a bikie group and has been linked to series of violent acts around Sydney.

About 7:00pm (AEDT) yesterday, officers from the State Crime Command's Gangs Squad and North-West Region Enforcement Squad pulled over a 24-year-old woman while she was driving in Guildford West.Police say the found a .38 revolver in a handbag while they searched the car.The Prospect woman is due to face Fairfield Local Court today charged with possessing a firearm.
Monash University's Professor Arthur Veno, who has been researching and surveying gangs and their members for more than 20 years, last night told ABC Radio's PM program a serious line was crossed yesterday when women and children were put in the firing line.
"It's a cardinal rule of the rules of engagement of war for bikies that no retributions or injuries to a former member or current member would be done in the presence or vision of his family," he said."They have clearly broken the rules and they'd better be ready for the consequences."There has been a string of drive-by shootings in Sydney in recent months. Last month, a bomb exploded outside a Hells Angels clubhouse and shots were fired into a nearby tattoo parlour.

Suspected gang shooting that wounded two teenagers

Arrested Wednesday were Jesse Orizaba, 22, charged with use of a weapon by a felon and aggravated use of a weapon; Luis Orizaba, 19, charged with aggravated use of a weapon; and Modesto Rosales, 20, charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.

22-year-old member of the Denmark-based immigrant motorcycle gang the Black Cobras was remanded into custody by Malmö district court

22-year-old member of the Denmark-based immigrant motorcycle gang the Black Cobras was remanded into custody by Malmö district court on Tuesday on suspicion of trying to extort 200,000 kronor ($22,000) from a local car retailer.Two other men are also in custody for the same offence.Police in Malmö fear that a gang war in the Danish capital of Copenhagen has spilled over into the streets of the city and that the Black Cobras are busy establishing themselves on the Swedish side of the Öresund straight.According to the car retailer, the three men approached him demanding the money or he would run into trouble. The men are reported to have displayed their Black Cobras logo in order to "shake up" the businessman.The man refused to pay and instead contacted the police. A trap was set for the trio who, according to the prosecutor, were captured on police video threatening the retailer.

The Black Cobras are sworn enemies of the Hells Angels and are, according to a report in local newspaper Sydsvenskan, one of the largest criminal gangs in Denmark, after the Hells Angels and Bandidos.

A gang war has broken out between rival gangs in Copenhagen recently with arson attacks, shootings and several murders linked to the conflict.The scale of the Black Cobras' presence in Sweden is as yet unknown and police confirm that open conflict with the Hells Angels in Sweden has not yet occurred."This is in a early phase. We are collecting information on them," a police source told the newspaper.

11th alleged member of the Dump Squad street gang was arrested in Newport News, Wednesday. Rickey Rice, AKA "Munchie,"

11th alleged member of the Dump Squad street gang was arrested in Newport News, Wednesday. Rickey Rice, AKA "Munchie," was considered armed and dangerous by investigators. Officials say he is now with 10 other alleged Dump Squad gangsters already in U.S Marshal custody.Six alleged Dump Squad street gang members were in federal court Wednesday, in Norfolk, where they requested to be held without bond until their trial date. The judge granted that request. Rice was also in court, Wedesday, for his initial hearing, just four hours after his arrest.The capture of Rickey Rice was big news, Wednesday, showing Newport News Police Chief Jim Fox is true to his word."If you are a gang member...I'd look over your shoulder because we're following you. We're looking at you. We're going to target you and we're going to take you off the street," says Fox.After the Chief's warning Friday, Rice now joins 10 alleged Dump Squad members who face more than 100 years in prison if convicted. Between the men and woman listed in a federal indictment, they're accused of "at least three murders, several attempted murders, robberies, assaults, arson, witness intimidation, drug trafficking and weapons violations."
Dana Boente, acting U.S. Attorney for Eastern Virinia, says the Dump Squad is accused of terrorizing the Ridley Circle, Harbor Homes, and Dickerson Court areas of Newport.A recent WAVY.com interview with FBI Special Agent in Charge Alex Turner revealed the Dump Squad is one of 116 gangs in Hampton Roads. The alleged members arrested are 11 of 6,000 total gang members throughout the area.On Wednesday, the judge ruled Rice will be detained by U.S. Marshals at least until his detention hearing scheduled for the end of this week. Rice is charged with racketeering, selling drugs, robbery, maiming, and more.Rice told the judge he is a father. He said he has an 8 year-old and a 3 year-old. Rice was considered a federal fugitive until investigators say a Crime Line tip lead to his arrest in the 7300 block of River Road in Newport News.No trial date has been set for the alleged Dump Squad members. Rice's detention hearing is scheduled for Friday.The quick arrest of Rice today proves the Crime Line works according to Newport News Police. The caller did not have to give any personal information and now could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000

Michael Paul Uzzell shot the Newboys gang member about 8pm Monday at Blair Athol.

The 34-year-old victim from Enfield, who is allegedly a past member of the Hells Angels bikie club, was among a group outside the other man's home, a police spokesman said. "There was a heated argument amongst the group and at least two gunshots were heard,'' he said.
About 10.30pm, STAR group officers entered a house and arrested Uzzell, 49. The victim was admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound to his arm and police later charged Uzzell with attempted murder and possessing a firearm without a licence. Uzzell appeared briefly in Holden Hill Magistrates Court this afternoon.He entered no plea to the charges and did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to face court again next month.

Gangster war over fires at building sites

Lewis "Scooby" Rodden is involved in a bitter feud with gangster John "Joker" McCartney. P&B Contracts boss Rodden blames McCartney for fire attacks on his firm's sites. And he even offered McCartney, 43, a job as a "security consultant" in a bid to stop the blazes but McCartney rejected it. Now Rodden, 48, has turned to other criminals for help. A source said: "Rodden was told McCartney was behind the fires and thought the easiest way to stop would be to offer McCartney a job. "But McCartney just wasn't interested in getting involved with Rodden." McCartney is a friend of Ruchill Security boss Bobby "The Devil" Dempster, who was blamed for having Rodden shot in Amsterdam in 2001. The source added: "McCartney's been a friend of Dempster for years and would never work with Rodden no matter how much money he offered." We revealed last year Rodden had been hit by a series of fires in Glasgow's Maryhill and Pollokshaws. Sites in Airdrie and Clydebank were also targeted.

St James, has had 40 murders, as rampaging gunmen linked to criminal activities such as the illicit guns-for-drugs trade between Haiti and Jamaica

St James, has had 40 murders, as rampaging gunmen linked to criminal activities such as the illicit guns-for-drugs trade between Haiti and Jamaica, the infamous Montego Bay 'Lotto' scam, and turf war between rival gangs, continue to wreak havoc.
There have been 14 murders across the parish in the last 10 days. Last Saturday morning, three men were shot dead at a dance on Perry Street. In the aftermath of that shooting, two men were killed in what was believed to be acts of reprisals. Last Sunday morning, four men were shot and killed at another dance in Hendon, Norwood. "People in these areas know what is happening but they just can't just panic and keep it to themselves," noted ACP Frater. "We have made some gains against the criminals over the last few months and we can't allow things to get back to where they were, so we need the support of the public."In the latest addition to the rampant mayhem, two car washers were killed, execution-style, on Harbour Street in downtown Montego Bay on Monday night. The dead men have been identified as 34-year-old Miguel Thompson, and 40-year-old Marvin Williams.Despite several new policing initiatives and changes in personnel, St James still figured prominently in the number of murders across the island last year, accounting for a record 216 killings.

American teenagers working as Zetas cartel hit men in the United States

American teenagers working as cartel hit men in the United States, according to prosecutors. The third was arrested by Mexican authorities and stabbed to death in prison there three days later.The detective sitting across the table from Reta and Cardona in those sessions is Robert Garcia. He’s a veteran of the Laredo Police Department and one of the few officers who has questioned the young men.“One thing you wonder all the time: What made them this way?” Garcia told CNN. “They were just kids themselves, waiting around playing PlayStation or Xbox, waiting around for the order to be given…”Both teenagers received six-month military-style training on a Mexican ranch. Investigators say Cardona and Reta were paid $500 a week each as a retainer, to sit and wait for the call to kill. Then they were paid up to $50,000 and 2 kilos of cocaine for carrying out a hit.The teenagers lived in several safe houses around Laredo and drove around town in a $70,000 Mercedes-Benz…
“These organizations, these cartels, they function like a Fortune 500 company,” Webb County, Texas, prosecutor Uriel Druker said. “We have to remember that the United States is the market they are trying to get to…”And that’s why the cartel recruited these young Americans. Cardona and Reta could move freely and easily back and forth across the border with Mexico.Detective Garcia describes sleeper cells organized by Los Zetas - former special forces renegades from the Mexican Army now working for drug gangs like the Gulf Cartel.In all honesty, I believe the Homeland Security agencies - under new leadership - realize the danger we face from this vector, unlike the recently departed ideologues.

Copenhagen street wars

Conflict between rival gangs in the Danish capital of Copenhagen has slowly boiled over into a street war. In three different incidents within as many days, two men were shot and killed and a third shot and critically injured in the Amager and Norrebro districts.

These latest shootings are just part of a spate of ongoing gunfights on the streets of Copenhagen between bikers and immigrant gangs. The Hell’s Angels biker gang has been fighting over turf for months with newly formed immigrant gangs. They are primarily reported to be fighting over drugs, prostitution and weapons sales.

Politiken reports that the Copenhagen police department has set up a 35-man task force specially designed to prevent these public street shootings. But the added patrols are not solving the problem, and the capital’s police department is considering bringing in help from other districts.“One of the first things we will be doing on Monday is to find out whether we should be doing things differently,” commented Copenhagen Police Chief Superintendant Per Larsen at the weekend. “If you really want to do something as crazy as what’s going on at the moment, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. However many officers we put on the job, we cannot guarantee it won’t happen again,” Larsen admits.Another pressing issue is that emergency personnel are afraid to enter the danger zones even when a call for medical help has been issued. Residents of both Norrebro and Mjolnerparken Estate report that ambulances won’t arrive until police secure the area first.

Mexican criminal organization "Los Zetas" enforcement branch of the Gulf Cartel

Mexican criminal organization most commonly known as "Los Zetas" has been busy. Members of this group have been linked to a death threat delivered to the president of Guatemala, a grenade thrown into a bar in Pharr, Texas, the death of a high-ranking military general in Cancun, and a fair share of the organized crime-related deaths registered this year in Mexico.Many journalists and analysts who write about Los Zetas still refer to this group as the enforcement branch of the Gulf Cartel. This was a true description when the original 31 Special Forces soldiers abandoned the Mexican military to protect a young, upcoming leader of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas Guillen. But today, the Zetas have evolved into a separate entity with its own agenda. And it doesn't take orders from the Gulf Cartel.

The original 31 "Zetas" saw to it that at least another 10 men were trained. Members of Los Zetas, along with Cardenas, bribed, threatened and cajoled local and state police to assist with that protection detail. In most areas where the Gulf Cartel operated, local and state police formed the outer rings of a four or five ring-deep security detail for Cardenas and other top leaders of the Gulf Cartel. The Zetas remained at the inner rings, providing close protection support, and acting on the wishes of Cardenas and their leader, Arturo Guzman Decenas, known as Z1, and the man for whom Los Zetas was named.

But that was in 2003, when the Mexican Defense Department separated out Los Zetas as the most formidable death squad to have worked for organized crime in Mexican history. At that time there were perhaps some 300 members of Los Zetas: 30 or so original military deserters and the men they trained. Across the landscape of Mexican organized crime, no one could compete. These men were intelligence specialists and experts with a number of different types of weapons and operational tactics. In many ways, these men innovated paramilitary tactics in use by organized crime today. Many agree that these men raised the bar in the Mexican criminal underworld, forcing Cardenas' rivals to find former military soldiers of their own, just so they could compete.Until Cardenas' extradition to the US, where he has awaited trial in Houston, Texas since January, 2007, members of Los Zetas guarded the Gulf Cartel's most important sections of turf, especially Nuevo Laredo, where in 2005, many observed the initial escalation of violence that has so many worried today.
But the dominance of Los Zetas couldn't last. Over time, many of the original 31 have been killed, and a number of younger, ambitious men have filled the vacuum, forming something that resembles what Los Zetas used to be, but still very far from the professionalism and efficient style of the original Zetas. The term Los Zetas, some argue, has been turned into a brand name - a calling card used to control businessmen and politicians deemed useful to further the advances of either the Gulf Cartel, the new Zetas Organization, or even smaller groups who have capitalized on the name brand but have very little connection to the Gulf Cartel or the Zetas Organization.

"Most of the original Zetas are gone, but the legacy of the Zetas still lives on," Jose Wall, Senior Special Agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told ISN Security Watch. He added that the current version of the Zetas carries a "more brutal mindset" and apart from military and police deserters relies on a force of regular guys who have very little training with no future and no job to speak of.

Ralph Reyes, chief of Mexico and Central America division for Global Enforcement at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), echoed Wall's sentiments. Reyes pointed out in a recent phone call that one of the factors that has always separated the Zetas from other armed criminal groups in Mexico is their willingness to engage in firefights.That is partially why most of the original 31 Zetas are either in custody or dead. What followed in their wake is called the Zetas Organization by an intelligence officer in the US who focuses on Mexican organized crime and spoke with ISN Security Watch, but asked not to be named. The Zetas Organization, he agrees, is very powerful in its own right and beholden to none, not even the current leaders of the Gulf Cartel. Unlike Los Zetas of old, the Zetas Organization operates more like a network comprised of isolated cells that all maintain control over a certain slice of turf between the US/Mexico border from El Paso east, moving south along Mexico's eastern coast, south through Veracruz, and east through Tabasco, and into the Yucatan peninsula. "Back in the PRI days, the rule of the game was different," Dr George Grayson, a Latin American politics professor at The College of William and Mary in Virginia, US and a senior associate at the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, told ISN Security Watch. "Now the members of the Zetas are young and mean, and they don't take orders from anyone."The men and women who form part of this network likely number in the thousands. They operate a range of illicit businesses from the regular extortion of street vendors to charging other groups for passage through their territory, to gun and drug smuggling, human smuggling, kidnapping for ransom, money laundering and the operation of a vast network of illegal businesses.
Surrounding this organization is a larger than life myth, a sort of Zeta brand name that some criminals use just to scare their targets, explains Howard Campbell, professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at El Paso. "The Zetas have become something of a myth like Poncho Villa," Campbell said, adding, "their origins are obscure, and no one knows how many there are." Part of what made Cardenas so powerful as an organized crime boss was his ability to smooth talk people into working for him. Like everyone else in his line of work, he didn't hesitate to offer bribes, but unlike others, he was able to maintain a very well organized network of individuals who serviced him and his Zetas with a constant flow of information.For a while, the Zetas were considered the best-informed paramilitary force in Mexico. But once Cardenas left Mexico to face justice in Houston, he took with him the connections to a large number of individuals who spoke only to him, successfully ripping out a large section of the Gulf Cartel's tightly woven intelligence network.
"Osiel's extradition broke up networks, and the Zetas now intimidate rather than bribe," Bruce Bagley, chairman of the Department of International Studies at the University of Miami told ISN Security Watch.One of the original Zetas, Heriberto Lazcano, aka "El Lazca," and Cardenas' brother, Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, aka "Tony Tormenta," took over control of the Gulf Cartel in January 2007, and have been able to keep the organization together until today, according to Ricardo Ravelo, a Mexican journalist who has closely followed Mexican organized crime for Mexican news weekly Proceso. Yet they have not been able to rein in the growing network and name that grew out of the time when Los Zetas were the most feared death squad in Mexico.
The Gulf Cartel still maintains a robust intelligence network across Mexico and deep into the US, especially in Houston and Dallas, and in cities located across the southeast and well into the mid-Atlantic and northeast, but it does not compete with the networks maintained by the old guard of drug traffickers, and Cardenas' rivals like "El Chapo" Guzman who has kept his decades' old networks in play.
"They operate a very well developed grass roots network," he added, echoing a 31 December article published by Mexican daily El Universal. Entitled, "Inside Los Zetas," the article explained how small-time shop owners, men who stand on highway overpasses, and a regularly updated list of local and state politicians and police officers all serve as look outs and informants for the Zetas Organization.
Grayson also explained that the Zetas are not as focused on high-level, federal politicians, preferring to keep close ties with local and state officials. "If they do go after a high-level politician, it's only to make sure they control him when he comes back to the state level to become governor or something similar," Grayson said.
Nevertheless, the Zetas Organization remains a formidable criminal faction, operating both in Mexico and, to an extent, inside the US. Rumors of training camps continue to circulate, and there is proof that this organization knows how to amass weaponry. In November 2008, Mexican military soldiers seized from a Gulf Cartel safe house in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas the largest cache of weapons ever discovered in Mexican history: over 500 firearms, including .50 caliber Barrett sniper rifles, rocket and grenade launchers, assault rifles and over a half-million rounds of ammunition.At the time of the discovery, many analysts in the US considered the cache as a bold statement of what the Gulf Cartel intends to do. Some headlines even read that the Zetas "prepared for war."Speculation about highly trained members of Los Zetas crossing the US border to hunt down and kill civilian targets seemed to be confirmed when a group of men dressed like a Phoenix police SWAT team entered a house and killed a Jamaican drug trafficker in June 2008.
Police in Birmingham, Alabama, who responded to a multiple homicide in a suburban apartment complex in August 2008, suspected Zeta involvement in the death of a number of Mexican men, found with their throats cut. Money and drugs in the apartment were not disturbed. Police in Georgia suspected Zeta involvement when they discovered that a man had been bound and tortured in the basement of a house near Atlanta.Yet in none of these cases have authorities publically confirmed that members of the original Zetas carried out these hits, often referred to as "account adjustments" in Mexico. While it remains unlikely that Mexican members of the Zetas Organization cross the border to maim and kill rivals, there is strong evidence that connects Mexican organized crime with a robust and widespread prison gang population in both California and Texas.The Barrio Azteca and Texas Syndicate prison gangs are most likely the Zeta operatives inside the US. There may also be some links to the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), as well as other, smaller groups. Yet these groups are contractors, hired for one job, maybe two, explained the intelligence officer. But there is little to no evidence to suggest that these groups operate on some sort of retainer, or use the Zeta name to spread fear inside the US.Back in Mexico, however, the Zeta Organization has become more and more of a headache, both for the Mexican government and for the organizations' rivals. During a conference call on 6 March with journalists, US Senator John Cornyn said that the Gulf and the Sinaloa drug trafficking organizations - including, presumably the Zetas Organization - could together muster an army of some 100,000 guns. Compared to the 130,000 troops within Mexico's regular army, it appears that Mexican organized crime is powerful enough to topple a nation, but Campbell, speaking to the cyclic nature of Mexican organized crime warned against making such assumptions."There's a system of cartel infiltration in the government for its own benefit, and this system has been going on for 50 years," Campbell said."This short term, sensationalistic treatment [of Mexican drug trafficking organizations] is not going to ruin the US or overthrow the Mexican government."

Split in the Spanish Town, St Catherine-based ‘Clansman’ gang has sparked tension around the bus park in the old capital.

The police say a split in the Spanish Town, St Catherine-based ‘Clansman’ gang has sparked tension around the bus park in the old capital.Police sources said that thugs from the notorious gang were feuding over the spoils of an extortion ring, which was being operated in the park.“Criminals from the Clansman gang are at odds over the extortion racket which they operate in the bus park … . They have people in fear,” The rift is suspected to be the motive behind the shooting death of a 21-year-old man on Thursday.The man, Shane Hill of Corletts Road in Spanish Town, was reportedly shot and killed about 9:30 a.m. as he walked in the community.
A man is said to have walked up to him and opened fire.Investigators say intelligence suggests that Taylor is part of a break-away group. The men who have distanced themselves from the gang have allegedly started their own racket.“Based on what we found out, it can be summed up that some men weren’t happy with how the gains were being divided, so they created their own group, so to speak, and started their own collecting,” the investigator explained. He added: “This is a very serious situation as it can prove dangerous, both to them, as well as the other persons who use the bus park.”He further explained, “Taxi and bus operators may end up on the wrong side of either group depending on who they decide to pay.”

Juan Cardenas, 17, and Jose Herrera Gonzales, 23,arrested two suspect members of the Surenos,Sur 13 street gang.

Port Arthur Police say Juan Cardenas, 17, and Jose Herrera Gonzales, 23, were arrested after they were accused of firing shots at someone from a car in the 3000 block of 7th Street. Cardenas and Gonzales are in the Jefferson County Jail on charges of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Bond is $150,000.arrested two suspect members of the Surenos or Sur 13 street gang.Police looking for a third suspect, Mario Cardenas Lopez, 18. They have a warrant for his arrest for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. He's 5'6", 120 pounds. He has a tattoo of the number 13 on his chin.

UN gang member Barzan Tilli-Choli, 27, and associates Nicola Cottrell and Aram Ali, made their first appearance behind bulletproof plexiglass

UN gang member Barzan Tilli-Choli, 27, and associates Nicola Cottrell and Aram Ali, made their first appearance behind bulletproof plexiglass in Surrey Provincial Court's room 107 Extra security was in place for the appearance, including metal detectors at the front door, and additional police in the courthouse.The three each face two counts of attempting to kill Fraser Sutherland, 40, and Tyler Willock, 27, with a firearm.Tilli-Choli was charged in Vancouver in 2007, along with UN gangmates Thanh Kiet Kha and Koth Gott Chanthapathet, with assault and uttering threats, but was convicted only of a breach.Two other threatening charges laid in Vancouver in 2006 were dismissed.Cottrell has no other charges in B.C. according to a provincial court database search.Ali, 23, was already facing a series of drug trafficking and stolen property charges in North Vancouver when arrested in the attempted murder.
A fourth accused, Sarah Trebble, was also charged over the weekend with being in the vehicle knowing there was a firearm inside.
Trebble is the former live-in girlfriend of full-patch White Rock Hells Angel Larry Amero, The Vancouver Sun has learned. She and Amero share a car lease for a 2007 Cadillac Escalade, according to personal property records.Prosecutor Ralph Keefer refused to comment on the case outside court Monday. Willock is a close associate of Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon and the Red Scorpion gang, and was the intended target of the shooting outside T-Barz strip club on East Whalley Ring Road and 104th Ave. But Sutherland, who was driving his leased Range Rover with Willock in the back, is the one who ended up wounded when the bullets started flying.Surrey RCMP said at the time that Sutherland's vehicle left the scene and headed for Langley but couldn't make it home. An ambulance attended to him at 216th and Fraser Highway about 12:40 a.m. Feb. 16.
Tilli-Choli has assumed a greater role in the UN gang since leader Clay Roueche was arrested in the U.S. last May on cocaine and marijuana smuggling charges. Roueche remains behind bars in Seattle awaiting trial in April.Tilli-Choli is also close to Mike and Peter Adiwal, twins convicted of a gangland kidnapping who have played leading roles in the Independent Soldiers.Tilli-Choli, Cottrell and Ali were still wearing their street clothes when they were led into court Monday and placed in separate prisoners' boxes.A tattoo reading "Barzan" with a Chinese character underneath could be seen on the back of Cottrell's neck.A young woman in the public gallery began weeping uncontrollably when she saw Ali, gesturing to him through the glass. A sheriff had to calm her down as tears streamed down her face.

Colombia extradited Miguel Angel Mejia on Wednesday, making him the 16th paramilitary warlord dispatched to the United States

Colombia extradited Miguel Angel Mejia on Wednesday, making him the 16th paramilitary warlord dispatched to the United States on drug trafficking charges in less than a year.The 49-year-old Mejia was an anomaly among far-right militia bosses. After initially demobilizing in a peace pact with the government, he returned to being a fugitive and authorities say he ran a major drug gang.His extradition Wednesday aboard a DEA Super King turboprop plane was confirmed by Col. German Jaimes, deputy director of Colombia's judicial police, who said Mejia was bound for Washington, D.C. News media were not invited to witness the departure.
Police killed Mejia's twin brother and alleged crime partner Victor in an April 2008 raid. Mejia himself was captured the next month in a false compartment in a truck cab. The United States had offered $5 million rewards for the capture of either Mejia, who were known as the twins, "Los Mellizos" in Spanish
Miguel Angel was first indicted in the United States in 2000 and is to be tried in District of Columbia federal court.He and brother began trafficking in the 1990s and shipped 4 to 10 metric tons of cocaine to the United States and Europe monthly, according to Col. Cesar Pinzon, chief of Colombia's judicial police.Mejia's lawyer, Angelica Maria Martinez, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her client faced no charges in Colombia but nevertheless confessed to leading a far-right militia that she said was responsible for the massacre of 10 people in 2004 in a town called Flor Amarillo.Prosecutors say they are investigating Mejia's involvement in many more killings.Martinez said Mejia was hoping that in exchange for confessing to his crimes and handing over ill-gotten gains he might negotiate a reduced sentence in the United States.U.S. prosecutors have shown themselves ill-disposed to such deals, however, seeking prison terms of well over 20 years for other Colombian paramilitary warlords extradited there on drug trafficking charges.Since taking office in 2002, President Alvaro Uribe has extradited more than 800 criminal suspects to the United States to stand trial, the vast majority on drug trafficking charges.

There is no end in sight in the Danish gang war that has been raging for more than half a year.

On Sunday night two masked youths, connected to the immigrant gangs that are fighting out a turf war with the Hell's Angels, attacked a pub on Amager in Copenhagen. They forced a man to lie on his belly at gunpoint and then fired 10 shots into the pub, killing one and injuring two, before shooting the man on the street in his kneecaps. The incident is the third in as many days. On Saturday night a 32-year-old man trying to park his car on his way to a concert was shot by youths on bikes, and on Friday another random victim, a young man, not connected to any of the involved groups, was shot and had his throat cut in execution style at an estate in Copenhagen's troubled Norrebro area, probably by people connected to the AK81 supporters of Hell's Angels.The gang war has been pasteurising life in the Danish capital for far too long. The police have tried to control matters, but rather than being solved, the problems seem to be escalating and the locals are increasingly staying indoors or even moving out of the trouble spots. Normal Copenhagen residents fear being mistaken for a gang member by stressed criminals worried for their own safety. The number of casualties unrelated to the various groups is rising dramatically.

The Danish minister of justice, Brian Mikkelsen, insists that the fight against the gangs is being won, but it certainly doesn't feel that way walking on Norrebro in central Copenhagen on the weekend. The atmosphere, in an area usually full of people in shops and cafes, is tense – the locals just want the problems and the criminals to go away.

The Danish integration minister, Birthe Ronn Hornbech, is now contemplating the introduction of a new set of laws that will in effect mean that all foreigners caught committing a crime involving a weapon will be expelled from the country. The proposed policy is supported by the rest of centre-right government and the Danish People's party, and therefore looks likely to be passed in parliament. But several experts have warned that the new zero tolerance strategy is risking institutionalised inequality. While the tough line might have some effect on the immigrant gangs, it could easily be seen by the Hell's Angels as giving them the upper hand and reason to start an offensive.
Danish police have increased their presence in the Copenhagen trouble spots, but so far they have been hapless bystanders. The gang war is being fought between two factions fighting for control of the lucrative drugs market. But, for all the shootings and stabbings, the real victims are the local residents. It is strange that it should take dozens of episodes with firearms and several deaths before the police are willing to upgrade their presenceThe ongoing gang war, with its clear ethnic tensions, has done little to better the already strained relationship between white Danes and foreigners. But while the Hell's Angels and their supporters are a clear and relatively easily defined group, the immigrant gangs are less well known. It is them the Danish population fear the most. But these gangs do not represent the foreigners in Denmark, they just give them a bad name. While there is every reason to clamp down on the gangs' criminal activity, legislating one's way out of trouble is often not the answer. If a white boy gets a small prison sentence for carrying a weapon while a foreign boy is expelled for the same crime, surely that is bound to make the foreigners feel even more stigmatised. The question then remains: what to do? Few in Denmark seem to have a clear idea. The original plan was to let the gangs fight it out, but that now seems a far too dangerous proposition for the rest of the Danish population.

60 shootings have rocked Copenhagen, half linked to the gang war that has exploded into a full-blown gang warfare

person was killed and three others were injured in yet another shooting in Copenhagen early Monday in what appeared to be linked to a raft of gang-related shootings there in recent days,
Four people were hit when unknown assailants opened fire outside a cafe in the Danish capital and all were rushed to hospital by ambulance, head of the investigation Tommy Keil told the Politiken daily's website. One of the victims had died, he said, adding that it was too early to say anything about the condition of the others who had been shot. "This appears to be gang related," police spokesman Henrik Olesen meanwhile told the paper. Copenhagen has since Friday been the scene of several violent shootings in what seems to be part of an escalating gang turf war between Hells Angels bikers and their supporters and youths of immigrant origin in the Danish capital in recent months. On Friday, a man of Iraqi origin was shot and killed, while an ethnic Dane remained in critical condition after three men on bicycles shot up his car as he and a friend were looking for a parking spot on Saturday. Over the past seven months, more than 60 shootings have rocked a traditionally calm Copenhagen, with around half linked for certain to the gang war that exploded into full-blown war on August 19 when a 19-year-old man of Turkish origin was executed on the street.

Australian cinema chain has said it will no longer show an acclaimed film about Lebanese gang violence in Sydney after brawls erupted

The film is spliced with footage of an alcohol-fueled rampage at Cronulla Beach in Sydney, in which thousands of white men attacked anyone who looked Middle Eastern. cinema chain in Australia has said it will no longer show an acclaimed film about Lebanese gang violence in Sydney after brawls erupted during screenings. The independent movie "The Combination" is a gritty portrayal of racism and ethnic discord between white and Middle Eastern Australians.

The incident sparked Australia's worst racial violence as Lebanese and other Middle Eastern gangs launched retaliatory attacks over two nights in a city that prided itself on its good race relations.

The Greater Union cinema chain said it was canning the film after violence broke out at two screenings last week. On Thursday a security guard was hospitalized after being attacked by a group of thirty people watching the film.
Two nights later a brawl broke out at the same cinema. The police were called but the suspects had left by the time the police arrived.In a statement Grand Union said: "Maintaining the safety and security of our staff and patrons is our main concern and priority. As such a decision has been made to suspend all sessions of this films." The low budget film's director, David Field said he was "devastated" by the decision."It's a beautiful film. It doesn't advocate violence," he said. "I hope people can calm down and I'm hoping we can find a way to amend the situation."
The Australian Film Syndicate (AFS), the movie's distributor, condemned the decision. "The first Australian film to be released in 2009 is experiencing exceptional box office in its first week of release, which makes this unprecedented move all the more devastating for everyone involved, especially for the audiences that are now going to miss out," an AFS spokeswoman said.Keysar Trad, the president of the Australian Islamic Friendship Association, said there was no need to suspend the movie. "From what I know, the incidents were not connected to the movie which itself doesn't glorify violence," she said. "This is a society which celebrates freedom of speech and suspending this movie is an infringement of that."The film has already made headlines for the wrong reasons, when one of its young stars, 19 year-old Ali Haidar, pleaded guilty to an assault charge and was jailed for seven months last week.There are about 180,000 Lebanese in Australia with nearly three quarters of them living in Sydney.

Gangland battle and stabbing at the Southern Hills Mall.

Gangland battle at the Southern Hills Mall. At least a dozen people were involved in the possibly gang-related incident. When officers arrived, they found a man who had been stabbed on his torso and to the face. Police say these kind of incidents can happen anywhere.
"You just have to be more aware of your surroundings, not assume that wherever you're at one place or another. If you see people that look like they're squaring off or starting to yell or hollar, or stuff like that. Get ahold of police, or get ahold of mall security, get ahold of authorities wherever they may be," says Sgt. Dave Bishop, Sioux City Police Department.22-year-old Jeremy Saul of Sioux City was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Police did arrest a male juvenile and charged him with disorderly conduct but he is not a suspect in the stabbing.