Homicide rate is now statistically worse in Lambeth, where there have been 12 homicides so far this year, than it is in the Bronx

Homicide rate is now statistically worse in Lambeth, where there have been 12 homicides so far this year, than it is in the Bronx's notorious 52nd precinct, where there have been 6. And gun crime continues to rise sharply in the capital. Although last year saw a drop (see graph below), figures published on Thursday prove that gun enabled crime in London rose by 17% between April and September this year.

Police have seized more than 1,000 guns in London so far this year.

Young criminals are increasingly ready to use firearms after a perceived slight to their reputation. One aspect of the "chaotic" new trend is that they shoot to injure rather than kill, aiming at the victim's legs and leaving their rivals with "war wounds".The number of these shootings now stands at 72, more than double the total for last year. Commander Martin Hewitt said the propensity to use "extreme levels of violence for seemingly very little reason" was a new phenomenon. He said that when Operation Trident began investigating gun crime in the black community most shootings were an "offshoot" of criminal activity.Police have seized more than 1,000 guns in London so far this year. While overall youth violence is falling, police say there is a rise in gun crime and, in particular, the number of non-fatal shootings involving turf wars.Many criminals are inflicting "war wounds" on rivals by shooting them in the legs. The number of these shootings now stands at 72, more than double the total for last year.

Gunmen opened fire into a bar in northern Puerto Rico and killed at least seven people

Gunmen opened fire into a bar in northern Puerto Rico and killed at least seven people, injuring 20 others, police said Sunday. A prosecutor said a battle over drug traffic might have prompted the attack. A 9-year-old girl and a pregnant woman who lost her eight-month-old fetus after being shot were among those seriously wounded, said police Col. Jose Morales. The justice department plans to file a murder charge for the death of the fetus, said prosecutor Wanda Vazquez, who is investigating the case.

Bloody drug gang shootouts left 14 people dead.

2,000 Brazilian police officers patrolled this coastal city as officials pledged to hold a violence-free 2016 Olympics despite bloody drug gang shootouts that left 14 people dead.An hours-long gun battle Saturday between rival gangs in one of the city's slums killed at least 12 people and injured six. A police helicopter was shot down and eight buses set on fire during the incident.Police said Sunday that they had killed two suspected drug traffickers in overnight clashes near the Morro dos Macacos ("Monkey Hill") slum where the gangs fought for territory. But the area was largely peaceful.Two officers died and four were injured Saturday when bullets from the gang battle ripped into their helicopter hovering overhead, forcing it into a fiery crash landing on a soccer field. Officials said they did not know whether the gangs targeted the helicopter or it was hit by stray bullets.Gunfire on the ground killed 10 suspected gunmen and wounded two bystanders.Authorities said the violence had only toughened their resolve to improve security ahead of the Olympics and before 2014, when Brazil will host the World Cup soccer tournament with key games in Rio, the second-biggest city.Rio state Public Safety Director Jose Beltrame told reporters that the violence was limited to a specific area of the city of 6 million and "is not a problem throughout all of Rio de Janeiro."He said authorities would follow through with promised efforts to reduce crime."We proved to the Olympic Committee that we have plans and proposals for Rio de Janeiro," he said. "We proved that our current policy not only consists of going into battle, it also consists of keeping the peace."

Gang Warfare between the Hells Angels motorcycle club and ethnic minority gangs in Denmark and Sweden

Gang Warfare between the Hells Angels motorcycle club and ethnic minority gangs in Denmark and Sweden is prompting renewed concern that long-simmering gang tensions are intensifying amid economic woes and resentment over immigration.The Danish capital of Copenhagen saw almost 60 gang-related shooting incidents in the past year, many of them in Nørrebro, just north of the city center. In March, a series of drive-by shootings and assassinations resulted in the deaths of three bystanders and sent shock waves through the city.

Camden man who was shot and witnessed his brother being killed outside the Marriott hotel in Mount Laurel

Camden man who was shot and witnessed his brother being killed outside the Marriott hotel in Mount Laurel last year will serve five years of probation and must cooperate with authorities in the case against those charged in the murder.
Superior Court Judge John Almeida sentenced Luis Pedroza, 27, to the probationary term Friday for violating his previous probation. Pedroza originally was sentenced to three years of probation for unlawful possession of a weapon stemming from a car stop in Delran in 2006, in which he was with one of the men who is now charged with attempting to kill him and with murdering his brother. Antonio K. Streater, 26, and Daniel Cruz, 24, both of Camden, and Richard Martinez, 34, of Atco, are charged with the murder of Gabriel Figueroa, 20, and the attempted murder of Pedroza. They are in custody and have pleaded not guilty. Since their arrest Cruz and Martinez have been identified as associates of the Latin Kings street gang and Streater is a member of the Bloods street gang. On Friday, Pedroza admitted that he violated his earlier probation by fleeing to Puerto Rico within weeks of entering the program. He has served about 300 days in custody, including jail time in Puerto Rico and New Jersey, waiting for the probation violation to be resolved. Assistant Prosecutor Michael Mormando said that time was equivalent to the time he would likely serve as part of a five-year prison sentence with no mandatory minimum. Mormando said Pedroza has indicated he will cooperate with police in the prosecution of the men charged in the shooting. Pedroza was shot along with his brother in an ambush outside the hotel at Route 73 and Fellowship Road on Aug. 16, 2008. On Friday, Almeida told Pedroza he must testify truthfully about the shooting if the case goes to trial as a condition of his probation. He said prosecutors could seek a material witness warrant that would keep him in custody if he did not cooperate.

Camden man who was shot and witnessed his brother being killed outside the Marriott hotel in Mount Laurel

Camden man who was shot and witnessed his brother being killed outside the Marriott hotel in Mount Laurel last year will serve five years of probation and must cooperate with authorities in the case against those charged in the murder.
Superior Court Judge John Almeida sentenced Luis Pedroza, 27, to the probationary term Friday for violating his previous probation. Pedroza originally was sentenced to three years of probation for unlawful possession of a weapon stemming from a car stop in Delran in 2006, in which he was with one of the men who is now charged with attempting to kill him and with murdering his brother. Antonio K. Streater, 26, and Daniel Cruz, 24, both of Camden, and Richard Martinez, 34, of Atco, are charged with the murder of Gabriel Figueroa, 20, and the attempted murder of Pedroza. They are in custody and have pleaded not guilty. Since their arrest Cruz and Martinez have been identified as associates of the Latin Kings street gang and Streater is a member of the Bloods street gang. On Friday, Pedroza admitted that he violated his earlier probation by fleeing to Puerto Rico within weeks of entering the program. He has served about 300 days in custody, including jail time in Puerto Rico and New Jersey, waiting for the probation violation to be resolved. Assistant Prosecutor Michael Mormando said that time was equivalent to the time he would likely serve as part of a five-year prison sentence with no mandatory minimum. Mormando said Pedroza has indicated he will cooperate with police in the prosecution of the men charged in the shooting. Pedroza was shot along with his brother in an ambush outside the hotel at Route 73 and Fellowship Road on Aug. 16, 2008. On Friday, Almeida told Pedroza he must testify truthfully about the shooting if the case goes to trial as a condition of his probation. He said prosecutors could seek a material witness warrant that would keep him in custody if he did not cooperate.

Turkish gangwars assassinated Oktay Erbasli

motorbike assassin shot dead Oktay Erbasli, 23, as he sat at the wheel of his Range Rover in rush-hour traffic. His girlfriend and five-year-old stepson were miraculously unharmed in Tottenham, North London. Cops believe Erbasli was the victim of a vicious drug war between rival Turkish gangs. One onlooker said: "The boy was crying hysterically and screaming, 'My Daddy! My Daddy!' It was heartbreaking." Erbasli is thought to have been shot in the legs earlier this year. A family pal said: "He feared for his life."

Copenhagen gang wars Hells Angels AK81

Hells Angels AK81.
"He was brought to the National Hospital trauma center and is conscious and talking, so his condition is not life threatening," detective Jens Christiansen tells to jp.dk.
Ordered into the backyard The incident began when two men drove their car to Korsgade. The two stopped the car and stepped out to call a friend."
They were approached by mob of asylum seekers, asking if the two belonged to the Hells Angels AK81 gang. , they were were threatened with a gun and ordered into a backyard.
The were then searched, and then the began beating the 21-year old with a bottle, and the 19-year old was stabbed. Then Danes tried to escape and took off to opposite directions. He tried to ran towards Korsgade, and was shot. He fell downThe Copenhagen police has interviewed several eyewittnesses.Gang links suspected
"We always suspect gangs, when there are shootings in Nørrebro. We do not know right now whether this is the case this time," says Jens Christiansen. [duh!]
Fled in chaos
Police do not yet know the motive behind the shooting, but after the attack 5 to 8 immigrants fled the scene on foot, bicycles and by car.

Jamal Shakir,gang leader had developed an elaborate plot to escape from prison in a homemade helicopter

Federal authorities say a gang leader had developed an elaborate plot to escape from prison in a homemade helicopter flown by his underlings.The Tennessean of Nashville reported Friday that the case against one of the gang leader's associates, 35-year-old Faith Readus, will be heard by a grand jury. She is accused of researching different types of helicopters and flight training.Authorities say the plot was orchestrated by Jamal Shakir, who hoped to renew his Rollin' 90 Crips criminal enterprise. He was convicted in May 2008 of orchestrating a nationwide drug ring, laundering money and killing nine people between 1994 and 1997.Readus' attorney, Jennifer Thompson, could not be reached Friday. But she said at a Thursday hearing that such a plot was ridiculous.

Four members of Zombie Boys South Florida gang have been indicted by a grand jury three years after a bold daylight ambush left three men dead.

Four reputed members of a South Florida gang have been indicted by a grand jury three years after a bold daylight ambush left three men dead."That shooting was meant to be dramatic," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle as she announced the arrests. "They all wore black."Rundle showed photos of the incident and said it captured "nationwide attention." She said, "If you look at it, more than 60 shots were fired. They didn't stand a chance. Look at the pictures of this van. When gang members fight and go to war, people die."Then Miami-Dade's top prosecutor, in a dramatic display, showed the type of AK-47 assault rifle that was used. "This is able to shoot off 600 rounds a minute," she said. "This sort of weapon is killing our police and gang members are buying this for just dollars on the street."Miami-Dade's top prosecutor continued her calls for a ban on assault rifles and asked the public to support her and said the media should continue top expose the harm that such assault weapons do. "Those weapons were banned for more than 10 years," she said.CBS4's Peter D'Oench asked Timoney what the message for gang members was. He responded, "Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," said Timoney, "the gang members should keep looking over their shoulder. Law enforcement is coming after you. We are right behind you."Miami Police say the mastermind of the attack was Emmanuel "Mano" Cadillon, whose toddler son was shot and killed a few weeks earlier. It's believed the triple murder was in retaliation for his death.
Cadillon, 28, faces three counts of first-degree murder. He has been behind bars since July 2006, when he was arrested after an all-night SWAT standoff with police in Miramar unrelated to the slayings. Cadillon is serving five years in prison for possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.Cadillon made an appearance in bond court where he had no money in the bank and no job. He's being held without bond.
The Miami-Dade grand jury, which issued the indictments Wednesday, also charged Robert "Chico" Shaw; Junior "RaRa" Sylvin, 27, and Samuel Cadillon, 25, Emmanuel Cadillon's brother.Investigators believe Shaw, Sylvin and the Cadillon brothers were part of a gang called "69th Street" that retaliated against a gang known as the "Zombie Boys."Investigators say, according to our news partner The Miami Herald, that key evidence was found on a phone left at the scene and weapons discovered in a Miami Beach motel room. Also key were Shaw's statements made in prison to other inmates, police said.All four men are currently in jail or prison on unrelated charges. The triple murder took place on June 5, 2006, when at least two cars boxed in a rented Honda van in 1100 block of Northwest 39th Street. The masked gunmen jumped out of the cars, sprayed the van with more than 50 rounds and killed Edwin Terma, 21; Luckson Branel, 19, and Lamar Atron Kelly, 20. Another man was wounded but survived. One month prior to the triple slaying, Emmanuel Cadillon's 18-month-old son, Zykarious, was fatally shot execution-style in the front yard of their Little River home by gunmen apparently targeting Cadillon, police have said.
D'Oench canvassed that neighborhood and found that neighbors were grateful that arrests had been made. "I have a 2-year-old son just like the 18-month-old boy who was killed across the street from me," said Justin DeLancy as he kept an eye on his child, J.J. "I want him to grow up safe here in Little River. It's really a good thing to keep down crime in this neighborhood and keep the criminals off the streets."Next door, neighbor Racius Stvil said, "These gang members are not good for the community. I hope they stay in jail for a long time. This violence is no good."
Police are still investigating the gang's possible connection to a similar triple murder. In January 2007, three people were shot to death inside their SUV in another daylight ambush, this time on Northwest 79th Street in Little Haiti. Killed were Enel Jean, 22, who was on his way back from court; his girlfriend, Sheena Pierre, 21, and Jean's mother, Jean, 47.No arrests have been made in that case.

Gangs in the Ballyfermot area are believed to have been involved in the pub brawl which led to the death of a British man in Dublin

Gangs in the Ballyfermot area are believed to have been involved in the pub brawl which led to the death of a British man in Dublin in the early hours of yesterday morning.Jason Martin, in his early 40s, was from Manchester and was thought to have had links with drug dealers from one of the gangs. The incident happened between 1.30am and 2am at Hannigen’s pub, on Park West Road in Ballyfermot. The row started in the pub, where people had been watching the Bernard Dunne title fight. It is understood some people involved in the row attended the fight at the 02 and went to the pub afterwards. As more people got involved, the row spilled onto the plaza and into the car park.When gardaí arrived at the scene, they found up to 20 people involved in the disturbance. They were carrying a variety of weapons such as knives, broken glasses and broken bottles. It is understood a hatchet-type weapon was also wielded. Broken glasses were still visible at the scene yesterday, some distance from the area where the fracas took place.Mr Martin was found by gardaí near steps which led down to the car park. He was taken to Tallaght hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10am yesterday.Gardaí found a second injured man in the back of a white Toyota van in the car park.The man, in his 20s, from the local area, sustained a stomach wound. He was undergoing surgery at Tallaght hospital yesterday, but Supt John Quirke from Ballyfermot Garda station said his injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.Gardaí were confronted and obstructed by a number of people when they arrived at the scene. Four men were arrested under the Public Order Act and taken to Ballyfermot Garda station. They were released yesterday morning and files will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.Supt Quirke said it was too early to say if people came to the pub armed with weapons or if the row was sparked by something that happened in the pub. “I understand there may have been a number of implements, but as of yet we haven’t identified any of them,” he said.He appealed for the public’s help in solving the crime. “We are making an appeal to anybody who was in the area here last night between 1am and 2.30am,” he said. “It’s a popular enough pub in the local area here. There would have been a considerable number of people here.”He encouraged anyone with information to contact Ballyfermot Garda station in confidence at 01-6667200. He said CCTV television footage from the pub and the plaza was available and could help to progress the investigation.
The pub was known as Bennigan’s, but it was closed for some time. It reopened as Hannigen’s under a new licence this year.A woman who answered the phone in the pub yesterday said staff had been advised by gardaí not to comment on the incident.A team of gardaí worked at the cordoned-off scene yesterday.

Amran Khan, 29, was gunned down outside his home in Oldham father-of-two's murder is linked to a gang war.

Amran Khan, 29, was gunned down outside his home in Oldham shortly after he put his child to bed.He went outside after hearing a disturbance and was shot at three times. One bullet hit him in the chest.Mr Khan is the third person to be murdered in three months, prompting fears of a turf war between drug dealing Asian gangs from Oldham and Bolton.In July, shop worker Nasar Hussain, 30, from Bolton, was shot six times by a machine-gun assassin in a `hit' at a store in Salford. He was not the intended target and was shot by mistake. The shop where Mr Hussain worked, Brookhouse supermarket in Winton, Eccles, was firebombed last week. The M.E.N. can reveal Mr Khan's brother, Gulfan, 35, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder in connection to Mr Hussain's killing. He is currently on bail until November and was one of 13 men arrested at the time.Days after the Salford shooting, Junaid Khan, 21, from Oldham, was gunned down in the car park of a doctor's surgery in Chadderton. Nobody has been charged with his murder but two men have been chargedwith possessing ammunition.One line of inquiry centres around each shooting being a tit-for-tat retaliation, as the feud shows no signs of ceasing.In the latest incident, Mr Khan was shot at about 10.30pm on Friday evening at his Glodwick home.
As news of his shooting spread, friends and relatives raced to the semi-detached home on Nugget Street. They followed his ambulance to the Royal Oldham Hospital where he died in the early hours. Amid emotional scenes, a nearby mosque opened its doors to mourners.A family member said relatives were all `absolutely devastated'.
"It's an absolute tragedy," he said. "He was such a hard worker. He had two daughters, one and four-years-old, and doted on those girls. They were his life.
"He loved playing football and he was a big Manchester United fan. We were going to watch the derby this weekend. He was looking forward to it."
The relative added that he was struggling to understand why Mr Khan was killed.
He said: "I've not got a clue why someone would do this. Gun him down in cold blood just before Eid."Police arrested two men yesterday on suspicion of murder in connection with Mr Khan's death. They remained in custody last night.
Detectives have previously said they will target anyone who tries to step into the shoes of the 11 senior members of Manchester's Gooch gang who were jailed in April.

Dark Side Rascals who have been battling with the Hanover Boyz and Providence Street Boys in the West End

War among several street gangs erupted in violence this weekend and left five people, including a pregnant teenage girl, with gunshot wounds although none of them are considered life-threatening.Sgt. Michael P. Wheeler, head of the Providence Police Gang Unit, said that investigators suspect that the gunfire involved members of the Dark Side Rascals who have been battling with the Hanover Boyz and Providence Street Boys in the West End.The Hanover Boyz and Providence Street Boys are allies.
“It’s an ongoing feud that has been quiet for a while,” Wheeler said. “We’re trying to find out what prompted this to take off. We don’t know why.”The shootings took place over a span of two hours on Friday night.At 6:45 p.m., police said that Nick Neang, 19, was sitting on the porch of a house at 23 Union Ave. with two members of the Dark Side Rascals when a black Honda sedan crawled by and a shooter fired several times from the passenger’s side window.The police said that one of the shots ripped through Neang’s back and collapsed one of his lungs. The other two gang members were not hit.Neang was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he is expected to recover from the wound, the police said.About two hours later, at 8:50 p.m., two or three young men, whom the police believe are members of the Dark Side Rascals, slipped into a yard on Superior Street, not far from the site of a birthday party at 126 Ford St.Wheeler said that several members of the Hanover Boyz and Providence Street Boys attended the celebration, but he said that it was not a “gang party.” He said most those in attendance have no gang affiliation and there were many young women and children.The police said that the young men believed to be members of the Dark Side Rascals opened fire with two guns and pumped at least 10 shots into the group of 15 to 20 people in the driveway outside the Ford Street address.Wheeler said that four girls were struck: a bullet grazed one girl, another suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and a third was shot in the toe. He said that a fourth girl, who is well-advanced in her pregnancy, suffered a superficial wound.
Their ages ranged from 13 to 19 years old.The girls were all treated and released from Hasbro Children’s Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital.Police Maj. Thomas F. Oates III said he’s relieved that no one was killed or seriously hurt in the barrage of gunfire, especially the random firing into the crowd at the birthday party. He said that patrol officers as well as those from the gang unit, detectives and the Neighborhood Response Team flooded the West End over the weekend to stem the violence.Oates also said that the police relied on street workers from the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence to calm things down.Teny O. Gross, the institute’s executive director, said that the bad blood between the Dark Side Rascals and the Providence Street Boys Juniors, its younger members, have been brewing

Mexican MDC’s have crossed over again into U.S. the violence and insecurity generated by the drug war in Mexico, has crossed into the US

Mexican MDC’s have crossed over again into U.S. the violence and insecurity generated by the drug war in Mexico, has crossed into the US, according to Jesse Tovar, spokesman for the El Paso County Sheriffs Department. He cites the abduction of a man at gunpoint by three men from his home in Horizon City, Texas, on September 3, who was found five days later executed by strangulation in Cd. Juarez.
American gangs are operating throughout the country representing the MDC’s they get their drugs from the cartels smuggled into this country by the MDC’s foot solders in turn the U.S. gangs sale the fronted drugs to street dealers consisting mainly of smaller American gangs, dealers and drug attic’s supporting their habits. The U.S. gangs are fronted the drugs and they set up drug trafficking operations and distribution systems throughout the country. They represent the MDC’s by collecting millions owed by U.S. street dealers. They also act as enforcers for the cartels when ever the cartels feel they have been ripped off or someone owes the cartels money from fronted drugs. Many of the so called common drive by shootings are no longer just over turf or gang ego. Many of these deaths are ordered executions by the MDC’s. Today the gang business is much more dangerous and sophisticated with much more cash involved. These same gangs carrying out cartel orders with gangland style killings across the country acting as paid hit men killing, wounding and maiming Americans in the thousands, according to law enforcement.

Mexican civil war that is raging between the Mexican Government, the Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC’s) and the cartels

Mexican civil war that is raging between the Mexican Government, the Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC’s) and the cartels fighting among themselves over lucrative drug and human smuggling routes in both Mexico and the U.S. Many believe they are safer here than in Mexico. Many of these refugees are Mexican business people, ranchers, police, politicians and even cartel members who fear for their lives. Still others were victims being shaken down for protection money by the cartels similar to the American mafia tactics of the twenty’s and thirty’s. Many of them fear retaliation for not paying the cash or are just not welling to pay anymore.
Shopkeepers along the U.S. Mexican border recite the list of "protection" fees they pay to the MDC’s to just stay in business: 100 pesos a month for a stall in a street market, 30,000 pesos for an auto dealership or construction-supply firm.
First offense for nonpayment: a severe beating. Those who keep ignoring the fees - or try to charge their own - may pay with their lives.
"Every day you can see the people they have beaten up being taken to the IMSS," said auto mechanic Jesus Hernandez, motioning to the government-run hospital a few doors from his repair shop.
Mexican drug cartels have morphed into full-scale mafias, running extortion and protection rackets and are trafficking in everything from people to pirated DVDs and even entered the black market oil and gas business. As once-lucrative cocaine profits have fallen and U.S. and Mexican authorities crack down on all drug trafficking to the U.S., gangs are branching into new ventures - some easier and more profitable than drugsNo one knows the real number of these refugees but some experts believe they number in the thousands
“There’s an increasing number of (cartel) leaders living in the U.S., probably either to escape law enforcement or their enemies in Mexico, so that’s one of the risks that has increased in the last few years,” said Stephen Meiners, a senior tactical analyst for Latin America at Stratfor, a global intelligence company based in Austin, Texas.
“There’s a possibility that this thing could get out of hand,” he said.
Shannon O’Neil, an expert on Latin America at the Council on Foreign Relations, said she knows of no other high-level killings in the U.S., but fears it won’t be the last.
“We have started to see more brazenness close to the border on the Mexican side and on the U.S. side,” O’Neil said. “Once you get these organizations firmly established in Mexico and the United States, you will have killings at all different levels.”
But no one is safe against the Mexican mobsters not even in the states where not only Mexican nationals but American men, women and children have been kidnapped taken to Mexico and killed and other Americans murdered right here on American soil by orders of the MDC’s. Recently a deputy U.S. marshal and Ice informant have been tracked down and assassinated by the cartel henchmen.MDC’s are ordering decapitations hooding victims before they shoot them. The Cartels are sending a chilling message to the Mexican President Felipe Calderon Administration by adopting methods of intimidation made notorious by Middle Eastern terrorist groups.

Guerrero Olivas, aka "Screech," 26, was sentenced to 210 months in prison

Guerrero Olivas, aka "Screech," 26, was sentenced to 210 months in prison by Judge Sam R. Cummings of the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division, part of an immense crackdown on the street gang that began last year.Also sentenced were 33-year-old Hiluterio Chavez, aka "Zeus," of Chicago, who received 87 months in prison on charges of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms, possession of stolen firearms and conspiring to engage in the business of dealing in firearms.
Eliseo Perez, aka "Wicked," 28, of Mission was sentenced to 188 months in prison by Cummings. Perez pleaded guilty May 14 to indictments charging him with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana.Other Big Spring residents having pleaded guilty in the case include John Guzman, 30; Reynaldo Nava, aka "Rat," 27; and Carol Ann Rivas Nava, 20. One defendant, Luis Nava, aka "Flaco," of Midland, withdrew his guilty plea and will proceed to trial by court order.The indictment in the investigation, which charged a total of 17 defendants and was unsealed Feb. 26, alleged that from 2001 until Dec. 13, 2008 — when six of the defendants were arrested — the alleged members of the Latin Kings conspired to distribute multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine and marijuana throughout Texas and elsewhere.
“The 11-count indictment... charges each of the defendants with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana,” said acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas James T. Jacks shortly after the indictments were unsealed. “Three defendants are also charged with conspiring to deal in firearms. The indictment also includes drug distribution charges and various firearms charges, including using and carrying a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.”Officials with the BSPD say the Latin Kings are believed to be responsible for the May 4, 2008, drive-by shooting that claimed the lives of Valerie Garcia, 20, and Michael Cardona, 21, both of Big Spring, and injured several others.Jose Robledo Nava — allegedly the Texas leader of the Latin Kings — along with Gabriel Lee Gonzales, Eduardo Daniel Mares, James Johnathan Cole and Robert Allen Ramirez are currently under federal indictment for the slaying of Garcia and Cardona, according to court documents.According to the indictment — which was engineered by Jacks and Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division — the defendants acquired the cocaine and marijuana from Mexico and brought it to the South Texas region, where it was packaged, stored and transported to Big Spring, Lubbock and Midland for further distribution.

Guns were pulled. Shots were fired. And an old-fashioned beef, the likes of which this part of South L.A. hadn't seen in several years, was underway.

Main Street threw a party. The Hoovers were invited. The details are murky -- something about a girlfriend and a racy remark -- but it doesn't matter now. Guns were pulled. Shots were fired. And an old-fashioned beef, the likes of which this part of South L.A. hadn't seen in several years, was underway.There have been at least six shootings in the wake of that night. Three people are dead, including a seventh-grader, gunned down on Broadway after buying balloons at a swap meet.
"It's frightening how something so trivial can set this off," said Sgt. Dan Horan, who supervises gang operations in the LAPD's 77th Street Division, one of two police districts that encompass the gangs' traditional territories.No one is sure how it's going to end, and the dispute threatens to undermine the marked progress that has been made here. The LAPD's intelligence from the streets, said Lt. Michael Carodine, who helps direct anti-gang operations, boils down to this: "It's on. And it's not going to be over until it's over."Many residents, civic leaders and city officials believe South L.A. is at a crossroads in part because violent crime has fallen so sharply.A reduction in gang violence has led the way. The LAPD's Southeast Division, for instance -- 10 square miles containing 66 gangs, and another district affected by the dispute -- averaged about 140 homicides per year in the late 1980s and early '90s, when violence peaked. Officials said they expect to finish 2009 somewhere in the 50s.That's why this dispute is so unsettling to police and local officials. It was once routine for gangs to duel openly, but that's less common these days; relatively few shots are fired solely to retaliate for previous shootings. Worse, the Hoover-Main Street dispute is considered perhaps the most ominous aspect of a broader spike in killings across South L.A. this summer, police said.In July and August, the police divisions that patrol most of South L.A. recorded 40 homicides, double the rate from the beginning of the year. On Aug. 25, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton announced that they had created a multi-agency task force to deal with the rise in violence.Hours later, at 8 o'clock that night, a gunman walked into the heart of Main Street Crip territory, on Main Street itself, and shot Drayvon James, 29, and Robert Nelson, 16. The double homicide, which has not been solved, is considered one of the incidents that might be linked to the Hoover-Main Street dispute, police said."For this guy to do this on foot, up close and personal . . . " Carodine said, shaking his head. "This is something we haven't seen in a long time."But it was the shooting death of 13-year-old Daquawn Allen that seems to have shaken the neighborhood to its core.Daquawn's shooting illustrates the complexities of policing the gangs of South Los Angeles.He was not a gangbanger, according to police and his relatives. But he was born in Hoover Criminals territory, just west of Broadway. He never knew his father. When he was 9, his mother was sent to prison, and he moved in with his grandmother. Her house was just a few blocks away -- but they were an important few blocks, on the other side of Broadway.Daquawn had an easy, impish smile and was well-liked. In private, he was terribly upset that he had never met his father, said his grandmother, 54-year-old Linda Allen. He was desperate for male attention and affection, she said, and he found it to some degree with a "set" of Hoovers -- part of the larger umbrella gang -- called the 94 Hoovers, sometimes spelled "9-Foe" and named after West 94th Street.They even gave Daquawn a street name: Four Star.
Allen refused to use it. "I told him: 'You use the name your momma gave you,' " she said recently on the porch of her home.

Lower Mainland gang warfare has seemingly reverberated onto Calgary streets, with a known B.C. underworld figure shot dead in a luxury vehicle

Lower Mainland gang warfare has seemingly reverberated onto Calgary streets, with a known B.C. underworld figure shot dead in a luxury vehicle. Gunfire erupted at 2:30 a.m., with cops finding the victim in the driver's seat of a black BMW M6 with B.C. licence plates. Sources identified the dead man as David Tajali, a former player in a war between feuding Mideast gangs in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, and believed to have been in Calgary for some time. It wasn't the first time he was targeted, having been wounded in a shooting in Richmond, B.C., in late 2006. A female passenger in the BMW escaped the gunplay without injury while a second man arrived at hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound. The latter was the brother of the victim and has non-life-threatening injuries, said Calgary police Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus.
"We have been in touch with B.C. police and we have also been in touch with our own gang unit," said Andrus. Sources said the BMW was driven about a block and a half after the shooting erupted, and it appeared two or three bullets struck the car on the driver's side, shattering the window. Shortly after the shooting, it was determined the victim's brother was in a different vehicle which police were trying to locate. Police hope to speak to two women seen behind a nearby building just prior to the shooting. "The (women) were speaking with a lone male and we believe that lone male will have information," said Andrus. Tajali's brother, Niki, was one of three men reportedly injured in a gang-related shootout in Richmond in early 2007. Yesterday's killing left nearby residents unsettled, with sidewalks dotted with evidence markers leading away from the victim's car toward an alleyway. Curt Heitmann lives in a nearby apartment building and was jarred awake by the sounds of about 10 gunshots. "I was sleeping ... and I woke up because I heard what sounded like fireworks," he said. "I think I heard some yelling from the street, 'I'm just trying to help you, I'm just trying to help you'. " Another area resident, Farhad Shirazi, saw an SUV roar away from the scene shortly after gunshots. "And another guy was yelling 'Don't shoot at me, I'm here to help,' " he said.
The slaying is Calgary's 20th homicide of the year. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.

Nortenos and the Surenos at war over crossing out the Surenos gang signs

Three men and a 16-year-old boy have been charged in a Sunday morning drive-by shooting that left a Seattle teen injured.
The move marks the 31st time that a juvenile has been automatically charged as an adult this year by King County prosecutors; in 2008, only 19 such cases were filed. Under state law, 16 or 17-year-olds accused of most violent felonies are automatically charged as adults.According to police statements, Seattle officers were called to the 1000 block of South Sullivan Street just after midnight on reports of a shooting. They found an 18-year-old man shot in the back. Witnesses told officers the shooters had fled in a white sport utility vehicle, according to court documents. Police stopped a similar vehicle in the area minutes later and arrested five occupants. One was later released and has not been charged. During interviews, police allege one of those arrested said the shooting stemmed from a dispute between two street gangs, Deputy Prosecutor Karissa Taylor said in court documents. "The defendants admit that the shooting was gang related between the Nortenos and the Surenos," said Taylor, referring to two California-based gangs. "The victim was shot because he was crossing out the Surenos gang signs."
Having argued with other youths about 20 minutes before, the young men in GMC Tahoe spotted the victim and his friends in the South Park alley. Police allege that Rudy M. Rapisura, 24, Jairo Gomez-Cervantes, 19, and David Bryan Santos, 18, rushed out of the car and opened fire on the other youths. Prosecutors assert that 16-year-old Armando Gomez-Pablo was the getaway driver. Announcing the filing of charges, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg noted the apparent increase in the number of juveniles being prosecuted for violent crimes. "I share the great concern of police and community leaders over this disturbing trend of teenagers turning to gun violence to settle petty grievances," Satterberg said in a statement. "We need to send a strong and consistent message to youth that gun violence is not an acceptable option."Satterberg has previously argued that weak penalties for youths before they turn 16 in gun cases fail to impress upon them the serious consequences of gun violence. He has said he plans to ask that the state-mandated sentencing standards be reviewed. If convicted as charged, the accused face one to two years in prison. They are each scheduled to be arraigned on drive-by shooting charges Aug. 25 at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent

Jason Alejandro Aguirre sentenced to death for the murder of a 13-year-old

Orange County gang member sentenced to death for the murder of a 13-year-old who was mistaken for a gang rival.Jason Alejandro Aguirre was sentenced Friday in Superior Court for the 2003 shooting death of Minh Tran.Prosecutors say members of a Vietnamese street gang followed Tran when they mistook him for a member of a rival street gang. They say Aguirre blocked Tran's car, walked up to the passenger's side and fired shots. Tran was killed and two of his relatives were wounded.A jury in May convicted the 34-year-old Aguirre of murder, attempted murder and street terrorism.
Prosecutors say six other gang members pleaded guilty to charges in the case.

Michael B., was a leading member of the 'Bandidos' rocker gang, switched from the rival 'Hells Angels' gang executed for defection

Berlin has been gripped by a bloody gang war after a renegade rocker was shot
dead in the street
Michael B., was a leading member of the 'Bandidos' motorbike gang, switched from the rival 'Hells Angels' gang executed for defection?The shots were fired from a black delivery van as Michael was walking along the street at midnight. A bullet hit him directly in the heart and an artery in his thigh was also badlydamaged.Residents in Hohenschönhausen in the east of the city heard shots around midnight, according to a police spokesman. The gang member was found lying in the street outside an apartment block.The victim was 33 and lived in the area, and was familiar to police from the rocker scene. He managed to drag himself about 200 metres before he collapsed and died.A doctor tried to resuscitate him but it was too late. An autopsy should be carried out later today to find out the exact cause of death.The investigation has been taken over by the State Office of Criminal Investigation and a murder commission. No suspects have been identified yet but they are the hunt for the black delivery van.An eyewitness reported that the area was flooded with police. The entire block was closed off.Initial reports that the victim was the leader of a rock group called ‘Bandidos’ have not been confirmed. Some rocker gangs, such as the ‘Bandidos’ and ‘Hells Angels’, are bitter rivals and have been waging a bloody war with each other in Germany for years with contract killings and assaults.

Triple shooting in Palmerston North was a clash between gangs.

Police are playing down suggestions that a triple shooting in Palmerston North was a clash between gangs.One man and two woman received gunshot pellet wounds following a confrontation that escalated in Highbury early this morning.Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Sheridan says while one of the men involved is affiliated with a gang, he does not believe the shooting was gang related.Rheon Albert, 27, has appeared in the Palmerston North District Court charged with three counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He has been remanded in custody to reappear on August 12.The victims have been released from hospital.

Calculated gang drug war rages as body after body fell in East and Southeast Baltimore.

Calculated gang drug war rages as body after body fell in East and Southeast Baltimore. Baltimore's police commissioner and mayor questioning the pace of the federal probe. But there are even more questions to answer. One of the victims of the cookout shooting was a member of Operation Safe Streets, an innovative program that uses ex-offenders to mediate gang disputes to prevent violence. It was hailed a success for its first year when no murders took place in a violent city neighborhood, and the counselor being at the party is indeed part of his job. But why didn't police know about the party? And now that the counselor is a witness, and a victim, he has an obligation to step forward and tell police what he knows. The program works under a city agency, the health department, and we can't have cops pleading with people to help them while allowing someone under another city agency to keep quiet.Operation Safe Streets works because the gang leaders who don't trust the cops do trust the workers. If a counselor goes to the cops, the gangs won't cooperate. So we sacrifice information for quiet. But it's not quiet anymore, and serious questions needs to be answered from the program's administrators as to what they knew about the party, the dispute and the gunmen.Questions also have to be asked about how and why Baltimore County Police allowed kidnappers to go free without pursuing criminal charges? Even if at the time the deal was sound because no one was giving up any information at all, cops can't simply sit back and allow two drug groups to exchange money for prisoners and then say case closed and walk away. The case was indeed closed in the county, where the kidnappings occurred, but far from closed as members retaliated in deadly precision on city streets.

Shots fired into the Marriott Resident Inn in Carlsbad

Shots fired into the Marriott Resident Inn in Carlsbad when a fight broke out at a party there early Saturday morning, police said. No one was hit by the gunfire.
Carlsbad police said several gang members from Oceanside and Long Beach were partying at the hotel on Faraday Avenue when they began brawling in front about 12:45 a.m. One of the fighters then pulled out a handgun and fired into the front of the hotel, police said. Police dispatchers received several 911 calls reporting the shooting, and arriving officers found a large crowd running and driving away.
Police interviewed several witnesses, but no arrests have been made.

Set Free Soldiers and Hells Angels inside Blackie’s By the Sea bar near the Newport Pier in July

Six men, including a father and son from Anaheim and two men from Costa Mesa, all have scheduled court appearances in the coming months related to the infamous fracas between the Set Free Soldiers and Hells Angels inside Blackie’s By the Sea bar near the Newport Pier in July.Six men charged in relation to last summer’s biker brawl by the sea in Newport Beach that left one man stabbed.The latest man to face justice from the incident was Jose Enrique Quinones, 43, of Anaheim, who was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday for trying to slit a rival’s throat before ultimately stabbing him in the abdomen.Quinones pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder for the stabbing and one count of street terrorism related to his membership with the Set Free Soldiers, a Southern California biker gang that claims to be a Christian ministry.Police said Quinones was one of a large group of Set Free Soldiers who ambushed the three or four Hells Angels inside. Authorities said the Hells Angels were confronting the other group’s leader, Phillip Aguilar, 61, over rumors that Set Free Soldiers were claiming association with the Hells Angels. Court documents show that the confrontation quickly escalated from verbal to physical when one person threw a punch.Chaos ensued, Quinones stabbed one man, police claim another man smashed a billiard ball into another man’s skull, then everyone fled. Police arrested the defendants days later after a huge, multi-agency raid on homes throughout Orange County. additional defendants from the July biker brawl:
Rodrigo Requejo, 35, Westminster. Pleaded guilty in December to aggravated assault and was sentenced to three years formal probation and 30 days in jail.
Phillip Aguilar, 61, Anaheim. Charged with several felonies including possessing a firearm as a felon, possession of a deadly weapon and street terrorism. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10.
Matthew Aguilar, 30, Anaheim. Charged with felony possession of a deadly weapon and street terrorism. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10.
Michael Timanus, 30, Anaheim. Charged with felony street terrorism and two counts of a felon possessing a firearm. Preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10.
Brian Heslington, 36, Costa Mesa. Charged with two felonies of possession of a controlled substance and felony of possession of a controlled substance with a firearm. Trial is scheduled for July 13.
John Lloyd, 41, Costa Mesa. Charged with felony of having a concealed firearm and a felony of being a gang member carrying a loaded firearm in public. Trial is scheduled for July 6.
Glenn Schoeman, 57, Riverside. Felony of accessory after the fact and street terrorism. Preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 30.

Jose Filiberto Parra Ramos is allied with Teodoro Garcia Simental, who is believed to be waging a bloody battle against reputed Arellano Felix cartel

Jose Filiberto Parra Ramos appears in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration poster of 10 men it believes have been locked in a violent power struggle since a split in the Arellano Felix cartel last year.Soldiers captured Parra and three other drug suspects Wednesday in Tijuana using unspecified intelligence, the Defense Department and the Attorney General's Office said in a statement.The department said Parra is allied with Teodoro Garcia Simental, who is believed to be waging a bloody battle against reputed Arellano Felix cartel leader Fernando Sanchez Arellano, reputed heir to the Arellano Felix cartel.Masked soldiers led a handcuffed and scowling Parra off an airplane that landed in Mexico City from Tijuana, and paraded him in front of reporters at the airport.Parra led a group of armed men an April 2008 battle between the sides that left 13 people dead, the statement said. He also allegedly killed two federal police agents whose bodies were found at a ranch in the Baja California state town of Tecate that same month.According to Mexican authorities, Garcia left after the April 2008 battle to join forces with the powerful Sinaloa cartel and returned to Tijuana with a vengeance in September, sparking more than three months of intense bloodshed.The Defense Department says battles between the two gangs last year left 749 people dead.The army almost caught Parra twice at parties early this year, Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica, the top army commander in Tijuana, told The Associated Press in February.At a three-day bash in January, Parra and Garcia, known as "El Teo," barely escaped onto a beach. Instead, soldiers found Santiago Meza Lopez, nicknamed the "Pozole Maker," after a Mexican stew, because he is accused of disposing hundreds of bodies by disolving them in a corrosive material.Parra and another suspected trafficker, Reydel Lopez Uriarte, were close with Garcia but stayed on good terms with Sanchez Arellano after Garcia fled Tijuana last year, Duarte Mugica said. When Garcia returned to Tijuana in September, they joined him.Mexico has captured several high-profile cartel suspects since President Felipe Calderon launched a national crackdown on cartels in 2006 by sending troops to Michoacan, his home state. But drug violence has surged, claiming more than 10,800 lives since.On Thursday, gunmen opened fire and tossed a grenade at a crowded taco stand in the central Mexican city of Uruapan, killing a police officer and a 15-year-old boy, a spokesman for the state prosecutor's office said n condition of anonymity because his office does not allow him to give his name.The policeman was shot while eating with a fellow officer, the spokesman said. Before fleeing, the assailants shot two tanks of cooking gas that exploded, burning the teenage taco stand worker to death. Four other people were injured.Investigators said the attack apparently targeted the two officers.

Crackdown on the Monk Mobb follows a Halloween party spray of gunfire that killed a 24-year-old man and injured four of his friends.

Crackdown on the Monk Mobb follows a Halloween party spray of gunfire that killed a 24-year-old man and injured four of his friends.Early on, detectives suspected Monk Mobb members in the killing. But as they built their case, detectives gathered information that led to nearly a dozen arrests for other violent crimes – including shootings and robberies – and that could lead to more. What detectives hope will be the final blow came this week, when officials arrested eight suspects – six of them allegedly from the Monk Mobb, and one from TNA, an associated subset in the larger North Highlands Gangster Crips organization – in the Nov. 1 homicide."Monk Mobb and TNA have been problem gangs for us for a long time," said homicide Detective Angie Kirby. "Our goal not only was to solve this murder but take down the entire gang and eliminate this constant problem and threat to public safety."Detectives say they have arrested about a third of the still relatively small Monk Mobb crew. But they're confident, they say, that their efforts will be effective in "dismantling" the gang. And the pressure remains: Sheriff's gang detectives and FBI agents are continuing their push. More arrests are expected.The magnitude of the case and level of cooperation within the Sheriff's Department and with outside agencies is "virtually unheard of," said Detective Scott Swisher.The effort grew out of a Nov. 1 homicide on Rogue River Drive. Patrick Razaghzadeh, 24, was hosting a costume party at his home when the suspects crashed the gathering, detectives said. When an argument erupted about their behavior, one of the suspects unloaded a 9 mm handgun into the crowd.Razaghzadeh, dressed as an Oakland A's baseball player, took a bullet to his head and died in his rain-soaked backyard. Four of his friends suffered gunshot wounds.At the party, the gangsters had been throwing gang signs, causing trouble and trying to push drugs – working, Kirby said, as a "gang pack."That pack mentality continued as the assailants tried to cover up the identity of the trigger man, detectives said.Their loyalty, however, apparently went only so far. Some of the gang members eventually cooperated with authorities and fingered one another as being involved, detectives said.According to a criminal complaint filed by the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, the accused are Corey Andre Carmicle, 22; Charles Steven Ferrell III, 21; Willie Cavil Harris IV, 19; Willie Earl Toliver, Jr., 22; two 18-year-old men who were 17 when the shooting occurred; and a 16-year-old boy who was 15. The Bee is not naming those suspects because they were juveniles at the time of the crimes.The suspects being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail were unavailable for interviews Thursday. Two remained in juvenile hall.Each of the suspects faces one count of murder and four counts of attempted murder, according to the complaint. They also face enhancements for allegedly committing the shooting with a handgun and on behalf of a street gang.The eighth suspect, Leighni Nikkol Hadl, 23, faces one felony count of conspiracy, according to the complaint.Razaghzadeh was the fourth Sacramento County resident to fall fatal victim to the Monk Mobb and TNA – which detectives describe as a "younger set" that includes siblings of Monk Mobb members – according to detectives from the Sheriff's Department and the city Police Department.Sheriff's detectives also allege that the two gangs are responsible for a dozen or more shootings and 70-plus robberies in 2008 alone. The spree has continued: When arrested this week, one of the unnamed 18-year-old suspects in the Rogue River case already was in custody, accused in a February shooting in North Highlands, Kirby said.Razaghzadeh's killing particularly concerned detectives because they saw it as an escalation in the gangs' violence: None of the victims was a gang member, and the alleged assailants were far out of their usual territory.During the investigation into Monk Mobb and TNA, detectives "had an opportunity to gain a whole lot of intelligence about how they operate, who they talk to, what they do and what kinds of crimes they're committing," Kirby said.That allowed them to arrest almost a dozen other gang members on suspicion of unrelated felonies and to seize drugs and weapons possessed by them, detectives said. They also collected information on a number of unsolved crimes, including homicides, though detectives declined to elaborate.In addition to any other arrests that might stem from that intelligence, detectives said it's possible they will make more arrests in the Rogue River case.For now, though, the arrests have Razaghzadeh's family on "cloud nine," said his mother, Trish O'Connor. "I think Pat can finally rest now," she said.Although the seven months since her son's death have been trying, O'Connor said she never gave up hope that detectives would make an arrest. Their regular updates kept her going, she said."They were just so persistent," O'Connor said. "I'm just so elated and thankful to them."Recently, Razaghzadeh's sister gave birth to a son and brought some joy into the family. His name: Ethan Patrick, after the uncle he'll never meet.

Charged four people including a former member of the Dead Man Inc. gang and two teens alleged to have other gang ties

Charged four people including a former member of the Dead Man Inc. gang and two teens alleged to have other gang ties – with firebombing a townhouse in Piney Orchard last week in what may be retaliation for the homicide of a 14-year-old boy.Officials, speaking at a news conference, said the arrests had roots in the May 30 death of Christopher Jones.Police Chief James Teare Sr. said the four suspects believed rumors - which turned out to be incorrect - that the people at the townhouse in the Piney Orchard community had something to do with Christopher's death. "The suspects acted on those rumors falsely," Teare said. They are charged with first-degree arson, first-degree malicious burning, conspiracy to commit arson and three counts of reckless endangerment. The suspected gang ties are a serious twist to violence that left Christopher dead – students said he was threatened by teens with local gang affiliations - said was a Molotov cocktail thrown at the townhouse June 3. No one was injured. Officials said no one in the house had gang ties.The crime and possible gang involvement trouble not only officials but also residents of the community. "It's scary," said Jennifer Wiech, president of the 8,500-household Piney Orchard Community Association, who attended the news briefing. The association pays $60,000 a year for off-duty officers to patrol five hours a day. The adult suspect in the case, Jonathan Richard Myers, 22, who lists addresses in Crofton and Gambrills, was ordered jailed without bond.Teare said Myers told police he had been a member of Dead Man Inc., a mostly white gang that got its start in Maryland's prisons. "That is disturbing," Teare said. Teare said the involvement of a person with ties to DMI was "very concerning to law enforcement." At the time of the firebombing, Myers was out on bond on charges of attempted murder. Prosecutors asked a judge to revoke his bail; a hearing will be Friday. His lawyer, Peter S. O'Neill, had no comment.Teare is to brief members of the county's legislative delegation on gang issues Thursday. Police said the three boys arrested were a 15-year-old and 16-year-old, both from Crofton, and a 16-year-old from Gambrills. They are in the Cheltenham Youth Facility, a juvenile detention center.Teare said two of the teens are affiliated with TNT, a youth gang in western Anne Arundel County that calls itself The New Threat, and the third is friends with them.Youths in TNT and the East Side Diamonds, a West County youth gang feuding with TNT, used to be friendly and play sports together, Teare said. But as they grew apart, fights erupted, he said. Though family and friends said Christopher was not involved in a gang, his family transferred him from Arundel High School to South River High School this spring because of threats at school. But weeks later, on his bicycle near home, he was approached by five to seven people. Police said Javel M. George, 16, and a 14-year-old boy, both of whom live near Christopher's family, admitted to beating him.As he pedaled away, Christopher fell and hit his head. George is charged as an adult with manslaughter, and the younger suspect is charged as a juvenile.Police said race does not appear to have been a factor, though Christopher was white and the youths charged are black.

Found 11 bodies inside an abandoned car in the border state of Sonora

Mexican police found 11 bodies inside an abandoned car in the border state of Sonora Thursday in violence attributed to drug traffickers battling for control of the region.Sonora's state prosecutors said in a statement that the bodies were discovered inside a sport utility vehicle on a road between the towns of Caborca and Sonoyta along with a threatening message. The SUV had been stolen in Arizona.
Prosecutors did not reveal what the message said or the identities of the bodies. They said the killings are linked to a fight between local drug traffickers and another group trying to move in.Police are investigating whether the killings are tied to an attack on the village of Plutarco Elias Calles where four people were abducted and assailants opened fire on the police station Wednesday night.Meanwhile, federal police said Thursday they have captured two of 53 inmates who escaped from a prison in northern Mexico last month as its guards apparently stood by.
Marcos Espinoza and Osvaldo Garcia were detained Wednesday in Mexico's central state of Hidalgo along with six alleged members of the Zetas, a gang of hit men tied to the Gulf cartel, federal police intelligence coordinator Luis Cardenas told reporters.Security camera footage shows that guards at the Cieneguillas prison in Zacatecas state stood by as an armed gang walked out with the 53 inmates on May 16. About a dozen of the fugitives are drug cartel suspects.The prison director and all 44 guards on duty have been jailed pending an investigation into their possible complicity.