Collapse of the Hells Angels has created a toxic environment a biker war is imminent.

The Redlined Crew made their first big impression in mid-January when they allegedly attacked a Rock Machine member who had been lured to an auto repair shop that has connections to the Hells Angels."Tensions are extremely high ... Violence is imminent," a veteran police officer with extensive knowledge of the organized crime scene wrote last month in newly released court documents obtained yesterday by the Winnipeg Free Press.
Police explain in detail why they believe the relative calm of the past few months is about to be broken -- including evidence of gang members stockpiling weapons in preparation to take out their rival "by any means necessary." The document was used to obtain a search warrant for a home in the city's East Kildonan neighbourhood, where a loaded handgun was found hidden in a backyard last month.Police say a pair of newly arrived gangs are at the centre of the brewing battle as they try to fill the "vacuum" created by a major undercover sting operation dubbed "Project DIVIDE" that ended last December. Police used a career criminal turned secret agent to infiltrate the Hells Angels, resulting in the arrests of 34 high-ranking members and associates.
Police say every member of the Zig Zag Crew -- the Hells Angels so-called "puppet club" -- was put behind bars while only a handful of Hells Angels remain free. With the demand for drugs as high as ever, the criminal underworld was thrown into turmoil."The Rock Machine has been attempting to establish a foothold in the province of Manitoba due to the arrests in DIVIDE. Members of the Rock Machine have been capitalizing on the fact the Hells Angels members and supporters are low in number and have been 'flying' their colours throughout the city of Winnipeg, enraging members of the Manitoba Hells Angels," police wrote in their affidavit.
The Rock Machine have a long history with the Hells Angels in Quebec, especially during the 1990s, when dozens of gang members were killed. But they are new to Winnipeg.The Hells Angels responded quickly despite their diminished state, according to police. Two long-time members of the gang assembled a new group in January to stand up to Rock Machine members trying to take over Winnipeg's drug scene. The "Redlined Support Crew" is comprised entirely of imposing young men who are free in the community and have previously shown their allegiance to the Hells Angels --at least informally.

most violently ruthless gang in the world, the Aryan Brotherhood

most violently ruthless gang in the world, the Aryan Brotherhood came to bloody birth in San Quentin Prison in 1964. The prison population of San Quentin – called the ‘Q’ – began choosing sides based on skin color. Blacks only socialized with other blacks. Hispanics refused to speak with anyone who wasn’t Hispanic. To protect themselves against the blacks and Hispanics, a few outlaw bikers – who were white – doing time in the ‘Q’ formed their own clique. Back then the cliques weren’t called gangs. Instead they were called “tips.” The black tip was called the Black Guerilla Family, and had ties to the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam. Mexican Mafia or La Eme was the name the Hispanics chose. The white boys called their tip the Diamond Tooth Gang, which referred to their teeth. To add an aura of fear and terror to their persons, the white guys glued bits of broken glass to their teeth. When they smiled, the sunlight glittered off the glass in their teeth. It looked as if they had diamonds in their teeth. A number of gangsta’ rappers later adopted this ‘jailhouse’ dental fashion. The rappers put real diamonds in their teeth. And the current trend of wearing baggy pants real low on the buttocks – called ‘sagging’ – also began in prison and carried over into popular culture.For some reason, after a while they changed the name from the Diamond Tooth Gang to the Blue Bird Gang. No one seems to know exactly why. Whatever the origin of the name, the Blue Bird Gang began to attract other white members at the ‘Q’. Soon this gang of “white warriors,” as they called themselves, dropped the Blue Bird name and designated themselves the Aryan Brotherhood – a direct reference to their skin color.
The Aryan Brotherhood recruited only the biggest, the baddest and the toughest white inmates. It was an exclusive order of white warriors. Their motto was “blood in, blood out.” This meant that each potential member had to “make his bones” before he became a full-fledged member. “Making one’s bones” meant spilling blood in hand-to-hand combat. Either the blood of another prisoner from a rival gang, or the blood of one of the guards. It didn’t matter which, but blood had to be spilled.

Daniel C. Miller and Austin Fry went by the menacing-sounding name of “Omaha Mafia Bloods.”

Daniel C. Miller and Austin Fry went by the menacing-sounding name of “Omaha Mafia Bloods.”On the other side was Julius Robinson, an 18-year-old who had just broken off from that group to form his own menacing-sounding Millard gang — “LOC 228.” The LOC stood for Loc’ed Out Criminals — and the 228 was some combination of Robinson’s and other members’ birthdays.The feud between the groups had heated up in the late spring of 2008, when Robinson was accused of stealing $500 from Fry during a marijuana deal.
Then the spat became deadly when Miller and Fry drove to a southwest Omaha apartment complex to settle it.What happened next is not in dispute: Miller pulled a .357 Magnum revolver and, from the passenger’s seat of Fry’s Chrysler, fired twice — hitting Robinson once and killing him.
What remains in dispute is why.In opening statements Tuesday for Miller’s first-degree murder trial, Miller’s attorney, Greg Abboud, said Miller had no choice but to fire after the car he was in was ambushed by at least 10 members of Robinson’s gang.
“Dan Miller, realizing the gravity of the situation, shot him,” Abboud said. “He shot him in self-defense.
“(Another witness) will tell you the same thing. It was a kill-or-be-killed situation.”Hardly, prosecutor John Alagaban said.
Alagaban equated Miller’s actions to those of a drive-by shooter. Alagaban said no evidence would be presented at trial that Robinson or any of his fellow LOC 228 members had guns.
In fact, Alagaban said, Robinson had taken off his shirt and was brandishing nothing more than a novelty 12- to 18-inch baseball bat when he approached the car carrying Miller.Alagaban said tensions had grown between the groups since Robinson’s departure weeks earlier from the Omaha Mafia Bloods gang.
On June 15, 2008, the two groups made plans to fight at a gas station. Soon after, someone gave word to Miller, who was swimming at a pool.
Miller left the pool and went to his parents’ west Omaha house to get the .357 Magnum he had hidden under his mattress.
He then loaded the revolver with two bullets.
Fry, who is expected to testify for the prosecution, drove Miller and two other OMB members to the apartment complex near 128th and Q Streets.
Abboud said Miller and his three friends were overwhelmed as they drove up. Some of Robinson’s fellow group members will admit that they planned to ambush the car before Miller, Fry and their friends could get out, Abboud said.
That’s exactly what they did, Abboud said.
“It was an ambush,” Abboud said. “They’ll tell you that one of the strategies was, ‘Act first. Don’t let them get out of the car. Then we pull them out of the car and beat them.’
“That’s what the plan was.”
Abboud said Miller will testify that he thought one of Robinson’s gang members had a rifle he was pumping. In reality, Abboud said, that object may have been a pipe that was about the same size and circumference as the barrel of a rifle.
An apartment manager will describe finding a butterfly knife in a bush near where Robinson lay dying — a knife overlooked by police, Abboud said.
Witnesses also will testify that Robinson had crouched behind a sign before jumping out and rushing the car, Abboud said.
At least one passenger in the car with Miller will testify that it was a “kill or be killed situation,” Abboud said.
Alagaban painted a different picture. The prosecutor pointed out that Robinson had his shirt off and carried only a novelty bat — one that a police officer described as a 12- to 18-inch-long Royals souvenir.
“The victim has his shirt off in fistfight mode, (saying) ‘Let’s go,’” Alagaban said.
Alagaban said Miller had several options short of shooting. If they feared for their lives, Miller and his friends had an easy escape by driving on down the street, away from the approaching group.
Instead, Alagaban said, Miller raised his gun as he sat in the passenger seat, fired across Fry and killed Robinson as he approached the driver’s side door.
“Daniel Miller was there on June 15, 2008, to kill Julius Robinson,” Alagaban said. “And that’s what he did.”

Marvin "Shyboy" Mercado and his brother, Pierre, hid out in the Philippines for 10-years before being caught and extradited back to the U.S

Asian Boyz gang member will finally go to trial for the 15-year-old murder
Marvin "Shyboy" Mercado and his brother, Pierre, hid out in the Philippines for 10-years before being caught and extradited back to the U.S. last May. Both men are reputed members of a Van Nuys clique of the Asian Boyz gang.Investigators say the group is responsible for a mid-1990s bloodbath that left as many as 17 people dead and many more wounded.Pierre faced two counts of attempted murder when he fled. But his big brother "Shyboy" ran to escape prosecution for six murders. According to the criminal complaint, he's been charged with two more murder counts, including the killing of Jennifer Gregory's husband.

Gangland hit squad who executed drug boss Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll used guns previously fired in an attack on a house

Forensic experts have linked the murder weapons with a gangland warning attack on a house near Milton, in the north of Glasgow.Six shots were fired through a front window in the 2007 incident but no one was injured.Now the connection between the shooting and Carroll's execution last month outside an Asda supermarket in Robroyston, Glasgow, has provided detectives with an Aladdin's Cave of evidence.
A police source said: "In the preparation and execution of the murder, there has been a degree of recklessness.
"The killers were careless in disposing of the weapons behind a public library.
"And it beggars belief that the guns had already been used in a previous incident.
"As we examine the background and motive of the earlier case, other people are coming into play.
"Carroll had a lot of enemies and there has been much speculation about who may have been behind the murder.
"But the guns link is opening up opportunities to eliminate different groups and it may provide a clear path to those responsible for the shooting."
Underworld sources have claimed Carroll, who worked as an enforcer for the Daniel crime clan, was killed as part of a running feud with the Lyons family.
Detectives believe that Eddie Lyons Jnr, 30, was shot by Carroll just days before he was assassinated.
Eddie Jnr is rumoured to have been shot three times by Gerbil, with two shots hitting his bulletproof vest and a third striking his arm.
The dad-of-two is understood to have left his £250,000 home in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, after Carroll's murder and he is now believed to be in Spain.
His dad, Eddie Snr, 51, is the head of the notorious crime clan.
Earlier this week, we revealed detectives raided a house in north Glasgow looking for Eddie Jnr.
Officers swooped on a property owned by his mother-in-law in a bid to question him about Gerbil's murder.
But his wife, Joanne, told cops she did not know where her husband was and other family members also pleaded ignorance.
The police operation was triggered after a black BMW X5 was spotted parked outside his mother-in-law's house in Milton.
Police were alerted about the 4x4, which is believed to belong to Eddie Jnr, and members of Strathclyde Police's Gangs Task Force were scrambled.
Carroll was shot dead as he sat in the back of a black Audi in the car park of the Asda store at about 1.30pm on January 13.
Police revealed more than 10 shots were fired at Carroll as horrified shoppers looked on.The three-man hit squad then sped off in a dark blue Volkswagen Golf, later found burned out in Glenmavis, Airdrie.A fortnight after the hit, their guns were found dumped behind Coatbridge Library in Lanarkshire.

Clark, Harris and other members of the Tre Tre Crips, a northeast Denver street gang, got angry at the Broncos in the club

Clark, Harris and other members of the Tre Tre Crips, a northeast Denver street gang, got angry at the Broncos in the club because Marshall's cousin sprayed champagne around the VIP area when the new year arrived.
Marshall provided a more comprehensive timeline while deleting his cousin altogether. The jury may or may not buy the deletion, but the rest of the tale confirmed several reports that have been floating around since that night. It didn't hurt the drama or value of Marshall's testimony that he has never before spoken publicly about that night.
He testified that the problems began as soon as he and his party arrived at the club. Clark, in the crowd outside waiting to enter, took exception to Marshall's party going right in, saying those on the street had money to spend too.
Marshall said he tried to make a joke, telling Clark if he had money, drinks inside could be on him. Clark didn't laugh. Marshall testified he told the bouncer to let Clark and Harris in, trying to defuse the situation.
That's why he got angry later when he found Clark and Harris confronting Williams and his table in the club's VIP area, he said. By other accounts, the confrontation at Williams' table was about champagne sprayed by Marshall's cousin. Marshall said he wasn't with his cousin at the time and didn't see anyone spraying champagne. In any case, the dispute continued, Marshall now upset his good turn was being repaid with hostility.
By the time they all spilled outside at closing time, Marshall admitted he was angry and helped to escalate the confrontation, eventually getting punched in the jaw by Harris, he said. When he saw Clark's group running off for no apparent reason, he said he had a bad feeling about what was coming next.
"I just remember, like, man, it's time to get out of here," he said.
The defense went after Marshall hard. Some of its attempts to undermine his credibility hit their marks. Still, it's a debatable legal strategy before a jury that's bound to include some Broncos fans. Motive is probably not Clark's strongest suit.
This was defense attorney Abraham Hutt's first question, referring to Marshall's initial 2007 police interview: "The first thing you told them was a lie, wasn't it?"
The issue? Whether Marshall disclosed the names of his entire traveling party that night. Even if he omitted his cousin and teammate Elvis Dumervil on purpose to protect them, it seems likely the jury will view that as a rather minor offense compared to some of the other stuff it's heard about. This trial is not rated PG.
Typically, Marshall didn't give an inch, battling Hutt just as he battled the Crips that night, just as he battled Broncos coach Josh McDaniels last season. It's who he is. The same quality that provided the prosecution's best day so far on behalf of his fallen teammate also contributed to the hostilities that led up to his murder.

Four members of the Bandidos, including president Joe Louis “Bandido Joe” Flores, and a friend of the lone shooting victim, were arrested

Four members of the Bandidos, including local chapter president Joe Louis “Bandido Joe” Flores, and a friend of the lone shooting victim, were arrested, deputies said in a news release Wednesday.The incident at Fred’s on the River escalated into a shooting after the victim, Steven Hoff, 31, 30914 La. 16, Denham Springs, called his friend for help as gang members arrived and argued with him, deputies said.
Hoff’s friend, Brian McDonald, 39, 15357 Joe Sevario Road, Prairieville, arrived at the bar on La. 42 along the Amite River and brandished a gun to get the gang members off Hoff, deputies said.McDonald, who was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital and released, was arrested on counts of aggravated assault, disturbing the peace and possession of a firearm at an alcoholic beverage outlet, deputies said.In addition to information on McDonald’s arrest, deputies provided the following list of the four gang members arrested and the counts against them:Joe Louis Flores, 31, 34230 Hocks Cove, Denham Springs, attempted second-degree murder, possession of a firearm in an alcoholic beverage outlet and second-degree battery.
Jose Felisiano Flores, 31, 11040 Burgess Ave., Denham Springs, second-degree battery and disturbing the peace.
Derrick Johnson, 35, 13458 Prairie Lane, Walker, second-degree battery and disturbing the peace.
Chester Hunnicutt, 38, 44523 La. 42, Prairieville, principal to attempted second-degree murder, possession of a firearm in an alcoholic beverage outlet, second-degree battery and disturbing the peace.
No bonds had been set early Wednesday afternoon, deputies said. No counts were filed against Hoff on Wednesday, but Hoff’s actions in the fracas remain under investigation, deputies said.

Fresno Police investigators say rival gang members showed up at a party and got into a fight.

One person wast taken to the hospital, and two people were sent to the Fresno County Jail after a weekend shooting. It happened Sunday night in Southeast Fresno, in the parking lot of an apartment complex at Maple and Huntington.Fresno Police investigators say rival gang members showed up at a party and got into a fight. One person was shot in the leg. Police stopped a car with two suspects inside about a half a mile away. The victim is expected to recover.

New York City Mob Tour will cost $50 per person for a two-hour tour.

Mob aficionados will soon get to take a tour of the Mafia’s “greatest hits” in Manhattan.
John Ciarcia is planning a new bus tour that will point out the scenes of some of New York City’s most famous gangland murders.
Ciarcia says most New Yorkers and tourists have no idea about places with a major mob history, such as a Starbucks in Midtown that used to be a barbershop where mob boss Albert “The Executioner” Anastasia was gunned down by assassins.
While there are other mob tours of New Jersey and elsewhere, Ciarcia’s tour is believed to be the first in Manhattan.
The New York City Mob Tour will cost $50 per person for a two-hour tour.
I’d take that tour. Really, of all the horrible tours of that city I would be the most entertained here.

the New Boys are declaring a war on one club, they can expect to cop it from all clubs

The New Boys has been undercutting other dealers, and targeted outlaw bikies, the Hell's Angels, in a series of drive-by shootings in August.The New Boys emerged in the northern suburbs about four years ago and once congregated at pubs around Elizabeth and Smithfield. They use Hindley St as their base, as well as the Norwood entertainment strips, including The Parade, where they sell drugs. The gang has two "chapters" and is extensively involved in selling drugs, including ecstasy tablets and methamphetamine, and street fights, usually using knives.The group said to be headed by a city tattooist, the target of the bungled bomb attack who lashed out at cameramen yesterday when he returned to his home, metres from the crime scene.It was two hours before sunrise on Thursday when Enfield shook with the force of the home-made bomb, ripping apart a hire car and killing two men on Truscott Rd.Convicted drug runner Vahe Hacopian, 31, of Munno Para West, and a 23-year-old Walkley Heights Hell's Angels associate, made it within metres of their suspected target when the explosives accidentally detonated.Their target, a tattooist and New Boys drug dealer, lived just metres from where shrapnel showered the road.They were killed instantly, with one man's body blown across the road while the other remained in the vehicle, secured by his seatbelt.The tattooist was a suspect in the 2008 Gouger St shootings, his Enfield home raided by STAR Group officers hours after the gun battle.Yesterday, he returned home to his wife and children, but stayed only five minutes.A uniformed police officer stood about 40m away, guarding the crime scene around Thursday's bomb blast."Get that camera off the house," he shouted while rushing at a television cameraman. "Haven't you got any respect for my kids and wife? Is this how you protect the community, you maggots? Insects. Dogs."The tattooist has a criminal history dating back to when he was 17, including numerous convictions for serious assault and drug dealing.Yesterday, bikie expert and author of The Brotherhoods, Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, Professor Arthur Veno said Adelaide was most likely in the middle of a turf war between drug dealers. "It's extremely unlikely that the (motorcycle) clubs are doing this," he said."The clubs are desperately trying to get rid of these guys."They have to distance themselves from the criminal element because the understanding is if they want to keep their club, they need to get rid of that kind of thing. It's much more likely to be an underworld drug situation or turf war."Prof Veno said if the New Boys wanted a war with one club, they would be shut down by all of them. He said the once-warring bikie gangs had been brought together by the United Motorcycle Council to fight the state government's anti-bikie laws."If the New Boys are declaring a war on one club, they can expect to cop it from all clubs, who will join together and stop it real quick," he said. "The bikie clubs are under so much pressure and they've reached a consensus through the United Motorcycle Council that they will push out the criminal element."They are desperately trying to keep a lid on things.

targeted killings in Monterey County during the past year are the result of gang orders to cleanse the area of those considered traitors by Norteños

targeted killings in Monterey County during the past year are the result of gang orders to cleanse the area of those considered traitors by Norteños and their parent gang, the Nuestra Familia.Recent slayings of at least seven people not in good standing with the gang in Greenfield and Salinas led investigators to conclude that a "cleanup" of the streets in the wake of two large federal racketeering cases is continuing."We're dealing with violence that is spread across the Salinas Valley and beyond," Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier said. "The issues are not in any one city and the solutions will have to involve the region."Gang members, agents and federal prosecutors -- all of whom asked not to be named -- say the FBI is working a new gang conspiracy case in the Salinas Valley. Only San Francisco U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said on the record that the FBI and his office are investigating more gang crimes in Monterey County.The brazenness of some slayings remind longtime gang cops of a bloody era more than a decade ago, when gang leaders in Salinas and points south ordered dozens of killings in a civil war and power struggle within the gang.

In late 1998, several regiment leaders and so-called traitors were slain, with attempts made on many more as Nuestra Familia crew bosses fought over control of the valley.The slayings of three people in and near the Pueblo Inn.motel in Greenfield in December and January point to the possible involvement of a higher "shot caller" presumably still at large, investigators said.
Israel Cota of Soledad, who police say is a Nuestra Familia boss for Salinas Valley, is wanted on warrant by state parole officers. Police declined to say if he is a person of interest in the Greenfield slayings.Police continue to try to apprehend 18-year-old Francisco Tamayo, believed to be the shooter of two women at the motel, but investigators do not consider him to be the gang authority who ordered the crime.
Yliza Martinez and Veronica Gallegos, both 30, were shot in their motel room Dec. 5. Gallegos died that night, Martinez died a week later.Shortly after the slayings, fire crews were summoned to put out a mysterious fire in the motel's hallway.Although police have not speculated on a suspect or motive behind the apparent arson, gangs for years have used arson and fire bombings as warnings to tell would-be crime witnesses not to cooperate with police.On Jan. 14, Gallegos' half-brother Angel Gutierrez, 40, was shot and killed not far from the motel.About that time, officers learned Cota failed to show up for a parole appointment. Cota was released from Monterey County jail in late December.Citing an ongoing investigation, police declined to say whether they are aware of a specific motive for the three slayings, although Gutierrez was known to have had a falling out with Nuestra Familia years ago. Before that, he was "very active" with the gang in Soledad, an investigator familiar with his history said.Some killings likely ordered Salinas police detective Lalo Villegas said that just because a gang member is on a hit list doesn't necessarily mean his killing was ordered by the gang."Norteños can be on a hit list forever and nothing ever happens to them," he said.
Nonetheless, in the past year, he said, "we've also seen some of the true hits."
Gang officers from Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties say current levels of violence are in part the unforeseen consequences of large federal prosecutions.
A leadership struggle at the gang's highest level emerged after the FBI's Operation Black Widow took out the Nuestra Familia's top captains and generals and sent them to a federal supermax prison in Colorado in 2005. Since then, it has been well-documented that two factions in the Central Coast have struggled over control of the gang: Those still loyal to the leaders in federal prisons, and those loyal to the new general, D.C. Cervantes of Chino, in Pelican Bay State Prison, the gang's traditional headquarters.During the past year, investigators say, the Pelican Bay faction has asserted its authority after the government's Operation Valley Star in 2007 swept up key figures in the Salinas and Central valleys still reporting to the old leaders.
A second likely factor in the violence is competition from rival Sureño gangs.
The bloodshed has stepped up in part, police say, because the Nuestra Familia is trying to re-establish territory lost to its archenemy during the Nuestra Familia's recent years of organizational chaos.

"Sureños are definitely getting more organized," said Villegas. "We do know that we've been having some high-ranking people trying to unite them. They're starting to be a little more structured than we've seen before.

"Villegas said the Salinas Valley is seeing Sureños targeting suspected traitors within their ranks, although he said he hasn't seen evidence the killings were ordered by higher-ups.Links to '98 homicide?One curious aspect of the investigations is that police are looking into whether at least two of the past year's victims may have known something about the slaying 12 years ago of Nuestra Familia's Salinas crew leader Miguel "Mikeo" Castillo by Rico "Smiley" Garcia, a case that made dramatic headlines at the time.In 1998, Alberto Arizpe contacted police in an apparent attempt to mislead officers shortly after Castillo's killing, according to a police report.He told skeptical detectives that Castillo's attackers were three Sureños -- members of the Norteños' rival gang. But Garcia later admitted to conspiring to kill Castillo and is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Florida.Arizpe eventually left the gang after he was assaulted and beaten by Norteño gang members in Monterey County Jail.Last summer, he was 28 years old when he was killed along with a female friend in a brazen home-invasion attack on a Salinas residence.Authorities are looking into whether last week's slaying victim, Gutierrez, was connected to Castillo's murder.Suspect not believed to be gunmanThe only person charged in the Pueblo Inn killings is a 15-year-old boy held in Juvenile Hall. Prosecutors say he was not the triggerman in the slayings of the two women, but was present when they were killed.On Wednesday, a county court is expected to decide if the boy will be tried as an adult on two counts of murder.

Hells Angels violent biker war with the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club

Rising tensions between two biker gangs have Winnipeg police closely monitoring their actions.Police paid close attention to a bar at a St. Boniface hotel Saturday night following a tip that a fight could be imminent.The news follows a serious attack against a Winnipeg member of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club inside a business on St. Mary's Road about three weeks ago.Sources tell CTV News the victim was lured to the business where he was then beaten.The victim had such serious injuries that he was unrecognizable.Officers say they had received information that the people responsible for the attack were Hells Angels members and a few of their associates.
The group was allegedly unhappy with the victim because he is a former member of the Zig Zag crew, which is a puppet club to the Hells Angels.He had apparently been seen around the city wearing his new gang's vest, which drew negative attention from the Hells Angels.Since the attack, police have been preparing to deal with some sort of retaliation.There were suspicions that members of the Rock Machine were going to attend a bar on Saturday night at the hotel because they knew associates of the Hells Angels frequented the place.Nothing appeared to happen at that bar Saturday night.Still, a number of Rock Machine members from outside the province have been seen in Winnipeg over the past week.Saturday night's events follow the execution of several search warrants, including one last week on Mighton Avenue in Elmwood.A 30-year-old man was arrested and a loaded nine millimetre handgun was seized at the home.CTV News has learned the man who was arrested is a member of the Redlined Club, a group which is considered a friend club to the Hells Angels.This arrest is also believed to be connected to the rising tensions between the gangs, say sources.Police have confirmed they were at the bar on Saturday night, but will not provide any further information.The public's safety was one of the main reasons police say they were there in such large numbers.
There has been trouble between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine in the past. Both groups were involved in a violent biker war in Quebec in the mid-nineties.
A truce was made but police say they are worried violence could erupt again.

24-year-old Howard Astorga, found guilty of first-degree murder

Four-year-old Roberto Lopez loved creating artwork out of glitter and sequins at a neighborhood arts and community center in the southern edge of Echo Park. It was while Roberto was near that neighborhood center that he was fatally shot a year ago last month by a gang member on parole. Today, a jury found that gang member, 24-year-old Howard Astorga, found guilty of first-degree murder, according to Associated Press. Astorga was firing his gun at a speeding car but one of those bullets struck Roberto instead. Astorga faces a prison sentence of 82 years to life.Since the murder, several groups have tried to organize residents of the neighborhood, wedged between Temple Street and Vista Hermosa Park, against crime.

Morgan Hill police are offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the gang-related death

Morgan Hill police are offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the gang-related death of a 24-year-old Hollister man, the city's first homicide in four years.
Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said today that detectives are still trying to figure out who killed Juan Jose Arrellano Jr. on Oct. 2.
Shortly before midnight that day, police responded to 911 calls from residents who heard multiple shots fired near the Crest Avenue apartments. The arriving officer found Arrellano on the sidewalk, bleeding from a gunshot wound in his upper body. He was pronounced dead at 11:35 p.m.
Witnesses told police they saw at least two young men, between 16 and 20 years old and wearing dark blue clothing, shoot Arrellano with a 9 mm handgun while shouting gang-related slurs.
Arrellano was the first homicide in Morgan Hill since 2005.
Officers flooded the area with the help of dogs from the Santa Clara County sheriff's K-9 unit and air support from San Jose police, but to no avail.

Capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simenta

Capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, who was captured last month. Teodoro and Manuel Garcia are brothers.Lopez, known as "El Muletas," and Garcia, known as "El Chiquilin," were arrested Monday in La Paz, a city in the southern end of the Baja California peninsula, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.Mexico's Public Security Department confirmed the arrests in a brief statement, describing Manual Garcia as the gang's leader after his brother's arrest and Lopez as the current second-in-command. It said the arrests were the result of leads starting with the capture of Teodoro Garcia in La Paz on Jan. 12, but offered no further details on the operations.Roderick said there were no U.S. indictments pending against the suspects.The gang was known for its brutality, having executed, beheaded and mutilated hundreds of rivals in Tijuana, which is across the U.S. border from San Diego. Gang members pinned notes to corpses and dissolved bodies in caustic soda.Tedoro Garcia's arrest netted 19 mobile phones and two laptop computers. Twelve more cartel suspects were arrested in two raids in late January, including two men and a women who were allegedly about to dissolve a body in a bathtub with chemicals.Manuel Garcia is the youngest of three brothers. The oldest brother, Marco Antonio, was arrested in a shootout with Mexican authorities in Tijuana in 2004.
Teodoro Garcia was once considered a top hit man for Tijuana's dominant drug gang, the family-run Arellano-Felix cartel. He launched a new group affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel after law enforcement arrested or killed most of the Tijuana cartel leaders in 2008.

The splintered organizations have been involved in a violent turf battle in Tijuana, a valuable trafficking corridor to the U.S.

More than 1,500 people have been murdered in Tijuana since the beginning of 2008.

Across the country, more than 15,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels when he took office three years ago. More than 2,500 of the killings occurred last year in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The military announced Monday that soldiers had seized more than 12 tons of marijuana found beneath a false floor of a tractor trailer. The drugs were found during a routine search at a checkpoint near San Felipe, a town in the central part of the Baja California peninsula.

Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war

Teodoro Garcia Simental, blamed for a years-long campaign of massacres, beheadings and kidnappings that chased away tourists and caused social upheaval in northern Baja California, was arrested by Mexican federal police without the suspect firing a shot, and immediately flown to Mexico City.The heavyset Garcia, believed to be in his mid-30s, with close-trimmed hair and a goatee, scowled and dabbed at his mouth as he was paraded before television cameras at a police base wearing a zippered warm-up jacket.Better known for savage killing rampages than narco-business acumen, the man nicknamed "El Teo" bedeviled Mexican authorities for years and narrowly escaped capture several times. Last January, authorities arrested the man they said admitted being Garcia's body disposal expert. Known as El Pozolero, or "the stew maker," he claimed, authorities said, to have dissolved 300 bodies in barrels of caustic chemicals.Mexican federal authorities, acting on intelligence provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said they tracked Garcia down after a five-month surveillance operation. He was captured in an upscale area in the southern part of the city."Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war," said Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the DEA. "This was not an isolated event: It exemplifies the growing effectiveness of our information sharing with [Mexican President Felipe Calderon's] administration, and our continued commitment to defeat the drug traffickers who have plagued both our nations."Though Garcia was not considered to be in the top echelon of Mexican drug lords, few reputed crime bosses have had such a ruinous effect on a region. Mexican authorities say he was responsible for hundreds of killings during a nearly two-year power struggle with rivals in the Arellano Felix drug cartel, in which he had once been a top-ranking lieutenant.Garcia is said to have branched out from traditional drug trafficking and focused his criminal empire on extortion and kidnapping, targeting all levels of society. During his reign, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tijuana residents moved out of the border city to avoid being kidnapped, and more than 42 police officers were killed.

masked gunman walked into a southern Sacramento County Vietnamese restaurant Wednesday afternoon and executed a 22-year-old man at close range.

authorities are calling a likely gang hit, a masked gunman walked into a southern Sacramento County Vietnamese restaurant Wednesday afternoon and executed a 22-year-old man at close range.No words were exchanged before the unknown assailant fired a black semiautomatic handgun multiple times at the victim, hitting him in the head and chest, said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Curran.The gunman fled on foot down 53rd Avenue, and had not been identified by evening, Curran said.Few homicides investigated by authorities, he said, are “as cold and as calculated as this one.”
“It’s very scary,” he said.Curran said detectives suspect the killing to be gang-related because the victim had been validated as a gang member by law enforcement and because the area – near Stockton Boulevard and the 65th Street Expressway – is known for gang activity.Deputies were called to the Pho Ga Hung Vietnamese Cuisine restaurant on Savings Place for a shooting just after 2:15 p.m., Curran said. They found a 22-year-old man, whose name was not released, on the restaurant’s floor. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

He is the fifth homicide victim within the Sheriff’s Department’s jurisdiction in 2010.The victim was eating with three friends – a man and two women – when the suspect walked into the restaurant, up to their table and unloaded his gun, Curran said.

Three employees also were inside at the time, but nobody else was shot at or injured, Curran said. For that reason, he said, detectives suspect the victim was targeted.Witnesses described the suspect to deputies as a man between age 28 and 35, 5 feet, 7 inches tall with a medium build. He wore a dark ski mask and a dark jacket.
Curran said the victim’s friends, who later wept in the parking lot, and the employees were cooperative with detectives. At this point, he said detectives do not believe they were involved in the killing.The call drew roughly two dozen deputies and detectives, including a number of investigators from the gang unit. It also drew spectators, who stopped along the sidewalk of the busy 65th Street Expressway.Richard Sims said he walks by the shopping center often while on his way to the grocery store. He described it as fairly quiet and humble.But he agreed with the Sheriff’s Department’s assessment about gang activity in the area, and noted that people he believes are gang members often congregate at one of the businesses in the center and at another across the street.“There’s something going on,” said Sims, 52. Gesturing toward the deputies, he added, “These cats know – the police know – but they don’t come by here.”
Curran said that’s because budget cuts and resulting layoffs mean deputies have little time for anything but emergencies.“Unless there’s a call for service there, our deputies don’t have time to be proactive,” he said. “They’re going from call to call to call.”

Eastside Riva, numbering about 800, as Riverside's oldest and "most violent" street gang, at war with the 1200 Blocc Crips

people with alleged ties to two rival street gangs engaged in a bloody years-long war in Riverside were arrested today in an operation aimed at taking down the gangs' leadership."Operation Promise," a coordinated federal, state and local law enforcement sweep, targeted the Eastside Riva and the 1200 Blocc Crips, leading to the arrests of 50 people, the seizure of 28 guns and two pet rattlesnakes, authorities said."This unprecedented operation is part of my ongoing promise to bring hope and restoration to the people of Riverside," said Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, who made the announcement during a news briefing at the Regency Tower in downtown Riverside.Pacheco. was joined by representatives from the various law enforcement agencies that participated in the sweep, including the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, the Riverside Police Department, FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
A total of 650 law enforcement personnel served warrants on the residences of about 100 suspected gang members during the operation, authorities said.
"The damage we did was to the leadership of the gangs," said Pacheco.
"We were going after the top folks."
In addition to Riverside, suspects' homes in Beaumont, Mead Valley, Moreno Valley, Nuevo, Perris and Rubidoux were raided, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Pacheco said the sweep was the culmination of 14 months' work by the District Attorney's Office and the other agencies involved, with the goal of having "as large an impact as possible, in as many ways as possible."
The district attorney described the all-Hispanic Eastside Riva, numbering about 800, as Riverside's oldest and "most violent" street gang, at war with the 1200 Blocc Crips, an all-black gang numbering around 200, since the early 1990s.
Pacheco said the two sides have caused numerous casualties, including the deaths of innocent people, some of them children. Both gangs are into narcotics trafficking, he said. The Eastside Riva's drug trade is largely managed by the Mexican Mafia from prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

2009 was the bloodiest in Jamaica’s history.

1,680 killings in ’09 highest in country’s history.According to statistics released by the police yesterday, 1,680 murders were recorded in 2009, a four per cent increase over the 1,618 homicides reported in 2008.According to the police, approximately 52 per cent (859) of the murders committed last year “were due to intra-gang and internal gang feuds, in addition to reprisal killings”.
October proved to be the deadliest month last year with a total 177 murders reported. There were 155 murders in May while December rounded out the top three with 152 murders.There was no month when fewer than 100 murders were committed.
Portland, which for many years showed very low murder figures, recorded the largest percentage increase in murders during 2009, moving from 11 in 2008 to 20 last year for an overall 82 per cent increase, the police revealed.Yesterday, police in that parish attributed the increase in murders to domestic squabbles.
“The bulk of the killings committed in the division, we have found out, were domestic-related murders,” Deputy Superintendent Gary Flash in charge of operations told the Observer.“It is a cause for major concern,” he said, adding that the police have already started to put measures in place to address the problem.The police statistics also show that women accounted for almost 10 per cent of murder victims, with a total of 163, while 81 children and 11 cops were killed last year.Guns accounted for 1,293 (77 per cent) of all murders last year, while 227 persons were killed with knives and machetes were used to kill 56 persons.There were also 74 double murders, nine triple murders and three cases in which more than three people were killed in a single incident in 2009.Seventeen murders were committed during drive-by shootings.A total of 1,667 persons were shot and injured in 2009, 139 more than the previous year.The police also said they fatally shot a total of 241 persons and injured another 339. Eight others were killed by licensed firearm holders, five by security guards and one person was killed by a Jamaica Defence Force soldier.But amid the grim news, the police pointed to decreases in murders in five divisions — St Mary with 14 compared to 33 in 2008, a drop of 58 per cent; St Andrew Central with 95 last year compared to 137 in 2008, a decrease of 31 per cent; Kingston Central moved from 71 in 2008 to 54 in 2009 for an overall 24 per cent decrease; St Catherine North with 178 last year compared to 184 the previous year, a decrease of three per cent; and Kingston West which recorded 54 murders in 2009 compared to 57 in 2008, a five per cent decline.Police also reported that they seized 569 illegal guns and 6,068 rounds of assorted ammunition last year.But while murders and shootings continue to spiral out of control, the incidents of rape and carnal abuse have trended down.However property crimes — robbery (3,004), break-ins (3,780), and larceny (511) — have all trended up by 13, 54 and 57 per cent respectively.
Guns were used in 1,979 robberies.

BLACK PRISON GANGS

Black Guerrilla Family - United Blood Nation - DC Blacks - 415 Kumi Nation - Bloods
Crips - Mandingo Warriors - Black Warriors - Jamaican Posse - African American Council
Nation of Islam - Black Panthers - El Rukns - People Nation - Black P. Stones - Vice Lords
Mickey Cobras - Folk Nation - Black Disciples - Gangster Disciples

Aryan Brotherhood members make up less than one percent of the nation's prison inmate population,

Aryan Brotherhood members make up less than one percent of the nation's prison inmate population, yet the white prison gang is responsible for 18% of all prison murders.The Aryan Brotherhood picked the name because it showed white supremacy and the shamrock (clover) because it is the sign of the Irish (the original members had to be part Irish). They use the "666", which is the sign of the beast (it's earned for committing a murder), and the swastika, for one that takes pride in being hated & feared by their enemies. Only members of the AB are permitted to wear the "brand" of the gang; individuals found to be wearing the tattoo without consent are subject to being murdered.Sworn code of the AB:

I will stand by my brother.
My brother will come before all others.
My life is forfeit should I fail my brothers.
I will honor my brother in peace as in war.

As legend has it the Aryan Brotherhood formed at San Quentin Prison in California in 1967 in the cauldron of the prison race wars to fight the Black Guerrilla Family, a black prison gang led by the notorious Black Panther, revolutionary and author of Soledad Brother, George Jackson. The white supremacist group, which later became known as the Brand was originally comprised of prisoners of Irish descent and former members of 50's biker tips such as the Diamond Tooth gang and the Bluebird gang. The tips came together in the gladiator school style type prisons under a neo-Nazi banner. The Aryan Brotherhood was for whites only and its members were the most violent and ferocious of their race. By 1975 the gang was all throughout the California system.

As their notoriety increased and membership grew they established a chain of command modeled loosely on the structure of the Italian Mafia with commission that communicated via correspondence through 3rd parties passing orders to their prison based branches all across the US. The 3 man commissions were also a way to channel the gangs’ violence and resolve in-house feuds. They established drug trafficking, security, extortion and gambling rackets in prisons all over the country. The leaders who had multiple life sentences worked out of solitary confinement cells in some of the most secure prisons in the world. From Pelican Bay, the supermax in California, and ADX Florence, the Alcatraz of the Rockies, the Brand ran a prison empire through coded invisible ink letter. The FBI investigated them from 1982 to 1989, but the US Attorney declined prosecution. But the FBI reported that "the purpose of the AB is now power and is not a racial organization as it has been in the past." They even took a hit from John Gotti, the Mafioso, who offered the Brand $100,000 to kill the black prisoner who assaulted him at USP Marion in 1996.

On August 28, 2002, AUSA Greg Jessner indicted virtually the entire leadership of the gang. The indictment reached back 20 years spanning 3 decades and 32 murders. Forty members were indicted of federal racketeering charges in a 140, 10 count indictment. The majority of the gang members were already doing life sentences, so 23 of them are eligible for the death penalty. "This is a homicidal organization," Jessner announced. "That’s what they do. They kill people I suspect they kill more then the Mafia. They may be the most murderous criminal organization in the United States." The indictment is the largest capital case in the history of California and the AUSA indicted the Brand, a prison gang with laws originally passed to target Mafia leaders. "Inmates and others who do not follow orders of the AB are subject to being murdered as is anyone who uses violence against an AB member or anyone who cooperates with law enforcement." The indictment reads.

US vs Mills, No CR02-938 (C) (C.D. Calif.) is the docket number and the alleged leaders of the Brand have become legendary figures. Barry "The Baron" Mills, aged 57 and TD "The Hulk" Bingham, aged 58 are the leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood the government alleges. The indictment says that they've orchestrated the brotherhoods campaign from their cells at ADX, the federal supermax. Mills is doing life for a 1979 prison murder, but Bingham is scheduled for release in 2012, but if both are convicted they'll face the death penalty.


Thomas Silverstein

Another primary in the case is Thomas "Terrible Tom" Silverstein who started the AB-DC Black race war by killing Raymond "Cadillac" Smith, the leader of the DC Blacks in 1982 by stabbing him 67 times in the Marion Control Unit. "Within the gangs’ lore, Silverstein has become the Christ figure," AUSA Jessner said. And the race war with the DC Blacks is the central factor in the governments case as the 1997 killing of 2 DC Blacks at USP Lewisburg was allegedly ordered by Bingham in an invisible ink message written in urine.
Enemies of The Brand
The AB was originally formed to fight the Black Guerrilla Family, which was founded in San Quentin by George Jackson in 1966. The Former Black Panther, revolutionary and author of Soledad Brother had a vile hatred of the system and all things white. The BGF would beat, kill and maim random white when they caught them out of their cells for no other reason than that they were white. This cauldron of hate and atmosphere of tension, which existed at San Quentin at the time fermented the race wars in the California system and led to the rise of the big four prison gangs, which were divided along racial lines-The Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerrilla Family, Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia. The BGF allied with the Nuestra Family and fought a constant battle against the AB's who allied with the Mexican Mafia who was constantly at war with their counterparts from the northern part of California, Nuestra Familia while they represented the southern part of California.
The BGF was the most politically oriented of the gangs. It was formed as a revolutionary organization along paramilitary lines. Its goal was to overthrow the US government. They were led by a Supreme Commander or Chairman and the lowest echelon of gang members were known as soldiers. They originated out of the MAD Adjustment center at San Quentin, the first SHU in the country. They recruit members of black street gangs like the Crips, disenchanted members of radical black organizations and are aligned with the Black Liberation Army. Their founder George Jackson was killed by guards at San Quentin in the early seventies. A victim of his fame and notoriety.

The race wars in the federal system started on Nov 22, 1981 when the body of Robert M Chappelle, a member of the DC Blacks was found dead in his cell at USP Marion. Thomas Silverstein was the killer and Chappelle’s death worried bureau official who thought it might spark a war, which it certainly did.

Raymond "Cadillac" Smith, the alleged national leader of the DC blacks was the next person killed. Terrible Tom struck again on Sept 27, 1982 stabbing Cadillac 67 times in the Marion control Unit and dragging his body up and down the tier so that those locked in their cells could see. The race wars against the DC blacks raged across the feds in the early 1980's and again in the 1990's when 2 DC blacks were killed at USP Lewisburg by AB members who stabbed them 35 and 34 times to death. The violent campaign against the DC Blacks and the alleged race war are at the center of the government’s 2002 indictment against the Aryan Brotherhood.

The DC Blacks are prisoners from Washington DC who usually make up the largest single ethnic group from any single city making up 10 percent of the overall federal prison population. They are well schooled in violence from their time spent at Lorton the infamous DC penitentiary, and are known as notorious locker knockers, petty thieves and for pressuring prisoners for sex. A lot of DC Blacks were members of the Moorish religion at one time.


Timeline

"The most ferocious and notorious of any of the prison groups is the Aryan Brotherhood," the FBI reported. Over its four decade history the gang has evolved from an organization focusing on aggression against blacks to a violent white supremacist group that runs sophisticated gambling, extortion and dope operations in prison across the nation.

The Brand as the gang is called makes it members read The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Machiavelli's, The Prince and Nietzsche's Will To Power, as well as, exercising vigorously to stay in shape and studying Gray's Anatomy books, so as to know where to stab enemies and inflict killing blows. They've been accused of running-a barbed wire empire of terror, drugs and extortion. The case reached back 40 years to include stabbings, strangulations, poisonings, contract hits, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking. A brief history of the gang:

1964: The Aryan Brotherhood is founded in California's San Quentin maximum-security prison. Irish bikers formed the Brotherhood to fight against the Black Guerrilla Family. It is rumored that the AB sprung from a 1950s gang known as the Bluebirds.

1980: Throughout the 1980s, the gang becomes more organized as it establishes a chain of command. Two factions of the gang exist -- federal and California state. The federal faction creates a three-man commission to supervise gang activity in federal prisons. Allegedly, Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham are selected to oversee the gang's actions as high commissioners.

1982: An FBI report states that members of the Brotherhood are recruiting new members from prisons around the country. Prison officials try to disband the group by moving members throughout the correctional system. The AB forms a California commission and council that must approve the murder and assault of gang members who violate the organization's rules.

Oct. 22, 1983: Four guards are stabbed, two fatally, by AB members at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill. It is the first time in federal prison history that two guards are killed on the same day.

1990s: Authorities relocate most of the Brotherhood's leaders to "Supermax" prisons, where prisoners are held in single cells for almost the entire day. The gang continues murdering prisoners and trafficking drugs.

1992: Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Jessner begins investigating the gang after it is linked to the strangulation of a prisoner in his cell at the Lompoc federal prison in California.

1993: The AB's federal commission forms a council that organizes day-to-day gang activity in the federal faction.

1994: Michael Patrick McElhiney arrives at the maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan. He came from the Marion federal prison, where he served time with Barry Mills. McElhiney quickly becomes a much-feared AB gang member. In 2002, he is charged with running the gang's day-to-day operations at Marion and with controlling drug trafficking at Leavenworth.

March 24, 1995: Pelican Bay State Prison, a Supermax facility in northwest California, releases gang member Robert Scully on probation. Six days later, Scully fatally shoots a police officer -- evidence that AB crimes have moved beyond gang grudges and prison walls.

1997: Barry Mills and T.D. Bingham allegedly order a race war at a prison in Lewisburg, Pa., leading to the deaths of two black inmates.

1999: Barry Mills writes letters to paroled gang members, urging them to expand the gang's activities outside the prison. The gang allegedly used paroled members as drug dealers, gunrunners, stickup men and hit men.

Aug. 28, 2002: Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Jessner indicts nearly all the members suspected of being leaders in the gang. He charges them with carrying out stabbings, strangulations, poisonings, contract hits, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, robbery and narcotics trafficking.

March 14, 2006: The first in a series of gang-member trials begins in Orange County, Calif., for Barry "The Barron" Mills, T.D. "The Hulk" Bingham, Edgar "The Snail" Hevle and Christopher Overton Gibson. The four are accused of ordering or participating in 15 murders or attempted murders in the last 25 years. Federal racketeering charges are brought against 40 AB members, including Michael McElhiney. In a 140-page indictment, federal prosecutors outline gang actions that allegedly resulted in 32 murders or attempted murders in and out of prison.

July 2006: The first of a series of trials involving four high level members ended in convictions.Tyler Bingham and Barry Mills were convicted of murder and sent back to United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility Prison (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, where they are serving life sentence with no parole, escaping the death penalty. Edgar Hevle and Christopher Gibson were sentenced to three life terms without the possibility of parole.

September 2006: The nineteen inductees not eligible for the death penalty had plead guilty.

October 2006: Eleven more Aryan Brotherhood members are expected to go on trial in Los Angeles for similar racketeering charges


Aryan Brotherhood Lexicon

The Brand- the name the brotherhood is known by to members and refers to the shamrock or clover leaf tattoo found on members that denotes membership and signifies the Brand.

Blood In, Blood Out- This is the process by which someone is accepted into the gang meaning they have to kill to get in and the only way to get out is by death.

Making Your Bones- This is the initiation into the gang. When you kill someone to get in it is called making your bones.

Rocking Someone To Sleep- This is the process of disarming a target for murder by making him think you are friends. By rocking someone to sleep it makes them easier to kill when they aren't expecting it.

Lie or Die- When questioned by law enforcement types the Brand's motto is to lie or die because if you tell the truth and cooperate with law enforcement you will be marked for death, so you must lie to them and make them think you are telling the truth.

Getting Writted- This is when one AB member has a case and his defense lawyer gets all his brothers and fellow gang members writted in to be defense witnesses in the case at hand so that all the brotherhood members can be gathered at one place to discuss gang business.

Keistered- This is when a gang member in transit or in the hole sticks contraband such as drugs, tobacco or shanks up his ass so that it won't be found in strip searches and body searches.

In the Hat- this term is used when someone is marked or targeted for death. If someone is in the hat in gang parlance it means he will be killed soon.

Burpees- this exercise consisting of a combination of push ups and jumping jacks is performed by AB members on lockdown to stay in good shape. Sometimes thousands of burpees will be done a day.

Polishing the Rock- this term refers to gang members on the outside doing things to further gang and brotherhood business on the outside. Before leaving prison they will be urged to keep polishing the rock.

Kytes- this is what letters or notes to fellow prisoners are called. They might be in invisible ink or coded and are often sent via transferring prisoners or via a third party on the outside who will mail it to the appropriate gang member. Kytes typically contain instructions and order for furthering brotherhood business.

Runners- this term refers to girlfriends, associates and people on the outside who help the gang to achieve their goals by ferrying messages into and out of various prisons. They also gather mail at designated mail drops and forward them to other gang members in different prisons, smuggle drugs for the brotherhood into prisons through the visiting rooms and gather and collect monies sent to the higher ups in the gang either to put on their account or to pay for more drugs coming into the prisons,


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Prisons (and jails) that have reported AB activity within the past 3 years

* San Quentin State Prison in California
* California State Prison in California
* Pelican Bay State Prison in California
* USP Marion Federal Prison in Illinois
* Folsom State Prison in California
* California Institution for Men in California
* Harris County Jail in Texas
* Estelle High-Security Unit in Texas
* Garner Correctional Institution in Connecticut
* Lompoc Federal Prison in California
* High Desert State Prison in Nevada
* Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Mississippi


Allies: Mexican Mafia, Hells Angels, PENI, Nazi Low Riders

Rivals: La Nuestra Familia, Black Guerilla Family, DC Blacks

LATINO PRISON GANGS

Nortenos - Surenos - Mexican Mafia - Nuestra Familia - Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
Texas Syndicate - Mexikanemi - Barrio Azteca - Pistoleros Latinos - Fresno Bulldogs
Florencia 13 - 18th Street Gang - Latin Kings - Maniac Latin Disciples - Latin Counts
Tango Blast - Los Solidos - Tri City Bombers - Border Brothers - West Texas Tango
Raza Unida - Texas Chicano Brotherhood

WHITE PRISON GANGS

WHITE PRISON GANGS


Aryan Brotherhood - Nazi Low Riders - Public Enemy #1 (PENI) - Peckerwoods
Aryan Circle - Dirty White Boys - Aryan Knights - European Kindred
Skinheads - Hammerskins - Thorndale JagOffs - Silent Aryan Warriors
Almighty Gaylords - Simon City Royals - Insane Gangster Disciples
Dead Man Inc. - Krieger Verwandt - Brotherhood of Aryan Alliance
United Brotherhood Kindred - Saxon Knights - Aryan Warriors
Neo-Nazis - KKK - TCB Hate Crew - Fourth Reich - American Front
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs in the United States - Henchmen MC
Hells Angels MC - Pagans MC - Sons of Silence MC - Mongols MC - Outlaws MC
Gypsy Joker MC - Diablos MC - Vagos MC - Black Pistons MC - Bandidos MC
Highwaymen MC - Warlocks MC - Brother Speed MC - The Breed MC

Heavily armed gangs who once ran Haiti's largest slum like warlords have returned with a vengeance

Mounted on motorcycles, and brandishing assault rifles and guns thought to have been stripped from prison guards during the quake, the gang members include one stone-cold killer known only by the street name "Blade."

Heavily armed gangs who once ran Haiti's largest slum like warlords have returned with a vengeance since Tuesday's earthquake damaged the National Penitentiary allowing 3,000 inmates to break out.The pacification of Cite Soleil had been one of President Rene Prevail's few undisputed achievements since taking office in 2006, until the quake devastated Port-au-Prince."It's only natural that they would come back here. This has always been their stronghold," said a Haitian police officer in the teeming warren of shacks, alleys and open sewers that is home to more than 300,000 people.He and other policemen, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the volatile situation in Cite Soleil, said notorious armed gangs had been making their presence felt here since the quake.
If large-scale violence erupts here amid the chaos and looting that has grown by the hour in Port-au-Prince since the temblor, it could pose a major challenge to efforts to reestablish law and order throughout the Haitian capital.Cite Sole's gang leaders are larger-than-life criminals. The stuff of urban legend and popular Haitian rap songs, they are now seen as a breed apart from other Haitians in that they alone benefited from the Tuesday's disaster.Word on the street is that they swept down on the rubble of Haiti's collapsed Justice Ministry on Saturday morning and set it ablaze to destroy any records of their incarceration or criminal history.

Glasgow Gang war following the execution of Kevin Carroll.

Lyons crime clan had been prime suspects in the fatal shooting of Carroll, a lieutenant of arch-enemies, the Daniels.But last night, the Daniel family faced accusations from within that they may have been behind the hit themselves.
Sources claimed bosses believed Carroll - nicknamed "Gerbil" - had grown increasingly out of control and become more trouble than he was worth.He was gunned down while sitting in a car with two associates in the car park of Asda at Robroyston, Glasgow, on Wednesday.Now Gerbil loyalists are said to be simmering with resentment at suggestions his murder may have been an "inside job".Carroll, 29, had a tempestuous relationship with the mother of his two sons, Kelly Bo - daughter of Daniel family boss Jamie.The pair had violent rows and Carroll had also bad-mouthed Jamie. Many within the Daniel gang are now speculating that the godfather may have run out of patience with Carroll and that key lieutenants interpreted this as a green light to take him out.They knew the murder was unlikely to backfire on Jamie Daniel as the Lyons were likely to be blamed.Last night, one source claimed: "There are folk who were loyal to Gerbil - for all his faults - and they want his killers dead."If it turns out he was done in by his own side, they will be spitting blood. It's worse than him getting done by their enemies - that's a danger you accept and live with every day."But to be killed by your own people is bang out of order. And a lot of Gerbil's pals won't stand for that."Whether it's the case or not, it's a theory that's starting to take root among some in the organisation - and that will create problems."The insider added: "Gerbil was supposed to have gone to the Asda car park for a meet. If that was true, he would have been watching for anyone approaching the car. Yet he got taken completely by surprise.
"A lot of us aren't buying that meeting story."Carroll and two pals, John Bonner and Stevie McLaggan, had driven to the supermarket car park in a black Audi for a pre-arranged meeting.Gerbil was sitting in the back seat when a gunman walked up and fired through the passenger window. Carroll was hit in the head and hand and died instantly.A stolen VW Golf used for the getaway was later found partially burned out near Coatbridge, Lanarkshire.The two pals of Carroll immediately baled out of the car and only returned after the gunman had escaped. They were swiftly cleared of being involved in any set-up after being questioned by Daniel family chiefs.
But that too, has fuelled the discontent rumblings among Carroll-loyal factions.
An insider said: "The Daniels were very quick to say those lads had nothing to do with setting up Gerbil."But they done nothing to help him when the shooting started. And no shots got fired at them. It stinks."In the wake of his execution, godfather Jamie Daniel, 52, swore revenge on the killers and made it clear he believed the Lyons were behind the hit.But a source within Daniel's own organisation said last night: "Of course Jamie made noises about wanting payback from the Lyons. That's what you'd expect him to do."He's a got a daughter there who's distraught at her man being killed - even if he did smack her about from time to time. There was a time last year when he beat her up three times in seven hours in a flat in Milton.

"Then there was Gerbil's mouth. He just didn't know when to shut up.

"He had threatened Jamie Daniel himself. He even called him a fat gypsy b******."
The speculation from within about Carroll's murder follows claims revealed in the Record that he had been denounced as an informer.Two Daniel associates - Raymond Anderson snr and James McDonald - were jailed for 35 years each for the fatal shooting of Michael Lyons, 21, at an MOT garage in Lambhill in 2006. The attack was said to have been carried out in revenge for an earlier bid to kill Carroll, who was subsequently questioned by police.Anderson remained convinced that Carroll named them as the gunmen.
In recent times, Carroll led a series of savage underworld kidnappings - seizing and torturing his gang's rivals for cash, drugs and guns.His team were nicknamed the "alien abduction" gang because victims told police they could remember nothing about their ordeals.
A source claimed:

"Gerbil was out of control, and people were getting sick of it.
"When folk tried to warn him he was p*****g folk off in the organisation, he was like, 'F*** you, I'll do what I want'. Then he'd be back to bad-mouthing the likes of Jamie Daniel."People told Gerbil he was taking risks but it made no difference."

Meanwhile the home of Eddie Lyons Snr has been watched by police since Carroll's shooting, amid fears he could be targeted in a "revenge" hit.Key figures in the Daniel mob have vowed retribution against the Lyons clan - which would make Eddie snr, right, and his sons Eddie jnr, 30, and Steven, 29, the main targets.Yesterday, we watched as marked police cars did regular runs past the Lyons' modest home by Dullatur golf club, Cumbernauld.A police liaison officer has checked in on every member of the Lyons family in recent days.Crime clan godfather vows bloody revenge for slain hoodlum at secret summit.Daniel crime clan launched their investigation into the brutal shooting of Kevin Carroll before murder squad detectives even reached the scene.
A senior Daniel lieutenant had sped to the murder scene in an Asda car park before the police arrived.Francis "Fraggle" Green, godfather Jamie Daniel's 27-year-old son, was phoned seconds after the hit.He immediately drove to the scene in his red Audi later abandoned in the car park.
His sister Kelly Green, 29, was Carroll's partner and mother of his two sons.
The frantic call to Green was made by John Bonner - who was in the black Audi when the killer struck on Wednesday afternoon. Also in the car was Stevie McLaggan, another of Carroll's close pals.We can reveal police suspect the killer lay in wait in a Homebase car park next to the Asda store.The Daniel family have rejected claims that Bonner and McLagan, both in their 20s, helped set up the hit.One source said: "McLaggan and Bonner were in the front of the car and Carroll was in the back."They were waiting to meet someone who is suspected of setting the whole thing up.
"Clearly, they were there to talk business and whoever they were meeting was trusted. The Daniel mob are satisfied that the two guys in the car with Carroll had nothing to do with it. If it was thought they were involved, they would also now be dead."When the gunfire started they instinctively bailed out for their own safety.
"As soon as the dust settled they returned and it was obvious that Carroll was dead.
"Bonner immediately phoned Fraggle who was on the scene within minutes.
"Fraggle dumped his motor and was met with a scene of carnage. One of Carroll's hands was blown off and his face was unrecognisable."Murder squad detectives have revealed that just two shots were fired by the killer using a handgun.The first shot blasted Carroll's hand as he raised it after seeing the weapon but he died instantly after being hit in the head by the second shot.Police believe the gunman had been sitting in a car in the adjacent Homebase car park.A taxi driver reported men in a 4x4 acting supiciously and police are scouring CCTV footage from the they.They are also examining footage from neighbouring businesses including the Crowwood Hotel in nearby Stepps.A police source said: "The person who arranged the meeting is thought to have given the gunman details of where the car was parked and where Carroll was within it.
"There may have been some luck involved but whoever did this was clearly capable."
Within minutes of the shooting police arrived and sealed off the car park and supermarket. Shoppers were held inside for several hours to allow officers to question each of them and Fraggle, Bonner and McLaggan were also quizzed at the scene.In 2007, both McLaggan and Bonner were victims of Carroll's robbery and kidnap gang.
A source said: "Like some of the other victims, they decided the safest option was to join Carroll's crew but they remained loyal despite this unusual history."Carroll had previously survived several attempts on his life.
In 2006 he and close ally Ross Sherlock were injured in a shooting in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow and Carroll was also shot outside his mum's home in Milton, Glasgow, in 2003.Last year, Bonner was shot in Springburn, Glasgow, in a botched hit blamed on the Lyons crime clan.At the time, it was thought that the intended target was 28-year-old Sherlock.
Less than a fortnight ago, Carroll failed to attend a meeting with police to be told that his life was in danger.He'd been invited to Kirkintilloch police station to officially receive an "Osman warning".Such warnings are given when police receive intelligence that someone's life may be in danger and last year Carroll received three such warnings.Carroll's partner Kelly and her brother Fraggle are both children of wealthy Daniel mob boss Daniel, 52.In recent years, Carroll had risen through the ranks of his partner's family.
One source said: "A few years ago, he was regarded as a wee nyaff from Milton.
"Being part of the Daniel set up benefited him but there seems to have been pressure on him to match them in terms of violence."In recent years he became more than capable and reached a status within the family where he stood up to Jamie over some issues."Jamie and he had recent clashes but they were sorted out."There will be some people putting it about that Jamie had Carroll killed for getting too big and becoming a threat but it's untrue."Carroll lived in Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire, with Kelly and their boys, who are eight months and six years old.Kelly gives her occupation as a "hair and nail therapist" while Carroll described himself as a "car valet" on official documents.

Kevin "The Gerbil" Carroll assassinated in an ASDA car park was killed for "grassing" up hitmen

Kevin "The Gerbil" Carroll assassinated in an ASDA car park was killed for "grassing" up the hitmen behind a notorious shooting, underworld sources told the Record last night.Kevin "The Gerbil" Carroll was shot five times in the head in broad daylight as he sat in a car 100 yards from the supermarket entrance.
And it's claimed he paid with his life for informing on gunmen Raymond Anderson snr and James McDonald, who carried out a murderous attack in 2006 on an MOT garage run by a rival crime clan.Carroll, 29, and Anderson snr were both associates of the feared Daniel gang.But a source said: "There was no love lost between them. As far as Raymond was concerned, Gerbil was a grass."
Anderson snr was aware of the plot to kill Carroll.And word of the shooting reached his cell at Shotts jail, where he's serving a minimum 35 years for the garage attack in Lambhill, Glasgow, within half an hour of the hit being carried out.
Our source said: "The jail was buzzing with a detailed account of the shooting within minutes. The word inside is that it was payback for Lambhill."Anderson snr and McDonald murdered Michael Lyons, 21, and tried to kill Steven Lyons, 27, and Robert Pickett, 42, in the Lambhill attack. The garage was linked to the Lyons gang, bitter rivals of the Daniel clan.Both hitmen were caged for at least 35 years - the longest sentences handed down by a modern Scots court.The Lambhill hit was said to have been revenge for a bid to kill Carroll and another Daniel associate, Ross Sherlock, three weeks earlier. Carroll was arrested and questioned before Anderson snr and McDonald were charged.Carroll was gunned down on Wednesday afternoon after he went to the ASDA store in Robroyston, near Glasgow, with two pals.His friends went into the shop at around 1.30pm, leaving him alone in a black Audi A3. Sources say two masked hitmen then opened fire on the car.Scores of horrified shoppers witnessed Carroll's murder.The killers sped away in a dark blue Volkswagen Golf. Some reports have claimed their getaway driver f led on foot before any shots were fired.Police sealed off the supermarket and took statements from witnesses. Detectives are looking through CCTV for clues but it's understood the shooting was not filmed.Carroll had a direct line to millionaire crime boss Jamie Daniel and was the on-off boyfriend of his daughter, Kelly.He was at the centre of the long and bloody feud between the Daniel and Lyons clans. As well as the 2006 bid to kill him, he survived an attempt on his life in 2003.The Lambhill theory was just one of those being touted to explain Carroll's murder.
Other sources said the hit was part of the Daniel-Lyons feud, the result of a row over drugs, or a revenge attack for one of a spate of kidnappings carried out by Carroll.Detective Superintendent Michael Orr, leading the hunt for Carroll's killers, said: "There has been much speculation about this shooting, and indeed the victim, but our priority is tracing those responsible."A man has been shot dead in broad daylight. This attack was carried out with an utter disregard for public safety."Although we believe he was the intended target, it does not lessen the severity of this crime. He was someone's son, loved-one and friend, and this murder will be thoroughly investigated."

violent drugs war 29-year-old Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, an alleged associate of the Daniels family

29-year-old Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll, an alleged associate of the Daniels family, a Glasgow crime gang, pointing to possible links with a violent drugs war and vendettas between rival families. Another three men who were in the vehicle with the victim at the time of the assault were uninjured. Strathclyde Police said they believed the dead man was the intended target, and that the assailants had made off from the car park in a black or dark car.The incident left many shoppers stranded when the police sealed off the entrance and cordoned off the car park.
One witness described leaving the supermarket to be confronted with horrifying scenes of the dead man slumped in the backseat of the Audi. The glass of the back windscreen had been shattered by bullets. “I was inside the store at the checkout, paying, when I heard the gunshots, but I didn’t realise that’s what it was at the time – I thought it was just firecrackers or something. “I came out and the car was right in front of me with the back window shot in. The car door was open and you could just see his legs hanging out the side. “The paramedics were around him, but he was obviously dead. You just don’t expect this sort of thing in Robroyston.”
Dozens of shoppers, many of them elderly, were herded into the main foyer and kept there until almost 4pm while forensic teams examined the crime scene, spoke to witnesses and erected a white tent around the damaged vehicle.Some customers who had left the store before police closed off the entrance spent hours sitting in their cars after police redirected them into the car park while they conducted preliminary investigations.A builder who had popped into the supermarket for a sandwich found himself unable to return to work.“I only went in for something to eat, and I’ve no idea when I’m going to get back out now,” he told The Herald. “The police are just telling us to stay here.”
Detective Superintendent Michael Orr said last night: “There has been much speculation about this shooting and indeed the victim. “However, our priority is tracing those responsible. Although we believe that this was not a random attack and that he was the intended target, it does not lessen the severity of this crime. “He was someone’s son, loved one and friend and this murder will be thoroughly investigated with a team of highly trained officers.”He said they believed three men had carried out the attack, and urged anyone with information to contact the police.Mr Carroll has survived two previous attempts on his life, including a high-profile attack in Bishopbriggs in November 2006 when he and friend, Ross Sherlock, were ambushed in the street by gunmen posing as police officers and was left fighting for his life after being shot in the stomach at close range.

Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll was blasted five times in the back of the head

Kevin "Gerbil" Carroll was blasted five times in the back of the head as he sat in a car, yards from the main door while shoppers looked on.Detectives fear Glasgow's turf war between the Daniels and the Lyons will now escalate into a spate of revenge attacks.A police source said: "Gerbil was a big name and his killing is a huge deal.
"The fact the shooters were brazen enough to do it at lunchtime in a supermarket
"It's doubtful that the Daniels will let this lie and it's likely to mean dangerous times ahead."Carroll was sitting with three cronies in a black Audi car when he met his death just before 1.30pm in Robroyston, Glasgow.It is understood two handguns were used and police were last night hunting three men.The gunmen sped off in a dark-coloured car and would have been able to make a quick getaway on to the M80.Armed officers sealed off the car park. within minutes and shoppers were told to stay inside the store or in their cars.Stunned ASDA workers looked down on the murder scene from the first-floor staff canteen.The car in which Carroll was sitting was covered with a white tent as forensics experts combed the scene.An underworld source said Carroll, 29, was lured to his death under the pretence of a meeting with associates.Carroll, 29, was a key player in the Daniel vs Lyons feud which has resulted in countless shootings, slashings and fire attacks.Detectives were convinced he was behind a recent string of savage kidnappings.The thugs responsible were known as the Alien Abduction Gang because their traumatised victims told police they could not remember anything.It is thought the hit on Carroll may have been retribution for one of the kidnappings.Detective Superintendent Michael Orr said yesterday: "A man has been shot in broad daylight in a very public place. It is imperative that we trace those responsible who have no regard for public safety.
"We believe the victim was the intended target. However, I would like to reassure the public that a high police presence will be maintained in the area and ext ra resources will be deployed to trace the suspects."Carroll's on-off partner was Kelly Green, daughter of crime clan boss Jamie Daniel.Six years ago, Carroll was shot as the Daniel-Lyons feud erupted.The spat between the Lyons and Daniels is thought to have been reignited in November 2006 when the grave of eight-year-old leukaemia victim Garry Lyons was vandalised. He was the son of clan boss Eddie Lyons.
That year, Carroll survived a second shooting when he and pal Ross Sherlock were gunned down in Auchinairn, Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire.He was also linked with the triple shooting in which Michael Lyons was killed at Apple Row motors in Lambhill, Glasgow, that December.Carroll admitted one charge relating to the stolen Army weapons and ammo used and was jailed for 18 months.In September last year, Strathclyde's Gangs Task Force seized £4000 from Carroll - also known as McCabe - in Maryhill, Glasgow.Yesterday, more than 50 officers were dispatched the murder scene. A force helicopter hovered above the scene and staff and shoppers and were kept within the cordon until around 5pm.Police were last night studying CCTV footage.
In a statement on ASDA's Twitter site yesterday a company spokesman said: "We're sorry to say there's been a fatal shooting incident outside our store in Robroyston, Glasgow, this afternoon."We don't know the full details yet, but the police are in charge and are dealing with the situation and we're helping with their investigation."The shooting is believed to be the first fatal gangland hit in daylight since drug baron Jim McDonald was gunned down in Cardonald, Glasgow, in May 2007.

Lane County judge denied the appeal of the woman known as "Gang Mom."

Lane County judge denied the appeal of the woman known as "Gang Mom."Getting out of prison early was a possibility for Mary Thompson under the new "earned time" law.
Thompson is serving 25 years for the murder of Eugene teenager Aaron Iturra back in 1994. Friday, a judge made it clear she is going to serve as much of that term as possible.The smile never left Janyce Iturra's face after the judge said no to shortening the sentence of her son's murderer."And for her to speak to me, and not to the crowd or the attorneys, but to me personally, it made me feel like she really did understand what this does to victims throughout the state of Oregon."The Iturra case highlights the nearly 4,800 cases re-opening in Oregon county courts because of new law 3508. It's also re-opening old wounds."You finally move on, things are going ok, you finally get your family back together, and bam, the system just bites me one more time."The bill aims to give a 10 percent reduction to prisoners' sentences for their non-violent crimes. But the judge determined Thompson's non-violent charges of burglary and hindering prosecution were connected to the murder, and therefore not excusable.
"It just does my heart good to know Mary is denied and will do that extra 10 months that it might have changed," Iturra said.Crime Victims United, a victim advocate group, hopes this outcome sets the standard for upcoming hearings. President Steve Doell said all you have to do is look at the unintended consequences the state of Washington is dealing with related to a similar law there."The property crime rate for each indidivual that got the extra earn time went up 4.7 times per offender. So this is not good public policy, this is not good for law-abiding citizens."Thompson has already received a reduction of 20 percent, which is available to prisoners who behave, so Iturra said she was shocked that another reduction was considered. This bill is going back to the special session next month for re-consideration.

feud between two factions of the same street gang

Crime seems to have become a sporting event of its own.

The crime wave is the presumed result of a feud between two factions of the same street gang. The neighborhood -- Nickerson Gardens -- is Los Angeles' version of no man's land; one of the city's most dangerous and volatile housing projects. And five dead gang-bangers in Watts don't count for much in a city celebrating a drop in crime that has made Los Angeles its safest in two decades.Enter the Wrecking Crew for Christ Holiness Church Trauma Center. I'm not making that up. That's the name of a South Los Angeles congregation heavy on reformed ex-cons. About 50 members staged a march through Watts' housing projects on Saturday, on a mission to stop the carnage.There was Pastor Michael L. Rowles with a megaphone, hawking his redemption mantra. Middle-aged women in sweat pants, waving and shouting Hallelujah. Young men with tattoos on their necks, their baggy white T-shirts scrawled with "Jesus is Real."When all else fails, we pray, I thought. I grabbed a notebook and fell in line.
Too many have died. We've come to let you know that somebody cares. . . . We must not be afraid.Cops on bicycles cleared traffic. An LAPD car led the march into Nickerson Gardens, a marcher waving a giant cross from the front window.
Cooperation between residents and police is being credited for part of the city's crime drop. But gang crimes are tough to crack; the LAPD has not made arrests in the Nickerson Gardens killings.Fear is the culprit, the marchers told me. "If you go into Nickerson Gardens after 6 o'clock, you wouldn't think anybody lives there," said Carl Lee, a former drug dealer, now a minister and fitness trainer. "People are too scared to go outside."
Scared to be shot by gang-bangers; scared to be questioned by the cops.The police "are doing the best they can," Lee said. "But you have five killings and people are afraid to talk. You'll be known as a snitch; you'll wind up dead; you'll have to find another place to live."That's why we as a church have to go over there and begin to pray."As we walked, residents trickled out of their apartments. Some waved and shouted their thanks. Others looked on blankly, unsure what to make of the raucous display."One thing's for sure," one marcher told me. "With all these police officers around, there ain't gone be no shooting for at least this hour."
The devil is alive!The killing must stop. The things going down in our community are wrong. . . . Oh God, turn our sons around.John King knows prayer isn't enough. He grew up in the neighborhood and works now as a project director for the city's Housing Authority. He told me he felt inspired marching. The demonstration of faith "helps people internally," he said. "They can look in the mirror and say, 'I can make better decisions.' That's the first step toward change."But the second step relies on resources to restore programs like King's Vocabulary League (every basketball player had to bring a vocabulary word to games and practice) lost during a decade of shrinking funding.