Mexican Feds Claim Zeta Leader Involved In Kidnappings Of Undocumented Immigrants In Mexico

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.: Mexican Feds Claim Zeta Leader Involved In Kidnappings Of Undocumented Immigrants In Mexico: "Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR) and the Federal Police claimed that Flavio Méndez Santiago, 35, aka, 'El Amarillo' captured on January 17, was involved in several kidnappings of immigrants from South and Central America. Some of those immigrants have disappeared without a trace after a ransom was collected from family members. Santiago was taken into custody in the municipality of Villa de Etla by Federal Police.
He is accused of multiple homicides in the region, participated in the escape of 21 prison inmates in Apatzingán, Michoacan in 2004. Santiago coordinated the human trafficking and smuggling of South and Central Americans into the U.S.
Santiago is considered one of the co-founders of the Zetas and worked along Oziel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the Golf Cartel. Guillén is serving at least 25 years in a federal prison in the U.S."

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Mexico violence, American woman: U.S. missionary fatally wounded by gunmen in Mexico - latimes.com

Mexico violence, American woman: U.S. missionary fatally wounded by gunmen in Mexico - latimes.com: "U.S. missionary died at a southern Texas hospital Wednesday after her husband rushed her, mortally wounded, over the Rio Grande from Mexico.

Sam Davis told police that he and his wife were traveling about 70 miles south of the border when gunmen in a pickup truck tried to stop them. When the couple sped up, the gunmen fired, wounding his wife in the head, he said.

Nancy Davis, 59, died in a McAllen hospital about 90 minutes after her husband drove the couple's truck against traffic across the Pharr International Bridge, according to a statement issued by the Pharr Police Department.

Pharr Police Chief Ruben Villescas said Mexican authorities had confirmed that the shooting occurred near San Fernando, about 70 miles south of Reynosa. The area is controlled by the Zetas drug cartel and is one of Mexico's most dangerous. It is the same area of Tamaulipas state where 72 Central and South American migrants were found slain in August, a massacre blamed on the Zetas."

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Mexican police seize head of Acapulco gang

AFP: Mexican police seize head of Acapulco gang: "Police have nabbed the head of a criminal gang believed to be responsible for the killing of more than 20 people in the Mexican resort city of Acapulco, officials said Sunday.
Jose Lozano Martinez, who goes by the nickname 'El Lozano,' was arrested along with six others on Thursday in a raid, they said.
Public security officials said the 21-year-old had acknowledged participating in the killing of 22 people earlier this month in Acapulco.
He and his associates are linked to the so-called Independent Acapulco Cartel (CIDA), which was led by Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias 'La Barbie,' until he was arrested on August 30.
The Acapulco gang is in a bloody turf war with other cartels for control of the lucrative narcotics trade. The battle has killed some 30 people this month, including 15 who were found beheaded in the beach resort.
Some 34,600 people have been killed since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a clampdown on the country's powerful gangs involving tens of thousands of troops, according to official figures."

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Two Army Soldiers injured & Eleven Zetas killed after shootout in Zacatecas – Mexico | News | Travel | Culture | Economy

Two Army Soldiers injured & Eleven Zetas killed after shootout in Zacatecas – Mexico | News | Travel | Culture | Economy: "Two elements of the Mexican army belonging to the Military Zone XIV, were seriously injured after participating in a clash with gunmen from Los Zetas in the state of Zacatecas that went through several municipalities of this state.

At least three clashes between suspected members of Los Zetas and the Army, in the southwest region of the state."

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La Familia is not dissolved, but in retreat says Mexican government

La Familia is not dissolved, but in retreat says Mexican government: "The Mexican government has denied rumours that the major drug cartel La Familia had dissolved, after mysterious banners appeared in one state, proclaiming the news.

The banners, which state “La Familia is completely dissolved” appeared on Monday on bridges in the western state of Michoacan, the stronghold of the cartel.

The Mexican government has confirmed its security forces did not put up the banners and that they have no evidence the group has dissolved, although it is believed to be “in retreat” since its leader, Nazario Moreno, was killed in a gun battle in December.

Drug war experts have warned the banners may be a ploy by the cartel to divert the attention of the state or security forces in a lead up to a major offensive by the cartel to regain lost ground.

The group is known for brutal beheadings and ambush attacks of police and other security forces."

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Gunfight feared at gang funeral

Gunfight feared at gang funeral | Canada | News | Toronto Sun: "After a tipster told cops two opposing gangs were at the same funeral Wednesday, police closely monitored the gathering and say they likely averted a gunfight.

Insp. Rob Williams said given the violent dispute between opposing members of the two gangs has led to bloodshed in recent years, it was prudent to monitor the funeral.

While he doesn't find it unusual both sides would pay their respects at the same funeral, he said police can't assume some attendees were not armed -- warranting the uninvited police presence.

'They wouldn't be dumb enough to pull guns out with police there -- with that many police, it's very unlikely to happen,' he said. 'From a risk management point of view we probably spared a gunfight.'

The funeral was held Wednesday for a 19-year-old who recently died from was is believed to be non-suspicious circumstances, possibly a drug overdose.

The young man was well-known to police and its Serious Habitual Offender Unit and his funeral attracted members of two street gangs with a history of deadly violence, including shootings in public places.

'We received information regarding two opposing factions, well-known gangs, in attendance at a funeral,' Williams said.

'Because of well known gunfights between them we erred on the side of caution with preventative policing.'"

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Gerbil murder accused is freed on bail - The Daily Record

Gerbil murder accused is freed on bail - The Daily Record: "MAN accused of the assassination of gangland enforcer Kevin “Gerbil” Carroll was yesterday released on bail.

Ross Monaghan walked out of the High Court in Glasgow and into a waiting silver Audi A4 after a brief pre-trial hearing.

Monaghan, 29, has been held in Barlinnie since he first appeared in court last August.

But yesterday the prosecution revealed “fresh information” meant they were unable to set a trial date.

As a result, Monaghan’s bail application was approved by judge Lady Smith.

The Record understands Monaghan has been granted bail as the Crown want to put him in the dock alongside another suspect, who is currently at large and thought to be in Spain.

A legal source said: “There is a feeling the case will be weakened if Monaghan is tried on his own.”

Monaghan – who denies murder – was ordered to report to Helen Street Police Station, Glasgow, every day before 10am."

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Brother of gangster gunned down at Metrotown released on bail

Brother of gangster gunned down at Metrotown released on bail: "Sukhveer Dhak, 26, was arrested on Dec. 18 near 136th Street and 58th Avenue in Surrey by anti-gang police officers and charged with one count of counselling to commit an aggravated assault that did not occur.

The assault was supposed to occur in Surrey on Nov. 15, according to police, one month after Dhak’s 32-year-old brother Gurmit was shot to death.

He was also charged with breaching the conditions of his bail on charges of production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Dhak was arrested in 2008 as part of Project Gateway, a joint drug-trafficking investigation between Delta Police, Surrey RCMP and B.C.’s gang task force.

Dhak was released Tuesday on $25,000 bail with one or more sureties on the charge of counselling to commit an offence.

Conditions include adhering to a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and not possessing any weapons. He is also not to be found in a vehicle that is armoured or has a secret compartment. He cannot be found wearing body armour and cannot be in the company of people who have weapons.

Dhak was also granted bail in the amount of $1,000 on the breach charge. One condition of that release is to not possess more than one cellphone."

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Guzman controls drug production, sales and smuggling throughout much of western Mexico. He's long had his eye on the territory — and profits — of his rivals

“El Chapo Guzman,” they were signed, referring to the Napoleon-sized man who is Mexico's best-known and arguably most powerful gangster.

The handwritten notes warned that the men's brutal fate — the state coroner determined that they were still alive when their heads were removed with an ax — would be shared by any who “attempt to enter the territory.”

If the men were murdered on behalf of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, it means the drug lord, who is listed by Forbes as one of the richest men in the world and by the U.S. Justice Department as worth millions of dollars in rewards, is laying claim to the Pacific Coast resort.

That portends even more violent days ahead for an already bloodied city that's both a prime gateway for imported South American cocaine and a lucrative market for selling drugs to locals and visiting tourists.

The slaughter Jan. 8 might also signal that Guzman, whose gunmen already are battling rivals for control of Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana and other cities, is willing to employ a barbarity that has rarely been his trademark.

“It really isn't his style to use these types of actions,” said Luis Astorga, a leading analyst of Mexico's drug trafficking organizations, expressing doubt that Guzman is behind the beheadings.

“But each organization wants to show itself as more terrifying than its competitors.”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Top-gangster-may-be-extending-reach-960567.php#ixzz1BbisilSRTop gangster may be extending reach - San Antonio Express-News: "Mexico's army commanders consider

their primary target, he's easily evaded every attempt to kill or capture him. He's believed to spend much of his time in the marijuana- and heroin-producing Sierra Madre, mountains that separate Sinaloa and Durango states, protected by hundreds of gunmen, loyal villagers and corrupt police.

But Guzman also is believed to be living at least part time in Central America, far from the upscale neighborhoods of Mexico City and Guadalajara, where many of his colleagues have been captured.

As head of the so-called Federation, an alliance of smuggling gangs based in Sinaloa, a Pacific Coast state, Guzman controls drug production, sales and smuggling throughout much of western Mexico. He's long had his eye on the territory — and profits — of his rivals."

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The Zetas' message Caught in the crossfire - Other Views - MiamiHerald.com

Caught in the crossfire - Other Views - MiamiHerald.com: "My friend -- from an eastern region of Guatemala that empties into the Gulf of Honduras -- spoke in hushed tones as we met in a coffee shop in that Central American country recently.

One of the region's wealthiest families, whose interests run to transportation and construction endeavors but also to more illicit forms of entrepreneurship, had recently received an offer that they couldn't refuse.

Called to a meeting in the jungle-covered department of El Petén, the family's scions found themselves face to face with members of Los Zetas.

Originally members of a Mexican army unit, the Zetas (named after a radio code for high-ranking officers) defected from the military to become enforcers for the Cártel del Golfo in the late 1990s. Subsequently jettisoning their new employers to become an international organized-crime entity in their own right, in recent months the two groups have waged a brutal battle for control of drug-smuggling routes in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León.

The Zetas' message to their erstwhile Guatemalan competitors was clear and chilling: Join forces with the Mexican cartel or make a $1.5 million down payment and deliver monthly payments in the sum of $700,000. There would be no negotiation."

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Krakow machete gang hack man to death - TheNews.pl :: News from Poland

Krakow machete gang hack man to death - TheNews.pl :: News from Poland: "In what was thought to be a gruesome football hooligan related murder in Krakow, when a man was hacked to death yesterday by a gang of men with machetes, could be connected to gangland rivalry, say police.

Detectives in Krakow detained five men last night in the wake of one of the most brutal murders in the southern Polish city in years.

A little after 10 o’clock yesterday morning, Ryszard C. (name withheld under Polish privacy laws), a well-known supporter of the Cracovia football team, was ambushed while driving his silver Audi through the outlying district of Kurdwanow.

According to witnesses, a number of masked men pursued the fleeing man, who attempted to hide in a rubbish tip. A frenzied attack ensued, with the victim hacked repeatedly with machetes.

It is thought that as many as 20 men were involved in the killing."

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'Stop snitching' flyers on estate

'Stop snitching' flyers on estate: "Flyers encouraging people not to hand over information to police have been posted on an estate where a teenager was shot dead.
The leaflets advertise a website - Stop Snitching - which urges potential informants to refuse to co-operate with the authorities.
It also urged people not to trust Trident, which investigates gun crime in London and has particular expertise in black gunmen and victims.
The leaflets have been left around the Pelican Estate, in Peckham, south east London, where 17-year-old Sylvester Akapalara was shot dead last month.
Investigators offered potential witnesses protection and anonymity if they came forward in the hours after the attack.
Sylvester died after being chased into a stairwell in Heron House. Three teenagers have since been charged with murder.
The leaflets highlight the difficulties police often face in winning the trust of potential witnesses of violent crimes linked to gangs. Their message echoes a notorious 2004 campaign called Stop Snitchin' launched in Baltimore, United States."

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war between rival gangs took place Merrylands last night when the eldest of the Ibrahim brothers, Hassan ‘‘Sam’’ Ibrahim, was gunned down

The latest act in a what is believed to be a war between rival gangs took place Merrylands last night when the eldest of the Ibrahim brothers, Hassan ‘‘Sam’’ Ibrahim, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
Mr Ibrahim, 45, was shot twice in the legs at close range outside his parents’ home on the corner of Holdsworth Street and Price Street, Merrylands, at about 6.45pm. He was taken to Westmead Hospital, and was discharged about 11pm.

The Holroyd Local Area commander, Brett McFadden, said police were investigating the number of shots fired and were calling on anyone with information to come forward. Anonymity would be respected, he said.

A light-coloured car carrying at least two people slowly drove by the house and several shots were fired, police said.

A resident of the street said he heard shots and then screams from the house where the shooting took place. He said family members were visibly distressed.

Sam’s brother, the nightclub entrepreneur John, arrived soon after the shooting with a group of men but quickly left.

Sam Ibrahim has been living off and on at his parents’ home since being bailed over an alleged kidnapping last year. He was charged over the knee-capping of two men in Newcastle in 2004 and over a late 1990s cocaine distribution ring involving. He was acquitted on both matters.

The main suspects in last night’s shooting will be members of the Comanchero Motorcycle Club, who have been engaged in an escalating war with the Ibrahim family and the street gang linked to them, Notorious.

Last night police sources indicated that Notorious members would perceive an attack on him as an attack on the gang.

Mr Ibrahim’s shooting comes just hours after acting assistant police commissioner Stuart Smith said they did not believe other shootings yesterday in Lansvale and Fairfield West and Wednesday night in South Wentworthville and Dean Park were related.

Last night, hundreds looked on as police closed off Price Street and Holdsworth Street. When news rippled through the crowd that the incident was a shooting, onlookers began to discuss the other recent shootings and said they did not believe they were unrelated.DISCLAIMER: Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

Stanley Tookie Williams III (December 29, 1953 – December 13, 2005) was the co-founder of the Crips

"Stanley Tookie Williams III (December 29, 1953 – December 13, 2005) was the co-founder of the Crips, a notorious American street gang which had its roots in South Central Los Angeles in 1971. In 1979 he was convicted of four murders committed in the course of robberies, and he remained in prison for the rest of his life. Later on in his life, he became an author of several books including anti-gang and violence literature and children’s books.

Williams refused to help police investigate his gang, and was implicated in attacks on guards and women, as well as multiple escape plots. In 1993, Williams began making changes in his behavior, and became an anti-gang activist while on Death Row in California. He renounced his gang affiliation and apologized for his role in founding the Crips. He also co-wrote children’s books and participated in efforts intended to prevent youths from joining gangs.

On December 13, 2005, Williams was executed by lethal injection after clemency and a four-week stay of execution were both rejected by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, amidst debate over the death penalty and whether Williams’ anti-gang advocacy in prison represented genuine atonement for his crimes or were just a way to escape execution. Williams was the second inmate in California to be executed in 2005."

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Investigation into death of Notorious B.I.G. heats up - CNN.com

Investigation into death of Notorious B.I.G. heats up - CNN.com: "task force made up of local and federal law enforcement agencies is actively pursuing leads into the 1997 slaying of hip hop artist Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G., according to two sources familiar with the investigation.
According to one law enforcement source, the investigation into the 13-year-old unsolved case was 'reinvigorated' months ago as a result of new information, but the source would not elaborate further because of the ongoing investigation that includes the Los Angeles Police Department, L.A. County District Attorney's Office and the FBI.
On March 9, 1997, Wallace, 24, was shot and killed while riding in a Suburban that was driving away from a music industry party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles police said a lone gunman in a Chevy Impala pulled alongside the Suburban and opened fire on Wallace, who was in the passenger seat. Witnesses described the suspect as being an African-American man wearing a suit and bow tie."


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Mob soldier Armando (Mondo) Rea off hook in killing of Mafia hit man

Mob soldier Armando (Mondo) Rea off hook in killing of Mafia hit man: "Federal prosecutors have dropped a gangland murder charge against reputed Bonanno soldier Armando (Mondo) Rea, the Daily News has learned.

The 1980 rubout of Mafia hit man Gerard Pappa vanished from a new indictment against Rea unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Rea is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 31 on the remaining charges of racketeering, extortion of Teamsters Local 807 and a failed plot to kill a Bonanno wiseguy named 'Crazy Charlie' in 1992.

The Daily News reported last month that mob rats had previously fingered at least six gangsters other than Rea in the murder of Pappa, who was gunned down as he ate breakfast in the Villa66 restaurant in Brooklyn.

'As we prepare for trial, we anticipate further vindications of Mr. Rea,' lawyer John Meringolo said.

Rea was inducted into the Bonanno family as a reward for carrying out the hit, sources had contended.

The late Genovese crime boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante was acquitted in 1997 of ordering Pappa's death."

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Two Guatemalan Police Arrested in Death of Youth Gang Member

Latin American Herald Tribune - Two Guatemalan Police Arrested in Death of Youth Gang Member: "Two Guatemalan police have been arrested on charges of having killed a youth gang member in the southern municipality of Villa Nueva, authorities said.

The agents, identified as Walter Martinez, 28, and Saul Estrada, 19, were arrested Friday by National Civil Police colleagues.

The local daily Prensa Libre said in its online edition that some agents heard shots Friday morning in downtown Villa Nueva, and when they arrived at the crime scene, they saw two men getting away and found an unidentified gang member slain.

The two men, who were apparently dressed in civilian clothing, went to the police station located near the crime scene, where they were arrested.

The two agents had been drinking and their .9mm weapons were taken from them and sent to a forensics lab to establish which was used to kill the delinquent.

Street gangs are blamed for much of the violence plaguing this Central American nation."

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41 Mexican prison guards charged in mass jailbreak

41 Mexican prison guards charged in mass jailbreak: "40 prison guards have been charged with helping 153 inmates escape from a prison in a northern Mexican border city.

The federal Attorney General's office says in a statement that 41 guards have been accused of opening the gates of the prison in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas. If convicted, the guards face up to 20 years in prison.

Authorities initially said 141 prisoners escaped Dec. 17, but the statement Monday said the number was 153.

The fugitives were being held for trial or had been convicted of crimes ranging from robbery to drug trafficking."

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Petrol bomb attack on Coogee tattoo parlour | Herald Sun

Petrol bomb attack on Coogee tattoo parlour | Herald Sun: "BIKIE gang could be responsible for the petrol bombing of a tattoo parlour in Sydney's eastern suburbs, police say.

Police from Eastern Beaches Local Area Command and NSW Fire Brigades personnel responded to reports a petrol bomb had been thrown into The Coogee Ink Tattoo parlour on Coogee Bay Road about 12.50am today.

Upon arrival at the scene, they found the tattoo parlour well alight.

A police source has confirmed the tattoo parlour had links to the Comanchero bikie gang.

Close to 30 residents were evacuated from a number of surrounding units as fire fighters worked to put out the blaze.

The fire was extinguished a short time later but not before the shop sustained significant damage. No one was injured in the incident."

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Mexico's brutal Zetas drug gang suspects threaten 'war' in Guatemala

Drug gang suspects threaten 'war' in Guatemala: "Men claiming to belong to the Zetas drug gang forced radio stations to broadcast a threat of war in a northern Guatemalan province where the government declared a state of siege last week, authorities said Tuesday.

The men arrived at three radio stations in the northern city of Coban and threatened to burn the premises down and kill journalists and their families if the message was not broadcast, Interior Ministry spokesman Nery Morales said.

The message, which the radio broadcasters read out Monday, threatened violence if Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom does not fulfill unspecified promises. It said 'war will start in this country, in shopping malls, schools and police stations.'

Guatemala declared a monthlong state of siege Dec. 19 in the northern province of Alta Verapaz, a prime corridor for smuggling drugs from Honduras to Mexico and a bastion of Mexico's brutal Zetas drug gang."

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Indo-Canadian Gangster Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy In 1997 Abbotsford Murder | Link Newspaper

Indo-Canadian Gangster Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy In 1997 Abbotsford Murder | Link Newspaper: "Ravinder (Robbie) Soomel, 31, was sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the killing of 20-year-old Jason Herle, who was gunned down by two men hiding in the bushes as he was leaving his parents’ King Road home with his girlfriend in November 1997, reported the Surrey Leader newspaper.
Soomel and co-accused Tajinder (T.J.) Bains were each charged in August 2007 with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Bains, 36, entered his plea in December 2008 and was sentenced to three years."

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Top fugitive nabbed in Cyprus

Top fugitive nabbed in Cyprus: "AUTHORITIES have swooped on one of Australia's most wanted men - the alleged drug lord and Comanchero bikie gang financier Hakan Ayik - on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, ending his six months on the run.

The arrest of Ayik in Northern Cyprus paves the way for his possible extradition to Australia to face charges in connection with the nation's biggest, recent, organised crime probe, Operation Hoffman.

Two months ago, Ayik - wanted by New South Wales police and Interpol - narrowly evaded capture at the Greek-Turkish border after officials questioned him about a passport he was using.

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Rumours swept the Melbourne and Sydney underworld that Ayik had fled the border police on a motorbike in a hail of bullets. But criminal sources say it was more likely he bribed border officials to let him go."

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Stella English and the ugly truth about the gangster's moll who won the Apprentice | Mail Online

Stella English and the ugly truth about the gangster's moll who won the Apprentice | Mail Online: "Ray Dewar, 39, her fiancé and the father of her two children, Edward, four, and two-year-old Frank. For Raymond Alexander Dewar is a notorious hard-man with links to one of Britain’s most feared drugs barons.

Dewar was once associated with a major underworld figure (because he’s connected to a current legal case, he cannot be identified) who was described as so powerful, with corrupt police in his pay, that ‘he could bend justice’.

This individual controlled the drugs trade across a huge swathe of South London and was reputedly involved in gangland murders, bribing police and running an operation based on fear and bloody reprisals against enemy gangsters.

Dewar, 39, who describes himself as a ‘builder and scaffolder’, is alleged to have acted for Mr X when he was in his 20s."

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Jail killing spurs inquiry

Deaths Related to Sex Offenders or Offenses: Jail killing spurs inquiry: "As most Sundays are at the Kenton County jail, March 29 was quiet. Inmates lounged in bed because there were no court hearings or visitations scheduled.

It was sometime during that quiet time that Isaac Jackson, a 40-year-old homeless man, was strangled in bed.

He wasn't found until jail deputies rushed to the cell to fix an overflowing toilet at 12:30 p.m. While authorities have not released an estimated time of death, officials have said they think Jackson was killed that morning.

It is the first killing authorities can recall happening in a Northern Kentucky jail - including Boone, Campbell and Grant counties - in at least two decades, Kenton County Police Chief Ed Butler said.

Cellmate Marion Lawson Parker II, who goes by Timmy, later confessed to the killing, Butler said. Jackson is the second man Parker is charged with strangling to death. The first was the Jan. 31 killing of Shawn Davis, 28, of Covington.

Details of Parker's confession are expected to be made public at the defendant's preliminary hearing, set for Tuesday in Kenton District Court."

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Street gang boss pleads guilty to drug charges

Street gang boss pleads guilty to drug charges: "Details of Zephir's quick ascent from leaving a federal penitentiary in January 2006 to running a drug ring that sold 250 grams of cocaine a week were made public at the Montreal courthouse yesterday as Zephyr, leader of the Syndicate street gang, pleaded guilty to seven charges filed in Project Axe, the Montreal police investigation that led to the arrests of 55 people early in 2009.

Zephyr, 38, had served the prison term for killing a rival gang member in June 1999 during a party at a reception hall in St. Leonard.

The killing is just part of a criminal past that includes an episode in which Zephyr once pushed a man he believed was a police informant out of a moving car.

Zephyr appeared bored yesterday as he pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic in cocaine, trafficking cocaine, producing crack cocaine, and four related charges"

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Another Prince George arson fire possibly linked to gang activity

BCLocalNews.com - Another Prince George arson fire possibly linked to gang activity: "Police are investigating another suspected arson in the city … the third in less than a month.
And, like the previous two, the third fire is likely linked to organized crime.
Police were called out of a residence in the 2600-block of Quince Street at about 9:30 a.m. Friday for an attempted arson.
Officers attended and confirmed that a window was smashed and an attempt was made to start a fire. Members of the Prince George RCMP are continuing to investigate this crime, including the possibility that this is linked to organized street gang activity.
There is no evidence that anyone was hurt in this incident."

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B.C. bloodshed garners international attention

B.C. bloodshed garners international attention: "Street gangs have sparked a wave of violence that has left dozens of people dead.
Last year, a gang war heated up and resulted in many shootings. In the first six months of 2009 alone 24 people were killed and dozens more were wounded.
The bloodshed garnered international attention. “Once upon a very recent time, Vancouver had a clean, safe image,” said an article in the British newspaper, the Independent. “As it prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, what it's got now is not cuddly, eco-friendly publicity, but blood-spattered streets littered with shell casings and corpses.”
Police attributed the bloodshed to a handful of gangs fighting over a dwindling supply of cocaine from Mexico -- The Mexican government had initiated a crackdown on the cartels that sent cocaine to the U.S. and Canada – and local marijuana, which the gangs use to acquire the cocaine.
The Independent Soldiers and the United Nations gangs fought for control of the drugs with a handful of gangs, including the Red Scorpions, the Buttar Gang, the Sanghera"

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Kosovo's prime minister 'key player in mafia-like gang' - Telegraph

Kosovo's prime minister 'key player in mafia-like gang' - Telegraph: "The report states that Mr Thaci exerted 'violent control' over the heroin trade. Dick Marty, the European Union investigator, will present the report to European diplomats from all member states in Paris on Thursday.
Kosovo's government on Tuesday described the report as 'baseless' and 'defamatory'.
'The government of Kosovo and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci will undertake all the necessary steps and actions to dismiss the slanders of Dick Marty, including legal and political means,' the government said in a statement.
Meanwhile, legal proceedings began in a Pristina district court on Tuesday over an alleged organ trafficking gang discovered by police. An EU prosecutor told the court a gang of Kosovan organ traffickers operated an elaborate international network that traded in the organs of people living in extreme poverty.
The men, including a former senior Kosovan Health Ministry official, promised poor people from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey up to €14,500 (£12,300) for their organs.
Those who received the organs – including patients from Canada, Germany, Poland and Israel – paid between €80,000 and €100,000 for them, Ratel said. The victims, however, were never paid, EU prosecutor Jonathan Ratel told the court.
The seven men have pleaded not guilty to charges ranging from trafficking in persons to unlawful practices of medicine and abuse of power. Two other suspects, a Turkish and an Israeli national, remain at large."

Mexican Army Captures High-Level Sinaloa Cartel Member | United States Border Narcotics Intelligence

Mexican Army Captures High-Level Sinaloa Cartel Member United States Border Narcotics Intelligence: "Enrique Lopez Acosta was arrested Sunday in Ciudad Delicias after a shootout that left his brother, Ever Horacio Lopez Acosta, dead, the secretariat said.
The drug trafficker’s arrest was made possible by “intelligence activities,” the Defense Secretariat said.
Lopez Acosta is accused of being behind the March 15 massacre of seven people in Creel, a town in Chihuahua, and had several arrest warrants outstanding.
The suspect was turned over to federal prosecutors, the secretariat said."

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Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, known as 'El Farmero,' was the leader of the Aztecas gangJuarez gang leader admits killings - CNN

Juarez gang leader admits killings - CNN: "alleged gang member who police say was behind 80 percent of the killings in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, over the past 16 months was arrested over the weekend, officials said.
Police believe that Arturo Gallegos Castrellon, known as 'El Farmero,' was the leader of the Aztecas gang, a group closely linked with the Juarez cartel and its enforcement arm, La Linea.
Gallegos confessed to authorities that he ordered the killings of three people linked to the U.S. consulate in Juarez in March, as well as the attack on a party of young people that killed 14, federal police said."

Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder