In one posting,Colin Gunn, 42, said: “I will be home one day and I can’t wait to look into certain people’s eyes and see the fear of me being there.” In another message he wrote: “It’s good to have an outlet to let you know how I am, some of you will be in for a good slagging, some have let me down badly, and will be named and shamed, f****** rats.”

Colin Gunn, an underworld godfather who ordered the execution of two grandparents, has now had his social networking site closed down by prison bosses.It follows last week's revelation that one of the killers of teenager Ben Kinsella used Facebook to taunt his victim's family.The Sunday Times reported that the 42-year-old said in one posting: "I will be home one day and I can't wait to look into certain people's eyes and see the fear of me being there."Gunn, from Nottingham, was jailed over the revenge murders of John and Joan Stirland in 2004.According to the Ministry of Justice, prisoners are prohibited from accessing social networking sites.A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "We are extremely concerned that prisoners are able to update Facebook and other social networking sites either through illicit technology or via outside contacts."We recognise that it is deeply distressing for victims and their families and friends and we have made it clear to Facebook that we do not think it acceptable or appropriate for these sites to remain active, something Facebook agrees with."Jade Braithwaite, jailed for knifing to death Ben Kinsella, 16, used Facebook to taunt his victim's family.Earlier this month, relatives of victims of violent crime called for the introduction of electronic anti-social behaviour orders, or "E-Asbos".Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he was seeking a meeting with Facebook bosses."I have sought the assistance of Facebook to have these profiles removed and we will continue to press for removal of these," he said.
"I am also hoping to meet with Ofcom, Facebook, victims' representatives."

Michael Sammon nickname - the Merchant of Death.Sammon was one of Britain's biggest gun crime lords, bringing murder, terror and violence to our streets.On the run for 11 years, he imported blank-firing guns to the UK, converted them into deadly weapons and sold them at a huge profit to killers and gangsters.Now, as Mickey the Fish begins 30 years behind bars,Sammon and his associates legally bought hundreds of flare guns - normally used to fire CS gas cannisters - in Germany for just £43 each.They smuggled the guns into a crumbling warehouse in Manchester, converted them and sold them on to gangs for £750.
Buyers came from Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Yorkshire, Scotland, Bristol and Wolverhampton. To the gun gang, this was just a lucrative business. But the human cost has been huge - and is still rising.Police believe weapons from this prolific gun factory are behind more than 4,000 crimes nationwide, including kidnap, armed robbery, torture and extortion. Tragically, one was found by a teenager who accidentally shot dead his little sister.Jailing Sammon, 49, a week ago at Manchester crown court, Judge Martin Steiger called him a "merchant of death".
The judge added: "One hundred of the guns are still in circulation, waiting to do their lethal work to innocent victims."The police have tied 42 guns to Sammon, although around 250 are known to have passed through the gun factory in Ancoats.
The crimes committed with them include the fatal shooting of Kamilah Peniston, 12, at her home in Gorton, Manchester, in April 2007 by her brother.
Kasha, 17, had discovered one of Sammon's converted guns - which had been hidden by their mother for a boyfriend - and was "messing about" with it. A single bullet hit Kamilah in the head and, tragically, she died a day later. Kasha was jailed for two years for manslaughter.A month later, lorry driver Brian Walsh, 47, used one of Sammon's guns to shoot his ex-wife Pauline outside her home in Droylsden, Manchester, then he turned the weapon on himself. She survived, he died.Chillingly, crimelord Dominic Noonan, 43, was found with one of the handguns and five bullets when stopped by police near Darlington, Co Durham, in 2005.
Noonan, whose gang has been linked to more than 25 killings, once boasted: "The police reckon I am behind most of the murders in Manchester." He was jailed for nine and a half years over the gun find.
Sammon's guns were also used in an armed raid on a Rochdale post office on October 25, 2005. Owner Jagdish Patel was pistol-whipped and shot, although luckily the bullet just grazed his head.Robber John Welsby, 27, was later jailed for 13 years for his part in the raid while his accomplice Aiden Martin, 18, got six years and eight months behind bars.
Another pistol smuggled in from Cologne was used by bloodthirsty kidnappers in Wavertree, Liverpool, in May 2005. Their victim was tortured with a hot iron.Police were threatened with another gun in September 2007, after they chased a car in Kirkdale, Liverpool.A man was arrested with a gun hidden in his underwear in Manchester in September 2004. And in October 2005, a youngster pulled a ME 38 Pocket revolver on a pub landlord in Bolton, after being refused entry. Drug arrests also led police to finding part of Sammon's deadly haul in some strange locations - buried in an allotment in Newcastle, hidden in a bag on a golf course in Liverpool.An ME 38 Compact pistol was found in a shallow grave at university grounds in Manchester. Guns were found in woodland in Sheffield and at the Top Nosh cafe in St Helens. Several turned up in Manchester's "Triangle of Death" which has been hit by gun crime.Five accomplices were jailed in 2006 but Sammon, who had been on the run since 1997, remained at large, constantly changing his identity and appearance.
He was eventually traced to a caravan park in Southsea in 2008 and is now serving 30 years for conspiring to possess, import, modify and circulate the firearms.
Sammon worked alongside Robert Tyrer, 51, who was jailed for 19 years in 2006. They masterminded the operation and recruited David McCulloch, 52, to convert the flare guns. He is serving six years after spilling the beans on the crime.
Ds Jim Gray of Greater Manchester Police's Xcalibre Organised Crime Unit said: "Sammon needed stopping as he has caused a lot of misery and suffering."
He added: "It's unusual to come across gun factories and never one so big.
"It's fair to say that the weapons converted in this factory are responsible for a big slice of the gun crime in Britain.
"We're always looking at new shootings to see if it's one of these guns. It's frightening that so many of them are still out there. Sammon would sell to anyone.
"Any crime involving a gun with a .38 calibre could be one of his."
Kamilah Peniston, 12, died after being accidentally shot in the head in April 2007. Brother Kasha, 17, found one of Sammon's guns and was "messing around" with it.
When two gunmen raided his Rochdale post office on October 25, 2005, Jagdish Patel was pistol-whipped and shot. Fortunately, the bullet merely grazed his head.
Notorious crimelord Dominic Noonan, 43 - whose gang has been linked to over 25 murders - was found with one of the handguns when stopped by police in 2005.

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.

Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has seized more than €200,000 in cash and a property portfolio from gangland boss Martin 'Marlo' Hyland.After pursuing Hyland's profits from drug trafficking and armed robberies over the past two-and-a-half years, CAB yesterday won High Court approval for the seizures.Hyland was shot dead by some of his associates in a house in Finglas, west Dublin, in December 2006 -- after a series of successes against his crime gang by the garda's organised crime and national drugs units.He was the prime target of Operation Oak, which was set up in September 2005 to focus on Hyland and his associates.It resulted in the seizure of 30kgs of heroin, with a street value of €8m; 35kgs of cocaine, worth €2.5m; 1.4 tonnes of cannabis, worth €10m; as well as four stolen vehicles, firearms, ammunition and cash.It also led to 41 arrests and 26 of the suspects are currently before the courts on charges ranging from possession of drugs with intent to sell or supply, robbery and possession of firearms.Hyland was described in court as the leader of an organised crime gang. Some of his assets were lodged in other people's names but Cab proved to the High Court that he was linked to them.In court yesterday, Mr Justice Kevin Feeney ordered the disposal by the State of a house owned by Hyland in Dublin. This followed previous court judgments on another house in Dublin and a property in Co Meath.CAB was also given the go-ahead yesterday to seize €19,150 in cash and a sports utility vehicle (SUV).Earlier, the High Court had ordered the forfeiture of two other cash sums, €161,000 and €37,000, making an overall total of almost €220,000.Some of the money had been put down as a deposit for the purchase of a luxury apartment in Bulgaria.Judge Feeney also appointed CAB's legal officer, Frank Cassidy, as a receiver and he was instructed to sell the property and hand the proceeds into the Exchequer.Since Hyland's murder and the conviction of some of his associates, the remnants of his gang have banded together with other criminals.
They are now under the control of another Finglas-based thug, who is a prime target for gardai and CAB.Two of Hyland's former associates were recently jailed for a combined 26 years for their part in a major drug trafficking operation.

The Daniel crime clan lieutenant was shot in the head five times in broad daylight as he sat in a car outside ASDA in Robroyston, Glasgow, last Wednesday.But as police continued the hunt for the assassins, Carroll's body remained in a city mortuary and can't be handed over to undertakers without the go-ahead of the procurator fiscal.
A source said: "The release of the body is way down the line and is not imminent."
When drug dea ler Jim McDonald was shot dead in Cardonald, Glasgow, in May 2007, his family had to wait three months before they could bury him.The hitman, Stuart Robertson, was later jailed for 20 years.And when gangster George Redmond was assassinated outside the Waldorf bar in Glasgow city centre, his funeral didn't take place for five months.That hit, in October 2008, remains unsolved.A week on from the Carroll killing, police were keeping an open mind as to who sanctioned the shooting and why it was ordered.Both the Lyons and the Daniel crime clans have been blamed for the assassination.

Clay Roueche may have been arrested just last year, but the cracks in his United Nations gang started surfacing in early 2005.That's when UN helicopters flying clandestinely across the border hit the radar of police in both Washington state and British Columbia.According to U.S. court documents filed for Roueche's sentencing hearing Wednesday, Chilliwack RCMP were already following around some of Roueche's UN associates by the third week of 2005.They tracked a Robinson R22 helicopter to a hangar at the Chilliwack Airport on Jan. 24, 2005 that was rented by Joe Curry, who had used his credit card to purchase chopper fuel. Like Roueche, Curry was later charged with conspiracy to traffic in the U.S., but he remains in Canada.
A day later, RCMP surveillance followed a car to the same hangar and later to a meeting with someone driving a vehicle registered to UN gang member Daryl Johnson. Johnson's car then was driven to UN Gang member Douglas Vanalstine's business in Abbotsford, B.C., where Vanalstine's car also was parked.Late last month, both Vanalstine and Johnson were charged in B.C. with conspiracy to traffic cocaine after an undercover operation by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement. Vanalstine is charged on the same indictment in Washington state to which Roueche has pleaded guilty.The U.S. Attorney is asking for a 30-year-sentence for Roueche, but his lawyer Todd Maybrown says that is unfair and disproportionate to others already convicted in the same international drug conspiracy.And there are many.Roueche may be the top-ranking UN gangster to go down on drug charges, but a whole string of his mules and smugglers also was arrested, charged, convicted and jailed in the U.S., according to courts.B.C. resident Alexander Swanson was arrested on Aug. 12, 2005 — off-loading UN pot in Washington state. Calgary brothers Zachary and Braydon Miraback were arrested in Puyallup on Sept. 21, 2005, with 453 kilograms of B.C. bud that had been flown across by helicopter earlier that day.U.S. warrants were issued for the arrests of two Fraser Valley men — Trevor Schoutens and Brian Fews — who had been followed across the border by U.S. agents several times as they facilitated the movement of marijuana.On Dec. 1, 2005, B.C. resident Greg Fielding got nabbed with 148 kilograms of pot stuffed into hockey bags that had been dropped off by a white float plane on Soap Lake, near Spokane.Three months later, on March 14, 2006, B.C. pilot Kevin Haughton was arrested by the Colville Tribal police after he abandoned a float plane with 142 kilograms of marijuana and 24,000 ecstasy pills.Haughton told police that he worked for Duane Meyer, a UN gangster based in Abbotsford who was gunned down last year in a targeted hit.Nine days later, two Vancouver women — Sharmila Kumar and Shailen Varma — were picked up at Soap Lake where they had also picked up marijuana that had been flown in to the remote spot.On Sept. 25, 2006, Joshua Hildebrandt and Nicholas Kocoski were busted near Rimrock, Wash., after flying undetermined contraband in a rented Piper Cherokee from Chilliwack, B.C.Two days later, B.C. man Daniel LeClerc was arrested near Yreka, Calif., with 144 kilos of cocaine in his aircraft. He was en route to Chilliwack.On Oct. 3, 2006, Chilliwack realtor and close Roueche associate Michael Gordon as well as Alexander Kocoski crossed into Washington state to bail the Kocoski's brother and Hildrebrandt out of jail. Gordon was later shot to death in Chilliwack on Aug. 20, 2008.Many of the Canadians arrested in the U.S. co-operated and pleaded guilty, providing information about their links in Canada. Others claimed not to know those behind the shipments they were ferrying or hauling across the border.But police in both Canada and the U.S. knew the common denominator was Clay Roueche and the UN gang. And they set their sights on bigger fish.The Americans recruited an informant named Ken Davis who had agreed to be one of Roueche's men in the U.S., according to public documents filed in a Seattle court.
Davis gathered incriminating evidence linking the UN leader to marijuana and cocaine smuggling and money laundering in the millions of dollars.Davis visited Roueche in Abbotsford and was given Roueche's contacts in California to which he was asked to deliver about $500,000 a week in drug profits and return to Seattle with 25 kilos of cocaine per trip.When Roueche was away in Mexico or in Asia, he got Davis to call Dan Russell for orders, the court documents say. Russell is now charged in B.C. with conspiring to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates.Roueche was indicted in Washington by a grand jury in October 2007. But the U.S. file remained sealed until Roueche was nabbed after being turned away from Mexico on May 17, 2008, and forced to land in Texas where the warrant was waiting.
The breadth of his operation and the violence both threatened and inflicted are the reasons why the U.S. attorney wants Roueche locked away for 30 years."The affidavits of the various co-operators paint the picture of a controlled, powerful man who appeared willing to take whatever necessary steps in order to continue his lucrative drug-trafficking business," the U.S. attorney's office says in its sentencing memo."The UN Gang is the type of organized, sophisticated drug trading group that presents a significant danger to the safety, peace and security of the United States."But Maybrown is arguing that the myth of Clay Roueche is bigger than the man himself.
He said that while the U.S. attorney claims in its sentencing documents that UN gang members "have become known for their reputation of extreme violence," no evidence of Roueche using violence has been entered.Two of Roueche's young daughters wrote letters to the judge, pleading to let "Daddy come out because we had lots of fun together."Maybrown pointed Roueche's own words as indication the gang leader has changed.
"Until recently, I did not even think about, let alone understand, the consequences of my actions," Roueche said in a letter to the court."I now understand that I have hurt myself, my family members and others because of my foolish actions. For all of this, I am truly sorry."

•Two counts of Attempted Aggravated Murder
•One County of Assault in the First Degree
•Three counts of Robbery in the First Degree
•Five counts of Robbery in the Second Degree
•Felon in Possession of a Firearm
•Burglary in the First Degree and Theft in the First Degreejury convicted a gang member of holding the victim of a robbery upside and slitting his throat during a home invasion robbery.The victim survived to testify against Shawn Richard Monro, who turns 28 Friday. He will be sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 9 a.m.The trial took more than two weeks. The jury convicted the defendant of 18 felony counts including:
The charges stem from a series of robberies and the attempted aggravated murder of a Eugene man during a home-invasion robbery near Cal Young Middle School.
Monro attempted to kill this victim by slitting his throat with a knife while positioning him head down to bleed him out.
The trial included testimony witnesses who were Westside Gangsters and Gangster Disciple members at the time of the offenses, most of whom are currently serving prison sentences for their roles in these crimes and others. The crimes were investigated by a team led by Eugene Police Department detectives in the course of a multi-year investigation into related gang activities in October of 2006. Other participants in the Eugene home invasion robbery included Paul McCloskey, Robert Jablonski and Michael Vaughan. They are all serving Measure 11 prison sentences. This crime spree culminated in the gang related murder of Noah Thacker by Michael Anthony Vaughan. The day following the Eugene home invasion, Vaughan executed Thacker and then lit his body and apartment on fire. In 2008 Michael Vaughan pled guilty to aggravated murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Gurneerkamal Gill was picked up during a raid on his family’s Abbotsford home late Wednesday afternoon.While he has some links to the United Nations gang, he was an independent businessman allegedly running a four-phone drug line to the tune of about $1,000 a day profit, Const. Ian MacDonald said.The arrest is just the latest by the Abbotsford police, who have been targeting front-line drug crews in an effort to disrupt the profits of Fraser Valley gangsters.Members of the Red Scorpions and the UN have been busted in recent months, along with freelancers like Gill, who appeared in court Thursday.“This guy is definitely associated with card-carrying gang members — predominantly on the UN side — but he is what I would characterize as close a freelancer as I have seen,” MacDonald said. MacDonald said Gill was not on police radar until very recently, even though investigators believe he has been running a lucrative dial-a-dope operation for up to two years.During the raid on the home at 2167 Martens St., police seized a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, a bolt-action rifle, ammunition, heroin, cocaine, cash and four cellphones, MacDonald said.

Gill is now facing two trafficking charges and three weapons charges.

MacDonald said Gill was living at home, driving two German-made automobiles worth $100,000 and telling people the money came from his business.
His family did not know about his alleged drug trafficking, MacDonald said.
“He was doing limited distribution through his residence, but the bulk of it he was doing by driving to people’s houses,” MacDonald said.
“In the current climate where you have got gangs at war and where you have got police trying to arrest people and we are looking for information on people, he had isolated himself pretty well by being an independent business guy.”
Gill has no criminal record and is listed in federal documents as the owner of a business called Seven Star Import & Export, operated from the Martens Street house.
“He was the prototypical gangster, not by association to a criminal organization, but by lifestyle. He fits that middle-class gangster mould where you still have a close association to your middle-class or upper middle-class roots, but now you can adorn yourself with all the accoutrements of engaging in illegitimate business.”
With high-profile Abbotsford leaders of both the UN and Red Scorpions in jail, police are now targeting other levels of the drug trade, including independents like Gill.Since November, Abbotsford police have arrested people at drug houses linked to both gangs. One of those charged, Red Scorpion Jason William Brown, appeared in Surrey Provincial Court on Thursday.
“Part of the directive that we have received from the chief and the deputy is that we are going to put gangsters and drug dealers in jail wherever we come upon them, regardless of where they are in the food chain, we are going to make arrests,” MacDonald said. “2010 is going to be a record year for arresting gangsters and drug dealers. Our mandate is to make it as ugly as possible to be a gangster in Abbotsford.”

Gotti's last three trials for racketeering have ended in mis-trial because of jury tampering or deadlocked juries. The alleged Mob boss is accused of taking over New York's biggest crime family from his infamous father, John "The Dapper Don" Gotti, who died in jail. The latest trial, in its sixth week, heard testimony about how the Mob sought to intimidate jurors. A Mafia turncoat testifying for the prosecution claimed that Mr Gotti mouthed the words "I'll kill you" to him in the courtroom.
Before the trial started, seven jurors asked unsuccessfully to be removed from the case, saying that they were scared of retribution. Judge Kevin Castel dismissed one juror who said that she was brushed by a car while crossing a Manhattan street in an incident that she took as a warning from the Mob. A second juror was dismissed because his hedge fund was losing too much money without him, leaving only four alternative jurors left to step in. Judge Castel questioned the remaining jurors individually on Tuesday about the latest row.

Gotti, 45, voiced concern over an allegation in the letter than Juror No 7 considered his defence lawyer "very handsome". The letter writer mistakenly called the defence lawyer Charles Carneglia, instead of Charles Carnesi - mixing up his surname for that of a Mafia hitman who dissolved his victims in acid.
"A juror thinks the guy representing me is a five-time murderer. What shot do I have?" said Mr Gotti.

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 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, 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

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


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

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.

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.

Michael Kanaan was an angry young man in a hurry to make a name for himself in Sydney's underworld. But his volatile temper and penchant for violence soon led him to kill three men before he was finally captured in a wild shootout with Sydney police. Born in Australia in 1975 to Lebanese parents he grew up following American crime gang culture in films and music. As a teenager he moved into petty theft and assault before his first arrest, for drug possession, in his early twenties. Despite being given a suspended sentence and a two-year good behaviour bond, he was soon in trouble again, this time for common assault, for which he escaped with a fine. He quickly returned to drug dealing and his gang, known as DK's boys, made huge profits distributing cocaine in Sydney's Kings Cross. His reputation grew and by 1998, at age 23, he had become a lieutenant to organised crime figure Danny Karam. Although outwardly courteous and well spoken, Michael Kanaan had an uncontrollable temper and did not hesitate to use violence to settle disputes. In July 1998, he made a passing comment to some people involved in a fight outside the Five Dock Hotel in Sydney's inner west. When one of them approached him, Kanaan suddenly drew a pistol and shot two men dead. His attempt to shoot a third failed as he had run out of bullets. A few months later, Kanaan led his gang in a drive-by shooting attack on the police station at Lakemba in Sydney in which the building was sprayed with bullets. Soon afterwards he organised the brutal execution of his underworld boss, Danny Karam in December 1998. He was finally cornered by police and arrested after a shoot-out in inner city Rushcutters Bay in which Constable Chris Patrech was wounded.

Denard Edward "Bird" Carrington pleaded guilty in October to possession of firearms by a felon, possession with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of powder cocaine, and possession of an unregistered firearm.In a jury trial that same month, he also was convicted of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. He was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer in Richmond.Authorities said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Richmond Police Department began investigating Carrington's drug dealing last year. Investigators searched his house, at 1701 Peter Paul Blvd., on April 21.
When investigators entered the house, Carrington ran from the living room to the bedroom and jumped out of a rear window. He was caught in the backyard.
According to papers filed in U.S. District Court, as Carrington was led from the residence a neighbor asked him what he was caught with and Carrington replied: "a kilo."Inside Carrington's bedroom authorities seized more than 500 grams of powder cocaine, digital scales with cocaine and marijuana residue on them, drug-packaging materials, documents bearing Carrington's name, a money-counter, a safe, $57,021 in cash, a fully automatic Mac-10 machine gun, an AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle, and assorted jewelry valued at $32,760.In addition, a Glock 31 .357-caliber handgun was recovered from inside a toilet bowl in the bathroom of the master bedroom.

Juan Ruben Vela Garcia knew what he would say in court Thursday could get him killed.
From the witness stand, Garcia, a former member of the MS-13 gang, told jurors that six men on trial were members of the violent gang.
Asked by a prosecutor if he was nervous, Garcia, 30, replied: "Yes, sir, I am."
The prosecutor then asked why he was cooperating with law enforcement.
"I'm ashamed. I'm embarrassed...," he said. "That's the way to get out of the gang. You die or you become a rat. That's what I am now - a rat."Each of the six men on trial at the federal courthouse in Charlotte is charged with racketeering conspiracy. Some also face firearms, drugs and robbery charges. One is charged with murder.The six men on trial are among 26 suspected MS-13 gang members indicted in June 2008. Eighteen, including Garcia, have pleaded guilty. One man is in a prison in El Salvador. Another, charged with murder, is scheduled to be tried for his life later this year.Prosecutors have said the defendants were part of an international organization that committed crimes across Charlotte, including robbery, extortion and murder.Garcia told jurors he's in the witness protection program while incarcerated. He said he became a member of MS-13 in 2000."I joined to fit in - to be in something and to be somebody," Garcia said.
Defense lawyers questioned Garcia's motives for testifying and whether he was telling the truth. One of the lawyers suggested he was testifying because he faces a life sentence and hopes his cooperation will get him a lighter sentence."I just wanted to do the right thing," Garcia said. "I don't want to be a gang member."
Garcia also denied being the leader of the MS-13 gang."I was one of the guys a lot of people respected," he said. "The more people who know you, the more respect you gain."Another former MS-13 gang member, who authorities say helped them infiltrate the gang, took the stand Thursday afternoon. The 21-year-old informant videotaped gang meetings and drug buys, according to the FBI.The informant told jurors he's in the government's witness protection program.Asked by a prosecutor why he needs protection, he replied: "They'll kill me."

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."

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 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.

Police have issued a picture of a man they are trying to trace in connection with a riot inside an airport terminal.Detectives from West Midlands Police are trying to find 46-year-old Joseph Lagrue to speak to him in connection with the disorder at Birmingham International Airport on January 20, 2008.In June last year seven members of two rival biker gangs were each jailed for six years for their part in the "terrifying" riot.
A trial at Birmingham Crown Court heard how dozens of Hells Angels and Outlaws, some armed with knives, were involved in the "battle" at the airport.Neil Harrison, 46, Paul Arlett, 35, Mark Price, 50, Sean Timmins, 38, Leonard Hawthorne, 52, Mark Moseley, 46, and Jeremy Ball, 46, all from addresses across the West Midlands, were each jailed for six years by Judge Patrick Thomas in June after being previously convicted by a jury.Price, Harrison, Moseley and Ball were Outlaws, and Arlett, Timmins, and Hawthorne, were Hells Angels, the court heard.An eighth defendant, 47-year-old Mark Larner, of Tudor Road in Upper Gornal, West Midlands, fled to South Africa, but handed himself in in November and was jailed for six years.West Midlands Police said Joseph Lagrue was currently featured on the force's Most Wanted site.

One of the co-defendents in the slaying of aspiring musician Carl Williams pleaded guilty on Monday to murder and robbery. Lawrence “Butch” Watson, a 23-year-old reputed street gangster, admitting to setting up the 25-year-old Williams by luring him to an apartment complex on June 23, where he was robbed and shot dead. Watson also admitted to a gunpoint robbery earlier in the same day at the Horizons Complex. In exchange for the plea, Watson's sentence will be capped at a minimum of 22 years to life in prison. Watson's attorney will be allowed, however, to argue for a range of 20 years to life.

shortage of guns in Britain is forcing rival gangsters to rent the same weapons from middlemen who supply the bad guys, the Mirror reports."We are seeing the same guns being used over and over again," Detective Chief Superintendent Paul James, of the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (Nabis), said. Officials credit a clamp-down on suppliers with putting fewer guns on the street, the Mirror reports.

Georgi Slavov has been admitted for emergency surgery at Plovdiv's University Hospital St George, according to media reports. The duty surgeon has announced that Slavov had suffered a mild skull trauma, but has not specified a reason for the injury.Three security guards are guarding Slavov's room in the neurosurgery ward of the hospital. Access even by his two lawyers has not been permitted.Eyewitnesses have stated that Georgi Slavov was admitted to hospital at 10 pm on Monday evening. According to initial reports, he became unwell while in the 2nd regional police station, where he was under detention.As reported earlier by Novinite.com, prosecutors in the southern Bulgarian city of Plovdiv had laid charges against 26-year-old Georgi Slavov aka Zhoro Glavata ("The Head") and one of his guards, Plamen Ivanov, following a fracas at a night club on Saturday at around midnight.
The son of Stoil Slavov, once a leading member of the notorious SIC group, and who has himself assumed the role of gangster, has been charged with aggravated hooliganism. Bulgarian law allows for up to 5 years' imprisonment for this criminal charge.Moreover, the Plovdiv prosecutors ordered the measure for detention for both "The Head" and his guard to be extended to 72 hours.The incident had occurred when a dispute broke out between Georgi Slavov and his guards, and Vladimir Arabadzhiev, son of local hotelier Vetko Arabadzhiev. In the ensuing melee firearms were used.The incident, which occurred at the "Bedroom" nightclub, did not become serious, with no reports of injury. It has been alleged that the reason for the scandal was playmate Nikoleta Lozanova. She has stated that she had nothing to do with the fight.When questioned by police, Arabadzhiev and Slavov told radically different versions of the incident. Arabadzhiev claimed that he had left the disco before the fight broke out, and did not take part in it. He also said he did not know "The Head".Slavov himself, however, stated that Arabadzhiev, his guards and his friends had started the quarrel, as Vetko Arabadjiev's son had to do some "paying back" since the summer. According to him, the root cause of their conflict is precisely the girlfriend Nikoleta Lozanova, with whom they had both had a relationship, Plovdiv media have reported.

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.

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.

GANGLAND security firms are on the run after police chiefs started sharing secret files with industry watchdogs, we can reveal today.Strathclyde Police are handing over intelligence on rogue firms to the Security Industry Authority (SIA) - leading to dozens of people losing their licences because of underworld links.One company have already lost their SIA approved contractor status.One security source said: "The SIA have failed to clean up the industry partly because it hasn't got enough power."It's fantastic the police are now sharing what they know about these people. If that continues, it could make a real difference."Glasgow firm Spyguard's general manager Gavin Scott, 64, and directors Paddy Dyer, 44, and Gary Fitzpatrick, 46, have all had their licences removed.The SIA acted after police told them how the firm used intimidation to win contracts.Former Army sergeant and weapons instructor Scott unsucessfully appealed against losing his licence at Glasgow Sheriff Court.In a written judgement, Sheriff John Brown said: "Such information, in my view, entitles the SIA to take the action they have to suspend the licence in the public interest."Scott, from Yoker, Glasgow, said he had no idea if his employers were involved in organised crime.He added: "I'm being punished not for who I am but for who the police say I work for. Does anyone know who they work for? "I earn £300 a week as a supervisor. Does that sound like someone who is a bigtime crook? I was 22 years in the Gordon Highlanders. I have no criminal record yet am being treated like one."It seems everyone is being tarred with the same brush."
Others who have had their licences revoked include gangster Eli Webb, 44, who has walked free on five attempted murder charges.He lost his licence a week after the it was revealed he was linked to "roll wars" - in which bakery firms were targeted in a campaign of intimidation.An industry source said: "It's incredible that someone like Webb was even licensed in the first place."Barry Dempster - a 29-year-old tanning salon boss linked to Pegasus Security - has also lost his licence. He is the son of underworld figure Bobby 'The Devil' Dempster. Boss Stephen Palombo, 41, had won approved contractor status for his firm X714 by convincing the SIA they were legitimate.But X714 were stripped of the status because of their links to Willie Bennett, 50, an associate of the Daniel crime clan.Palombo, who also runs a drug-testing business for employers, was unavailable last night. A spokeswoman said: "He's out the country and X714 is no longer in business. I don't know the name Willie Bennett."The SIA also moved to end Motherwellbased Izon Security's approved contractor status over alleged links to drug dealer Thomas Allan, 50.But the firm successfully challenged the move at Hamilton Sheriff Court.A police source said: "We can now spell out in detail the connections between criminals in the background and the people fronting and running the firms."That allows the SIA to review the suitability of individual licence holders and any firms who have gained approved contractor status. There's a lot more to come."Those stripped of their licences are now barred by law from working in security.Lawyer Jim Kelly said he planned a second appeal on Scott's behalf.He added: "I believe that the police and the SIA are acting illegally in the way they target people they suspect are involved in crime."If people pass all the tests laid down by the SIA, then they should be allowed to hold a licence."

The SIA said: "We can suspend a licence if we think there is a risk to the public."

armed robber was found to be living a life of luxury to rival Premier league footballers after he was caught carrying out a bank raid.Salford gangster David Cullen, 29, lavished thousands of pounds on homes, cars and jewellery for himself and his family, a police investigation discovered.Among the luxury items he bought during a three year spending spree were a £30,000 Franck Muller watch and a Harley Davidson 4x4 truck imported from the United States.He also shared his fortune with his mother, brothers and girlfriend, treating them to cars and foreign holidays, despite having no obvious source of income.But the high life came to an end when Cullen was caught carrying out a terrifying bank robbery in Preston in April 2006.
His gang, armed with a sledgehammer and two loaded guns, stole £136,000 from a Lloyds TSB branch but were arrested soon afterwards.Cullen is now serving ten years for his part in the robbery but police were suspicious about how he had funded his luxury lifestyle and launched a separate investigation into his finances.They found that in the the three years leading up to the Preston robbery Cullen splashed out:
A £40,000 deposit on a plush new semi in leafy Prestwich.£27,000 in cash to refurbish the house.£20,000 on a Harley Davidson 4x4 truck imported from the US.
A £30,000 Franck Muller watch.A £76,000 a holiday home in Florida.A fleet of cars, paying in cash for a £28,000 VW Toureg, a £6,000 Fiat Stilo (for his girlfriend), a £25,000 7 series BMW, a £21,000 Porsche 911 and also £8,000 on a Vauxhall Vectra.
A £3,000 insurance bill for the BMW was paid in full up frontExpensive holidays to Spain and Dubai for him and his girlfriend.An £80,000 deposit when he moved to a bigger house in Swinton.The spending spree began in 2003, shortly after Cullen was found not guilty of a £302,000 bank robbery in Bolton.Cullen, formerly of Heaton Street, Salford, has now pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to defraud, effectively admitting that he funded his extravagant purchases from the proceeds of crime. He could be given an extended prison sentence on top of the ten years he is serving when he is sentenced in the next few weeks.His mother, girlfriend and two brothers will also be sentenced after they pleaded guilty to a string of offences.Cullen's girlfriend, Natasha Smyth, 27, of Harbourne Avenue, Worsley, admitted benefits fraud and money laundering.Cullen's older brother Anthony Cullen, a former footballer known as Tony, 36, of Myrtle Grove, Whitefield, worked as a loan shark as well as helping his brother hide and spend the dirty cash. He admitted housing benefit fraud, conspiracy to defraud and also operating as an unlicensed money lender.David Cullen's younger brother, joiner Arron Cullen, 27, of Rydal Grove, Prestwich, admitted money laundering by acting as a front through which David bought and sold the Prestwich and Swinton houses.David's mother, Bernadette Cullen, created a false identity to buy two homes she owned in Salford and Prestwich, and then used her real name to sponge off the state by claiming she was a tenant. She falsely claimed housing and council tax benefits worth around £23,000.
Bernadette Cullen, 55, of Heaton Street, Salford, admitted conspiracy to defraud, two charges of dishonestly making false statements and converting or concealing criminal property by buying and then selling a £76,000 holiday home in Florida with David's money.Det Sgt John Mulvihill said: "This has been a long and complex investigation into David Cullen and his family. The investigation has untangled criminality going back to the 1990's. David Cullen is a professional armed robber and his greed and extravagant lifestyle was the downfall for his family. Cullen's ability to live cash rich and his determination to remain invisible to the authorities led to the investigation into the wider family unit."Evidence revealed that not only did family members assist him with laundering the proceeds of his criminality but they also had criminal enterprises of their own."His mother's business was benefit fraud and his elder brother Anthony earned his crust through benefit fraud and loan sharking."Greater Manchester Police are committed to bringing to justice families that are willing to assist in the laundering of criminal property. This investigation uncovered the lengths that certain individuals will go to in order to conceal their proceeds of crime but it also showed the lengths that GMP will go to by working in partnership with local authorities to expose, pursue and prosecute those who are willing to enjoy the benefits of a lavish lifestyle financed by crime. This is what the public of Greater Manchester wants and expects."
In July, the M.E.N. reported how another Salford family was also hauled before the courts for enjoying the criminal earnings of robber Peter Anderson, who was in Cullen's gang which raided the Preston bank. Anderson's girlfriend Danielle Bardsley was given a suspended jail sentence for living the high life on her boyfriend's ill-gotten gains.