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Mongols had reached out to recruit members of the latino street gangs, and fortified its presence across cities in America,


Mongols formed in the 1970s in Montebello, CA and has since grown to nearly 600 members, with 400 members in Southern California. It has long been a rival to the motorcycle gang Hells Angels and competes with streets gangs like the 18th Street Gang, Maravilla, as well as gangs in Montebello and the San Gabriel Vallley, according to the affidavit.The organization has also started to spread overseas, according to law enforcement officials. “During the course of the investigation, agents learned the Mongols had reached out to recruit members of the latino street gangs, and fortified its presence across cities in America, and even established a foothold in Europe,” O’Brien says.Even though the Mongols described itself as a recreational group on its trademark application, officials say that the firearms and drugs seized in the raid, as well as the allegations listed in the indictment go far in showing that the organization, which has members answering to nicknames like Sick Boy, Suicide, and Sinner and who wear tattoos warning “God Forgives, Mongols Don’t,” was engaged in violent and illegal activities.

 
 

Xtreme Amusement park crowd sees four men shot dead

Four men were shot dead in front of a crowd at an amusement park, a toddler died after the car he was traveling in wrecked during a gunbattle, and a businessman was killed after leading a protest against violence, officials said yesterday.In all, 21 people died in 24 hours across Mexico, which is waging a battle against drug traffickers and other criminal gangs.In Ciudad Juarez, the four men were shot inside a go-cart rental at the Xtreme amusement park Wednesday night, said Alejandro Pariente, a spokesman for the local prosecutor.Elsewhere in the city, a used-car salesman was shot to death while driving down a main boulevard hours after leading hundreds of other business owners in a protest against kidnappings and extortion, Pariente said.In Tijuana, a 1-year-old boy was killed when the car he was riding in wrecked as the driver tried to flee a gunfight late Wednesday between police and three armed men, the state prosecutor's office said.

 
 

Severed heads of four men have been delivered by a courier service to a police station

Severed heads of four men have been delivered by a courier service to a police station in northern Mexico, according to the local authorities. The heads, all of men believed aged between 25-35, arrived last week in an icebox marked as containing vaccines. Police thought the package was meant for a local hospital - they only opened it on Monday, revealing the four heads. Police are investigating if the heads belong to any of the 10 local people who were kidnapped last week by gunmen.
The gruesome delivery was made in the town of Ascension, not far from Ciudad Juarez, close to the US border. Ciudad Juarez has a reputation as one of Mexico's most violent cities, with more than a quarter of the country's 3,800 drugs-related murders reported to have taken place there since the start of the year. The authorities have discounted reports that one of the heads may have been of a police commander who was kidnapped on 18 May this year.

 
 

Edward Winterhalder, who was with the Bandidos for seven years and part of motorcycle clubs for 30 years, said bikie gangs were full of "loose cannons

Edward Winterhalder, who was with the Bandidos for seven years and part of motorcycle clubs for 30 years, said bikie gangs were full of "loose cannons".
He said the person who killed Geelong Bandidos' member Ross Brand did not need authority from anyone to carry out the execution."If there is meth-amphetamine in the mix there is no telling what's happening next," he said."The only thing for sure is there will be more and more law enforcement and that's not good for any club long-term."At some point in time clubs will need to police themselves because it's inevitable the police and government will do it for them."They have to remove the loose cannons and drug dealers and remove crime from ranks of the motorcycle clubs, and that's worldwide."Mr Winterhalder left the bikie gang culture in 2003 to spend more time with his daughter, who is now aged 16, and concentrate on his construction company.The 51-year-old was the man who assimilated Canadian motorcycle club Rock Machine and turned it into the Bandidos after a bloody war with rival gang from Montreal the Hells Angels.Mr Winterhalder said Brand's murder at the Bandidos' Breakwater clubhouse on Wednesday could have been a scare tactic from a rival gang member who was more than likely drug-affected."It is disorganised crime, it's not like the mafia, whoever shot him (Brand) didn't have to have permission," he said. "It will be an individual making a decision on their own terms."You can't get in these guys' minds; most are whacked out on amphetamines." Mr Winterhalder said some joined bikie gangs to pursue their own criminal agendas and once inside conspired to build factions within the club."It's not a requirement to commit crimes (to be a Bandido) and a majority don't. The only thing they are guilty of is having too much fun at the weekend," he said.Mr Winterhalder said there was tension between members of the same motorcycle gang.He said when he was the head of the Bandidos' Oklahoma chapter kicking people out was not always possible."We tried to get rid of people but they are protected by other people and then it becomes difficult," he said.Mr Winterhalder said bikie gangs were usually tight knit and Brand's death would have a major impact in their club but pleaded for no revenge attacks."If they don't stop as a whole it's inevitable they will become extinct. The world is tired of bikies fighting with each other," he said.

 
 

Alleged senior leaders of the city's faction of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13, were among 26 arrested in the city's Mission District

Alleged senior leaders of the city's faction of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, or MS-13, were among 26 arrested in the city's Mission District and across the bay in Richmond, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Two others were charged separately, and 15 were in custody already in separate cases. Three are being sought. Racketeering charges were filed against 22 suspects accused of murder, attempted murder, assault, robbery, extortion, witness tampering, narcotics trafficking, transporting stolen vehicles. The indictment followed a three-year undercover investigation.“This investigation and the ensuing arrests have dealt a serious blow to what is arguably one of the most ruthless gang cliques currently operating in the Bay Area,” said Marcy Forman, director of investigations for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello called it a "major takedown." He said suspects include U.S. citizens, legal residents and illegal immigrants.
“There can be no doubt that the greatest threat to the peace and well-being of so many of our communities in this district and throughout the country, for that matter, is the lethal cocktail of drugs, gangs and guns. And among the gangs we in law enforcement are determined to bring to heel, none is more vicious, dangerous and indifferent to the rule of law than MS-13. They may see themselves as heroes, may try to recruit members by emphasizing their ‘machismo’ and terrorize the community by engaging in acts of wanton violence, but they are neither invisible nor invincible,” said United States Attorney Russoniello. “This coordinated effort by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies is but one more steady step in the process of taking back our communities and giving young people the chance to make meaningful good long-life choices... alternatives to the often short-term gratification that membership in a gang at best, offers.

 
 

Rebels motorcycle gang has denied any involvement in the fatal shooting of a rival Bandidos gang member in Geelong.



Rebels motorcycle gang has denied any involvement in the fatal shooting of a rival Bandidos gang member in Geelong.One Rebels gang member who answered the door at their clubhouse on an industrial site in north Geelong said the club was not involved in the murder of senior Bandido Ross "Rosco" Brand."We had nothing to do with it," he said.The gang member, sporting a tattoo of the American Confederate flag on his neck, also said the club had not yet been visited by detectives working on the case."No mate, we haven't seen them," he said.
Geelong is rife with rumours that a revenge attack is imminent following the death of Brand, who was shot in the head as he left the Bandidos clubhouse in the Geelong suburb of Breakwater on Wednesday night.The rumours also name the alleged murderer and say he won't live past the weekend.But investigating police, under the command of experienced Homicide Squad detective inspector Steve Clark, say they are not aware of any particular suspect.The Geelong chapters of the Bandidos and Rebels have waged a long running bloody feud.In recent years, Geelong police have investIgated a string of attacks on Rebel and Bandido members, while the Bandidos clubhouse has been shot at and the Rebels headquarters was firebombed.
Police suspected five Rebels gang members over a gun attack on Mr Brand's Torquay home last year.Det Insp Clark said police believe Mr Brand was targeted on Wednesday night.Floral tributes continued to be added outside the Bandidos' club at the Breakwater industrial site in south Geelong today with one describing Mr Brand as an "angel" and another saying "lost but not forgotten". A knock on the high security door that was guarded by a CCTV camera went unanswered.
Police are remaining tightlipped about the progress of their investigation saying they have a whole range of inquiries they are yet to make.Det Insp Clark said police are keeping an open mind on the shooting and are not necessarily assuming it was carried out by a rival gang.The 51 year-old bikie had prior convictions for violence, firearms and weapons.A volley of shots was fired from a white twin cab ute parked outside the clubhouse at the men as they left the premises just after 6pm

 
 

Members of 20th Street clique, have been tied to at least five slayings in the city


Members of 20th Street clique, have been tied to at least five slayings in the city, including the June 22 killings in the Excelsior district of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. Police say the killer was trying to avenge a gang shooting from earlier in the day and mistook the Bolognas for rivals.An alleged MS-13 member, Edwin Ramos, has been charged with three counts of murder and has pleaded not guilty.The indictment ties members of the gang to two other San Francisco slayings: the July 31 stabbing death of 14-year-old Ivan Miranda during a robbery in the Excelsior involving an iPod, and the July 11 shooting of Armando Estrada, 30, of Rodeo, at 20th and Mission streets, officials said. Guillermo Herrera, 20, was identified in the federal indictment as the gunman in that killing, which occurred on turf the gang claims as its own.Walter Chinchilla-Linar, 22, and Cesar Alvarado, 18, reputed members of the gang, face federal charges in Miranda's death. Two juveniles, ages 16 and 17, also were charged Thursday in state court with Miranda's killing, the district attorney said.The latest arrests culminated a three-year investigation dubbed "Operation Devil Horns" - a reference to MS-13's gang sign - in which federal authorities set up an export warehouse in Richmond where undercover agents bought several guns and 16 vehicles allegedly stolen by gang members and their associates, prosecutors said. U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello, who alternatively referred to the suspects as hoodlums and thugs, hailed the arrests as a major takedown of gang members during a press conference Thursday at which he was joined by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris and Police Chief Heather Fong. Twenty-two of those indicted face federal racketeering charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The other seven are accused of committing 17 separate violent crimes, including one count involving murder, to assist racketeering. Prosecutors will seek "maximum possible penalties so we don't have to play cat and mouse in the future," Russoniello said. All told, 31 people with suspected ties to the gang have been charged in the recent sweep. Two others were charged separately from the 29 suspects who were indicted. Of the total, 15 were already in custody in separate cases, while three remain at large, federal authorities said. One suspect, John Briez, was arrested in Guam after boarding a flight bound for the Philippines Tuesday evening, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Briez had more than $10,000 cash on him when he was arrested by federal agents, Kice said. Most of the arrests were made in raids Wednesday in San Francisco, Richmond, South San Francisco, Reno and elsewhere. The raids were denounced as heavy-handed by immigrant rights groups. Some San Francisco supervisors and candidates for supervisor seats also were critical of the raids.
Supervisor Tom Ammiano's office issued a statement saying federal agents brutally attacked a woman during one raid, "causing her to lose consciousness and require hospitalization."ICE agent Mark Wollman disputed that account, saying the woman fainted, was treated by medical personnel already on call, and released.

 
 

'Bring Me My Machine Gun' 500 youngsters are training in several military boot-camps


500 youngsters are training in several military boot-camps. The FF+ warned that this was a 'volatile sign', noting the growing political unrest in South Africa and noting the great many inciting statements made by ANC leaders such as Ancyl secretary-general Isaac Mahlangu's call for members to 'murder the cockroaches that stand in our way". Incendiary speech and personal abuse have become the languages of discourse of the ANC alliance - and not being nipped in the bud by the leaders
The Natal Witness warned this week that 'this reluctance to act upon that first breach of discipline and good sense may yet cost the ANC dearly. Recent attempts by ANC greybeards to put the genie back in the box have had no effect. That is hardly surprising. As any parent knows, children are adept at reading the subtle clues as to how far they can go. The children of the ANC have read the signals and know that they have an unspoken licence to run riot...' The FF+ also warned that these sort of dehumanising descriptions of political opponents were very reminiscent of similar outbursts over the Hutu-radio stations during the horrible Rwanda genocide in 1994 - and warned that this was the result of 'years of muffled conflict and did not just happen on an impulse, it was well-planned...'ANCYL leader Julius Malema also recently said the group 'would kill for (ANC Party leader) Jacob Zuma..." the FF+ warned in its statement, also noting that Zuma himself is infamous for his incitement to violence by singing 'Bring Me My Machine Gun' at rallies. It's very popular in black SA youth culture, seeing Zuma as 'a revolutionary who will bring the LAND resources back to its indigenous owners'....

 
 

Jesus Zambada Garcia is captured after a gun battle in Mexico City. He commanded one of four branches of the Sinaloa cartel


Jesus Zambada Garcia is captured after a gun battle in Mexico City. He commanded one of four branches of the Sinaloa cartel, officials say.
Mexican authorities said Wednesday that they arrested a leading drug figure known as El Rey after a shootout in Mexico City early this week.
Jesus Zambada Garcia, the brother of a suspected drug kingpin in the western state of Sinaloa, was among 16 people captured Monday, Atty. Gen. Eduardo Medina Mora said.
The attorney general said Zambada, whose nickname means "the king," commanded one of four branches of the so-called Sinaloa cartel, leading its operations in central Mexico. Zambada is the brother of Ismael Zambada and an associate of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, the most-wanted trafficker in Mexico, officials said.
Jesus Zambada controlled smuggling of cocaine and chemical ingredients for the production of methamphetamine through Mexico City's airport, Medina Mora said. Authorities have focused attention in recent months on drug smugglers' use of the country's largest airport.Zambada has also been linked to gruesome drug killings in central and western Mexico, prosecutors said."The arrest of Jesus Zambada Garcia, the King, stands out, without a doubt, as one of the most significant by President [Felipe] Calderon's government to date," Medina Mora told reporters. "It is not the only one in recent months, nor will it be the last in the months to come." Investigators are looking into Zambada's possible role in the assassination of acting federal Police Chief Edgar Millan Gomez. The police commander was ambushed in May by a gunman in his Mexico City home, and authorities have long suspected that Sinaloa cartel traffickers were behind the slaying.Marisela Morales, who runs the organized-crime unit of the attorney general's office, called Zambada "one of the most important" smugglers of cocaine and methamphetamines into Mexico.
Zambada's arrest offered officials a much-needed chance to claim progress in their uphill battle against drug traffickers.Calderon declared a crackdown nearly two years ago, but drug-related violence has worsened despite some high-profile arrests and hefty drug seizures.The death toll this year has exceeded 3,500, according to unofficial tallies in the media, amid a wave of killings that has included decapitations, scorched bodies and a growing list of innocent victims.A grenade attack that killed eight civilians last month in the western state of Michoacan fed an increasing sense among Mexicans that their government is losing its war with well-armed drug gangs.In Monday's incident, police came under fire after being led to a house in northern Mexico City by a resident's tip. Police rounded up the 16 suspects but were not able to immediately confirm Zambada's identity, Morales said.
Prosecutors said Zambada's 21-year-old son, Jesus Zambada Reyes, and a nephew were among those arrested. On Wednesday, authorities lined up suspects and their seized weapons before news cameras, and police searched the house where the shootout took place.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday began a two-day visit with Mexican officials in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta that was to include discussion of Mexico's battle against traffickers.Mexican officials are eager for the release of a $400-million package of U.S. training and equipment, known as the Merida Initiative.

 
 

Security forces in Abudwaq in central Somalia have shot dead two gang men

Security forces in Abudwaq in central Somalia have shot dead two gang men in an operation against robber men pilfer the civilian vehicles use the roads in the town.
Reports from the town further say that the troops have met with the bandits while they were rummaging around the passengers of civilian vehicle in the town on Wednesday.Two other gangs were also injured in the attack while others escaped.
Authorities blame many attacks on armed militiamen, and evidence signalled involvement in recent killings.This comes following unidentified militiamen have killed four people in the central Somali town of Abudwaq on Sunday night in the first fatal attacks since the Islamist fighters left there.The late civilians were killed when six armed men have opened fire on the while they were sleeping in Dhabad village in Abudwaq of Galgadud region.Three other people were also injured in that attack.It's yet unknown groups/motives behind that killing but some reports say that It was clannish linked killing.The residents of the town have expressed additional concerns on the killing of the civilians.Islamic fighters who wrested control of the town from the tribal militiamen said they would track down the assailants although they've abruptly escaped from the scene after the killing.According to Islamists officials they set up in the town a militia force to enforce their interpretation of Islam and formed a court system that helped desperate Somalis settle disputes.

 
 

Ross Brand, 51, of Torquay, was a Bandidos enforcer whom the Rebels gang blamed for a firebomb attack on their clubhouse last year

Ross Brand, 51, of Torquay, was a Bandidos enforcer whom the Rebels gang blamed for a firebomb attack on their clubhouse last year.They also believe he was responsible for a series of assaults against Rebels members in a 2007 turf war.Police sources say Rebels bikies raided his house last year in a planned ambush but Mr Brand was not at home.Police say Mr Brand often carried a gun and they received reliable information last year that he had access to hand grenades. "His card has been marked for a couple of years," a local investigator said.Police say they have yet to establish a motive for the killing but are investigating inter-gang rivalry as a possible reason.A group of younger Rebels members known as "DBD" - Death Before Dishonour - are believed responsible for a series of attacks on the Bandidos.
Mr Brand was shot, possibly with a .22 semi-automatic, when he left the clubhouse with three other men about 6.10pm on Wednesday.He was taken to the Geelong Hospital and later flown to The Alfred hospital, where he died from a head wound at 1.50am yesterday.A second man, 34, who was also shot, had surgery yesterday to remove shotgun pellets from his arm, buttocks and leg.The attack was on Geelong Cup race day, a public holiday, which meant the industrial estate around the Bandidos' clubhouse was deserted at the time of the shooting.Police have yet to establish whether the shooting was planned or an opportunistic drive-by attack. A white utility was seen speeding from the scene.It is known that members of the Bandidos and Rebels had been drinking during the day.Homicide detectives yesterday were scanning closed-circuit television tapes from cameras mounted at the clubrooms

 
 

Mexican Drug War , Jesus “The King” Zambada was among 16 Sinaloa cartel members arrested

Drug cartel leader who directed cocaine trafficking through Mexico City’s international airport was arrested after a shootout in the capital, prosecutors said Wednesday.Jesus “The King” Zambada was among 16 Sinaloa cartel members arrested Monday after a gunbattle with police in which an apparent grenade explosion destroyed a car, Attorney General Eduardo Medina said. Zambada’s son, his nephew, two federal police officers and one state police officer were also among those arrested.Zambada was identified as the brother of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who allegedly heads the cartel along with one of Mexico’s most wanted men, Joaquin Guzman.Medina described Jesus Zambada as one of the top four leaders of the cartel. He was allegedly in charge of operations in central Mexico, including cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking through the capital city’s international airport. He is suspected in the death of several people found decapitated around the airport in 2007, Medina said.“He is one of most important importers of cocaine and methamphetamine to this country from South America,” said Marisela Morales, head of the organized crime division at the Attorney General’s Office.The Sinaloa cartel has suffered several blows since President Felipe Calderon deployed thousands of federal troops and police across the country two years ago to seize back territory from drug gangs.
In January, police arrested Alfredo Beltran Leyva, one of five brothers believed to have been top lieutenants of the Sinaloa cartel, based in the northwestern Mexican state of the same name. Federal officials say Beltran Leyva brothers have broken away from the Sinaloa cartel.“The arrest of Jesus Reynaldo Zambada Garcia stands out, without a doubt, as one of the most significant of the government of President Calderon,” Medina said.He said authorities have arrested nearly 48,000 drug cartel members since Calderon took office in December 2006, seized nearly 69 tons of cocaine and recovered more than 24,000 illegal weapons.Despite high-profile drug arrests, homicides and shootouts linked to the drug trade has surged across Mexico, particularly along the northern border with the United States. Fighting between drug gangs have become increasingly brutal, with piles of bodies — sometimes decapitated — turning up in public. Cartels have stepped up attacks on police, gunning them down in their homes or headquarters.Prosecutors said Zambada was suspected of having a role in a failed bomb attack against a Mexico city police commander in February and in the May 8 assassination of acting Mexican federal police chief Edgar Millan.
Millan was shot inside his Mexico City home five months after announcing the arrests of 11 alleged hit men linked to the Beltran Leyva brothers.El Universal newspaper reported Wednesday that, by its count, at least 4,000 people have been killed across Mexico this year, a record number. Federal authorities have acknowledged that homicides have surged, though they do not regularly release homicide figures.Zambada gave a false name upon his arrest, and it took several days for investigators to confirm his identity, said Morales. The 16 suspects were lined up in front of reporters Wednesday, standing behind a table cluttered with weapons seized after the shootout.None of the 16 suspects have been charged. Morales said prosecutors would ask a court to order them jailed while investigations continue.

 
 

Lee Hannan was killed on Tennyson Avenue in Grangetown on December 29, 2006, by Shaun “Wellard” Martin.


Stuart Hannan appeared in the witness box at Teesside Crown Court to give evidence against the man who allegedly attempted to murder him on August 5 last year - Mark Bennett.But under cross-examination yesterday by Bennett’s defence barrister, Tom Mitchell, the court heard allegations Mr Hannan was trying to make himself the “boss” of Grangetown.Mr Mitchell told the court how Mr Hannan’s cousin Lee Hannan was killed on Tennyson Avenue in Grangetown on December 29, 2006, by Shaun “Wellard” Martin.The barrister explained to the jury how the death had occurred following an arranged street fight between Stuart Hannan and Martin.He asked Mr Hannan if he blamed himself for his cousin’s death and if he was keen on revenge when Martin was found guilty of manslaughter but not murder.“The fact is since that day you have pursued a mission to get back at anyone who had anything to do with the Martin camp, is that right?” said Mr Mitchell, “No,” replied Mr Hannan.
“You have spent the last, nearly two years, trying to destroy everyone for who, in part, is responsible for Lee Hannan’s death, is that right?” “No,” came the response.
Mr Mitchell went on: “Is it true that you yourself had a hit list of people to sort out after the trial ended?” asked Mr Mitchell, to which Mr Hannan replied: “No.”
The barrister said the list included “anyone who had ever said the words Shaun and Martin in the same breath,” which 27-year-old Mr Hannan again denied.“That, of course, put Mark Bennett on your shopping list as well, didn’t it?” said Mr Mitchell, “no” came the response.The barrister went on: “There are any number of people out there you hate, true?”The witness said: “Just associated with the Bennett gang, yes.”“And any number of people out there who you have had a really good go at, true?”“No,” was the reply.Stuart Hannan told the court he had been arrested “about 20 times” in the last two years and had his house searched “about ten times”.
Among the items found in his property on St Patrick’s Road in Grangetown were Samurai swords found under his bed, which he insisted were “ornamental”, and on another occasion an axe and walkie-talkies.Mr Mitchell also accused Mr Hannan of being a “car ringer”, of planning post office robberies, shooting at people with a sniper rifle out of the door of his parents’ pub - The Magnet - stealing, burning out cars, violence and other criminal activities.“Do you consider yourself to be a tough man?” Mr Hannan was asked. “No,” he replied. “Do you in fact consider yourself to be the hardest man in Grangetown?” “Not one bit.”Despite the extensive cross examination of Mr Hannan, the matter the jury have to decide on is whether Mark James Bennett, 31, of Bolckow Road, is guilty of trying to kill Mr Hannan in a drive-by shooting.Bennett is alleged to be the gunman who fired two shots from a car outside Mr Hannan’s home in St Patrick’s Road, Grangetown.Bennett denies charges of attempted murder, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

 
 

Convicted 'American Gangster' Frank Lucas and New York Magazine charging they were libeled by Lucas' assertions that the narcotics officers stole

Convicted 'American Gangster' Frank Lucas and New York Magazine charged they were libeled by Lucas' assertions that the narcotics officers stole "9 to 10 million dollars" during a search of his posh home in 1975. Former Drug Enforcement Administration agents and New York City detectives have filed a libel suit against convicted drug lord 'American Gangster' Frank Lucas and New York Magazine.
This is the second attempt the agents have made to sue over Lucas related allegations. An earlier suit against NBC Universal was dismissed by the federal court in New York. It charged the agents were defamed in the closing credits of the movie "American Gangster" which asserted that the narcotics cops involved in the Lucas case were corrupt. The suit is currently on appeal.

 
 

Joe Krantz, an accused trafficker with the Independent Soldiers' gang, was gunned down in Abbotsford Monday at an extreme fighting club

Joe Krantz was killed just after 9 p.m. at his club, within the Simba Centre mall in the 2100-block of Clearbrook Rd., just off the Trans-Canada Highway. Krantz, an accused trafficker with the Independent Soldiers' gang, was gunned down in Abbotsford Monday at the extreme fighting club he had been running for two years.His friends continue to praise him online as a great dad to the little girl.
But the document prepared after a police raid on their home six months ago tells a different story.The young child said her dad "has a backpack full of money" in the girl's laundry basket."He gives it [the backpack] to his friends and they bring it back in the laundry basket," she said.The girl drew pictures for the social worker of two backpacks in the apartment - one blue and one pink - with coins in the top one and little tied-up bags in the other."The blue one has money in it and the pink one has cut up white rocks," she said.She also drew her own face in a heart shape with a ragged line running down the middle.She described "how dad had a large flat white rock. It is soft, dad cuts it up; makes them into pieces of dust; puts them into cute little bags; puts them into the backpack and sells them or has friends sell them."She said she often went on errands with Krantz."They go to his friend's house with the white rocks," the report said. "One girl that sells for dad lives in their old house."Krantz was arrested April 15 and charged with nine gun and drug trafficking charges after a one-month Abbotsford police investigation into an alleged dial-a-dope ring.In the apartment where his daughter slept, police found 4.5 ounces of powder cocaine packaged in 133 baggies; 8.7 oz. of crack cocaine packaged in 251 baggies; 2 oz. of heroin packaged in 456 flaps, a loaded 9 mm handgun with spare magazine; a loaded .380 calibre handgun; six cellphones and a BlackBerry; two sets of brass knuckles; about $8,000 in cash; body armour; score sheets; day and night shift schedules for drug runners and product inventory sheets with codes for cocaine and heroin.There was gang paraphernalia with both the Independent Soldiers logo and that of the Hells Angels Nomads chapter.Both loaded guns were on the kitchen counter.The girl is quoted in the report as saying she had not seen guns or bullets at her dad's house.But she did say Krantz also had a machine to "grind up the green moss," 1,000 lighters and "flavoured paper that dad puts the green tobacco in.""Dad says it is for his friends, but one day she saw them outside sharing the cigarette. The girl that lives at their old house does it too - her house stinks."
The child said her dad made his girlfriend "take the rocks to his friend's homes."
She said her dad is really rich and bought her a queen-sized bed and a plasma TV."[His dad's girlfriend] and dad always get really mad at her when she talks about money. They yell at her and send her to her room," the report says. "Dad screams at her 'Don't talk about my money to other people.'"She said she "remembers talking about how rich her dad was, he got so mad and grounded her, hit her and took away her Nintendo DS."The girl "never told anyone about dad hitting her because she thought he would get mad at her again."The report says the child only stayed with her dad on the weekends.It quotes the girl saying Krantz spoke a lot about "hockey equipment" though she didn't know why.But the drug inventory sheets seized from the residence list crack cocaine, powdered cocaine and heroin as "small helmets," "large helmets," and "shin pads."Investigators probing Krantz's slaying made a public plea Wednesday for potential witnesses to come forward."Through inquiries, investigators have established that there were a number of potential witnesses to activities that were going on in the area on the night of the murder," said Cpl. Dale Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. "Often times witnesses have seen something that they are not aware is a linking piece of information."

 
 

Ross Brand, 51, of Torquay, died after he was shot in the head outside the clubhouse in the Geelong suburb of Breakwater.

Ross Brand, 51, of Torquay, who died after he was shot in the head outside the clubhouse in the Geelong suburb of Breakwater.A 34-year-old Geelong West man, who was walking with Brand at the time of the attack, was wounded. He has spoken to police and was expected to be operated on today.Individual mourners and small groups of grievers have been leaving tributes at the scene of the shooting, almost all refusing to speak to waiting media.A man and a woman in their 20s and a boy who appeared to be about 11 arrived mid-afternoon. The adults sat and drank from pre-mixed alcohol bottles. They left one of the drinks, as well as a teddy bear with a cigarette tucked in its collar and a card addressed simply: "To Dad".
Another card read: "Dad, I really don't know what to write. I wish I didn't have 2 write anything but here we are ... we're all going to miss you so f---king much. You were one of a kind that's 4 sure. You'll always be with us. Love you so much, so very much, xxx, love always ...". It was signed with three names.Another card, carrying one of the same names, read: "Rosco maybe lost but not forgotten ..."Floral tributes for Brand have been also left at the clubhouse.One woman, who said she was the deceased bikie's niece, left a bouquet and a pre-mixed alcoholic drink.
Meanwhile, police said the shooting might have been captured on security cameras at the clubhouse. Homicide detectives said Bandido members were co-operating with police and had provided security video footage from cameras on the roof of the club house.

 
 

Tran Trong Nghi Nguyen Calgary gangster with a deportation order hanging over his head remains behind bars

The Calgary gangster with a deportation order hanging over his head remains behind bars despite an Immigration decision releasing him on bail, a government spokesman said yesterday. Derrick Pieters, with the federal department of justice, said Tran Trong Nghi Nguyen has not been able to come up with suitable individuals to post two $10,000 bonds. Nguyen was ordered released by an Immigration division member on Oct. 2, a decision initially appealed by the government before it was abandoned last Friday. The reason for the abandonment is not known. But Pieters said a condition of the release order, that Nguyen find someone suitable to post his bail, has not been met. "He has to come up with the $20,000 in bond, providing it is someone who meets the criteria ... of an acceptable bondsperson," Pieters told the Sun. He said the Canada Border Services Agency has guidelines which have to be met for that to happen. "There must be proof that the money was obtained by legitimate means," Pieters said. Nguyen, who is also known as Jackie Tran and Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 10 on a CBSA warrant.The warrant was issued after he failed to show up for an appeal earlier that day of his deportation order. Nguyen, 26, was initially ordered returned to Vietnam on April 20, 2004, after he was convicted in March 2003 of assault with a weapon and trafficking a narcotic the previous June. Police and CBSA officials say Nguyen is a known gang member and his presence in the community would put the public at risk. But Immigration official Paul Kyba said the agency knew of Nguyen's criminal organization affiliation before the Jan. 10 hearing, but never tried to have him detained for that until he failed to show up for his appeal. Since then a federal court judge has ordered a new appeal, meaning Nguyen can't be booted from the country until at least that second hearing, currently scheduled for next week.

 
 

Noctor's Pub gangland attack is believed to be linked to a long-running feud between criminals from the north inner city.

The dead man has not been officially named, but was named by Garda sources as Gavin McCarthy, with an address at Oriel Street, close to where he was gunned down. The shooting took place outside a pub in Dublin's north inner city.It was the 16th gun murder of the year, with two other men missing and presumed shot dead.The victim was one a group of people standing outside Noctor's Pub, Sheriff Street, Dublin 1, when a gunman opened fire, wounding him in the face a number of times.The victim was immediately put in the back of a car and taken to the Mater Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.The scene of the shooting was sealed off and a murder investigation was begun.The attackis believed to be linked to a long-running feud between criminals from the north inner city.Last night's killing was the third gun murder to take place in the area in two years, despite an intensive policing operation put in place there to help stem the violence.The latest attack will increase fears that the feud, which has now claimed four lives, is escalating after a period of relative calm in recent months.That feud began when well-known drug dealer and armed robber Christy Griffin, who was jailed for life in April 2007 after being convicted of raping a young girl, was first accused of the crime.Griffin (38), Ridgewood Green, Swords, and formerly of Canon Lillis Ave, Dublin 1, was the leader of a major criminal gang which split when he was accused of rape.One faction supported Griffin, while the other faction believed his victim's account and formed a faction opposed to Griffin and his associates.Both sides have targeted each other through shootings and grenade attacks. While the incidents have mainly taken place in the north inner city, the violence has spread as far as Swords and Finglas.
Before last night's killing three other men had lost their lives in violence related to the feud.In December 2006, as Griffin's rape trial approached, two men - Gerard Byrne and Stephen Ledden - were shot dead in feud-related attacks.Ledden (28), was shot in the head at Oriel Street, Dublin 1, on December 27th, 2006. Byrne (25), of Ferryman's Crossing, Dublin 1, was shot dead in the IFSC on December 13th, 2006

 
 

Delphon Nicholas and hitman Trevor Dennie began life sentences for the murder of Andrew Wanogho

Delphon Nicholas, 29, arranged for his former childhood friend Andrew Wanoghu to be shot in the back by a hired assassin.Nicholas was convicted of murder in one of the first cases of its kind to be successfully prosecuted.Delphon Nicholas, left, is facing a life sentence after arranging for hitman Trevor Dennie, right, to shoot Andrew WanoghuWhile mobile phones are banned from British jails, many are smuggled into prisons.Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee told jurors that Nicolas 'orchestrated the execution from inside Belmarsh security prison by using a mobile telephone he had access to'.He added: 'He had been set up for execution. It is a world where grievances are met with lethal firearms, no matter how disproportionate.'
Wanoghu was no stranger to the criminal justice system - and was once charged with murder - for the 2002 shooting of Damien Cope, 22, whose mother Lucy went on to form the charity Mothers Against Guns, but the case collapsed due to lack of evidence.
Andrew Wanagho was shot after being lured into a trap
Nicholas fell out with Wanoghu over a drug deal that went sour and the two had a fist fight which Wanoghu won. In revenge, Wanoghu robbed Nicholas' father on Valentines Day 2006.Nicholas enlisted another childhood friend, Trevor Dennie to carry out the 'hit'. Dennie had fallen out with the victim after his mother Susan gave a statement to police about Damien Cope's murder. Dennie was heard telling a friend: 'I have had enough of Andy. he's gone too far.'The chance for revenge came on the night of April 7, 2006, when a friend of Nicholas', Michael Williams, got into a row with the victim in a nightclub in Lewisham, south-east London.
Williams was threatened with a beating for calling Wanoghu an 'idiot.'
Over the next hour mobile phone records showed Dennie repeatedly spoke to Nicholas, behind bars a few miles away, on a mobile phone that had been smuggled into his prison cell.It was claimed that Nicholas persuaded an ex-girlfriend, Sereata Barrie, 29, to lure Wanoghu to an ambush outside her house in Brockley, south-east London.



At 1.30am on 8 April 2006, Dennie fired the bullet that passed through Wanoghu's heart.Nicholas denied murder, and said of Wanoghu: 'It would be hard for you to find someone with more enemies than him in the whole of London. Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.'Barrie, an aspiring rapper who described herself as 'La Femme Nikita' in a lyric after a film in which a female assassin lures a man to his death, was cleared of murder by a jury, as were two other men allegedly involved in the killing.
Nicholas, of no fixed address, and Dennie, of Deptford south-east London were both convicted of murder, which they denied, and will be sentenced on Friday at the Old Bailey.To combat the menace of mobile phones in jail, the prison service has recently begun trials in training sniffer dogs specialised in detecting them.
Nicholas and Dennie began life sentences for the murder of Wanogho yesterday, closing the final chapter on the story of a gun that ended the life of one veteran gangster before initiating a young boy to follow in his footsteps.

This gun was used in at least seven shootings, including one murder, as it was passed between hoods, rented out or stolen by rival street gangs in the UK. Its discovery has added much needed information to senior police officers who admit there is a significant intelligence gap on criminal weaponry.Unlike many firearms used in London, Manchester and Birmingham, cities that account for 60% of serious gun crime by gangs, RS1 is a real weapon, not a converted replica. Its magazine held commercially manufactured ammunition, rather than "homemade" bullets - something often seen by detectives - and the ageing weapon was probably purchased for between £500 and £1,000.The trail left by the firearm can be reported following the life sentences handed down yesterday to two street gangsters for murder.It was discovered on a November morning in 2006 when a teenage boy set off for school telling his mother not to look in his room. Whether it was something in his tone, or just a mother's instinct, she ignored him. In his bedroom he kept a toy safe for his belongings, and inside she found the gun. She called the police and the firearm was taken away to a forensics laboratory where it was identified as a CZ .32 Colt Model 1927, manufactured by Ceska Zbrojovka of Strakonice, Czechoslovakia. The gun was loaded, with three live rounds in the magazine. A bullet was lodged in the barrel.
A few weeks later Detective Inspector Dave Manning, of the Metropolitan police's Trident unit, received a telephone call. After more than eight months investigating the murder of a notorious drug dealer, killer and kidnapper called Andrew Wanogho, he had all but given up on receiving such a contact.His inquiry was fraught with difficulties. At 26, the victim was running a syndicate of teenage armed robbers who would also do his drug running. Shortly before his murder Wanogho complained to the woman he called his "baby mother" - the mother of his child - that he did not have a friend left in the world.His killing was, on the face of it, just another inner city gangland shooting; the sort officers from Trident deal with all the time but which pass almost un-noticed by the media.But this inquiry opened a window on to a criminal subculture which exists cheek by jowl with ordinary families in ordinary neighbourhoods; the class A drug dealing, the incredible reach of the criminal networks, the threatening and taking of lives, the kidnappings, sexual violence, extortion and witness intimidation. And at the heart of it all, the tool used to enforce and protect: the gun.Wanogho, known as Sparks, was a powerful amateur boxer who had fought successfully in the United States. Held in awe and fear in equal measure by his peers, he was seen as a protector by some but a mercurial and extremely violent man by others. A Pentecostal pastor described to the 350 people at his funeral in Brockley, south London, how he would push his disabled brother to church each week in a wheelchair. Less was said of his history of violence.
"He was a formidable boxer and would beat people to a pulp and get pleasure out of it," said one source. He once kidnapped and tortured a bus driver whose brother was a rival drug dealer. The man was driven to a flat and chained to a radiator before Wanogho held a hot iron against his face. It was all done to intimidate the man's brother into giving up his drug stash. Four years before his murder Wanogho was charged with the murder of a man shot dead outside an east London nightclub. He escaped conviction after two witnesses withdrew their evidence because they were in fear of their lives.In August 2005, Wanogho survived an assassination attempt as he left a courtroom where he had watched a girlfriend plead guilty to possession of one of his guns in order to save him from jail. Eight months later he was not so lucky.
Manning was convinced the hit on Wanogho in April 2006 had been organised by an inmate at HMP Belmarsh on a mobile phone that was smuggled into the prison system and which, investigations revealed, had made 17,000 calls in seven months. But facing a wall of silence, Trident officers spent months scanning thousands of pages of mobile records until a pattern emerged. The inmate, Delphon Nicholas, had made a flurry of calls in the hours before the killing to his best friend, a gunman, rapist and drug trafficker called Trevor Dennie.Both men had fallen out with Wanogho over drugs and women and Dennie was heard telling a friend: "I've had enough of Andy, he's gone too far. He's barred from the ends." At 1.30am on April 8 2006 Wanogho stepped out of a car outside the home of Nicholas's former girlfriend. He told Sean Albert, who had driven him, that he was "up for a bit of a shagging".
Albert drove a discreet distance away to wait until he was called again. But Dennie was lying in wait and as Albert pulled up a few houses down the road he heard a series of gun shots in rapid succession. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw Wanogho, head down, sprinting towards him. But just as he reached the car he crumpled to the ground, hit in the back by a bullet that pierced his heart.
On Wanogho's body police found the incongruous possessions of a Class A drug dealer and gangster - a £17,000 diamond encrusted Cartier watch and £1.11 in cash. They also recovered two of the four bullets fired, including one that had ricocheted off a parked car and landed in a front garden.The closest they got to the gun, however, was a witness who described seeing Dennie brandishing it over his head at an east London nightclub a few hours later and boasting that he had killed Wanogho.Eight months on Manning was told that the gun found in a 14-year-old boy's bedroom was his murder weapon. Somehow it had passed from Dennie through several hands to being stored by the boy on the orders of an older hood, probably as some kind of initiation rite. Ballistics tests showed that the .32 caliber handgun had been used in at least seven shootings in less than two years, six in south London and one in Sussex.On New Year's Eve in 2004 a police officer was responding to a 999 call from a victim of a robbery in Brockley Cross, in the heart of what Dennie described as his "manor". He arrived to find three men nearby, and as he walked up to speak to them, the trio ran. But one man turned, pulled a gun and shot at the constable as he fled.This time the bullet missed its target. Police made inquiries but never made any headway. No arrests were made and the firearm disappeared back into the shadows.
It emerged 10 months later at the Cube nightclub in Camberwell Green, south London, in a petty dispute. The victim happened to bump into a man as he went to the toilet and was shot in the thigh for his clumsiness.In April 2006 the handgun reached its zenith with the murder of Wanogho, leaving a bullet lodged in his heart and two others at the scene which provided the vital link. Three weeks after the murder the firearm emerged once more at M-Blax nightclub in Peckham. At around 5.40am in the final hour of clubbing, a group of young men from a north London gang burst into the venue carrying weapons, intent on shooting up their south London rivals. Clubbers screamed and ran as a gunfight broke out in the crowded club. At least 21 shots were fired and three men were taken to hospital. Cartridges found at the scene matched the firearm found in the boy's bedroom.By June 2006 the gun had been passed on or stolen once more, its value by now diminished because of its use in a murder. It appeared again at the unlikely venue of Pontins in Camber Sands, when a group of teenagers from the capital travelled to the Sussex holiday camp for an urban music weekend. Large crowds gathered on the Sunday at the main hip hop stage, but in the midst off the rave the sound of gunshots sent young people running for cover. By the time local police arrived with firearms teams the elusive weapon had melted away into the background once more.A month later it was back in south London again, when shots were fired at a car. The gun was probably last used in the autumn of 2006 when it was accidentally fired by a would-be gangster.In the remaining four weeks of its criminal life the firearm was passed into the hands of the teenage boy, who according to sources, was bullied by the hoods because he suffered from Asperger's syndrome.It provided a forensic treasure trove. "It is quite rare to recover guns at all, so to recover a weapon that is linked to seven shootings is unusual," said Manning. "Everyone talks about guns being available on street corners, but it's not quite as easy as that to get hold of one. It's even more difficult to get hold of real ammunition."The boy's experience gave credence to anecdotal evidence that criminals are forcing younger boys to store their guns to test their metal and once the gun was found the teenager was said to be terrified of repercussions. But his mother's actions in calling the police perhaps saved him from being sucked into a life of crime.

 
 

Chin Kok Wah shot once, but missed. My men returned fire and instantly killed him.

Chin Kok Wah, 33, owned a unit in the same block and had rented the snooker centre located on the second floor as a hideout over the past year for his gang to carry out drug trafficking, armed robbery and loan sharking activities.Kuala Lumpur police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Muhammad Sabtu Osman said the man had opened fire at a policeman and three officers from the Serious Crimes Investigation Department (D9) as they entered the premises at 10.40am yesterday.“He shot once, but missed. My men returned fire and instantly killed him.“A check later revealed that his Colt .45 automatic pistol had a bullet jammed in the chamber,” he said.The man is believed to have been under surveillance for a week before police moved in on him and investigations show that he had been robbing cash from security vans in Selangor.
“Also recovered were five bullets of the same calibre, two pump gun shells, two machetes, a handcuff, a light baton and a taxi believed to have been used when he carried out his criminal activities to avoid detection,” DCP Sabtu said.DCP Sabtu said police were on the lookout for at least six other group members aged between 25 and 30.Meanwhile, Seputeh MP Teresa Kok who lives in a condominium nearby was shocked when told a shooting had occurred near her home.“I will immediately contact my condominium’s resident association to discuss installing CCTV and beef up security,” she said.

 
 
 
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