William D'Elia, 62, became the latest alleged American Mafia leader to turn government informant as he was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison for witness tampering and conspiracy to launder drug money. With time already served, he could be freed in seven years — or less.Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a reduction in D'Elia's sentence if he continues to provide substantial assistance to the Dauphin County district attorney's office, which has charged Mount Airy Resort Casino owner Louis DeNaples with perjury.DeNaples allegedly lied to state gambling regulators about his friendship with D'Elia, whom authorities once called a "major player" in organized crime. DeNaples says he is innocent and accuses D'Elia of lying to authorities in a bid to shave time off his prison sentence.
In court Monday, the silver-haired, 6-foot-3 D'Elia stood before U.S. District Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie and apologized for his crimes."At this time, I would like to accept responsibility for my actions and apologize to your honor," said D'Elia, who had requested a sentence of seven years. "I hope that I will soon be able to resume my life with my family in a positive, honorable and productive way and care for them once more."Though he spent more than 20 years under law enforcement surveillance, D'Elia was never charged with a crime until May 2006, when prosecutors accused him of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds through the creation of bogus companies, loans and consulting agreements.Five months later, prosecutors charged him with trying to arrange the murder of a co-conspirator, Frank Pavlico III, after D'Elia found out that Pavlico was cooperating with the government.Pavlico had worn a wire and recorded conversations with D'Elia. He pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced in January to 10 months in federal prison.D'Elia, of Hughestown, was originally charged with 18 counts, including solicitation of murder. Prosecutors dropped most of the charges when D'Elia pleaded guilty last March.

 Edit Post

Neighbors found the bodies — beaten, choked, in some cases mutilated and then shot — lined up along the field's fence. Alongside were three banners allegedly signed by a Mexican drug gang with messages directed at a rival gang, police spokesman Jaime Torres said.Hours after the bodies were removed, blood stained the curb, yellow police tape hung from the fence and classes continued at Colegio Sierra Madre, a private kindergarten-through-high school in a neighborhood of stucco homes, manicured lawns and palm trees.Only police in ski masks periodically drove past the campus, which posted an armed guard at the metal gate.Alejandro Pariente, a local prosecutor's spokesman, said the victims have not been identified, and they have no suspects.The homicides were the latest of hundreds of gruesome killings in Ciudad Juarez, where drug violence has taken a particularly heavy toll during Mexico's nationwide crackdown on the drug cartels that supply U.S. consumers.Also Tuesday in the border city of Tijuana, gunmen opened fire on a car in the parking lot of a Sam's Club, killing a woman and gravely injuring a man at midday, just as a nearby school prepared to let children out for the day, the state prosecutor's office said.These murders were among more than 4,000 drug-related killings this year in Mexico. Challenged by arrests, deaths, extraditions and new rivals, the cartels are brazenly attacking each other as well as police and the 20,000 soldiers President Felipe Calderon deployed against the drug gangs.Separately Tuesday, a Mexican businessman whose son was recently killed by kidnappers announced the creation of a group to encourage citizens to report crimes, fund security initiatives and compile criminal statistics.Alejandro Marti said his System of Observation for the Safety of Citizens aims to track how many reported crimes go unsolved."Crime has become one of the easiest businesses, with little possibility of getting caught," he said.The death of Marti's 14-year-old son Fernando inspired anti-crime protests across Mexico, particularly because prosecutors alleged that a police detective had been involved. The boy was found dead in a car trunk even though his family paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom.Authorities acknowledge that the vast majority of kidnappings and other crimes go unreported in Mexico because people mistrust police. The government is also reluctant to release homicide figures regularly, making it difficult to grasp the true breadth of kidnappings, homicides and robberies in Mexico.

 Edit Post

post mortem examination is due to be carried out today on the body of loyalist boss Ihab Shoukri. Police are understood to be investigating a drugs link after the ousted UDA brigadier collapsed while watching the Ricky Hatton boxing match at a house in the Grainon Way area of Newtownabbey on Saturday night. Last night a spokeswoman for the PSNI confirmed they were investigating the sudden death of a 34-year-old man but stressed there were no suspicious circumstances. Rumours circulating in the Rathcoole estate, where Shoukri had been living since his release from jail, suggest he may have suffered some sort of seizure – possibly an epileptic fit. In 2004, Ihab Shoukri collapsed in a bookmaker’s shop while out on bail for charges of membership of the UFF and UDA. He suffered a fractured cheek and required treatment at hospital. In an appeal for a change to his bail conditions that would allow him to live with his girlfriend’s mother, Shoukri’s lawyer told Belfast High court there were fears he could suffer from “epilepsy of something of that nature”. The appeal was refused but the judge said Shoukri could make arrangements for someone to move into his Bangor home. Originally from the Westland estate in north Belfast, Ihab Shoukri was one of three boys born to an Egyptian father who married a local woman. In June he was jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty to membership of the UDA. He was among five men arrested when police stormed a paramilitary show of strength dress rehearsal at the Alexandra Bar in March 2006. However there was public outrage when the infamous loyalist who played a prominent role in a vicious terrorist campaign and racketeering operation was released just weeks into the sentence because of the length of time spent on remand. Nationalist politicians were critical of the sentencing after the judge in the case said Shoukri only escaped a longer jail term because of progress in the peace process. Ihab and his brother Andre were expelled from the UDA two years ago after establishing a breakaway faction which was involved in widespread criminality including drug dealing in south east Antrim. Andre Shoukri (30) first became known after being charged with the manslaughter of a young tennis star in Belfast in 1996. He punched Gareth Parker – a Catholic – who fell on the road and was hit by a car. Shoukri pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault and received an eight-month jail sentence.
He became known as the ‘bookies brigadier’ after he squandered more than £1m of the UDA’s funds gambling on horses. Last November Ihab Shoukri took over leadership of the group when his brother was jailed for nine years for blackmail and intimidation and money laundering. In August he was back in court in Belfast after pleading guilty to a string of motoring offenses including driving while disqualified and having no insurance. A police source once said of the gang led by the Shoukris: “They thought they were above the law... You could say they thought they were untouchable.” Journalist Jim McDowell, whose book ‘Mummy’s Boys’ documents the life and crimes of both brothers, described the Shoukris as “para-mafia gangsters”.
“The relationship between myself and the Shoukris is well documented. It was fairly antagonistic relationship and I have received a number of threats which the police have brought to my home that I believe them to have come from the Shoukris or their mob. But I am not gloating over anybody death. “Both Andre and Ihab were already ostracised from the UDA. Andre is behind bars and is therefore ineffective even in aligning himself with the breakaway east Antrim faction that they established.
“Drugs were endemic and if it was a drugs overdose that took the life of Ihab Shourki then he died from his own excess.” Baroness May Blood, who has spent decades working in loyalist communities, said: “There possibly could be a turf war out of it (Ihab’s death). I hope it does not lead to violence in our streets.”

 Edit Post

15-year-old was injured Friday evening in what appeared to be a gang fight between the boy and several other males, the Kennewick Police Department said. The teen was not severely injured and didn’t require medical attention, police said. However, he did have a foot-long “slice” from the crown of his head down his back, police said.
Police are not naming the 15-year-old because he is a juvenile. No suspects have been identified in the attack that took place at 10th Avenue and Hartford Street in Kennewick, authorities said.

 Edit Post

Banning police are investigating a gun battle that left one person injured and several others detained Friday evening.Police responded at 9:26 p.m .Friday to reports of a fight involving several people at 456 E. Nicolete Street peppertree apartment complex, said police Staff Sgt. Steve Hobb. As they were responding to that call, they received several others about shots fired at the same address. When officers arrived, they found one victim suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital where he was treated and released. The fight involved several people and started over a female, Hobbs said.Police so far have interviewed at least 20 people regarding the incident. No arrests have yet been made.

 Edit Post

The Mexican Mafia actually forbade its members from "picking up the Bible" or espousing any form of Christianity. Some members of the Aryan Brotherhood were followers of pagan witchcraft, or worshipers of the devil. In taking on these new belief systems many gang members eschewed the moral codes they had previously ascribed to as part of their religious/superstitious upbringing.
In the 1980s, Cuban "Marielitos" brought Afro-Cuban cult beliefs into the Los Angeles drug and gang culture. Santeria, Voodoo, and Palo Mayombe followers became some of the most violent criminal gang members Los Angeles had ever seen. Across the city, small altars with caldrons or "gangas" of fruit, rum, and cocaine, as well as animal blood sacrifices, dotted the map. "Botanicas" (occult pharmacies) that sold the paraphernalia required for these rituals sprang up in every community.
Drug cartels from Mexico practiced their own rituals. "Brujeria" (witchcraft) altars with figurines of the bandit saint "Jesus Malverde" or "Santisima Muerte" (holy death) were common in cartel drug houses. Cartel members wore amulets and placed figurines of occult symbols in their cars. Some openly worshipped Satan.
During the heavy metal music era of the early- to mid-1980s, a new type of gang began to get the attention of gang cops in Los Angeles. Unlike the common "Cholo" gangs, these new gangs were made up of "Stoners," kids who wore black concert T-shirts, leather jackets adorned with spikes and studs, and long hair. They rejected the classic "oldies but goodies" in favor of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osborne, and Motley Crew.They also rejected the Cholo gang morals and code of conduct. The Hole Stoners, ELA Stoners, MS Stoners (later to evolve into MS-13), and others played by their own rules. Soon these new Stoner gangs outnumbered traditional gang members in East Los Angeles booking cages. In turn, they were ostracized by most Cholo gang members.

 Edit Post

Venezuelans pray at the tomb of the notorious thief Ismael Sanchez, believing he and other dead gangsters can protect them against violent attacks and robberies. Devotees of the Corte Malandra or Gangsters' Pantheon say the spirits of gangsters who once maintained a reign of terror in Caracas now watch over them in a city where murders and robberies are rife. The Gangsters' Pantheon takes as its symbol a hawk on a motorcycle -- one of Ismael's tattoos -- to honor him, The Rat, Isabelita, Luis, Little Miguel, Antonio and other criminals who once preyed on poor hillside neighborhoods. "The cult started with Ismael, a criminal who robbed the rich to help those who lived in his barrio," said Yamileth, a worshiper who works in a store selling spiritual and religious objects. The roots of the Corte Malandra are unclear. Some say Ismael was Juan Francisco Carrillo, a thief murdered in the 1960s. Some say he died in the 1970s. Believers say the spirits of the dead criminals are trying to make amends for their villainous past by protecting people and helping those who might be tempted into crime. Police register as many as 100 murders each weekend in Venezuela, an oil-rich country where startling poverty sits beside huge wealth. Most crimes occur in ramshackle shantytown neighborhoods in the capital and most murders are settling of scores between criminal gangs. The government last week began a new program to send National Guard troops into Caracas' most crime-plagued areas in an attempt to combat murder and robbery. Polls show many Venezuelans put security as one of their main worries. Venezuela, though mainly a Roman Catholic country, has many cults based on rituals taken from African slaves and indigenous beliefs which count politicians and ex-presidents among their followers. Santeria -- a form of voodoo mixing Christian practices and African mythology -- is common.
Ismael "lived the bad boy life, so I think he can help many people escape from that life too," said Mayra Marin, a 43-year-old who become a devotee a few months ago.
The Gangsters' Pantheon is part of the Maria Lionza cult, which brings together a mysterious trinity of deities -- the mythical Amazonian goddess Maria Lionza, the historic Indian chief Guaicaipuro and the black slave rebel Negro Felipe.
Though based in Venezuela, the Lionza cult is starting to gain recognition in Cuba and Spain. Nina -- who said she become a believer after spending four months in intensive care with a gunshot wound -- said she has seen retirees, army generals and high-ranking police officers paying their respects to Ismael's tomb. Even some modern-day criminals pay homage to the dead thief. "People come to pray for boys who are in prison, kids with bad behavior, drug addicts and those who have strayed. Lots of young girls come to ask why their husbands are beating them," she said. Devotees say anyone can pray at the tomb and pay for the favor with an offering of candles, a cigar, a glass of strong local anis liquor and a hot salsa song. Figurines of the criminal "saints" are found more frequently in the spiritualist and amulet shops common in poor neighborhoods in Caracas. For less than $1 one can buy a statue of a muscular figure armed with a revolver and wearing dark glasses, basketball shirt and cap. "One of the ways to make up for what they did in life is to help people through the cult," said spiritualist shopkeeper Yamileth, hugging a statue of Ismael. But not all the followers of the goddess Maria Lionza believe the Gangsters' Pantheon belongs in the cult. "What type of dark energy can come from this," said Raiza Lopez, a Tarot card reader at another spiritualist store. "We don't sell any of that stuff and we don't use it either. That would put us in touch with really bad vibes."

 Edit Post

Caracas has become one of the most violent cities on the planet. Armed gangs competing over turf and drug deals wage ruthless, low-level warfare in the slums. Nationally, homicides have soared to more than 13,000 a year, with 2,710 in Caracas alone, according to leaked government figures. That gives a national rate of 48 per 100,000 people. In some Caracas slums the rate rises to 130. The rate in England and Wales is 1.4.In opinion polls Venezuelans consistently rank safety as their main concern, with 64 per cent expressing fear of being attacked in the street. Kidnappings have also surged, especially 'express kidnappings' in which victims or relatives pay an immediate relatively modest ransom.President Hugo Chávez may pay a political price today in local and regional elections. Voters are expected to vent frustration at crime - and shoddy public services - by rejecting some of his mayoral and state governor candidates.'It's mayhem here. And the government does nothing,' said María Elena Delgado, 54, a housewife in Petare, a vast slum in eastern Caracas. 'I have to think about my children.' The four surviving ones, that is. Three of her sons have been gunned down, including one before Chávez came to power a decade ago.Opinion polls suggest el comandante remains popular, with approval ratings well over 50 per cent, but that anger over crime could lose him control of once loyal bastions such as Petare.Chávez speaks in public daily, often for hours, but seldom mentions insecurity. He has blamed crime on capitalism and poverty, and said if his family was starving he would steal. 'The perception that crime has soared is a weak point for him,' said Steve Ellner, a political scientist at Venezuela's University of the East. 'He can't talk about crackdowns because that would contradict his whole discourse.' Some critics claim the President's denunciations of inequality and 'squealing oligarchs' have encouraged youths to ease their poverty the fast way, with a gun. Partly thanks to Chávez's social programmes, poverty levels have dropped from 53 to 37 per cent. Yet crime has spiked. Corrupt and inept policing has been compounded by a flood of cocaine from neighbouring Colombia. Changing the justice minister every year - there have been 10 under Chávez- has wrought institutional havoc.The authorities have expressed interest in fresh strategies. Ken Livingstone, London's former Mayor and Chávez ally, is advising Caracas on community policing. The Justice Ministry, which no longer publishes murder statistics, did not return calls seeking comment for this article.In the hillside slums ringing the capital the bloodiest days are Friday and Saturday. The salsa and reggae beats blaring from bars can swiftly be drowned by gunfire, said Miguel Torres, 52, a taxi driver. 'One second you're sipping a Polar [beer], the next you're under the table.'Some weekends more than 50 corpses make their way to Plaza Auyantepuy. Monday is funeral day, with hearses sometimes getting stuck behind other cortèges. A gang recently ambushed and killed rivals at a funeral home. 'Often they are just 16- and 17-year-olds but already they are psychopaths,' said Jimin Pérez, director of Project Alcatraz, a scheme which tries to rehabilitate gangsters. 'These guys kill for nothing.'Project Alcatraz, which is funded by the Santa Teresa rum company, has had mixed results. Some gang members have renounced violence. Others have been assassinated within days of completing the programme. Some have lapsed back into killing. 'We have to offer them a chance of another life,' said Pérez. 'When they feel abandoned and alone, that is when they have no limits, no controls.'

 Edit Post

Dave Courtney will always go one better. Born in Bermondsey, London, Dave claims to have been shot, stabbed, had his nose bitten off, and even had to kill to save his own life. Not to mention pointing the finger at unarmed police officers for engineering a car crash on a Kent Motorway in an attempt to kill him. All of this is of little surprise when you consider the company that he has kept in the past, with hard men such as Lenny McLean, Joey Pyle, Roy Shaw, Bruce Reynolds, Charlie Richardson and Charlie Breaker amongst his list of friends. Dave was keen to stress that every word which he uttered there could be taken as gospel, as a syllable out of place could lead to his very sticky end. Perhaps this was why he talked very little of his dealings with the infamous Kray twins, of whose history every member of the audience was intrigued to learn more about, except that the brothers were both homosexual, and not only Ronnie as was commonly perceived. It was through his intervention at Ronnie’s funeral in 1995, when Dave was asked to take care of security that he first appeared in the public eye. Having spent many years flexing his muscles as a specialist debt collector, when he developed a reputation for using a knuckle duster to do the business and became known as ‘The Yellow Pages of the Underworld’; and later owner of a high profile security firm, Dave was the perfect candidate for the job. Plus, with an entourage of over 80 heavies at his heels, the funeral was guaranteed to go off without a hitch. Dave talked briefly of his career as an Author, which has resulted in the publication of six booksHe said that he would like to continue his writing, whilst also launching his acting career if given the option. Dave played a cameo role in the gangster movie ‘The Krays’, and has starred in numerous documentaries, including a three-part documentary series called ‘Dave Courtney’s Underworld’. Dave has also directed, produced and starred opposite Bill Murray in his own film, ‘Hell To Pay’, which premiered at the Cannes film festival. He went on to reveal that he was in fact, the inspiration behind Vinnie Jones’s character, Big Chris, in blockbuster movie, ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ which has created great animosity between the two. Through gritted teeth Dave said that he is by no means jealous of Vinnie despite his having made millions out of pretending to be him (gulp). Finally, Dave gave the audience an insight into the life of his long-standing enemy, “Mad” Frankie Fraser. Tearing down the aura surrounding the criminal icon in seconds, Dave said that Fraser made himself famous through association with the notorious Richardson gang, and later for having served 42 years in over 20 different prisons in the UK. These he said were for a variety of different crimes, for which Fraser kept getting caught because he was a worthless criminal.

 Edit Post

Baikal automatic pistol - the gun of choice in gang circles - was unearthed when police searched the teenager's home in New Cross, south-east London, in August, along with a magazine and two silencers hidden in a rucksack. Ammunition was found nearby and a machete and barrel brush for another gun were also found in the convicted robber's bedroom. The boy, who is too young to be named, admitted he was in a gang and told police he was holding it for someone else but would not say who.
Now 14, he pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court to possession of a prohibited weapon and illegal ammunition. Prosecutor David Atkins said the case was a "prime example" of the gang and gun crime facing police in London. He said: "The gangs are up to 40 to 60 in number. They will be controlled by young men in their early 20s. "There will be an escalating hierarchy of gang members and the junior members of the gang will start out, like the teenager, by hiding weapons but they will earn their (promotions) in the organisations by taking on shootings and violence." He added: "There is a significant risk to members of the public because there are gangland wars going on and members of the public are being misidentified and shot.
"Gangs are ruthless and have no moral scruples. They will shoot for the sheer fun of it, it seems." Detectives from the Central Criminal Directorate went to the teenager's home and the door was answered by the boy's mother, the court heard.
"She was asked if there was any drugs or firearms on the premises and replied no. The boy was asked the same question and he replied no," he told the court. A search team uncovered a machete in a wardrobe in the boy's bedroom and a white rucksack in the cellar containing the Baikal, magazine and silencer and ammunition nearby. He said the boy told police the gun was not his and added: "He was asked whose it was. He made no reply. He was asked 'are you holding it for someone else?' He nodded."
When he was later interviewed at Lewisham Police Station, he said he had been "storing" the gun since mid-July. He initially said he had been threatened into holding it, the court heard, but later said he had done it as a favour.
Mr Atkins said: "He admits to being a gang member and said the machete was in his room for his protection." Sentencing was adjourned until Jan 30 for psychiatric and pre-sentence reports.

 Edit Post

Mexican authorities have arrested a senior police official for allegedly working with drug cartels.The arrest Tuesday of Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, Mexico's representative to the international police force, Interpol was part of a probe into leaks of information to drug gangs.Mexico has seen increasingly brutal drug-related violence, which has claimed thousands of lives.In Tijuana, federal agents and military forces are temporarily replacing hundreds of police officers responsible for patrolling the crime-ridden border town. Five-hundred police officers were sent to training and will undergo background checks.Earlier this month, the top officer of Mexico's federal police force, Gerardo Garay, stepped down following allegations senior officers had helped drug traffickers.President Felipe Calderon has deployed about 36,000 troops around the country to battle violent drug gangs.More than 4,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico this year. Much of the violence takes place in northern Mexico, where traffickers smuggle drugs over the border into the United States.

 Edit Post

UN gang leader Clay Roueche has been held in segregation near Seattle since his arrest last May on international drug-trafficking charges. His lawyer wants a judge to allow the Fraser Valley native into the general prison population pending his trial in January.
Roueche starting buying his cocaine directly from South America after more than 200 kilos and $750,000 cash were seized in the U.S., according to court documents filed Wednesday.In one bugged telephone call, Roueche agreed to "test the water" of a new cocaine route by smuggling more than 50 kilos and said he had a "bunch in Venezuela I've already paid for," the documents say.But the U.S. Attorney says Roueche is far too dangerous and could retaliate against other inmates who are cooperating with the government in the criminal case."Because of Roueche's leadership position in the UN gang, his previous use of another inmate's phone, his gang's violent tendencies toward those who might testify against other gang members and the necessity to separate him from a number of cooperators and co-defendants in the general population, administrators at the Federal Detention Centre made the decision to house the defendant at the Special Housing Unit," says the U.S. Attorney's response to Roueche's motion for free-range status.A major issue is how Roueche behaved in jail when he was briefly held in Oklahoma last May before being sent to the SeaTac Federal Detention Centre, making several illegal calls or getting other inmates to do it for him, the U.S. Attorney said."Oklahoma prison officials realized that he was speaking in code on the phone so denied him phone privileges," the documents say. "At the SeaTac FDC, the defendant convinced another inmate to let him use that inmate's telephone call number."Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies have been following Roueche and his UN underlings since 2005 as part of a massive cross-border investigation, the documents say."Working together, the agencies have found evidence of nearly two dozen cocaine exporting trips from the U.S. into Canada and the seizure of three separate cocaine loads," the U.S. Attorney said, adding that 2,000 pounds of B.C. bud was also seized."Clay Roueche is the operational leader as well as the public face of the UN gang. ... Its operations, mostly importing and distributing marijuana, have spread east across Canada to Toronto, Hamilton and Montreal. Working in cells, the organization has become powerful and violent in Canada."The U.S. Attorney also cited information from the B.C. agency investigating the UN, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit."In 2007, after a series of shootings in Chilliwack, Roueche's vehicle was stopped and found to contain a sophisticated hidden compartment in the centre console of the passenger area. That centre console was full of handguns, including an illegal and loaded pistol, several clips from a Sig firearm and a photograph of rival gang members," the documents say.
"CFSEU has surveilled Roueche consistently for the past few years and found that he routinely has armed body guards. One associate ... was found to have a hidden compartment in his car with a loaded handgun and oversized magazines. This gun was registered to a law enforcement agency in the United States."
Roueche's application to get out of segregation has not yet been heard by a judge.The Canadian's lawyer argues that Roueche's ongoing segregation amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment.""He is housed in his cell 23 hours a day. The only time he is allowed out is for one hour each morning at 6 a.m. Other than that, my client is completely isolated, except for visitation by legal counsel or family, who reside in British Columbia, Ca

 Edit Post

UN gang leader Clay Roueche starting buying his cocaine directly from South America after more than 200 kilos and $750,000 cash were seized in the U.S., according to court documents filed Wednesday.In one bugged telephone call, Roueche agreed to "test the water" of a new cocaine route by smuggling more than 50 kilos and said he had a "bunch in Venezuela I've already paid for," the documents say.
Roueche has been held in segregation near Seattle since his arrest last May on international drug-trafficking charges. His lawyer wants a judge to allow the Fraser Valley native into the general prison population pending his trial in January.
But the U.S. Attorney says Roueche is far too dangerous and could retaliate against other inmates who are cooperating with the government in the criminal case.
"Because of Roueche's leadership position in the UN gang, his previous use of another inmate's phone, his gang's violent tendencies toward those who might testify against other gang members and the necessity to separate him from a number of cooperators and co-defendants in the general population, administrators at the Federal Detention Centre made the decision to house the defendant at the Special Housing Unit," says the U.S. Attorney's response to Roueche's motion for free-range status.A major issue is how Roueche behaved in jail when he was briefly held in Oklahoma last May before being sent to the SeaTac Federal Detention Centre, making several illegal calls or getting other inmates to do it for him, the U.S. Attorney said."Oklahoma prison officials realized that he was speaking in code on the phone so denied him phone privileges," the documents say. "At the SeaTac FDC, the defendant convinced another inmate to let him use that inmate's telephone call number."Canadian and U.S. law enforcement agencies have been following Roueche and his UN underlings since 2005 as part of a massive cross-border investigation, the documents say."Working together, the agencies have found evidence of nearly two dozen cocaine exporting trips from the U.S. into Canada and the seizure of three separate cocaine loads," the U.S. Attorney said, adding that 2,000 pounds of B.C. bud was also seized."Clay Roueche is the operational leader as well as the public face of the UN gang. ... Its operations, mostly importing and distributing marijuana, have spread east across Canada to Toronto, Hamilton and Montreal. Working in cells, the organization has become powerful and violent in Canada."The U.S. Attorney also cited information from the B.C. agency investigating the UN, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit."In 2007, after a series of shootings in Chilliwack, Roueche's vehicle was stopped and found to contain a sophisticated hidden compartment in the centre console of the passenger area. That centre console was full of handguns, including an illegal and loaded pistol, several clips from a Sig firearm and a photograph of rival gang members," the documents say."CFSEU has surveilled Roueche consistently for the past few years and found that he routinely has armed body guards. One associate ... was found to have a hidden compartment in his car with a loaded handgun and oversized magazines. This gun was registered to a law enforcement agency in the United States."Roueche's application to get out of segregation has not yet been heard by a judge.The Canadian's lawyer argues that Roueche's ongoing segregation amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment.""He is housed in his cell 23 hours a day. The only time he is allowed out is for one hour each morning at 6 a.m. Other than that, my client is completely isolated, except for visitation by legal counsel or family, who reside in British Columbia, Canada," lawyer Lee Covell said. "I have never known such housing to extend beyond 30 days."

 Edit Post

Marcelo Lucero, 37, was stabbed to death Nov. 8 in Patchogue, allegedly by seven teenagers in what Suffolk police labeled a hate crime. One of the teenagers was charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. The others face gang assault charges.
Schoolchildren in uniforms, girls in blue or red sweaters and plaid skirts, and boys in yellow shirts and black pants, crowded the mile-long processional route as Lucero's childhood friends carried his body. First they stopped at City Hall for a brief ceremony under a blazing sun. Then they made their way to the spacious house Lucero built for his mother, Rosario. Hate and tragedy on Long Island Lucero had planned to finally return to Ecuador soon to live with her and his sister Isabel after 15 years in the United States without ever visiting home."An innocent man had to die so people would realize the racism occurring against Latinos on Long Island," Juan Pablo Jadan, 38, leader of a group of Lucero's childhood friends known as the TUNAS, said in Spanish."A natural death is one thing," the former Patchogue resident added. "Dying because of violence, racism and hate is another."Dressed in black suits, the friends took turns carrying their friend's coffin up the hilly streets of this city of 20,000 people. In front of them, two carried a sign made of flowers that spelled TUNAS, an acronym in Spanish for "Everyone United, No One Walks Alone."
Some schoolgirls held hands and raised them in salute as the coffin passed. Others waved small white flags that said "Paz" - "Peace." Other people threw flower petals on the coffin as it went by, while some mourners watched from balconies.Lucero's mother and sister walked arm-in-arm behind the coffin as hundreds of mourners followed.Later, outside their home and with Lucero's body at rest inside, Isabel came out to a throng of television cameras and microphones to demand severe punishment in the case and an end to racism in the United States."We don't want the criminals who did this to end up laughing because they think it is a joke," she said. "We want justice to be done so my brother can rest in peace."
Lucero's body arrived from New York to the capital Quito late Tuesday, then traveled in a hearse overnight 200 miles south to his hometown of Gualaceo. Hundreds of people waited in the morning at the city's entrance for his arrival at about 9:30 a.m.The city's mayor declared three days of mourning, with flags flown at half-staff and public employees given time off to attend services.Some mourners said Lucero's killing has provoked worries that their loved ones in Patchogue and throughout the United States could be in danger. "This has caused panic because so many people have relatives there," Teresa, 58, said in Spanish. She did not give her last name, saying she feared it could lead to harm against her relatives.
Inside the family's house, Lucero's body lay at rest on the first floor as mourners paid their respects throughout the afternoon. His friends from TUNAS watched over him from chairs next to his coffin. A portrait of Lucero in a baseball hat was propped on a chair.He was finally inside the dream home he wanted to give his mother with his hard work on Long Island, a mission that ended up costing him his life.

 Edit Post

Sacit Kayasu, a former prosecutor who was permanently disbarred, has claimed that a mafia leader known as Yeşil (Green) was killed years ago, contrary to popular belief that he is still alive.Kayasu, who was fired and disbarred after seeking the indictment of former Gen. Kenan Evren -- the leader of the Sept. 12, 1980, military coup -- asserted that Yeşil, which is the nom de guerre of famous mafia leader Mahmut Yıldırım, was killed years ago, though there are many people who think he is still alive. "I received a notice in September of 1998 that a corpse was found in western İzmir's Ödemiş district," Kayasu said. "There were nine bullet holes in the body. The eyes were gouged out. When we carried out an analysis on the dental prosthesis of the victim, we saw that it was Mahmut Yıldırım."Kayasu said Yıldırım was killed five or six days before his body was found. "His fingers and toes were skinned so as to preclude identification. On his corpse was mud from Ödemiş. I believe he was killed somewhere else but left on a roadside in Ödemiş. His murder was a professional one," he said. "There were no bullets in the corpse. They were professionally removed." He also claimed that some people don't want Yeşil's murder to be known so that they can blame him for crimes. "There are people in İzmir and Adana who are engaged in illegal acts under Yeşil's name. But Yeşil was Yıldırım, and he was killed several years ago," Kayasu said.
The former prosecutor also said Yıldırım's murder was verified by the mafia leader's close friend, whom Kayasu identified as a man from the southeastern city of Mardin. "I received several phone calls from this man. He said Yıldırım was killed after being interrogated somewhere outside of Ödemiş. He had the video cassette of his interrogation. He was to send the cassette to me, but I haven't heard from him for a long time. He may have been killed, too," Kayasu said.
He said he was not allowed to conclude the investigation into Yıldırım's death and was appointed to the public prosecutor's office in Adana. "I asked the forensics department in İzmir to carry out a DNA analysis on Yıldırım's body, but the corpse mysteriously went missing," he said. "We don't know where it is now." Kayasu stated that a recent verdict by the European Court of Human Rights has paved the path for prosecutors to file cases against generals. The court unanimously held last week that that there had been a violation of freedom of expression and of the right to appropriate punishment for Kayasu, who was removed from his job because he filed a court case against Evren, the coup leader. According to verdict, the Turkish government has to pay Kayasu 40,000 euros. "The Supreme Board of Prosecutors and Judges [HSYK] or the Ministry of Justice will not prevent prosecutors from seeking the indictment of generals. The European Court of Human Rights has prevented it," he said. "This is a plus for Turkey. Prosecutors will not be disbarred for filing cases against generals." Kayasu also said individuals, be they civilians or members of the military, should be tried if they stage coups. "Coup planners and stagers are tried around the world," he said. "Coups are crimes committed against democracy and human rights."

 Edit Post

Israeli ‘Mafia’ Boss Assassinated.Don Alperon was said to run Tel Aviv’s third largest crime family.One of the leading figures in Israel’s mafia-style organised crime gangs has been assassinated in a car bomb attack.
Yaakov Alperon, known as “Don Alperon”, was driving his saloon car through a northern suburb of Tel Aviv when the vehicle was torn apart by a huge blast.Two bystanders were also slightly injured in the explosion, one a 13-year-old boy waiting at a bus stop.The attack has raised concerns that an Israeli mob war could be about to spin out of control.Little was left of the car after the explosion, which was apparently set off by remote control just before midday.Don Alperon’s body was seen slumped over the steering wheel.A police spokesman said, with understatement, that the security forces were now assessing the situation to see what would develop in Tel Aviv.This is the latest and most serious attack in an Israeli mob war which some fear may once again be coming to the boil.That is worrying because of the lack of concern shown by the mobsters for civilian casualties.Anti-tank missiles, grenades and bombs have all been used in Israeli mob hits.In one failed attempt to kill a rival gang leader in 2003, three people died when a bomb explosion hit a passing bus.In another attack, a whole building was destroyed while the intended target, another mafia leader, walked away.
Don Alperon was a flamboyant figure known for dating famous and beautiful women from Israeli show-business.He was said to run Tel Aviv’s third-largest crime family.If Tel Aviv is in for another period of bloody rivalry between the city’s mafia gangs, residents will want to know if the police are capable of stopping it.The Israeli underworld is built around gangs run by the once poor sons of Middle Eastern Jewish, or Mizrahi, immigrant families: the Alperons, Abutbuls, Abergils, and others who have become household names in this country because of unflagging media attention. When Alperon was blown up, a TV crew a few blocks away was filming an episode of "The Arbitrator," a fictional series based on the nation's mafia.The largely Mizrahi crime families do most of their business in drugs, gambling, and extortion, with prostitution having been taken over by wayward immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Israeli Arabs have their own violent gangs known mainly for selling drugs and stolen weapons. Although ethnic separatism is the rule in Israeli organized crime, the lure of large, illicit profits can at times bring people of different backgrounds together.The mafia capital is Tel Aviv, but the gangs also operate in Jerusalem, Netanya, Bat Yam, Lod, and other cities, as well as in the prisons. They've gotten too big for police to control.The greatest obstacle for law enforcement is getting witnesses to testify; no wonder, since witnesses against Israeli mafia figures put their lives at risk. A couple of years ago, a prisoner due to testify against a crime boss was poisoned in his cell. A U.S.-style witness protection program is supposedly in the works to relocate such brave souls and give them new identities, but nothing has come of it.
Yaakov Alperon now joins Felix Abutbul, Yaakov Abergil, Yehezkel Aslan, Gad Plum, and other reputed Israeli mob legends who were murdered, presumably by rivals. Yet, their killers are rarely brought to justice for want of witnesses and evidence.
While the public doesn't grieve over the slain gangsters, the "collateral damage" is causing a growing outcry. The bombing of Alperon's car put a driver and schoolboy nearby in the hospital with minor injuries; in past mafia hits, innocent bystanders have been killed.After Alperon's murder, his wife, Ahuva, was on the TV news sobbing while his ex-convict brother Zalman, wearing a black yarmulke, swore that the family "was leaving revenge in God's hands." In times of crisis, Israeli mafia families typically turn to public displays of piety; a familiar scene on the evening news is of an accused gangster appearing in court in handcuffs and a yarmulke.
Yaakov Alperon came from modest beginnings. He was one of 12 children who lived with their Egyptian immigrant parents in a two-room apartment in a dusty little town near Tel Aviv. He took up boxing, then put his fists to use on the streets and, soon, in prison. He was suspected of murdering rivals in and out of jail, but police could never prove it.Alperon, his brothers, and his henchmen brawled repeatedly with rival families; he made legions of enemies. One of them most likely activated the bomb that left him sprawled dead in a blasted, burning sedan in the middle of northern Tel Aviv. Now another score waits to be settled.



.

 Edit Post

Six heavily-armed men, including a suspended Pretoria police officer, were arrested during a sting operation moments before they could carry out a cash-in-transit heist.
The men, who are all from Soshanguve, were arrested on Tuesday by the hi-tech unit and Pretoria crime combating unit without a shot being fired, as they were allegedly preparing to attack guards from Protea Coin, who were about to fill up an ATM at a butchery outside Ga-Rankuwa.The six, including the officer, who is a constable stationed at the protection and security services (PSS) unit, are all out on bail for various crimes, including armed robbery and murder.The PSS includes units such as the VIP protection unit, ports of entry unit and railway police unit.
The six are believed to be part of a heavily armed gang wanted for a spate of cash-in-transit heists across Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North West province. A number of policemen are involved. Among the crimes the men have allegedly carried out include Monday's foiled attack on a cash depot in Witbank.During the attack, 11 men, posing as police officers and driving a car fitted with police registration plates, conned their way into the building where they held up staff. A manager raised the alarm and the robbers shot their way out of the depot taking two of the guards' guns.
It is also believed that the six may be involved in a spate of farm attacks in the Kameeldrift area which has left at least four people dead and several seriously injured.Describing Tuesday's sting operation, police said they were staking out Nyanes Butchery after receiving information that the gang was going to rob guards as they were filling up the ATM machine. While some police posed as customers, others hid in several unmarked vehicles waiting for the gang to strike.Police launched their assault as five of the alleged robbers stormed the guards. Two of the gunmen were held trying to hide inside a room.Three others were caught as they tried to escape while the sixth was arrested in the getaway car about 200m away.Describing the arrests, Nyanes Butchery owner, Rudolph Loots, said it was chaos. "There were people with guns running everywhere screaming. Two men ran into the room where I was and threw a gun behind a box before putting their hands in the air."I didn't know what was happening," said Loots, adding that he had not even known the police were staking out his store. He said it was like a movie. "It was crazy. I have never seen anything like that in my life except on TV. It is a miracle that no one was shot or killed," he said, adding that the attack had taken place at the busiest part of the day.A police officer said during the arrests, in which police seized three guns and two cars, officers discovered that one of the suspects was a policeman who is out on bail for armed robbery.Confirming the officer's arrest, spokesperson Director Sally de Beer, said the constable was attached to the PSS.She said the officer was currently on suspension after he was arrested in connection with a similar incident. He is facing departmental and criminal charges. "It is sickening when one of our own are arrested. If he is found guilty we can get rid of him," she said.De Beer confirmed the men were being linked to other crimes.

 Edit Post

Italy's crack Folgore paratroopers could not save 60-year-old Stanislao Cantelli from the Mafia. Two days after Silvio Berlusconi, centre-right prime minister, in October sent 500 troops to reinforce police in the Naples area after a spate of killings, the Mafia delivered their blunt response. Mr Cantelli was playing cards in a social club on the high street of Casal di Principe - a satellite town and stronghold of the Camorra gangs - when someone walked in and fired 18 bullets. Paratroopers were 200 metres away. By the time the police arrived, the killer and all witnesses had fled. Shops were closing their shutters. Police say Mr Cantelli, a retired cheese factory worker, paid the price for being the uncle of Luigi Diana, a Mafia "pentito" or turncoat whose information had led to the arrest of members of the Casalesi clan.There are constant struggles between the Mafia and the policeTwo weeks earlier, suspected Casalesi hitmen shot six African immigrants in Castelvolturno, a derelict zone north of Naples trying to reinvent itself with a coastal golf course. A turf war over narcotics or golf, or simply a cocaine-driven demonstration of power by the mob? Police are not sure. Frightened immigrants protested, accusing the state of abandoning them and Italians of racism. The government's decision to deploy the army has been cautiously welcomed by Italians as a sign that the state is trying to impose an authority that has been absent for years. Critics say it is just for show. Meanwhile, the ministers of interior and defence disagree on the nature of the battle. After Mr Cantelli's murder, Roberto Maroni, the interior minister who believes he is waging a "civil war", said he had never expected "a bed of roses" and victory within hours. "But I am sure we can do it and the people of Campania (the region around Naples) will learn to trust the state," he said on television. Ignazio La Russa, the defence minister, prefers the terminology of a war between gangs, but he agrees on the target. "The only war we are waging is against the Camorra," he said. An editor of a local newspaper who asked not to be named said the government had been obliged to be seen responding to the violence, but he doubted the move would tackle its roots which is the nexus of power between local politicians and the mob. "This war is win-win for Berlusconi," he said. Some local politicians "up to their necks" in the Mafia might be sacrificed but they would be replaced. Further south in Calabria, Nicola Gratteri, an anti-mafia prosecutor, was involved in co-ordinated raids in September against drug traffickers in Italy, the US, Mexico and Guatemala. More than 16 tonnes of cocaine were seized and 200 people held, including 16 suspected members of the 'Ndrangheta Mafia clans based in Calabria who control the flow of Colombian cocaine into Europe.
Mr Gratteri said Colombian drug lords were outsourcing their distribution to Mexican gangs to feed the US and European markets, where in turn the 'Ndrangheta supply the Camorra around Naples. Organised as an impenetrable, cell-like structure of families, the 'Ndrangheta have grown into Europe's most powerful criminal network, controlling businesses and politicians and influencing local elections. Apart from the occasional vendetta exploding into public, the 'Ndrangheta tend to keep a lower profile than the Camorra and avoid direct confrontation with the state.
Sending in the army is not an effective tool, says Mr Gratteri. "Checkpoints are not the answer. It doesn't matter whether it is the Carabinieri police or the army." To make his point, he shows where a bug was found in a store-room next to the guarded office where he and colleagues used to have what they thought were confidential conversations. "The Mafia are different. They organise themselves, create their rules and also have a consensus among part of the population. Checkpoints have a good psychological effect but they do not give results." His biggest weapon is telephone intercepts. They are cheap and simple. He says the city has one of the most effective monitoring systems in the world, tapping more than 1,000 people.
"Investigations are the answer but to carry them out you need time, months, years," he says. "So it is important to raise the number of people employed. "Contrary to checkpoints, to fight against the Mafia one must camouflage oneself, forget to exist, disappear . . not with cameras and journalists who follow you around."

 Edit Post

Yaakov Alperon, known as "Don Alperon", was driving his saloon car through a northern suburb of Tel Aviv when the vehicle was torn apart by an explosion. Two bystanders were also slightly injured in the explosion, one a 13-year-old boy waiting at a bus stop. The attack has raised concerns that an Israeli mob war could be about to spin out of control. Little was left of the car after the explosion, which was apparently set off by remote control just before midday. Don Alperon's body was seen slumped over the steering wheel. A police spokesman said, with understatement, that the security forces were now assessing the situation to see what would develop in Tel Aviv. This is the latest and most serious attack in an Israeli mob war which some fear may once again be coming to the boil. That is worrying because of the lack of concern shown by the mobsters for civilian casualties. Anti-tank missiles, grenades and bombs have all been used in Israeli mob hits. In one failed attempt to kill a rival gang leader in 2003, three people died when a bomb explosion hit a passing bus. In another attack, a whole building was destroyed while the intended target, another mafia leader, walked away. Don Alperon was a flamboyant figure known for dating famous and beautiful women from Israeli show-business. He was said to run Tel Aviv's third-largest crime family. If Tel Aviv is in for another period of bloody rivalry between the city's mafia gangs, residents will want to know if the police are capable of stopping it. That has not always seemed to be the case in the past.

 Edit Post

Lillo Brancato Jr. 32, Brancato faces charges of second-degree murder and other crimes in the 2005 killing of police Officer Daniel Enchautegui. Jury selection for his trial begins Monday.Brancato's real-life troubles began not long after he befriended Steven Armento, a reputed low-level Genovese crime family associate banished for drug addiction, prosecutors say. Then his life went into a tailspin with a pair of drug-related arrests and the death of Enchautegui.
Brancato drove himself and Armento to the home of Enchautegui's next-door neighbor and the pair broke in to steal prescription drugs, prosecutors said. When they were confronted by Enchautegui, who was off duty, Armento shot the officer. Brancato and Armento were both wounded.Armento, 48, was convicted of first-degree murder Oct. 30 and was sentenced last week to life in prison without parole.Brancato's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, said his client's case is very different."Lillo didn't have a gun. Nor did he know anyone had a gun. Lillo was shot. Lillo wasn't burglarizing anyone's home," he said.Family and friends of Brancato have said he was a good guy with a drug problem who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."He obviously had problems he kept well hidden, but that doesn't mean he should be held accountable for the actions of the man he was with, especially if that man was under the influence," former "Sopranos" castmate Chris Tardio wrote in an e-mail.Brancato was discovered at age 15 at Jones Beach on a summer day by the casting director of "A Bronx Tale," directed by co-star De Niro.He worked consistently through his teenage years with small roles in "Crimson Tide," and "Enemy of the State," but he never became a huge star. He appeared in half a dozen episodes of "The Sopranos" as soldier Matt Bevilaqua in 2000; his character was killed off in the mob hit's second season.
Along the way, Brancato had befriended Armento while dating one of his twin daughters.In December 2005, prosecutors said, the actor and the older man decided while drinking at a strip club to break into the basement apartment in a hunt for Valium.Armento, who had a lengthy rap sheet dating to 1979 that included convictions for possession of stolen property and attempted burglary, was armed with a .357-caliber handgun.Enchautegui, who had just finished a late-night shift, heard glass breaking next door. He alerted his landlord, dialed 911 to report a possible burglary in progress, then grabbed his badge and a gun and went outside to investigate.Enchautegui shouted "Police! Don't move!" Shots were fired. Enchautegui was struck once in the chest. Armento was hit six times. Brancato, who was unarmed, was shot twice.Jurors in Armento's trial rejected prosecution arguments that he knew Enchautegui was a police officer, declining to convict him of first-degree murder of an officer. He was instead found guilty of first-degree murder while committing a felony.Brancato's attorney says he's not criminally responsible for the shooting.
"We're looking forward, after three long years, for Lillo to get his day in court," Tacopina said. "It's a tragic case, it's tragic in a lot of ways. But that doesn't mean he's behind the crime."Tardio wrote of the slain officer: "One life was already ruined. The jury will have the power to prevent that of another."

 Edit Post