teenager has been shot in the back in east London. The 17-year-old boy was wounded in East India Dock Road, Poplar, in the early hours of the morning. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A 17-year-old male had a gunshot wound to the back and is in hospital in a serious condition." The attack happened just before 01:00 GMT, police said. Any witnesses to the shooting should call the Metropolitan Police.
Armed guards are to be deployed on British civilian ships for the first time to protect them from pirates, David Cameron announced today.
A legal ban on weapon-toting protection staff will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a licence to have them on board in danger zones.
The Prime Minister said radical action was required because the increasing ability of sea-borne Somali criminals to hijack and ransom ships had become 'a complete stain on our world'.
He unveiled the measure after talks at a Commonwealth summit in Australia with leaders of countries in the Horn of Africa over the escalating problem faced in waters off their shores.
Under the plans, the Home Secretary will be given the power to license vessels to carry armed security, including automatic weapons, currently prohibited under firearms laws.
Officials said around 200 ships were expected to be in line to take up the offer, which would only apply for voyages through particular waters in the affected region.
It is expected to be used by commercial firms, rather than private sailors such as hostage victims Paul and Rachel Chandler.
Pirates: There are around 50 ships currently being held hostage
Asked if he was comfortable with giving private security operatives the right to 'shoot to kill' if necessary, Mr Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: 'We have to make choices.
'Frankly the extent of the hijack and ransom of ships round the Horn of Africa is a complete stain on our world.
'The fact that a bunch of pirates in Somalia are managing to hold to ransom the rest of the world and our trading system is a complete insult and the rest of the world needs to come together with much more vigour.
TORONTO - A deadly spat with origins in Halifax has an eastern Canada police dragnet hunting the gangster wanted for a slaying in Toronto. Toronto Police said Wednesday Darnell St. Clair Wright, 32, is wanted for first-degree murder in the Oct. 2 shooting of Jefflin Beals, 25, on Crawford St. at Lobb Ave., near Trinity Bellwoods Park. Homicide Det.-Sgt. Wayne Banks said the two men had an ongoing dispute stretching back at least to 2009, when Beals was a target of a drive-by shooting in Halifax. The father of two wasn’t injured in that attack and he refused to co-operate with police. Banks said he’s still not yet clear about the motive of the murder, whether it was personal or gang-related. Police said Beals, was in a friend’s car when a gunman approached on Crawford St. and opened fire. Beals got out of the car and stumbled to a lane between two homes, but he died by the time emergency crews found him. The victim had been staying with friends in Peel after arriving in the city just a few days before he was gunned down in the usually quiet area of west Toronto. Banks said the gang Wright belongs to — the North Preston Finest — is suspected to be involved in the 2009 drive-by, but it’s unclear if the suspect was involved in that shooting. “We believe he (Beals) was set up — that Wright found out he was in Toronto and that he was set up to be at that location,” Banks alleged. The location of the murder, a residential street, “there’s no way it was a chance meeting, say like a night club or somewhere like that,” Banks said. “He was there for a reason and they were waiting for him.” But Banks doesn’t know yet what lured Beals to the spot. He warns anyone who helped set up the ambush or is now hiding Wright will face charges. “This isn’t just about arresting Darnell, this will be finding out anybody involved in the planning of it and anybody involved in the aiding and abetting after it,” he said. Banks said there’s conflicting street information that Wright is in Halifax, and “we’re hearing information that he’s still in the city.” Wright is considered dangerous, he said.
Darnell St. Clair Wright, 32, is wanted for first-degree murder in the Oct. 2 shooting of Jefflin Beals, 25, on Crawford St. near Trinity Bellwoods Park.
Mexican police arrest 15-year-old alleged drug-gang operator in murders of 2 women Prosecutors said Saturday that a 15-year-old boy has confessed to running a drug trafficking gang on the Mexican resort island of Isla Mujeres and murdering two women who reportedly worked as drug dealers. It was the second time in less than a year that an extremely young male has been detained as a purported drug gang killer in Mexico. Last November, soldiers arrested a 14-year-old U.S. citizen who confessed to killing four people whose beheaded bodies were found hanging from a bridge. Comments Weigh InCorrections? Mexican officials say the involvement of youths in such crimes reflects the difficulty drug cartels are having in recruiting adults, but it also raise fears that Mexico’s drug violence may have accustomed young people to extreme levels of violence. The Isla Mujeres cases involve a youth who prosecutors in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo identified only by his nickname, “El Gallito” or “The Little Rooster”. Heavily tattooed, El Gallito appears more mature than his age, prosecutors said. State Attorney General Gaspar Garcia Torres said the boy claimed to have been in charge of the lucrative Isla Mujeres drug market for a local gang known as “Los Pelones,” equivalent to the Bald or Shaved Heads. The gang is reputedly fighting the Zetas cartel for control of the area around the coastal resort of Cancun. A spokesman for the prosecutors office said the boy told investigators that he and two older associates slashed the throats of the two women at a hotel on Isla Mujeres. Their women’s bodies were found before dawn Thursday, and El Gallito was detained Friday. “He confessed to having full participation in carrying out these deeds, and from the start he claimed to have been in charge of drug sales in the area, in this case for the Pelones, and that his duties were to receive the drugs,” said the spokesman, who was not allowed to be quoted by name. The women were purportedly killed after they betrayed the Pelones gang by selling drugs they obtained from other sources. The boy was turned over to a youthful offender facility to face homicide charges. Because of his age, he cannot be identified or tried as an adult. In most parts of Mexico, youths are tried and sentenced in juvenile courts, but cannot be held after they turn 18. Last year’s case involved a 14-year-old U.S. citizen, who was identified by his family as Edgar Jimenez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis.” He was sentenced in July to three years in prison for homicide, kidnapping and drug and weapons possession. It was the maximum sentenced allowed for a minor. Authorities say the teenager confessed to working for the South Pacific cartel, which is allegedly led by Hector Beltran Leyva.
A man who suffered life-threatening injuries in a gang-related shooting in North Portland Friday night died early Monday morning. An autopsy was planned for Monday for Deandre Clark, 25, according to Lt. Robert King. Police responded just after 10 p.m. to a shots fired call near N Haight Avenue and N Emerson Street, according to King. Officers arrived to find a group gathered in the street around a man who had been shot. Medical crews arrived and took Clark to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries. Police set up a perimeter around the scene and called in a K-9 unit to assist with the search, but did not find any suspects.
According to the Post, the violence is due to a feud "stemmed from an ongoing beef between two warring factions, the Hoodstars and the Waves. Members of both gangs told The Post that they consider themselves the modern-day Bloods and Crips -- and sources say their violent feud has been raging for several years." Apparently residents are too afraid to call 911 and say the violence is worse at night, when the gangster "do not hesitate" to shoot. While neighbors said that Horton, who had 13 living children (a 14th died of pneumonia a few years ago), was pregnant, but the ME's office said that she was not. Still, the tragedy is huge, as her children will be split up between Horton's mother and her ex-boyfriend, Oniel Vaughn, the father of eight of the children,who told the Daily News, "She gave her life for those kids, and she would have done it all again because that's just the kind of person she was. She was worried about the violence. She said she wanted to move and buy a house for her kids. Those kids were her life." He added, "I didn't tell the younger kids yet. The older ones know. They're devastated."As police try to find the suspect whoseFriday afternoon shooting from a Brooklyn rooftop left a woman dead and another woman and an 11-year-old girl injured, the slain woman's family remains bereft. Zurana Horton, 34, was killed when picking up a child from P.S. 298 in Brownsville, at Pitkin Avenue and Watkins Street, and apparently died trying to shield other youngsters. One of Horton's children told the Post that she actually walked by the crime scene, not realizing her mother was the victim, "I was wondering where my mother was. I found out later [the body] was my mother. My little sister [Alexis] said, ‘Mommy died. She got shot.’"
Police officers on rooftops (NBC New York)
POLICE have smashed an alleged black market gun supply ring operating out of a tiny suburban tobacco shop. Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad detectives arrested the alleged leaders of the syndicate last week after a covert buy-up of the weapons and ammunition. The men allegedly used a Lakemba tobacconist shop, King of the Pack, as a front. Detectives are testing three firearms that the police bought to see if they had been used in any crimes, documents tendered in court reveal. George Boulos, 27, and Said Rawdah, 36, charged with numerous offences relating to possessing and supplying illegal firearms, were refused bail in court on Friday. Tobacconist Ayman Said, 50, charged with similar offences, was also refused bail. Instead of an undercover detective, police from Strike Force Snaidero enlisted a "registered source" who was given pre-counted "buy money" to purchase weapons. The court heard that on July 18 the registered police source, known only by a code name, went to the tobacconist and asked the owner, Ayman Said, if he could buy a gun. They negotiated a price of $5000, with Said allegedly telling the buyer the next step would be introducing him to a dealer. The following Monday, police say their source was introduced to Rawdah - the alleged dealer - who handed over a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver for $5000. Police later found it had been in circulation for more than 13 years. It was reported stolen from a break and enter on January 31, 1998. On August 20, the informant went back to the tobacco shop and, after asking for more guns, was introduced to Boulos, of Padstow, who told the informant he had access to plenty more weapons, including military-grade firearms, the court heard. "Those firearms were a 9mm pistol, a .22 calibre pistol, an AK-47 machinegun and numerous SKS assault rifles," police facts state. "Twelve days later, the pair met at Lakemba railway carpark, where for $13,000 the police source allegedly received a .22mm Jennings pistol, a 7.62mm pistol and ammunition. The buyer viewed the guns in a white van which was driven by an unknown man who was summoned with a phone call from Boulos, Burwood Local Court heard. Last Thursday, police arrested the trio at various locations. All three will reappear in court in December.
2,000 Florida guns last year were linked to crimes committed around the country, and experts say they likely came from the cars and homes of law-abiding Floridians. In 2010, law-enforcement officers around the country traced 2,251 crime guns to Florida, one of the states with the most guns traced in out-of-state crimes. It follows Georgia's 2,568 guns and Texas' 2,301, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Related Top states for crime guns Broward crime rises in first half of 2011 Video: Crimes caught on camera Photos Close calls: Crime artist's sketches Topics Personal Weapon Control Gun Control Interior Policy See more topics » That's because Florida has a huge number of gun owners, and burglars find the weapons when breaking into their homes and cars, authorities said. Video: Mother of pit bull attack victim discusses son's condition "In almost any burglary to a residence, a gun will turn up," Boynton Beach Police Sgt. Sedrick Aiken said. "There's a lot of stolen guns out there." In fact, South Florida last year had the most reported stolen guns in the state. That's 2,310 guns reported stolen in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, according to state records. The number does not include guns reported stolen and then recovered. Typical was the recent arrest of two suspects in Boca Raton, accused of taking $3,750 worth of hunting guns in the burglary of a home in Jupiter. The owner of the guns told police he kept them in a gun safe that was broken into. Richard Sasso, 23, and a 17-year-old boy were arrested in connection with the September burglary. The Sun Sentinel is not naming the juvenile because of his age. He told police they traded the guns for marijuana. It's unclear where the guns ended up. Stolen guns often are sold to criminals, who may end up crossing state lines, experts said. Florida guns also end up in the wrong hands in other states when people come to Florida because gun laws here are more relaxed, Aiken said. Unlike New York, for example, Florida does not require gun buyers to get a permit and allows people convicted of violent misdemeanors to own a gun. Florida also prohibits municipalities from enacting their own gun-control measures. New York is where most of Florida's crime guns — 358 — ended up last year. Not all guns used in crimes are traced through ATF, and not all guns traced are directly used in crimes. They could be guns found at a crime scene or in the possession of a suspected criminal. Marion Hammer, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association in Florida, said Florida's laws have nothing to do with guns turning up in out-of-state crimes. Many state laws regulate who can sell a gun and to whom a gun can be sold, she said. "If anything, it's lax law enforcement," Hammer said. "I don't know if it's ATF or [the Florida Department of Law Enforcement] or who isn't enforcing it." In December 2009, Washington, D.C., police and FBI agents arrested dozens of alleged gun traffickers and seized 123 guns in an undercover sting, according to The Washington Post. Authorities posed as gun traffickers interested in buying illegal guns to sell to Mexican cartels. In the end, 44 people were arrested in the sting, and the trafficked weapons were traced to Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky. Federal authorities blamed the out-of-state guns for much of the violent crime in the capital. Gary Kleck, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida State University, said large-scale, interstate gun trafficking is rare, and often overblown by politicians who want to blame crime on outside factors. Rarely do criminals travel to Florida because they think it's easier to buy guns down South, he said. "This is not about gun trafficking. It's interstate migration," said Kleck, who has interviewed convicted felons and studied the movement of crime guns across state lines. The most common scenario is when someone buys a gun legally in Florida, moves out of state and has his or her weapon stolen in a home burglary. Or a burglar in Florida steals a homeowner's guns and sells it to a someone in another state. "The chances of a burglar coming across a gun here is that much greater than in other states," he said.
A man suspected of fatally shooting a member of the Hells Angels at a recent funeral in San Jose was not holed up in a Stockton home Saturday as police had believed. Steve Ruiz, 38, of San Jose is being sought for allegedly shooting and killing fellow Hells Angels member Steve Tausan, 52, after the two fought Oct. 15 at a funeral for a slain motorcycle club member, according to police. Police had received information that Ruiz had been hiding out at the three-bedroom home on the 3700 block of McDougald Boulevard in Stockton, said San Jose police Sgt Jason Dwyer. Investigators asked Stockton police and the San Joaquin County sheriff's office to serve a search warrant for the home, but both agencies were unavailable, Dwyer said. As a result, San Jose police drove tactical vehicles to the scene. Neighbors said they had seen San Jose police at the scene, calling out to someone in the home to surrender. But after storming the home and firing tear gas at about 8 p.m. Saturday, police came up empty-handed and left. The occupants of the home "are new to the area or they're new to the house" after moving in several months ago, said Noelia Trelles, whose sister-in-law lives next door. "I think we live in a pretty crazy world, but it's still crazy that it's happening in the neighborhood," Trelles said. Ruiz and Tausan were among thousands of Hells Angels members who attended a funeral for Jeffrey Pettigrew, president of the San Jose chapter of the motorcycle club, at the Oak Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park on Curtner Avenue. After the shooting, Ruiz, 38, of San Jose disappeared and one or more people tampered with the crime scene, washing away bloodstains and removing evidence of the shooting, police said. Police found Ruiz's motorcycle at the funeral, Lt. Alan Cavallo said. Ruiz has not come to claim it. Authorities initially speculated that it was possible Ruiz had been killed and possibly buried along with Pettigrew. Investigators obtained a search warrant to dig up Pettigrew's grave, but Ruiz's remains were not found, Cavallo said. But now investigators say they have proof that Ruiz is alive and "actively evading law enforcement," Dwyer said. Ruiz is believed to have two black eyes "and other facial injuries consistent with being in a fight," Dwyer said. Police said Ruiz is in the company of Christel Renee Trujillo, 42, also known as Christel Renee Ferguson, and that her life "is now in danger." The two are possibly traveling in a gold or pewter Chevrolet Suburban. No year of the vehicle or license plate number was available. Ruiz has family and associates in Arizona and New York and may try to contact them, Dwyer said. Police said Pettigrew was shot and killed Sept. 23 by Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, an alleged member of the rival Vagos motorcycle gang, at John Ascuaga's Nugget casino in Sparks, Nev. Gonzalez, 53, of San Jose was arrested by a UCSF police officer in San Francisco six days later. Tausan and the manager of the Pink Poodle, a strip club west of San Jose, were tried for murder in 1999 in the beating death of a club customer two years earlier. They were acquitted on grounds of self-defense.
Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit has been moved from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, Palestinian officials in Gaza said. The move begins an elaborate prisoner swap deal in which hundreds of Palestinian inmates are to be freed in return for the captured tank crewman. The officials said buses of Palestinian prisoners are now moving from Israel into Egypt en route to Gaza. Israel's Army Radio station, citing anonymous Israeli officials, confirmed the report. In all, Israel is slated to release 1,027 prisoners for Schalit, now 25, who had been held in Gaza since he was captured more than five years ago by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid. Before dawn, convoys of white vans and trucks transported hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to the locations in the West Bank and on the Israel-Egypt border where they were to be freed. In Gaza, the Red Cross confirmed that the prisoners slated for release had arrived at the nearby border crossing. The exchange, negotiated through Egyptian mediators because Israel and Hamas will not talk directly to each other, is going ahead despite criticism and court appeals in Israel against the release of the prisoners. Nearly 300 of them were serving lengthy sentences for involvement in deadly attacks. The exchange involves a delicate series of staged releases, each one triggering the next. The Red Cross and Egyptian officials are involved in facilitating the movement of prisoners. A Gaza militant leader said the Palestinians were waiting until all 477 prisoners were moved into Palestinian territory before turning Schalit over to the Egyptians. In the meantime, he said armed men would remain with him in Egypt. When Tuesday's exchange is complete, 477 Palestinians held in Israeli jails, including 27 women, will have been released, several of them after decades behind bars. The other 550 are set to be released in two months. Schalit will be brought to an Israeli military base along the Egypt border, where he will be issued a new military uniform and given another medical examination, according to the Israeli military. Schalit will then be flown by helicopter to an air force base in central Israel, where he will meet his parents, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister and military chief of staff.
MS-13, shorthand for "Mara Salvatrucha," is one of the world's most lethal gangs, with a power and reach that exceeds that of some national governments. It has ravaged the tiny Central American country of El Salvador, and its influence extends into neighboring Honduras and elsewhere.
But MS-13 isn't a homegrown Salvadoran phenomenon. It's an export from Los Angeles, where many gang members were initiated as adolescents and young adults, before being deported back to El Salvador and taking their violent methods with them. Today, as depicted in the new documentary "Gang Warfare USA," airing at 8 Monday night on the National Geographic Channel, MS-13 members in El Salvador work with their U.S. counterparts to export violence to cities as remote from L.A. as Greensboro, N.C.
Marc Shaffer, the film's director, producer and writer, and his crew detail the disturbing story of how a restaurant murder in Greensboro eventually led investigators to L.A. and El Salvador. Along the way, they uncover how Uncle Sam's deportation of MS-13 members to El Salvador ironically has been making the gang even stronger and more globalized than before.
In interviews with current and former gang members, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, attorneys and others, the documentary exposes that many gang members deported to El Salvador, where economic prospects are bleak, soon turn right around and cross back into the United States.
Meanwhile, the gang's presence in El Salvador continues to undermine the rule of law in that war-torn country: El Salvador, with a population of only 6 million, has a murder rate 10 times that of the United States, and officials estimate that 70 percent of those murders are gang-related. As one assistant U.S. attorney tells the filmmakers, "We set up the conditions by which MS-13 flourished."
THE drug dealer who dobbed in crime boss Tony Mokbel is likely to be paid Victoria's first $1 million reward. He has already escaped being charged over his prominent role in Mokbel's gang, which included helping Mokbel organise a false passport to flee Australia. But veteran underworld figure Billy Longley yesterday warned the "grass" who fingered Mokbel would have to keep looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. "A lot of people have gone to jail because of him, including Mokbel," Mr Longley said. "Such people have long memories and will want revenge." The previous biggest amount paid out by Victoria Police was a $100,000 reward in 1991. There are nine other $1 million rewards up for grabs at present. The police informer in the Mokbel case, codenamed 3030, was a key member of Mokbel's drug syndicate, known as The Company, as well as a drug user. Fat Tony doomed by his greed for speed Fat Tony doomed by his greed for speed Herald Sun, 1 hour ago Fat Tony drops legal bid for freedom Courier Mail, 1 day ago Fight to seize Mokbel's drug millions Herald Sun, 4 Oct 2011 Prosecutors set sights on Mokbel millions Courier Mail, 4 Oct 2011 Man jailed for helping Mokbel escape Herald Sun, 5 Sep 2011 He turned on Mokbel, and his other fellow gang members, soon after Victoria Police offered the $1 million bounty to find Mokbel in April 2007. Purana gangland killing taskforce detectives persuaded 3030 to work for them inside The Company. Information provided by 3030 resulted in multiple arrests of members of The Company, including Mokbel in Greece on June 5, 2007. The informer is a significant step closer to being paid the $1 million, as Mokbel is due in court tomorrow for a pre-sentence hearing. Mokbel pleaded guilty in April to drug charges relating to his masterminding The Company while on the run in Victoria and Greece. A Victoria Police spokesman yesterday confirmed the process of deciding on the reward would begin at the end of a 28-day appeal period after Mokbel's sentencing. Supreme Court judge Justice Betty King already has described 3030's assistance to police as "invaluable". And police have paid tribute to 3030, saying he played a vital role in helping them to locate and arrest Mokbel. Apart from providing telephone numbers so police could bug phones of Company members, including Mokbel's, 3030 helped identify people in The Company's business as well as the houses, hotels and storages they were using. Information provided to Purana by 3030 enabled officers to put recording and listening devices in The Company's cars, houses and storages, as well as bug phones. He also assisted police in introducing undercover operatives into The Company. With 3030's co-operation, Purana detectives were able to find Mokbel and arrest nine of The Company gang members in Melbourne on the same day Mokbel was picked up in Greece. Raids on Victorian properties associated with The Company led to the seizure of amphetamines, cocaine, precursor chemicals used to make amphetamines, drug-making equipment valued at more than $500,000, and almost $800,000 in cash. The informer also helped police to identify properties The Company bought with drug money, which enabled their seizure. Lawyers acting for Joseph Mansour, one of The Company members convicted as a result of 3030 turning police informer, queried the lack of charges against 3030. In jailing Mansour for 10 years, Justice King said: "Your counsel referred to the fact 3030 is not charged in respect of these activities, which is not surprising, as a number of these activities that he undertook were at the behest of the police to gather evidence. "His assistance in identifying and breaking this very large conspiracy could be described as invaluable."
Despite a heavy police presence at a Hells Angels funeral Saturday, a top bike-club enforcer nicknamed "Mr. 187'' after the state penal code number for murder was gunned down Saturday in front of stunned spectators. Multiple sources told this newspaper the victim was Steve Tausan, a notorious sergeant-at-arms for the Santa Cruz chapter of the club suspected of killing another biker years ago. Sources said the incident Saturday was an inter-club squabble set off when Tausan punched a fellow biker and the biker retaliated by shooting him. A photographer for this newspaper saw other Hells Angels jump the shooter. Police declined to comment, saying only that there had been a shooting at the Oak Hill Cemetery. The funeral at the cemetery was for fellow Hells Angel Jethro Pettigrew, president of the San Jose chapter of the club, who was shot in a Sparks, Nev., casino by a member of the rival Vagos club. Townsend told a reporter that shortly after Pettigrew was killed that he had received death threats. Police and Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office are now guarding the Hells Angels headquarters in San Jose, as well as other locations where bikers gather.
Australian bikies with dubious reputations are now infiltrating Thailand and gang members have opened businesses on Phuket, reports an Australian newspaper. Hells Angels and Bandidos club members ''own nightspots in Thailand tourist centres that have become popular haunts for bikies worldwide,'' reports the Courier-Mail newspaper, which is based in the northern Australian state of Queensland. Members of the Bandidos - who acquired four new chapters in Indonesia during ''Bandidos Bali Bike Week'' earlier this year - are looking to set up business as far afield as Japan, a Queensland police source told the newspaper. Thailand was significant as a source of chemicals for drug manufacture and trafficking and scrutiny of the travels of Gold Coast bikies' travel would show ''a lot of trips'' to the country, the officer said. ''A lot of them are looking into Thailand - it gives them the opportunity to source pharmaceuticals. Hells Angels and Bandidos have got premises in Thailand. ''Of course, the Finks [another prominent bikie club] can't be left behind and they're looking too.'' The newspaper names one bar in Patong and another on Koh Samui as having been purchased by bikies with Hells Angels connections. The newspaper report on bikie connections on Phuket and in Asia is part of a series on the activities of Australian gangs at home and overseas. It's titled 'Bikie Inc, Organised Crime on the Glitter Strip.' Some have been involved in alleged property scams on Phuket, the report says. Danish, British and Norwegian bikie gang members have also been connected to the activities of Australian gang members, the report adds. Phuket expat motorcycle riders have always distanced themselves from gang activities and drugs and drawn the distinction between bikers and ''bikies.''
Hells Angels member was fatally shot Saturday at the San Jose funeral for a fellow biker who was killed last month at a Nevada casino, police said. The victim, who police have not identified, was shot shortly before 1 p.m. and taken to a hospital where he died about an hour later, said San Jose police spokesman Jose Garcia. No suspect has been arrested and the shooting remains under investigation. The shooting occurred at the funeral for Jeffrey Pettigrew, 51, president of the San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels, authorities said. The service was held at the Oak Hill Funeral Home & Memorial Park and drew an estimated 4,000 people. Pettigrew was attending a motorcycle festival last month when he was shot four times in the back by a member of the rival Vagos motorcycle gang during a brawl at a casino in Sparks, Nev. Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez of San Jose was arrested on suspicion of murder. Ten Vagos members were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of drug trafficking and a rash of violence during law enforcement raids throughout the Inland Empire. Garcia said he couldn't speculate whether the San Jose shooting was related to rivalries between the motorcycle gangs. Anticipating a large turnout, police were in the area around the cemetery as a precaution, patrolling and helping with traffic. Garcia declined to say whether police were at the funeral. "We had no credible information suggesting there would be violence," he said.
In this courtroom sketch, James "Whitey" Bulger stands during his initial appearance in a federal courtroom in Boston in June. Source:AP Bulger, who is charged with 19 murders in the 1970s and '80s in Boston, was arrested in June in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living under an assumed name with long-term girlfriend Catherine Greig. The FBI has steadfastly refused to disclose the identity of the tipster, again declining to comment to AFP, but the Boston Globe says it was Anna Bjornsdottir, a 57-year-old graphic designer and yoga instructor. Bjornsdottir, who was crowned Miss Iceland in 1974 and starred in that year's Miss Universe competition, tipped off police after recognising Bulger, 81, on the television news, reports said. She is said to have befriended Greig, 60, in Santa Monica after the two women took a shared interest in a local stray cat. The Boston Globe reported that Bjornsdottir, star of B-movies More American Graffiti and The Sword and the Sorcerer, moved to the LA area in the late 1970s with her first husband, rock star Jakob Magnusson. Bulger, an Irish-American whose life inspired a gritty Hollywood movie, pleaded not guilty to the string of murder charges at a court appearance in July. Police found some $A823,000 in cash and a "fairly big arsenal" of weapons in Bulger's modest apartment after his arrest, law enforcement sources said. Greig, who is accused of helping to shield Bulger during his time on the run, was indicted by a federal grand jury and faces up to five years in prison and a $US250,000 fine if convicted. Bulger was the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in The Departed, the 2006 crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. Bulger and Greig had lived for years under the pseudonyms Charles and Carol Gasko. In addition to accusations that Bulger murdered mob rivals, potential witnesses and others who threatened him, prosecutors accuse him of a crime spree spanning into the 1990s that included extortion, money laundering and, at one point, running guns to Northern Ireland's IRA militants.
Firearms, drugs, cash and fireworks have been seized during a raid on the Sydney home of a bikie member, police say. Officers from the NSW Gangs Squad allegedly found three rifles, a shotgun, fireworks, more than $17,000 in cash and a variety of drugs and drug paraphernalia when the they raided the Mt Druitt house in Sydney's west on Monday. A 51-year-old man, who police believe to be a high-ranking member of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang, was questioned on Tuesday night.
Adam Lee Hall, 34, of Peru, andCaius Veiovis, 31, of Pittsfield, each denied all charges at separate arraignments. Hall, Veiovis and a third man, former Springfield resident David Chalue, 44, of North Adams, were indicted by a Berkshire grand juryon three counts each of murder and kidnapping, and four counts of intimidating a witness. The three are charged with kidnapping and then killing three Pittsfield men, David Glasser, 44, Edward Frampton, 58, and Robert Chadwell, 47. The three were last seen Aug. 28 at the Pittsfield apartment where Glasser and Frampton lived. Police allege that Hall, considered a sergeant at arms with the local Hells Angels branch, plotted to kill Glasser to prevent him from testifying against him in another case. Police said they believe Frampton and Chadwell were killed because they were present when Glasser was taken. At Tuesday’s arraignment, Judge John Agnosti ordered each to be held at the Berkshire County House of Correction without the right to bail. They are each due back in court for pre-trial hearings on March 28. 
David Chalue, left, Adam Hall, center, and Caius Veiovis, right. The three were arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping in connection with the disappearance of three men in a case against a Hell's Angels member. Hall and Veiovis denied the charges Tuesday in Berkshire Superior Court
Two of the three men indicted last week in a triple kidnapping and murder case involving the Pittsfield chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club entered innocent pleas at their arraignments Tuesday in Berkshire Superior Court.
This panel of undated photos released Sept. 6, 2011 by the Berkshire District Attorney's Office shows Robert Chadwell, left, Edward Frampton, center, and David Glasser. The men were found buried on private property in Becket on Sept. 10. (AP Photo/Berkshire District Attorney's Office)
A fourth man, David Casey, 62, of Canaan, N.Y., was charged with three counts of being an accessory to murder, accessory to kidnapping, and accessory to intimidating a witness. Each of those charges are considered after the fact. Prosecutors allege that Casey used construction equipment to help bury the three bodies in Becket.
Chalue and Casey are expected to be in court for arraignments later this week.
The suspects offered $1.5 million and “multi-ton” quantities of opium as payment. This case illustrates that we live in a world where borders and boundaries are increasingly irrelevant. According to the criminal complaint the Iranian suspect wanted to hire the Zetas because the cartel had access to military grade weaponry including explosives. "I think the Zetas have the reputation of being the most ferocious and violent drug cartel in Mexico and so this Iranian agent may have thought the Zetas will do anything, that they’re cold blooded killers, and they’re capable of pulling something like this off." said Howard Campbell, author of the "Drug War Zone. The Zetas are behind some of the most brutal and brazen killings in Mexico including grenade attacks in public places, a casino fire in Monterrey that killed dozens of people and the murder of a U.S. federal agent working in San Luis Potosi. His partner was wounded. The suspect named in the criminal complaint traveled to Mexico on several occasions to work out the details of the terrorist attack. A source says one meeting happened in Reynosa on the Texas border. In the end, he was not dealing with the violent Zetas but a drug trafficker who is paid informant for the US government.
Los Zetas is depleted, after the capture of four of its top leaders and the dismantling of about 40 cells in that organization in the state of Veracruz in less than four months, officials in this port said.
It is said most of the Zetas are hiding and are not operating, so there is clearly a drop in kidnappings, "levantones" and derecho de pizo or cuota charges in Veracruz and Boca del Rio, mainly.
Military sources also believed that Los Zetas do not have enough people so their operations and finances are being depleted.
But officials warn a reinforcement of assassins may come from Tabasco, Chiapas and Oaxaca.
The dismantling of various cells of the criminal group, it was mainly due to the arrest of leaders and local police commanders who assure safety to the Zetas.
Sense August the Navy has arrested at least 30 members of various local corporations.
In July, seven police officers were arrested Tuxpan by the Navy, and presumed to be involved in the death of a sailor. Among them was a second in command.
A month later in Veracruz, the arrest of Francisco Bautista Carballo, "The Shark" and two of his accomplices, weakened the actions carried out by Los Zetas in the port and Boca del Rio in kidnapping and collecting derecho de pizo or cuotas.
Another cell was dismantled on August 14, when the Navy arrested five members of the cartel involved in the death of four sailors in retaliation for the Navy operating in the state.
In September, six Intermunicipal police officers from Veracruz-Boca del Rio were arrested for carrying out murders and kidnappings for Los Zetas.
In addition, 74 members of this criminal group were also arrested, among them Karim Muñoz Castillo, the plaza boss from Tuxpan.
At the end of the month Angel Manuel Mora, "Commander Devil," was arrested after a clash in Las Brisas, in the port of Veracruz.
Mora served as an alleged chief hitmen in the urban area of Veracruz-Boca del Rio, as well as the alleged person in charge to assure the safety of that criminal group in Ciudad Mendoza, Veracruz route.
On Thursday, the Navy arrested 12 alleged members of the criminal organization Los Zetas, including the alleged new leader in Veracruz.
In recent days, federal forces have killed seven suspected members of Los Zetas who have attacked military convoys.
In the port of Veracruz, the patrols of the Army, Navy and state police are frequent.
But the "hawks", are also in the look out.
The United States on Tuesday accused Iranian officials of plotting to murder Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States in a bizarre scheme involving an Iranian-American used-car salesman who believed he was hiring assassins from a Mexican drug cartel for $1.5 million. The alleged plot also included plans to pay the cartel, Los Zetas, to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Saudi and Israeli Embassies in Argentina, according to a law enforcement official. The plotters also discussed a side deal between the Quds Force, part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Los Zetas to funnel tons of opium from the Middle East to Mexico, the official said. * The plot evidently was discovered at a very early stage. One wonders: How? Through intercepts of phone conversations or emails? Eric Holder, widely believed to be a dead man walking in Washington as a result of Fast and Furious, was front and center at today’s news conference. Holder was a prominent critic of essentially everything the Bush administration did to discover and combat terrorist plots. It would be interesting to know whether the intelligence triumph that Holder celebrated today was yet another example of the wisdom of the Bush administration policies that Obama, Holder and their ilk endlessly demagogued before they found it expedient to adopt them. * One remembers liberal assurances, when a Republican administration was trying to keep us safe from terrorist attacks, that diverse anti-American groups could never cooperate. Democrats went so far as to claim that Shia and Sunni Muslims–who in fact work together in furtherance of terrorist plots all the time, as, to take just one example, when Iran supports Hamas–could never cooperate against America or our allies. Today, assuming the Obama administration is being truthful, we have the spectacle of Iran’s mullahcracy paying a Mexican drug cartel to carry out terrorist attacks. Do radical Muslims really care about technicalities like drug dealing when it comes time to advance their interests? Of course not! On the contrary, this plot represented an alliance of the world’s two major proponents of beheading. * Assuming that the administration’s account is correct, Iran had little doubt that a Mexican drug cartel would be able to get men and weapons across the border to carry out a terrorist attack in Washington. Presumably they were right. One wonders what it will take to get liberals to take border security seriously. If the Mexicans had blown up a D.C. restaurant and killed 100 Americans along with the Saudi ambassador, would liberals finally have started paying attention to the border? I doubt it. * One little detail has gotten lost in most reporting: The alleged plot also included plans to pay the cartel, Los Zetas, to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Saudi and Israeli Embassies in Argentina, according to a law enforcement official.
Parents and teachers hang up a banner on the gates of a school in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico on Monday. The banner reads in Spanish "To the School Community: Due to the great insecurity we are living, and since authorities are not giving teachers, parents, students and the community in general the sufficient security, we have decided to continue the work stoppage until security conditions are more favorable." Bernandino Hernandez/AP
The suspected leader of the Los Gitanos kidnapping gang, which operates across Mexico and abducted a number of businessmen, has been arrested, Nuevo Leon state officials said Tuesday. "Aaron Bosquez Montes, alias 'El Chico,' 28, was the leader of the Los Gitanos kidnapping gang and demanded ransoms that ranged from 20 million pesos ($1.5 million) to $4 million," Nuevo Leon Gov. Rodrigo Medina said. Bosquez Montes was arrested on Oct. 3 at the Mexico City international airport, Medina said. Twelve of the 15 members of the criminal organization, which had been collecting ransom payments for three years, have now been arrested, the governor said during an appearance at the Nuevo Leon State Investigations Agency, or AEI, headquarters. The gang staged at least nine kidnappings in Nuevo Leon, which is located in northern Mexico, reaping more than 52 million pesos (nearly $3.9 million) in ransom payments. Los Gitanos would conduct a "prior study of its victims" before kidnapping them, targeting "middle and upper class" businessmen and professionals, the governor said. The blow against the gang should "help us continue building confidence" among citizens, Medina said. Photographs of Bosquez Montes traveling overseas and recorded telephone conversations were released by officials. Authorities are asking victims of Los Gitanos to contact them and report the crimes. Kidnapping has become a widespread problem in Mexico in recent years, with gangs of different levels of sophistication targeting victims from various strata of society. In October 2010, Congress approved a bill that stiffens the penalties for kidnappers from 25 to 45 years behind bars when the victims are mutilated or if the criminals are retired or active-duty police officers, and from 40 to 70 years in prison if the victims are killed.
Sicilian TV station that campaigns against the Mafia, Telejato, is among hundreds of channels threatened with closure due to a change in the law. Partinico is a pretty nondescript little town - a handful of baroque churches, a couple of elegant palazzos and a lot of ugly concrete in between. If it were not for the fact that it is in the so-called "Mafia Bermuda Triangle", perhaps nobody outside the province of Palermo would have heard of it. As it is, like Corleone, it is a name that prompts Italians to raise an eyebrow and suck in their breath when you tell them you are planning to visit. Discreet entrance My point of departure is San Giuseppe Jato, another former Mafia stronghold. Continue reading the main story From Our Own Correspondent Broadcast on Saturdays at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4 and weekdays on BBC World Service Listen to the BBC Radio 4 version Download the podcast Listen to the BBC World Service version Explore the archive Having just visited a vineyard on land confiscated from an infamous jailed boss, I decide to try my luck with the only direct bus of the day to Partinico. I do what the traffic warden advises and wave it down in the middle of the road, just in front of the toy shop. After a picturesque journey through the Jato Valley, I alight an hour later at my destination, a town where the mountains rise up above the church steeples and illegal attic extensions. I find the block of flats which is home to Telejato without too much difficulty. It is on a quiet side street away from the bustle of the main road. The building number seems right but there is no sign or any directions to the TV station inside. I conclude that the best way to find Pino Maniaci is to follow my nose. As I climb the staircase, the smell of cigarette smoke gets stronger. I follow the aroma up to the second floor, through an unlocked door and into the newsroom. Pino Maniaci's daughter Letizia is the station's main reporter It is 13:20 and they go live at 14:00. Pino, his daughter and a couple of volunteer journalists are putting together the bulletin. When I come in, he turns towards me, cigarette between his lips. After the briefest of greetings he says, "We're on air soon so sit down and don't break my balls." His daughter looks up and grins. "Don't worry, that's how he talks to everyone," she says. Indeed Pino Maniaci, when not inhaling smoke, is invariably exhaling expletives. Unable to sit still and not wishing to be a ball-breaker, I nose around the small converted apartment. You can tell by the pictures, tributes and cuttings on the walls, just how proud Pino is of Telejato. Courage He has turned a tiny local TV station into one of Sicily's most powerful anti-Mafia voices. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote With his Groucho Marx-style moustache and Chico Marx-style accent, he boasts that even the Mafia watch Telejato” He says nearly all the locals watch it. In the heart of Cosa Nostra territory, he was the first journalist to dare to give the full names of arrested mafiosi. Before him, nobody published more than initials for fear of reprisals. Pino, his family and a small team of volunteers put together a daily news show, which is dominated by Mafia and corruption stories. "We're always first on the scene," he tells me. "Even international channels like CNN call and ask to use our footage." The station works closely with the various police forces, including the Catturandi di Palermo - a special squad that hunts mafiosi in hiding. "Wherever we show up, they're there. Wherever they show up, we're there." Pino's childlike bravado conceals his genuine courage. With his Groucho Marx-style moustache and Chico Marx-style accent, he boasts that even the Mafia watch Telejato. "We were the only ones to interview the brother of Bernardo Provenzano, one of the biggest Mafia bosses," he tells me. With a gleeful twinkle, Pino continues, "We even discovered that Provenzano himself had an aerial specially positioned to pick up our signal. If you listen to the police wire taps, you can hear our signature tune!" Murder attempt Telejato has a motto: "They consider themselves men of honour. For us, dishonouring them is a question of honour." Pino uses derision as both weapon and shield, but he admits he is scared, especially for his family. "I smoke three packets a day and always joke that it's just as well the biggest room in our tiny station is the bathroom!" Living under police escort, he has suffered countless attacks - slashed tyres, severed brake cables, burnt-out cars, windscreens shattered by gunshots. "They even tried to bump me off!" he chuckles, describing a failed attempt to strangle him, which left him with four fractured ribs, a broken leg, a black eye and several broken teeth. At 17:00, it is time for me to head for the station to catch a train up to Palermo. Pino refuses to let me go without showing me some true Sicilian hospitality. Police escort in tow, we go to a nearby coffee bar. Everyone, including the officers, gets an espresso and Pino insists I taste a cannolo, the island's famous ricotta-filled pastry. "I have to keep Telejato going," says Pino between mouthfuls, "so that one day Sicily will be more famous for these than for the Mafia."
Noel Salgueiro Nevarez is accused of running the Sinaloa cartel's operations in the northern state of Chihuahua, where drug violence is rampant. Defence officials said his arrest would seriously weaken the cartel in Mexico and abroad. The arrest was made on the same day as that of Martin Rosales Magana, who is accused of leading the La Familia gang. The army said Mr Salgueiro Nevarez was seized in a carefully planned military operation, without a shot being fired. Defence Ministry spokesman Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said Noel Salgueiro Nevarez was behind much of the extreme violence which has plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's murder capital. He said the suspect, also known as El Flaco (The Skinny One), led a gang of hitmen who extorted local businessmen, kidnapped for ransom, and tortured and killed members of a rival gang, the Juarez cartel. 'Criminal career' The security forces say the bitter war between the two gangs was the trigger for most of the 3,000 killings in Ciudad Juarez last year. Prosecutors said Mr Salgueiro Nevarez started his criminal career 15 years ago, producing marijuana for the Sinaloa cartel. They said his gang had been exporting up to 15 tonnes of marijuana and two tonnes of cocaine per month to the United States. The government had offered a three-million-peso ($220,000; £130,000) reward for information leading to his capture. Security officials said his arrest, in the city of Culiacan in northwestern Sinaloa state, was a major blow to the Sinaloa cartel and its leader, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. Mr Guzman, 54, is Mexico's most wanted man and thought to be one of the country's richest. Two years ago, he made Forbes magazine's list of the 67 World's Most Powerful People. At number 41, he was just below Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Crumbling cartel Mr Salgueiro Nevarez's arrest was announced at the same time as that of another top figure in the Mexican drugs trade. Martin Rosales Magana, 47, was seized in Mexico state on Tuesday. Police say he is one of the founders of the once-powerful La Familia cartel. Until the beginning of this year, La Familia ran much of the methamphetamine trade in Mexico. It claimed to protect local communities and promote family values, but also engaged in gruesome violence. The security forces say it has been almost entirely dismantled, with its top leaders either in jail or dead. They say Mr Rosales Magana lead a number of small cells still loyal to the cartel, which had holed themselves up in a rural area between Michoacan and Mexico state. At a news conference, federal police counter-narcotics chief Ramon Pequeno described how La Familia splintered after the security forces killed the cartel's then-leader Nazario Moreno in December 2010. He said part of the gang set up a rival cartel, which they named Knights Templar, and which quickly took over many of the methamphetamine labs in the west and south-west of the country. Mr Pequeno said Mr Rosales Magana and those loyal to him tried to regain control of the drugs trade in Michoacan state by forging an alliance with their long-time rivals, the Zetas cartel. He told reporters how "they met with the Zetas to ask for operational assistance, weapons and salaries [for gunmen] and expenses money, in order to recoup important cities held by the Knights Templar". However, according to police, the alliance soon faltered because Mr Rosales Magane no longer had access to the precursor chemicals needed to make methamphetamine, their main source of income. Mr Pequeno said with La Familia severely weakened, police would now focus their attention on taking down the Knights Templar.
Police say Martin Rosales Magana lead the remnants of the La Familia cartel
