White residue found on the gun used to kill supervising Fire Marshal Douglas Mercereau tested out as salt

White residue found on the gun used to kill supervising Fire Marshal Douglas Mercereau tested out as salt, a forensics scientist told jurors today.But former NYPD criminalist Kristen McDonald didn't know where the salt came from, or how the murdered fire marshal's stainless Smith & Wesson 9mm service weapon wound up with rust inside the slide, behind the muzzle and in front of the trigger guard."The source [of the white residue] cannot be conducively determined," Ms. McDonald testified as to what she wrote in her report that documented her findings.No tests were conducted on the rust found on the gun, Ms. McDonald said.
Prosecutors charge that Janet Redmond-Mercereau shot her husband three times in the head with his service pistol as he slept in his bed inside their Oakwood home on Dec. 2, 2007, then tried to cover her tracks by running the gun through a dishwasher to wash away prints.On Monday, Crime Scene Unit Detective Charles Reiss told jurors he lifted a print from the empty magazine inside the murder weapon. The print was sent to the Department's Major Case lab for analysis, but so far test results of that print have not come out during trial.Defense attorneys Mario Gallucci and Joseph Benfante maintain the print does not belong to Mrs. Redmond-Mercereau.
Today, Benfante attempted to pin the source of the rust on investigators' handling of the weapon after it was recovered following the shooting.

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18-year-old man was accidentally shot to death by his roommate

18-year-old man was accidentally shot to death by his roommate Tuesday afternoon in east Portland, police said.Portland police were called to the house at East Burnside and 117th Avenue at 2:30 p.m. When they arrived, they found the body of 18-year-old Chance Caron inside, said Mary Wheat of the Portland Police Bureau.
Wheat said Caron's roommate, 18-year-old Andrew Perez, was inside the house when Caron was shot. After serving a search warrant at the home, police recovered a gun used in the incident and they arrested Perez, authorities said.Perez pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday to one count of criminally negligent homicide and friends gathered outside the courthouse to show support. They said they knew Caron and Perez and can't believe what happened. "(Perez) is a great guy. I can't even begin to explain. He's like a brother to me. I can't see him in there like this," said William Zeller, who is a friend of Perez and Caron. "This is a big accident, one big accident. This is not Andrew."Detectives said Caron appeared to have died from a single gunshot wound and they believe Perez accidentally fired the gun. So far, police haven't said what led up to the shooting.Perez's next court date is set for next month

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One man is in custody after Shreveport Police say he was in possession of a firearm illegally.

One man is in custody after Shreveport Police say he was in possession of a firearm illegally. Officers were called to East Dudley and Alexandria Avenue around 3:30pm. Neighbors heard a gunshot and called police. Officers arrived to find two men had been fighting, and one pulled a gun. The man accused of pulling the gun already had a warrant out for his arrest, so Shreveport Police took him into custody. No one was hurt.

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Two people are hospitalized with gun shot wounds

Two people are hospitalized with gun shot wounds Tuesday night, Reno Police Sgt. Tom Robinson said.RPD officers were alerted that a victim of a gun shot was dropped off at a local hospital, Robinson said. The van that left the man took off, but officers stopped it near 4th and Arlington downtown, he said.Inside, he said officers found another person with a gun shot wound and took him to the hospital.RPD is investigating if the incident is connected to a report of shots being fired during a fight near Saddlier and Wells. That report was ten minutes before the call from the hospital about the gun shot victim, Robinson said.One victim needed surgery, but Robinson said neither man's wounds appear life-threatening.

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Police in St. Cloud are looking for a second suspect in a fatal shooting

Police in St. Cloud are looking for a second suspect in a fatal shooting that led to the lockdown of several schools in the area.
Police say a 46-year-old man died in the Wednesday afternoon shooting. He has not been identified. One man was arrested immediately following the shooting at about 3:15 p.m. Several schools in the area were locked down for about two and a half hours. They were the Area Learning Center, St. Cloud Technical College and Saints Peter, Paul and Michael Middle School.

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Huntsville Police are investigating a shooting

Huntsville Police are investigating a shooting that occurred about 9:45 p.m. HEMSI Paramedics were called to a convenience store near Sparkman Drive and Executive Drive after a person reportedly suffered a gunshot wound to the ankle. It was not immediately clear where the shooting actually occurred and the victim was taken to Huntsville Hospital with what was thought to be non-life threatening injuries.

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Two men, who allegedly shot and robbed a schoolgirl of her laptop on Saturday

Two men, who allegedly shot and robbed a schoolgirl of her laptop on Saturday, were yesterday charged with the indictable offence of robbery under arms and with discharging a loaded firearm.
The men appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
It was alleged that Ade Doobay, on April 25, with the intent to maim, disfigure or cause grievous bodily harm, discharged a loaded firearm at Samantha Hollingsworth. He pleaded not guilty.
It was further alleged that Ade Doobay and Odel Chase, while being armed with a gun, robbed Samantha Hollingsworth of a laptop computer valued at $300,000.
They both pleaded not guilty. Both Doobay and Chase were represented by attorney-at-law Mortimer Coddett, who in an unsuccessful bid to secure bail told the court that both defendants have an unblemished record.
The lawyer further told the court that Hollingsworth had given a statement saying that the bandits were on a silver motorcycle. He, however, told the court that neither of the men in court owns a sliver motorcycle. He contended that this raises a lot of questions as to who really committed the crime.
Police Prosecutor Robert Clement objected to bail.
Both defendants were remanded and are expected to make another court appearance on May 18.
On Saturday last, the school girl and 13 other students from the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School were studying in the Botanical Gardens when the bandits pounced on them.
Hollingsworth was shot in the right ankle and thigh.
The two defendants were apprehended in the Albouystown area about an hour after the incident and taken to the hospital for a confrontation with the victim.

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Authorities say a man with a rifle opened fire on a group of people eating at a Los Angeles-area taco truck

Authorities say a man with a rifle opened fire on a group of people eating at a Los Angeles-area taco truck, killing a 59-year-old man and wounding five other people.Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Byron Ward says the shooting occurred Wednesday night in Lennox, an unincorporated area near Los Angeles International Airport.
Ward says one victim died at the scene and the others were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
Among the wounded were two men, a woman and two boys — one 12 years old.Authorities are searching for the gunman.

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Thirteen people were killed at a university in Azerbaijan when a gunman went from floor to floor firing on teachers and students

Thirteen people were killed at a university in Azerbaijan when a gunman went from floor to floor firing on teachers and students after the bell rang for morning classes. The gunman, a Georgian citizen of Azeri origin described as a loner by local media, was among the dead.The government said it did not see a political motive behind the shooting at the prestigious State Oil Academy in Baku, capital of the mainly Muslim former Soviet republic which exports oil and gas to Europe from the Caspian Sea.Witnesses said the shooting began shortly after classes began at 9am. (5pm NZT).
"He climbed from the first floor to the sixth, shooting people mainly in the head from a Makarov pistol," the state prosecutor's office said. The Makarov is a Russian-made semi-automatic pistol.
Thirteen people were killed and 13 wounded. Blood stained the steps to the university and staff and paramedics carried out bodies in bags.A witness said one student had tried to stop the gunman, approaching him and shouting: "Don't shoot, don't shoot!" He was shot in the head.

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Tokoroa takeaway shop owner who shot a burglar is a hero

Tokoroa takeaway shop owner who shot a burglar is a hero and shouldn't be charged, says a man last year prosecuted for firing a gun at fleeing burglars. Garth Gadsby, 62, was fined $3000 last year for recklessly discharging a firearm at a car carrying two burglars in the coastal Wairarapa village of Ngawi in September 2006.Mr Gadsby said today Zhuo Feng Jiang, 26, had "every right" to shoot an armed man who entered his South Waikato family-owned restaurant and takeaway store on Monday night, demanding money.
"When someone enters your home or shop like that intruder did, armed, then he has every right to shoot him," he told The Waikato Times.Mr Zhuo was in the restaurant's chiller when the balaclava-clad man walked in the backdoor and threw a bag on the floor, demanding Mr Zhuo's cousin, Chun Peng Jiang, fill it with money.
After he fired two shots, the store owners wrestled the gun off him.
Mr Zhuo fired two shots – one into the ground and the second hitting the man in the knee.Police have not decided whether Mr Zhuo would face charges.Mr Zhuo said he shot the robber in the leg to prevent being attacked.He was not scared and would do it again.
"I hate these people. I will never give them any money."The alleged robber had surgery on his knee yesterday afternoon and was due to face a bedside court sitting today.

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Founder of the United Nations gang could be spending the rest of his life in an American jail.

Founder of the United Nations gang could be spending the rest of his life in an American jail. Clayton Roueche has pleaded guilty to drug and money laundering charges.In a Seattle courtroom, Roueche admitted to conspiring to export over a tonne of marijuana to the States and to bring back several kilograms of cocaine into Canada. News1130's legal expert Michael Shapray says Roueche can apply to serve his sentence in a Canadian Institution, but U.S. prosecutors want the gangster to serve his entire term in the U.S. "Clearly the United States, in certain circumstances, will not agree to that and will try to block that transfer because of the nature of the offense for which someone is being convicted."
Shapray says attorneys in the U.S. are aware of Canada's liberal parole laws, and will argue Roueche won't serve as much time here as he would in an American jail. Prosecutors are asking for a sentence of 30 years to life.

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24 year old Terrence Stephens was captured by Albany Police just after midnight on Weatherby Court.

24 year old Terrence Stephens was captured by Albany Police just after midnight on Weatherby Court.Stephens was one of the men shot during two separate gang drive by shootings March 9th in the South McKinley Street area. Stephens was shot in the stomach by a shotgun in what Investigators say was a gang turf war.Stephens was a victim that day, but Police still planned to charge him when he got out of the hospital. But Stephens checked out of the hospital early, and got away. Until yesterday, they arrested him for aggravated assault and possesion of a firearm during a crime.

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Gang war was intensifying, and police and community activists were meeting in attempts to quash the violence between the two sides.

Gang war was intensifying, and police and community activists were meeting in attempts to quash the violence between the two sides. It was the summer of 2006, and 18-year-old Herman Taylor III, who attended Belmont High School as part of the Metco program, was walking home from a friend's house in Roxbury.Taylor was gunned down about 500 feet from his front door, an innocent victim in a case of mistaken identity, prosecutors say.His death sent waves of grief and mourning through two communities - in the Humboldt Avenue neighborhood of Roxbury and at Belmont High School, where Taylor was a popular student who excelled academically and as a basketball player.

"Here's why Herman Taylor was killed: He was killed because he happened to be on Humboldt Avenue," said Assistant District Attorney Masai King in an opening statement yesterday in the Suffolk Superior Court trial of Lamory Gray. He is charged with first-degree murder in Taylor's death.

Prosecutors say Gray, whose nickname is "Laws," mistakenly thought Taylor was a gang rival."Laws was a Heath Street soldier," King said. "On July 2006, he went on a mission up Humboldt Avenue to shoot someone from H-Block."Gray, wearing a blue dress shirt and glasses and with his hair in cornrows, sat next to his attorney, James Budreau, as King talked. At one point he glanced over his shoulder toward relatives seated in the courtroom and shook his head from side to side.Gray is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawfully carrying a loaded handgun. He has been held without bail since October 2007, following a 17-month grand jury investigation, according to prosecutors.The defendant's lawyer said prosecutors cannot prove a motive for the crime, and for that reason they are introducing a gang angle. "The word 'gang' is the Commonwealth's evidence here," Budreau said.
At the time of the homicide, there had been at least

50 shootings between gangs from the Bromley-Heath and Humboldt Avenue areas,

King said.Much of the day's proceedings centered on the testimony of a 19-year-old witness, Shumane Garvin. She testified with the jury excused from the courtroom, saying repeatedly that she could not recollect much of what she told a grand jury, forcing King to present her with transcripts in attempts to refresh her memory.King said Garvin's testimony sharply differed with what she had told a grand jury in 2007, telling Judge Frank Gaziano that earlier she had described "seeing the shooter fire a firearm several times in the direction of the victim, Herman Taylor."Garvin testified yesterday that her brother and the 23-year-old defendant were friends. "There's an inference that she doesn't want to be involved in the case and doesn't want to do anything to hurt her brother or her brother's friend," King said.Budreau said that the prosecution's attempt to identify his client as the shooter through Garvin is deeply flawed and that Garvin has never given a positive identification of the assailant.Marisa Luse, the victim's oldest sister, was the first person called to the witness stand. King gave her a photograph of Taylor. She said that it was the last picture taken of her brother and that she snapped it during a birthday party for their sister in June 2006, a few days before his death.Today, the jury was expected to visit the site where Taylor was killed.

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A grenade tossed into a cafe, gunfire in the street, dead bodies splayed on the pavement, residents living in fear

A grenade tossed into a cafe, gunfire in the street, dead bodies splayed on the pavement, residents living in fear -- all sounds out of sync with the medieval cobbled streets and copper roofs of the Danish capital.Bloody gang war between bikers and youths of immigrant origin has shattered Copenhagen's customary calm and jolted officials to boost action against violence that has left three dead and 17 wounded in seven months.But a bloody gang war between bikers and the youth of immigrant origin has shattered Copenhagen's customary calm and jolted officials to boost action against violence that has left three dead and 17 wounded in seven months.Two more attacks this week -- one Friday using a hand grenade -- heightened alarm, even if police would not immediately link them to gangs."We won't accept this settling of scores between gangs that is frightening the population," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier this month before stepping down as prime minister to become NATO secretary general.Officials, he vowed, would "take all necessary means to halt the escalating violence," as Copenhagen's police chief promised to use "Al Capone-like tactics" to go after the gangs.The battle over drug sales, revenge and wounded honour pits Hells Angels bikers and their offshoot called AK81 against gangs of mainly second and third-generation immigrant youths.
The long-simmering conflict exploded into full-blown war last August, after a 19-year-old man of Turkish origin named Osam Nuri Dogan, who was armed and wearing a bullet-proof vest, was executed on the street.His body was riddled with 25 bullets in front of a Copenhagen pizza parlour.A member of AK81 suspected of the killing was arrested but quickly released for lack of evidence.Since then, violent acts of retaliation have become almost a daily occurrence in the capital -- and raised concern of fuelling anti-immigrant sentiment in a country long sceptical of Muslims where tightening immigration has been the cornerstone of government policy.Early Friday, an unknown assailant launched a grenade at a packed cafe patronized by bikers in Christiania, Copenhagen's giant squat and repair of free spirits and marginals since the 1970s. Four were wounded, including a 22-year-old man whose cheek was ripped out by the blast. came a week after another attack in Christiania in which an AK81 member shot and seriously wounded a 30-year-old man in the stomach. Tabloids said it was gangs settling scores but police, again, would not confirm this.The majority of attacks -- including one Wednesday in which police said "two men on a motorcycle" shot and wounded a 29-year-old man of Egyptian-Eritrean descent -- have occurred in the heavily immigrant Noerrebro neighbourhood.The sound of gunfire there has become all too common but residents were shocked out of complacency two months ago when three separate shootings in as many days killed two people with no links to gangs and wounded four others.Protesters dressed in mourning as for a funeral have repeatedly marched through the capital demanding a "gun-free zone" in Noerrebro so people can take a walk "without worrying about being killed by a stray bullet".Rasmussen personally visited a Noerrebro school in early April to try to calm nerves. "You shouldn't have to have a knot of fear in your stomach when you go outside," he told a worried 16-year-old.Police have dramatically increased their presence in trouble zones.Parliament, meanwhile, has scheduled a major hearing on the gang war on April 29 and the justice ministry is preparing a draft law to bolster legal action.The bill, which parliament is expected to approve before summer recess, will "lead to a doubling of penalties for certain types of serious crimes committed in connection with the retaliatory attacks between gangs," said Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen.It would also dramatically increase jail time for possession of illegal weapons and give police more leeway in tapping phones and holding suspects in custody.'We will give them no peace'

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Arrested Pedro Escobar, German Escobar, and Jose Callejas-Alfaro. The three suspects have been identified as members of the Mara Salvatucha "MS-13" st

Santa Cruz Police Street Crimes Unit and the Fresno County Sheriff's Narcotics Unit arrested Pedro Escobar, German Escobar, and Jose Callejas-Alfaro. The three suspects have been identified as members of the Mara Salvatucha "MS-13" street gang.Three pounds of methamphetamine, with a wholesale value of $42,000, was seized. Police said the drugs could fetch a street value of twice as much. A handgun was also recovered, which was reported stolen out of Wilskboro, North Carolina.Following up on a tip, police said they arranged to purchase the methamphetamine from the local gang members. The deal was set to occur in Aptos.According to police, the drug seizure highlights a growing trend seen by local law enforcement where gangs are becoming increasingly involved in drug trafficking as a means of support."This case represents a growing trend of street gangs involved in drug trafficking to finance activities," said Capt. Steve Clark with the Santa Cruz Police Department.All three suspects were charged with possession of methamphetamine for sale, conspiracy to commit a crime, and gang enhancements. German Escobar was also charged with possession of a stolen hand gun. Jose Callejas-Alfaro and German Escobar were both charged with resisting arrest.

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Gangster has been sentenced to death for murdering two people, including a 14-year-old girl who was shot as she crouched outside a Compton market.

Steven Cheatham has been sentenced to death for murdering two people, including a 14-year-old girl who was shot as she crouched outside a Compton market.A judge in Los Angeles sentenced Steven Cheatham on Friday.Cheatham, 32, was convicted in October of two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder.
Prosecutors say Cheatham confronted Elvira Ramirez and her two friends as she went to use a pay phone near the market in 2001. He wounded her friends, then shot the girl in the back of the head and again in the leg after she fell to the ground.None of the victims had any gang affiliation.Cheatham also was sentenced for fatally shooting an unarmed man in the face in 1998 and wounding two people in 2000.

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leader of the city's most violent gang Stanley Brazil was convicted of drug trafficking

crackdown on Saginaw's gang problem continued Friday with the sentencing of the man the federal government says is the leader of the city's most violent gang.
Stanley Brazil was convicted of drug trafficking last year. He says he was railroaded. The reason law enforcement agencies wanted the reputed Sunnyside gang members charged in federal court was in order to get tough prison sentences.
That's what Brazil got.He walked out of the federal courthouse in Bay City after being sentenced to 380 months in prison, which is more than 31 years.A jury convicted him last September of drug trafficking.A Michigan State Police report was part of testimony during a state Senate hearing on gang violence,The report details how investigators believed Brazil was the kingpin of the Sunnyside gang, a gang law enforcement agencies believe is behind a lot of the gun violence in the city.
"I think that Mr. Brazil distributed kilos and kilos and kilos of crack cocaine and powder cocaine in Saginaw and ruined a lot of lives and created a lot of violence, frankly," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Tanase.
As Brazil left the courthouse, he proclaimed his innocence.
"(They) railroaded me," he said. "I'm innocent."Federal, state and local agencies nabbed Brazil and 30 other reputed Sunnyside members in an undercover operation that ran for two years.It was dubbed Operation Sunset, with the help of an associate of the gang."He's not in a witness relocation program, but he's in a safe spot," Tanase said.Brazil's conviction means 30 of the 31 alleged Sunnyside gang members who have been charged in federal court have ei been convicted and sentenced to prison.
John McKinney Sr. is awaiting trial."We have to continue," Tanase said. "It hasn't ended. There are other gangs out there and other groups we will have to go after."Brazil's attorney declined comment.Brazil is appealing his conviction.

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Outlaw bikie gangs heavily armed Tactical Response Group reponds

Police are still hunting a dangerous gunman who fled a shooting in Attadale that is believed to be connected to outlaw bikie gangs.A 30-year-old man was arrested and charged yesterday after a 2.5-hour standoff with police on Hislop Road on Friday.
The street was closed off and the heavily armed Tactical Response Group was called in after the shooting was reported in front of a suburban house about 10.15am.

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Calabrian mafia money launderer Mario Condello acted as a go-between for Romanian crime gangs keen to use the Italian secret society

Calabrian mafia money launderer Mario Condello acted as a go-between for Romanian crime gangs keen to use the Italian secret society's distribution network to sell its imported heroin, cocaine and amphetamines. sons of criminal Romanian immigrants have expanded the range of crimes committed by the gangs to include sophisticated frauds, identity theft and credit card scams. Romanians have been charged after credit-card skimming devices were fitted to dozens of ATMs in at least four states.
crime gangs have been the masters of insurance and social security fraud for decades. gangs in South Australia specialise in importing, selling and rebirthing weapons. The former AFP agent said the Romanians were "as good a crime group as you will get", and notoriously difficult to investigate.

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Real IRA has carried out at least two murders of drug dealers and shot and injured a number of others, including two in Donegal.

The dissidents’ links with the drugs trade in Dublin are well established, with republicans supplying increasing numbers of pipe bombs to drugs gangs for sums reported to be as much as €30,000. The bombs made by the dissidents are showing signs of increasing sophistication — a development which is causing alarm to security forces on both sides of the border.
Republicans, who last week threatened the North’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, are involved in an increasing cross-border trade in drugs and weapons with Dublin criminals.The PSNI last month discovered a large consignment of cannabis which had been supplied to west Belfast dissidents by a west Dublin gang with no known republican links, who drove the consignment north.Several figures with dissident links are already in prison or before the courts on drugs-related charges, and a number of imprisoned drug dealers have been accepted into the dissidents’ wings of prisons here and in Northern Ireland.According to republican sources in the North, the dissidents in both Derry and Belfast are involved in the drugs trade and in extorting money from non-aligned drug dealers. The Belfast dissidents have even teamed up with former loyalist terrorists who have long been involved in the drugs trade, sharing shipments of drugs smuggled in from Spain.The ’second-in-command’ of the Continuity IRA in west Belfast is currently facing gun and drug charges. The current ‘officer commanding’ of this group in Belfast is a former joyrider and petty thief who has recently acquired an expensive car and, according to local people, is enjoying a lavish lifestyle. They suspect he is also a police informer. So far, the Continuity and Real IRA in west Belfast have confined their activities to “punishment” shootings of local drug dealers who have refused to pay extortion money, but they have also shot and injured at least two innocent victims.In Derry, the Real IRA has carried out at least two murders of drug dealers and shot and injured a number of others, including two in Donegal.The open involvement of the dissidents in the drugs trade is a new development in the world of republican terrorism. In February, the Real IRA in Dublin, a small group composed largely of teenagers and men in their early 20s, shot dead a 21-year-old man, Darren Guerrine, over a small drugs debt.Although the involvement in drugs is public knowledge in republican areas of the North, the dissident groups still appear to be attracting support. It is understood that a former senior IRA man in the north of the city has transferred his support to the dissidents.Police in the North suspect that the dissidents are preparing to launch attacks on Orange parades in the North in order to stir up sectarianviolence. The Troubles in the North escalated when republicans attacked Orange parades on the Crumlin Road interface between the Catholic Ardoyne and Protestant Shankill areas in 1970.Over Easter, the traditional start of the loyalist marching season, an Orange bandsman was badly injured during a parade in the County Antrim town of Crumlin when he was hit on the head by a brick thrown at the marchers.According to republican sources, the rise of the dissidents has accelerated since the Provisional IRA declared itself disbanded two years ago. For the first time this year there was no Provisional IRA ‘Army Council’ statement read out at Sinn Fein-organised Easter Rising commemoration events. It was noted, however, that while numbers appear to be dwindling at the Sinn Fein commemorations, the numbers attending dissident events, though still small, are growing.
Sources in Tyrone said the numbers attending the Sinn Fein-organised Easter commemoration in Carrickmore, traditionally a centre of major support for Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA, were the lowest in local memory.A veiled threat to Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness came from a Real IRA spokesman wearing a combat jacket and mask who addressed a rally organised by its political wing, the 32-County Sovereignty Committee. Referring to the Deputy First Minister’s condemnation of the dissident killers of the two soldiers and PSNI officer last month as “traitors”, the dissident spokesman said: “Treachery is collaborating with the enemy. Treachery is betraying our country”.The statement, published in a Sunday newspaper last weekend, also admitted the Real IRA murdered former Sinn Fein member and self-confessed former informant, Denis Donaldson at his holiday home in Donegal in 2006. At the time, gardai suspected that the killing had been carried out by a dissident republican related to a former senior IRA figure who was shot dead by the British Army in the Eighties.The Real IRA, responsible for the Omagh bombing in 1998, also threatened to expand its terror campaign to targets in Britain. However, in Derry and in Newry, where their main rallies were held, the bulk of their invective was aimed at Sinn Fein. Over the Easter period a petrol bomb was thrown at a Sinn Fein officer in Derry and paint was thrown at Sinn Fein offices in west Belfast.

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war between groups of bikers and ethnic minority youths is being fought out on Copenhagen's streets.

Police sirens wailed as patrol cars started to arrive at the scene of a fatal shooting already lit by the camera flashes of eager reporters. Officers began to collect forensic evidence and question a crowd of onlookers for witnesses.This crime scene did not take place on the streets of New York City or Chicago but Copenhagen, the Danish capital, where such incidents have been occurring with increasing frequency.Like many of the other shootings, this one happened in Norrebro, an ethnically-mixed part of the capital where a violent gang war has recently raged.
The scene was tense as young immigrants watched police reinforcements descend on the area; three young men were arrested. They had allegedly shot a man in his car, believing him to be a member of a rival gang.The word on the street about the gang violence mirrors that on the front pages of Denmark's newspapers. They say a war between groups of bikers and ethnic minority youths is being fought out on Copenhagen's streets.Some say the shootings are part of a turf war over the lucrative hashish trade in the city. Others say it has been inflamed by feelings of alienation and marginalisation among ethnic minority youngsters.While few seem to know just who is shooting whom or why, the sense of danger has become so severe that the National Night Owls Association, a voluntary public safety group that patrols the streets, has decided to pull out of the area."This is the first time the organisation has had to give up on an area," Erik Thorsted, from the association, said. Norrebro members of the Blaagaards gang - a group of ethnic minority youths associated with some of the recent violence.In the week we were there, at least two people were killed in drive-by shootings but as we wrapped up our visit, the situation seemed to take a dramatic turn at the ministry of justice.A proposed anti-gang bill aims to double and triple jail terms for some offences, such as weapon possession, gang violence and witness intimidation, among others.
"If you are a criminal with a foreign background then there is only one way - that is out of Denmark and back to the country where you came from"
Brian Mikkelsen, the Danish justice minister
"We'll give police almost anything they ask for. We need extraordinary steps. We won't give the gangs a moment's rest. We want these criminals off the streets," Brian Mikkelsen, Denmark's justice minister, told a packed news conference.
"We have to come down hard on the obtuseness and brutality of the gang environment. If you are a criminal with a foreign background then there is only one way - that is out of Denmark and back to the country where you came from. I think these measures will have an effect on the gang members. It will make them think twice," Mikkelsen said.If passed, it will be some of the most sweeping anti-crime legislation Denmark has ever seen.Filmmaker and journalist Khaled Ramadan shares his views on Denmark's gang war debate However, others say that these gang tensions have been simmering for years and that the authorities have been too slow to react.Morten Frich, a journalist with the daily Berlingske, says: "The police only recently tried to get on top of this. We have seen this coming for about 10 years."
A 2007 police report was the first official attempt to gauge the extent of the problem.It concluded that what the Danish media had for years referred to as 'street groups' were actually fully-fledged gangs and that 14 of them, with about 1,000 members between them, existed.Khaled Ramadan, an academic based in Copenhagen, says race and integration are at the root of the problem."Unfortunately, Denmark didn't learn from other Western countries' immigration experience. Immigrants have become the politician's and media's scapegoat," he said.
Since Denmark's centre-right opposition won its biggest victory in 80 years in November 2001 following a campaign that focused largely on immigration, relations between immigrants and the Danish authorities have grown increasingly tense.
They were further strained when Denmark's largest newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in September 2005, which the Muslim community said were offensive and insensitive.Ritt Bjerregaard, the mayor of Copenhagen, recently said he believes the conflict carries an ethnic dimension. He told local media that there are fears Copenhagen may become polarised as a large group of citizens are made to feel alienated.
Now gang violence threatens to escalate these tensions further.

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Bikie war is about to escalate again

There are fears the bikie war is about to escalate again, with Hell's Angels leaders reportedly ordering their troops to shoot Commancheros on sight.The gang's American leaders believe the Australian Hell's Angels failure to retalitate to a recent spate of attacks has damaged their hard core image.Meantime an alleged member of the Notorious bikie gang has been charged with aggravated robbery with wounding after an altercation in Kings Cross last month.A 51-year-old man with links to the same group is also facing a charge of possessing a drug precursor.Police Minister Tony Kelly said police would respond swiftly to any increase in violence.
"If any of the outlaw motorcycle gangs, including the Hell's Angels, stick up their heads then the NSW police will clamp down on them."They will not let up. They are going to continue their operations to completely eradicate these outlaw motorcycle gangs' behaviour."

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Domenyk Noonan transfered into hospital from Frankland Prison

Domenyk Noonan transfered into hospital from Frankland Prison in Durham last week because of problems with his pancreas.
In September last year he was rushed to hospital after collapsing in his cell with the same illness. Friends say he is a sick man who has lost more than six stone in less than six months and has a cyst on his pancreas which requires surgery.
Noonan, whose brother Desmond was stabbed to death on a Chorlton housing estate in 2005, was jailed for nine-and-a-half years in the same year after a gun and ammunition were found in his car. The gangster - who changed his surname to Lattlay-Fottfoy - is a category A prisoner which means he is among the highest-risk, most closely guarded prisoners.In 1993, while on remand accused of having a dangerous dog, Noonan escaped from custody when being transported by taxi from Manchester Crown Court to Preston jail.
In an attempt to disguise the escape as a kidnap, Noonan was sprung by two masked men who threatened prison guards with a gun when the taxi stopped at traffic lights in Salford. He also rang the Manchester Evening News saying he had been abducted by captors demanding payment of a £50,000 debt.But following a police investigation it was revealed the 'abduction' had been staged and that Noonan had arranged the escape so that he could take part in a £1.5m robbery.Close friends and ex-girlfriend Debbie Roberts say that on both occasions Noonan was taken to hospital the prison failed to inform them or tell them his condition despite numerous calls and letters.They said the gangster is now seeking legal advice with a view to suing the Prison Service over claims there was a delay in getting him to hospital. Debbie said that on the first occasion he was taken to hospital she had asked the resident priest to visit him and let his family know how he was, but the priest was denied access and nursing staff said they could not pass on any information about his condition over the telephone.She said relatives had only discovered he was in hospital through lawyers who had been told by prison staff they would have a wasted trip if they went to the jail for a pre-planned visit. She said: "I wrote to the governor of the prison to ask why they had not informed me when he had been taken to hospital and they wrote back saying they were not obliged to unless it was life threatening."I went to see him a week ago before he was taken into hospital again. He had lost about six stone and looked so ill that if I could have taken him to A&E myself there and then I would have done."

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Axel Danilo Ramirez Espinoza, known as “El Smiley” and the reputed leader of the Mara 18 gang

Axel Danilo Ramirez Espinoza, known as “El Smiley” and the reputed leader of the Mara 18 gang, was arrested after a gunfight that left another suspected criminal dead, deputy police director Rember Larios said.The 22-year-old Ramirez was identified publicly last month by Interior Minister Salvador Gandara as the person behind this year’s wave of killings of bus drivers who resisted the extortion.Eighty-five drivers were murdered last year, more than double the 37 slain in 2007, according to police statistics, while the 2009 toll is already nearing 100, including drivers, drivers’ assistants, passengers, mechanics and even a government inspector.
More than 1 million people in greater Guatemala City depend on buses to get around.The unidentified gang member killed in the shootout with police was one of Ramirez’s bodyguards, Larios said.Police are looking for three other suspects who managed to get away.Officers found two automatic pistols, ammunition, two grenades, drugs and “documentary evidence” linking the gang leader to the extortion racket, Larios said.Ramirez’s arrest was “a small achievement” by the security forces,” Interior Minister Gandara said, adding that the suspect’s capture was made possible by intelligence work and the cooperation of citizens.The gang leader, for his part, said he had nothing to do with the extortion rackets and killings of drivers, but he acknowledged involvement in the deaths of several members of the rival Mara Salvatrucha gang.Ramirez was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the August 2005 slayings of two underage Salvatrucha members, but he was released last December for good behavior.Since then, Ramirez managed to regain the leadership of the Mara 18 in the western section of the capital, overseeing extortion rackets and ordering the killings of drivers.Earlier this month, the government said it planned to spend about $35 million in 2009-2011 to install a new payment system on Guatemala’s public buses that officials hope will prevent robberies and extortion of drivers.Under the new system, riders will no longer pay their fares in cash, instead purchasing cards that can be used to travel on the buses.The new system, which will require that the nearly 3,000 buses operating in the capital be equipped with machines to read the cards, is expected to start operating in six months.Street gangs are blamed for much of the violence plaguing this Central American nation.
The Mara Salvatrucha, one of several gangs operating in Guatemala, is a particularly violent criminal organization that evolved on the streets of Los Angeles during the 1980s.Most of the gang’s members were young Salvadorans whose parents fled their nation’s civil war for the United States.Because many of the gang members were born in El Salvador, they were subject to deportation when rounded up during crackdowns in California in the 1990s.Sent back “home” to a land they barely knew, they formed gangs in San Salvador that spread throughout the small nation and to neighboring countries in Central America, where membership is now counted in the tens, or even hundreds of thousands, and gang members are engaged in murder, drug dealing, kidnapping and people smuggling.

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Jihad Murad, 23, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon during a raid

Jihad Murad, 23, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon during a raid on his Prospect home, in western Sydney, over the fight early on Sunday morning.The brawl allegedly began after Murad was refused entry to Kings Cross' Vegas Hotel.Murad, whom detectives allege is a member of the Notorious outlaw motorcycle gang, was later charged with affray.Magistrate Vivien Swain granted Murad bail during an appearance at Blacktown Local Court on Wednesday, on condition he report to police daily, stay away from Kings Cross, and not approach or contact any employee of the Vegas Hotel.He is due to reappear at Blacktown Local Court on April 21.Murad is the latest arrest by Strike Force Raptor, set up after a fatal bikie brawl at Sydney airport last month.More than 20 bikie gang members have been arrested and charged over various drugs, weapons and assault charges in the past three weeks.

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Drug dealer associated with murdered crime figure Sean Cloherty remained in custody

Drug dealer associated with murdered crime figure Sean Cloherty remained in custody today over a €900,000 drugs seizure in north Dublin.The man (35) is believed to be a key player in a drugs gang supplying heroin and cocaine on Dublin's south quays and north inner city. A garda operation which saw heroin and cocaine seized in Santry and Balbriggan last Monday is the second major blow to the man's gang in the past eight months. The outfit is run from a base in the Sean McDermott Street area of the north inner city.
Members of the gang are suspected of shooting their former associate Cloherty last November in an internal row that followed the seizure of €323,000 of drugs in Balbriggan last August. Mr Cloherty had been arrested by gardai over that seizure. Officers from Pearse Street, who made the seizure on Easter Monday, have targeted the gang for the past two years, and had arrested Mr Cloherty in 2007 as part of an operation then. They also carried out the Balbriggan seizure last August. The gang are suspected of supplying drugs to users on the north and south quays, and also have sold to drug addicts in treatment at inner-city clinics.
They operate from a base in Santry and a separate distribution address in the north inner city, gardai believe. This week's seizure was made after gardai, acting on a tip off, mounted a surveillance operation at an underground car park in Santry. They swooped and arrested one of the men as he opened the door of a car, which was later found to contain the heroin. Officers seized the drugs, the car, and three other vehicles that they suspect the man of using. The vehicles have undergone forensic examination and will be held pending the outcome of the investigation. Gardai believe that the vehicles were being used to transport the drugs into the city centre for distribution there.

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Popular dance hall entertainer Ninja Man was arrested last month in connection with the fatal shooting of Ricardo Johnson, 20,

Popular dance hall entertainer Ninja Man was again remanded when he appeared before the Half-Way Tree Gun Court in St. Andrew Tuesday morning to answer to murder charges. The entertainer, whose given name is Desmond Balentine, is to return on May 7 when his attorneys are expected to make another application for bail.He was arrested last month in connection with the fatal shooting of Ricardo Johnson, 20, also known as “Ricky Trooper”.The police say on the March 17, Ninja Man and a group of men went to a section of Marl Road in Olympic Gardens, Sr. Andrew where they were involved in a dispute with a man.The men reportedly fired shots at the man, however, the bullets missed and hit Mr. Johnson.After his death, the police issued a bulletin for Ninja Man to turn himself in for questioning.A day later, the entertainer went to the police accompanied by his lawyer. He was questioned and later charged with murder.And the police are continuing their search for four other suspects said to be involved in the shooting death of Mr. Johnson.
They include Ninja Man’s teenage son.

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George Clifford Mims,life in prison with no chance of parole, plus 50 years

A Sacramento judge today sentenced a career criminal with a street gang history to life in prison with no chance of parole, plus 50 years, for last year's murder of a man in Meadowview.George Clifford Mims, 41, received the term from Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley for the Sept. 1 shooting death of Floyd Deshawn Wormley, 33, outside a home on 69th Avenue where a group of people had gathered at 4 o'clock in the morning.According to Mims' probation report, the defendant was sitting in his car when he made a remark to a woman that offended Wormley.The report said that Wormley then told Mims, "Don't disrespect my wife like that." Mims responded by shooting Wormley to death, according to the report.
Mims, a one-time reputed member of the 29th Street Crips street gang, has previous convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, being an ex-convict with a gun, driving under the influence and felony evasion.

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Eric Charles Sanford, 21, faces up to 10 years in prison

Eric Charles Sanford, 21, faces up to 10 years in prison on the charge, which was supported by video posted online showing him holding a pistol. In a statement, a U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman said Sanford was arrested following a Nov. 15 traffic stop. Officers examining his car spotted a gun on the seat where he'd been sitting. An alleged member of the Deuce 8 street gang, Sanford had been convicted seven months earlier on a felony cocaine possession charge. That felony conviction bars him from possessing a firearm.Online, Sanford referred to himself as "the general."
In a story on Sanford published in January, former Seattle P-I reporter Claudia Rowe was told that the young man often hung out directly across the street from Garfield High School. Ted Howard, principal of the school, said he'd seen a student rush to shake Sanfords hand "like he'd won the lottery."At the time the Rowe's piece ran, Sanford's defense attorney asserted his client was "being tarred for his associations."Sanford faces a maximum 10-year prison term.

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Antonio Meza is a Sureno gang member who killed a suspected Norteno gang member.

Antonio Meza is a Sureno gang member who killed a suspected Norteno gang member. Meza did not enter a plea and will appear in court April 17. “The victim had some Norteno gang affiliations,” Waner said. Santa Rosa police are investigating the possible gang connection to the shooting at Grand Avenue and Pressley Street but police stopped short of saying Meza and Suarez were gang members. Waner said the South Park neighborhood is considered Norteno turf and that Meza drove or was driven there “looking for trouble.” Suarez lived in the neighborhood where he was shot around 9:30 p.m. Police said the suspect’s red car had chrome rims and square tail lights. Meza, a Kelseyville resident, and parolee Fernando Mendoza, 20, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after their vehicle was stopped at Santa Rosa Avenue and Court Street. Mendoza was arrested for a parole violation. Waner said he has a weapons conviction. He has not been charged in connection with the murder but Waner said the case is still under investigation. Meza is also charged with a separate count of being a criminal street gang member. Enhancements to the murder charge allege he intentionally discharged a firearm and committed the murder in furtherance of a street gang. Waner said Meza faces life in prison without parole if convicted. Meza’s attorney Jonathan Steele said he also heard allegations his client is a Sureno gang member. He said Meza’s family is moving from Lake County to Sonoma County. Meza worked at farm jobs with his father and in a maintenance position at a Lake County casino, Steele said. He is being prosecuted as an adult but is being held in the Los Guilicos Juvenile Justice Center under no bail.

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Dennis Karbovanec sentence is life with the possibility of parole after 15 years

Dennis Karbovanec has pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder after confessing to shooting and killing numerous people in the Surrey Six massacre in October 2007. Dennis admitted to shooting dead innocent victim Chris Mohan and drug dealers Ryan Bartolomeo and Michael Lal. His sentence is life with the possibility of parole after 15 years and he can thank his light sentence to his conscience as well as his desire to assist the police with the Surrey 6 shootings.Even though we don’t know exactly what sort of deal Dennis Karbovanec made with the police and the Crown due a heavily contested publication ban, the consensus is that he told the police everything he knew about the Surrey Six murders and as a result, got some sort of considerations when it came to sentencing. We’re not sure if life in jail can be considered a “consideration” but it is what it is. Some people are pleased that even though Dennis Karbovanec could be back on the streets(under “monitoring” for the rest of his life) in 15 years, many other members of the Red Scorpion gang are going to be locked away as a result of Dennis’ information. Others can’t fathom that the so called “serial killer” and “contract killer” might get out on good behaviour while the families of the murdered are going to suffer for life. There is even a debate as some people express sympathy only for the innocent victims of the Surrey 6 murders versus the people that believe that all the victims should receive equal respect, regardless if they were drug dealers or people in the wrong place at the wrong time.Not only will Dennis’ testimony help lock up other Vancouver gangsters, but it will enable others up and down the line to start weighing their options with a realistic view after the police come knocking. Especially the younger gangsters.

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Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi's time as king of the outlaws may be coming to an end

Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi's time as king of the outlaws may be coming to an end, with the Queensland meeting that voted on a new code of conduct also deciding his day was over.Hawi, the Comanchero national president, has been widely condemned following his alleged involvement in last month's Sydney Airport brawl, in which Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas was killed.Senior members of more than a dozen clubs have voted to oust the 28-year-old Bexley man.

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Gang member chased the pair down in an alley and shot both 27-year-olds.

27-year-old Illinois man is dead and another injured after a gang-related shooting in Milwaukee.In an e-mail, Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz says two 27-year-old gang members from Illinois were walking on the south side when they got into an argument with another gang standing on a porch about 12:30 a.m. Saturday.Schwartz says one gang member chased the pair down in an alley and shot both 27-year-olds. One died at the scene and the other was treated for a graze wound.The victims' names have not been released. Police are still working on family notifications.

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Juan Carlos Balderas, 21, of Encinitas died shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday in a Madison Street lot

Juan Carlos Balderas, 21, of Encinitas died shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday in a Madison Street lot adjacent to the park, authorities said.Balderas was at the park with a group of fellow gang members who were later arrested for the shooting, Cain said."It is possible that this was not their intended victim," the lieutenant said.
Police believe that, before the weapon was fired, Balderas and his fellow Encinitas gang members were in some kind of a conflict with someone from Carlsbad, Cain said. One of the Encinitas gang members fired, the confusion and darkness perhaps contributing to Balderas being struck, he said.By the time police arrived, Balderas was dead. According to the medical examiner's office, he died from a shotgun wound to the chest and armpit region.Witnesses in the residential neighborhood reported seeing people running away, Cain said.By Monday evening, police had arrested three men who Cain described as gang members who accompanied Balderas to Carlsbad. A shotgun was recovered Sunday at the La Costa home of one of the men, Javier Lopez, 19, Cain said. Police believe it was the gun that killed Balderas.Jose Angel Barraza, 26, and Victor Virjilio Lopez, 21, were arrested Monday in connection with the shooting, police said. Victor and Javier Lopez are not related, Cain said.
On Tuesday, Barraza and Javier Lopez were being held at the Vista jail without bail on charges including murder and participating in a criminal street gang, according to county booking logs. Victor Lopez was being held on a parole violation.The killing occurred in a residential area south of downtown Carlsbad claimed by the city's only documented gang, Cain said. He said the Encinitas gang members possibly headed to Carlsbad looking for trouble with their sometime-rivals.

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18-year-old Damien Ray Garza was arrested Thursday after leaving an apartment in Beaverton, Ore., a suburb of Portland

18-year-old Damien Ray Garza was arrested Thursday after leaving an apartment in Beaverton, Ore., a suburb of Portland. He’s now been charged with the fatal shooting March 26 of 34-year-old Tyrone M. Tinsley.Police said Garza was with some gang friends that evening when Tinsley walked by his house. Tinsley had a bandanna in his back pocket showing his membership in a rival gang, police said.
Garza and Tinsley exchanged insults and Tinsley walked on to buy a beer, police said. On the way back, Tinsley again exchanged insults with the rival gang, police said. Garza and his brother contend Tinsley pulled out a meat cleaver, but others say he’d dropped the cleaver and was unarmed when he was shot, according to police. He was shot in both sides of his head, his chest and his lower back, according to court documents. Garza fled after the shooting, police said.

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Makoi boys lucrative trade in drugs from New Zealand, is helping to finance gun smuggling of some heavy weaponry from the United States.

lucrative trade in drugs from New Zealand, is helping to finance gun smuggling of some heavy weaponry from the United States.In Samoa strong tradition balances precariously alongside a growing guns and drugs culture.There is a group in Samoa known as the Makoi boys and their business is selling marijuana and P. Their patch is controlled with their weapons of choice - machetes, rocks and axes.
But in Samoa there is another weapon of choice. Guns of all sizes are being smuggled in from the US, and it's becoming big business.
Weapons are hidden in car boots and sold at prices ranging from $300 to $1,500 depending on the type of gun. Even gang members from the US, Samoans who have done prison time and are then deported back to the islands, are surprised at what is now available. But while high powered weapons are easily available in Samoa they are not often used, it's more about flexing muscle. "If south Auckland had access to the guns you can get here in Samoa, south Auckland would be a war zone, a different place and if kids in south Auckland were running around with AK47s they wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger, whereas here you can't," says Herman Loto Salaria, Security Specialist - Pride. Those smuggling and selling weapons also deal methamphetamine brought in from New Zealand. There are several drug lords whose clients include people in top positions of responsibility, so they work in the shadows as there is too much at stake.It appears young Samoans from New Zealand and others with gang affiliations overseas are attracting unwanted attention by selling drugs to kids.

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Vancouver another Gangland Slaying

Shortly before midnight, police responded to calls of shots fired in the 2800 block of Bentall Street in east Vancouver. When they arrived at the scene, they found a man slumped over in the driver's seat of a white SUV in a restaurant parking lot. The VPD Major Crimes Homicide Squad is investigating and several witnesses have been interviewed. It appears to be a targeted shooting and further investigation will reveal whether there are links to gang activity.

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Comanchero leader Mahmoud Mick Hawi was charged Monday with fighting in public in a way that caused bystanders to fear for their safety

Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi, leader of the Commancheros, is the sixth member of the gang arrested over the clash that left a Hell's Angels biker bleeding to death in front of terrified travelers at a domestic terminal at Sydney Airport.The slaying thrust long-simmering violence between biker gangs in Australia into the public spotlight, raised fears of widespread reprisal attacks and prompted a crackdown by authorities.Hawi, 28, was due to appear in court later Monday. His lawyer, John Korn, told reporters Hawi would ask to be released on bail.In the March 22 brawl, Anthony Zervas, the brother of a Hell's Angels leader in Sydney, was bludgeoned to death with metal poles after members of both gangs disembarked from the same flight from the southern city of Melbourne.A week later, an unknown gunman opened fire on the brother, Peter Zervas, hitting him several times and badly wounding him as he sat in a car outside his apartment building.No one has been charged in Anthony Zervas' killing. The charges against the Commanchero members are for "affray" — fighting in public and causing bystanders to fear for their safety. They face a maximum penalty of five years in prison.Last week, the New South Wales state government rushed through tough new laws that allow officials to ban gangs and imprison those who defy such a ban for up to five years.Police have also launched a new anti-gang unit to tackle biker violence.
motorcycle gang leader surrendered to police Monday and became the sixth biker charged in connection with a brawl that left a rival bleeding to death before shocked travelers at Australia's busiest airport.The March 22 slaying at Sydney's domestic airport thrust long-simmering violence among biker gangs in Australia into the public spotlight, raised fears of widespread reprisal attacks and prompted a crackdown by authorities.No one has been charged with causing the death of Anthony Zervas, the brother of a well-known Hell's Angels member, who was bludgeoned to death during a rolling melee between Hell's Angels and Comanchero gang members through the terminal.Comanchero leader Mahmoud Mick Hawi was charged Monday with fighting in public in a way that caused bystanders to fear for their safety — a crime called affray — at the airport.
Five other Comanchero members have previously been charged with the same offense, and each faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison if convicted.John Korn, Hawi's lawyer, said his client gave himself up Monday. Hawi appeared briefly in court and ordered to jail pending a bail hearing Tuesday.A week after the brawl, an unknown gunman opened fire on the victim's brother, Peter Zervas, hitting him several times and badly wounding him as he sat in a car outside his apartment building.Last week, the New South Wales state government rushed through tough new laws that allow officials to ban gangs and imprison those who defy such a ban for up to five years.Police have also launched a new anti-gang unit to tackle biker violence.Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Monday without naming sources that state Premier Nathan Rees and Police Minister Tony Kelly have been placed under 24-hour guard by armed police because of fears bikers could launch attacks in revenge for the crackdown. Rees and Kelly refused to comment.
Biker gangs have existed in Australia since the late 1960s, and turf battles have ebbed and flowed.

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Five suspected gang members were taken into police custody after a gang battle in Sioux City

Five suspected gang members were taken into police custody after a gang battle in Sioux City Wednesday night.
Rescue crews were called to the 400 block of Cook St. just before 7 pm for a report of someone injured in the fight. Sioux City police say a male juvenile suffering from a serious head injury was taken to a local hospital. His condition has not yet been released. Police believe he was assaulted by several people with crowbars and baseball bats. Most of the five people that were arrested in connection to the incident are adults.Arrested were Justin Lynam, 19, of Sioux City, Jose Rodriguiz, 23, and Ashley Lyons, 21, both of South Sioux City. Also arrested were two 16-year-olds, Eddie Sandoval of Sioux City and Rodrigo Rodriguez of South Sioux City. Police say several other suspects were also identified and will be arrested in the future.

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Cody Rae Haevischer, 24, faces six counts of first-degree murder.

Cody Rae Haevischer, 24, faces six counts of first-degree murder.Four of the victims had gang links: Cory Lal, 21, Michael Lal, 26, Edward Narong, 22 and Ryan Bartolomeo, 19. The other victims, Christopher Mohan, 22 and Ed Schellenberg, 55, were innocent bystanders.Haevischer also faces a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.All six men were shot in the head execution-style in a Surrey highrise in October 2007.Haevischer is scheduled to appear in Surrey Provincial Court today, under heavy security. He was arrested at gunpoint by emergency response team members in Houston, B.C. on Friday.Nanaimo RCMP say he is known to regularly visit the city to see family or party but prior to his arrest, according to Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigative Team, Haevischer did not live in Nanaimo.Police have monitored his whereabouts when he is in the city.Haevischer is also known to be a longtime friend of the Abbotsford gangster brothers James, Jonathon and Jarrod Bacon, even partying in Cancun, Mexico with the trio and other Red Scorpion associates. The Bacons have survived targeted hits.James Bacon, 23, will appear in court along with Haevischer today, charged with conspiracy and first-degree murder in the death of Cory Lal.Also facing charges is Matthew James Johnston, 24, of New Westminister, who faces a conspiracy charge in the death of Cory Lal and six counts of first degree murder.On Friday, Dennis Richard Karbovanec, 27, another Red Scorpion associate, pled guilty to the murder of Mohan, Bartolomeo and Michael Lal. He also pled guilty to conspiracy to commit the murder of Cory Lal.

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Gooch gang,Colin Joyce, 29, of no fixed abode, was convicted of killing father-of-two Ucal Chin, 24, who was shot dead in a daylight ambush

Police and prosecutors believe the conviction of the killers and their cohorts has dealt a body blow to the Gooch gang, whose members have dealt drugs, carried out violent robberies, and fought fierce gun battles with underworld enemies for nearly twenty years.
Gang leader Colin Joyce, 29, of no fixed abode, was convicted of killing father-of-two Ucal Chin, 24, who was shot dead in a daylight ambush in June 2007, at Anson Road, Longsight. He believed the young father to be a member of rival gang, the Longsight Crew.
The following month Joyce and fellow gang leader Lee Amos, 33, of no fixed abode led a drive-by hit squad that targeted mourners paying their respects to Ucal at a wake on Frobisher Close, Longsight.Tyrone Gilbert was killed after the gunmen sprayed the street with bullets after pulling up in three high-performance cars with blacked out windows. The 23-year-old left behind three children and a pregnant partner.Joyce and Amos’ accomplices in the Gilbert murder were crack cocaine and heroin dealers Aeeron Campbell, 25, of Withington, Narada Williams, 28, of Fallowfield, and Ricardo Williams, 26, of Moston. All five were found guilty of the murder of Tyrone and the attempted murder of Michael Gordon who was shot in the leg in the same incident. Joyce, Williams, Williams and Campbell were found guilty of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life. Williams, Williams and Campbell were convicted of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.The six month trial at Liverpool Crown Court heard that detectives used mobile phone technology to link the guilty men to the Chin and Gilbert murders. And a series of special legal powers was used by the Crown to shatter the wall of silence which has hampered similar investigations in the past.Narada Williams has been found guilty of an additional charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life for his part in a shootout with rivals from the Doddington Gang at Wilcock Street, Moss Side. Kayael Wint, 20, of Old Trafford and Tyler Joel Mullings, 18, of Urmston have been found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life for their part in the same gunfight. Their fellow gang members Hassan Shah, 25, of Longsight and Aaron Alexander, 23, of Gorton, have also been found guilty of possession of firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. Ricci Moss, 21, of Denton, has also been found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.Amos was also charged with the murder of Ucal Chin. The charge will lie on file after the jury failed to reach a verdict.An eleventh man, Gooch gang driver Gonoo Hussain, 26, of Longsight, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at an earlier hearing.They will all be sentenced this afternoon and tomorrow.

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Police have found the bodies of six people who were shot to death in western Mexico

Police have found the bodies of six people who were shot to death in western Mexico, most bearing signs of torture emblematic of drug violence.Police say four of the victims were found in a car in the city of Apatzingan, along with a message from one criminal gang threatening another. The bodies had signs of having been tortured.
A slain man was found in the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, also with a threatening message.The sixth man was found on a highway in the city of Morelia. He had been shot in the head three times and left with a T-shirt pulled over his head and his hands handcuffed behind his back.The victims were all found Saturday.Mexico's drug violence has killed some 9,000 people since 2006.

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Red Scorpion Dennis Karbovanec has pleaded guilty to three counts of secondt-degree murder in connection with the Surrey Six massacre

Red Scorpion gangbanger Dennis Karbovanec has pleaded guilty to three counts of secondt-degree murder in connection with the Surrey Six massacre on Oct. 19, 2007. Karbovanec pleaded guilty in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver Friday to the killings, as well as one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Three others were also to be charged, including Jamie Bacon, 23, Matt Johnson and Cody Haevischer and were being arrested by Emergency Response Teams.
All are linked to the Red Scorpion gang. Steve Brown, the brother-in-law of one man killed in the slaughter at the Balmoral Tower apartment 18 months ago -- said he was relieved at the charges.
Brown's friend and relative Ed Schellenberg was an innocent passerby on the 15th floor of the building fixing the gas fireplace when the killers arrived."I think credit has to go to the IHIT detectives. I know they have had two teams of detectives working full-time and all the credit goes to the police," Brown said. "We need to get justice for Ed so that his wife Lois and his two adult kids can have closure."A second innocent killed was Chris Mohan, a 22-year-old who lived across the hall from the death penthouse and was on his way to a basketball game when the killers arrived.
His mother Eileen has been a tireless crusader against gang violence ever since.

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Bandidos bikers murdered gruesome photos of the men's bullet-riddled, bloodied faces were shown

Gruesome photos of the men's bullet-riddled, bloodied faces were shown during the testimony of OPP Const. Ross Stuart in the trials of six men connected to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, who are charged with the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history.
Mr. Justice Thomas Heeney of the Superior Court of Justice cautioned people in the high-security courtroom before the photos were shown."These photos – some of them – will be of a gruesome nature," the judge warned. "Steel yourselves for them."
Court earlier heard that Durham Regional Police surveillance officers had no way of knowing that murders were going on – virtually under their noses – the night eight Greater Toronto Area Bandidos bikers were murdered."From where they were, all seemed quiet," Elgin County Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey told the trial, which started yesterday.In his opening remarks to the jury, Gowdey noted that some of the men who were murdered on the night of April 7-8, 2006 were themselves suspects in the murder of Shawn Dowse of Keswick.The victims drove to the Iona Station farm of Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine, 59, a fellow member of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos, which was nicknamed "The No Surrender Crew," Gowdey told court."They (Durham Regional Police) carefully followed some of the deceased right up to the Kellestine farm," Gowdey said.
Kellestine lured his fellow members to his farm, about a half hour's drive southwest of London. Members of the Winnipeg probationary chapter of the Bandidos were waiting there, court heard. There were deep tensions between the Winnipeg probationary chapter of the Bandidos and the Toronto chapter, with the Toronto chapter opposing the promotion of the Winnipeggers to full club status, Gowdey said."Wayne Kellestine was actively encouraging the Toronto (area) members to attend his farm," Gowdey continued. "They were told that it was really important.""They were supposed to go back (to Toronto) that night," Gowdey continued. "They never did."
Throughout that night, Kellestine sang, danced and prayed as he helped slaughter his clubmates, one by one, Gowdey said.
"There was no gun-fight," Gowdey said. "There was no flurry of bullets ... One by one, the Bandidos were led to their deaths."
Kellestine faces eight charges of first-degree murder, along with Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 32, Brett (Beau) Gardiner, 24, Michael (Taz) Sandham, 39, and Dwight (Big D) Mushey, 41; and Frank (Frankie) Mather, 35, of no fixed address.The bodies of the Toronto chapter members were found early in the morning of April 8, 2006 in vehicles abandoned on a country road about a 10-minute drive from Kellestine's farm, court heard.In the vehicles were the remains of George (Pony) Jessome, 52; George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28; Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, 41; Frank (Bam Bam, Bammer) Salerno, 43, all of Toronto; John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, Ont.; Paul (Big Paul) Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.
They were all members or associates of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos."Only one of The No Surrender Crew is with us now: Wayne Kellestine," Gowdey told the jury. "He set up the plan to ambush the Toronto Bandidos, his own chapter."Kellestine was briefly promoted to president of the Canadian Bandidos after betraying his Toronto clubmates, the court heard.Gowdey told the jury they can expect to hear from a Winnipeg biker who became a police informer and who was with the killers the night of the murders."He was not charged," Gowdey said. "He will be here as a witness in this trial."
Gowdey said the original plan was to kick the Toronto bikers out of the club, which bikers call "pulling patches." The order to do this was given to Kellestine from officers from the Bandidos headquarters in Texas in a meeting in B.C. a month before the murders, Gowdey said."Head office was upset," Gowdey said, reportedly because of a lack of communication from the GTA members.
Kellestine suspected this could end in bloodshed, and armed members of the Winnipeg probationary chapter with guns when they arrived at his farm in late March 2006, Gowdey said."Pulling the patches was a big deal," Gowdey said. "It represented taking their power away."

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