More Gang Violence in North Fraser Pre-trial

 

number of gang members in pre-trial custody continues to grow, B.C. pre-trial jails are struggling to deal with tensions between rival groups. The latest attack at North Fraser last week was particularly serious: gangster Hanif Emambakhsh ended up with a broken neck in the assault. He has had links to the Red Scorpions and more recently the break-away Red Lions. Apparently he has a massive Lion tattoed on his back. He is expected to survive. Coquitlam RCMP says they are getting little help with the investigation. Things are particularly tense in North Fraser and in Kamloops, according to union representative Dean Purdy. Interestingly, while the B.C. government keeps track of how many inmate on inmate assaults take place, they don’t maintain a record of how many are gang-linked. I think it is disturbing that a known gang member has been putting money in the accounts of pre-trial inmates. This particular person is linked to the Independent Soldiers. I don’t know if he is the one who paid for Emambakhsh to get beaten. The government official confirmed to me that ANYONE, including a known gangster or convicted drug trafficker, can go up to the counter at a pre-trial jail and put money in the account of an inmate. There is no limit on the amount that can be put in. The funder has to show ID, but that’s it. So it is easy for gangs to pay people to beat up other inmates.

Gangster in hiding after gun attack on father's home

 

Irish Gangster -- who was lucky to escape with his life after being shot last month -- has been forced to go into hiding after his father's home was riddled with bullets. Gardai say that tensions in a bitter drugs feud in Bray, Co Wicklow, are threatening to spiral out of control after the latest gun attack which happened at the home of Philip 'Philly' O' Toole's father Brendan at the weekend. At least 14 shots were fired at the house in Ard Chualann in Fassaroe as the dangerous turf war intensifies. 'Philly' O' Toole was lucky to escape with his life when he was targeted in a feud-related shooting in leafy Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, last month. The gangster was shot in the stomach but escaped with his life when he wrestled the gunman to the ground. He spent a number of days being treated in hospital after the incident. Gardai have arrested the 29-year-old drug addict who they believe was "paid a pittance" by O' Toole's rivals to shoot the criminal, but he was later released without charge. Sources have revealed that the bitter feud kicked off when O'Toole's former criminal associates turned on him when he started "sourcing his own drugs from a major Dublin gang". A source explained: "O' Toole is a marked man and that is why he has fled his home turf. "All this started when he decided to go out on his own in the drug dealing world -- his former gang members took grave exception to this. These are high stakes -- the drugs market in north Wicklow/south Dublin is very lucrative. "The shooting incident at a house in the Fassaroe estate last weekend was intended to be yet another warning to Philip O' Toole." O' Toole was arrested by gardai investigating the shooting of Finglas criminal Glen McGrath (41) outside the Cappagh House pub in Finglas last December. McGrath -- a former associate of slain gangland boss Paul 'Farmer' Martin -- survived but was left in a critical condition. The pub shooting is linked to a bitter prison row between gangsters from Finglas and Bray. O'Toole was one of eight people arrested. All were later released without charge. Sources have revealed that the gang that are targeting O' Toole have close links to convicted killer Richard O' Carroll (40) who has served a 10-year sentence for stabbing a man to death outside a Bray pub.

Killers shoot and drive over Irish gangster in lunchtime hit

 

One of Ireland's most-notorious gangsters was shot dead yesterday after abandoning his overseas bolthole for the birth of his baby son. Michael "Mica" Kelly (30), who knew there was a contract on his head, had been moving between Spain and the Netherlands. But during the summer he returned home for the child's birth -- and to meet his criminal associates. However, he was gunned down yesterday shortly after visiting his son and the baby's mother. Kelly was shot several times as he left an apartment block at Marrsfield Avenue, Clongriffin, on the northside of Dublin, around 1pm. Two gunmen struck as he walked towards a friend, who had been waiting for him in a parked car. The assassins, who pulled up alongside their victim in a silver Saab, fired at least three shots from the car. Then as Kelly slumped to the ground, the killers -- armed with a handgun and a rifle -- jumped out of the vehicle and pumped several more rounds into the gangster as he lay dying. The Saab was then driven over his bullet-ridden body. An eye witness told how she ran out on to her balcony after hearing shots, and saw the car driving over the victim's body. "I rang the garda immediately," she said. "I was in my apartment and I heard three really loud shots and a split-second later three more. I looked out and there was a body on the floor. The car ran over him." Kelly's friend sped from the scene and the killers made their getaway in the Saab, possibly along the N32, into Clonshaugh. A similar car was found abandoned there shortly afterwards. The car was not burnt out and gardai were hoping that forensic tests would confirm that it was the getaway vehicle and provide them with some clues to the identity of the killers. Following a warning from gardai about a possible contract on his head, Kelly -- a father of three, of Swans Nest Road, Kilbarrack -- spent a lot of his time on mainland Europe where he forged links with global drug traffickers. He was regarded as a "facilitator" for local drug gangs and was said to have been responsible for a series of large shipments of contraband into the country, which were allegedly controlled by Christy Kinahan and other suppliers. Kelly was also a prime suspect for organising a number of murders, including the killings of David Lindsay and Alan Napper, both from Baldoyle, Co Dublin. Lindsay had been involved heavily in drug trafficking since the 1990s and Kelly had been part of his gang. But rows over drug debts led to in-fighting, resulting in several gang members being shot dead. According to garda intelligence, Lindsay hired a hitman -- alleged to have been convicted killer Eric Wilson -- to kill Kelly over a ?1m debt. Lindsay and Napper were last seen alive in July 2008 in Clane, Co Kildare, where they had borrowed a car to travel to Northern Ireland. But they walked into a double-cross, organised by Kelly, and were murdered in a house in Rathfriland, Co Down. Their bodies have never been found. Kelly was regularly put under surveillance by the Garda National Drugs Unit and the Organised Crime Unit. Last December, the Criminal Assets Bureau was given an order by the High Court to sell Kelly's house at Boyne View, in Navan, Co Meath, and two cars -- a Volkswagen Golf and a BMW 320. The case was not contested by Kelly who had at least 15 criminal convictions, including a suspended three-year sentence for the possession of ecstasy tablets in 1998

Woman caught bringing heroin to her prison pal

 

WOMAN pal of a man jailed over a €440m drugs seizure has been caught smuggling €6,000 of heroin into his prison. The middle-aged woman was caught by prison officers last week when she arrived at the Midlands Prison for a visit to Joe Daly (44). He is serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of possessing the biggest cocaine haul in the State's history -- a seizure of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine at Dunlough Bay in 2007. Prison staff contacted gardai, who then arrested the woman. She was brought to Portlaoise Garda Station where she was questioned by detectives before being released without charge. A file is now being prepared for the DPP. Captured Sources say if the heroin had got into the jail, it would have had a value of "well over four times" the estimated street value that gardai put on the drug. The woman was not allowed to visit English national Daly after being caught with the drugs. Daly and three other English criminals are serving lengthy jail terms for their role in the plot to smuggle €440m worth of cocaine into Ireland in July 2007. Martin Wanden (48), police- killer Perry Wharrie (51), Gerard Hagan (27) and Daly were captured after diesel, instead of petrol, was put into the fuel tanks of their boat, which was carrying the drugs off the coast of Co Cork. When the vessel capsized, 62 bales of cocaine weighing over 1.5 tonnes were thrown into stormy seas, scuppering a huge drugs operation that had been months in the planning. Liverpool criminal Hagan admitted his role in the enterprise and was jailed for 10 years. However the other three men contested the charges but were convicted after a marathon 10-week trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court which heard from 200 witnesses. Two of the defendants claimed in direct evidence that they were entirely the victims of circumstances, coincidence and bad luck. Joe Daly said he had only gone to west Cork as a favour for his brother, who had wanted a RIB delivered. But it would later emerge that Joe Daly's brother was Michael Daly (50) -- a former Metropolitan Police detective who is now serving combined sentences totalling 29 years in a UK prison in relation to the Co Cork plot and another cocaine importation plot. Gardai believe that Joe Daly became involved in the drugs smuggling operation through his older brother, Michael. Daly presented a defence that depicted him as very much under the influence of the brother. Children Born in London to Irish parents from west Cork, Daly worked as a bricklayer with his own business, JD Bricklaying, is married with three children and lived in Bexley, Kent. It emerged that he had a number of previous convictions in the UK for offences including threatening and abusive behaviour, assaults on police officers and possessing a blade. During the trial, his uncle, Tom Lydon, told how Daly visited him on the day before the drugs seizure and watched the Munster football final between Cork and Kerry on TV. He described him as very obliging -- "the first man to come around" if anyone needed help.

shut down drive-through drug operation near University Mall, expect more arrests

 

One by one, motorists arrived, rolling down windows and giving up cash, as they would at a fast-food restaurant. This drive-through opened at 11 a.m. some days, but lunch was never on the menu. Instead, customers could order cocaine, oxycodone, ecstasy and marijuana. Guns, too. At a news conference Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office announced that it had broken up a drug trafficking ring that caught even investigators by surprise. About 11 months ago, deputies began building cases against two men reputed to be dealing drugs in a neighborhood near University Mall. Investigators thought Zavien Brand, 28, and Joseph Nurse, 35, might lead them to a few more people, maybe six or eight, said sheriff's Maj. J.R. Burton. But the small undercover probe soon turned into a larger investigation — dubbed Operation Pandora's Box — as deputies realized the area's loose-knit group of dealers included dozens of people. On Wednesday, sheriff's officials announced they had 54 warrants and, as of 4 p.m., 32 arrests, most on drug and gun possession charges. "We had no idea this was going on," Burton said. They focused on several addresses in the neighborhood near Nebraska and Fletcher avenues. The drive-through was at the Pines I Apartments at 11720 N 14th St., deputies said. Deputies took 29 guns off the street, including seven assault rifles and two weapons believed to be linked to shootings in the area. Also seized: about 1.3 pounds of crack cocaine, 0.64 ounces of powder cocaine, 0.25 ounces of oxycodone and some ecstasy — valued at about $75,000 total, Burton said. Burton hopes the operation sends a message to an area that has long struggled with crime, and he wants residents to know that deputies aren't done. Brand was charged with dealing crack cocaine and being a felon in possession of a gun. Nurse was charged with dealing crack cocaine, marijuana and stolen property. Deputies planned to continue executing search warrants until they arrest all 54 suspects.

DEA Bans Synthetic Cocaine Masked As Bath Salts

 

The U.S Drug Enforcement Agency's war on drugs continues with a nationwide ban of synthetic cocaine. Labeled as bath salts, the hallucinogenic drug has become more available in the Grand Junction area as part of a trend seen across the country. In response to increased emergency room visits, the federal agency has moved to emergency control these synthetic stimulants. This action makes it illegal to possess or sell Mephedrone, Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), and Methylone or any products containing them for the next year. These chemicals are most often found in forms of 'legal ecstasy' or 'legal cocaine.' During the temporary ban, the DEA will team up with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to further study whether these chemicals should be permanently banned. In June, we introduced you to these bath salts in this article. Back then, they were an unregulated drug taking the place of recently banned synthetic forms of marijuana. "It is actually like a synthetic cocaine slash methamphetamine," Jim Schrant with the DEA told us at the time. "So, it's really the worst of both." The bath salts sell at a price of $40 per gram. They are mainly sold at smoke shops. But, in June, Schrant told us that his agency could not find any local dealers. Today, there are at least two. "They're putting it into packaging which is pleasing to the eye with market names of "Blue Dreams," things like that," Schrant said. "And, they're intentionally trying to target that young adult crowd." As part of this emergency control, businesses and citizens have 30 days to get rid of the banned products. At that time, the DEA will publish a Final Order in the Federal Register making the drugs Scheduled 1 substances. That category is the harshest and is reserved for unsafe, highly abused chemicals with no known medical use in the U.S. Violating that law is punishable by jail time. Employees at smoke shops in the area tell us that synthetic cocaine isn't that popular. But, local high school students have heard all about it. "I don't think they care if it's legal," Grand Junction High School freshman Hannah Rady said of some of her classmates. "Nobody does." Just like K2 and Spice, bath salts are labeled "not for human consumption." But, these students say that is not stopping anyone and neither is the law. "People just ask me 'Have you done spice before?' I'm just like, 'No,'" GJHS freshman Emilio Lazcano said. He knows Governor John Hickenlooper made those forms of synthetic marijuana illegal starting July 1, but he says fellow classmates continue to tell bother about it. "They're like 'Oh, well you're supposed to smoke it like this and that,' and I'm like 'Oh, well cool. I'm not really into that stuff.'" "They tell us that it doesn't make their eyes red, so it's way easier to bypass by your parents," GJHS junior Joe Gedscad added. The most common symptoms of these synthetic stimulants include impaired perception, reduced motor control, disorientation, extreme paranoia, and violent episodes. The DEA says the long-term physical and psychological effects are not known but potentially severe. Including Colorado, 33 states have already taken action to control or ban other synthetic stimulants. Most states pass these laws after the DEA files an emergency control on certain chemicals.

South London men face furniture drug smuggling charges

 

Six men have gone on trial accused of conspiring to smuggle more than £2.5m of cocaine into the country. Kevin Hill, 27, of Cartmel Gardens, Morden, Wayne Smith, 19, of Westmoreland Way, Mitcham and Carl Charles, 33, of Yorkshire Road, Mitcham, face charges of attemtping to import 13.5kg of the drug. Three other men Craig Hughes, 35, from Orpington, Conrad Crandon, 55, from Edmonton and Terence Tremblett, 32, from Brixton, also face the same charge. The offences date back to October and November, in 2009, when border agency officers at Tilbury Docks, in Essex, flagged up a container holding a number of items of wicker furniture and brush mats. After closer inspection, the jury heard, the officers found the brush mats had been injected with cocaine which, when separated, came to a total of more than £2.5m. Simon Wild, prosecuting, told the court that a respectable removal firm, called Grants of Cheam, based in Coomber Lane, Croydon, had allegedly received a phone call from a Keith Thompson in late October, 2009, who said he wanted to store a shipment. Grants of Cheam, unknowingly, agreed to take on the shipment but they did not hear from Mr Thompson for two weeks, the court heard. On November 10, 2009, Mr Thompson allegedly arranged for the furniture and mats to be delivered and they arrived that day. There followed a series of arrests after the items had reached Croydon and all six men were charged with conspiracy to smuggle, which they all deny. The trial, which started at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday (September 7), is expected to last three weeks.

Illegal alcohol find ‘one of the UK’s largest seizures’

 

A QUARTER of a million pounds worth of illegal alcohol has been seized in a raid in Glasgow. Officers from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) took the illegal alcohol and dismantled an alcohol relabeling factory after a two-day operation and have claimed the seizure is one of the largest in the UK. A Glasgow man has been charged with evasion of duty following the discovery last week.

Vicente Zambada's lawyers claim he and other cartel leaders were granted immunity by U.S. agents

Vicente Zambada's lawyers claim he and other cartel leaders were granted immunity by U.S. agents — and carte blanche to smuggle cocaine over the border — in exchange for intelligence about rival cartels engaged in bloody turf wars in Mexico.

Controversial defence: Vicente Zambada's claim could throw new light on how U.S. authorities deal with Mexican drug cartels

Experts scoff at the claim, which U.S. prosecutors are expected to answer in a filing Friday in federal court.

But records filed in support of his proposed defence have offered a peek at the sordid world of Mexico's largest drug syndicate, the Sinaloa cartel, which is run by his father, Ismael Zambada, and Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

It's a world of brutality, greed and snitching, and federal agents would love to have the younger Zambada pass along more intelligence, especially if it could help bring down his family's operation or lead to the capture of Guzman, a billionaire who escaped from a Mexican prison in a laundry truck in 2001.

Main man: Vicente's father Ismael Zambada, godfather of the Sinaloa cartel, pictured at a party in 1993

'It comes down to whether he would be willing to give up his dad or Guzman,' said David Shirk, who heads the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.

'Would he be willing to give up his own dad? It seems unlikely.'

Zambada, 35, has rarely been seen since his 2009 arrest in Mexico City, after which Mexican authorities paraded him before TV cameras in a stylish black blazer and dark blue jeans.

His suave image was a sharp contrast to a photo of him with moustache and cowboy hat released by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2007.

He may have upgraded his look after he assumed control over cartel logistics in 2008 and, federal officials say, received authority to order assassinations. 

Mexico's most wanted man: Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, who escaped from prison in a laundry truck

He was arrested and extradited to Chicago a year later to face trafficking conspiracy charges punishable by up to life in prison.

The Sinaloa cartel is one of Mexico's most powerful.

Named after the Pacific coast state of the same name, it controls trafficking on the border with California and is battling rival cartels in an effort to expand east along the 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border.

Accustomed to luxury in Mexico, Zambada has been held in a 10ft by 6ft cell in Chicago, is often served meals that have gone cold and hasn't been outside in 18 months, his attorneys say.

U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo told the government on Thursday to file a response to those complaints.

'It comes down to whether he would be willing to give up his own dad. It seems unlikely'

Armed marshals led the shackled Zambada into Thursday's hearing.

He appeared at ease, even smiling and winking at a woman sitting on a spectators' bench.

Castillo will decide later whether Zambada's provocative immunity claim has any credibility, but many experts said they were skeptical.

'Personally, I think it is a bunch of malarkey,' said Scott Stewart, who analyzes Mexico's cartels for the Texas-based Stratfor global intelligence company.

'I mean, what the defence is saying is that a huge amount of cocaine was allowed to pass into the United States unimpeded.

'Why would you even have sought his extradition if there was this potential backlash?"

U.S. prosecutors briefly discounted Zambada's claim in one filing, but more details are expected in Friday's documents.

A spokesman for U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald would not comment on the allegation.

Neither would a Washington spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, whose agents Zambada claims to have dealt with in Mexico.

However, clandestine intelligence deals are not uncommon, and conspiracy theories abound in Mexico about the government going easy on one cartel to keep the others under control.

Five arrests in 'slavery' raid at Greenacre travellers' site

 

Four men and a woman were arrested on suspicion of committing slavery offences in the raid at Greenacre travellers' site, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, on Sunday. The men, who are English, Polish and Romanian, were found in "filthy and cramped" conditions, police said. Detectives believe some may have been there for up to 15 years. Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote They were told they could not leave and if they did they would be beaten up and attacked” Det Ch Insp Sean O'Neill Bedfordshire Police Those arrested are being held on suspicion of committing offences under the Slavery and Servitude Act 2010. They are being held at police stations across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Weapons, drugs and money were also found at the site, police said. More than 200 officers were involved in the raids. 'Shockingly filthy conditions' The men, all believed to have been victims of slavery, were taken initially to an undisclosed medical centre for treatment. The men were kept in appalling conditions, police said They have been placed in the care of the local authority. Det Ch Insp Sean O'Neil said: "The men we found at the site were in a poor state of physical health and the conditions they were living in were shockingly filthy and cramped. "We believe that some of them had been living and working there in a state of virtual slavery, some for just a few weeks and others for up to 15 years." He added that the men appeared to have been "recruited" from soup kitchens and benefits offices and included people with problems such as alcoholism. He said: "They're recruited and told if you come here we'll pay you £80 a day, we'll look after you give you board and lodgings. "But when they get here, their hair is cut off them, they're kept in in some cases [in] horseboxes, dog kennels and old caravans, made to work for no money, given very, very small amounts of food. "That's the worse case. Some are treated a little bit better, but they were told they could not leave and if they did they would be beaten up and attacked. "But in fact some people did leave and told us what was going on and when we looked back since 2008 we were aware of 28 people who had made similar accusations." Police have appealed for help and ask anyone with any information to contact them in confidence. During the operation, Bedfordshire Police were assisted by officers from the UK Human Trafficking Centre. Police joined forces with dog handling sections, helicopter and firearms support units, to execute search warrants at the traveller site.

Canadian truckie had 96kg of cocaine under floorboards

 

Canadian truck driver who pleaded guilty to smuggling cocaine under the floorboards of his truck was part of an operation that sent more than one tonne of drugs across the United States border into Canada since 2009, federal authorities said. Ravinder Arora, 30, of Brampton, Ontario, faces at least 10 years in prison at his December sentencing. Arora was about to cross the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge from western New York into Ontario last September when his nervous demeanour led US border agents to search his truck. They found 96kg of cocaine worth more than US$3.8 million ($4.5 million) in a compartment beneath the trailer's floor. It was believed to be the largest single narcotics seizure in the region's history. As part of a plea agreement, Arora admitted making four other trips and agreed to co-operate in the continuing investigation into what authorities believe is a larger smuggling operation. Two other people, including the owner of the trucking company that employed Arora, are awaiting trial.

FLOTILLA of the world's most luxurious super-yachts converged on the Balearic Islands off Spain on Thursday for a very special celebration with a distinctly Australian flavour.

 

The Packer family's luxury tinnie, the converted icebreaker the Arctic P, was joined by Rupert Murdoch's huge yacht Rosehearty, just off the picturesque island of Formentera for the combined birthday celebrations of scions Lachlan Murdoch and his old buddy, James Packer.

A couple of Virgos, Murdoch turned 40, while Packer notched up 44 years.

Sarah and Lachlan Murdoch.

Murdoch has also taken delivery of a brand new super-yacht, which has been under construction for the past two years. He was joined by his former supermodel wife turned television personality and yoghurt spruiker, Sarah, along with their three children, Aiden, Kalan and Aerin, while Packer was with his former model-singer wife, Erica, and their two children, Indigo and Jackson.

In recent days, Rupert Murdoch and his wife-bodyguard, Wendi, were spotted in nearby Majorca. They were with Murdoch's trusted The Wall Street Journal lieutenant Robert Thomson and dined with one of Spain's most influential newspaper editors, Peter J. Ramirez, of El Mundo.

PS hears the Murdochs wanted a ''low key'' affair following their most recent tribulations of the phone hacking scandal.

The old chums marked their milestones with the obligatory water sports and fine dining one is accustomed to on board a floating gin palace teeming with staff.

The Arctic P has spent several months in southern Spain, where Packer and his Ellerston polo team have been competing.

Formentera is famous for its fine white sand, bright turquoise waters, fishing villages, dramatic cliffs and caves. Over the past few weeks it has hosted the likes of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, along with their small village of children.

Packer has also been making frequent visits to England to inspect the almost completed works being undertaken at his new $40 million polo complex.

For more than a year, contractors have been levelling, draining, seeding and rebuilding at Manor Farm in the Sussex village of Selham,

a former dairy that is being leased by Packer from the Cowdray Estate.

Packer will launch an assault on the English polo season next year, just as his late father Kerry Packer did 30 years ago, when he bulldozed his way into the sleepy West Sussex village of Stedham to set up a "turf farm".

For years, Packer's grand English estate hosted the rich and famous of Europe during polo matches, complete with lavish marquees and white-gloved waiters

Annan man was part of £40M cocaine gang

 

THREE DUMFRIESSHIRE men were part of an international drug smuggling gang which brought up to £40 million of cocaine into the UK. Keith Blenkinsop of Annan was one of the ringleaders in the group which also included Robert Dalrymple of Gretna, David Harbison of Annan and three others. But their drugs network, which stretched from Columbia to Scotland via Spain, unravelled after Harbison turned supergrass. The drugs courier was caught with some counterfeit £20 notes and blurted out details of the drugs operation to police who quizzed him in Dumfries. A five-week trial at Glasgow High Court heard how the gang was importing massive amounts of cocaine into the country between 2007 to 2009 and distributing it in the Glasgow area with some also being sold in Dumfries and Galloway. Blenkinsop, with fellow ringleader Lindsay Harkins of Helensburgh, sewed the cocaine into suitcases in Barcelona and used couriers to bring it into Glasgow, Prestwick and Newcastle airports. Over a two-year period the gang flew out to Spain with suitcases full of Euros and came back with two kilos of cocaine at a time. At the conclusion of the trial on Wednesday, Blenkinsop, 43, of Winterhope Road, Annan; Harkins, 44, of Helensburgh, Andrew Burns, 56, of Helensburgh, Robert Dalrymple, 43, of Loanwath Road, Gretna, and James Elvin, 35, of Clydebank, were all convicted of being concerned in the supply of cocaine in Scotland, England, and Spain. Dalrymple and Elvin were only convicted of being involved in the drugs operation as couriers in 2009. The court heard that despite the massive size of their operation, the gang managed to remain completely under the radar of the UK’s drug enforcement agencies. The gang was snared because a teller in a Marks and Spencer’s bureau de change in Carlisle noticed counterfeit notes among a bundle of sterling that gang member David Harbinson was wanting to change into Euros. When Harbinson was arrested by police, he turned supergrass and gave evidence which put his former associates behind bars. He has now been placed on a witness protection programme. He told advocate depute Iain McSporran, prosecuting, that the gang had a direct connection to Columbian drug barons. Harbinson said that Blenkinsop and Harkins were the brains behind the operation and the other accused were merely couriers paid to take Euros to Spain and bring back drugs. In fact the gang exchanged so much sterling in Euros that Blenkinsop’s local post office won an award for the amount of Euros it sold. The jury was told they sourced their cocaine from the Columbians based in Barcelona and transferred them to Harkins’ house in Barcelona. Harbinson even told police that Harkins had an X-ray machine at the Barcelona house, like those used at airports, to make sure that the drugs would not be spotted – although he never said this in the witness box. When Blenkinsop’s house in Annan was searched 12 kilos of cannabis resin were found in a holdall in the attic. Dad-of-two Harbinson, 41, said that he would fly out to Barcelona with Euros in his suitcase and travel back to Newcastle with two kilos of cocaine. He told the court that he was offered £2,000 per kilo of cocaine to bring it into the UK and added: “I was told that Lindsay would fit up a suitcase and you would never know it was there.” Mr Harbinson said had changed a total of £250,000 sterling into Euros for Keith Blenkinsop in the Dumfries and Carlisle areas. All accused claimed that Harbinson was a liar and a self-confessed cocaine addict and said that no one would have used him as a drugs courier. Blenkinsop was also convicted at the High Court in Glasgow of being involved in the supply of cannabis resin and amphetamines between January 2007 and June 19, 2009. Harkins was found guilty of being involved in the supply of amphetamine. Blenkinsop was caught with three others off the Spanish coast in a yacht containing four tonnes of cannabis resin worth £12 million. Prosecutor Mr McSporran told the court that Blenkinsop had been sentence to four years imprisonment in Spain in 2004 for a drugs offence. All five will be sentenced next month. Judge Lord Doherty ordered background reports before sentencing them. Yesterday, Detective Inspector Gary Coupland who headed up a team of up to 30 officers who worked on the case for around nine months, told the Standard: “This was quite a complicated operation and we used Interpol to gather evidence in South America and Spain. It is a good example of how serious organised crime does not just affect the large city areas.”

NSW businesses warned of travelling conmen

 

Residents and businesses in NSW are being urged to be on the lookout for travelling conmen and itinerant domestic gangs. A nationwide crackdown aims to have scammers who visit Australia seasonally removed from the country and barred from re-entering, as well as local gangs that travel around conning people. NSW Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts on Monday warned of conmen specialising in scams such as bitumen laying, roof painting and back-of-truck dealings on electronics. "We want to catch these crooks, hold them accountable for their crimes and keep the market fair and free of rip-offs," he said in a statement. "What we are dealing with is organised, criminal activity that creates market distortions as legitimate businesses face unfair competition." The conmen structure their operations so consumers are often unable to get remedies in courts, consumer tribunals or through dispute resolution. They are the focus of a new nationwide strategy finalised at the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs in Canberra earlier this year. "All Australian consumer protection jurisdictions are working together under the new Australian Consumer Law with concerted, nationally coordinated operations using new prosecution powers and remedies," Mr Roberts said.

ORGANISED crime gangs are targeting environmental contracts as a new way of laundering money

ORGANISED crime gangs are targeting environmental contracts as a new way of laundering money amid concerns that illegal dumps are being set up that could contaminate public water supplies.
The Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) said it had identified a growing trend of organised criminals becoming involved in contract companies which take refuse to landfill sites. The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) said it also had concerns about the way some sites were being run, in some cases without proper licences and permits. They fear chemicals are not being properly treated and are being allowed to escape into the ground and, ultimately, into water sources.

Senior SCDEA officers believe clampdowns on organised crime gangs, using businesses ranging from taxis to children's nurseries to launder drugs profits, has led to a search for other lucrative contracts in which large amounts of cash can be hidden.

The crime gangs are now becoming involved in businesses which gain large financial contracts to dispose of different types of waste at landfill sites and scrapyards.

Any business in Scotland which transports, treats or disposes of any type of waste must have a waste permit, or be registered with Sepa.

However, police sources say some contracts have gone to companies which were legitimately set up but which had links to organised crime.

Money made through criminal activity, such as drugs smuggling, is then funnelled into the company and passed off as legitimate profits. Crime bosses hope this will stop prosecutors from using Proceeds of Crime legislation to seize their assets, as the money they possess will have come from a legal waste management businesses rather than a criminal enterprise.

At the same time, Sepa said, some organised crime groups were setting up illegal waste disposal sites and landfills, which were not being run with the necessary permits and safety precautions, and harmed the environment.

Detective Superintendent Tom Tague, of the SCDEA's information unit, said: "We look closely at certain business types that crime groups could infiltrate, such as the security industry, taxi companies, and now environmental waste.

"They have their ill-gotten gains and they want to legitimise their money in some way and the environmental industry is an emerging one.

"It's a big business and quite easy to try to launder illegal money and legalise it."

indictment charging seven members or associates of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Street Gang with racketeering and the commission of three violent acts—three murders

A sealed four-count indictment charging seven members or associates of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) Street Gang with racketeering and the commission of three violent acts—three murders—in aid of racketeering has been unsealed following the arrest of the men charged, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today along with FBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen L. Morris.

The indictment, returned by a Houston grand jury on July 27, 2011, alleges Hector Ovidio Molina Fuentes, aka Hector Ovidio Madrid and Negro, 33; Jose Gabriel Garcia Calderon, aka Lunatico, 19; Ernesto Manuel Mejia, aka Sleepy, 18; Samuel DeJesus Argueta, aka Chucky, 21; Ronald Alexander Gomez, aka Topolliyo and Keeper, 19; Jaime Eduardo Lopez Torres, aka Pinguino, 29; and Carlos Contreras, aka Pupusa, 21, were members and associates of MS-13, a criminal organization in Houston that functioned as a unit engaged in murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, robbery, extortion, and conspiracy to further the objectives of the gang. Those objectives included preserving, protecting, promoting, and enhancing the power, territory, and reputation of the gang—the enterprise—through the use of intimidation, violence, threats of violence, assaults and murder and keeping victims and community members in fear of the gang as well as providing financial support and information to MS-13 members including those incarcerated in the United States and elsewhere. The indictment was unsealed today.

Calderon, Gomez, Argueta and Mejia were arrested on June 28, 2011, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Smith on July 30, 2011, and have been ordered to remain in custody without bond pending trial. Torres appeared on Aug. 11, 2011, after his arrest on unrelated charges in Arkansas and will be detained pending trial. Contreras was arrested July 29, 2011. After a hearing before a U.S. Magistrate Judge, Contreras has also been ordered held without bond pending trial. Fuentes, who is currently in custody on unrelated charges in Panama, is pending extradition to the United States.

“Gang activities reach out from far beyond the neighborhoods in which they are ongoing and into the communities in which we live,” said Moreno. “But the long arm of the law has now reached far beyond the borders of our district to bring these defendants to justice. These charges represent the continuing cooperative law enforcement efforts in this district to combat violent gang activity.”

According to the indictment, the men allegedly committed violent crimes in furtherance of the enterprise for the purpose of gaining entry into the gang or maintaining or advancing their position within the gang. Among those crimes were the murders of Saul Garduno, 15, Jonathan Hernandez, 24, and Anayanci Roche, 17, on March 14, May 5, and June 1, 2011, respectively.

“Our investigation into this violent gang is not over. We will continue to pursue MS-13 and any other gang members who seek to poison our streets with drugs and violence,” said Morris. “The public is an important partner in this fight. We ask you to come forward with any information about this gang or other violent gangs in our communities.”

The MS-13 gang had its origins in the 1980s in Central America and the United States and is a national and international criminal organization whose members conduct gang activities in the United States and Central America. According to the indictment, the word “Mara” is the term used in El Salvador for gang, while the phrase “Salvatrucha” is a combination of the words “Salva”—an abbreviation for Salvadoran—and “trucha,” which is a slang term for the warning “fear us,” “look out” or “heads up.” Male gang members are required to complete an initiation process, often referred to as “jumped in” where the new member is beaten by other members until the count of 13. Female gang members are initiated by either being “jumped in” or submitting to sexual activity with gang members. MS-13 gang members often display their membership through tattoos reading “MS” or “MS-13” in gothic lettering and/or by wearing the gang’s colors—blue and white—or clothing bearing the number “13” or numbers when added together total 13. MS-13 members pay dues which are used for the benefit of and provided to MS-13 members who are imprisoned in the United States, El Salvador and Panama as well as to buy firearms to be used to conduct the enterprise’s illegal activities.

The enterprise also has a hierarchy organized into “cliques,” or smaller groups operating in a specific city or region which hold regular meetings to discuss gang rules, collect dues and discuss gang business including illegal activity. The leaders of individual MS-13 cliques are typically called “shot callers,” “Jefe de Clica” (clique boss) or “Palabrero” (one who has the word). Above the shot caller are the MS-13 leaders, often referred to as “corredores de programa” (program leaders). Above them are the “palabreros de programa” (program shot callers) and above this group are the “principle shot callers.” Finally, the “cabecillas nacionales” or national heads convey their orders to subordinates by the use of telephones even while incarcerated. According to the indictment, the defendants were members of a Houston area clique in which Fuentes and Calderon were shot callers and Mejia, Argueta, Gomez, Torres and Contreras were gang members.

These charges are the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI-led Multi-Agency Gang Task Force, which includes the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Houston Police Department, Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In addition, this investigation was worked in close coordination with the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Division and their newly established gang squad.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tim S. Braley and Mark Donnelly are prosecuting the case.

To report potential gang activity in the area, please visit stophoustongangs.org. The newly established website, created by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, was designed to inform and educate the public about gangs and also allows anyone to report gang crimes anonymously.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.

Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

law enforcement official says the FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims

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The official spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
New York City-based News Corp. has been in crisis mode.
A rival newspaper reported last week that the company's News of the World had hacked into the phone of U.K. teenage murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 and may have impeded a police investigation into the 13-year-old's disappearance.
More possible victims soon emerged: other child murder victims, 2005 London bombing victims, the families of dead soldiers and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The FBI's New York office hasn't commented. There's been no response from News Corp. or to a message left with the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.

Italian police arrest Corleone mafia boss

Italian police on Friday announced the arrest of the 79-year-old mafia boss of Corleone -- the Sicilian hilltop town made famous by "The Godfather" trilogy -- following a three-year investigation.
Gaetano Riina is the brother of former Cosa Nostra kingpin Toto Riina, who is serving multiple life sentences for sanctioning scores of killings.
Riina was picked up in the city of Mazara del Vallo where he was living while allegedly controlling the Corleone clan, the police said in a statement.
The charges against Riina and three other men arrested on Friday including two of his relatives are for extortion and criminal association.
The police said the clan has continued to play a "central role" in the mafia despite multiple arrests of the crime syndicate's historic leadership.

 

Five men have been arrested in an operation against organised crime.

Detectives said two firearms were also seized when they stopped the men in two cars in Kill, Co Kildare.

The Garda's Organised Crime Unit was backed up by the armed Emergency Response Unit during the stop and search around 1am on Sunday.

The five men, all in their 30s, have been taken to Clondalkin and Ballyfermot Garda stations and are being detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

The firearms have been sent for ballistics tests.

Russia tries to make sense of Chechnya colonel murder

The brazen killing of a Russian army colonel who murdered a 18-year-old Chechen girl in 2000, prompted Saturday a bout of soul-searching, with some mourning the Caucasus war veteran and others fearing fresh ethnic clashes.

Budanov, convicted of the murder of Elza Kungayeva, was shot dead in broad daylight Friday in central Moscow in a contract-style killing.

Even after his death he remains such a polarising figure that the Kremlin and Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who has called the colonel a schizophrenic and “the enemy of the Chechen people,” have remained conspicuously silent.

Supporters including army officers and football fans have deposited heaps of flowers at the murder scene amid a heavy police presence.

“We are proud of him. He did not foresake his duty and did not betray his fatherland,” Yana Nikolayeva, holding a picture of Budanov, told AFP as her male companion stood nearby clutching red carnations.

Former officer Mikhail Lebedev, who spent six months on a tour of duty in Chechnya in 2003, defended the colonel as a “true leader” who never betrayed his men. “You have to understand that it was war. He acted according to the laws of wartime.”

Budanov was jailed for 10 years for Kungayeva’s murder but freed on parole in 2009 after serving most of the sentence, provoking angry protests by Chechens and Russian rights activists.

He was the commander of a tank regiment deployed in Chechnya after the start of the Kremlin’s second war against separatists in 1999 and decorated with an Order of Courage, one of the most coveted army honors.

Arrested in 2000 and stripped of the honour, he was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Kungayeva in 2003. Charges of raping Kungayeva were dropped during the trial although rights activists still believe there was forensic evidence to convict him on this count. Budanov, who said he thought the Chechen woman was a sniper, denied raping her.

In a snap poll conducted by the popular Echo of Moscow radio earlier in the day, 68 per cent of respondents said Budanov deserved sympathy, while another 32 per cent said they did not feel sorry for him.

For human rights activists, Budanov symbolised blatant rights abuses of the military in the Caucasus, while others saw him as a victim of horrific circumstances.

The two wars with separatists in the 90s remain one of the most tragic pages in Russia’s modern history, with Kremlin policies pitting Orthodox Russians against the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus.

Scores of poor, low-educated soldiers were sent to the Caucasus, never to return. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, rights activist Natalya Estemirova and lawyer Stanislav Markelov who protested abuses in the war-torn region were all killed.

Investigators said Budanov’s murder could have been aimed at stirring up ethnic tensions, while others chalked it up to blood revenge.

The murder follows unprecedented ethnic riots in Moscow in December and comes as the country gears up to mark the Day of Russia, a state holiday.

Opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta cautioned against jumping to conclusions over the motive of the killing.

“A dead Budanov is dangerous for us all,” it said. “Hatred at the ethnic level ends up not in blood revenge but in a bloody mess.”

“May he rest in peace,” added Moskovsky Komsomolets mass-circulation daily. “A symbol and the bane of the second Chechen war, the tormentor and tormented, a Russian officer of the Russian army the way it was at the start of the 21st century.”