G-Mobb and gang members from Blood-affiliated subsets had been "co-existing."

G-Mobb and gang members from Blood-affiliated subsets had been "co-existing." After the G-Mobb members relocated out of Franklin Villa, "what we saw was a group of the younger Sacramento kids wanted to become part of this G-Mobb," he said. "So they began to integrate and form subsets off the G-Mobb with some of the younger G-Mobb members and families."A number of local subsets that identified with the G-Mobb, with names such as the Stickup Stars and the Guttah Boys, then fought with Blood affiliates such as the Fourth Avenue group in Oak Park, Maclafferty testified.Sacramento State criminal justice professor and gang expert Jim Hernandez said the G-Mobb spinoffs and the splintering of the area's Blood network provide more evidence of a breakdown in the traditional red versus blue, color-coded...

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B.C. gangs are taking over the streets. A violent gang war is taking place over the control of drug trade.

B.C. gangs are taking over the streets. A violent gang war is taking place over the control of drug trade. Prince George seems to be one of the key battle grounds. The forestry community has had to deal with shootings and brawls as gangs fight amongst themselves.As police deal with one gang another pops up. There are a reported 129 gangs in B...

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Gang violence appears to be on the rise in B.C. as gangs war over control of the lucrative drug trade

Gang violence appears to be on the rise in B.C. as gangs war over control of the lucrative drug trade, but there are few places where the increase has been more severe than in Prince George. The northern forestry community has been plagued by a year of brawls, shootings, reports of torture and several murders as rival groups brazenly fight among themselves. In late summer, a 19-year-old man was seriously injured in drive-by shooting in Prince George, 500 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. A few weeks later, a young couple believed to be connected to the drug trade -- including a 19-year-old woman -- were found shot to death. Although the victims were gang members, Mayor Dan Rogers says every violent act ripples into the wider community. "There are innocent victims all the time," says Rogers,...

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Cannabis Wars,one man lay dead in his car with another sprawled wounded in the passenger seat.

The A73 south of Nijmegan was littered with bullet casings, and one man lay dead in his car with another sprawled wounded in the passenger seat.The survivor refused to talk to police, even though a hired assassin had pursued his vehicle shooting at it without hitting for several miles before finally catching up and riddling it with automatic fire.Commuters were horrified, but the murder in September was wearily familiar to detectives who have dealt with 25 gangland-style killings in suburban southern Holland over the past three years.As usual, there was a cannabis connection. The assassin was a hired Bulgarian and his two victims, men in their twenties, had been involved with one of the thousands of cannabis “nurseries” which flourish out of sight in the attics, sheds and spare rooms of small...

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Green Valley drive by shooting in Sydney’s south-west

Police are appealing for witnesses to an overnight shooting attack on a house at Green Valley, in Sydney’s south-west.Around 11pm yesterday (Sunday 21 December), a series of shots were fired at a home in Hewison Avenue.Five people inside the house heard the volley of gunfire and ventured outside to find a number of spent cartridges and damage to the exterior of the home.The family contacted relatives, who in turn telephoned police.Officers from the Green Valley Local Area Command attended the address and secured the crime scene.Forensic Services Group experts and the Police Rescue Squad also responded.The spent casings were retrieved and will be subjected to a series of ballistics tests.Police are conducting a canvass of the neighbourhood in the hope someone witnessed the atta...

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Nine men's heads were found in plastic bags in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero early Sunday. Eight of them were eventually identified

Nine men's heads were found in plastic bags in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero early Sunday. Eight of them were eventually identified as belonging to soldiers, and the ninth was a lawyer. "grave mistake" for criminals in the illegal drug trade to have decapitated eight soldiers over the weekend, a top Mexican military officer said Monday.Residents of Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, found the heads on a busy city street before dawn, and hours later located the bodies several kilometers (miles) away, local police said."For each member that you kill, we are going to kill ten of yours," read a sign that was found next to the heads....

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Three people are dead following a quadruple shooting at a Kingsland apartment complex

Three people are dead and another wounded following a quadruple shooting Sunday night at a Kingsland apartment complex, police said.The shootings occurred about 6:45 p.m. at the Sea Parc apartment complex, one mile west of Interstate 95 off Georgia 40.Lt. Todd Tetterton, a Kingsland Police spokesman, said roll call was being taken at administrative offices at the Kingsland Welcome Center when officers there heard between 20 and 25 gunshots. The shots were at Sea Parc, which is a just a few blocks from the welcome center.As officers drove to the scene, Tetterton said neighbors began calling 911 emergency dispatchers to report hearing multiple gunshots. Officers arrived to discover two people in the parking lot with gunshot wounds, he said.One of the shooting victims in the parking lot, Jamie...

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Jefferson Park Gangster member drive by shooting was reported at a Mesa home on Sunday night.

Police are searching for a suspect or suspects after a drive by shooting was reported at a Mesa home on Sunday night.According to police, the resident reported that an unknown suspect/s shot at his house around 8:20 p.m. No shells were discovered, but round fragments were recovered from the victim’s vehicle which was parked in the driveway.Rounds, appearing to be from a shotgun, also penetrated the residence nearly missing the victim’s father. According to police the victim is on house arrest for a shooting involving a Jefferson Park Gangster member. According to officials the area is well known for an on-going dispute between the victim and JPG. The suspect vehicle was last seen traveling southbound on Jefferson from East Arbor and is described as a white Honda passenger car. No one was injured...

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Istanbul : Gang Shootout Caught On CCTV.

According to the source,bitter rivalry between 2 gangs came to ahead over a gun and alcohol deal.A meeting between the gang members turned violent after the deal went sour.3 People were killed in the shootout but police were quickly on the scene to bring it to an end and arrested most of the gang....

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Malindi Airport ,Two suspected armed robbers were gunned down in a fierce gun battle

Two suspected armed robbers were gunned down in a fierce gun battle between them and police officers near the Malindi Airport on Friday night.An AK 47 rifle and a toy pistol were recovered from the slain suspects while one of their accomplices who was armed with a pistol escaped.Malindi Police Chief Ayub Gitonga Ali and the District Criminal Investigation Officer Mr. John Kariuki who visited the scene said the robbers were preparing to rob a house near the airport were gunned down by flying squad police officers who had trailed tem from Malindi town.Ali said the officers had received a tip off from members of the public and started tailing the suspects and eventually caught up with them at about 8.00pm local time. "Police officers ordered the three to surrender, but the one armed with the...

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Bulldog gang member was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for his role in the killing of 16-year-old Courtney Rice

Bulldog gang member was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for his role in the killing of 16-year-old Courtney Rice in June 2006.Wearing leg and wrist shackles, Joseph Enrique Lopez, 26, told Rice's family in the Fresno County courtroom that he was sorry for Rice's death."I am not the enemy," he said. "I didn't have anything to do with this." But the victim's mother, Stephanie Rice, and the girl's grandmother, Joan Robledo, told Judge Gary Orozco that Lopez should spend the rest of his life in prison."We want justice for Courtney," Robledo said. "She was only 16 years old. There was no regard for her life."The judge agreed, saying Lopez played a key role in her death.Rice, the mother of a 1-year-old, was lured to an apartment complex in northwest Fresno and suffocated by Bulldog...

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Even real live gangsters and the Mafia respect the church -- they may shoot you when you come out of it but won't shoot you when you come in it

Church leaders work to patch up the bullet holes left in the lobby's burgundy carpet, the church's pastor and neighbors Monday called on the city to make gun violence a higher priority. The family of Darshawn L. Cross, 31, who was shot at least three times inside the church, said prayers at his bedside Monday, moments before he was declared brain-dead. He was surrounded by eight to 10 relatives and friends at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center. Investigators say they have leads in the suspected gang-related shooting, which turned into a homicide Monday. No arrests have been made. "Even real live gangsters and the Mafia respect the church -- they may shoot you when you come out of it but won't shoot you when you come in it," said Robert Richardson, a church elder from another North...

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Hells Angel who was secretly working as a police agent was bent on murdering a rival biker, Whitby Court heard

Hells Angel who was secretly working as a police agent was bent on murdering a rival biker, Whitby Court heard ."He'll be nothing," Steven Gault told Remond (Ray) Akleh of the Hells Angels elite Nomads chapter on Sept. 27, 2006, in a secretly recorded conversation. "He'll become a nothing ... He'll be fertilizer."The conversation was picked up by a police recording device carried by Gault.Akleh, 46, and Oshawa Hells Angels president Mark Cephes Stephenson, 45, each face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and counselling to commit murder for allegedly recruiting Gault to murder Frank (Cisco) Lenti of the Bandidos club in the summer of 2006.However, Akleh told court it was police agent Gault who was pushing hard to murder Lenti.The alleged murder plot against Lenti was never carried out.Akleh...

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Bosnian Muslim gangster war

Three individuals have been wounded in a gangster related drive-by shooting in the suburb of Tuzla and one of the wounded, Damir Mehic, is a close capo of the recently released alleged war criminal Naser Oric.Naser Oric was a Bosnian Muslim commander who exterminated all Serbs around Srebrenica and then had his army devastated by the Serbian General Ratko MladicThe attack in Tuzla came after the two individuals entered their car, Audi Q7, which was then immediately sprayed with bullets. Besides Mehic, known as Bibi, Jasenko Hajdarhodzic was hit in the head and is in a hospital where doctors are battling to save his life.Another individual, Faik C., a worker at the near by Gaz Auto firm, was shot in a knee.“It is a matter of many rounds from two types of weapons,” said Ivo Iveljic.The police...

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Firing-squad style execution of seven men whose bodies were found outside a high school, and the slaying of a man and his son in front of hundreds o

20 people, mostly men, were reported murdered in Ciudad Juarez. The incidents included the apparent firing-squad style execution of seven men whose bodies were found outside a high school, and the slaying of a man and his son in front of hundreds of middle school students. Local press accounts report the murders of more than 1,400 people in Ciudad Juarez so far this year.Even as activists prepared to launch the Chihuahua-Chiapas caravan, the number of female homicide victims kept mounting in Ciudad Juarez and other parts of the state of Chihuahua. For instance, in a period of less than 24 hours Nov. 20-21, five women were killed in Ciudad Juarez in gangland-style slayi...

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Gangland characters in Melbourne are most likely to be gunned down in winter between 9pm and midnight.

Most dangerous time for a marked member of Melbourne's underworld is a Monday night in the month of May. Gangland characters in Melbourne are most likely to be gunned down in winter between 9pm and midnight.They will probably be ambushed while sitting in the driver's seat of their car. The hitmen - most likely armed with a handgun or shotgun - will probably shoot from close range. But potential victims can relax a little on Fridays and Sundays - they are the least likely days for underworld killings. As details of seven new murders emerge, a statistical study of our city's previous 27 gangland executions reveals a killing pattern with a distinct Melbourne flavour. At least some of the underworld victims whose stories have been told in the Underbelly TV series may have prolonged their lives...

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Escalating shoot-outs between The Family,ethnic gangsters in the northern suburbs

Escalating shoot-outs between ethnic gangsters in the northern suburbs Most of the seven suburban slayings, which occurred between February and last month, have been discovered in or near metropolitan parks and reserves. Two were parkland "slash and burns" - suspected of being related to drug deals. A third victim is believed to have had his throat cut in a Noble Park reserve before being rolled into a nearby creek. Three others were shot dead and the seventh was bashed to death and dumped in a field. All except two of the victims were aged under 35, all the killings had drug or criminal links and no one has been charged over three of the cases. It is a comparative kill rate to the height of the Carlton crew-Williams crew gangland war where in 2003 when eight underworld-linked figures were...

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Baltimore police identified yesterday four victims from a recent spate of homicides

Baltimore police identified yesterday four victims from a recent spate of homicides, including a 14-year-old boy killed in Sunday's quadruple shooting. Police said the boy, Perrish Parker, was killed along with 26-year-old Darren Davis and 45-year-old Troy Brown when gunfire erupted in the 4000 block of Oakford Ave. in Northwest Baltimore on Sunday night. He was the 24th juvenile homicide victim this year, and the second 14-year-old killed in November, the city's deadliest month of 2008.Court records show Brown had been sought since April on a warrant for violating his probation. He pleaded guilty in March to one count of drug possession with intent to distribute and received an eight-year prison sentence, nearly all of which was suspended and followed by three years of supervised probation....

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Three shooting incidents in Sydney in 24 hours.

Three shooting incidents in Sydney in 24 hours.A man is in police custody this afternoon after a man was shot in Sydney's west.Ambulance crews were called to a house in Denver Road, St Clair, about 1.30pm, where they found a man, aged about 30, with gunshot wounds to the arm and chest, an ambulance spokesman said.He was taken to Nepean Hospital in a stable condition, he said.The call to ambulance crews had said the shooting was an accident."Whether he's accidentally shot himself or someone else accidentally shot him [is not known],'' he said.A police spokesman said another man had been taken into custody over the shootings and was being questioned.In the early hours today, two shots were fired into a house at Beatrice Street, Bass Hill, about 1.10am, police say.A number of people were at...

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Leon Wiley former member of the notorious "Nut Case Gang"

Leon Wiley laughed as an Alameda County Superior Court Judge today ordered the 30-year old to spend the rest of his life in prison.The former member of the notorious "Nut Case Gang" chuckled some more when family members of one of the three people he either killed or ordered to be killed talked about their loved ones.And, as Wiley was led out of the courtroom after a stern talking-to by Judge Joseph Hurley, he made sure to look both the judge and then family members in the eyes as he shouted his allegiance to the gang that terrorized Oakland in 2003."I don't give a f---," Wiley shouted as he was surrounded by court bailiffs. "I'm not scared of none of that s---. I don't care, I got no where to go. I'm Gotti, I'm Tweezy. Nut Cases."Wiley was one of eight members of the gang who were arrested...

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Mexican and Guatemalan drug traffickers arguing about a horse race in a rural border town began a series of gunbattles in which 17 people died

Mexican and Guatemalan drug traffickers arguing about a horse race in a rural border town began a series of gunbattles in which 17 people died, police said Monday.National police spokesman Donald Gonzalez said the traffickers were drinking in the town of Santa Ana Huista on Sunday afternoon when an argument broke out over bets on a horse race, leading to a pursuit in which the gunmen shot at each other with automatic weapons from trucks racing down roads near a remote part of the Mexican border.Gonzalez said police even found grenade-launchers at the scene of the final shootout, along with hundreds of bullet cartridges and a truck with license plates from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.The increasing violence of Mexican drug gangs has sometimes spilled across the border into Guatemala, which...

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Jorge Rojas and Juan Gonzalez, two gunmen from the Tijuana drug cartel, have been convicted in a San Diego court

Jorge Rojas and Juan Gonzalez, two gunmen from the Tijuana drug cartel, have been convicted in a San Diego court in connection with last year's kidnapping of businessman Eduardo Gonzalez:The pair led a group known as Los Palillos (the Toothpicks) that focused its attacks on alleged associates of the Arellano-Felix drug-smuggling organization, which has controlled the flow of narcotics from Tijuana into Southern California for more than 15 years. * * * Law enforcement officials say Rojas organized the gang of disgruntled ex-gunmen believed responsible for as many as 20 kidnappings and a dozen murders in San Diego County beginning in about 2004.Rojas...

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Two teenage boys face attempted murder charges following a shooting in which two La Salle teenagers were shot and wounded Wednesday night in La Salle.

Two teenage boys face attempted murder charges following a shooting in which two La Salle teenagers were shot and wounded Wednesday night in La Salle.At 8:48 p.m. Wednesday, La Salle police received several 911 calls reporting shots fired in the 400 block of Central Street.At the scene officers found two male victims who were shot outside of 430 Central St. One victim, age 17, was shot in the abdomen, and the other victim, age 19, was shot in the chest.The victims were taken to Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru and later airlifted to OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria. La Salle police report the victims were in stable condition. Police did not release the victims' names in a press release and The Times was told no one was available at the police department for further comment...

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Michael Vargas was a captain in the Mexican Mafia gang. His plea resolves allegations involving murder, drug trafficking, extortion, robbery

alleged member of the state's largest prison gang pleaded guilty in San Antonio to conspiracy in a sprawling case that accused the gang of up to 20 unsolved killings.Federal prosecutors say more pleas are expected.They say Michael Vargas was a captain in the Mexican Mafia gang. His plea resolves allegations involving murder, drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, racketeering and related crimes. He'll be sentenced to 20 years in prison under the plea agreement.A second defendant, Ray Carrasco, has already signed a plea deal. Prosecutors say some of the remaining 20 defendants in the case are expected to follow suit.Authorities accuse members of the Mexican Mafia of peddling heroin and cocaine and taxing other drug dealers in some San Antonio neighborhoods. Up to 20 unsolved murders are attributed...

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Gambino crime family boss John Gotti is known to have asked Aryan Brotherhood members to murder his attacker

Aryan Brotherhood (AB) originated in San Quentin prison in 1967. Originally, this gang was established to provide protection for white individuals from black and Hispanic groups, most specifically the Mexican Mafia. Some of the original members of the AB migrated from a 1950s gang known as the "Bluebirds." Other names used in the past were the "Diamond Tooth Gang" and the "Nazi Gang." Today, they number about 15,000 members in and out of prison. In March 2006, four AB leaders were indicted for numerous crimes, including murder, conspiracy, drug trafficking, and racketeering. According to the FBI, although the gang makes up less than one percent of the prison population, it is responsible for up to 26% of murders in the federal prison system. Although members of the AB ordinarily wear numerous...

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Gang war may be escalating in and around Seattle.

Gang war may be escalating in and around Seattle. With as many as 200 gangs now operating in Seattle and King County, and shootings happening with alarming frequency, it's hard for police to keep track of all the rivalries. Seattle Police are aware there's a fierce ongoing feud between South End gangs and Central District gangs in Seattle. "It's been a war, not a new war, an ongoing war," he said. "Police are very aware of who the players are." Police suspect the shooting at Southcenter may have happened because members or associates of Central District gangs ran into their bitter rivals, the South End 74 Hoovers. one gang member threw out an insult about a rival gang member who'd been shot previously. "People don't even have to say anything. If they don't like each other, if they've been...

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Ciudad Juarez seven bodies were dumped before dawn Tuesday at a school soccer field in a leafy, upscale neighborhood in this Mexican border city.

Neighbors found the bodies — beaten, choked, in some cases mutilated and then shot — lined up along the field's fence. Alongside were three banners allegedly signed by a Mexican drug gang with messages directed at a rival gang, police spokesman Jaime Torres said.Hours after the bodies were removed, blood stained the curb, yellow police tape hung from the fence and classes continued at Colegio Sierra Madre, a private kindergarten-through-high school in a neighborhood of stucco homes, manicured lawns and palm trees.Only police in ski masks periodically drove past the campus, which posted an armed guard at the metal gate.Alejandro Pariente, a local prosecutor's spokesman, said the victims have not been identified, and they have no suspects.The homicides were the latest of hundreds of gruesome...

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Kennewick gang fight

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

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Banning gun battle that left one person injured

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

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Mexican Mafia practiced their rituals. "Brujeria" (witchcraft) altars with figurines of the bandit saint "Jesus Malverde" or "Santisima Muerte"

The Mexican Mafia actually forbade its members from "picking up the Bible" or espousing any form of Christianity. Some members of the Aryan Brotherhood were followers of pagan witchcraft, or worshipers of the devil. In taking on these new belief systems many gang members eschewed the moral codes they had previously ascribed to as part of their religious/superstitious upbringing. In the 1980s, Cuban "Marielitos" brought Afro-Cuban cult beliefs into the Los Angeles drug and gang culture. Santeria, Voodoo, and Palo Mayombe followers became some of the most violent criminal gang members Los Angeles had ever seen. Across the city, small altars with caldrons or "gangas" of fruit, rum, and cocaine, as well as animal blood sacrifices, dotted the map. "Botanicas" (occult pharmacies) that sold the paraphernalia...

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Venezuelans pray at the tomb of the notorious thief Ismael Sanchez, believing he and other dead gangsters can protect them against violent attacks

Venezuelans pray at the tomb of the notorious thief Ismael Sanchez, believing he and other dead gangsters can protect them against violent attacks and robberies. Devotees of the Corte Malandra or Gangsters' Pantheon say the spirits of gangsters who once maintained a reign of terror in Caracas now watch over them in a city where murders and robberies are rife. The Gangsters' Pantheon takes as its symbol a hawk on a motorcycle -- one of Ismael's tattoos -- to honor him, The Rat, Isabelita, Luis, Little Miguel, Antonio and other criminals who once preyed on poor hillside neighborhoods. "The cult started with Ismael, a criminal who robbed the rich to help those who lived in his barrio," said Yamileth, a worshiper who works in a store selling spiritual and religious objects. The roots of the Corte...

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Caracas has become one of the most violent cities on the planet. Armed gangs competing over turf and drug deals wage ruthless, low-level warfare

Caracas has become one of the most violent cities on the planet. Armed gangs competing over turf and drug deals wage ruthless, low-level warfare in the slums. Nationally, homicides have soared to more than 13,000 a year, with 2,710 in Caracas alone, according to leaked government figures. That gives a national rate of 48 per 100,000 people. In some Caracas slums the rate rises to 130. The rate in England and Wales is 1.4.In opinion polls Venezuelans consistently rank safety as their main concern, with 64 per cent expressing fear of being attacked in the street. Kidnappings have also surged, especially 'express kidnappings' in which victims or relatives pay an immediate relatively modest ransom.President Hugo Chávez may pay a political price today in local and regional elections. Voters are...

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Baikal automatic pistol - the gun of choice in gang circles - was unearthed

Baikal automatic pistol - the gun of choice in gang circles - was unearthed when police searched the teenager's home in New Cross, south-east London, in August, along with a magazine and two silencers hidden in a rucksack. Ammunition was found nearby and a machete and barrel brush for another gun were also found in the convicted robber's bedroom. The boy, who is too young to be named, admitted he was in a gang and told police he was holding it for someone else but would not say who. Now 14, he pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court to possession of a prohibited weapon and illegal ammunition. Prosecutor David Atkins said the case was a "prime example" of the gang and gun crime facing police in London. He said: "The gangs are up to 40 to 60 in number. They will be controlled by young men...

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Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, Mexico's representative to the international police force, Interpol arrested

Mexican authorities have arrested a senior police official for allegedly working with drug cartels.The arrest Tuesday of Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, Mexico's representative to the international police force, Interpol was part of a probe into leaks of information to drug gangs.Mexico has seen increasingly brutal drug-related violence, which has claimed thousands of lives.In Tijuana, federal agents and military forces are temporarily replacing hundreds of police officers responsible for patrolling the crime-ridden border town. Five-hundred police officers were sent to training and will undergo background checks.Earlier this month, the top officer of Mexico's federal police force, Gerardo Garay, stepped down following allegations senior officers had helped drug traffickers.President Felipe Calderon...

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Clay Roueche is the operational leader as well as the public face of the UN gang.

UN gang leader Clay Roueche starting buying his cocaine directly from South America after more than 200 kilos and $750,000 cash were seized in the U.S., according to court documents filed Wednesday.In one bugged telephone call, Roueche agreed to "test the water" of a new cocaine route by smuggling more than 50 kilos and said he had a "bunch in Venezuela I've already paid for," the documents say.Roueche has been held in segregation near Seattle since his arrest last May on international drug-trafficking charges. His lawyer wants a judge to allow the Fraser Valley native into the general prison population pending his trial in January.But the U.S....

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Marcelo Lucero, 37, was stabbed to death Nov. 8 in Patchogue, allegedly by seven teenagers in what Suffolk police labeled a hate crime.

Marcelo Lucero, 37, was stabbed to death Nov. 8 in Patchogue, allegedly by seven teenagers in what Suffolk police labeled a hate crime. One of the teenagers was charged with manslaughter as a hate crime. The others face gang assault charges.Schoolchildren in uniforms, girls in blue or red sweaters and plaid skirts, and boys in yellow shirts and black pants, crowded the mile-long processional route as Lucero's childhood friends carried his body. First they stopped at City Hall for a brief ceremony under a blazing sun. Then they made their way to the spacious house Lucero built for his mother, Rosario. Hate and tragedy on Long Island Lucero had planned to finally return to Ecuador soon to live with her and his sister Isabel after 15 years in the United States without ever visiting home."An innocent...

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Six heavily-armed men, including a suspended Pretoria police officer, were arrested

Six heavily-armed men, including a suspended Pretoria police officer, were arrested during a sting operation moments before they could carry out a cash-in-transit heist.The men, who are all from Soshanguve, were arrested on Tuesday by the hi-tech unit and Pretoria crime combating unit without a shot being fired, as they were allegedly preparing to attack guards from Protea Coin, who were about to fill up an ATM at a butchery outside Ga-Rankuwa.The six, including the officer, who is a constable stationed at the protection and security services (PSS) unit, are all out on bail for various crimes, including armed robbery and murder.The PSS includes units such as the VIP protection unit, ports of entry unit and railway police unit.The six are believed to be part of a heavily armed gang wanted for...

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Stanislao Cantelli was playing cards in a social club on the high street of Casal di Principe when someone walked in and fired 18 bullets.

Italy's crack Folgore paratroopers could not save 60-year-old Stanislao Cantelli from the Mafia. Two days after Silvio Berlusconi, centre-right prime minister, in October sent 500 troops to reinforce police in the Naples area after a spate of killings, the Mafia delivered their blunt response. Mr Cantelli was playing cards in a social club on the high street of Casal di Principe - a satellite town and stronghold of the Camorra gangs - when someone walked in and fired 18 bullets. Paratroopers were 200 metres away. By the time the police arrived, the killer and all witnesses had fled. Shops were closing their shutters. Police say Mr Cantelli, a retired cheese factory worker, paid the price for being the uncle of Luigi Diana, a Mafia "pentito" or turncoat whose information had led to the arrest...

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Yaakov Alperon, known as "Don Alperon", was driving his saloon car through a northern suburb of Tel Aviv when the vehicle was torn apart

Yaakov Alperon, known as "Don Alperon", was driving his saloon car through a northern suburb of Tel Aviv when the vehicle was torn apart by an explosion. Two bystanders were also slightly injured in the explosion, one a 13-year-old boy waiting at a bus stop. The attack has raised concerns that an Israeli mob war could be about to spin out of control. Little was left of the car after the explosion, which was apparently set off by remote control just before midday. Don Alperon's body was seen slumped over the steering wheel. A police spokesman said, with understatement, that the security forces were now assessing the situation to see what would develop in Tel Aviv. This is the latest and most serious attack in an Israeli mob war which some fear may once again be coming to the boil. That is worrying...

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Four Albanian men aged between 23 and 35 have been arrested in Athens in connection with a turf war between rival drug gangs

Four Albanian men aged between 23 and 35 have been arrested in Athens in connection with a turf war between rival drug gangs that has led to 11 people being killed and 13 injured since September 2007, police said yesterday.The victims were murdered in various parts of Athens in what was a bloody war between 20 Albanians who had started off as a gang dealing in heroin, cocaine and cannabis.The gang broke up in 2007, leading to months of bloodletting between the rival factions. One of the factions was almost wiped out with only one member surviving, as he had been jailed on drugs charges.Police said that the suspects had a sizeable arsenal of guns in their possession as well as a total of some four kilos of various dru...

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Tijuana police said Saturday they had found a man's severed head bound in duct tape

Tijuana police said Saturday they had found a man's severed head bound in duct tape beside a sign threatening members of a gang he allegedly belonged to. Three other bodies, all with bullet wounds, were also found on Friday in Tijuana.In the nearby city of Tecate, an investigative police officer was found shot to death, and the body on another man — apparently an assailant killed while attacking the officer — was found nearby.Also Saturday, Mexico's Defense Department reported that a regional military commander, Gen. Jorge Cardenas Canton, had committed suicide after suffering a sudden depression.Cardenas Canton commanded army troops in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Like all Mexican military officers, part of his duties included combating drug traffick...

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Jamaica experienced one of its most hellish days ever with the brutal gang rape of a mute woman

Jamaica experienced one of its most hellish days ever with the brutal gang rape of a mute woman, the slaying of three other women and the shooting of a fifth who was yesterday in hospital battling for life.The incidents shocked a country already jolted by a string of ruthless murders of children in recent weeks, the latest being that of 11-year-old Christopher Levi Suckra, a grade seven Petersfield High student whose naked, mutilated body was found Thursday morning in a canefield in Banbury, Westmoreland. Police believe Suckra was also sodomised.Yesterday's torment started when residents of the middle-class community of Mona in St Andrew found the mute woman naked and traumatised in their community.A resident gave the woman a sheet to cover herself while the police were called. The woman was...

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East Tyrone Brigade of the IRA, the most lethal but least criminally corrupt element of the Provisional IRA during the three decades of Troubles

East Tyrone Brigade of the IRA, the most lethal but least criminally corrupt element of the Provisional IRA during the three decades of Troubles in the North, ignored its leadership orders and moved against drug dealers in Dungannon in September this year.The move followed the killing of Eamonn Hughes, 48, a local man who was stabbed to death after an evening of celebrations for his daughter Siobhan's 18th birthday. The working class housing estates in Dungannon, such as Lisnahull, where the Hughes family live, had become beset by the anti-social problems associated with heroin addiction in the recent years of the "peace process".This had never happened before in working class areas of the North, where paramilitary groups simply expelled or shot anyone using hard drugs. In the three years...

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