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Wednesday 24 November 2010

Jay-Z: I shot my brother and sold crack on the streets | Celebrity News | Now Magazine

Jay-Z: I shot my brother and sold crack on the streets | Celebrity News | Now Magazine: "Hip hop legend Jay-Z has revealed that he sold crack cocaine on the Brooklyn streets and shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing his ring.

The rapper, real name Shawn Corey Carter, was just 12 years old when he aimed a pistol at older silbing Eric.

‘I went to someone's crib, someone's house, and got a gun. Guns were everywhere,' recalls Jay-Z, 40.
‘There was no one to police us. We were out of control. You didn't have to go far to get one.'

Now a multi-millionaire and married to singer Beyonce Knowles, 29, Jay-Z says he was petrified about the consequences of his actions.
‘I thought my life was over,' he tells the Guardian."

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Page Street Mob sentenced 26-year-old Dennis Cyrus on Friday to three life terms, all without the possibility of parole

An alleged San Francisco gang member convicted of three murders will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.
A federal judge sentenced 26-year-old Dennis Cyrus on Friday to three life terms, all without the possibility of parole.
Cyrus was convicted last year of killing Joseph Hearns, Randy Mitchell and Ray Jimmerson in 2002 as part of a gang that was active in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood.
Prosecutors say the Page Street Mob gang went after rivals and defectors to protect its drug business. Six other alleged gang members were previously convicted and sentenced.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty against Cyrus, but a jury decided against that sentence.
Cyrus's lawyer, John Philipsborn, tells the San Francisco Chronicle he plans to appeal his client's convictions.

Saturday 30 October 2010

Ballyfermot gangster, who is understood to have ordered the murders of the Corballys and Ryle, is well known to gardai.

gangsters who killed Robert Ryle had been intending to assassinate another man, it is believed.

Ryle (30) was not the original target of the hit, which gardai suspect was ordered by a notorious gangland boss.

The gun victim died yesterday morning in hospital after losing a three-day fight for his life. Ryle, from Blackditch Road, Ballyfermot, was blasted five times on Foxdene Avenue in Clondalkin shortly before 8.40pm on Sunday.

It is believed his death is linked to a bloody feud between two gangs based in the Bally- fermot area. Brothers Kenneth (32) and Paul Corbally (35) from Ballyfermot were gunned down last June in the dispute.

Ryle, who was an associate of the Corballys, had been driven to Foxdene Avenue by a woman friend on Sunday evening.

When he stepped out of the car to walk up a driveway, he was confronted by a masked gunman, who shot him in the head, neck and upper body.

Ryle was taken to Tallaght hospital where he underwent emergency surgery but he succumbed to his injuries early yesterday. It was the 20th gun murder of the year.

TREATMENT

It is understood the gunman was sent there to murder an associate of Ryle's but when Ryle unexpectedly emerged from the car he was shot.

The intended target was higher up the gang's pecking order than Ryle, who garda regarded as a minor player.

Gardai recovered a handgun they believe was used in the murder. The gunman dropped the weapon when Ryle's companion drove her car into the assassin during the attack.

The killer escaped but gardai believe he sustained injuries and may have sought medical treatment in recent days.

The Corballys were shot dead when a car they were sitting in on Neilstown Road in Clondalkin was sprayed with bullets.

The Ballyfermot gangster, who is understood to have ordered the murders of the Corballys and Ryle, is well known to gardai. He is one of the biggest drug dealers in west Dublin and is hiding out in Portugal.

The major west Dublin drug trafficker is directing his criminal activities from a villa on the outskirts of Lisbon, the Herald understands.

He has been engaged in a bitter gang war with associates of the murdered Corbally brothers since a mass brawl in September 2009, which resulted in the death of British criminal Jason Martin. The criminal, who is in his mid-30s, has convictions for assault, larceny, dangerous driving and criminal damage, but has managed to avoid any drugs convictions.

Salvatore Vitale,As a child, he was taught how to swim; as an adult, he was instructed how to kill.

Of all the life lessons that Salvatore Vitale took from a boyhood friend he idolized, two of them became practically second nature: As a child, he was taught how to swim; as an adult, he was instructed how to kill.

The latter skill, he would later admit, was one he practised regularly on behalf of the friend, Joseph C. Massino, who would marry Vitale’s sister, become the boss of the Bonanno crime family and eventually elevate Vitale to serve as the underboss.

Vitale’s criminal life story is laid out in sharp relief in a remarkable document that federal prosecutors in Brooklyn filed under seal last month. Nearly three centimetres thick, it contains a saga that spans more than three decades and touches on 23 murders, 11 of which Vitale directly participated in, and many other crimes that he and other mob figures committed.

But the document, which was unsealed earlier this week, also tells another story: how the Bonannos were decimated, in some measure through Vitale’s betrayal in 2003 of the crime family and his own extended family, as he became a star government witness. Using his testimony, federal prosecutors and FBI agents have been able to imprison 51 mob figures, including Massino and the last four acting bosses of the Bonanno family.

Vitale, 62, was sentenced Friday to time served. He had spent about seven years behind bars.

Prosecutors have called his cooperation “groundbreaking by any measure” and filed the 122-page document to seek a more lenient sentence than the mandatory life term set forth in the advisory sentencing guidelines.

In a 10-year assault on the Bonanno family, the FBI and prosecutors have convicted 135 members and associates, making Vitale perhaps the most prolific mob turncoat since Salvatore Gravano, who testified against the Gambino boss John J. Gotti.

Prosecutors say Vitale has identified more than 500 organized crime members and associates in the United States and abroad, and information he has provided has led to prosecutions of high-ranking members of the Colombo, Genovese and Gambino families, in addition to Bonanno family figures.

He has also provided information that led investigators to uncover murder victims buried decades earlier, including in a mob graveyard in a swamp on the Brooklyn-Queens border where two men slain in 1981 were interred.

But some see his cooperation in a very different light.

David Brietbart, who defended Massino at his 2005 murder and racketeering trial, criticized the government’s handling of Vitale and its use of cooperating witnesses in general, noting that a half-dozen admitted killers who testified against his client have been released into “the population at large.”

“I don’t want them living next door to me, and I don’t see how the government justifies that,” he said. “They take someone on and they use him and they file a 120-page motion in order that the individual can go home.”

Until 2002, the Bonanno family stood out among New York’s five Mafia clans in that it had never had a “made” member cooperate with the government and testify in court. That distinction was due in part to the obsessive fear of informants and infiltrators, borne of an undercover FBI agent’s years-long penetration of the family in the 1980s, which cost two Bonanno figures their lives. (The case became the basis for the 1997 movie “Donnie Brasco.”)

But Vitale’s cooperation helped break the Bonanno family, leading to a historic event in U.S. organized crime: Massino’s own betrayal, nearly two years later, of the crime family he headed. An unprecedented act, it made Massino, an Old World stalwart known as the Last Don, the first Mafia boss in this country to cooperate with the FBI and prosecutors.

Slender, soft-spoken and polished, Vitale, who grew up in Brooklyn and Queens and attended City College for a year, made a very effective witness.

He served in the Army as a paratrooper for two years, stationed in Mainz, Germany, and worked as a UPS truck driver and a New York state correction officer before he began working for his childhood friend, Massino, driving a catering truck to sell coffee and pastries at factories and car dealerships on Long Island.

Vitale, whose silver hair always appeared carefully combed (he was known as Good Looking Sal), came to idolize Massino, who was nearly five years his senior.

During the course of his three decades with the crime family, his portfolio of crime was substantial and varied. He told agents and prosecutors of committing arson, burglary, hijacking, loan sharking, extortion, insurance fraud, illegal gambling, money laundering, obstruction of justice and securities fraud. And then there were the murders; Vitale pleaded guilty in April 2003 to racketeering conspiracy and murder-in-aid of racketeering, admitting to 11 killings between 1976 and 1999.

Police arrest a total of three suspects in two different high profile murder cases.

Police found the body of 48-year-old Martin Zepeda on Tuesday inside a home on Tulare and Fifth in southeast Fresno. And almost one month to the day, 21-year-old Delmon Newsome was shot the death just yards from his southwest Fresno church.

Police had to serve a total 12 search warrants to solve one crime. The other required hours of undercover surveillance. And their hard work paid off with arrests in both cases.

A memorial still sits outside the home of Martin Zepeda Thursday night. Police say 23-year-old Alfredo Chavez and 19-year-old Brian Munoz have admitted to robbing him and beating him to death.

A break in the case came when police found the two suspects in Zepeda's stolen car in west central Fresno. Zepeda's friend says he's glad someone is in custody.

"My sister told me earlier today had a blog on ABC, channel 30 with his pictures and stuff but it's amazing that they found somebody, that they found his car and they found the people that committed the crime." said Ramon Pulido.

One the same day police solved this crime, they also made an arrest in another high profile murder.

21-year-old Edward Page is jail accused of gunning down 21-year-old Delmon Newsome outside Saint Rest Church in southwest Fresno.

Newsome was a member of the church and had just gotten his life back on track. His pastor says the arrest is bittersweet.

"But unfortunately it was a peer of Delmon. And when I say a peer it was a young person. And so here's a young person who literally thrown their life away." said Pastor Shane Scott.

Newsome's death last month sparked outrage and prompted Pastor Scott to organize a community meeting to try and reduce violent crime in the area. He says it's worked.

"I've seen a community come together to talk about taking their community back." added Scott.

Police say the man arrested in Newsome's death is a validated gang member. And they say one of the suspects in the other killing is also a gang member.

Twenty-nine members of the Insane M.O.B. (Money Over Bitches) gang were arrested

Federal and local agents said they took down the most violent gang in Orange County Thursday. Twenty-nine members of the Insane M.O.B. (Money Over Bitches) gang were arrested, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies told WFTV the gang was responsible for drive-by shootings, at least two murders, several attempted murders and drug dealing. Investigators say their criminal enterprise was based out of a barbershop.
A 2006 shooting that left 18-year-old Joey Vera dead was the spark that Orange County Sheriff's investigators say ignited a street war and led to the rise of the county's most violent gang.


Officers say, after a 3-year investigation, joined last year by state and federal agents, they dismantled the gang, arresting 29 men and women and taking weapons and drugs off the street.
"There were always shooting around here," neighbor Will Reyes said.
Investigators say Vera was the gang leader and, when he died, three other men took over, including Teddy Vasquez, the so-called "kingpin."
The men used a barbershop on Hoffman Road, Fade Factory , as their headquarters. Investigators say inside they sold drugs, firearms and also used the barber shop as a front to launder money from their illegal activities.
Investigators used confidential informants and connected the gang members to drive-by shootings, arsons and two murders. In September, after getting a tip, the sheriff's dive team found what's believed to be a murder weapon in Lake Underhill.
While most of the crime was aimed at other gangs, the say the public was always in danger.
"Whenever they get guys like this, it's always better," Reyes said.
Even with leaders behind bars, investigators say the gang tried to hire hit men to kill confidential informants working for the sheriff's office. They also allegedly had ties to Chicago gang activity.

Thursday 14 October 2010

Bulger Task Force, an FBI-led team that includes state police investigators and state prisons officers.

FBI has enlisted the help of another federal law enforcement agency in the hunt for fugitive Boston mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger.
The U.S. Marshals Service, known for its success in tracking down wanted men, recently assigned a deputy marshal to work full time with the Bulger Task Force, an FBI-led team that includes state police investigators and state prisons officers.
U.S. Marshal John Gibbons says his agency “looks forward” to bringing the 81-year-old Bulger to justice.
A spokesman for the FBI’s Boston office tells The Boston Globe the hope is that the marshals’ international contacts will help track down Bulger.
Bulger disappeared just before his January 1995 federal racketeering indictment in Boston and was later charged with 19 murders. The last confirmed Bulger sighting was in 2002 in London.

Armed robber Brian Leslie O’Callaghan would be recalled with fear by bank staff he menaced, but was yesterday remembered fondly by gangland cohorts.

MAN described as among the heaviest of Melbourne’s underworld figures during the 1970s has died, aged 62.
Armed robber Brian Leslie O’Callaghan would be recalled with fear by bank staff he menaced, but was yesterday remembered fondly by gangland cohorts.
He was a close mate of Raymond Chuck Bennett, who masterminded the Great Bookie Robbery, and was also a member of the notorious Kangaroo Gang.
When Bennett was murdered at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in 1979, it was feared O’Callaghan was the most likely to square up.
O’Callaghan escaped from prison in NSW the day after his mate was killed.
Notorious crime figure Billy Longley, who did time with O’Callaghan in Pentridge Prison’s H Division, said O’Callaghan was highly regarded among criminals.
“He was respected by all who knew him,” Longley said.
“He could conceive a rort, he could take charge of a rort and he could execute a rort.”
Longley said, despite his history of armed robbery, O’Callaghan was not given to excessive violence: “He wasn’t a fighting man. He was more finesse than knuckle.”
O’Callaghan worked with the Kangaroo Gang as it fleeced millions in jewellery and other goods from Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. He escaped from a British prison in 1972, where he was awaiting trial over a jewel robbery, and arrested two years later at a Carlton house.
A former top Victorian detective said O’Callaghan was connected with big names of Melbourne crime, including Edward “Jockey” Smith, Dennis “Fatty” Smith, Norman Lee, Laurie Prendergast, Graham Kinniburgh and Keith Collingburn.
“They were the heaviest of the heavy,” the detective said.
Mark “Chopper” Read said O’Callaghan was the seventh of the Great Bookie Robbery crew, but was in jail when the plan was executed. He said his good mate Bennett later gave him a $1 million cut.
But O’Callaghan’s heroin addiction drove him to poverty.
Read said he gave O’Callaghan $1000 when he saw him outside a Carlton supermarket. “I gave him $1000 and he started crying. He was rapt,” Read said.

Two boys left to die during a bloody rampage in a Memphis home

Two boys left to die during a bloody rampage in a Memphis home turned into key witnesses who helped convict their uncle of six murders in one of the city's worst mass slayings.
Jurors concluded Monday after less than two hours of deliberations that Jessie Dotson, 35, shot his brother in the head during an argument, then used two guns to kill five other people, including two young nephews, trying to eliminate all witnesses. He then stabbed three more boys, who hung on for some 40 hours until help arrived, prosecutors said.
Two years later, two of the survivors pointed to their "Uncle Junior" as the man who shot their dad and slashed at them knives, enough to convince the jury that Dotson was guilty of six murders and not the gang members he said committed the crimes. Those same jurors will decide beginning Tuesday if Dotson should be sentenced to death by injection. Dotson showed no emotion, looking straight ahead as the verdict was announced.
One of the survivors, Cecil Dotson Jr., now 11, was found in a bathtub with a 4½-inch knife blade embedded in his skull. The boy, his brother 8-year-old Cedric Dotson, and Jessie Dotson's mother were key prosecution witnesses.
"CJ solved it," said prosecutor Ray Lepone. "He had the courage to come in here and point out his uncle."
Jurors concluded that the short, thin Dotson after a day of drinking, shot and killed his brother, Cecil Dotson, in the dark early morning hours of March 2, 2008. Then he went after everyone else in the house with two guns, boards and several knives, leaving no DNA evidence behind in the house, which the defense pointed out.
Also killed were 4-year-old Cemario Dotson and 2-year-old Cecil Dotson Jr. II; Cecil Dotson's girlfriend, Marissa Williams; and friends Hollis Seals and Shindri Roberson.

top ten list is the top ten world most dangerous gangs

top ten list is the top ten world most dangerous gangs

10. Area Boys

Territory: Nigeria and parts of Africa

Criminal activities: Drug trafficking, extortion, murder, inciting riots

Number of members: 35,000

Over the past three decades, Nigeria’s Area Boys have gone from young kids committing crimes of opportunity to a massive if still largely unorganized street gang responsible for acts of extortion and murder.

9. Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC)

Territory: Brazilian prison system

Criminal activities: Drug and gun trafficking, murder, extortion, prison riots, prison breaks, kidnappingNumber of members: 6,000-plus

A Brazilian gang, this gang is one of the newest Brazilian prison gangs to be formed. Founded in 1993 Primeiro Comando da Capital the gang is known to have carried out about 300 attacks, all of them being against public establishments. In order to become part of the Primeiro Comando da Capital, you have to be introduced by a regular member of the gang. An oath must also be accepted.

8. Jamaican Posse

Territory: Jamaica, Eastern United States, UK (known as “Yardies”)

Criminal activities: Drug and gun trafficking, witness intimidation, murder

Number of members: 13,000 to 20,000

Authorities have identified dozens of individual posses within the wider gang. The two most often cited are the Spangler Posse, aligned with the PNP, and the Shower Posse, aligned with the JLP. The Shower Posse reportedly takes its name from the “shower of bullets” it dispenses on its enemies.

The Jamaican Posse have ties in Eastern Canada and Southern US mainly in Florida and have established drugs routes in trafficking.

7. Aryan Brotherhood

Territory: U.S. federal and state prison systems

Criminal activities: Drug trafficking, conspiracy, murder, racketeering, contract killing

Number of members: 15,000-plus

The gang only makes up about 1% of prison populations, but size doesn’t matter to the Aryan Brotherhood. In fact, this gang is known for at least 26% of the murders that occur in prisons around the U.S. The Aryan Brotherhood is split into two groups, usually those in federal prisons and other members that are located in some of the smaller state prisons, especially those in California. In order to join the Aryan

Brotherhood, one has to kill or assault another prisoner.

6. Wah Ching

Territory: Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles

Criminal activities: Drug and gun trafficking, extortion, murder, software piracy, burglary, gambling, prostitution, loan sharking

Number of members: 100,000 Worldwide

The Wah Ching are also violent and sophisticated, as evidenced by two 1995 raids in Los Angeles that uncovered an underground factory run by the Wah Ching featuring $18 million in counterfeit Microsoft products. The raid also found weapons and explosives, namely TNT and C-4.

Wah Ching is a Chinese American street gang and Triad Society composed of different sets including Ken-Side, Sonny-Side, Paul-Side, T-Side, Alhambra-Side, and Monterey Park-Side, that operate mostly in Southern California but including areas throughout California and Vancouver, British Columbia. During their salad days, they controlled most of the criminal vices throughout San Francisco and Los Angeles’s Asian communities.

The gang has established drug trade routes in China white and the heroine trade.

Allies include Nuestra Familia, Bloods, Crips, Black Guerrilla Family, 14K Triad, Sun Yee On Triad, TAP Boyz, Big Circle Boys, Black Dragon Gang, DC Blacks

5. Bloods

Territory: Los Angeles

Criminal activities: Murder, drug trafficking, robbery, extortion

Number of members: 15,000 to 30,000

Thousands of members of the Blood street gang were establishing themselves as a formidable force among gangs and continued a steady drive for recruitment. At this time, the Bloods were more violent than other gangs but much less organized.

The Bloods are violent and run much of the inner city drugs in the US

4. 18th Street Gang

Territory: Los Angeles, Western and Southern U.S., Central America

Criminal activities: Drug and gun trafficking, robbery, extortion, murder, contract killing, prostitution

Number of members: 65,000

18th Street is considered to be the second largest gang in Los Angeles, California.

18th Street is a well established gang that is involved in all areas of street-crime (as opposed to corporate crime). Some members have even become involved in producing fraudulent Immigration and Customs Enforcement identification cards and food stamps. Several 18th Street gang members have evolved into a higher level of sophistication and organization than other gangs. They also have been linked to occurrences of murder, murder-for-hire, assaults, drug trafficking, extortion, vandalism, drug smuggling, prostitution, robbery, and weapons trafficking, as well as other crimes.

3. Crips

Territory: Los Angeles

Criminal activities: Drug trafficking, robbery, murder, extortion, ID theft

Number of members: 50,000

The alliance with the 18th Street Gang has strengthened has made the Crips even more powerful.

The Crips are one of the largest and most violent associations of street gangs in the United States, with an estimated 50,000 members. The gang is known to be involved in murders, robberies, and drug dealing, among many other criminal pursuits. The gang is known for its gang members’ use of the color blue in their clothing. However, this practice has waned due to police crackdowns on gang members.

2. Mexican Mafia

Territory: Prison but control most of the drugs and Mexican street gangs in the US

Criminal activities: Murder, money laundering, weapon trafficking, drug trafficking, Kidnapping, pandering, racketeering, extortion and illegal gambling

Number of members: 500-600 Inducted Members/ Leaders, over 50,000 Associates

The Mexican Mafia, also known as La Eme (Spanish for the letter M) is a Mexican-American criminal organization, and is one of the oldest and most powerful prison gangs in the United States.

The Mexican Mafia is the controlling organization for almost every Chicano gang in Southern California. All members of Chicano gangs in Southern California are obligated under the threat of death to carry out any and all orders from made Mexican Mafia members. The Mexican Mafia also holds a loose alliance with the Aryan Brotherhood, mainly due to their common rivals within the prison system.

The Mexican Mafia is an organization involved in extortion, drug trafficking, and murder, both inside and outside the prison system. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Mexican Mafia had arranged for contract killings to be carried out by the Aryan Brotherhood, a white prison gang. Both the Mexican Mafia and the Aryan Brotherhood are mutual enemies of the African-American gang Black Guerilla Family.

1 Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)

Territory: Central America, the United States

Criminal activities: Drugs, guns and human trafficking, murder, contract killing, extortion, kidnapping

Number of members: 70,000

Right now, the street gang getting the most attention around the world is MS-13. The gang is a product of the Cold War, born of refugees from the 1980s Salvadoran Civil War who landed in Los Angeles. For a street gang, MS-13 operates with extreme organizational efficiency.

The majority of the gang is ethnically composed of Central Americans and active in urban and suburban areas.

They have been the most violent and fast rising gang in the North America today. Even the Mexican Drug cartels are paying them for protection of their drug routes.

Monday 20 September 2010

Thavone Narong, identified Friday as the man shot to death on an Abbotsford street Thursday morning, was the father of one of the Surrey Six victims

Thavone Narong, identified Friday as the man shot to death on an Abbotsford street Thursday morning, was the father of one of the Surrey Six victims and had just been released from jail weeks before he was killed.

Cpl. Dale Carr, a spokesman for the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said there was no link between the two shootings except that the victims were related.

Narong, 49, of Abbotsford, lost his son Eddie Narong, 22, in the Oct. 19, 2007 murders in a Surrey apartment, now known as the Surrey Six killings.

"I want to make it clear they are separate investigations, nearly three years apart, and there is nothing to show a link between the two," said Carr.

He said police officers were speaking to Narong's friends and associates to determine whether the shooting was gang-related and appealed to anyone who may know something about the crime to call the RCMP.

Narong was shot to death in the 3000-block of Charles Court in Abbotsford Thursday morning.

Carr said officers were on scene Friday, going door to door questioning neighbours who may have witnessed something.

Describing the murder as a "targeted hit," police said officers found him in a gold Toyota Camry that had been driven into a parked red Mustang. It was the city's fourth homicide of 2010.

"It is very apparent that he was the target of this homicide. It is not a case of a stray bullet," said Carr.

Carr said Narong was known to police but he stressed that no link had yet been established between Thursday's shooting and gangs, drugs or organized crime.

According to online court documents, Narong had recently been released from jail Sept. 2 on $100,000 bail. He was charged July 1 with weapons possession, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and assault with a weapon. His next court appearance was scheduled for Sept. 21 to fix a date for trial, the documents show.

Narong's son Eddie was shot to death in the penthouse suite of Balmoral Tower along with Corey and Michael Lal, Ryan Bartolomeo, and innocent bystanders Ed Schellenberg and Chris Mohan.

The younger Narong had been linked to the drug trade.

Several members of the Red Scorpion gang, including Jamie Bacon, are in custody and charged in the Surrey Six killings.

Dennis Karbovanec, a member of the Red Scorpion gang, pleaded guilty in April 2009 to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison for three counts of second-degree murder.



Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Father+Surrey+victim+shot+death+Abbotsford+street/3543289/story.html#ixzz103VaOzUv

guns - dubbed Showstoppers in the underworld - are smuggled into Britain from abroad - before being snapped up on the cheap by drug dealers and crime


guns - dubbed Showstoppers in the underworld - are smuggled into Britain from abroad - before being snapped up on the cheap by drug dealers and crime clan enforcers across Scotland.
And detectives are investigating whether one of the guns was used in the shooting of a 41-year-old in Glasgow 10 days ago.
Showstoppers are replica Smith & Wesson Colt 45 revolvers designed to fire blanks. But experts yesterday confirmed they are easily converted into deadly weapons capable of firing 9mm bullets.
A source close to Chapman said: "Guys are queuing up for one of his guns and he's doing a roaring trade because they're so cheap.
"He flogs them for as little as s100 for the gun parts, which can be reactivated into a live-firing gun within a few minutes.
"Billy's sales pitch to customers is that the guns have been smuggled home by soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Wherever he gets them from, he's always got a steady supply because he can get you a weapon within a couple of hours."
Sunday Mail investigators watched this week as Chapman, based in the east end of Glasgow, sold a handgun to a customer in the Merchant City area.
During the three-minute deal, Chapman was constantly watching for police before pulling the gun, wrapped in plastic, from under his jacket and taking the cash.
Looking edgy, he was taped telling one buyer: "Don't worry. I can get you rounds for this.
"You can get the barrel drilled out easily and you're sorted."
Our team watched as Chapman, dressed in skip cap and shellsuit, scuttled around pubs and bookies' shops in the east end arranging deals on his mobile phone.
We recorded him telling another customer: "I've just sold one so give me a few hours and I'll sort you out."
We watched Chapman as he met one thug outside a William Hill bookmaker in the city's High Street, before disappearing into a quiet lane to hand over the weapon.
Our underworld source, who handed over one of Chapman's guns to our investigators, said: "He's selling plenty of these because they're a cheap answer to people's problems.
"You know you're not buying a state of the art handgun. It's a crude but deadly after a few tweaks.
"The barrel comes filled with lead, which needs drilled out. Other parts, such as the handle and trigger, are really easy to get hold of and you're basically ready to go.
"These things are probably only good for one or two shots- but that's all you need.
"For s100, you just dump it afterwards anyway. No wonder they're going like hotcakes."
Last night, one of Britain's leading firearms experts confirmed the Colt could easily be converted into a deadly weapon.
But ballistics expert David Dyson said those buying the guns for gangland hits were also putting their own safety at risk.
For safety reasons, the Sunday Mail has decided not to reveal the exact details of easily the replica firearm could be transformed into a weapon capable of firing live ammunition.
Dyson said: "This is a very crude attempt at a cheap handgun and it would be possible to convert it into a live-firing weapon. But because it appears to be made of alloy, there is a risk that if converted, the barrel or cylinder could explode with the massive force of live ammunition.
"So obviously there will be a risk to whoever is trying to fire it.
"You are never going to get a perfect weapon converting something like this. But there will be enough force for a couple of shots."
Gun crime continues to grow in Scotland and recent figures revealed that operations by armed police have soared to record levels.
The number of call-outs has nearly tripled since the mid-1990s to more than 500, according to figures released earlier this year for 2007-2008.
The report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary revealed there were 548 armed police operations in Scotland, up from just 190 in 1996-97.
The highest number - 284 - was in the area covered by Scotland's largest force, Strathclyde Police, where organised crime is most prevalent.
There were 114 operations in Grampian, while in Lothian and Borders, there were 75.
In Tayside, there were 35, up from 12 the previous year, and in Central Scotland there were 13, up from four.
There were also 13 in the Northern Constabulary area, up from four, 12 in Fife and two in Dumfries and Galloway.
Earlier Scottish Executive statistics, published in October 2009, showed armed raids in Scotland had soared by 40 per cent in a year.
Firearms were used in 91 robberies, up from 65 in only 12 months, and in six post offi ce raids, up from two the previous year.
Glasgow has seen some of the worst gun incidents as rival crime clans battle for control of the city's lucrative drugs market.
Ten days ago, police launched a major inquiry after a 41-year-old was shot by a lone gunman in Dale Path, in the city's Bridgeton area.
The victim is seriously ill in hospital after being targeted almost two weeks ago.
Police are carrying out door-to-door inquiries and are studying CCTV footage in a bid to identify the gunman.
A spokeswoman said: "No arrests have been made and inquiries are continuing."
The deadly capability of DIY handguns was revealed earlier this year when aspiring glamour model Caroline Igoe was jailed for murdering boyfriend Martyn Barclay on the doorstep of their Edinburgh home.
Igoe, 32, killed her lover with a single shot because she was furious at him for heading out for a night's drinking.
Part-time model Igoe blasted Martyn, 26, in the head with a blank-firing pistol which had been crudely converted to take live ammo.
Police found the German-made Umarerx Reck 9mm would only shoot one bullet at a time and was prone to misfiring.
Igoe - who has links to drug dealers - calmly walked back indoors and carried on surfing her Bebo internet site after the shooting, leaving her dying lover to be found by a passer-by.
She was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 20 years, after a four-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow in May.
Recent figures from Strathclyde Police revealed 82 firearms were recovered in the last year. They said the most significant haul came last October when Operation Lockdown smashed a massive Glasgow drugs gang.
Drugs worth almost s9million were seized along with a massive haul of weapons following the 15-month surveillance operation.
Officers recovered two machine guns, along with seven shotguns, 11 rifles, eight handguns and 3,400 rounds of ammunition.
London's Metropolitan Police have revealed that one replica gun sold as a starting pistol is behind a surge in gangland shootings in the capital.
The Met said the Olympic BBM 9mm revolver, converted by criminals to fire real bullets, makes up 40 per cent of the live-firing guns seized by the force last year.
Police sources said firearms offi cers were able to convert an Olympic to shoot live rounds within 24 hours using a basic DIY toolkit.
The killing of 11-year-old schoolboy Rhys Jones in Liverpool in 2007 shocked Britain and led to renewed calls for tighter gun laws.
It also highlighted the access city gangs had to firearms and converted weapons. Everton fan Rhys was walking home from football practice when he was shot in the back as he crossed a pub car park - the innocent victim of a fight between rival gangs.
Thug Sean Mercer, 18, a member of the Croxteth Crew gang, was jailed for life the folowing year for the murder.
Detectives, who raided several homes during the investigation, discovered the .455 Smith and Wesson handgun used to kill Rhys and a converted replica Walther PPK handgun hidden in a loft.

footballer from Kenton who shot dead a gang rival in Brent has been jailed for life.

Gavin Grant, 26, gunned down former friend Leon Labastide outside his mother's house on the Stonebridge Estate in May 2004.

Grant, of Shrewsbury Avenue, continued his promising football career after the shooting, playing for Millwall, Gillingham, and as recently as May turning out for Bradford City.

But a jury at the Old Bailey decided last week Grant and Birmingham resident Gareth Downie, 25, had been contracted to carry out the killing in revenge for an earlier burglary alleged to have been orchestrated by Mr Labastide.

A third man, Damien Williams, 33, of Bermondsey, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder having arranged for Grant and Downie to lie in wait for the victim and shoot him dead.

The trio were all jailed for life, and were told by Judge Peter Beaumont they must serve at least 25 years behind bars.

actor Michael Caine has revealed that he had a close shave with Russian mafia

actor Michael Caine has revealed that he had a close shave with Russian mafia while shooting in the country for one of his films in the 1990s.

Michael was filming scenes for his 1996 movie ‘Midnight in Saint Petersburg’ and was assigned two machine gun-toting guards to protect him from the local mob.

However, he soon realized he was safe when the gangsters told him they were bankrolling his movie and he’s not on the list of hitmen.

“I was sitting in my usual corner of the cafe when one of the mafia guys came over and asked if he could join me. As if I could possibly say no. Why do you have all these stupid bodyguards?’ he asked. I replied to him all innocently, as if I had no idea of his occupation: ‘They say that there’s mafia here in St Petersburg and I’m worried about our safety,” the Daily Star quoted him as he saying in his autobiography ‘The Elephant To Hollywood.’

“He let out a great laugh and slapped his thigh. ‘You work for…’ and he gave the name of a Russian movie company that I didn’t quite catch. Did I? He stood up and said: ‘We own that. There’s no need to worry - you’re the safest man in the whole of St Petersburg,” he explained further.

Even after the gangster’s assurances, Caine called it the worst professional experience he ever witnessed.

Friday 12 February 2010

the New Boys are declaring a war on one club, they can expect to cop it from all clubs

The New Boys has been undercutting other dealers, and targeted outlaw bikies, the Hell's Angels, in a series of drive-by shootings in August.The New Boys emerged in the northern suburbs about four years ago and once congregated at pubs around Elizabeth and Smithfield. They use Hindley St as their base, as well as the Norwood entertainment strips, including The Parade, where they sell drugs. The gang has two "chapters" and is extensively involved in selling drugs, including ecstasy tablets and methamphetamine, and street fights, usually using knives.The group said to be headed by a city tattooist, the target of the bungled bomb attack who lashed out at cameramen yesterday when he returned to his home, metres from the crime scene.It was two hours before sunrise on Thursday when Enfield shook with the force of the home-made bomb, ripping apart a hire car and killing two men on Truscott Rd.Convicted drug runner Vahe Hacopian, 31, of Munno Para West, and a 23-year-old Walkley Heights Hell's Angels associate, made it within metres of their suspected target when the explosives accidentally detonated.Their target, a tattooist and New Boys drug dealer, lived just metres from where shrapnel showered the road.They were killed instantly, with one man's body blown across the road while the other remained in the vehicle, secured by his seatbelt.The tattooist was a suspect in the 2008 Gouger St shootings, his Enfield home raided by STAR Group officers hours after the gun battle.Yesterday, he returned home to his wife and children, but stayed only five minutes.A uniformed police officer stood about 40m away, guarding the crime scene around Thursday's bomb blast."Get that camera off the house," he shouted while rushing at a television cameraman. "Haven't you got any respect for my kids and wife? Is this how you protect the community, you maggots? Insects. Dogs."The tattooist has a criminal history dating back to when he was 17, including numerous convictions for serious assault and drug dealing.Yesterday, bikie expert and author of The Brotherhoods, Inside the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs, Professor Arthur Veno said Adelaide was most likely in the middle of a turf war between drug dealers. "It's extremely unlikely that the (motorcycle) clubs are doing this," he said."The clubs are desperately trying to get rid of these guys."They have to distance themselves from the criminal element because the understanding is if they want to keep their club, they need to get rid of that kind of thing. It's much more likely to be an underworld drug situation or turf war."Prof Veno said if the New Boys wanted a war with one club, they would be shut down by all of them. He said the once-warring bikie gangs had been brought together by the United Motorcycle Council to fight the state government's anti-bikie laws."If the New Boys are declaring a war on one club, they can expect to cop it from all clubs, who will join together and stop it real quick," he said. "The bikie clubs are under so much pressure and they've reached a consensus through the United Motorcycle Council that they will push out the criminal element."They are desperately trying to keep a lid on things.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

targeted killings in Monterey County during the past year are the result of gang orders to cleanse the area of those considered traitors by Norteños


targeted killings in Monterey County during the past year are the result of gang orders to cleanse the area of those considered traitors by Norteños and their parent gang, the Nuestra Familia.Recent slayings of at least seven people not in good standing with the gang in Greenfield and Salinas led investigators to conclude that a "cleanup" of the streets in the wake of two large federal racketeering cases is continuing."We're dealing with violence that is spread across the Salinas Valley and beyond," Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier said. "The issues are not in any one city and the solutions will have to involve the region."Gang members, agents and federal prosecutors -- all of whom asked not to be named -- say the FBI is working a new gang conspiracy case in the Salinas Valley. Only San Francisco U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello said on the record that the FBI and his office are investigating more gang crimes in Monterey County.The brazenness of some slayings remind longtime gang cops of a bloody era more than a decade ago, when gang leaders in Salinas and points south ordered dozens of killings in a civil war and power struggle within the gang.

In late 1998, several regiment leaders and so-called traitors were slain, with attempts made on many more as Nuestra Familia crew bosses fought over control of the valley.The slayings of three people in and near the Pueblo Inn.motel in Greenfield in December and January point to the possible involvement of a higher "shot caller" presumably still at large, investigators said.
Israel Cota of Soledad, who police say is a Nuestra Familia boss for Salinas Valley, is wanted on warrant by state parole officers. Police declined to say if he is a person of interest in the Greenfield slayings.Police continue to try to apprehend 18-year-old Francisco Tamayo, believed to be the shooter of two women at the motel, but investigators do not consider him to be the gang authority who ordered the crime.
Yliza Martinez and Veronica Gallegos, both 30, were shot in their motel room Dec. 5. Gallegos died that night, Martinez died a week later.Shortly after the slayings, fire crews were summoned to put out a mysterious fire in the motel's hallway.Although police have not speculated on a suspect or motive behind the apparent arson, gangs for years have used arson and fire bombings as warnings to tell would-be crime witnesses not to cooperate with police.On Jan. 14, Gallegos' half-brother Angel Gutierrez, 40, was shot and killed not far from the motel.About that time, officers learned Cota failed to show up for a parole appointment. Cota was released from Monterey County jail in late December.Citing an ongoing investigation, police declined to say whether they are aware of a specific motive for the three slayings, although Gutierrez was known to have had a falling out with Nuestra Familia years ago. Before that, he was "very active" with the gang in Soledad, an investigator familiar with his history said.Some killings likely ordered Salinas police detective Lalo Villegas said that just because a gang member is on a hit list doesn't necessarily mean his killing was ordered by the gang."Norteños can be on a hit list forever and nothing ever happens to them," he said.
Nonetheless, in the past year, he said, "we've also seen some of the true hits."
Gang officers from Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties say current levels of violence are in part the unforeseen consequences of large federal prosecutions.
A leadership struggle at the gang's highest level emerged after the FBI's Operation Black Widow took out the Nuestra Familia's top captains and generals and sent them to a federal supermax prison in Colorado in 2005. Since then, it has been well-documented that two factions in the Central Coast have struggled over control of the gang: Those still loyal to the leaders in federal prisons, and those loyal to the new general, D.C. Cervantes of Chino, in Pelican Bay State Prison, the gang's traditional headquarters.During the past year, investigators say, the Pelican Bay faction has asserted its authority after the government's Operation Valley Star in 2007 swept up key figures in the Salinas and Central valleys still reporting to the old leaders.
A second likely factor in the violence is competition from rival Sureño gangs.
The bloodshed has stepped up in part, police say, because the Nuestra Familia is trying to re-establish territory lost to its archenemy during the Nuestra Familia's recent years of organizational chaos.

"Sureños are definitely getting more organized," said Villegas. "We do know that we've been having some high-ranking people trying to unite them. They're starting to be a little more structured than we've seen before.
"Villegas said the Salinas Valley is seeing Sureños targeting suspected traitors within their ranks, although he said he hasn't seen evidence the killings were ordered by higher-ups.Links to '98 homicide?One curious aspect of the investigations is that police are looking into whether at least two of the past year's victims may have known something about the slaying 12 years ago of Nuestra Familia's Salinas crew leader Miguel "Mikeo" Castillo by Rico "Smiley" Garcia, a case that made dramatic headlines at the time.In 1998, Alberto Arizpe contacted police in an apparent attempt to mislead officers shortly after Castillo's killing, according to a police report.He told skeptical detectives that Castillo's attackers were three Sureños -- members of the Norteños' rival gang. But Garcia later admitted to conspiring to kill Castillo and is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Florida.Arizpe eventually left the gang after he was assaulted and beaten by Norteño gang members in Monterey County Jail.Last summer, he was 28 years old when he was killed along with a female friend in a brazen home-invasion attack on a Salinas residence.Authorities are looking into whether last week's slaying victim, Gutierrez, was connected to Castillo's murder.Suspect not believed to be gunmanThe only person charged in the Pueblo Inn killings is a 15-year-old boy held in Juvenile Hall. Prosecutors say he was not the triggerman in the slayings of the two women, but was present when they were killed.On Wednesday, a county court is expected to decide if the boy will be tried as an adult on two counts of murder.

Hells Angels violent biker war with the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club

Rising tensions between two biker gangs have Winnipeg police closely monitoring their actions.Police paid close attention to a bar at a St. Boniface hotel Saturday night following a tip that a fight could be imminent.The news follows a serious attack against a Winnipeg member of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club inside a business on St. Mary's Road about three weeks ago.Sources tell CTV News the victim was lured to the business where he was then beaten.The victim had such serious injuries that he was unrecognizable.Officers say they had received information that the people responsible for the attack were Hells Angels members and a few of their associates.
The group was allegedly unhappy with the victim because he is a former member of the Zig Zag crew, which is a puppet club to the Hells Angels.He had apparently been seen around the city wearing his new gang's vest, which drew negative attention from the Hells Angels.Since the attack, police have been preparing to deal with some sort of retaliation.There were suspicions that members of the Rock Machine were going to attend a bar on Saturday night at the hotel because they knew associates of the Hells Angels frequented the place.Nothing appeared to happen at that bar Saturday night.Still, a number of Rock Machine members from outside the province have been seen in Winnipeg over the past week.Saturday night's events follow the execution of several search warrants, including one last week on Mighton Avenue in Elmwood.A 30-year-old man was arrested and a loaded nine millimetre handgun was seized at the home.CTV News has learned the man who was arrested is a member of the Redlined Club, a group which is considered a friend club to the Hells Angels.This arrest is also believed to be connected to the rising tensions between the gangs, say sources.Police have confirmed they were at the bar on Saturday night, but will not provide any further information.The public's safety was one of the main reasons police say they were there in such large numbers.
There has been trouble between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine in the past. Both groups were involved in a violent biker war in Quebec in the mid-nineties.
A truce was made but police say they are worried violence could erupt again.

24-year-old Howard Astorga, found guilty of first-degree murder

Four-year-old Roberto Lopez loved creating artwork out of glitter and sequins at a neighborhood arts and community center in the southern edge of Echo Park. It was while Roberto was near that neighborhood center that he was fatally shot a year ago last month by a gang member on parole. Today, a jury found that gang member, 24-year-old Howard Astorga, found guilty of first-degree murder, according to Associated Press. Astorga was firing his gun at a speeding car but one of those bullets struck Roberto instead. Astorga faces a prison sentence of 82 years to life.Since the murder, several groups have tried to organize residents of the neighborhood, wedged between Temple Street and Vista Hermosa Park, against crime.

Morgan Hill police are offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the gang-related death

Morgan Hill police are offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the gang-related death of a 24-year-old Hollister man, the city's first homicide in four years.
Sgt. Jerry Neumayer said today that detectives are still trying to figure out who killed Juan Jose Arrellano Jr. on Oct. 2.
Shortly before midnight that day, police responded to 911 calls from residents who heard multiple shots fired near the Crest Avenue apartments. The arriving officer found Arrellano on the sidewalk, bleeding from a gunshot wound in his upper body. He was pronounced dead at 11:35 p.m.
Witnesses told police they saw at least two young men, between 16 and 20 years old and wearing dark blue clothing, shoot Arrellano with a 9 mm handgun while shouting gang-related slurs.
Arrellano was the first homicide in Morgan Hill since 2005.
Officers flooded the area with the help of dogs from the Santa Clara County sheriff's K-9 unit and air support from San Jose police, but to no avail.

Capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simenta


Capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, who was captured last month. Teodoro and Manuel Garcia are brothers.Lopez, known as "El Muletas," and Garcia, known as "El Chiquilin," were arrested Monday in La Paz, a city in the southern end of the Baja California peninsula, said Amy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.Mexico's Public Security Department confirmed the arrests in a brief statement, describing Manual Garcia as the gang's leader after his brother's arrest and Lopez as the current second-in-command. It said the arrests were the result of leads starting with the capture of Teodoro Garcia in La Paz on Jan. 12, but offered no further details on the operations.Roderick said there were no U.S. indictments pending against the suspects.The gang was known for its brutality, having executed, beheaded and mutilated hundreds of rivals in Tijuana, which is across the U.S. border from San Diego. Gang members pinned notes to corpses and dissolved bodies in caustic soda.Tedoro Garcia's arrest netted 19 mobile phones and two laptop computers. Twelve more cartel suspects were arrested in two raids in late January, including two men and a women who were allegedly about to dissolve a body in a bathtub with chemicals.Manuel Garcia is the youngest of three brothers. The oldest brother, Marco Antonio, was arrested in a shootout with Mexican authorities in Tijuana in 2004.
Teodoro Garcia was once considered a top hit man for Tijuana's dominant drug gang, the family-run Arellano-Felix cartel. He launched a new group affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel after law enforcement arrested or killed most of the Tijuana cartel leaders in 2008.

The splintered organizations have been involved in a violent turf battle in Tijuana, a valuable trafficking corridor to the U.S.

More than 1,500 people have been murdered in Tijuana since the beginning of 2008.

Across the country, more than 15,000 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels when he took office three years ago. More than 2,500 of the killings occurred last year in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The military announced Monday that soldiers had seized more than 12 tons of marijuana found beneath a false floor of a tractor trailer. The drugs were found during a routine search at a checkpoint near San Felipe, a town in the central part of the Baja California peninsula.

Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war

Teodoro Garcia Simental, blamed for a years-long campaign of massacres, beheadings and kidnappings that chased away tourists and caused social upheaval in northern Baja California, was arrested by Mexican federal police without the suspect firing a shot, and immediately flown to Mexico City.The heavyset Garcia, believed to be in his mid-30s, with close-trimmed hair and a goatee, scowled and dabbed at his mouth as he was paraded before television cameras at a police base wearing a zippered warm-up jacket.Better known for savage killing rampages than narco-business acumen, the man nicknamed "El Teo" bedeviled Mexican authorities for years and narrowly escaped capture several times. Last January, authorities arrested the man they said admitted being Garcia's body disposal expert. Known as El Pozolero, or "the stew maker," he claimed, authorities said, to have dissolved 300 bodies in barrels of caustic chemicals.Mexican federal authorities, acting on intelligence provided by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said they tracked Garcia down after a five-month surveillance operation. He was captured in an upscale area in the southern part of the city."Today another Mexican cartel leader was taken off the street and is no longer able to carry out his bloody turf war," said Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the DEA. "This was not an isolated event: It exemplifies the growing effectiveness of our information sharing with [Mexican President Felipe Calderon's] administration, and our continued commitment to defeat the drug traffickers who have plagued both our nations."Though Garcia was not considered to be in the top echelon of Mexican drug lords, few reputed crime bosses have had such a ruinous effect on a region. Mexican authorities say he was responsible for hundreds of killings during a nearly two-year power struggle with rivals in the Arellano Felix drug cartel, in which he had once been a top-ranking lieutenant.Garcia is said to have branched out from traditional drug trafficking and focused his criminal empire on extortion and kidnapping, targeting all levels of society. During his reign, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Tijuana residents moved out of the border city to avoid being kidnapped, and more than 42 police officers were killed.

Wednesday 3 February 2010

masked gunman walked into a southern Sacramento County Vietnamese restaurant Wednesday afternoon and executed a 22-year-old man at close range.

authorities are calling a likely gang hit, a masked gunman walked into a southern Sacramento County Vietnamese restaurant Wednesday afternoon and executed a 22-year-old man at close range.No words were exchanged before the unknown assailant fired a black semiautomatic handgun multiple times at the victim, hitting him in the head and chest, said Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Curran.The gunman fled on foot down 53rd Avenue, and had not been identified by evening, Curran said.Few homicides investigated by authorities, he said, are “as cold and as calculated as this one.”
“It’s very scary,” he said.Curran said detectives suspect the killing to be gang-related because the victim had been validated as a gang member by law enforcement and because the area – near Stockton Boulevard and the 65th Street Expressway – is known for gang activity.Deputies were called to the Pho Ga Hung Vietnamese Cuisine restaurant on Savings Place for a shooting just after 2:15 p.m., Curran said. They found a 22-year-old man, whose name was not released, on the restaurant’s floor. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
He is the fifth homicide victim within the Sheriff’s Department’s jurisdiction in 2010.The victim was eating with three friends – a man and two women – when the suspect walked into the restaurant, up to their table and unloaded his gun, Curran said.
Three employees also were inside at the time, but nobody else was shot at or injured, Curran said. For that reason, he said, detectives suspect the victim was targeted.Witnesses described the suspect to deputies as a man between age 28 and 35, 5 feet, 7 inches tall with a medium build. He wore a dark ski mask and a dark jacket.
Curran said the victim’s friends, who later wept in the parking lot, and the employees were cooperative with detectives. At this point, he said detectives do not believe they were involved in the killing.The call drew roughly two dozen deputies and detectives, including a number of investigators from the gang unit. It also drew spectators, who stopped along the sidewalk of the busy 65th Street Expressway.Richard Sims said he walks by the shopping center often while on his way to the grocery store. He described it as fairly quiet and humble.But he agreed with the Sheriff’s Department’s assessment about gang activity in the area, and noted that people he believes are gang members often congregate at one of the businesses in the center and at another across the street.“There’s something going on,” said Sims, 52. Gesturing toward the deputies, he added, “These cats know – the police know – but they don’t come by here.”
Curran said that’s because budget cuts and resulting layoffs mean deputies have little time for anything but emergencies.“Unless there’s a call for service there, our deputies don’t have time to be proactive,” he said. “They’re going from call to call to call.”

Thursday 28 January 2010

Eastside Riva, numbering about 800, as Riverside's oldest and "most violent" street gang, at war with the 1200 Blocc Crips

people with alleged ties to two rival street gangs engaged in a bloody years-long war in Riverside were arrested today in an operation aimed at taking down the gangs' leadership."Operation Promise," a coordinated federal, state and local law enforcement sweep, targeted the Eastside Riva and the 1200 Blocc Crips, leading to the arrests of 50 people, the seizure of 28 guns and two pet rattlesnakes, authorities said."This unprecedented operation is part of my ongoing promise to bring hope and restoration to the people of Riverside," said Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco, who made the announcement during a news briefing at the Regency Tower in downtown Riverside.Pacheco. was joined by representatives from the various law enforcement agencies that participated in the sweep, including the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, the Riverside Police Department, FBI, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
A total of 650 law enforcement personnel served warrants on the residences of about 100 suspected gang members during the operation, authorities said.
"The damage we did was to the leadership of the gangs," said Pacheco.
"We were going after the top folks."
In addition to Riverside, suspects' homes in Beaumont, Mead Valley, Moreno Valley, Nuevo, Perris and Rubidoux were raided, according to the District Attorney's Office.
Pacheco said the sweep was the culmination of 14 months' work by the District Attorney's Office and the other agencies involved, with the goal of having "as large an impact as possible, in as many ways as possible."
The district attorney described the all-Hispanic Eastside Riva, numbering about 800, as Riverside's oldest and "most violent" street gang, at war with the 1200 Blocc Crips, an all-black gang numbering around 200, since the early 1990s.
Pacheco said the two sides have caused numerous casualties, including the deaths of innocent people, some of them children. Both gangs are into narcotics trafficking, he said. The Eastside Riva's drug trade is largely managed by the Mexican Mafia from prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Wednesday 20 January 2010

2009 was the bloodiest in Jamaica’s history.

1,680 killings in ’09 highest in country’s history.According to statistics released by the police yesterday, 1,680 murders were recorded in 2009, a four per cent increase over the 1,618 homicides reported in 2008.According to the police, approximately 52 per cent (859) of the murders committed last year “were due to intra-gang and internal gang feuds, in addition to reprisal killings”.
October proved to be the deadliest month last year with a total 177 murders reported. There were 155 murders in May while December rounded out the top three with 152 murders.There was no month when fewer than 100 murders were committed.
Portland, which for many years showed very low murder figures, recorded the largest percentage increase in murders during 2009, moving from 11 in 2008 to 20 last year for an overall 82 per cent increase, the police revealed.Yesterday, police in that parish attributed the increase in murders to domestic squabbles.
“The bulk of the killings committed in the division, we have found out, were domestic-related murders,” Deputy Superintendent Gary Flash in charge of operations told the Observer.“It is a cause for major concern,” he said, adding that the police have already started to put measures in place to address the problem.The police statistics also show that women accounted for almost 10 per cent of murder victims, with a total of 163, while 81 children and 11 cops were killed last year.Guns accounted for 1,293 (77 per cent) of all murders last year, while 227 persons were killed with knives and machetes were used to kill 56 persons.There were also 74 double murders, nine triple murders and three cases in which more than three people were killed in a single incident in 2009.Seventeen murders were committed during drive-by shootings.A total of 1,667 persons were shot and injured in 2009, 139 more than the previous year.The police also said they fatally shot a total of 241 persons and injured another 339. Eight others were killed by licensed firearm holders, five by security guards and one person was killed by a Jamaica Defence Force soldier.But amid the grim news, the police pointed to decreases in murders in five divisions — St Mary with 14 compared to 33 in 2008, a drop of 58 per cent; St Andrew Central with 95 last year compared to 137 in 2008, a decrease of 31 per cent; Kingston Central moved from 71 in 2008 to 54 in 2009 for an overall 24 per cent decrease; St Catherine North with 178 last year compared to 184 the previous year, a decrease of three per cent; and Kingston West which recorded 54 murders in 2009 compared to 57 in 2008, a five per cent decline.Police also reported that they seized 569 illegal guns and 6,068 rounds of assorted ammunition last year.But while murders and shootings continue to spiral out of control, the incidents of rape and carnal abuse have trended down.However property crimes — robbery (3,004), break-ins (3,780), and larceny (511) — have all trended up by 13, 54 and 57 per cent respectively.
Guns were used in 1,979 robberies.

Monday 18 January 2010

BLACK PRISON GANGS

Black Guerrilla Family - United Blood Nation - DC Blacks - 415 Kumi Nation - Bloods
Crips - Mandingo Warriors - Black Warriors - Jamaican Posse - African American Council
Nation of Islam - Black Panthers - El Rukns - People Nation - Black P. Stones - Vice Lords
Mickey Cobras - Folk Nation - Black Disciples - Gangster Disciples

Aryan Brotherhood members make up less than one percent of the nation's prison inmate population,

Aryan Brotherhood members make up less than one percent of the nation's prison inmate population, yet the white prison gang is responsible for 18% of all prison murders.The Aryan Brotherhood picked the name because it showed white supremacy and the shamrock (clover) because it is the sign of the Irish (the original members had to be part Irish). They use the "666", which is the sign of the beast (it's earned for committing a murder), and the swastika, for one that takes pride in being hated & feared by their enemies. Only members of the AB are permitted to wear the "brand" of the gang; individuals found to be wearing the tattoo without consent are subject to being murdered.Sworn code of the AB:

I will stand by my brother.
My brother will come before all others.
My life is forfeit should I fail my brothers.
I will honor my brother in peace as in war.

As legend has it the Aryan Brotherhood formed at San Quentin Prison in California in 1967 in the cauldron of the prison race wars to fight the Black Guerrilla Family, a black prison gang led by the notorious Black Panther, revolutionary and author of Soledad Brother, George Jackson. The white supremacist group, which later became known as the Brand was originally comprised of prisoners of Irish descent and former members of 50's biker tips such as the Diamond Tooth gang and the Bluebird gang. The tips came together in the gladiator school style type prisons under a neo-Nazi banner. The Aryan Brotherhood was for whites only and its members were the most violent and ferocious of their race. By 1975 the gang was all throughout the California system.

As their notoriety increased and membership grew they established a chain of command modeled loosely on the structure of the Italian Mafia with commission that communicated via correspondence through 3rd parties passing orders to their prison based branches all across the US. The 3 man commissions were also a way to channel the gangs’ violence and resolve in-house feuds. They established drug trafficking, security, extortion and gambling rackets in prisons all over the country. The leaders who had multiple life sentences worked out of solitary confinement cells in some of the most secure prisons in the world. From Pelican Bay, the supermax in California, and ADX Florence, the Alcatraz of the Rockies, the Brand ran a prison empire through coded invisible ink letter. The FBI investigated them from 1982 to 1989, but the US Attorney declined prosecution. But the FBI reported that "the purpose of the AB is now power and is not a racial organization as it has been in the past." They even took a hit from John Gotti, the Mafioso, who offered the Brand $100,000 to kill the black prisoner who assaulted him at USP Marion in 1996.

On August 28, 2002, AUSA Greg Jessner indicted virtually the entire leadership of the gang. The indictment reached back 20 years spanning 3 decades and 32 murders. Forty members were indicted of federal racketeering charges in a 140, 10 count indictment. The majority of the gang members were already doing life sentences, so 23 of them are eligible for the death penalty. "This is a homicidal organization," Jessner announced. "That’s what they do. They kill people I suspect they kill more then the Mafia. They may be the most murderous criminal organization in the United States." The indictment is the largest capital case in the history of California and the AUSA indicted the Brand, a prison gang with laws originally passed to target Mafia leaders. "Inmates and others who do not follow orders of the AB are subject to being murdered as is anyone who uses violence against an AB member or anyone who cooperates with law enforcement." The indictment reads.

US vs Mills, No CR02-938 (C) (C.D. Calif.) is the docket number and the alleged leaders of the Brand have become legendary figures. Barry "The Baron" Mills, aged 57 and TD "The Hulk" Bingham, aged 58 are the leaders of the Aryan Brotherhood the government alleges. The indictment says that they've orchestrated the brotherhoods campaign from their cells at ADX, the federal supermax. Mills is doing life for a 1979 prison murder, but Bingham is scheduled for release in 2012, but if both are convicted they'll face the death penalty.


Thomas Silverstein

Another primary in the case is Thomas "Terrible Tom" Silverstein who started the AB-DC Black race war by killing Raymond "Cadillac" Smith, the leader of the DC Blacks in 1982 by stabbing him 67 times in the Marion Control Unit. "Within the gangs’ lore, Silverstein has become the Christ figure," AUSA Jessner said. And the race war with the DC Blacks is the central factor in the governments case as the 1997 killing of 2 DC Blacks at USP Lewisburg was allegedly ordered by Bingham in an invisible ink message written in urine.
Enemies of The Brand
The AB was originally formed to fight the Black Guerrilla Family, which was founded in San Quentin by George Jackson in 1966. The Former Black Panther, revolutionary and author of Soledad Brother had a vile hatred of the system and all things white. The BGF would beat, kill and maim random white when they caught them out of their cells for no other reason than that they were white. This cauldron of hate and atmosphere of tension, which existed at San Quentin at the time fermented the race wars in the California system and led to the rise of the big four prison gangs, which were divided along racial lines-The Aryan Brotherhood, Black Guerrilla Family, Mexican Mafia and Nuestra Familia. The BGF allied with the Nuestra Family and fought a constant battle against the AB's who allied with the Mexican Mafia who was constantly at war with their counterparts from the northern part of California, Nuestra Familia while they represented the southern part of California.
The BGF was the most politically oriented of the gangs. It was formed as a revolutionary organization along paramilitary lines. Its goal was to overthrow the US government. They were led by a Supreme Commander or Chairman and the lowest echelon of gang members were known as soldiers. They originated out of the MAD Adjustment center at San Quentin, the first SHU in the country. They recruit members of black street gangs like the Crips, disenchanted members of radical black organizations and are aligned with the Black Liberation Army. Their founder George Jackson was killed by guards at San Quentin in the early seventies. A victim of his fame and notoriety.

The race wars in the federal system started on Nov 22, 1981 when the body of Robert M Chappelle, a member of the DC Blacks was found dead in his cell at USP Marion. Thomas Silverstein was the killer and Chappelle’s death worried bureau official who thought it might spark a war, which it certainly did.

Raymond "Cadillac" Smith, the alleged national leader of the DC blacks was the next person killed. Terrible Tom struck again on Sept 27, 1982 stabbing Cadillac 67 times in the Marion control Unit and dragging his body up and down the tier so that those locked in their cells could see. The race wars against the DC blacks raged across the feds in the early 1980's and again in the 1990's when 2 DC blacks were killed at USP Lewisburg by AB members who stabbed them 35 and 34 times to death. The violent campaign against the DC Blacks and the alleged race war are at the center of the government’s 2002 indictment against the Aryan Brotherhood.

The DC Blacks are prisoners from Washington DC who usually make up the largest single ethnic group from any single city making up 10 percent of the overall federal prison population. They are well schooled in violence from their time spent at Lorton the infamous DC penitentiary, and are known as notorious locker knockers, petty thieves and for pressuring prisoners for sex. A lot of DC Blacks were members of the Moorish religion at one time.


Timeline

"The most ferocious and notorious of any of the prison groups is the Aryan Brotherhood," the FBI reported. Over its four decade history the gang has evolved from an organization focusing on aggression against blacks to a violent white supremacist group that runs sophisticated gambling, extortion and dope operations in prison across the nation.

The Brand as the gang is called makes it members read The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Machiavelli's, The Prince and Nietzsche's Will To Power, as well as, exercising vigorously to stay in shape and studying Gray's Anatomy books, so as to know where to stab enemies and inflict killing blows. They've been accused of running-a barbed wire empire of terror, drugs and extortion. The case reached back 40 years to include stabbings, strangulations, poisonings, contract hits, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery and narcotics trafficking. A brief history of the gang:

1964: The Aryan Brotherhood is founded in California's San Quentin maximum-security prison. Irish bikers formed the Brotherhood to fight against the Black Guerrilla Family. It is rumored that the AB sprung from a 1950s gang known as the Bluebirds.

1980: Throughout the 1980s, the gang becomes more organized as it establishes a chain of command. Two factions of the gang exist -- federal and California state. The federal faction creates a three-man commission to supervise gang activity in federal prisons. Allegedly, Barry Mills and Tyler Bingham are selected to oversee the gang's actions as high commissioners.

1982: An FBI report states that members of the Brotherhood are recruiting new members from prisons around the country. Prison officials try to disband the group by moving members throughout the correctional system. The AB forms a California commission and council that must approve the murder and assault of gang members who violate the organization's rules.

Oct. 22, 1983: Four guards are stabbed, two fatally, by AB members at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill. It is the first time in federal prison history that two guards are killed on the same day.

1990s: Authorities relocate most of the Brotherhood's leaders to "Supermax" prisons, where prisoners are held in single cells for almost the entire day. The gang continues murdering prisoners and trafficking drugs.

1992: Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Jessner begins investigating the gang after it is linked to the strangulation of a prisoner in his cell at the Lompoc federal prison in California.

1993: The AB's federal commission forms a council that organizes day-to-day gang activity in the federal faction.

1994: Michael Patrick McElhiney arrives at the maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan. He came from the Marion federal prison, where he served time with Barry Mills. McElhiney quickly becomes a much-feared AB gang member. In 2002, he is charged with running the gang's day-to-day operations at Marion and with controlling drug trafficking at Leavenworth.

March 24, 1995: Pelican Bay State Prison, a Supermax facility in northwest California, releases gang member Robert Scully on probation. Six days later, Scully fatally shoots a police officer -- evidence that AB crimes have moved beyond gang grudges and prison walls.

1997: Barry Mills and T.D. Bingham allegedly order a race war at a prison in Lewisburg, Pa., leading to the deaths of two black inmates.

1999: Barry Mills writes letters to paroled gang members, urging them to expand the gang's activities outside the prison. The gang allegedly used paroled members as drug dealers, gunrunners, stickup men and hit men.

Aug. 28, 2002: Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Jessner indicts nearly all the members suspected of being leaders in the gang. He charges them with carrying out stabbings, strangulations, poisonings, contract hits, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, robbery and narcotics trafficking.

March 14, 2006: The first in a series of gang-member trials begins in Orange County, Calif., for Barry "The Barron" Mills, T.D. "The Hulk" Bingham, Edgar "The Snail" Hevle and Christopher Overton Gibson. The four are accused of ordering or participating in 15 murders or attempted murders in the last 25 years. Federal racketeering charges are brought against 40 AB members, including Michael McElhiney. In a 140-page indictment, federal prosecutors outline gang actions that allegedly resulted in 32 murders or attempted murders in and out of prison.

July 2006: The first of a series of trials involving four high level members ended in convictions.Tyler Bingham and Barry Mills were convicted of murder and sent back to United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility Prison (ADX) in Florence, Colorado, where they are serving life sentence with no parole, escaping the death penalty. Edgar Hevle and Christopher Gibson were sentenced to three life terms without the possibility of parole.

September 2006: The nineteen inductees not eligible for the death penalty had plead guilty.

October 2006: Eleven more Aryan Brotherhood members are expected to go on trial in Los Angeles for similar racketeering charges


Aryan Brotherhood Lexicon

The Brand- the name the brotherhood is known by to members and refers to the shamrock or clover leaf tattoo found on members that denotes membership and signifies the Brand.

Blood In, Blood Out- This is the process by which someone is accepted into the gang meaning they have to kill to get in and the only way to get out is by death.

Making Your Bones- This is the initiation into the gang. When you kill someone to get in it is called making your bones.

Rocking Someone To Sleep- This is the process of disarming a target for murder by making him think you are friends. By rocking someone to sleep it makes them easier to kill when they aren't expecting it.

Lie or Die- When questioned by law enforcement types the Brand's motto is to lie or die because if you tell the truth and cooperate with law enforcement you will be marked for death, so you must lie to them and make them think you are telling the truth.

Getting Writted- This is when one AB member has a case and his defense lawyer gets all his brothers and fellow gang members writted in to be defense witnesses in the case at hand so that all the brotherhood members can be gathered at one place to discuss gang business.

Keistered- This is when a gang member in transit or in the hole sticks contraband such as drugs, tobacco or shanks up his ass so that it won't be found in strip searches and body searches.

In the Hat- this term is used when someone is marked or targeted for death. If someone is in the hat in gang parlance it means he will be killed soon.

Burpees- this exercise consisting of a combination of push ups and jumping jacks is performed by AB members on lockdown to stay in good shape. Sometimes thousands of burpees will be done a day.

Polishing the Rock- this term refers to gang members on the outside doing things to further gang and brotherhood business on the outside. Before leaving prison they will be urged to keep polishing the rock.

Kytes- this is what letters or notes to fellow prisoners are called. They might be in invisible ink or coded and are often sent via transferring prisoners or via a third party on the outside who will mail it to the appropriate gang member. Kytes typically contain instructions and order for furthering brotherhood business.

Runners- this term refers to girlfriends, associates and people on the outside who help the gang to achieve their goals by ferrying messages into and out of various prisons. They also gather mail at designated mail drops and forward them to other gang members in different prisons, smuggle drugs for the brotherhood into prisons through the visiting rooms and gather and collect monies sent to the higher ups in the gang either to put on their account or to pay for more drugs coming into the prisons,


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Prisons (and jails) that have reported AB activity within the past 3 years

* San Quentin State Prison in California
* California State Prison in California
* Pelican Bay State Prison in California
* USP Marion Federal Prison in Illinois
* Folsom State Prison in California
* California Institution for Men in California
* Harris County Jail in Texas
* Estelle High-Security Unit in Texas
* Garner Correctional Institution in Connecticut
* Lompoc Federal Prison in California
* High Desert State Prison in Nevada
* Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Mississippi


Allies: Mexican Mafia, Hells Angels, PENI, Nazi Low Riders

Rivals: La Nuestra Familia, Black Guerilla Family, DC Blacks

LATINO PRISON GANGS

Nortenos - Surenos - Mexican Mafia - Nuestra Familia - Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
Texas Syndicate - Mexikanemi - Barrio Azteca - Pistoleros Latinos - Fresno Bulldogs
Florencia 13 - 18th Street Gang - Latin Kings - Maniac Latin Disciples - Latin Counts
Tango Blast - Los Solidos - Tri City Bombers - Border Brothers - West Texas Tango
Raza Unida - Texas Chicano Brotherhood

WHITE PRISON GANGS

WHITE PRISON GANGS


Aryan Brotherhood - Nazi Low Riders - Public Enemy #1 (PENI) - Peckerwoods
Aryan Circle - Dirty White Boys - Aryan Knights - European Kindred
Skinheads - Hammerskins - Thorndale JagOffs - Silent Aryan Warriors
Almighty Gaylords - Simon City Royals - Insane Gangster Disciples
Dead Man Inc. - Krieger Verwandt - Brotherhood of Aryan Alliance
United Brotherhood Kindred - Saxon Knights - Aryan Warriors
Neo-Nazis - KKK - TCB Hate Crew - Fourth Reich - American Front
Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs in the United States - Henchmen MC
Hells Angels MC - Pagans MC - Sons of Silence MC - Mongols MC - Outlaws MC
Gypsy Joker MC - Diablos MC - Vagos MC - Black Pistons MC - Bandidos MC
Highwaymen MC - Warlocks MC - Brother Speed MC - The Breed MC

Heavily armed gangs who once ran Haiti's largest slum like warlords have returned with a vengeance

Mounted on motorcycles, and brandishing assault rifles and guns thought to have been stripped from prison guards during the quake, the gang members include one stone-cold killer known only by the street name "Blade."
Heavily armed gangs who once ran Haiti's largest slum like warlords have returned with a vengeance since Tuesday's earthquake damaged the National Penitentiary allowing 3,000 inmates to break out.The pacification of Cite Soleil had been one of President Rene Prevail's few undisputed achievements since taking office in 2006, until the quake devastated Port-au-Prince."It's only natural that they would come back here. This has always been their stronghold," said a Haitian police officer in the teeming warren of shacks, alleys and open sewers that is home to more than 300,000 people.He and other policemen, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak about the volatile situation in Cite Soleil, said notorious armed gangs had been making their presence felt here since the quake.
If large-scale violence erupts here amid the chaos and looting that has grown by the hour in Port-au-Prince since the temblor, it could pose a major challenge to efforts to reestablish law and order throughout the Haitian capital.Cite Sole's gang leaders are larger-than-life criminals. The stuff of urban legend and popular Haitian rap songs, they are now seen as a breed apart from other Haitians in that they alone benefited from the Tuesday's disaster.Word on the street is that they swept down on the rubble of Haiti's collapsed Justice Ministry on Saturday morning and set it ablaze to destroy any records of their incarceration or criminal history.

Glasgow Gang war following the execution of Kevin Carroll.

Lyons crime clan had been prime suspects in the fatal shooting of Carroll, a lieutenant of arch-enemies, the Daniels.But last night, the Daniel family faced accusations from within that they may have been behind the hit themselves.
Sources claimed bosses believed Carroll - nicknamed "Gerbil" - had grown increasingly out of control and become more trouble than he was worth.He was gunned down while sitting in a car with two associates in the car park of Asda at Robroyston, Glasgow, on Wednesday.Now Gerbil loyalists are said to be simmering with resentment at suggestions his murder may have been an "inside job".Carroll, 29, had a tempestuous relationship with the mother of his two sons, Kelly Bo - daughter of Daniel family boss Jamie.The pair had violent rows and Carroll had also bad-mouthed Jamie. Many within the Daniel gang are now speculating that the godfather may have run out of patience with Carroll and that key lieutenants interpreted this as a green light to take him out.They knew the murder was unlikely to backfire on Jamie Daniel as the Lyons were likely to be blamed.Last night, one source claimed: "There are folk who were loyal to Gerbil - for all his faults - and they want his killers dead."If it turns out he was done in by his own side, they will be spitting blood. It's worse than him getting done by their enemies - that's a danger you accept and live with every day."But to be killed by your own people is bang out of order. And a lot of Gerbil's pals won't stand for that."Whether it's the case or not, it's a theory that's starting to take root among some in the organisation - and that will create problems."The insider added: "Gerbil was supposed to have gone to the Asda car park for a meet. If that was true, he would have been watching for anyone approaching the car. Yet he got taken completely by surprise.
"A lot of us aren't buying that meeting story."Carroll and two pals, John Bonner and Stevie McLaggan, had driven to the supermarket car park in a black Audi for a pre-arranged meeting.Gerbil was sitting in the back seat when a gunman walked up and fired through the passenger window. Carroll was hit in the head and hand and died instantly.A stolen VW Golf used for the getaway was later found partially burned out near Coatbridge, Lanarkshire.The two pals of Carroll immediately baled out of the car and only returned after the gunman had escaped. They were swiftly cleared of being involved in any set-up after being questioned by Daniel family chiefs.
But that too, has fuelled the discontent rumblings among Carroll-loyal factions.
An insider said: "The Daniels were very quick to say those lads had nothing to do with setting up Gerbil."But they done nothing to help him when the shooting started. And no shots got fired at them. It stinks."In the wake of his execution, godfather Jamie Daniel, 52, swore revenge on the killers and made it clear he believed the Lyons were behind the hit.But a source within Daniel's own organisation said last night: "Of course Jamie made noises about wanting payback from the Lyons. That's what you'd expect him to do."He's a got a daughter there who's distraught at her man being killed - even if he did smack her about from time to time. There was a time last year when he beat her up three times in seven hours in a flat in Milton.

"Then there was Gerbil's mouth. He just didn't know when to shut up.

"He had threatened Jamie Daniel himself. He even called him a fat gypsy b******."
The speculation from within about Carroll's murder follows claims revealed in the Record that he had been denounced as an informer.Two Daniel associates - Raymond Anderson snr and James McDonald - were jailed for 35 years each for the fatal shooting of Michael Lyons, 21, at an MOT garage in Lambhill in 2006. The attack was said to have been carried out in revenge for an earlier bid to kill Carroll, who was subsequently questioned by police.Anderson remained convinced that Carroll named them as the gunmen.
In recent times, Carroll led a series of savage underworld kidnappings - seizing and torturing his gang's rivals for cash, drugs and guns.His team were nicknamed the "alien abduction" gang because victims told police they could remember nothing about their ordeals.
A source claimed:
"Gerbil was out of control, and people were getting sick of it.
"When folk tried to warn him he was p*****g folk off in the organisation, he was like, 'F*** you, I'll do what I want'. Then he'd be back to bad-mouthing the likes of Jamie Daniel."People told Gerbil he was taking risks but it made no difference."
Meanwhile the home of Eddie Lyons Snr has been watched by police since Carroll's shooting, amid fears he could be targeted in a "revenge" hit.Key figures in the Daniel mob have vowed retribution against the Lyons clan - which would make Eddie snr, right, and his sons Eddie jnr, 30, and Steven, 29, the main targets.Yesterday, we watched as marked police cars did regular runs past the Lyons' modest home by Dullatur golf club, Cumbernauld.A police liaison officer has checked in on every member of the Lyons family in recent days.Crime clan godfather vows bloody revenge for slain hoodlum at secret summit.Daniel crime clan launched their investigation into the brutal shooting of Kevin Carroll before murder squad detectives even reached the scene.
A senior Daniel lieutenant had sped to the murder scene in an Asda car park before the police arrived.Francis "Fraggle" Green, godfather Jamie Daniel's 27-year-old son, was phoned seconds after the hit.He immediately drove to the scene in his red Audi later abandoned in the car park.
His sister Kelly Green, 29, was Carroll's partner and mother of his two sons.
The frantic call to Green was made by John Bonner - who was in the black Audi when the killer struck on Wednesday afternoon. Also in the car was Stevie McLaggan, another of Carroll's close pals.We can reveal police suspect the killer lay in wait in a Homebase car park next to the Asda store.The Daniel family have rejected claims that Bonner and McLagan, both in their 20s, helped set up the hit.One source said: "McLaggan and Bonner were in the front of the car and Carroll was in the back."They were waiting to meet someone who is suspected of setting the whole thing up.
"Clearly, they were there to talk business and whoever they were meeting was trusted. The Daniel mob are satisfied that the two guys in the car with Carroll had nothing to do with it. If it was thought they were involved, they would also now be dead."When the gunfire started they instinctively bailed out for their own safety.
"As soon as the dust settled they returned and it was obvious that Carroll was dead.
"Bonner immediately phoned Fraggle who was on the scene within minutes.
"Fraggle dumped his motor and was met with a scene of carnage. One of Carroll's hands was blown off and his face was unrecognisable."Murder squad detectives have revealed that just two shots were fired by the killer using a handgun.The first shot blasted Carroll's hand as he raised it after seeing the weapon but he died instantly after being hit in the head by the second shot.Police believe the gunman had been sitting in a car in the adjacent Homebase car park.A taxi driver reported men in a 4x4 acting supiciously and police are scouring CCTV footage from the they.They are also examining footage from neighbouring businesses including the Crowwood Hotel in nearby Stepps.A police source said: "The person who arranged the meeting is thought to have given the gunman details of where the car was parked and where Carroll was within it.
"There may have been some luck involved but whoever did this was clearly capable."
Within minutes of the shooting police arrived and sealed off the car park and supermarket. Shoppers were held inside for several hours to allow officers to question each of them and Fraggle, Bonner and McLaggan were also quizzed at the scene.In 2007, both McLaggan and Bonner were victims of Carroll's robbery and kidnap gang.
A source said: "Like some of the other victims, they decided the safest option was to join Carroll's crew but they remained loyal despite this unusual history."Carroll had previously survived several attempts on his life.
In 2006 he and close ally Ross Sherlock were injured in a shooting in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow and Carroll was also shot outside his mum's home in Milton, Glasgow, in 2003.Last year, Bonner was shot in Springburn, Glasgow, in a botched hit blamed on the Lyons crime clan.At the time, it was thought that the intended target was 28-year-old Sherlock.
Less than a fortnight ago, Carroll failed to attend a meeting with police to be told that his life was in danger.He'd been invited to Kirkintilloch police station to officially receive an "Osman warning".Such warnings are given when police receive intelligence that someone's life may be in danger and last year Carroll received three such warnings.Carroll's partner Kelly and her brother Fraggle are both children of wealthy Daniel mob boss Daniel, 52.In recent years, Carroll had risen through the ranks of his partner's family.
One source said: "A few years ago, he was regarded as a wee nyaff from Milton.
"Being part of the Daniel set up benefited him but there seems to have been pressure on him to match them in terms of violence."In recent years he became more than capable and reached a status within the family where he stood up to Jamie over some issues."Jamie and he had recent clashes but they were sorted out."There will be some people putting it about that Jamie had Carroll killed for getting too big and becoming a threat but it's untrue."Carroll lived in Lennoxtown, Stirlingshire, with Kelly and their boys, who are eight months and six years old.Kelly gives her occupation as a "hair and nail therapist" while Carroll described himself as a "car valet" on official documents.

Friday 15 January 2010

Kevin "The Gerbil" Carroll assassinated in an ASDA car park was killed for "grassing" up hitmen

Kevin "The Gerbil" Carroll assassinated in an ASDA car park was killed for "grassing" up the hitmen behind a notorious shooting, underworld sources told the Record last night.Kevin "The Gerbil" Carroll was shot five times in the head in broad daylight as he sat in a car 100 yards from the supermarket entrance.
And it's claimed he paid with his life for informing on gunmen Raymond Anderson snr and James McDonald, who carried out a murderous attack in 2006 on an MOT garage run by a rival crime clan.Carroll, 29, and Anderson snr were both associates of the feared Daniel gang.But a source said: "There was no love lost between them. As far as Raymond was concerned, Gerbil was a grass."
Anderson snr was aware of the plot to kill Carroll.And word of the shooting reached his cell at Shotts jail, where he's serving a minimum 35 years for the garage attack in Lambhill, Glasgow, within half an hour of the hit being carried out.
Our source said: "The jail was buzzing with a detailed account of the shooting within minutes. The word inside is that it was payback for Lambhill."Anderson snr and McDonald murdered Michael Lyons, 21, and tried to kill Steven Lyons, 27, and Robert Pickett, 42, in the Lambhill attack. The garage was linked to the Lyons gang, bitter rivals of the Daniel clan.Both hitmen were caged for at least 35 years - the longest sentences handed down by a modern Scots court.The Lambhill hit was said to have been revenge for a bid to kill Carroll and another Daniel associate, Ross Sherlock, three weeks earlier. Carroll was arrested and questioned before Anderson snr and McDonald were charged.Carroll was gunned down on Wednesday afternoon after he went to the ASDA store in Robroyston, near Glasgow, with two pals.His friends went into the shop at around 1.30pm, leaving him alone in a black Audi A3. Sources say two masked hitmen then opened fire on the car.Scores of horrified shoppers witnessed Carroll's murder.The killers sped away in a dark blue Volkswagen Golf. Some reports have claimed their getaway driver f led on foot before any shots were fired.Police sealed off the supermarket and took statements from witnesses. Detectives are looking through CCTV for clues but it's understood the shooting was not filmed.Carroll had a direct line to millionaire crime boss Jamie Daniel and was the on-off boyfriend of his daughter, Kelly.He was at the centre of the long and bloody feud between the Daniel and Lyons clans. As well as the 2006 bid to kill him, he survived an attempt on his life in 2003.The Lambhill theory was just one of those being touted to explain Carroll's murder.
Other sources said the hit was part of the Daniel-Lyons feud, the result of a row over drugs, or a revenge attack for one of a spate of kidnappings carried out by Carroll.Detective Superintendent Michael Orr, leading the hunt for Carroll's killers, said: "There has been much speculation about this shooting, and indeed the victim, but our priority is tracing those responsible."A man has been shot dead in broad daylight. This attack was carried out with an utter disregard for public safety."Although we believe he was the intended target, it does not lessen the severity of this crime. He was someone's son, loved-one and friend, and this murder will be thoroughly investigated."

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