A confrontation between two gangs led to man being arrested in Raetihi on Monday morning. The man allegedly produced a pistol at the towns Caltex station. It is unknown whether the pistol was loaded, but no shots were fired. Both parties are believed to have gang affiliations, with the men threatened members of the Tribesmen motorcycle gang. Sergeant Mike Craig of Ohakune police said animosity between the alleged gunman and the group of Tribesmen was the likely cause of the incident.
"I guess it's got gang connections. Certainly, any time this happens we have to be concerned, but in this case nothing really happened. The alleged offender was remanded on bail to appear in Ohakune District Court

Three full-patch Hells Angels members -- including Manitoba chapter president Dale Donovan -- were among those arrested and charged with drug, weapon and gang offences.
Three other Manitoba men were also charged with conspiracy to murder after a plot to kill a drug rival was exposed during the year-long sting.
Search warrants obtained last month by the Free Press disclosed the inner-working of a major gang and drug distribution network across Manitoba and western Canada.
They also give a rare inside look at the highly-organized structure of a criminal enterprise, the competition that exists and the violence that often results.Manitoba government has authorized a direct indictment in a major undercover drug and gang investigation that utilized the services of an undercover agent. Today’s decision means the 17 people arrested in December as part of Project Drill will go directly to trial without having the benefit of a preliminary hearing.No dates have been set.
Lawyers for the accused will only get one crack at testing the evidence and grilling career criminal Scotty (Taz)Robertson, who was paid $650,000 to broker a series of drug and weapons deals that were caught on audio and video surveillance beginning in late 2006.

Italian police on Monday arrested Pasqualle Condello, 57, one of Italy's most wanted bosses of the southern 'Ndrangheta Mafia, who has been on the run since the 1980s, the ANSA news agency reported.Condello had been sentenced to life in prison for a 1989 murder and has been considered since that time as the most important organised crime boss in Calabria. He was arrested at a house in the region's capital, Reggio di Calabria.Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato called it "a great day for Calabria and the fight against organised crime in Italy."Police arrested Pasquale Condello, 58; his nephew, Giandomenico Condello, 28; and son-in-law Giovanni Barilla, 30; and another unnamed person in a raid Monday evening.
More than 100 Italian police officials descended on an apartment in the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria, finally arresting Condello, the reputed head of 'Ndrangheta, the Italian news agency, ANSA, reported Tuesday.Police officials said Condello was "cool and detached" during his arrest and said "I have nothing to do with your investigations, with gang wars nor with the charges for which you have issued nine arrest warrants against me."Officials said they believe Condello ran an extensive drug trafficking, extortion and racketeering ring that extended through much of Italy, racking up four life sentences in abstentia along the way, ANSA said.
A 2006 report from Italy's national crime agency said the 'Ndrangheta organization ran a cocaine operation in Europe that generated more than $50 billion per year.
Officials say the 'Ndrangheta organization is the most powerful mob organization in Italy, rivaling the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and Camorra in Naples.

Twelve people, including three lawmen, were gunned down Sunday night in the small mining village. The 12 were murdered during a one-hour assault, which forced the Bharrat Jagdeo administration to postpone yesterday's reading of the national budget.
Police have also since linked that attack to a gang led by the country's most wanted man, Rondel 'Fine Man' Rawlins. Rawlins is reported to have warned law enforcement authorities that there would be mayhem in the country if his reputed pregnant common-law wife was not released by abductors.The police have offered a G$50 million (US$250,000) reward for Rawlins' capture. He is wanted for several murders, including the April 2006 assassination of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow 'Sash' Sawh, several of his siblings and a bodyguard. In recent weeks, crime has spiraled out of control in this Caribbean Community country.Only three weeks ago, a gang of about 25 men launched an attack at Lusignan, a community in East Coast Demerara, where they killed 11 people, including five children.Many residents have gathered on the streets of Bartica, lamenting the brutish manner in which the 12 people were slaughtered Sunday night. There had been no major statement by the Bharrat Jagdeo administration the Government Information Agency (GINA) has announced that Jagdeo would be meeting with stakeholders today.
At least 20 unidentified gunmen using speedboats first attacked a police outpost Sunday, killing three officers and seriously wounding two others, before taking away various firearms and freeing a number of inmates. Reports said the men then hijacked a police vehicle which they used to run amok, shooting indiscriminately at homes and businesses. Police believe that the gang that carried out the attack was the same group which killed 11 people, including five children at Lusignan three weeks ago.

Forty-seven police officers from the Crime Gang Task Force, Licensing Enforcement Branch, STAR Group and Southern Operations Service searched the Old Noarlunga premises at about 9.30pm. two pistols seized by police during the raid of a southern suburbs bikie clubroom on Friday will be forensically tested by police.Police allege that as they approached the clubrooms two loaded semi-automatic pistols were thrown over a side fence. Police said there was evidence suggesting liquor was being sold without a licence. They seized about $3000 of liquor, $480 cash and three ecstasy tablets. It is understood the Rebels gang members were celebrating two members' birthdays.

Detectives from the gangs squad arrested a large, well-built man, dressed in black jeans and a grey t-shirt and wearing white sneakers, in Pyrmont. A luxury waterfront flat believed to be owned by a Hells Angels bikie in Sydney was searched by police this afternoon. A blue Ford FPV GT sedan was also filmed and searched by police, while the muscled man, his hands cuffed behind his back, stood and watched.
A sticker on the rear window of the car, with South Australian plates, read: "Hells Angels North Crew". Another sticker on the inside of the car read: "This is a Hells Angels vehicle. F*** with it and find out."The suspect being arrested today in Pyrmont and, left, the Hells Angel warning sign in the car by his home.Officers from City Central command then searched a ground floor flat in the luxury Wharf Crescent complex. The man was then placed in a police car and taken away, while two detectives from the gangs squad left the building holding a small brown evidence bag. The man was later charged with allegedly perverting the course of justice and bailed to appear in court at a later date.

Blue City, Queens Drive, Finsbury Park Man Dem, Holly Park Boyz and Manor House Boys.
Finsbury Park Man Dem par round the Six Acres Estate. Blue City align themselves with FPMD. Holly Park Boys are from the Holly Park estate and are also aligned to FPMD. Highbury Grove Man Dem are present round the Highbury Estate and Holloway Boys from Holloway. Popham Youts are a younger gang in the area close to the City.
Islington’s gangs are predominantly mixed with numbers of African and Caribbean manz. There are some man that par round De Beauvoir Town in Islington sides, although De Beauvoir Town extends into the borough of Hackney aswell.

Who are they? Members of Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, who are mostly Salvadoran nationals or first generation Salvadoran-Americans, but also Hondurans, Guatemalans, Mexicans, and other Central and South American immigrants. And according to the FBI's recent national threat assessment of this growing, mobile street gang, they could be operating in your community...now or in the near future. Based on information from their own investigations, from state and local law enforcement partners, and from community organizations, FBI concluded that while the threat posed by MS-13 to the U.S. as a whole is at the "medium" level, membership in parts of the country is so concentrated that they have labeled the threat level there "high."
MS-13 operates in at least 42 states and the District of Columbia and has about 6,000-10,000 members nationwide. Currently, the threat is highest in the western and northeastern parts of the country, which coincides with elevated Salvadoran immigrant populations in those areas. In the southeast and central regions, the current threat is moderate to low, but recently, FBI see's an influx of MS-13 members into the southeast, causing an increase in violent crimes thereRight now, according to the FBI MS-13 has no official national leadership structure. MS-13 originated in Los Angeles, but when members migrated eastward, they began forming cliques that for the most part operated independently. These cliques, though, often maintain regular contact with members in other regions to coordinate recruitment/criminal activities and to prevent conflicts. The FBI believes that Los Angeles gang members have an elevated status among their MS-13 counterparts across the country, a system of respect that could potentially evolve into a more organized national leadership structure.MS-13 members engage in a wide range of criminal activity, including drug distribution, murder, rape, prostitution, robbery, home invasions, immigration offenses, kidnapping, carjackings/auto thefts, and vandalism. Most of these crimes, you'll notice, have one thing in common—they are exceedingly violent. And while most of the violence is directed toward other MS-13 members or rival street gangs, innocent citizens often get caught

in the crossfire. MS-13 is expanding its membership at an "alarming" rate through recruitment and migration. Some MS-13 members move to get jobs or to be near family members—currently, the southeast and the northeast are seeing the largest increases in membership. MS-13 often recruits new members by glorifying the gang lifestyle (often on the Internet, complete with pictures and videos) and by absorbing smaller gangs.Speaking of employment, MS-13 members typically work for legitimate businesses by presenting false documentation. They primarily pick employers that don't scrutinize employment documents, especially in the construction, restaurant, delivery service, and landscaping industries.The FBI, says through its MS-13 National Joint Task Force and field investigations, remains committed to working with local, state, national, and international partners to disrupt and dismantle this violent gang.
Mexican drug cartels responsible for recent border violence have also cemented ties to street and prison gangs on the U.S. side. U.S. gangs retail drugs purchased from Mexican traffickers and often work as cartel surrogates or enforcers on U.S. soil. Intelligence suggests Los Zetas have hired members of various gangs at different times including the Mexican Mafia, Texas Syndicate, MS-13, and Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos to further their criminal endeavors.Just this week over a dozen people were either shot or beaten to death in separate incidents in Mexican border cities. Over the weekend in Juárez Mexico, just across the Rio Grande River which is all that separates Mexico from the U.S. border city of El Paso Texas. Also, in Juárez an 8-year-old girl at a road side cafe was shot in the ribs apparently by a stray bullet during a fight between street gangs, officials said. At about 2:20 a.m. Sunday, Juárez officials said, Javier Leal Saucedo, 33, was found dead near Zaragoza Boulevard and Rayon Street. He had been beaten to death by border gangs doing the dirty work for the powerful Mexican Cartels.
Later the same day at about 9 a.m., the bodies of two men were found shot in the head in Ejido Jesus Carranza, a suburb of Juárez. The victims have not been identified, but authorities said, they found two 9 mm shells near the bodies. Also on Sunday, a 30- to 35-year-old man was found dead in his car, the victim of still another gangland type killing. The cause of death and the name of the victim are not known. The incident took place near Paseo de la Plaza and Paseo de los Arcos streets in downtown Juárez. In January of this year in Tijuana Mexico not far from the American city of San Diego, officials said they found six executed kidnapping victims inside a Tijuana house where gunmen took refuge during a chaotic three-hour shootout with Mexican soldiers and police. The victims, all male, were blindfolded and gagged wrapped in blankets and had been shot in the head, although it was unclear if they were killed before or during the gun battle. said Edgar Millan, a spokesman with the federal Public Safety Department. According to Gen. Germán Redondo Azuara, commander of the second military zone said Mexican soldiers, state and local police were sent in to help control the firefight that began when federal agents prepared to raid a house in the Tijuana neighborhood of La Mesa. Police now say that it was a shelter for a cell of the Arellano Felix drug cartel.
Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, the state secretary of public safety indicated to the press that three nearby schools were evacuated. Television showed police running with small children in their arms while shots rang out. Edgar Millan a top official with Mexico's federal Public Security Secretariat said, the shootout killed two gunman and one police officer and wounded three other police officers, in the latest outbreak of violence across the border from San Diego. As a result of the Mexican Government siege four gunmen were arrested – one is a well known state police investigator and another is a local Tijuana police officer. The four arrested gunmen have been flown to Mexico City for questioning. Millan said officials recovered 11 automatic rifles and three bulletproof vests inside the house. Rommel Moreño Manjarrez, Baja California's attorney general said already this week, gunmen shot and killed eight people in Tijuana alone, including three local police officers, as well as a district commander, his wife and his 12-year-old daughter. The gun battle shocked even crime-weary Tijuana residents. Many argued President Felipe Calderón should step up a yearlong crackdown on gangs, drug traffickers and other organized criminals that has sent soldiers into cities across the nation.The San Diego Tribune further reported, a Mrs. Padilla spent the three-hour shootout hiding in the closet with her 19-year-old daughter. As they crouched in the dark, they started to think they wouldn't escape alive. Gunmen across the street shouted that they would drop bombs unless police backed off.

"The gunfire was terrible," she said. "It made the walls shake. I really didn't think we were going to get out." Less than two blocks down the street, police were rushing children from a school vulnerable to gunfire from men holed up on the roof and top floors of the besieged brick safe house.
Some of the children were carried by officers who crouched and pressed themselves up against the building to avoid the bullets. Other children ran out onto the sidewalk in groups under armed guard, their eyes wide with terror. "I could hear the hail of gunfire, and it was really strong," Rico Espinosa said. "I didn't feel fear until we had evacuated all 65 kids that were under my care, and then my legs started to shake." Rico and the children were all safely removed from the school, but Rico's husband, Jorge Espinosa, stayed in a back room to take calls from worried parents.

"It was like being in Beirut," he said. Residents said soldiers, sent in to help overwhelmed police, swarmed rooftops. The gunmen refused to back down, shouting obscenities at the police and taunting them. Recently in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo assailants killed the director of public safety for the town of Tulancingo. Jose Alvarado was shot more than 20 times, Hidalgo state police director Ahuizotl Figueroa said.Many on both sides of the border have been killed or wounded and the terror goes on with authorities unable to control the gangs that kill and traffic in drugs and humans for the wealthy Mexican cartels.

Gen. Germán Redondo Azuara says he believes many of the drugs raised in Afghanistan, finds its way via smuggling routes into markets in both Europe and the United States where they are peddled by gang members. In turn millions of dollars and Eros are used to fund terrorist and their terror activities not only in Afghanistan but around the world. Most of these same terrorist drug organizations, that fuel the terror network also help to fund the Taliban attacks in Afghanistan. Part of this illicit cash provides operating capital for international terrorist Osama Bin Laden and others. The Columbian and Mexican drug cartels now believed to be working with international terrorist is the most pervasive organizational threat to the United States according to one D.E.A. agent. murder money & mexico: tijuana cartelThese new combined international drug trafficking organizations are complex organizations with highly defined command-and-control structures that produce, transport, and/or distribute large quantities of Afghanistan illicit drugs. Global Terrorist And Drug Trafficking CartelsA high ranking ICE official claims the Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO´s) are perfect for the terrorist because they are active in every region of the country and dominate the illicit drug trade in every area in both Mexico and the United States. Because of this new alliance Mexican DTOs are expanding their operations dramatically in order to gain a larger share of the drug market. Colombian DTOs are dominant cocaine and heroin traffickers, particularly in the Northeast; however, they are increasingly relinquishing control to Mexican DTOs in order to shield themselves from law enforcement detection. The Mexican DTOs are already major transporters and distributors of cocaine and South American heroin into the U.S. They also distribute cocaine and other drugs to numerous other DTOs and criminal groups that are also active in the United States, the world´s largest users of cocaine and heroin.Other reasons the terrorist have chosen the Mexican DTOs is they control the transportation and wholesale distribution of most illicit drugs in every area of the western hemisphere, exerting unrivaled control over transportation and wholesale distribution of cocaine, Mexican heroin, Mexican marijuana, and ice methamphetamine. Their established overland transportation routes and entrenched distribution networks enable them to supply primary and secondary drug markets throughout these regions. Mexican DTOs are further expanding their influence throughout the world.
The drug distribution is even involving gangs in America and they in turn sale to the street dealers. The street dealers than get the products to the smaller dealers to distribute to our neighbors. All of this creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. And that is exactly what the terrorist want.
In a recently released FBI report on gangs operating both in Mexico and the U.S which was meant for law enforcement eyes only says and we quote: That these gangs on both sides of the border perpetrate violence—from assaults to homicides, using firearms, machetes, or blunt objects—to intimidate rival gangs, law enforcement, and the general public. They often target middle and high school students for recruitment. And they form tenuous alliances...and sometimes vicious rivalries...with other criminal groups, depending on their needs at the time.

gang member stabbed a city officer who tried to keep him and about a dozen others from killing a man early this morning, police said.Police said this began with a battle between two of the city's Latino gangs. They've made two arrests. This is what they said happened:Officer Richard Hammer was patrolling Mill Street by himself at about 1:45 a.m. when he saw a lone man sprint across the street followed by the group. The men caught the man and beat him, stomped on his head and stabbed him. Hammer jumped out of his car, yelling at the men to stop and calling on the radio for backup. When he grabbed two of the men, the others turned on him.Someone hit him in the back of the head. Hammer lost his grip on the two, and everyone except the beaten man ran north on Mill Street. Hammer got up, chased and caught the two he'd had before. As he pinned them against a wall, five or six others punched him in the back of the head and upper body. One of the men Hammer held turned, punched him and tried to pull him to the ground. They fought as the second man wrenched free from Hammer and ran with the rest of the group.Hammer cuffed the man he still held and waited for backup.Officers arrived and went looking for the other men. The man originally targeted by the group lay bleeding. He'd been stabbed multiple times and, police would later learn, was bleeding into his lung.Hammer noticed his leg hurt after he loaded the suspect into a patrol car. He lifted his right pant leg. Blood covered his calf and boot. He'd been stabbed in the thigh. Officers had already called an ambulance to take the wounded man to the Newburgh campus of St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital. Now, Officer Tom Reynolds loaded Hammer into a patrol car and raced him to the hospital, too. Emergency room staffers stapled the wound together. He is recovering at home today. The other man went to Westchester Medical Center. His condition wasn't available.

Detectives Joseph Cortez and Lorenzo D'Angelico arrived at the scene and found a pen knife with a long, serrated blade they think stabbed Hammer and the other man. Meanwhile, officers Anthony Giudice and John Maguire spotted a man on William Street who fit the description of one of the suspects. They stopped him. He had a knife and 1.8 grams of cocaine, and they arrested him on drug charges. They're still trying to figure out his role in the fight.In the hours that followed the fight, detectives began trying to put the pieces together. Detectives Cortez and D'Angelico questioned the suspect Hammer arrested. His name is Edson Godinez, a 17-year-old who lives a couple blocks away from the fight. They said he admitted stabbing the other man and Hammer. The second man arrested was 20-year-old Emmanuel Flores of Newburgh. Police say they're gang members but declined to say which gang. They think the fight was part of an ongoing battle between the Benkard Barrio Kings and La Eme, sometimes called Mexican Mafia. The group and the lone man are gang rivals, police said.
Detectives hope to identify more suspects and make more arrests in the days ahead.

Morneau, 32, Christian Laurin, 19, and Alan Mulder, 19, are accused of smuggling 130 pounds of Ecstasy into the state of Montana. Convictions would carry mandatory minimum sentences of a decade, and a maximum of life with no chance of parole.
Documents filed in district court show the trio was pulled over Feb. 9 by state troopers while driving on an interstate highway in Montana. Police say inconsistencies in statements given by the three suspects led the troopers to search the vehicle, and three duffel bags containing the Ecstasy pills were seized.
Morneau told police he had hauled the bags across the Canada-U.S. border by snowmobile, according to the court documents. Police also allege Morneau told them the teenagers were knowing participants, and were to be paid $1,000 for their involvement. Morneau allegedly told police he was being paid $5,000 -- from an unidentified source -- to take the bags over the border and that his accomplices were to be paid out of his take. All three accused face charges of possession with the intent to distribute.At a preliminary hearing held Friday in Billings, Montana, a judge determined there was probable cause to hold the trio. They'll most likely spend the week there before being moved to a federal facility in nearby Shelby.
Under the U.S. "speedy trial" law, the government has 70 days to begin trial proceedings, but the court-appointed defence lawyer for Laurin, David Merchant, said the government now must indict the three, which would start the trial clock again. No plea has been entered by any of the men, Merchant said. Merchant said the teenagers could be exempted from the 10-year mandatory minimum based on a first-offence "safety valve" that exists in U.S. law, should the amount of drugs alleged to be involved turn out to be less.Merchant said he's still waiting on lab reports to verify the exact amount of Ecstacy in the duffel bags.Merchant also said he sees serious problems with the case so far, and wonders why police pulled the three over for a broken headlight at 7:50 a.m.
"There's some things that don't add up -- they were pulled over for another reason," Merchant said. Winnipeg police said Mulder was reported missing by family on Tuesday.
He had told family he was travelling to Mall of America in Minneapolis.

Laurin's Facebook profile indicates his friends are aware of his situation -- he had been active on the social networking site up until Wednesday of last week.
He listed his favourite activities as "working out every day and spending money."
By 4:30 p.m. Friday, his profile had been pulled down, but a friend of Laurin said the teenagers are friends who had known each other for a couple of years.
Morneau is a self-employed mechanic who is no stranger to the local Hells Angels, who often come to him to fix their bikes, justice sources said.He's also become well known in the courts recently.Morneau currently faces drug charges stemming from a May 2007 arrest. Winnipeg police stopped a car in which Morneau was a passenger and seized 76 Percocet pills and 30 rocks of crack cocaine,He was also charged with possessing an illegal metal baton and found to be carrying several cellphones. Police and the Crown alleged Morneau was working as a local "dial-a-dealer." He has denied the allegations.
At the time of his drug arrest, Morneau had been free on bail pending sentencing for his role in an unusual theft ring.
Morneau was nabbed in July 2006 and admitted to breaking into several semi-trailers parked in locked compounds on the edge of the city. He stole several items including 800 pounds of ground beef, $2,500 in beer and $400 worth of McDonald's products, court was told.Morneau was supposed to be sentenced for those crimes in early 2007 but the case was delayed when he failed to show up for a court-ordered meeting with his probation officer.

soldiers seized 23.5 tonnes of cocaine – enough for about 200 million lines of the drug – in the world's biggest ever cocaine bust. It was destroyed in a public bonfire. Calderon is hoping his crackdown will bring his administration rewards from the US, which has frequently urged its southern neighbour to be more aggressive against drug mafias. The US Congress is debating a $1.4 billion anti-drug aid proposal for Mexico, including high-tech phone-tapping equipment and possibly Black Hawk helicopters.The proposal has been tacked onto a bill requesting more funding for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Calderon argues the US government has a responsibility to help out because US drug users fund the traffickers - analysts estimate that Mexican drug trade to the US is worth around $10 billion to $30 billion a year.Most of the weapons fuelling the bloodshed are also bought in US gun stores and smuggled south over the Rio Grande."How are we supposed to confront these guys if they come at us? We need the army to wipe them out"Osiel Mendoza, Mexico City police officera group of armed men went to the house of a police officer in Tijuana and shot him dead, along with his wife and nine-year-old daughter.Armed men have also battled police and soldiers in clashes lasting up to three hours, turning Mexican residential areas into war zones.Analysts say the orchestrated attacks show that Mexico's longstanding drug violence has entered a new phase. In the past, rival gangs fought over billion-dollar smuggling routes of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana to the US. Now, the gangs are working together to defend these routes from the federal government."We used to see narcos against narcos. Now we are seeing narcos against cops," Jorge Chabat, a Mexican drug expert, told Al Jazeera using the common Mexican name for drug traffickers. "Calderon is paying the price for taking on the cartels. As he has five years left in power, he might just get away with it.""It's a bi-national problem," said a senior US drug official in Mexico who withheld his name for security reasons. "It's an extremely bloody uphill battle. Narco-organisations have a developed infrastructure. It is being threatened and we are seeing their brutal response."However, critics worry that Black Hawks or other such tools given to Mexico could fall into the wrong hands. In the last two decades, hundreds of police, soldiers and politicians have been convicted of working for the cartels. One entire unit of army special forces deserted in the late 1990s to form a paramilitary commando called the Zetas, who work as bloody enforcers for the Gulf Cartel. Their rival, the Sinaloa Cartel, imitated their paramilitary style by training hundreds of would be enforcers in special weapons and tactics. After years of beheadings and reprisal massacres, these two cartels recently reached a truce, only to turn their wrath on the federal government, according to Mexican and US drug officials.The level of firepower of the drug gangs has been shown in raids on cartel safe houses in recent weeks. Police stormed one middle-class Mexico City home to find 30 guns, 12 grenade launchers, 30 grenades and more than 40 bullet-proof jackets with the initials FEDA – a Spanish acronym for "Special Forces of Arturo Beltran", an alleged drug gang leader.A raid on a Tijuana warehouse used by a cartel for training even unearthed a shooting range and assault course.Low ranking police officers complain they are outgunned and are risking their lives for salaries which are as low as $600 per month."How are we supposed to confront these guys if they come at us?" Osiel Mendoza, a Mexico City police officer, "We need the army to wipe them out."

Antonio Craig got 20 years behind bars. Investigators said he ran the West Trade Bloods. They said another gang member already picked up where they said Craig left off.Charlotte-Mecklenburg police captain Steve Willis said, "Another member has stepped up and taken the role on that Mr. Craig was working through at the time."
Investigators said they have to keep chipping away at the organization. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Detective Steve Parker said, "One thing we do is go after the most violent offenders of the group."FBI Special Agent David McCranie said, "We want to focus on the head of the group, the head of the gang, because you go after the top. We don't want to build from the bottom. We want to go from the top and take it out."Investigators think Craig was the second blood leader they caught since 2006.

Geraldo Bellino, the "managing director" of the Bellino syndicate was sent to jail for seven years in 1991, a member of the family is in the dock as the alleged mastermind of a crime gang. Todd Sean Filippa, 44, the son of Tony Bellino, a senior member of the 1980s syndicate and a prominent figure in the Fitzgerald inquiry who was never charged, has pleaded guilty in relation to a massive drug operation producing and supplying amphetamines, as well as cocaine, throughout Queensland and interstate. The burly, pony-tailed Filippa, who adopted his mother's maiden name because of the notoriety of the Bellinos after the Fitzgerald inquiry, was arrested with 18 other people in 2004 following simultaneous raids on 27 premises in a joint investigation, led by Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission and involving the Queensland police and the Australian Crime Commission.
Filippa was arrested at a drug lab in Miles, in southwestern Queensland, where investigators found a pill press and 200 litres of pseudoephedrine, used in the production of the street drug ice. He is alleged to have run the drug gang for more than eight years, at the same time he had moved into the Bellinos' more traditional business of nightclubs. A father of two, Filippa owned and operated two nightclubs, Scores and Rockafellas Bar and Restaurant, in Fortitude Valley - the inner-city backdrop to the crime and corruption that was aired at the Fitzgerald inquiry.
In the back rooms of the two clubs - since sold, with the profits being pursued through a $1 million-plus claim under the Proceeds of Crime Act - Filippa is alleged to have run the drug business. Over the past week, prosecutors have been laying out a case that Filippa was the mastermind of the organised crime gang, playing hours of secretly taken videos of him doing business with his underworld associates. In the tapes, Filippa is a hard man, littering almost every sentence with a profanity or tale of adventure that seems straight out of a scene from television's The Sopranos. But it is largely bluff, according to his lawyers. While Filippa has pleaded guilty to trafficking, possession and drug production charges, he has denied allegations that he was the gang's mastermind.Instead, he claims, he was just a cog in the network. A contested sentencing hearing before a judge is attempting to determine the extent of his involvement. But it is likely Filippa will have to serve years in jail. Two of his more senior associates were last year sentenced to 10 and 11 years' jail for their involvement in the drugs operation. Eight other people have been sentenced to jail terms, ranging from four to eight years, for their role in the network. Prosecutors want him to go to jail for 15 years. He is already in prison, after initially being granted bail then being caught attempting to obtain a passport under a false identity.

British ColumbiaA lawyer for David Francis Giles denied Thursday there was any direct evidence that the senior Hells Angel member was involved in running a drug-trafficking ring out of the East End chapter's Kelowna clubhouse.Revell and Rempel are also charged with trafficking cocaine. The three men were arrested after police seized eight kilograms of cocaine from a storage locker and a vehicle in the Kelowna area in 2005. Crown has argued Giles kept himself well insulated from the handling of the drugs but was in charge of a "cell" that had him giving orders to Revell, who in turn dealt with Rempel, the man at the bottom of the ladder.But lawyer Richard Fowler told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne Mckenzie yesterday that there was no evidence of a "particular act" that proves Giles was in any way linked to the drugs.He said there was no proof that Giles had knowledge of or was in control of the drugs, no proof of any financial transactions and no evidence linking Giles to sums of cash.
"This is not a relationship in which Mr. Giles is directing anybody to do anything," he said in final submissions. "The kind of thing you see in drug cases is completely absent in this case for Mr. Giles."Fowler singled out an intercepted communication from a bug placed in Giles' home in May 2005 in which the Crown claims Giles confidently predicts: "We'll get back up," after discussing the loss of the kilos of cocaine with Revell.He argued that the call, pivotal to the Crown's argument that Giles knew about the trafficking activity, was inaudible and hard to tell who is speaking. The call was replayed three times, once at the request of the judge.
"The Crown takes evidence and molds it to fit their theory but it is ill-fitting at best," claimed Fowler.

"You have to go bother these people for your money," heard telling a subordinate. "Rough them up a little. Tell them 'You're a f---ing stiff' … Crack a face. F--- them up. Don't you do it, send a f---ing kid to rough them up, a f---ing joke."

Joey Vallaro so many people want him killed. Otherwise he could make a killing himself on the speakers' circuit with his story of how even in adversity there is opportunity.In Vallaro's case it would be about how he turned a jail stretch for extortion into a career as a Staten Island trucking magnate.
Always a step ahead, so far at least, Vallaro is the Mafia "rat" at the centre of a 170-page indictment against 62 mobsters and crooks, including the bosses of New York's Gambino family, which resulted in 57 arrests last week. It was a crippling blow to one of the city's notorious Five Families.Twelve years and a lifetime ago, Vallaro became pals with the Gambino captain Nicholas "Little Nicky" Corozzo while they were in the can. Not long before he was jailed Vallaro and a partner had started a trucking company.Court documents, referring to Vallaro as "John Doe #4", show that on the outside another Gambino captain, Thomas "Tommy Sneakers" Cacciopoli, recovered a debt owed to Vallaro's company "and, in return, demanded monthly extortion payments from that point forward". After his release from prison in 1999 Vallaro made the payments directly to Cacciopoli, 58, and to stay in business he has since handed over more than $US160,000.In return, the Gambinos sponsored his business: ushering him into exclusive rights at development sites and granting him permission to start a cement company. When Vallaro wanted to sell after a buyer approached him, he first had to obtain permission from the family."In keeping with instructions from Gambino family captains Nicholas Corozzo and Leonard DiMaria to consult them before making any decisions concerning his business, John Doe #4 informed DiMaria of the [buyer's] offer. DiMaria later informed John Doe #4 that the family had agreed to allow him to make the sale, provided he pay $100,000 to the Gambino family," court documents show.Vallaro's partner did not fare so well: "In early January 2008, Gambino family soldier Joseph Scopo approached John Doe #4 on behalf of Gambino family captain Thomas Cacciopoli and instructed him that when the sale of his cement company took place, John Doe #4 should not provide his partner with the more than $300,000 in sale proceeds due to him, and that Cacciopoli would collect the money himself when he was released from prison."

Siezed bullet-proof BMW worth €100,000 belonging to a leading member of one of the country's most dangerous criminal gangs after a high-speed car chase.The driver of the car, who is a close relation to the vehicle's owner, was arrested following the pursuit after he failed to stop the high-performance vehicle at a garda checkpoint in Limerick city.Officers also recovered a bullet-proof vest in the vehicle. The arrested man is likely to face charges in connection with the incident.The top-of-the-range black BMW, which was fitted with bullet-proof glass at a cost of €100,000 to the owner, belongs to a leading member of the Dundon-McCarthy gang. The car owner, who is behind bars, and the arrested driver remain a target for gangs based in the St Mary's Park area of the city.The vehicle remains impounded following the high speed chase on Tuesday.The driver of the vehicle who is in his early 20s is well known to Limerick gardai investigating ongoing criminal and gangland activity in the city.He has just returned to Limerick from Spain where he was in the company of murdered Dublin criminal Paddy Doyle until days before he was shot dead. Doyle was shot dead in the Costa del Sol last week.The Limerick man who returned to the city a fortnight ago has served three years for drug dealing has openly threatened to kill opposing members in Limerick city's ongoing feud. He was released from prison last November.

20-year-old Donnie Bryant is accused of participating in what prosecutors call an "ambush-style murder" at a North Las Vegas apartment complex in September 2004.
Federal prosecutors have launched their case against a member of what they call a "hybrid" gang.
Prosecutors say Bryant was a member of a gang made of up a mix of members from rival gangs. The case was brought in federal court as part of an attempt to crack down on violent street gangs.
Bryant is charged with violent crime in aid of racketeering and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. Those convicted in federal court have no chance of parole. Bryant pleaded not guilty. His attorney told the jury that some government witnesses will be looking for a deal to shorten their own

Three men on trial for drug trafficking were engaged in a "joint venture" and were in business on behalf of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, prosecutor Martha Devlin said Wednesday.Questioned by defence lawyers about wiretaps involving David Giles, David Revell and Richard Rempel, Devlin cited several calls involving Giles, a full-patch member of the club, that she says prove that the men were working together to traffic cocaine in association with the notorious motorcycle club.
One phone call had Giles referring to how Revell had made $30,000 for him in the past several months.That all simply demonstrates that Revell and Giles are indeed in business," she said. "That establishes that there's a joint venture . . . and that there is an association between the two of them."
Citing another call, she said it was proof that all three men were involved in the joint venture and it all went to aid in the bid to expand the East End chapter from Vancouver to Kelowna.Revell and Rempel were arrested in April 2005 after eight kilograms of cocaine were seized, three from a storage locker in the Kelowna area and five from a secret compartment in a Chrysler vehicle. Giles was arrested a few months later.All three are charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession for the purpose of trafficking for the benefit of a criminal organization.Devlin called Giles, a 20-year-member of the club, the "quintessential" Hells Angel "and there's not a citizen he meets who he doesn't make sure knows who they're dealing with."
"He's got the jewelry, the clothing, all the paraphernalia at this house, the plaques and the stickers."Defence lawyers are expected to begin their final submissions Thursday.

The gangs being targeted are the G-Unit, the Gambinos, the Sandy, Dufu, Nelson Street, Beverly Hills, John John, Duke Street, Mango Rose, Desperlie Crescent, Africa, Quarry Street, Harpe Place and Trou Macaque.
Sources believe the gang leaders may be “losing business” due to the upsurge in violence in Laventille and the deployment of police officers and soldiers to bring crime in the community under control. As a result, the criminals are seeking less secure areas to trade drugs and arms and carry out extortion activities and kidnappings. They need “quick cash” to stay “in business”, said a senior officer. “If the gang leaders are now losing business and control over drug turfs because of the heavy presence of the police and soldiers (in Laventille), they will now be forced to use other means necessary to get the money they require to fuel their drugs and gun trade,” said the source. Most of the gang leaders are in their 20s, and police suspect they are hiding in Diego Martin, Carenage, Champs Fleurs, Enterprise, Longdenville and at the Trainline in Marabella. Police report that there are 86 gangs comprising of 1,720 members which operate in Trinidad. The migration of the criminals from Laventille has raised concern among the western, southern and central police divisions, where officers are bracing for a rise in crime. Yesterday, they complained that they lacked the manpower to combat any crime upsurge and felt that although a heavy police presence is required in Laventille, the gang leaders must be flushed out before they take root in other communities. Last year, officers of the Chaguanas CID were kept busy with a spate of gang-related murders, robberies and shootings. The situation cooled down by September but between October and November, residents of Las Lomas and Brasso complained of being the targets of gangs. Violent crimes also rose in Champs Fleurs. Police records revealed the escalation in the Laventille gang wars began in the second half of 2007, following the release of several criminals from prison. The police believe the gang leaders will continue to attack each other, not in Laventille, but in vulnerable communities that are not considered crime hot spots. “It is all about business, and we the officers on the ground hope that the top brass in the service discuss the migration of these gang members seriously, before the situation gets out of control,” said a junior police officer. Deputy Police Commissioner Gilbert Reyes yesterday shied away from commenting on the report that the police are targeting the gang leaders.

“We want to deal with the situation and we are having a lot of intelligence allowing us to make some key decisions in dealing with the situation in Laventille,” Reyes said. Newsday learned that officers were given firm instructions on Monday to find the 25 gang leaders to be questioned in connection with outstanding offences including murder. On Monday, Police Commissioner Trevor Paul, Chief of Defence Staff, Colonel Edmund Dillon and Brigadier Peter Joseph, Director of the Special Anti Crime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT) met with National Security Minister Martin Joseph and a decision was taken to lockdown several areas in Laventille. This action was prompted by recent murders, shootings and a firebombing at Picton Road. The police exercise started around 9 pm on Monday and continued yesterday. Between Monday and Tuesday morning five persons were held and a quantity of items seized. Late Tuesday 20 persons, including three murder suspects were also detained.

Manitoba-based ephedrine smuggling ring were ordered yesterday to stand trial May 28 in Buffalo, N.Y. Hugh Stevens and Sandra Jacobi were caught up with dozens of others by RCMP and the Drug Enforcement Agency in the alleged smuggling scheme which was based in Winnipeg and Lac Du Bonnet.Stevens, 61, and Jacobi, 50, had originally agreed to plea bargains, but those deals fell apart over the last six months. Both will stand trial by jury. Stevens has been in custody since his arrest in September 2004.In Winnipeg, a preliminary hearing for two suspects continues at the Law Courts Building.The case centres on how bulk amounts of ephedrine ended up in a California meth lab controlled by the Mexican Mafia. The ephedrine was legally imported into Canada through a Thunder Bay, Ont., company, but allegedly diverted onto the black market. Ephedrine is banned in the U.S. Its sale is regulated in Canada by Health Canada. Two of the eight Canadian defendants are no longer alive to be prosecuted. Lac du Bonnet resident Rodger Bruneau Sr. was charged as being the ring's kingpin, but he died in his sleep of an accidental drug overdose about three years ago. A tenth defendant, Emmanuel (Manny) Barbagianis, was shot to death in Winnipeg two years ago. His slaying remains unsolved. DEA agents, RCMP and Winnipeg police arrested about 90 people in the smuggling scheme, called Operation Brain Drain in the U.S. All suspects arrested in the U.S. except Stevens and Jacobi have agreed to plea deals -- reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony against Stevens and Jacobi.It's alleged Bruneau and Stevens recruited other people to use cars, trucks and horse trailers to move hundreds of pounds of ephedrine from Canada into the U.S. through the Niagara-Buffalo region. In July 2004, police found 195 kilograms of ephedrine hidden with a horse in a trailer that they had followed from a racetrack outside Hamilton, Ont., across the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge.