Arrests of 14 men and one woman were made between 3 and 7 p.m. on the North Side. Tamarack Circle, and areas around I-71 and Rt. 161 were targeted, officials said.
All 15 are in custody at the Franklin County jail and elsewhere, said Cmdr. Jeffrey Blackwell of the Columbus Police Strategic Response Bureau. Their names weren't available late last night.Everyone arrested yesterday was an illegal immigrant and affiliated with the MS-13 gang, which originated in El Salvador, he said. The FBI and Franklin County sheriff's office also contributed to the arrests, Blackwell said.
"MS-13 is a Hispanic gang notorious for violence," he said. "With the growing Hispanic population here, this gang has moved in and done its thing. … Over the last several months, there's been a proliferation of felonious-type crimes."Blackwell said gang members are suspected in two slayings, though he wouldn't give details. None of the people arrested had been charged with murder last night. The specific charges weren't available, but Blackwell said the gang members have been responsible for an escalation of the drug trade, robbery and burglary, among other crimes.
"People are so afraid, so fearful of retaliation from MS-13," he said.Blackwell estimated Columbus' Latino population at between 70,000 and 100,000."This gang has followed and set up shop," he said. Blackwell estimated the gang has more than 100 members in the Columbus area.Scott Best, resident agent in charge for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Investigations, said the probe began after an arrest by Columbus police in 2004. A 2005 operation netted nine "international" gang members, meaning they'd traveled to and from the country, he said."This is part of a nationwide crackdown, Operation Community Shield," Best said. "Columbus is one of the key areas."Five of those in custody have leadership roles with MS-13, he said, and more arrests are expected."We want to prosecute (gang members) on state, local and federal charges," he said.Blackwell said the arrests would have a positive effect on the level of violence and drug dealing.
"We're trying to make people feel safe, so they can come forward," Blackwell said.

DeQuana “Quanny” White became violent during an appearance in Falls City Court 10 days ago on charges unrelated to his involvement in the killing of Dorothy Joelle Banks.Niagara Falls gang member, already facing a murder charge, created a disturbance in Falls City Court and the city jail and then threatened to kill police officers.White began swearing at Chief City Court Judge Mark Violante as his hearing was concluding, and officers went to escort him back to the city jail. As court officers tired to cut off his expletive-laced tirade against Violante, White became “combative, pushing back against (officers) in an attempt to escape.”
Reports indicate officers “took White to the ground” and, after gaining control of him, escorted him back to a cell. Once in the jail holding area, White again became combative with officers.“I’ll murder all you (expletive),” White said. “Just because you wear a badge? I’ll kill all you (expletive). Let me see you outside. I’m a gangster.”Police did not charge White in connection with the incident.He already is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in the Sept. 5 slaying of Banks.White also is charged with attempted murder, second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of first-degree criminal use of a firearm in connection with a shooting incident in the 2200 block of Niagara Street on Aug. 31 that left a 27-year-old man and a 4-year-old boy wounded.
The 18-year-old member of the Bloods street gang, known in the Falls’ North End by the street name “O.G.,” shorthand for “original gangster” has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and is being held without bail. The “O.G.” moniker is normally reserved for gang members who have been involved in violence and drug dealing for a long period of time.White is no stranger to Falls police narcotics detectives and gang investigators. Because of his history of violent crime, he was arrested at gunpoint Sept. 7 in a motel parking lot on Niagara Falls Boulevard during a torrential downpour.Detectives investigating the Banks homicide said White became a person of interest to them early on in their probe. Officers responding to a call of a disturbance, found Banks’ body slumped in the front seat of her car in an alley in the 1300 block of Ashland Avenue. Banks, 35, 1923 18th St., was rushed to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center where she died from her wounds.

40-year-old businessman was shot dead and his 31-year-old singer girlfriend was injured early on Saturday in a gangland-style ambush in the coastal suburb of Voula. The police have attributed the attack to a settling of accounts by underworld figures with whom the victim is said to have had clashes in the past. Babis Lazaridis, the owner of a string of nightclubs in Attica, and Angeliki Iliadi had just left a hotel and had been getting into a car when they were approached by two assailants wearing motorcycle helmets, one of whom opened fire on Lazaridis with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, police said. An autopsy revealed at least 20 bullets in Lazaridis’s body. Iliadi was transferred to a hospital with leg injuries. A year ago, Lazaridis had been charged as a moral instigator in the attempted murder of a rival nightclub owner. In March this year, a bomb attack on a nightclub co-owned by Lazaridis caused damage, but no injuries.

Arrested two reported gang members who were pulled over on Eaton Road and Constitution Drive Thursday night.
The passenger in the car, 21-year-old Johnny Cabrera, jumped out after the vehicle was pulled over and ran across a field into a business complex, according to a release from the Chico Police Department. As officers chased Cabrera, he threw a loaded pistol and methamphetamine in plastic bags to the ground and escaped in the area of Independence Circle. Police later determined the handgun was stolen from a Hamilton City resident. Police established a perimeter around the area and located Cabrera, who is reportedly a local criminal street gang member. He was arrested and booked into the Butte County Jail on eight different charges relating to the incident. His bail was set at $90,000. The driver of the car, 27-year-old Gabriel Holton, was on parole for drug sales when police pulled him over. Police said he is also a street gang member and was carrying methamphetamine at the time of the stop. He was arrested and is being held on a no-bail parole hold.

Police have arrested two Avenues Gang members in the shooting death of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Juan Abel Escalante, who was gunned down outside his parents’ Cypress Park home in August as he prepared to go to work, according to sources with the Los Angeles Police Department.It is still not known whether the slaying was connected to the Mexican Mafia. Early speculation hinted at the possibility, principally because Escalante worked the highpower unit at the County Jail, and thus had regular contact with a number of Mexican Mafia members.
The intrigue only heightens with today’s revelation that the arrested suspects are members of the notorious Avenues criminal street gang. The Avenues is a gang with close ties to Eme (the Mexican Mafia). On the other hand, it is also a rival gang of Cypress Park, the area where Escalante lived, and gang members might simply have decided to target a bald-headed young Hispanic male in rival gang territory as part of the usual gang warfare nonsense.I have spoken with people in law enforcement (not connected with the case) who tend to doubt that this was an Eme-ordered hit, because (they say) the Mexican Mafia is primarily concerned with making money. Moreover, these people say, the Mafia doesn’t want to attract excessive law enforcement attenton by killing a cop.These arguments are generally sound, but there are countervailing arguments. I’m in the middle of an excellent book about the Mexican Mafia by local Fox-11 reporter Chris Blatchford, and I recently finished another by Tony Rafael. I plan to review both on this site in coming days and weeks. They give the reader some insight into the mob mentality, and based on what I learned in those books, I certainly think Mafia involvement is a possibility (how remote a possibility is unclear), for several reasons.First, the Mexican Mafia is an unstable conglomeration of criminal personalities who order hits as revenge for the pettiest of slights. If you steal my lunch tray in prison, you might go on the greenlight list.While it’s true that the Mafia doesn’t typically target law enforcement, it’s not inconceivable that the Sheriff’s Deputy, while working the highpower unit, inadvertently offended one of the more volatile Mafia members, who decided to take his revenge using his henchmen on the street.Sometimes, too, there is bad communication and/or rogue actors who go beyond their mandate. For example, the Mafia definitely does not approve of killing children, but a notorious multiple murder on Maxson Road was Mafia-inspired, and ended with the execution of a family, including small children. The killer was himself later murdered in prison for having killed children, but former Mafioso Rene “Boxer” Enriquez believes he may have felt he was following orders given by someone who had simply said: “Kill all them motherfuckers.” Similarly, a huge race riot at Pelican Bay State Prison in 2000 was sanctioned by a couple of Mexican Mafia carnales, but they hadn’t run the concept past the other members of the Mob, who almost certainly would have vetoed the idea.
So even if a particular hit doesn’t necessarily fit the mold, that doesn’t mean someone in the Mafia wasn’t involved.Add into the mix the way that Mexican cartels have recently begun targeting all enemies in a newly gruesome and visible way, including decapitations — and the fact that several of their enemies include law enforcement officials — and there’s good reason to be concerned.

longtime Hells Angel was overcome with emotion as he described the risks he's taking to defend himself against allegations of conspiring to murder an underworld rival."I believe my life is in extreme danger and so is my family's," Remond Akleh said Tuesday morning, before dissolving into tears.Mr. Akleh, a member of the Hells Angels' Nomads wing, has taken the extraordinary measure of taking the stand in his own defence and testifying about his activities as a police informant. He told a Superior Court jury Tuesday he had to waive his confidentiality agreement with Durham police and talk about his days as an informant in order to prove his innocence."I needed this all to come out so everyone would know," an emotional Mr. Akleh said, acknowledging at the same time the information places him and his family in grave peril."Today I wish I could take it all back," he said of sharing information with police."I don't know what the future holds. I could find myself in a ditch somewhere."Mr. Akleh and Oshawa Hells Angels president Mark Stephenson have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit murder and counselling to commit murder. During this trial, which began in Whitby in October, jurors heard Steven Gault, a police agent who infiltrated the Angels, testify the men enlisted him in June of 2006 to murder Frank Lenti, a Woodbridge biker with ties to the rival Bandidos gang. The alleged plot was never acted on.Mr. Akleh said Tuesday he started talking in 2003 with a Durham police officer Mr. Gault was convicted of threatening. The men had something in common, Mr. Akleh said: He testified Mr. Gault threatened to kill him after he raised concerns among Oshawa bikers that Mr. Gault was a police informant. (For his trouble Mr. Akleh was virtually drummed out of the Oshawa chapter and strongly advised to leave Durham Region, jurors heard. Mr. Akleh said he took that advice; he moved before his Taunton Road home sold and carried two mortgages for almost a year.)As time went on Mr. Akleh shared more information, talking to the officer about Mr. Gault and other members of the Oshawa chapter. He said he realized he was breaching a cardinal tenet of biker culture, but was motivated by a desire to protect himself and his family from Mr. Gault and others."I wasn't being loyal to the Hells Angels at all," Mr. Akleh observed. "I was doing what I thought was best for myself and my family."Jurors heard Mr. Akleh's accusations about Mr. Gault stirred anger among the Oshawa Angels. He testified he'd had a gun held to his head and was warned to get out of the region.And Mr. Akleh said he received a stark warning when he attended the funeral of retired Angel Bill (Mr. Bill) Lavoie in September 2006. He said he was standing at the grave site, taking shelter from the rain under an umbrella when a fellow biker approached him."A gentleman came up to me and gave me a hug and said to watch my back, I'd be next," Mr. Akleh testified in response to questions by defence counsel Glen Orr.In other testimony, Mr. Akleh flatly denied advising Mr. Gault to murder Mr. Lenti. He said that when the question of Mr. Lenti being offered a Hells Angels patch was put to a vote, he voted in favour of it."I knew Mr. Lenti," he testified. "I never had a problem with him."
The trial, before Justice Bruce Glass, continues.

Gerald (Skinny) Ward, 60, a founding member of the Niagara chapter, had pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and possession of proceeds of a crime. Terry Pink, 41, president of the Simcoe chapter, had pleaded guilty to similar charges but both denied that these illicit activities had anything to do with their motorcycle club.
Mr. Justice John McMahon of Ontario Superior Court ruled yesterday that the club is "a criminal organization which is dedicated to the facilitation and commission of serious criminal offences that materially benefit the members of the HAMC," and that Mr. Ward and Mr. Pink carried out their activities "not only for the benefit of the individuals involved but for the benefit of the HAMC, particularly the Oshawa and Niagara chapters."The two men were arrested along with 22 others after raids in September of 2006 on homes and clubhouses in Toronto, Oshawa, Windsor and Niagara Region. The arrests were the culmination of an 18-month undercover operation called Project Tandem.Prosecutor Tom Andreopoulos said he was pleased to see the charges culminate in convictions only a little more than two years after the arrests.Project Tandem was executed with the help of a police agent named Steven Gault, a member of the Oshawa chapter who was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his work and who is now in the witness-protection program.Mr. Gault testified that when he purchased a kilogram of cocaine from Mr. Ward he paid a premium of about $2,000 to pay down a debt owed by the Oshawa chapter to the Niagara chapter.The Hells Angels "have complete control of the coke dealing in the whole Niagara Region," Mr. Gault testified during the proceedings, according to the judge's decision.In his decision, Judge McMahon cited evidence that as of July, 2008, 75 per cent of Canada's HAMC members have been convicted of criminal offences, that a defence fund is maintained by members' monthly dues, and that members in prison are referred to as the Big House Crew.Sentencing arguments for Mr. Pink will be heard on Jan. 29, and for Mr. Ward on Jan. 27.

Melvin and Marriott families are feuding,some of these players made money and a name for themselves — together.Since 1968, Terrance Cyril Marriott (a.k.a. Terry Sr.) has racked up a total of 32 years, nine months and 26 days of federal time for drugs and other offences. But he’s also beaten the rap a number of times.The patriarch of the Melvin family, James Edwin Melvin (a.k.a. Jimmy Sr.), 48, has been sentenced to a total of 22 and three months of federal time and is still on parole. He narrowly escaped injury Nov. 17 when shots were fired at him outside a Spryfield pizza joint.
Here’s a brief history of these two notorious families:•April 25, 1988: Arnold (Smiley) Joseph Bailey is fatally shot on a Halifax street in what police believe was a drug-related shooting. Police later charged Spryfield drug dealer Terry Marriott Sr. with murder, but he was acquitted in June 1991.•October 1991: Police seized about 3.5 tonnes of hash from a truck on Highway 103 near Chester. It’s believed the drugs had been offloaded from a Panamanian vessel. Jimmy Melvin Sr., then of Spryfield, was among the 10 charged. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1994 for his part in the operation. •November 1992: A Spanish vessel led a U.S. Coast Guard vessel on a 19-hour chase through rough seas before sinking early the next day off the coast of Newfoundland, taking with it an estimated three tonnes of cocaine. Unaware of what had happened, Jimmy Melvin Sr. and a Crown witness spent two days trying to get out to the mother ship to offload the drugs for the Hells Angels. Mr. Melvin, described at sentencing as "the second in command, was among five Nova Scotians charged in the crime. He was sentenced in 1997 to 5 1/2 years for conspiracy to traffic cocaine.•Nov. 20, 1998: Richard Joseph (Ricky) Marriott, 32, was shot in his house, along with his girlfriend, Gail Stone. Ricky, who used a wheelchair and was Terry Marriott Sr.’s brother, was facing three drug charges of his own. He died at the scene, and Ms. Stone died in hospital four days later. In August 2000, Ricky’s brother William Ralph (Billy) Marriott, 38, hanged himself in a Halifax jail cell. Billy faced trial for first-degree murder in the killing of former Hells Angels associate William St. Clair Wendelborg, and Billy’s girlfriend, Wanda Lynn Campbell, was later found guilty of being an accessory after the fact. Ms. Campbell’s trial was told that Terry Marriott Sr. thought Billy murdered Ricky, although the rest of the family might not agree.•1999: Operation Crack Pot, a joint-forces investigation that targeted street-level drug dealers, a Halifax corner store and eight crack houses. Undercover police bought drugs 60 times during the operation. Terry Marriott Sr. and Terry Marriott Jr. were among the 40 people charged. Terry Marriott Sr. served four years for trafficking and his son got 4 1/2 years for possession. (Since December 1992, Terry Jr. has been sentenced to over 7 1/2 years of federal time. At one point, the National Parole Board had ordered Terry Jr. to stay away from his father because of his lengthy criminal history)•December 2001: Police raided the now-defunct Halifax chapter of the Hells Angels. Members and associates, including Jimmy Melvin Sr., are among those arrested and charged with drug offences. The name of Terry Marriott Sr. is found in exhibits seized by cops, but no explanation is given at the time. Jimmy Melvin Sr. is sentenced to another six years and three months for selling hash.•May to June 2002: An undercover police investigation dubbed Operation Midway swept up 81 people including many Marriott and Melvin family associates. The raids also hit homes and businesses owned by some family members and associates. Bruce Alan Jackson, a drug dealer turned informant, detailed in court how the second generation of Melvins and Marriotts ran a drug ring in Halifax. Mr. Jackson was the manager of a Herring Cove Road crack shop in a ring operated by one of Terry Marriott Sr.’s sons, Brian James Bremner (a.k.a. B.J. Marriott); the young man’s cousin, Gary (Boo) Boudreau and longtime friend James Bernard Melvin (a.k.a. Jimmy Melvin Jr.).
Jimmy Jr., who was already in jail when the arrests were made, was later sentenced to three years for attempting to have someone smuggle drugs to him in prison as part of Operation Midway. That was to be served on top of a two-year term he received in December 2002 for possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking in May 2001. His sentence ended on May 17, 2006, but he had been in custody in relation to other charges until he was ordered released a month ago, on Nov. 14.
Mr. Boudreau received six years and six months for drug and weapons offences. While it may have been his first federal sentence, he told a National Parole Board panel last year that he’d been selling drugs since he was 13 and became a high-level dealer in 2000. Now 32, Mr. Boudreau, who co-owned a Herring Cove Road tanning salon that was firebombed in 2006, has kept himself out of jail since his release last year.B.J. Marriott, who was also in jail when the investigation was underway, was eventually convicted and sentenced to a total of six years for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the Central Nova Correctional Facility in Dartmouth between June 17 and June 20, 2002 and possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking at Springhill Institution between May 27 to May 31, 2002. The drugs headed for the Springhill prison were supposed to go to Wayne James, a Halifax man serving time for a Hells Angels-related murder. Although B.J. Marriott didn’t actually handle the drugs, the judge ruled that he had control of the prison packages through the people that did his bidding. His mother, Dawn Bremner, and his uncle, Teddy Bremner, each received 18-month conditional sentences for their part in the operation. Jimmy Jr.’s then-girlfriend, Jennifer Purcell and Jimmy Jr.’s mother, Debbie Melvin, received two years and 12 months, respectively, while charges against Mr. Boudreau’s wife and his grandmother were dismissed. In the end, 66 people were convicted for varying roles in the drug ring, and some on multiple charges. Neither Jimmy Sr. nor Terry Sr. was among those arrested.
Now 26, B.J. Marriott is in prison in the Prairie region where he is serving 16 years and four months for manslaughter; two counts of assault with a weapon; assault causing bodily harm; two counts of possessing a dangerous weapon; and possessing property obtained by criminal activity; and the drug charges. He was eligible for day parole on Nov. 28, but did not apply. He also decided to postpone an upcoming parole board hearing scheduled for next May. Instead, the board is expected to hear his case in May 2011.•Oct. 25, 2002: At about 6 a.m., at least one Molotov cocktail and five bullets hit 28 Sylvia Ave., which is owned by Jimmy Melvin Sr. An hour earlier, two bullets went through a kitchen window of a nearby home on Emerald Crescent. Wayne Douglas Robinson, a cousin of Terry Marriott Jr. is later arrested in the firebombing. In the following years, houses, apartment buildings or businesses were either shot at or firebombed on Arvida Avenue, Herring Cove Road, Hartlen Avenue and Old Sambro Road. •July 7 and Sept. 3, 2004: On these two evenings, shots were fired outside 490 Herring Cove Rd. and Terry Marriott Jr. was hit both times. He was hit in the armpit and hip the first time, with witnesses saying four shots came from a green van. In September, police arrived at the house after the victim left for hospital. He tells investigators the shooting was an accident. His uncle, James Cameron, is the listed owner of the property.•June 20, 2006: Wayne Nicholas (Chop) Marriott, 21, was shot dead at about 10:50 p.m., moments after driving up to the Beechville home he was renting. The man he was with, Jeremy Alvin Leblanc, then aged 24, was also injured. No one has been charged in the killing.•August 2007: Jimmy Melvin Jr., his younger brother Cory Patrick Melvin and Andrew Hudder were charged in several firebombings in Dartmouth, Fairview and Bayers Lake Business Park. The three will go on trial next June.

Lerome "L'il Rome" Franklin, 25, was sentenced to 75-years-to life and Floyd "YG" Martin, 22, received a 50-to-life term for the March 15, 2007, shooting that took place outside a motel on El Camino Avenue.Trigga Mobb's self-described "five star general" and a soldier in his north side street gang were sentenced to life terms in prison today for the retaliation shooting of a man they thought to be an informant.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Gary S. Mullen denied new trial motions filed by the defendants, who were convicted on Aug. 5.According to testimony at trial, Franklin, who had just been arrested on robbery charges prior to the shooting, thought a Del Paso Heights gang associate was responsible for his incarceration.Franklin then engaged in telephone conversations with Martin from the downtown jail that were recorded in which he ordered the shootings, according to police and prosecutors.
The victim in the case recovered from his injuries, testified against Franklin and Martin at trial and was later relocated by the Sacramento District Attorney's office.

Three men are wanted in connection with making a gang-related statement and then hitting a stabbing another man in the shoulder, Santa Cruz police said.The 22-year-old victim told police that he was walking on the corner of Bay and California streets at about 11:15 p.m. when the three men came up to him, said something gang-related, and started hitting him and removing items from his backpack, including a wallet and MP3 player, police said.The victim also suffered a stab wound to the shoulder during the attack. The three men were last seen running into Neary Lagoon.
A K-9 followed the track of the three men through Neary Lagoon onto Chestnut Street before losing the scent, police said.

Jamar Thomas and Darius Lee, both 19, Jarrett Lewis, 18, and Akil Williams, 17, are charged with murder, robbery and participation in a criminal street gang in connection with the 2007 death of Bower Security Co. guard Wallace Brown. All have pleaded not guilty and remain at the Indio Jail without bail.Four suspected Palm Springs gang members accused of fatally beating a 66-year-old security guard will appear in court today for a pre-trial hearing.
The 19-year-olds would be eligible for the death penalty if convicted, while the other two could face a maximum sentence of life in prison because they were minors when the crime occurred, prosecutors have said.The defendants are accused of beating Brown with blunt objects, including their fists, and taking his wallet after dragging him from his car while he was checking a construction site near Rosa Parks Street and Eldorado Boulevard in June 2007.The former Marine was unconscious when he was found and died days later at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs without regaining consciousness.

Member of the Bloods street gang got seven years in prison today for dealing heroin and crack and breaking firearms laws in Bensalem, federal prosecutors announced.The sentence in federal court in Philadelphia follows a guilty plea by 27-year-old Shirishah Robinson, Acting U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid said in a release. In November 2007, Robinson was caught in Bensalem with nearly 10 grams of a heroin and 588 packets containing about 14 grams of crack cocaine. She also had some bullets. And because she was previously convicted of a felony in Pennsylvania, and thus prohibited from carrying a firearm or aummunition, she was criminally charged with carrying 43 rounds of .380 caliber ammunition and 39 rounds of .357 caliber ammunition. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Bucks County Violent Gang Task Force and the Bensalem Township Police Department.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Houston Police officers late Thursday arrested a member of the "Houstone" street gang wanted by Mexican authorities for murdering two women in March 2008.Carlos Garcia-Hernandez, 19, a citizen of Mexico, was also wanted on local arrest warrants for aggravated assault. A search conducted for Garcia-Hernandez by Houston Police Department and ICE in Houston resulted in his apprehension without incident.According to Mexican authorities, Garcia-Hernandez is wanted for murdering two women, one from San Diego County, Calif., and another from Mexico where the homicides were committed. It is alleged that both women were robbery victims at the time of their deaths. Three individuals have already confessed to the crimes to date and are serving time in Mexican prison.Garcia-Hernandez has previous convictions in Houston for possessing marijuana, escaping law enforcement custody while in detention, and driving with a counterfeit driver's license.Garcia-Hernandez is in the United States illegally and has already received final orders of deportation from a federal immigration judge. ICE will ultimately deport him into the custody of Mexican authorities. No date has been set for his return. ICE previously deported Garcia-Hernandez in November 2007. It is a felony to re-enter the United States after previously being deported punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Thirty-three-year-old Sinque Beiama Morrison was sentenced to 109 years to life, and 22-year-old Michael Barnett Jr. got 101 years to life Wednesday for the 2005 killing of Mynisha Crenshaw in San Bernardino.Two gang members have each been sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for their part in the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old girl.Each man was convicted in October on five counts including murder.Crenshaw was eating dinner with her family when she was shot to death and her 14-year-old sister was wounded.Morrison and Barnett were part of a street gang avenging an earlier killing that mistakenly fired on the girl's home.Twelve members of the gang have been convicted or reached plea agreements in the girl's killing. The last three are scheduled for sentencing Monday.

Horacio Guttierrez (male, 25 years), Jose Barrera (male, 26 years), Jose Rivera (male, 28) and Hector Ornelas (male, 28), all from Pasadena, were arrested without incident. Charges were filed today with the Office of the District Attorney for Attempted Murder, Assault with a Deadly Weapon and gang allegations. The incident is considered to be gang-related.Pasadena Police Detectives arrested four members of a local street gang and charged them with attempted murder.
On November 27, 2008 Francisca Zendejas (female, 26) was shot numerous times in the 700 block of Manzanita Ave. Detectives canvassed the area and received clues as to the suspects’ identification.The suspects are being held in county jail.The victim is recovering from her wounds.

alleged member of a notorious Northside street gang is under arrest after police found him living in Northern Kentucky.Police arrested 21-year-old Oliver McLean Wednesday night in Covington.McLean was then extradited back to Hamilton County to face charges in connection to his alleged involvement with the "Northside Taliband" gang.He is facing one count of participating in a criminal gang, as well as cocaine and marijuana charges.A total of 26 people were taken into custody on the first day of a multi-agency roundup in mid-November. Eight of those arrested were charged with gang activity.

Three gang members have been found guilty of the murder of two-year-old Jhia te Tua, who was killed in a drive-by shooting at her parents' home in May last year.MP Chester Borrows says other provincial centres have a worse gang problem than Wanganui.He says there is always a concern about tensions between gangs, but everyone in Wanganui will have to, and usually does, live within the law.Borrows says the shooting has negatively impacted on people's perception of the town.
Jhia was shot dead in her parents' lounge as she slept. Tragically, her mother had moved her from her bedroom because of fears she should not be left alone after a recent escalation in gang violence.Police have been on standby for any gang confrontations arising from the verdicts and has urged supporters of the convicted men to think again before pursuing any retaliation.The gang tensions in the town meant 22 witnesses key to the verdict had to give evidence anonymously.

Alleged gang member was arrested during an investigation of a shooting late Thursday in southeast Fresno.Police said they while investigating reports of a shooting about 10:40 p.m. on the 4700 block of East Woodward Avenue, they searched a home and found a loaded, large-caliber handgun.Terrence Reed, 21, of Fresno, was held on suspicion of being an ex-felon with a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and violating probation. The shooting victim, a male, was not found. Police checked area hospitals but did not locate the man

Crime boss suspect Diego Montoya was sent to the United States yesterday to face charges of smuggling hundreds of tonnes of cocaine, marking what police called the end of the Norte del Valle cartel.Authorities say that as head of the drug gang Montoya, known as Don Diego, helped it supplant the once-mighty Medellin and Cali cartels. He was captured last year after a long manhunt that ended when police raided his farmhouse hide-out and found him cowering in a ditch dressed only in his underwear. It was an ignominious end to the career of the portly billionaire who is accused of governing a crime empire from his base near the city of Cali. He appeared next to Osama bin Laden on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list. Montoya, in sunglasses, handcuffed and wearing a blue dress shirt under a bulletproof vest, was shown on television boarding a plane headed for Miami, where he is wanted by a federal court on charges including money laundering. Montoya has not been tried in Colombia, where he is accused of hundreds of murders. "This extradition means the end of the Norte del Valle cartel," national police chief Oscar Naranjo told reporters. "All of its major leaders have been caught or killed." But the gang still exports cocaine from Colombia's Pacific coast, said Bogota-based security consultant Pablo Casas. "This is the end of one boss but it is not the end of the Norte del Valle organization. Drug bosses multiply in Colombia like bacteria in a petri dish," Casas said. The cartel's violent exploits inspired this year's No. 1-rated local TV soap opera called "Cartel de los Sapos" ("Cartel of the Snitches"), which traced the story of how Norte del Valle became the biggest drug gang in Colombia. Another key Norte del Valle leader, Wilber Varela, was found shot dead in Venezuela early this year after a gunfight among rival smuggling organizations. Montoya's brother Eugenio was extradited to the United States earlier this year on charges of cocaine trafficking.
Colombia has extradited hundreds of drug suspects to the United States but cocaine exports from the Andean country remain steady at about 600 tonnes a year, according to the United Nations.

Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, also known as Jackie Tran, rejected warnings he was a murder target and said he had no intentions of leaving gang life.Walker told a deportation appeal hearing that Tran told him: `This isn't going to be over until they are all dead or we are all dead.' Tran's lawyer Steve Virk told the hearing Walker, who is with the Calgary police organized crime unit, did not qualify as a gang expert.Virk suggested police have tunnel vision in their thirst to get gangs off the street.He questioned the credibility of Walker's sources, including readings on gangs which Virk said do not speak to the two Calgary gangs, Fresh off the Boat and Fresh off the Boat Killers