Pleading guilty to second-degree murder in March, Jymaika S. Hutson, admitted to killing Tyree Lee on April 28, 2007.

Lee, regarded by law enforcement as a member of a Central District street gang, was shot to death outside a friend's home. Hutson, 32, had been a member of a rival gang, though he has since insisted that he abandoned the gang after a shotgun blast left his face severely scarred.

As his brother’s son looked on in a T-shirt reading “R.I.P. Daddy,” Tyrone Lee Jr. told King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez that Hutson’s actions four years ago left his family shattered.

Tyrone Lee noted that the young men were raised in the same community and had known each other for years. His brother left behind a family and a fiancée.

“They lost someone, something that they can never get back,” he said Friday.

Given the opportunity to speak, Hutson declined to address the judge or attempt to explain his actions the day Tyree Lee was killed.

On April 28, 2007, officers were called to the 2600 block of East Alder Street following a report of shots.

Police arrived to find Lee had been shot multiple times in the back, torso and legs. He died later that evening at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Witnesses to the shooting told police a white Chevrolet SUV had pulled up as Lee was walking to a friend's home. Hutson got out of the vehicle, drew a pistol and fired at least eight shots at Lee.

One witness told police he heard what would be some of Lee's last words.

"Hey man, I don't have a beef with you," Lee told Hutson before he was gunned down, according to the witness.

Police were able to trace the car to Gilbert Kinney, Hutson's co-defendant.

Hutson pleaded guilty on the eve of trial as prosecutors were prepared to offer the testimony of Kinney to implicate him in the shooting. Kinney, who drove Hutson to and from the shooting scene and provided the murder weapon, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and was sentenced to home detention.

Speaking with investigators, Kinney said he followed Lee's car at Hutson's request. He said he had no idea Hutson planned to kill Lee, and admitted that Hutson used his pistol in the shooting.

Hutson -- said by law enforcement to be member of Deuce 8, a Central District street gang -- had been seen arguing with Lee at Barnett Park shortly before the shooting.

Police initially interviewed Hutson five days after the shooting. He denied any involvement in Lee's death; nearly three years passed before prosecutors were able to bring charges against him.

In the prosecution's view, the killing was revenge for an earlier attack Hutson blamed on Lee. Hutson was shot in the face with a shotgun by parties as yet unidentified.

Prosecutors were prepared to contend that a rivalry between Hutson's gang and Lee's Low Profiles – a breakaway set of Deuce 8 – played a part in the shooting, a contention disputed by Hutson's attorney.

“At the time of the shooting, Mr. Hutson was working very hard to extricate himself from ongoing violence that was part of his younger life,” defense attorney James Womack said in court documents. “This change took place shortly after he was shot in the face by a shotgun in February 2006. He had to make a choice.”

The rivalry between the Central District gangs began shortly before the slaying of another Seattle man, Deuce 8 leader Terrell Milam.

Milam was widely believed to have injured then-Seahawks defensive back Ken Hamlin in a bar brawl in October 2005. He was shot to death not long afterward by Omar A. Norman, a Low Profile gang member currently serving a 52-year prison term for Milam's murder.

That killing was followed by years of gang shootings and slayings, including the drive-by shooting that saw Hutson shot in the face.

Writing the court, Senior Deputy Prosecutor John B. Castleton noted that Hutson was responding both to his own shooting and Milam's when he killed Lee.

"The defendant admitted to shooting Lee as retaliation for Milam's death," Castleton told the court. "This type of 'payback' is simply part of the gang culture and was just one more incident in the ongoing LP/Deuce 8 feud."

Hutson was sentenced by King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez

 

Superior Court Judge Robert Perry sentenced a former Filipino gang leader to eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for his role in the murders of eight people and 10 attempted murders that occurred in the mid-1990’s in the Greater Los Angeles region.

Last Wednesday, Perry handed Marvin Mercado, 37, a former leader of the Asian Boyz gang, the stiff penalty after a jury earlier in the month of March spared the Filipino from the death penalty.

Perry called Mercado a clear danger to society and said only two of his victims were rival gang members while the rest were law-abiding citizens.

“He deserves the greatest sentence this court can impose,” said Perry, according to the Associated Press. “The amount of pain and senseless hurt this defendant and his associates have caused is enormous and incalculable.”

The sentence of Mercado finally closes one more chapter on what police and prosecutors called the “Summer of Madness” rampage in the mid-1990’s when Mercado and other members of the Asian Boyz gang terrorized the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valley.

The Asian Boyz gang was composed mostly of Cambodian, Vietnamese, Filipino and other Southeast Asian origin. They were known for targeting the Asian immigrant community, committing burglaries, robberies and eventually murder. In one home invasion case, Asian Boyz gang members tied up an 84-year-old Filipino woman.

It was during this time that Los Angeles Police Department investigators said members of the Asian Boyz gang – led by Mercado – killed two gang rivals, three men mistaken for gang enemies, a man during a home invasion robbery, a teenager walking home from an arcade and another man fatally shot with a shotgun.

When police authorities began rounding up the suspects of the crime, Mercado fled to the Philippines. His brother, Pierre Mercado, who is awaiting trial on four counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, also fled a few years later.

The seven other members of the gang - Buntheon Roeung, Sothi Menh, David Evangelista, Roatha Buth, Son Thanh Bui, Ky Tony Ngo and Kimorn Nuth - have since been prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison for their role in the murder, attempted murders, and conspiracies to commit murder in June of 1998.

Living a quiet life

Mercado had eluded authorities for more than a decade by escaping to the Philippines.

Using the name Mark delos Angeles, Marvin Mercado married Nicole Romero, the daughter of a wealthy construction magnate in a lavish wedding that Mercado family members attended under false names. His brother Pierre posed as his cousin, Angel Reyes, said prosecutor Hoon Chun.

An aunt, Luz Rodriguez, testified at the trial that she took the bride aside a week before the wedding and told her Mercado’s real identity, but the bride said she already knew.

Mercado lived for a year with his in-laws in a gated compound, described by Chun as “Bel Air-like,” before moving to a condo in a ritzy section of Manila. He ran an Internet café and a fish farming business. However, his life of luxury came to an end when a reward resulted in a tip to authorities. The brothers were arrested and extradited.

Moving on

The Asian Boyz still exist, but Chun said the convictions of Mercado and seven other members significantly diminished the gang’s criminal activity.

“They were responsible for a horrendous number of shootings that showed no signs of stopping,” he said. “This is one of those few cases where we can say, we made an impact.”

Jennifer Gregory, whose husband Jon Gregory was killed in a 1995 home invasion by the gang, said Wednesday she was relieved that justice had been done. Her three daughters were left traumatized by the murder of their father and grew up fearing the killers would return.

“It tore apart my kids, but it’s getting better,” she said. “He can’t do anything to anyone any more. I can try to move on.”

Chun said he believes Mercado deserved the death penalty, but called the sentence “a nice measure of justice.” “I can’t complain too much,” he added.

 

John Kinsella was convicted of taking household goods in a raid at a haulage yard in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 2006.

Kinsella, 46, who is serving a sentence of 11 years and three months, was also made the subject of a confiscation order to compensate the raid victims.

The Court of Appeal in London has cut Kinsella's bill to £10,250.
Kinsella, of Mile End, Liverpool, was one of four men caught as they fled the scene of the robbery. The stolen goods were never recovered.

Kinsella won support during his 2008 trial from the father of Liverpool and England star, Steven Gerrard, who said Kinsella had stopped a gangster known as The Psycho from terrorising his son in 2001.

Paul Gerrard said in a letter sent to court in 2008 that Kinsella had helped them when the gangster had threatened to shoot the footballer in the legs.

At a subsequent confiscation hearing, it was ruled that Kinsella's benefit from the crime was the full value of the goods taken and the £41,000 confiscation order was made.

Giving judgment, Lord Justice Moses, Mrs Justice Dobbs and Judge Gerald Gordon said the judge had not approached the confiscation case correctly.

Since there was not enough evidence to say that Kinsella had benefited from the full value of the cargo, it would be fair to divide the proceeds between the four men, Lord Justice Moses said.

Long tranquil in recent years as bloodshed flooded other swaths of Mexico in recent years, the lands bordering far South Texas have exploded as the Zetas commanded by El Lazca — Heriberto Lazcano — battle the Gulf Cartel.
The Mexican towns near Falcon Lake have become battlefields as the two groups war for smuggling routes into Texas. Searching for new sources of revenue, the Zetas have branched into kidnapping, extortion and robbery. In some towns near Falcon, nearly everyone has fled.
U.S. anglers all but evaporated from Falcon last October following the reported murder of a Colorado man, David Hartley, who crossed the lake on jet skis with his wife to tour the half-submerged town of Guerrero on the Mexican bank.
Hartley, his wife told police, was shot in the head by armed thugs who swarmed the couple in boats. The attack followed reports last spring of Mexican "pirates" assaulting U.S. fishermen.
Increased security
Hartley's body never has been recovered. Local and Texas state officials point to the attack as proof that Mexico's gangland wars, which have killed more than 35,000 people over the last four years, threaten to cross the border.
"I have to inform the public about what's happening," said Sheriff Sigifrido Gonzalez Jr. of Zapata County, who has placed widely ignored signs at boat ramps warning U.S. anglers of the dangers of fishing in Mexican waters.
Reacting both to Hartley's presumed murder and gangland battles in nearby towns, hundreds of Mexican soldiers and marines have poured into the Falcon Lake area. Mexican military helicopters frequently patrol the area. Authorities on the U.S. side have beefed up their presence as well.
The added security has brought a wary calm, at least to the Texas shore. Local fishing guides and tackle shops say business has returned almost to normal in recent weeks. Bass boats towed by pickup trucks and SUVs clog the parking lots of Zapata's hotels and restaurants.
"We've seen a number of boaters back in town. There are calls coming in," said Celia Balderas, an official with the Zapata County Chamber of Commerce, which is sponsoring fishing tournaments this spring. "Protection is the greatest it's ever been on Falcon Lake."
Deserted streets
But that security is far less assured across the lake.
The Mexican army killed three alleged gangsters Thursday near Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, near Falcon Lake's dam. And soldiers last week seized five tons of marijuana in Miguel Aleman, a town across the Rio Grande from the Texas town of Roma, 40 miles south of Zapata.
Many of the 6,000 residents who fled Zetas attacks last year in Ciudad Mier, a few miles outside Miguel Aleman, have yet to return despite the deployment of Mexican troops. The streets of the 258-year-old town remain deserted, most shops shuttered.
The Zetas continue to raid Mier, some residents say, coming with the dark after the soldiers withdraw. Three men were kidnapped three weeks ago, one left dead on the outskirts of town, the others still missing.
"Why isn't there protection for all of us? I don't know," said Mayor Alberto Gonzalez, 64, who took office Jan. 1. "But people are coming back little by little. Their land is here. They have to come back sooner or later."
The mayor said he expects Mier to be completely pacified once the army provides the promised battalion-strength base this spring.

imprisoned “godfather” of Mexican drug trafficking is looking more like a grandfather these days, with cataracts, deafness, ulcers and a hernia, his family wrote in a rare open letter to Mexico’s top police official Tuesday.
 Mexican drug trafficking Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo The wife and children of imprisoned drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, 67, said in a letter to Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna that Felix Gallardo is not getting the proper medications for his multiple ailments and is being mistreated in prison. The letter was published on Tuesday, March 22, 2011, as an almost full-page ad in Mexico City newspapers. (AP Photo, file)
The wife and children of imprisoned drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, 67, said in a letter to Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna that Felix Gallardo is not getting the proper medications for his multiple ailments and is being mistreated in prison. The letter was published as an almost full-page ad in Mexico City newspapers.

“For more than three years, without any justification, prison authorities have kept him segregated, isolated and without contact with other inmates, and have prevented him from participating in any physical, sports or educational activities,” according to the letter, in which the family also gave their address: in a swanky southern Mexico City neighborhood.

Historically, the families of top Mexican drug traffickers seldom, if ever, make public statements or publish their addresses, though authorities often know where they live.

By tradition, relatives are not usually targeted by law enforcement officials unless there is hard evidence they participated in the drug trade or laundered drug money, and occasional police raids on the homes or detentions of traffickers’ relatives have drawn criticism and even retaliatory attacks from crime gangs.

In a rare 2004 protest, about 100 people who identified themselves as wives and relatives of drug suspects demonstrated outside the Mexican Congress to demand better conditions at the Altiplano maximum-security prison just west of Mexico City, the same facility where Felix Gallardo is being held. The protesters would not identify the inmates they were related to, however.

But Felix Gallardo’s family said they were moved to publish the open letter — in which they asked for a meeting with Garcia Luna — because they claim he is being held in “inhuman” circumstances in a special lockdown section amid “unhealthy conditions, humidity, a lack of ventilation, bad odors and darkness.” Arrested in 1989, he is serving a 40-year sentence on drug-trafficking, bribery and weapons convictions.


In the 1980s, Felix Gallardo commanded the Guadalajara cartel, then Mexico’s most powerful gang, and what is considered a precursor of the brutal Sinaloa cartel. The gang also served as a training ground for many of today’s top drug traffickers.

But lately, Felix Gallardo’s biggest sin has allegedly been possessing cigarettes in his cell. Prison authorities canceled his rights to personal visits for four months starting in February as punishment, even though cigarettes are sold to inmates at the prison store, the family’s letter claimed.

A spokesman from Garcia Luna’s office said officials had no comment.

Felix Gallardo had been among the most flamboyant of the early drug lords in the 1970s and ‘80s. On one website, he appeared in old photos wearing tightly tailored shirts and bell-bottom pants. It was not clear if anyone connected to the imprisoned drug lord had operated the site, which has since been shut down.

It is hard for many Mexicans to think of Felix Gallardo as a victim; he is reputed to have punished a subordinate’s alleged betrayal by killing the subordinate’s children, cutting off the head of his wife, and sending the head to him in a box.

But the drug trade in his day was far less violent than the current round of cartel turf battles, which have cost more than 34,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon launched an anti-drug offensive in late 2006.

Police in Cape Town have confirmed that alleged underworld boss Cyril Beeka, while driving a bakkie, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting over the weekend.

According to spokesman Joe Wilson police can confirm that it was Beeka who died in the shooting but they can only speculate as to the motive at this stage.

Beeka, a former bodyguard of National Intelligence Agency boss Moe Shaik and an Umkhonto we Sizwe informer during the apartheid struggle, was allegedly shot by men on a motorcycle while driving near the University of the Western Cape in his BMW SUV.

Eyewitness News on Tuesday say that Beeka was with a Russian national called Sasha – who was wounded during the incident - at the time of his death. According to the report Beeka was well known in the ANC’s top circles and had links to axed Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride.

Beeka was alleged to have been a key player in Cape protection rackets and was previously accused of murder. He was also reported to have had links to Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir a leading figure in the Lolly Jackson and Uwe Gemballa murder investigations.

During Cape Town’s infamous spy saga in 2008 Badih Chabaan, a councillor the DA accuses of using illegal methods to encourage defections from the party to an ANC-led alliance, said : “It’s not illegal to gamble and I’ve known Mark Liffman, Yurie the Russian and Cyril Beeka for many years, gambling with them. I will not apologise for my association with them - it doesn’t make me a criminal.”

Yurie “the Russian” Ulianitski was also a known mob boss who was cut down in hail of bullets.

In an article by IOL's Dale Granger in 2007 Beeka confirmed that Ulianitski had worked for him for a short period, but had subsequently decided to go on his own.

The article is worth reading even now to give people an understanding of the Western Cape's underworld.

In an article by IOL's Murray Williams also in 2007 the Russian was also murdered in a late-night ambush that killed his four-year-old daughter, Yulia as well.

In a report by Times Live’s Paddy Harper in Oct 10, 2009 “as the [President Jacob} Zuma campaign gained momentum and more ANC leaders got on board, [Mo] Shaik felt increasingly marginalised.

"By the time the party's landmark Polokwane conference took place in December 2007, he was reduced to attending as a "service provider", watching from the sidelines and creating controversy by attending with alleged gangster Cyril Beeka".

Police have made no arrests in connection with the incident.

sentenced Daniel Flores, an Oxnard gang member, to life without parole for the February 2008 murder of Armando Sepulveda, prompting Flores' lawyer to immediately file a notice of appeal.

Last month, a jury found Flores guilty of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder for shooting and wounding a father and son from El Rio in an incident a month before the Sepulveda shooting. Jurors found true that these crimes were done for the benefit of a criminal gang and that a weapon was used.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Patricia Murphy also sentenced Flores, 24, to the maximum sentence prescribed by law for the two attempted murders, 75 years to life. The judge gave Flores a 38-year sentence for the special allegations that he was a gang member and used a weapon in the commission of a crime.

Flores and two other Colonia Chiques gang members, Brandon Arauz and Jose Velasquez, spotted Sepulveda in front of his house using his cellphone on Feb. 4, 2008, court testimony showed. Flores and Arauz, who were dressed in El Rio gang attire, stopped the car three houses away and walked toward Sepulveda. Prosecutors said Flores introduced himself to Sepulveda as an El Rio gang member before Sepulveda was shot by Arauz.

Arauz was not charged with the murder, but is in prison for 64 years to life on two other unrelated shootings. Velasquez's trial is pending.

Prosecutor Rameen Minoui said in an interview that Flores is a very serious threat and danger to society, adding that the lengthy prison sentences mean he will no longer be able to inflict harm or cause further pain to the victims' families. Minoui said Sepulveda wasn't a gang member and Flores, Velasquez and Arauz didn't know anyone in the Sepulveda family.

Flores' lawyers Jay Tanenbaum and Matthew Selmer said they filed a notice of appeal Monday alleging that a jailhouse informant secretly recorded conversations with their client and Velasquez.

Flores bragged to a jailhouse confidential informant, who said he was associated with the Mexican Mafia, about killing Sepulveda and shooting two other people, according to the recordings played to jurors. Flores denied to the informant that the two shootings were drive-by shootings.

The Mexican Mafia issued an edict to Southern California street gangs against drive-by shootings because innocent people sometimes get killed, resulting in police crackdowns that disrupt its drug trafficking, according to law enforcement.

Tanenbaum said Flores said all these things to the informant because he was afraid Mexican Mafia members would kill him if they believed he participated in drive-by shootings.

Selmer said the informant has earned $250,000 from the FBI and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and $25,000 from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department for secretly recording jail conversations with defendants.

Selmer said the informant is simply an arm of law enforcement who also has worked off a total of 15 years from his jail sentences.

WEST Australian police commissioner Karl O'Callaghan's 29-year-old son has been badly burned in an illegal drug lab explosion in Perth.

Torn between his roles as police commissioner and a dad, Mr O'Callaghan has told of his struggle to be good at both after revealing the incident. "There's always that conflict between being the commissioner of police and being the father," an emotional Mr O'Callaghan told The Australian last night after visiting his son, Russell, in Royal Perth Hospital.

The younger O'Callaghan was one of five people hurt in the powerful blast, which tore a hole through the roof of a Carlisle state housing unit. One man was in critical condition. Two toddlers escaped unhurt.

"I was quite shocked by the sight of him," Mr O'Callaghan said. "He's got serious burns to his head, neck, shoulders arms and torso. So he's pretty much bandaged right up to his head."



But he said his son was lucid and the first thing he asked was how were the two children who were nearby. "He described the explosion as a fireball that just engulfed all of them. He has been really shaken by this. He said he came within a hair's breadth of losing his life and he's exactly right.

"You can talk about clan labs all you like as a police officer. But when you get to talk to someone whose been involved in something like that and that person's very close to you, then it really drives home what the issue is."

Mr O'Callaghan reassured his estranged son, who has previously been treated for drug addiction, that he would not abandon him, saying the most important thing was that he got "well both mentally and physically".

Mr O'Callaghan said 30 illegal drug labs had been broken up in the state this year and 130 last year. Most of the backyard operations appeared to be making methamphetamines.

Coincidentally, the daughter of former police superintendent Dave Parkinson was living in the unit next door to the clandestine drug-making operation, with both of them complaining more than 40 times to the Department of Housing and police about the noise, domestic violence, alcohol abuse, insults and even alleged physical attacks on both of them.

Mr Parkinson claims the tenant had once told his daughter, Stacee, they had a .22 rifle and were going to shoot her father for standing up to them. But, despite the department's "three strikes " policy against anti-social behaviour, the tenants were never evicted. Ms Parkinson said she lived in continual fear of her neighbours around the illegal drug lab.

"It's been absolutely hell," she said. "It's been absolutely devastating, horrible. I have a look around to see if there's anyone there before I step foot into my home. That's how bad it is."

San Jose police are investigating whether the daytime shooting of a man at point blank range outside a McDonald's restaurant was gang related.
The shooting occurred around 12 p.m. Wednesday in front of diners at the restaurant, which is across from the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. San Jose Police Officer Jose Garcia says the man in his 20s was taken to the hospital in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the head.
His name has not been released.
The gunman has not been identified and remains at large.
Police do not have a possible motive, but Garcia says the area where the shooting occurred is known to be frequented by members of the of the Norteno and Sureno gangs.

Asian street-gang member Stephenson Choi Kim, 31, of San Gabriel, was convicted Monday of killing a woman and trying to kill six other people in an unprovoked shooting at a Cypress café that could send Kim to Death Row.

The jury heard evidence that a confession letter addressed to the police and media was found on Kim's computer after his arrest; Kim sent a note, or "kite," while in jail calling out a co-defendant as a "snitch"; Kim also wrote, "Don't worry. I'm making sure the witnesses don't testify."

Thirteen members of a D.C. street gang were indicted on charges related to deadly shootings between rival crews in the Southeast Washington neighborhood known as "Simple City."

The indictment charges that several gun battles occurred between the Benning Terrace-area crews from the "Avenue" and "Circle"

"Today's indictments allege that rival street crews who shared a tiny patch of real estate in Benning Terrace engaged in urban warfare that turned deadly," said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. "The indictments seek to hold members of both crews responsible for the murder that resulted from their gun battle over Memorial Day weekend in 2010."

Four people from the "Avenue" crew were charged in one indictment. The other indictment charges nine people associated with the "Circle' crew with conspiring to assault members of the "Avenue."

The defendants named in the case against the "Avenue" crew include: Raymond "Soldier Boy"Davis, 18; Deante "White Boy Tay" Harding, 22; Jean-Robert "Junior" Jean-Baptiste, 20; and William "Weetie" Springs, 22.

The defendants named in the case against the "Circle" crew include: Curtis Faison, 19, Antonio "T.O." Fortson, 19; Kevin "Son" Magruder, 29; Marcellus "Mateo" McCray, 17; Deandre "Dee" Mungo, 19; Timothy "Step" Parker, 33, and Lamont Thomas, 20.

Prosecutors said "Avenue" member Faison shot and killed Melvin White, 27, on last April. In return, Thomas and Fortson fired several shots at "Avenue" members, officials said.

Two men were convicted Monday of murdering 21-year-old Flushing native Maurice Parker, who was mistaken for a gang member, on the streets in Flushing May 18, 2007.

Oscar “Taz” Fuentes, leader of the New York state chapter of the international MS-13 street gang, also known as La Mara Salvatrucha, and Julio “Flecha” Chavez, a leader of the Huntington, L.I., chapter of the gang, were found guilty of driving through the streets of Flushing that day, looking to shoot rival gang members, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

At about 12:30 p.m. the defendants saw two young men — Parker, who was talking on his cellphone at the time, and one of his friends — standing in front of El Boom Convenience Store at 41-80 Bowne St., according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Parker’s friend was wearing a red sweatshirt, a color often seen on members of the rival Bloods street gang. Chavez, 25, and another gang member jumped from the car Fuentes, 30, was driving, ran up to the men and Chavez shot Parker six times, including three times in the head, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District. Parker died at the scene. Both were convicted by a jury at federal court in Brooklyn of murder and using a firearm in furtherance of the murder, and Fuentes was also convicted of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

“Today’s verdicts should remind street gangs of the dire consequences of committing acts of violence in this district,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement. “While we can only hope that the verdicts will provide some measure of closure to the family of a young man killed indiscriminately, the convictions have ensured that the defendants will never again walk the streets of our city.”

With hundreds of local members, MS-13 is the largest street gang on Long Island and has a presence in Queens, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

“MS-13 relishes violence and preys on our youth,” U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said at the March 19, 2009, arraignment of Fuentes and Chavez. “On a night when gang members decided to go hunting for a victim on the streets of Queens, Maurice Parker was murdered simply for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. These gangs have no place in our communities.”

Parker’s slay shocked the Flushing community, and a rally against gang violence in the days after his death drew hundreds.

Federal authorities brought charges against 23 members and affiliates of a South Side gang they claim have controlled drug trafficking, shot at rival gang members and attempted to kill an informant over the last eight years.

Among those charged Thursday by the U.S. Attorney's Northern Ohio, Eastern District office, were the top two members of the LSP gang, who kept their reign by controlling the sale of crack cocaine in the city and in neighboring Boardman, the indictment says.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals and police apprehended several of the men during raids early Thursday as part of "Operation 577."

As of about 4 p.m., 17 of the suspects had been arrested, and many were arraigned in federal court.

The 48-page, 42-count indictment states the LSP gang, which stands for Laclede, Sherwood and Parkview or Princeton avenues, the streets at the heart of the gang's territory, controlled drug trafficking, and enhanced and protected their gang's power through violence.

The indictment detailed several crimes committed by the gang between Jan. 1, 2003, and Tuesday.

Among the criminal acts described in the indictment are murder, robbery, witness tampering, retaliation and drug trafficking, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, felonious assault, aggravated menacing, firearms trafficking, theft, receiving stolen property, car jacking, breaking and entering and burglary

Federal prosecutors believe Daquann Hackett and Derrick Johnson Jr. are LSP's leaders and directed other members and associates of the gang.

Also indicted were James Neail, Tyrell Oliver and Nalemn Hasley, who authorities believe sold drugs to Hackett, who then sold the drugs to LSP members and associates. In exchange for doing business with the trio, LSP members committed acts of violence against the trio's rivals.

LSP's territory includes a multi-block area on the South Side, the indictment states. The borders are West Laclede Avenue to the North, Rosedale Avenue to the East, West Indianola to the South and Volney Road to the West.

Drug trafficking, including crack, heroin and marijuana, generated a large portion of the gang's income, according to the indictment.

The charges said that Hackett purchased the powder cocaine and crack from the three suppliers. Hackett then cooked the powder into crack and sold it to the gang members, associates, low-level dealers, users or addicts.

Hackett, the indictment said, used his position as the primary supplier of crack cocaine as a way to maintain his power.

Gang members, the indictment said, regularly armed themselves with guns to protect their territory, attack and retaliate against rival gangs, people who wouldn't support the gang, to commit robberies and build "respect" and "street credibility" in the gang and in the community.

They also sold illegal firearms "routinely," wore bulletproof vests and responded with violence if they learned someone outside the gang sold drugs inside their territory.

Jersey City Bloods street gang member and a second felon fought with police after being caught following a car chase on Sunday, officials said.

Charles A. Randell, 21, of Lexington Avenue, identified by cops as a Bloods member, and Thomas Deberry, 24, of Van Nostrand Avenue, were arrested at 6:44 p.m. and charged with aggravated assault on police officers, eluding police, resisting arrest and weapons offenses, including possession of a handgun by a felon.


Randell's bail was set at $100,000 cash or bond and Deberry's at $150,000 cash only when they made their first court appearance yesterday.

Plainclothes officers working on a tip spotted the pair in a car at Oxford and Bergen avenues, an area known for drug dealing, gangs and violence, reports said. When they approached the car with guns and badges out, Deberry hit the gas, striking a police officer and a police car, reports said.

At one point, Deberry hit the brake, causing a police car to slam into the rear of his vehicle and a parked car, reports said, adding that Deberry bailed out on Seidler Street. Randell struck an officer before being handcuffed and Deberry struck several officers before being subdued, reports said.

Police said they found a silver handgun in Deberry's vehicle and two bags of suspected marijuana on him.

Randell's eye was swollen shut when the pair appeared in Central Judicial Processing court via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny.

jury recommended on Monday life in prison without parole for a former Asian Boyz gang member convicted of eight Los Angeles-area killings and 10 counts of attempted murder.

The jury, composed of seven women and five men, convicted Marvin Mercado on Feb. 16 of eight murders carried out primarily in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys in 1995 and 1996, but spared him of the death penalty.

Mercado, now 37, had fled to the Philippines under an assumed name in 1997 and married into a socially prominent family. He was arrested at his Quezon City condominium unit 10 years later in 2007 and extradited to Los Angeles to stand trial.

Mercado, who eluded the long arm of the law for more than a decade, is scheduled to return to the downtown Los Angeles Superior Courthouse March 30 for formal sentencing by Judge Robert J. Perry.

Marvin Mercado used to run with the notorious Asian Boyz in Van Nuys. In 1995 that gang killed eight people – including three teenage boys they had mistaken for gang rivals.

Sunnyside teen is recovering in the hospital after being hit twice in the back while sleeping in her bed, during a drive-by shooting.

Sunnyside police say the shooting happened around 12:45 Monday morning on the 1100 block of Tacoma Avenue.

KNDO spoke to the victim's older sister, Brenda Ortiz, who says her sister is a good student who attends Sunnyside High School and is not involved in any gangs.

"Just with these gangs going they don't know who they're hurting. They're hurting innocent people. People who don't deserve this. Nobody deserves this. I wouldn't want somebody to go through what we're going through," Ortiz said.

Police say the girl was listed in satisfactory condition tonight at a nearby hospital, but remains in the Intensive Care Unit.

No suspects are in custody right now. Police say the shooting was gang-related and the home was identified as a gang house, but confirmed the victim did not have any ties to gangs.

Police are also looking into a second drive-by shooting on the 700 block of Bagley Drive, that happened shortly after the one on Tacoma Ave. The home was hit several times, but no one was hurt.

Police say a high powered assault rifle may have been used in both cases. The two shootings are believed to be gang-related.

Thirty-five members and associates of the Barrio Azteca (BA) gang have been charged in a third superseding indictment unsealed March 9 with various counts of racketeering, murder, drug offenses, money laundering, and obstruction of justice, announced Attorney General Eric Holder. Of the 35 defendants, 10 Mexican nationals were charged with the March 13, 2010 murders in Juarez, Mexico of U.S. Consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton; her husband, Arthur Redelfs; and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a U.S. Consulate employee.
 
Attorney General Holder was joined in announcing the charges by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy for the Western District of Texas, FBI Executive Assistant Director Shawn Henry, and Administrator Michele Leonhart of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
 
Today, teams of U.S. federal, state, and local authorities arrested in Texas and New Mexico 12 of the charged defendants not already in custody. Seven of the 10 defendants charged with the March 13, 2010 murders and two other indicted defendants are in custody in Mexico. U.S. authorities are working with Mexican authorities regarding extradition and other matters related to this ongoing prosecution.
 
“The indictment unsealed today represents our continued action to ensure safety along our Southwest border, to seek justice for victims of violent crime in this region, and to weaken dangerous criminal organizations currently operating in Mexico and the United States,” said Attorney General Holder. “These arrests and criminal charges will disrupt Barrio Azteca’s current operations, and they reaffirm that we will not tolerate acts of violence against those who serve and protect American citizens. We will continue to stand with our partners in Mexico, and together, build on our unprecedented joint efforts to combat violence and protect the safety of the American and the Mexican people.”

Police arrested 46  people in a four-day, multi-agency sweep of metro Atlanta targeting the 30 Deep street gang.

The arrests, announced Friday, come as alleged 30 Deep member Jonathan Redding is currently on trial in Fulton County Superior Court for the Jan. 7, 2009 murder of John Henderson, a bartender at the now-defunct Standard Food & Spirits in Grant Park.

The sting, which involved investigators from the Atlanta Police Department and two dozen local, state and federal authorities, netted 30 alleged members of the 30 Deep gang and affiliated groups and another nine for violent crimes and drug infractions.

Dubbed "Operation Zero Deep," law enforcement officials seized $8,000 in cash, eight weapons, two vehicles, about two pounds of marijuana and Ectasy and cocaine.

“The success of this operation clearly shows the value of the strong relationships forged between the Atlanta Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service and our other law enforcement partners,” Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said in a statement.

“Criminal activity resulting from gangs isn’t just ‘an Atlanta problem’ and only when we combine our strategic crime-fighting efforts will we truly make a meaningful impact.”

Al Miller's case postponed - News - JamaicaObserver.com: "HE case involving clergyman Al Miller, was put off until May 19 when he appeared at the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court this morning.
Miller was charged for negligence after he left his firearm in his vehicle in the Grants Pen community and returned to find it stolen.
He has had several run-ins with the law in recent times as he was also charged for aiding and abetting a fugitive when he was found in the company of former Tivoli Gardens crime boss Christopher 'Dudus' Coke in June last year."

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The Watchdogs: City Hall hired 139 ex-cons in two years - Chicago Sun-Times: "One of them smuggled cocaine from Jamaica about a decade ago. Another was a carjacker. A third was convicted in the shooting of two Chicago cops in the 1970s, hitting one of them in the face.

They are among 139 people who got hired by the City of Chicago over the past two years despite having been convicted of crimes. That’s according to a list of all of the city’s hires of ex-cons in 2009 and 2010 obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

Mayor Daley has said ex-offenders deserve a second chance and has made that his policy at City Hall.

Those hired under that policy include one person convicted of a crime who’d been on the “clout list” that was made public during the trial of Daley’s former patronage chief, Robert Sorich. Sorich went to prison after being convicted in federal court in 2006 of overseeing an illegal hiring scheme that gave city jobs and promotions to people with clout."

DISCLAIMER:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder.