Salford Murder: Family Of Anuj Bidve Learn Of His Murder On Facebook

 

Police have admitted that the family of an Indian student murdered in Salford on Boxing Day found out about his death on Facebook. Anuj Bidve, 23, was shot in the head at point-blank range as he walked with friends near their hotel in the Ordsall district of Salford early on December 26. His murder is being treated by detectives as a hate crime which may have been racially motivated. Anuj's father Subhash has complained that he heard about his son's death via Facebook rather than an official channel. He told Sky News: "It has been very, very difficult to understand why no authorities - from the British government, police or anyone - could give this news to me." Greater Manchester Police confirmed that "sadly that was the case" and apologised for not breaking the news in person. The family found out about the student's death on Facebook Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley, who has overall command for the operation, said: "That is not the way anyone should have to find out something so devastating and we completely understand how upset the family are." She explained that a family liaison officer had been trying to contact the family to inform them when a post was put up on the website. "Social networking is instantaneous and we have no control over when and what people post on such sites, but no-one should hear such tragic news in this way," she said. ACC Copley stressed that two officers have since been in regular contact with the family and are working on bringing them to Manchester as soon as possible. On the release of the student's body, she said: "We understand how important this is for the family and we are working closely with the coroner to ensure the family can bring Anuj's body home as soon as possible. "The body cannot be released at this stage of the investigation but we are doing everything we can to respect the family's wish." She continued: "I want to reassure the family that staff across the whole of Greater Manchester Police are working on this investigation night and day to bring those responsible for Anuj's murder to justice." That is not the way anyone should have to find out something so devastating and we completely understand how upset the family are. Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley A 19-year-old man and a 20-year-old man are still in custody as investigations continue but police have released three other teenagers, two aged 17 and one 16, pending further inquiries. Detectives are now offering a £50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for the killing. The murder weapon, believed to be a small handgun, has yet to be found. Forensic and ballistics investigations are being carried out and police are trawling through CCTV along with house-to-house inquiries. According to a Facebook page set up in Mr Bidve's memory, he "was killed for not answering a simple question: 'What's the time?"'. REWARD OFFERED ON SALFORD MURDER Police have said they are treating the murder as a hate crime, although at this stage they are unsure whether it was racially motivated. The student, who arrived in the UK in September and had been studying at Lancaster University, had been with a large group of friends on a Christmas visit to Manchester. They were walking from their hotel early on Boxing Day when they became aware of two men on the other side of the street. The gunman then walked across the road, spoke briefly to Mr Bidve and then shot him at close range in the side of the head. He then ran back across the street before the pair fled. Armed response units were sent to the scene but Mr Bidve died in hospital a short time later.

Murder squad detectives today offered a £50,000 reward for information as they investigated the "horrific" murder of an Indian student blasted to death on Boxing Day.

 

Anuj Bidve, 23, was shot in the head at point-blank range as he walked with friends near their hotel in the inner-city Ordsall district of the city, in the early hours of December 26.

The murder of the Indian student is being treated by detectives at Greater Manchester Police (GMP) as a "hate crime" which may have been racially motivated.

Today senior officers from the force announced the cash reward and said they hoped it would help get the killer gunman caught as soon as possible.

Det Chief Supt Mary Doyle, leading the murder inquiry, said: "It is an extremely unusual, savage and motiveless attack, an absolutely horrific crime, which is why we are taking the step of issuing it (the reward) a bit earlier than we normally would.

"We absolutely understand the need to take whoever is responsible for this off the streets.

"That's the reason we are issuing it now at such an early stage."

Often rewards are offered by the police weeks or months after the crime.

Assistant Chief Constable Dawn Copley, from GMP, speaking at a news conference at the force HQ in Manchester, said: "We are going to issue a reward here and now, for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Anuj's murder.

"That reward is £50,000.

Notorious gangster James “Whitey’’ Bulger was quietly examined at a Boston hospital last Thursday, then returned to the Plymouth jail later that day

Notorious gangster James “Whitey’’ Bulger was quietly examined at a Boston hospital last Thursday, then returned to the Plymouth jail later that day, according to two people familiar with Bulger’s treatment.

It is unclear what triggered the hospital visit, but after being treated for several hours, the 82-year-old was escorted back to the Plymouth County House of Correction, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters.

Bulger, who is awaiting trial for 19 murders, is being held without bail at the jail in a segregation unit, where inmates are generally confined to their cells for 23 hours a day. The Plymouth jail has an infirmary, but does not have a medical ward, so inmates who need round-the-clock medical care are not assigned there.

Boston attorney J.W. Carney Jr., who represents Bulger, would not talk about Bulger’s brief hospital stay, saying, “I do not comment on my client’s health or on his family.’’

Federal authorities and a spokesman for the jail also declined to comment on Bulger’s hospital trip or his condition.

Bulger, a longtime FBI informant, was captured by the FBI in June in Santa Monica, Calif., after more than 16 years on the run.

While he has always been a physical fitness buff, Bulger has for decades suffered from a common ailment that prompts him to take Atenolol, a beta blocker used to treat high blood pressure and improve blood flow to the heart.

After his arrest, Bulger, who had been one of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted, boasted that he used to drive to the Mexican border, park on the US side, and walk into Tijuana to purchase Atenolol. In recent years, his girlfriend, Catherine Greig, purchased his prescriptions at a pharmacy near their rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica, prosecutors said.

Bulger is awaiting trial on a federal indictment that includes allegations that he was involved in 19 murders and oversaw a criminal enterprise that extorted bookmakers, drug dealers, and businessmen. His next hearing is Jan. 11 in US District Court in Boston.

refused to hear appeals from two Texas Death Row inmates, including one condemned for killing a corrections officer 12 years ago while serving 99 years for murder

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to hear appeals from two Texas Death Row inmates, including one condemned for killing a corrections officer 12 years ago while serving 99 years for murder.The justices rejected arguments Tuesday from Robert Pruett, 32, and Bobby Lee Hines, 39.In December 1999, Pruett was in the McConnell Unit near Beeville in South Texas, serving 99 years for a slaying in Harris County, when he used a shank to fatally stab a corrections officer, Daniel Nagle.Hines was condemned to death for the 1991 rape-slaying of Michele Wendy Haupt, 26, in Carrollton. He was 19 and on probation from a 10-year burglary sentence after spending three months in a boot camp.Neither prisoner has an execution date. Their attorneys did not respond to calls seeking comment Wednesday morning. The 5th Circuit rulings can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.Pruett had argued that prosecutors presented a summary to jurors at his trial for the corrections officer's slaying that was improper and erroneous.The summary described how Pruett tried to recruit friends and solicit his brother and father to murder a neighbor in Harris County in 1995, and said he tried to escape arrest, bragged about the killing, attempted to kill witnesses while in jail and showed no remorse.He contended the summary was used improperly to show he would be a continuing threat -- one of the determinations jurors must make in deciding a death sentence.The appeals court agreed with lower courts and prosecutors that the summary, which was prepared three years before the officer's murder, had been intended for prison classification purposes and didn't violate his constitutional rights.At Pruett's trial in Corpus Christi in 2002, evidence showed that Nagle earlier had told Pruett he couldn't take his sack lunch to a recreation yard. Pruett testified he was upset that he had missed a hot lunch and said Nagle was writing a disciplinary report against him, but he denied killing the 37-year-old corrections officer.A fellow prisoner testified that he saw the officer killed, and a second inmate said Pruett told him earlier that day he intended to kill Nagle.Hines came within two days of execution in 2003 before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped the punishment so he could pursue claims that he was mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty under Supreme Court guidelines. His appeal before the 5th Circuit was intended to challenge the findings of lower courts that have since ruled that he's not mentally impaired.

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Suspect in Juárez consulate killings extradited

 

An alleged prison gang member wanted in connection with the killing of a U.S. consulate employee, her husband and another employee's spouse has been extradited to the United States, Mexican authorities have announced. Joel Abraham Caudillo was handed over to FBI agents Dec. 20 in Veracruz at the same time that Julian “El Piolin” Zapata Espinoza, wanted in the February killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, was extradited. Mexican authorities announced Caudillo's extradition this week. He's one of 35 people charged in a drug conspiracy case that alleges that the Barrio Azteca prison gang, working with the Juárez Cartel, engaged in drug trafficking and murder on both sides of the Rio Grande. Officials say that gang members in Ciudad Juárez on March 13, 2010, killed U.S. consulate employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton; her husband, Arthur Redelf, an El Paso County jailer; and Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, the husband of a consulate employee. Caudillo is accused of destroying one of the vehicles used in Ceniceros' killing. Extraditions in the case have been done surreptitiously during holidays. Near Labor Day weekend in 2010, Jesus Ernesto “El Camello” Chávez Castillo, a suspect in the killings, was brought to San Antonio for a closed court hearing. Court records in his case remain sealed.

all is quiet on Calgary’s gang front.

 

With no killings between FOB and FK in nearly three years and the biggest case of them all — the 2009 triple murder at Bolsa Restaurant — resulting in at least two convictions, it would be tempting to assume all is quiet on Calgary’s gang front. That assumption would be wrong. As detailed in a recent article, no small amount of effort goes into monitoring the gang members who aren’t either dead or in jail to prevent any further violence. However, we live in a society that values quantifiable results: while it’s easy to tally the number of bad guys who have been arrested, the amount of drugs seized or illegal guns taken off the street, it’s much harder to measure how many murders police may have prevented. It has happened, however, and only continued pressure will keep the violence in check. But that’s not the only unfinished business for Calgary police: there are at least 20 homicides connected to the gang war which remain unsolved — investigations police have been able to devote more time to, thanks to the relatively low number of homicides recorded in Calgary during 2011. Prior to the Bolsa massacre, when innocent restaurant patron Keni Su’a was slaughtered trying to flee the eatery, it was common for Calgarians to be indifferent to the death toll as long as gangsters kept killing each other. Bolsa exposed the fundamental flaw in that indifference: allow criminals with little regard for human life to run loose and it’s only a matter of time before an innocent is hurt or killed. The public may not be clamouring for police to solve the murders of 20 people who were either gangsters or people who made the poor choice of hanging out with criminals, but Bolsa demonstrated why all Calgarians have a vested interest in getting their killers off the street. For homicide investigators, an unsolved case is a case that needs solving — no matter if the victim was a criminal himself. “We are looking at cold case homicides, and included in that is, of course, are all the organized crime ones,” Staff Sgt. Grant Miller of the homicide unit said recently. “We’re motivated to solve them.” We live in a country where the rule of law is supreme, and it dictates justice must be available to all — justice that’s meted out in a courtroom, not at the end of the barrel of a gun.

3 people wounded in drive-by shooting on Hudson

 

Three people are being treated at local hospitals after a drive-by shooting on Hudson Avenue this afternoon. According to Rochester police Capt. Peter Leach, officers responded to Hudson Avenue near Weeger Street at 4:20 p.m. for a report of people shot. Upon arrival, they found three people shot outside of a grocery store. Leach said the shots were fired by people driving by in a gray minivan. After the shootings, the minivan drove away on Weeger Street and struck another vehicle, at which point the van’s occupants got out and ran away. Leach said the victims were a 28-year-old Greece woman, a 23-year-old city man and a 25-year-old city man. All the victims’ injuries are believed to be non-life-threatening, he said. The woman is being treated at Strong Memorial Hospital; the men at Rochester General Hospital, he said. Police are searching for the suspects.

Navardo Hodges of the Clansman gang, had a bullet wound in the middle of the forehead, common of gangland executions in the troubled area.

Jamaican investigators on Wednesday found the severed head and bullet-riddled body of a man they believe was a high-ranking member of a notorious drug-and-extortion gang known for beheading victims.

A police statement said the bloody head was found Wednesday along a commercial strip in Spanish Town, a southern city where violent gangs are deeply entrenched and authorities impose frequent curfews.

The head, which investigators say matches Navardo Hodges of the Clansman gang, had a bullet wound in the middle of the forehead, common of gangland executions in the troubled area. A headless body with gunshot wounds was found splayed on a nearby street.

Detectives suspect the twenty-something Hodges was butchered in revenge for killing the sister of Chan Tesha Miller, the reputed Clansman leader who was sentenced in April to 15 years in prison after being convicted of robbery, assault and weapons possession.

Miller's arrest set off protests in Spanish Town, where the Clansman have long had a powerful presence.

Authorities said the latest decapitation appeared to be related to an ongoing power struggle within the gang, which has been at war for years with the police and another group, the One Order gang. Over the past year, the Jamaican government's offensive against crime has created power vacuums within the Clansman.

Police had linked Hodges to a dozen slayings and offered a reward of nearly $6,000 for information leading to his capture.

In mid-July, a churchgoing mother and daughter were beheaded by attackers who invaded their home in the Spanish Town area, near where a wanted 18-year-old Clansman member was found with his head chopped off.

To avenge a death, Jamaican gangs sometimes will murder someone who lives in a neighborhood controlled by perceived enemies, and not specifically target a member of a rival gang.

The head, which investigators say matches Navardo Hodges of the Clansman gang, had a bullet wound in the middle of the forehead, common of gangland executions

Jamaican investigators on Wednesday found the severed head and bullet-riddled body of a man they believe was a high-ranking member of a notorious drug-and-extortion gang known for beheading victims.

A police statement said the bloody head was found Wednesday along a commercial strip in Spanish Town, a southern city where violent gangs are deeply entrenched and authorities impose frequent curfews.

The head, which investigators say matches Navardo Hodges of the Clansman gang, had a bullet wound in the middle of the forehead, common of gangland executions in the troubled area. A headless body with gunshot wounds was found splayed on a nearby street.

Detectives suspect the twenty-something Hodges was butchered in revenge for killing the sister of Chan Tesha Miller, the reputed Clansman leader who was sentenced in April to 15 years in prison after being convicted of robbery, assault and weapons possession.

Miller's arrest set off protests in Spanish Town, where the Clansman have long had a powerful presence.

Authorities said the latest decapitation appeared to be related to an ongoing power struggle within the gang, which has been at war for years with the police and another group, the One Order gang. Over the past year, the Jamaican government's offensive against crime has created power vacuums within the Clansman.

Police had linked Hodges to a dozen slayings and offered a reward of nearly $6,000 for information leading to his capture.

In mid-July, a churchgoing mother and daughter were beheaded by attackers who invaded their home in the Spanish Town area, near where a wanted 18-year-old Clansman member was found with his head chopped off.

To avenge a death, Jamaican gangs sometimes will murder someone who lives in a neighborhood controlled by perceived enemies, and not specifically target a member of a rival gang.