Judge Patricia Acioli was known for wielding a "heavy hammer," especially against rogue police who have formed illegal vigilante gangs. She had put more than 60 officers behind bars, most of them for murder. The Rio de Janeiro state judge paid for that fearlessness: Acioli was shot to death in front of her house last month. And all of the 21 bullets that hit her came from a lot issued to police, including some in Sao Goncalo, the city where she worked. While violence and impunity are common in Brazil, the brazen murder of Acioli was an especially heavy blow, a message of intimidation from the vigilante militias. The slaying was "a wound to the lawful state, to democracy; the figure of the judge is a symbol of justice," said Denise Frossard, a retired judge who presided over some of Rio's first cases against the militias in the 1990s. "If she is a judge and can be killed, how can a citizen feel secure enough to be a witness?" Acioli's death was the first murder of a judge in the state's history, though Frossard herself survived three assassination attempts and had eight security guards ensuring her safety while she was on the bench. Violent militias have grown in power and scope in recent years, taking over poor communities formerly controlled by drug dealers and coercing residents to pay for illegal utility hookups, transportation, and security. Their members include former and current police, firefighters and jail guards. Investigators say they have elected members as state and city legislators. They also have been praised by politicians, including Rio de Janeiro's mayor, for taking back swaths of territory from drug gangs. A probe by the state legislature in 2008 found militias were connected to execution-style killings, far-reaching extortion schemes, and the kidnapping and torture of a group of journalists investigating the gangs' activities. Acioli had been repeatedly threatened for taking on the police officers who were part of the gangs, and she had written letters to her superiors requesting protection. One week before her murder, she went to Rio police's internal affairs office and said she was being threatened by officers from Sao Goncalo, where she worked, and Niteroi, where she lived. The last case on her docket on Aug. 11, the day she died, involved policemen charged with executing an 18-year-old man in a slum. One of her last acts as a judge was to authorize their arrest. A month later, three of the same Sao Goncalo police officers were charged with her murder. The suspects knew the judge would ask for their arrest, and wanted to stop her, said Felipe Ettore, the head of Rio's homicide division, in a press conference this week. They didn't know she'd already issued the order. "Their way of stopping her was to kill her," Ettore said. "They went to court and followed Patricia to her front door." Nationwide, the lives of 134 judges are currently under threat, according to the National Council for Justice, which oversees the judiciary branch in Brazil. Requests for protection from magistrates jumped 400 percent in the month since Acioli's death, according to the Brazilian Association of Judges. The killing prompted the United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, to urge Brazilian authorities to protect those charged with enforcing the law. "The assassination of Judge Acioli is evidence of the existence of a pervasive and serious problem regarding the protection of judges in Brazil," said Knaul, a Brazilian judge herself. Acioli's caseload was taken on by three other judges. Seven prosecutors are now working with them. "Her death did bring on a fear among prosecutors and judges; they're human, and it's natural to think, 'That could be me tomorrow,'" said Claudio Lopes, Rio state's attorney general. "But if this was done to intimidate justice, it is backfiring. We will be more rigorous than ever." The work is not only dangerous, it's difficult. Militias infiltrate the state from local police departments to state legislatures. They have a particularly nefarious effect on the legal system because they blur the boundaries between legitimate agents of the law and criminals, Lopes said. "They're often composed of people credentialed by the state to promote public safety, and they turn against the state, against the public," he said. "They usurp the authority of the state. In this way, they are a danger that goes deeper than drug traffickers." Even a few years ago, some politicians still praised militias for doing what the state couldn't do: take on drug dealers entrenched in the city's shantytowns. Former Rio Mayor Cesar Maia welcomed them as a "lesser evil" and a form of "community self-defense" against drug gangs, according to the newspaper O Globo in 2006. Current Mayor Eduardo Paes praised militias in a July 2008 interview on Globo television, saying they "brought peace to the population" in areas where the state had lost sovereignty to drug lords. Such views are changing as the body count rises. The 2008 investigation led by Marcelo Freixo, head of the state legislature's human rights commission, led to the arrest of one state representative and six city council members for militia activity. Hundreds were arrested on other charges because of information detailed in the report. One of those arrested, Rio City Councilman Luiz Andre Ferreira da Silva, is accused of plotting to kill the city's police chief and Freixo. In Sao Goncalo, 34 officers were put on leave after Acioli's death because they face serious criminal charges such as murder, according to Rio state's Supreme Court. Arrest warrants have been issued for 28 of them. In spite of the threats to Acioli, court officials had cut her security detail from four to one in 2007, said Tecio Lins e Silva, an attorney representing her family. "This is a matter involving my life, and it is very important," Acioli wrote in a letter appealing the decision. "I don't understand the treatment being given to the case." But the security officers were not reinstated. At the moment she was shot, no one was there to protect her.
Paroled killer Edward “Butchie” Corliss drunkenly confessed to gunning down a Jamaica Plain convenience store clerk in 2009, his younger brother testified yesterday, but William “Billy” Corliss claimed he was so terrified of a reputed crime family’s disdain for “snitching” that he kept quiet for months. “For years, I was associated with the Winter Hill Gang,” East Somerville native William Corliss, 64, said in Suffolk Superior Court, where his brother Edward is facing murder charges. “I know they don’t take lightly to somebody trying to testify.” William Corliss’ alleged underworld ties surfaced in the sixth day of Edward Corliss’ murder trial for the cold-blooded killing of Surendra Dangol, a 39-year-old Nepalese immigrant, in a Jamaica Plain Tedeschi’s on Dec. 26, 2009. Edward Corliss, 65, was on parole from a life sentence for killing a Salisbury store clerk in 1971. Hours after Dangol was killed and $746 was stolen from the register, Edward Corliss showed up at his brother’s house with a six-pack of beer and a wad of cash, William Corliss said. “He was pulling it out of his pockets, laughing, throwing it in the air, like he hit the jackpot,” he said. “I asked him where he got it. He said, ‘I pulled a score. . . . The guy said there was no money, but I found it. He lied to me, and I shot him.’ ” When Boston police questioned William Corliss about the crime, he denied knowing anything, he testified, staying silent as police drove him through the city. “It’s all organized crime,” William Corliss said. “Charlestown, Somerville, East Boston, South Boston, and I was getting driven around in an unmarked cruiser. I was terrified someone would see me.” But when he was called before a grand jury, William Corliss said he told what he knew. “I didn’t want to perjure myself,” he said.
MICHAEL KELLY (30) first came to the attention of gardaí for serious crime when he was still a teenager 11 years ago. On that occasion, he was caught in a north Dublin pub with a consignment of ecstasy tablets, convicted of drug dealing and given a suspended three-year jail term. Far from representing a short sharp shock, though, that might deter a young man from a life of crime, the incident was merely one of his early steps into the gangland underbelly of working class Dublin that now appears to have claimed his life. Kelly was a member of an organised crime gang based in the north Dublin suburbs of Donaghmede, Baldoyle, Coolock and his native Kilbarrack. The gang imported consignments of cocaine, heroin and other drugs from more significant international criminals in the Netherlands and Spain and sold them on to smaller gangs in Ireland. However, when the leader of the gang, David Lyndsay (38), and his friend Alan Napper (39) went missing in 2008, they were presumed murdered and Kelly was suspected of involvement. The men have not been seen since, although blood from one of them was found in a house in the North. Both are believed to have been killed. Their bodies have never been found. Kelly owed Lyndsay a large amount of money at the time of the pair’s disappearance. One gang member who effectively split from Kelly in early 2008 was shot dead in the weeks leading up to the Lyndsay and Napper disappearances. Anthony Foster (34) was gunned down at his home in Cromcastle, north Dublin, in July 2008. Kelly was suspected of involvement in the murders of at least two other men whom he knew through the drugs trade. Seán Winters (41) was shot dead outside an apartment block in Portmarnock last September, although the Real IRA in Dublin was also suspected of involvement in that killing. In the years since then, he had continued to deal drugs and to build his wealth. In December 2008, he was the target of a major raid by specialist Garda units including the Criminal Assets Bureau, when 12 properties were searched as part of a major investigation into the proceeds of drug-dealing in north Dublin. Last December that investigation concluded in the courts when a house in Navan, Co Meath, and two cars were confiscated from Kelly after the High Court ruled the assets represented the proceeds of crime. Since then he has spent his time in Dublin and Europe, apparently fearful that if he stayed here for too long, he would be killed by some of the many criminals he had crossed in the past decade. Apart from his drug-dealing conviction from 2000, he had about a dozen other convictions, most of which were for motoring offences and resisting arrest.
number of gang members in pre-trial custody continues to grow, B.C. pre-trial jails are struggling to deal with tensions between rival groups. The latest attack at North Fraser last week was particularly serious: gangster Hanif Emambakhsh ended up with a broken neck in the assault. He has had links to the Red Scorpions and more recently the break-away Red Lions. Apparently he has a massive Lion tattoed on his back. He is expected to survive. Coquitlam RCMP says they are getting little help with the investigation. Things are particularly tense in North Fraser and in Kamloops, according to union representative Dean Purdy. Interestingly, while the B.C. government keeps track of how many inmate on inmate assaults take place, they don’t maintain a record of how many are gang-linked. I think it is disturbing that a known gang member has been putting money in the accounts of pre-trial inmates. This particular person is linked to the Independent Soldiers. I don’t know if he is the one who paid for Emambakhsh to get beaten. The government official confirmed to me that ANYONE, including a known gangster or convicted drug trafficker, can go up to the counter at a pre-trial jail and put money in the account of an inmate. There is no limit on the amount that can be put in. The funder has to show ID, but that’s it. So it is easy for gangs to pay people to beat up other inmates.
Irish Gangster -- who was lucky to escape with his life after being shot last month -- has been forced to go into hiding after his father's home was riddled with bullets. Gardai say that tensions in a bitter drugs feud in Bray, Co Wicklow, are threatening to spiral out of control after the latest gun attack which happened at the home of Philip 'Philly' O' Toole's father Brendan at the weekend. At least 14 shots were fired at the house in Ard Chualann in Fassaroe as the dangerous turf war intensifies. 'Philly' O' Toole was lucky to escape with his life when he was targeted in a feud-related shooting in leafy Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, last month. The gangster was shot in the stomach but escaped with his life when he wrestled the gunman to the ground. He spent a number of days being treated in hospital after the incident. Gardai have arrested the 29-year-old drug addict who they believe was "paid a pittance" by O' Toole's rivals to shoot the criminal, but he was later released without charge. Sources have revealed that the bitter feud kicked off when O'Toole's former criminal associates turned on him when he started "sourcing his own drugs from a major Dublin gang". A source explained: "O' Toole is a marked man and that is why he has fled his home turf. "All this started when he decided to go out on his own in the drug dealing world -- his former gang members took grave exception to this. These are high stakes -- the drugs market in north Wicklow/south Dublin is very lucrative. "The shooting incident at a house in the Fassaroe estate last weekend was intended to be yet another warning to Philip O' Toole." O' Toole was arrested by gardai investigating the shooting of Finglas criminal Glen McGrath (41) outside the Cappagh House pub in Finglas last December. McGrath -- a former associate of slain gangland boss Paul 'Farmer' Martin -- survived but was left in a critical condition. The pub shooting is linked to a bitter prison row between gangsters from Finglas and Bray. O'Toole was one of eight people arrested. All were later released without charge. Sources have revealed that the gang that are targeting O' Toole have close links to convicted killer Richard O' Carroll (40) who has served a 10-year sentence for stabbing a man to death outside a Bray pub.
One of Ireland's most-notorious gangsters was shot dead yesterday after abandoning his overseas bolthole for the birth of his baby son. Michael "Mica" Kelly (30), who knew there was a contract on his head, had been moving between Spain and the Netherlands. But during the summer he returned home for the child's birth -- and to meet his criminal associates. However, he was gunned down yesterday shortly after visiting his son and the baby's mother. Kelly was shot several times as he left an apartment block at Marrsfield Avenue, Clongriffin, on the northside of Dublin, around 1pm. Two gunmen struck as he walked towards a friend, who had been waiting for him in a parked car. The assassins, who pulled up alongside their victim in a silver Saab, fired at least three shots from the car. Then as Kelly slumped to the ground, the killers -- armed with a handgun and a rifle -- jumped out of the vehicle and pumped several more rounds into the gangster as he lay dying. The Saab was then driven over his bullet-ridden body. An eye witness told how she ran out on to her balcony after hearing shots, and saw the car driving over the victim's body. "I rang the garda immediately," she said. "I was in my apartment and I heard three really loud shots and a split-second later three more. I looked out and there was a body on the floor. The car ran over him." Kelly's friend sped from the scene and the killers made their getaway in the Saab, possibly along the N32, into Clonshaugh. A similar car was found abandoned there shortly afterwards. The car was not burnt out and gardai were hoping that forensic tests would confirm that it was the getaway vehicle and provide them with some clues to the identity of the killers. Following a warning from gardai about a possible contract on his head, Kelly -- a father of three, of Swans Nest Road, Kilbarrack -- spent a lot of his time on mainland Europe where he forged links with global drug traffickers. He was regarded as a "facilitator" for local drug gangs and was said to have been responsible for a series of large shipments of contraband into the country, which were allegedly controlled by Christy Kinahan and other suppliers. Kelly was also a prime suspect for organising a number of murders, including the killings of David Lindsay and Alan Napper, both from Baldoyle, Co Dublin. Lindsay had been involved heavily in drug trafficking since the 1990s and Kelly had been part of his gang. But rows over drug debts led to in-fighting, resulting in several gang members being shot dead. According to garda intelligence, Lindsay hired a hitman -- alleged to have been convicted killer Eric Wilson -- to kill Kelly over a ?1m debt. Lindsay and Napper were last seen alive in July 2008 in Clane, Co Kildare, where they had borrowed a car to travel to Northern Ireland. But they walked into a double-cross, organised by Kelly, and were murdered in a house in Rathfriland, Co Down. Their bodies have never been found. Kelly was regularly put under surveillance by the Garda National Drugs Unit and the Organised Crime Unit. Last December, the Criminal Assets Bureau was given an order by the High Court to sell Kelly's house at Boyne View, in Navan, Co Meath, and two cars -- a Volkswagen Golf and a BMW 320. The case was not contested by Kelly who had at least 15 criminal convictions, including a suspended three-year sentence for the possession of ecstasy tablets in 1998
MILLIONS of hacked-off Brits are fleeing the UK for a home in the sun. More than three million have emigrated since 1991, shock new figures reveal. That means around one in 20 of the population have fled in search of a better life. And the mass exodus has sparked more fears of a brain drain generation as Britain’s brightest hopes go. Many say they are being driven out by crime, a shattered economy and bungling Government ministers. Huge numbers are young workers desperate for jobs and pensioners searching for an easy sunshine life. A string of tax benefits is also tempting away Brits who had been forced to get two jobs to try to ride out the recession. Australia has been the most popular sunshine spot for migrating Brits since 1991. America and Canada remain “attractive destinations”, think tank MigrationWatch said yesterday. But the popularity of Spain and France has slumped over the Eurozone debt crisis. MigrationWatch, which released the figures, warned the move was inflicting a “brain drain” on Britain. Its report said: “The profile of those leaving is a concern. Sixty per cent of emigrants since 1997 have been of working age.
Freddie Thompson has spent most of the previous 15 months in England, returning only for brief visits to Dublin and the gang violence in the south city had reduced. It is believed he was concerned that he would be arrested and extradited to Spain after Spanish police said they had issued a warrant for his arrest and extradition at the time of a series of high- profile raids in May last year on the mainly Irish gang led by Dubliner Christy Kinahan, who has been living in Estepona, Spain. However, the warrant has not been sent to gardai even though they have informed the Spanish authorities of his presence here. Thompson had been staying in Estepona up until shortly before the launching of Europe-wide raids aimed at the organisation, which Spanish, British and Europol police said was headed by Kinahan. There were 78 raids including 45 here, 21 in Spain and 12 in Britain. Some 34 people were arrested and €1m in cash seized. Spanish police said their criminal assets agency was investigating properties worth millions including a holiday resort in Brazil. Thompson was questioned in February 2007 when his associate, Paddy Doyle, 27, from Dublin was shot dead in Estepona but Thompson was not at the scene and it is thought the murder was carried out by Turkish mafia.
Authorities confirm a weapon from the failed ATF program 'Operation Fast and Furious' was found at a violent crime scene in Maricopa, Ariz. in 2010. This is the latest in a series of cases where Fast and Furious guns have been linked to violent crimes across the U.S. and Mexico. The two guns found at the scene were an AK-47 and a Beretta pistol, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. The AK-47 is linked to Fast and Furious, according to ATF. The weapons were found inside a stolen truck in March 2010 after the driver slammed into two DPS vehicles while trying to evade members of the Arizona Vehicle Theft Task Force, ABC 15 reports. The driver, Angel Hernandez Diaz, was reportedly arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including flight from a pursuing law enforcement vehicle, aggravated assault on an officer with a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon, theft of means of transportation and misconduct involving a weapon, according to court documents. Fast and Furious was an operation launched in late 2009 by the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to follow gun purchasers in hopes that suspects would lead investigators to the heads of Mexican cartels. But hundreds of high-powered rifles and other guns ended up in Mexico, and many now accuse the ATF and the Justice Department of letting the guns "walk" even after safety concerns were raised. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said last week that three weapons linked to Operation Fast and Furious had been used in violent crimes in the U.S. Weapons linked to the program were used in a December attack along the Southwest border that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Months later, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, launched his committee's investigation, as the Justice Department's inspector general also opened an inquiry, at Attorney General Eric Holder's direction. On Wednesday, Holder said for the first time that not only he but also other higher-ups at the Justice Department were not aware of the operation as it was being carried out. Holder also suggested politics could be a driving force behind Republican lawmakers' forceful inquiries into the matter. Recently, the man who headed ATF in the midst of it, Ken Melson, was reassigned, and U.S. attorney Dennis Burke, who oversaw the prosecution of cases coming out of the operation, abruptly resigned. At least three men have been charged in connection with the murder of agent Terry, though only one is in U.S. custody. The Justice Department recently informed lawmakers that cases coming out of Operation Fast and Furious will now be led by prosecutors from outside Arizona.
Gardai are trying to establish if there is a link between the murder of a man at a halting site in Dublin at the weekend and the shooting of another Traveller in the area last July. Detectives are trying to find a motive for the killing of Tom McDonagh (49), who was shot repeatedly at his home at St Margaret's site in Ballymun on the northside of the city. They suspect that a Finglas-based gang is responsible for the murder. Last night, officers were examining possible links between the incident on Saturday night and an ambush at the River Road in Finglas on July 15 last year when Anthony "Mole" McDonagh narrowly escaped death after he stopped his white Ford van at what he thought were county council roadworks. He was hit in the chest, stomach and side but survived the attack. The latest victim was alone when two men burst into his home and fired a barrage of shots from an automatic pistol. Mr McDonagh was dead on admission to hospital. Gardai are now following a number of lines of inquiry as they examine CCTV footage and trawl through statements from other residents of the halting site. The dead man was not a big criminal player. However, detectives are trying to establish whether his death was a result of his links to a group involved in feuding
A court in Moscow has sentenced the leader of a notorious Russian organized crime gang to life in prison for involvement in at least 20 killings. The Moscow City Court judge said Tuesday that Sergei Butorin posed a grave danger to society and should be incarcerated for the rest of his life. ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the judge as ruling Butorin had been behind 20 murders and nine attempted killings. Butorin headed the Orekhovskaya gang, an organized criminal group that reached the height of its powers in Moscow in the 1990s. He was arrested by Spanish authorities in 2001 on charges of trading in illegal weapons and extradited to Russia last year. Russian criminal groups flourished in the chaotic years that followed the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Eamon Dunne was murdered in a northside pub in April of 2010, the fear was that his cold-blooded execution would create a deadly power vacuum, one which would lead to bloody gang warfare on the streets. After all, The Don's gang were responsible for 15 murders since he took over the Finglas gang that had been led by crimelord Martin 'Marlo' Hyland . Marlo himself was murdered in December 2006. Ever since the days of The Westies and psychopathic criminal PJ Judge, the neighbouring suburbs of Finglas/ Blanchardstown and Ballymun have had to deal with more than their fair share of gangland violence. But the reign of terror imposed by crazed Eamon Dunne was unprecedented in the capital's gang scene. Softly spoken and relatively well educated, Dunne was a massive hit with the ladies and sources say that his almost crazed sex drive was driven by the use of Viagra. Until the gun murder of Traveller Tom McDonagh in Ballymun last weekend, the area had seen a dramatic decline in gang related violence since Dunne's murder. It is understood that McDonagh was murdered over a drugs debt to Finglas gang. "The lull in murders and complete drop in shooting incidents in the past 16 months has to be linked to the fact that Eamon Dunne is no longer with us," explained a senior source. The situation had been so bad previously that a small area in Finglas west was dubbed the 'murder mile' or 'murder triangle' after up to 20 people were murdered in the space of a decade. Most of these killings are unsolved gangland shootings in a small area which encompasses Cappagh Cross, Ratoath Road and Cardiffsbridge. With the murders of Eamon Dunne and other gang bosses who came before him, the situation has eased in Finglas, Blanchardstown and Ballymun over the past year. But the sprawling estates of north Dublin are still home to some of the most dangerous gangs in the country. The Don's gang are still active and dealing in millions of euro worth of drugs. But gardai have had some major successes against them. Many of the core members of Dunne's crew cannot be named here because they are before the courts on charges including armed robbery, murder and dug dealing. One of The Don's former associates who we can name is feared hardman Brian O'Reilly -- a Ballymun native who now lives in Co Meath. "O'Reilly is a big tough man but he is very paranoid. He deeply dislikes the media and the gardai who he accuses of colluding against him. "He is a man of few words but when he talks everyone listens. He has great respect," a source explained. O'Reilly, who remains a major target for specialised garda units, was lucky to escape with his life when targeted by a gunman in a pub in Bettystown, Co Meath. He was shot in the chin and back as he drank in his local pub in August, 2010. But he survived the murder bid organised by the Real IRA. A month later O'Reilly's close pal Eamon Kelly (62) cheated death when the Real IRA tried to murder him at his home in Killester. A source said of Kelly: "On the outside, he seems like the quintessential retired Dubliner -- he enjoys his pints and going to the bookies but in reality he is a criminal campaigner with links to most of the crime gangs in the State." This year has seen the strength of the gang who murdered Dunne grow considerably and sources say that they operate drugs rackets in the Finglas/Cabra area. Dunne's murder in the Fassaugh House pub was "sanctioned" by some of his own gang members and the gang's drug supplier, international crimelord Christy Kinahan. The Herald has previously revealed that the chief suspect for the murder is a young man in his early 20s from the Cabra area who was very close to slain crime boss Hyland. A former detective described Marlo's way of doing business as "unprecedented". "He formed alliances with everyone he could -- he knew that murder was bad for business so he tried to keep away from it. fearsome "But in the last few months of his life the paranoia got to him. He couldn't eat or sleep properly -- he knew his days were numbered." The young thug is considered "the leader" of a dangerous crew of young criminals from the Finglas, Cabra and north inner city areas who have built up a fearsome reputation for gangland violence since they were aged in their mid teens. Gardai have placed the dangerous gangster "on top of the list" for pumping eight bullets into 'The Don' -- one of the most notorious criminals in the history of Irish gangs. He was also involved in the murder of innocent Latvian woman Baiba Saulite in November 2006. While these young thugs increase their powerbase, the area's veteran criminals continue to operate. Some of these older criminals had strong links to Paul 'Farmer' Martin -- the Finglas crimelord who was murdered in August 2008. Others are connected to a 44-year-old local man -- who was a childhood friend of Marlo Hyland. As Marlo rose to become one of Ireland's biggest drug dealers, this man was constantly at his side. The 44-year-old -- who now lives in the Finglas area -- was arrested in April by the Garda National Drugs Unit. Undercover detectives seized more than €400,000 worth of cannabis resin. Before the massive drugs seizure, detectives watched the gang transfer 70 kilos of the drug near the border before making arrests. However, the Finglas resident was later released without charge. The Real IRA also have an active presence in this area. In late March, mobsters from the Continuity IRA claimed responsibility for shooting three men in broad daylight in Corduff Park, Blanchardstown. The victims were targeted because the dissidents claimed they were guilty of anti-social behaviour. David Morgan (20) and cousins Gary (25) and Christopher Gleeson (26) all survived the shooting. The duplicity of the CIRA is breathtaking. Led by the former head of the Real IRA in Dublin -- now on remand in prison on other charges -- the Continuity mob were responsible for a pipe bomb attack in May at the home of an innocent family in Whitestown. Also this year, armed gardai swooped on three Blanchardstown men who formerly had links with the infamous Westies gang, whose leaders Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg were murdered in Spain in 2004. The gangsters were believed to be on their way to carry out a Tiger kidnapping when arrested by armed detectives. Sources said that the three men had all been key members of the infamous Westies organisation which caused so much trouble a decade ago. It was also this summer that the Herald profiled a gang from this area who were involved in a new criminal craze called 'fishing'. A gang of thugs from Finglas and Blanchardstown used fishing rods and magnets to steal more than 100 high powered cars. Gardai branded the new criminal craze 'fishing' because it involves the gang attaching a magnet to the end of a fishing rod or long wooden pole, pushing it through letterboxes and using it to remove car keys left behind locked doors. The gang have been selling the high-quality cars for just €1,200 to UK criminals. The gang has close links to Finglas criminal David Fahy (29) from Cappagh Avenue who was recently released from jail after serving two years for possession of a sawn-off shotgun and cocaine. However, sources say that Fahy -- who has 152 previous convictions -- is not involved in the scam himself. The mob also has links to a Traveller gang who operate in the Dunsink area of Finglas.
Fourteen alleged members of the UVF, including one of its former leaders Mark Haddock, are due to appear at Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday for the start of the first so-called "supergrass" trial to be held in Northern Ireland for 26 years. The charges include the murder of leading UDA member Tommy English during a loyalist feud. Critics say the process being used is unsafe and unjust, while the police and prosecutors insist it is legally sound. Our Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney looks at the background to the case. The police bristle at the very mention of the word "supergrass" because of its association with a series of high profile trials in the 1980s. Hundreds of republicans and loyalists were convicted on the word of informers and suspects who agreed to give evidence against them in return for reduced sentences and new identities and lives outside Northern Ireland. There were claims that many also received financial rewards. The deals were arranged at a political level, approved by the Secretary of State, and the details were secret. No-one, not the defence teams, the relatives of victims, nor the accused, knew anything, and in many cases there were question marks over whether convicted informers actually served any time in prison at all. Credibility The trials were the largest in British criminal history. In one in 1983, 22 IRA members were given jail terms totalling more than 4,000 years. But 18 of them had their convictions quashed three years later, and the vast majority of the others convicted in a series of similar trials were also released on appeal. The system collapsed in 1985 because of concerns about the credibility of the evidence provided by the so-called supergrasses, with members of the judiciary complaining that they were being used as political tools to implement government security policy. The police and prosecutors say the trial starting today is based on an entirely different legal foundation. The investigation has centred around the activities of the UVF in the Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast New legislation introduced in 2005, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, enables an accused to enter into a written agreement indicating that they will help the prosecution by giving evidence against other criminals. Where this happens, the court may take this into account when passing sentence. The journey that led to the trial beginning today began with an investigation by the former Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan into the activities of the UVF in Mount Vernon in north Belfast. In January 2007, she published the results of Operation Ballast. 'Impunity' It was a highly critical report which said members of RUC Special Branch had allowed UVF informers to act with impunity, and that the gang may have been involved in up to 15 murders. Mark Haddock wasn't named in the report, but was referred to as Informant 1. Alarmed by the findings, the then Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, asked the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) to take over Operation Ballast. Then, in 2008, two brothers, Robert and David Stewart walked into Antrim police station, admitting that they were members of the UVF, and their role in more than 70 offences. They offered to give evidence against a number of alleged former comrades under the teams of the 2005 legislation. The HET then spent more than a year debriefing them, and arresting suspects as they went along. But, despite being given additional funding, the investigation became too big for the team to handle. In December 2009, the case was given over to the PSNI. The investigation is now led by Crime Operations Department headed by Assistant Chief Constable Drew Harris, and is now called Operation Stafford. As a result, just over four and a half years after Nuala O'Loan published her report, Mark Haddock and 13 others will appear in court on Tuesday. They will appear before a judge sitting without a jury because of fears of intimidation. Haddock and eight others are charged with the murder of Tommy English and a range of other offences. The remaining five face a range of charges, possession of firearms, kidnap and assault. The latest investigation into the Mount Vernon UVF began following a report by the former Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan Sealed containers The two chief prosecution witnesses, the Stewart brothers, have been held in isolation at Maghaberry prison, protected by a team of highly trained guards. Their food is brought into the prison in sealed containers to ensure they are not poisoned. They have admitted a total of 74 offences, but were sentenced to just three years each because the judge took into account their offer to testify. Their sentence was determined in open court, not secretly by the Secretary of State. The 2005 legislation contains penalties. If it emerges that the assisting offender is guilty of serious crimes they may not have admitted to, they are in breach of the agreement. If this is discovered after the trial, they can be re-arrested and charged with the additional offences. If they tell the truth but re-offend at a later stage, they can be re-arrested and charged. Supporters say this system is much more open and transparent than the discredited system used in the 1980s. Those on trial, and their families and supporters, insist that only the name has changed.
gang member recruited in a murder-for-hire conspiracy was sentenced to death Thursday for killing a man who was set to inherit a family-run business in Rancho Dominguez, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. Armando Macias, 35, of Lancaster was found guilty by a jury in April of one felony count of special circumstances murder with an allegation of murder for financial gain in the slaying of 44-year-old David Montemayor, the prosecutor's office said. Macias, who is the fifth defendant to be sentenced in connection with Montemayor’s murder since 2006, was also found guilty of kidnapping to commit robbery, possession of a firearm by a felon, street terrorism, attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, officials said. Macias, who has a prior strike conviction for voluntary manslaughter in 1993, also was slapped with several sentencing enhancements in connection with Montemayor’s murder. Prosecutors allege that in 2002, Montemayor’s sister Deborah Perna, 54, of Anaheim and her co-worker Edelmira Corona, 34, of Pico Rivera solicited the help of 44-year-old gang member Anthony Navarro of Canyon Country to kill Montemayor. Perna was jealous that her father intended to pass control of the family company to her brother, who she believed was stealing from the business, prosecutors said. Navarro recruited gang members Gerardo Lopez, 26, of Pacoima, Alberto Martinez, 33, of Castaic, and Macias in a kidnap-and-murder-for-hire scheme, prosecutors said. On Oct. 2, 2002, the men kidnapped Montemayor, a father of three, at the family business in Rancho Dominguez and headed to the victim’s home in Buena Park, where they were told he kept thousands of dollars in cash, prosecutors said. On the way, Montemayor, who only had one arm, managed to escape the car. But Macias shot him in the head as he fled, prosecutors said. Lopez also fired at Montemayor before the gang members raced off in their car, triggering a police car chase, authorities said. Police eventually stopped the vehicle and arrested Macias, Lopez and Martinez. Both Navarro and Martinez have been earlier sentenced to death for their role in Montemayor’s murder. Lopez, the other gang member, and Perna, the victim’s sister, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to information from the district attorney's office. Corona, the co-worker, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 18. She faces a maximum of 22 years in prison, officials said.
Six members of the Texas Syndicate prison gang — including its Rio Grande Valley leader — were sentenced to serve time in federal prison for several charges including racketeering, kidnapping and drug charges. Chief U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa on Monday sentenced 40-year-old Jose Ismael Salas, the gang’s regional head, to 20 years in prison for drug and racketeering offenses, court records show. Salas originally pleaded guilty April 2, 2009, to two separate charges of possession with intent to distribute 6 kilograms of cocaine on Aug. 12, 2004, and a similar charge for 39 kilograms of marijuana on March 28, 2003. The charge alleged that the intent of the possession of the drugs was to further the goals of the criminal organization. Among the five other Texas Syndicate members who were sentenced was Fidel Valle, 45, who received a sentence of 10 years and six months in prison. Valle was described as the drug supplier for the organization. He entered a guilty plea July 28, 2009, to the charge of possession with intent to distribute 6 kilograms of cocaine. Court records show that Aug. 12, 2004, after speaking with Salas, Valle tried to sell the cocaine to other Texas Syndicate members but was stopped by authorities during a traffic stop. Also sentenced was Romeo Rosales, 41, who received 12 years and seven months in prison for the kidnapping of Amancio Pinales, who was abducted and eventually gunned down in Mexico on Aug. 12, 2004. Noel De Los Santos, 33, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the March 20, 2003, murder of fellow gang member Crisantos Moran. According to information released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Moran had been ordered to kill a rival gang member from Peñitas, but after arriving there with De Los Santos and another member named Jose Armando Garcia, he failed to carry out the killing and was slain instead. Earlier this year, Garcia was given a life sentence. Two other Syndicate members were sentenced for a separate murder connected to the organization. Cristobal Hernandez, 31, and Arturo Rodriguez were sentenced to 10 and 20 years, respectively, for the murder of Marcelino Rodriguez in June 2007. The two men had aided a third man known as Raul Galindo, who shot Rodriguez in the back of the head. The two men then set the vehicle containing his body on fire. Rodriguez had been named in a sealed court document that had been provided to them by an employee at a law firm that was defending Rodriguez. The Texas Syndicate had sanctioned the death of Rodriguez.
These troubling deaths are just a portion of Winnipeg’s climbing homicide cases this year. As of Thursday, Winnipeg has 29 homicides recorded, well above last year’s total of 22. Winnipeg’s deadliest year on record was 2004 when there was 34. “The numbers are a lot higher than we would like to see,” said Const. Jason Michalyshen, Winnipeg police spokesman. “It’s concerning to us, and it should be concerning to everyone.” The latest victim is Joseph Lalonde, 48, who was brutally beaten with a baseball bat. Two 15-year-old boys were charged with second-degree murder. A total of 10 youths have been charged in connection to the 2011 deaths. Michalyshen said it’s been a challenging year. “Our resources have been very busy making sure no stone is unturned, making sure that these investigations are investigated thoroughly, and arrests are made,” he said. Three cases are unsolved — Cara Lynn Hiebert, 31, was found dead in her home on Redwood Avenue on July 19; Baljinder Singh Sidhu, 27, was stabbed to death during a brawl on Osborne Street on Aug. 5; and 24-year-old April Hornbrook was found dead outside a building on Main Street on Aug. 27. Many violent crimes continue to occur in Winnipeg’s North End, a concerning stat for Coun. Harvey Smith (Daniel McIntyre). “The communities have to be working together and you don’t really have enough of that in the North End,” Smith said. “You have to have recreational activities, and ... I tend to think we should get more support for Citizens on Patrol.” Edmonton has the most homicides in Canada, with 34. Calgary has just three. “We’re very fortunate right now, but that could change before the end of the year,” said Calgary police Insp. Cliff O’Brien, who works in that city’s major crimes unit. O’Brien said there’s “no magical answer” for why the numbers are so low, but gave credit to the good work of officers and medical staff. Calgary police has a gang suppression team, who monitor entertainment districts, targeting known gang or organized crime members. “We have legislation here where we can kick people out if we can prove they’re associated with a gang,” he said. “That has helped us a lot.” O’Brien admits there’s a certain “element of luck.” “We’ve had those high rates before and I know that we will have those high rates again.”
2009 ·GANGLAND KILLERS by TNB
