Police Arrest 25 Alleged Anonymous Members, Angry Hackers Retaliate

Law enforcement authorities arrested 25 individuals allegedly members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective as part of an international operation, according to Interpol.

The operation began in mid-February after police traced several high-profile online attacks originating from Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Spain, Interpol said Feb. 28. The attackers allegedly targeted Websites belonging to the Ministry of Defense and president in Colombia, Endesa, a Chilean electric company, and Chile's National Library, among others.

Operation Unmask was coordinated by the Interpol's Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime. Interpol helped share intelligence across national law enforcement agencies in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain. Based on the information, police officers executed more than 40 searches across 15 cities in those four countries and confiscated around 250 devices and mobile phones. Payment cards and cash were also seized during the raids. The arrested individuals ranged in age from 17 to 40, according to Interpol.

“This operation shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved, and that the Internet cannot be seen as a safe haven for criminal activity, no matter where it originates or where it is targeted,” said Bernd Rossbach, active Interpol executive director of police services.

Four individuals in Spain had been arrested for sabotaging Websites and posting confidential data online, Spanish police said before the Interpol made its announcement. The server logs obtained as part of those arrests led the police to five suspects in Colombia, six in Chile and 10 in Argentina, according to a report by Agence France Presse.

Full Story(EWEEK)

Man known as godfather of Detroit's organized crime behind bars again

The man once dubbed a godfather of organized crime in Detroit wasn’t free for long.

A day after the Free Press reported on Louis Akrawi’s parole from state prison and the federal government’s failed attempt to deport him to Iraq, Akrawi found himself back behind bars Monday, his parole rescinded by the Michigan Department of Corrections.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had released him Thursday after he spent 15 years in prison, and he returned to relatives in the Macomb County area.

But the state parole board never intended for Akrawi to walk free.

“The parole board paroled him with the intention that he would be deported,” corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said Tuesday. “We’re hopeful that he will be deported” still.

Full Story (Detroit Free Press)

Ohio shooting suspect from at-risk kids school

(AP)  

CHARDON, Ohio - A teenager opened fire in the cafeteria at a suburban Cleveland high school Monday, killing one student and wounding four others before he was chased from the building by a teacher and captured a short distance away, authorities said.

A student who saw the attack up close said it appeared that the gunman targeted a group of students sitting together and that the one who was killed was gunned down while trying to duck under the cafeteria table.

FBI officials would not comment on a motive. And Police Chief Tim McKenna said authorities "have a lot of homework to do yet" in their investigation of the shooting, which sent students screaming through the halls at the start of the school day at 1,100-student Chardon High.

Full Story (CBS)

U.S. Treasury Dept. Penalizes Japan’s Largest Organized-Crime Group

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Japan’s biggest yakuza group, an organized-crime syndicate that operates with relative impunity there and whose far-ranging criminal activity has become a significant concern in Washington.

In an announcement on Thursday, the department said it would freeze the American-based assets of the group, the Yamaguchi-gumi, and two of its leaders. It will also bar any transactions between Americans and members of the penalized crime syndicate. Yakuza have been tied to drug trafficking and other crimes in the United States, with particular prominence in Hawaii and California. The Treasury did not elaborate on the dollar value of United States-based accounts that might be frozen under the new sanctions.

In a statement, the Treasury said the group made “billions of dollars” every year around the world. Its criminal activity includes prostitution, money laundering, fraud and trafficking in humans, weapons and drugs.

The action “casts a spotlight on key members of criminal organizations that have engaged in a wide range of serious crimes,” David S. Cohen, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

Full Story (NY Times)

Detectives seize $20,000 in heroin, arrest target of probe

NEW BEDFORD — Narcotics detectives seized $20,000 in heroin and arrested a 36-year-old city man last week, wrapping up a six-month drug investigation.

Lt. Paul Oliveira, commander of the Organized Crime and Intelligence Bureau, said detectives seized more than 180 grams of heroin with an estimated street value of $20,000 and about $500 in cash.

The target of the probe, identified as Larry Araujo of 55 Independent St., is charged with two counts of distribution of heroin, trafficking heroin over 100 grams, conspiracy to violate the drug laws and a school zone violation, police said.

Bail was set at $75,000 cash when Araujo was arraigned in New Bedford District Court, and he is being held at the Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth, according to Bernard F. Sullivan, a spokesman for Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson.

Oliveira said Araujo has three prior drug convictions.

"This is the arrest of a significant drug dealer in New Bedford," Oliveira said Monday.

He said Detective Justin Kagan, the lead investigator, observed suspected drug sales involving Araujo over the last six months.

Full Story (South Coast Today)

Mexico, USA Agree to Strengthen Fight against Organized Crime

Mexico, Feb 27 (Prensa Latina) Mexico and the United States agreed Monday to strengthen cooperation to prevent the presence of international terrorism in the country and human trafficking, said Secretary of the Interior, Alejandro Poire.

  During a press conference here with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, highlighted the "excellent spirit" of collaboration, dialogue and partnership between both nations.

Poire said the bilateral agenda aims at preventing entry into national territory "of any individual member of a criminal organization or individual that endangers our security." 

For this, the exchange of information will be speeded up in order to take timely preventive measures, he said.

Regarding human trafficking, he said they have been working with Central American countries to dismantle these criminal gangs and said that Mexico has made significant progress against this evil that respects no geographical boundary.

Poire announced that a new pilot program for the repatriation of Mexican nationals will shortly be launched, which responds to progress in the issue from the voluntary repatriation program which is conducted annually.

The new program will improve border security, guarantee that migrants return to their home communities and that they are not placed at the mercy of criminal networks, Poire said.


Full Story (Prensa Latina News)

Canadian targeted in Montreal Mafia sweep now faces prison for coke smuggling

MONTREAL — A man who was once the target of a four-year manhunt now faces the prospect of a lengthy prison term for drug smuggling as his wife prepares to go on trial in the deaths of their two daughters while he was in hiding.

Giuseppe De Vito, 45, was targeted in Project Colisee, the police investigation into the Mafia in Montreal and its associates.

Wiretap evidence suggests that while De Vito worked with Mafia leaders like Francesco Arcadi and Francesco (Chit) Del Balso, he was somewhat of an outsider.

But in 2004, he and others tied to the Mafia — including Del Balso — agreed to be partners in smuggling in 120 kilograms of cocaine on an Air Canada flight from Haiti on Jan. 22, 2005.

The shipment was to be packed into the false bottom of a baggage container destined for Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Full Story (Times Colonist)

Drug-testing expert says TCU bust is sign of increased marijuana problem in college sports

National Center for Drug Free Sport vice president Andrea Wickerham said the arrests of four football players among 15 TCU students and four former students on suspicion of selling marijuana is symbolic of an increasing pot problem in college athletics.

She hopes administrators across the nation are paying attention.

“I hope they don’t see this event at TCU as an isolated incident. It’s not,” she said. “The question is, ‘What does TCU do about it?’ and what do other college administrators do?”

The arrests at TCU came Wednesday, just a month after the NCAA said that 22.6 percent of 20,474 student-athletes participating in an anonymous survey in 2009 admitted to using marijuana the previous 12 months. That number was up from 21.2 percent in 2005.

Full Story (WAPO)

RCMP trumpet drug busts worth $117M

Two separate international drug seizures worth a street value of $117 million have led to the arrests of eight men from the GTA, the RCMP announced Monday.

Five Toronto men were charged in October in connection with the seizure of 5.7 tonnes of hashish worth $69 million bound for Toronto from Afghanistan.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said the hashish, discovered en route in Kyrgyzstan, was hidden in 500 hollowed out wooden boards that each contained about 10 kilograms of the drug.

“We pursued this international investigation and allowed the container with only a small portion of the drugs to travel through (a numbers of countries) before finally arriving here in Canada,” he said, adding that since 2009 the RCMP and the Canadian Border Services Agency have intercepted and seized more than 70 tonnes of hashish overseas and domestically.

Superintendent Rick Penney, RCMP GTA Drug Enforcement Commander, told the Toronto Star there is always the fear that some of the profits from the hashish shipment could have made it back to Afghanistan to fund organized crime and even the Taliban.

In the second case, three Markham men were charged last month with importing 2,900 litres of Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), which could produce up to 4.8 million doses of the date-rape drug worth $48 million.

Full Story(The Star)

Daycare site of Rock Island drug bust

ROCK ISLAND, Ill.— 

UPDATED:  The owner and operator of a Rock Island daycare was jailed a day after her son and another man were arrested for allegedly dealing marijuana from the daycare. 

Lorrie D. Myers, 44, was arrested February 15, 2012.  She was held in the Rock Island County Jail.  Myers was charged with misdemeanor possession of cannabis.

Police said they arrested two men for allegedly dealing marijuana from the site of Myers' Rock Island, Illinois daycare.

Royce (aka Royace) Harmon, 20, and Laron Carr, 19, were arrested Tuesday evening, February 14, 2012 after police executed a narcotics search warrant at Lorries Licensed Daycare, 2433 Tenth Street in Rock Island.

The daycare is across the street from ball fields next to Frances Willard Elementary School.

Both men are charged with manufacture with intent to deliver 30 to 500 grams of cannabis.

Police said the warrant and arrests came after an ongoing narcotics investigation by the Quad City Metropolitan Enforcement Group (MEG).

Harmon and Carr were held in the Rock Island County Jail.  Both men were expected to appear in Rock Island County Court on Wednesday, February 15, 2012.


Full Story (WQAD)

TCU drug bust includes 4 football players

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Authorities arrested 17 students at Texas Christian University on Wednesday as part of a six-month drug sting, an especially embarrassing blow to the school because it included four members of the high-profile football team.

Arrest warrants painted a startling picture of the Horned Frogs, with a handful of players who allegedly arranged marijuana sales after class or around practice and who told police that most of the team had failed a surprise drug test just two weeks ago.

According to police, players sold undercover officers marijuana during the season and as recently as last week.

"There are days people want to be a head football coach, but today is not one of those days," coach Gary Patterson said in a prepared statement. "As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I'm mad."

The 17 people arrested were caught making "hand-to-hand" sales of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs to undercover officers, police said. They said the bust followed an investigation prompted by complaints from students, parents and others.

TCU has an enrollment of about 9,500 students, but the athlete arrests drew the most scrutiny. The bust came just one day after a thrilling overtime victory by the men's basketball team over a ranked opponent and less than 24 hours after TCU released its football schedule for next season, its first in the Big 12 Conference.

Full Story (AP)

Police: Mumbling Pa. Suspect Had Mouthful of Crack

AMBRIDGE, Pa. - A western Pennsylvania man is jailed on drug charges because police say something other than a confession came out of his mouth when he was hit with a stun gun.

The Beaver County Times reports Tuesday that 56-year-old Frank Lee Turner was mumbling when Ambridge police stopped a car in which he was a passenger on Feb. 5.

Full Story (My Fox DC)

Guatemala says it's weighing drug legalization

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — U.S. inability to cut illegal drug consumption leaves Guatemala with no option but to consider legalizing the use and transport of drugs, President Otto Perez Molina said Monday, a remarkable turnaround for an ex-general elected on a platform of crushing organized crime with an iron fist.

Perez said he will try to win regional support for drug legalization at an upcoming summit of Central American leaders next month. He got his first public support on Monday at a security meeting with El Salvador President Mauricio Funes, who said he too is willing to consider legalization.

"We're bringing the issue up for debate. Today's meeting is intended to strengthen our methods of fighting organized crime," Perez said with Funes. "But if drug consumption isn't reduced, the problem will continue."

Full Story (Times Union)

Organized crime in West Africa the focus of talks between UN envoy, Interpol

13 February 2012 – 

Transnational organized crime in West Africa, including illicit drug trafficking and the proliferation of illegal arms, as well as maritime piracy, dominated discussions today between a senior United Nations envoy and the head of the international police organization, Interpol.

At their meeting in Lyon, France, where Interpol is headquartered, Said Djinnit, head of the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA), and Ronald K. Noble, Interpol’s Secretary General, stressed the importance of working jointly to efficiently address the increasingly complex transnational organized crime, which they said poses a serious threat to West Africa’s stability.

They underlined that Interpol’s expertise on information sharing through its high technology infrastructure was crucial to enabling national police services in the region to work together to tackle the problem.

Full Story (United Nations)

The Business Behind the Black Market

Created by: Business Degree

A top cop in China disappears. Medical leave or U.S. asylum?

China’s most famous city police chief has disappeared less than a week after he was unexpectedly shunted from his job, sending a flurry of speculative reports across the Internet that he has sought asylum at a US consulate.

Wang Lijun, who led a high-profile crackdown on mafia gangs in the southwestern China mega-city of Chongqing three years ago, is a close ally of the city’s Communist Party secretary, Bo Xilai, one of China’s main contenders for a top spot in the party leadership as it prepares for a major transition later this year.

Mr. Wang’s fate is expected to shape Mr. Bo’s political future. Wang's removal from the police department and Internet rumors that he had requested political asylum at the US consulate in the city of Chengdu, near Chongqing, “is not good news for Bo,” says Wu Yue San Ren, an independent political commentator. “This will negatively impact Bo’s hopes of getting to the top,” Mr. Wu adds.

Bo’s open ambition and flamboyant style – both unusual in Chinese politics – have earned him many enemies. In the run-up to next autumn’s Communist Party congress, which will choose the next nine-man Standing Committee to run China, contenders for the top jobs are thought to be jockeying fiercely behind the scenes for position.

Full Story (Alaska Dispatch)

Mexican Mafia members had cellphones, drugs in fed jail

Two members of the Texas Mexican Mafia pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that they got cellphones and drugs smuggled into a federal jail with help from a guard.

Paul “Polo” Hernandez and Jesse C. “Chuy” Guerra also pleaded guilty to an extortion and drug-possession charge for their roles in the gang's enforcement of a 10-percent “street tax” on other drug dealers in San Antonio. Guerra's cousin Fernando “Klan” Delgado also pleaded guilty Thursday to a heroin-possession charge.

The three were among 12 snared in November 2010 by the San Antonio Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Three of the 12 pleaded guilty last year and were sentenced to prison.

Hernandez's plea deal said he made several phone calls while awaiting trial on drug-related charges at the Central Texas Detention Facility, a federal jail in San Antonio run by Florida-based The GEO Group.

Full Story (My San Antonio)

Feds charge 27 in major Bay Area drug trafficking bust

Twenty-seven people have been arrested and charged by law enforcement officials as part of a “large-scale takedown” of Bay Area drug traffickers and gang members that was focused on two Peninsula cities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Most of the arrests were in the East Palo Alto and Menlo Park areas, and included the seizure of “significant quantities of money, drugs, firearms and several vehicles,” federal prosecutors said in the announcement.


Full Story (San Francisco Examiner)

2 juveniles charged in Stevenson High School drug bust

A wide-ranging, two-month investigation into drug sales at north suburban Stevenson High School has resulted in juvenile charges against two teenagers, police announced Wednesday.

The boys — a 16-year-old from Lincolnshire and a 15-year-old from Buffalo Grove — have been referred to Lake County juvenile court for misdemeanor charges of unlawful delivery of marijuana and conspiracy of unlawful delivery of marijuana, said Lincolnshire authorities, who did not name the youths.

The probe into drug dealing at the affluent, high-achieving school made news last week when it was revealed that school officials confiscated cellphones of suspected students and searched texts stored on those phones to find other suspects. A school spokesman said the tactic was "perfectly within our rights," though other legal experts called it a gray area in an evolving part of students' rights law.

Lincolnshire police said they obtained search warrants to view records of one cellphone. They also said they recovered less than 10 grams of pot, and that, while it appeared drug sales were arranged during school hours, the actual transactions took place off school property.

Full Story (Chicago Tribune)

Media given leaked info on Mafia case

The Quebec government has ordered an independent investigation into information leaked to the media in the high-profile case of a retired officer alleged to have been collaborating with the Mafia.

Public Security Minister Robert Dutil said Wednesday that he wants provincial police to investigate circumstances of the Ian Davidson case and find out how the media learned about it.

The Crown prosecutor's office called for the probe announced Wednesday. It said an investigation into Davidson's activities had been underway when someone informed journalists, and said it wanted to know how that happened.

Such Crown requests are rare but, in this case, there are hints charges might be forthcoming.

"We allege ... that there were leaks of information that were privileged, sensitive and highly confidential that came out in the media and we need to know how they came out," said Jean-Pascal Boucher, a spokesman for the Crown.

"We allege that a criminal act might have been committed in divulging this information."

A recent example of such a Crown-triggered investigation was in March 2011, when the body ordered a probe into Boston Bruins defenceman Zdeno Chara for a bone-jarring hit on Montreal Canadiens Max Pacioretty. The hockey probe lasted months and resulted in no charges against Chara.

This latest case involves allegations that a Montreal police officer sold the names of police informants to the Italian Mafia.

Full Story (Castanet)

Audit shows improper use of city's drug funds

MEMPHIS, TN -

(WMC-TV) - Councilwoman Janis Fullilove is now asking for a forensic audit of the Memphis Police Department - she said there are many unanswered questions surrounding the newly released audit of the MPD's Organized Crime Unit. 

A drug fund of more than $3.8 million can be used for drug education and enforcement. However, according to the report, there was improper use of that which included $183,555 in overtime pay and more than $41,000 in purchases. The audit also showed a lack of adequate documentation for expenditures.

"Something doesn't seem quite right. We don't know how 23,000 rounds of ammunition have just disappeared. You got thousands of dollars being spent out of drug money not supposed to be spent," said Fullilove.

Full Story (WMCTV)

Project Deplete down to 1 arrest warrant

Police have made a 12th arrest in Project Deplete, a long-term drug and organized crime investigation.

Elmer John Deato, 26, was taken into police custody Tuesday.

Police are still looking for David Thomas, age 29, on charges of possession of a restricted firearm, weapons trafficking, and possession of proceeds of crime.

Anyone with information on Thomas' whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 786-TIPS (8477).

Kareem Martin, 31, Dane Sawatzky, 27, Mark Beitz, 31, Dalton Miller, 21 were all taken into custody since the first arrests were made on Friday.

AGENT PAID $500K FOR SNITCHING

Using a paid police informant was one tactic employed in the recent RCMP-Winnipeg police sweep of the drug underworld — continuing a scheme used by police in similar high-level crime probes in the recent past.

An undercover agent is to be paid in the range of $500,000 for his or her role in Project Deplete, a justice source confirmed Monday.

The latest sweep saw charges laid against people police accuse of being major players in the city’s drug trade. Some have gang associations, others are more “independent,” police said.

Full Story (Winnipeg Sun)

Four more arrested in million dollar drug bust

Police have made four more arrests in the major drug operation called Project Deplete, a long-term investigation by the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force.

More than 80 officers made arrests and seized more than a million dollars worth of drugs on Friday. A total of 13 people were charged and seven people were arrested at that time, said police.

On Monday, they announced four more arrests: Kareem Martin, 31, Dane Sawatzky, 27, Mark Beitz, 31, and Dalton Miller, 21.

Two remaining people have been charged and are wanted by police: Elmer John Deato, 26, and David Thomas, 29.

Those taken into custody Friday include: William Lauren Bowden, Joshua James Lyons, Chi Hong Do, Christopher Lea Murrell, Pardeep Kapoor, Joshua Robert Charney, all of Winnipeg and Ramsey Yaggey of Edmonton.

Full Story (CTV Winnipeg)

Mexico detains ex-general for organized crime

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A recently retired Mexican army general has been placed under a form of house arrest while he is investigated on organized crime charges.

An official of the Attorney General's Office says retired Gen. Juan Manuel Barragan Espinosa was detained Friday.

The official said Monday that the investigation relates to weapons trafficking. The official was not authorized to be quoted by name.

The newspaper Reforma reported Barragan Espinosa allegedly aided the Sinaloa cartel, but the official would not confirm that.

In 1997, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was arrested when he was Mexico's drug czar. He was charged with protecting then cocaine kingpin Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

How Whitey Bulger Corrupted The Justice System

When Whitey Bulger was captured last year, he'd spent close to 20 years on the run — and on the FBI's Most Wanted list.

Bulger was the head of an Irish gang terrorizing the streets of South Boston. The Massachusetts State Police wanted him gone, but curiously couldn't touch him.

Why? Bulger was a confidential FBI informant, and the bureau shielded him for years.

Forge Books

Robert Fitzpatrick, pictured at the McIntyre crime scene, spent more than 20 years as an FBI agent.

Robert Fitzpatrick, the author of Betrayal: Whitey Bulger and the FBI Agent Who Fought to Bring Him Down, says Bulger was widely known to be an unsavory character.

"He's a stone killer, has been known to be a hit man for the Mafia out of Providence, and he's also known to be the head of the Winter Hill gang, a bunch of Irish guys trying to take over the rackets, extortion and the drug stuff up in Boston," Fitzpatrick tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz.

Fitzpatrick was a young FBI agent with a solid track record when the bureau sent him to Boston to sniff out corruption in the office. One of his first tasks was to evaluate Bulger, who was supposedly providing information on Mafia activities in New England.

Full Story (NPR)

Member of Mexican Mafia convicted of murder

SANTA ANA – An Orange County federal jury has found a member of the Mexican Mafia guilty of several charges, including murder, five conspiracies to commit murder, attempted murder and racketeering, prosecutors said late Thursday.

Following a monthlong trial, jurors returned guilty verdicts Thursday after five hours of deliberations on all counts in the trial of Rolando Ontiveros, 38, of Pico Rivera, a man who prosecutors said rose to the highest levels in one faction of the Mexican Mafia in the late 1990s.

Ontiveros faces a mandatory life imprisonment plus 30 consecutive years in federal custody at his May 7 sentencing by U.S. District Judge David Carter.

The defendant, who evaded authorities for a decade, was at the center of a war between factions of the Mexican Mafia and encouraged the killing of a rival in a shooting that also left two others dead, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Dugdale told jurors in his opening statement in federal court.

Full Story (OC Register)

Costa Concordia: Threat of Mafia treasure hunters

Lying silently beneath the pristine Italian waters are jewels, cash, champagne, antiques, 19th century Bohemian glassware, and thousands of art objects - including 300-year-old woodblock prints by a Japanese master.

It could just be a matter of time before anyone from common thieves to underwater teams run by the Mafia and specialising in recovering booty try to steal it.

"As long as there are bodies in there, it's considered off base to everybody because it's a grave," said Robert Marx, a veteran diver and the author of books on treasure hunting.

Full Story (Telegraph)

With Risk, Japanese City Takes On Once Accepted Fact of Life: Its Gangsters

KITAKYUSHU, Japan — Two years ago, the authorities in this gritty rust-belt region declared war on the yakuza, Japan’s entrenched organized crime syndicates. And that is exactly what they got.

Since this city and other local governments beefed up regulations to take on the yakuza — making it a criminal offense for companies and individuals to do business with them — there has been a death threat against Kitakyushu’s mayor and his family, hand grenades tossed at the homes of corporate executives and a construction company chairman gunned down in front of his wife.

The police say the attacks, and many other lesser threats and intimidation tactics, are the doing of the Kudokai, a gang with more than 650 members that officials call one of the most dangerous of Japan’s yakuza. The attacks have prompted the National Police Agency to propose giving law enforcement more powers to search and arrest gang members.

The yakuza remain a remarkably visible presence in Japan, as they have been for centuries. But law enforcement officials say the violence in Kitakyushu may prove a turning point, by shocking a public that has become increasingly fed up.

Any romantic aura that may have enveloped the gangsters in the past is falling away, the authorities say. They added that the Japanese increasingly see the yakuza simply as mobsters much like their counterparts in other countries, making money from drugs, gambling and extortion, particularly from their favorite target, Japan’s bloated construction industry.

Full Story (NY Times)

Swiss indict 4 accused of ties to large European crime gang called ‘Thieves in Law’

GENEVA — Switzerland’s attorney general has charged four men with being managers of a Europe-wide organized crime ring whose members are believed to be behind a wave of burglaries and shoplifting in the Alpine nation.

Swiss authorities said Monday that indictments were returned by the nation’s highest criminal court against four members of the so-called “Thieves in Law” criminal organization who are now in police custody.

Full Story

Supervisor Derry accuses opponent of gang, drug ties

San Bernardino County Supervisor Neil Derry has launched an assault on the character of his major opponent, San Manuel tribal chairman James Ramos, in a campaign mailer tying Ramos to "gang members," "drug dealers" and "killers for hire."

The flier labeled Ramos a "Casino Boss" with ties to the Mexican Mafia. It was found plastered on hundreds of windshields outside Ramos' campaign headquarters in Redlands on Tuesday night, where Ramos was hosting a campaign kickoff event at his headquarters, said Dave Gilliard, Ramos' campaign manager.

In a statement Wednesday, Ramos called Derry's hit mailer a "false and pathetic attempt to smear me by my opponent and his campaign consultant."

"I believe that voters want and deserve something better than these types of gutter politics," Ramos said. He said he would run a positive campaign on real issues and the future of the county, and announced he had secured the endorsement of San Bernardino District Attorney Michael A. Ramos.

Derry stands by the flier. He said it was well sourced and the information is accurate.

"That's what happened," Derry said, referring to a case brought to the public's attention in 2006, when police and DEA agents arrested dozens of people in a methamphetamine distribution ring orchestrated by the Mexican Mafia. Two San Manuel tribal members, siblings Stacy Barajas-Nunes and Erik Barajas, were implicated in a murder conspiracy plot involving members of the Mexican Mafia.

Full Story