expat Gangsters:Seamus Ward,Mick `The Corporal' Weldon ,Tommy Savage,George `The Penguin' Mitchell ,John `The Coach' Traynor,Peter Mitchell

John `The Coach' Traynor (52)Traynor strenuously denies allegations that he set up crime reporter Veronica Guerin for her murder.Garda and criminal sources allege that Traynor travels regularly between southern Spain, Amsterdam and Brussels to organise large-scale cannabis deals. Traynor, a former fraudster and associate of `The General', Martin Cahill, is believed to have made and spent a fortune from his involvement in the hash trade between 1994 and October 1996. In a phone interview with this reporter he denied that he had any part in Guerin's death.Peter Mitchell (33)Mitchell, from Dublin's north inner city, was alleged during two trials to be a member of the biggest cannabis gang that operated in Ireland in the mid-1990s. Now based in Fuengirola, Spain, Mitchell is wanted by Gardai in...

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Posted in: George `The Penguin' Mitchell,John `The Coach' Traynor,Mick `The Corporal' Weldon,Peter Mitchell,Seamus Ward,Tommy Savage

Ernesto Valle will spend nearly 50 years in prison for shooting a man to death two years ago as part of a gang initiation.

Ernesto Valle will spend nearly 50 years in prison for shooting a man to death two years ago as part of a gang initiation.Valle, 21, of the 500 block of Columbia Street in Aurora was sentenced by Circuit Judge Grant Wegner on Friday to 45 years in prison for the gang-initiation shooting death of 19-year-old Jesse Lozano of Aurora, according the Kane County State's Attorney's office. Valle was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder on March 6.Just before 3 a.m. on Aug. 12, 2006, Valle and two other men, including co-defendant Hector D. Delgado, 19, were driving near Grove and Kendall streets in Aurora when Valle spotted Lozano driving a Chevrolet pickup.Valle walked to the truck and fired five shots -- two struck Lozano in the head and one struck him in the back. Lozano was pronounced dead...

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Posted in: Kane County Jail

Ralph Thurston O'Neal III, 33, of Roane County's Midtown area is identified by authorities as the drug network's kingpin

Ralph Thurston O'Neal III, 33, of Roane County's Midtown area is identified by authorities as the drug network's kingpin and is named in all 10 counts of the indictment.Also charged are Michael Currier, 32, of Clinton, Brandon Cooper, 26, and Randy Spears, 43, both of Harriman, and Demond Reed, 37, of Rockwood.According to a Roane County Sheriff's Department news release, O'Neal and others are accused of bringing in cocaine from Texas, California and Georgia.The drugs were then distributed to others for resale in Roane, Anderson and Knox counties, the news release alleges.Vehicles, cash and weapons were seized during the investigation.Other arrests are expected, Mynatt said."Most of the cocaine investigations pointed to Ralph O'Neal," Mynatt sa...

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Posted in: Roane County Sheriff's Department

Jose Jaime Arroyos-Carrillo, 51, a convicted drug dealer, and two of his associates are believed to have worked for Guzman, Mexico's top drug kingpin

Jose Jaime Arroyos-Carrillo, 51, a convicted drug dealer, and two of his associates are believed to have worked for Guzman, Mexico's top drug kingpin and head of the Sinaloa Cartel. They are named in a 29-count indictment that an El Paso federal grand jury handed up in November 2006.All three were indicted on the following charges: conspiracy to import a controlled substance, conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance, importing a controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to laundermonetary instruments and bulk cash smuggling.Arroyos-Carrillo may currently be in hiding in Chihuahua, Mexico. His associates, Isidro Gomez-Arpero and Juan Samaniego were arrested in...

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Posted in: Sinaloa Cartel

Armed police shot dead boss Mark Nunes, 35, after lying in wait outside a bank in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire.

Gang carried out detailed reconnaissance trips and used stolen cars to target cash in transit vans outside banks in at least 18 robberies across the south of England, Kingston Crown Court heard. Its 18-month crime spree was brought to an end in September last year when armed police shot dead two of its number, including boss Mark Nunes, 35, after lying in wait outside a bank in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire. The getaway driver, Terrence Wallace, 26, was arrested later that day after fleeing the scene, the court heard. Wallace and three other alleged members of the gang, Victor Iniodu, 34, Leroy Wilkinson, 29, and Adrian Johnson, 28, from London, all deny conspiracy to rob. Brendan Kelly, opening the case for the prosecution, said: "This case concerns robberies, sometimes armed, sometimes not,...

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Posted in: HSBC bank

Peter ‘Fatso’ Mitchell was being treated in a hospital on the Costa del Sol for two gunshot wounds to his shoulder

Peter ‘Fatso’ Mitchell was being treated in a hospital on the Costa del Sol for two gunshot wounds to his shoulder, which were not serious, after a hitman tried to whack him in a bar outside Puerto Banus on Thursday night.A year ago it was all so different as he settled down with his street dealer wife Sonia and their two children in a luxury villa worth around €1.5 million.Last August he and Walsh, who had been his girlfriend since the early 1990s, were about to open the Paparazzi bar and restaurant in Nueva Andalucia.The bar, which was a front for money laundering, is situated in the hills a few miles from Puerto Banus and Marbella which was once a playground for the rich and famous.These days, however, the once trendy ‘port’ is a sleazy...

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Posted in: Paparazzi bar

Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, who had been imprisoned for money laundering in Brazil, was handed over to U.S. agents in the Amazonian city of Manaus

Ramirez Abadia, known as "El Chupeta" (Lollipop) and long considered one of the world's major traffickers, is under U.S. indictment on racketeering, money laundering and murder charges. In one case, he is accused of ordering a hit team to kill a trafficker employed by his organization in Queens, N.Y.Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, who had been imprisoned for money laundering in Brazil, was handed over to U.S. agents in the Amazonian city of Manaus and flown to New York, the Brazilian Justice Ministry said.Acting Drug Enforcement Administrator Michele M. Leonhart, in a statement issued Friday in Washington, labeled Ramirez Abadia "one of the most violent and prolific narcotics traffickers in the hemisphere."The Justice Ministry here said that U.S....

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Posted in: Manaus

George Buchanan - Edinburgh's No.1 drugs baron.

George Buchanan - Edinburgh's No.1 drugs baron.The pug-faced body-builder keeps his sinister occupation secret from his middle-class neighbours in the upmarket estate of Gilbertstoun.But the father of two is to blame for most of the heroin, Ecstasy, hash and speed sold in city housing schemes such as Craigmillar, where he was brought up.Police sources yesterday confirmed Buchanan - known as Dode - commands the city's drugs underworld.But repeated attempts by drug squad officers to end cunning Buchanan's criminal career have ended in failure.More than £90,000 in cash was found in his home during Lothian andBorders Police's Operation Foil purges four years ago. Tests found traces of drugs on the notes.But furious detectives were forced to return the cash when a businessman claimed the money...

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Posted in: Edinburgh

Hells Angels remain the most powerful Drug-gang violence that has ripped through Metro Vancouver in recent months has been linked to gangwarfare

B.C.-based organized crime groups are controlling the sale of methamphetamine across Canada and abroad, according to Criminal Intelligence Service Canada's annual report.Meth production in the province was up in 2007 "primarily to meet expanding international market consumption," said the report, which marks trends in organized crime across the country."The number of super-labs in Canada indicates the capacity to produce significant quantities for foreign distribution," the report said.In 2007, seizures of Canadian-produced methamphetamine were interdicted in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and to a lesser extent, China, Taiwan, India and Iran. The majority of the groups involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine are based in B.C."B.C. is also still a major producer of marijuana for cross-border...

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Posted in: Metro Vancouver,southern Ontario and Montreal

Ricky Sam Sisneros the shot-caller for a Torrance street gang

Convicted Ricky Sam Sisneros of being an ex-felon in possession of seven firearms as well as ammunition and drug counts. The jury also found true allegations the crimes were gang-related.The 45-year-old Sisneros was described during trial as the shot-caller for a Torrance street gang, but defense lawyer Caree Harper told jurors he was only a "junkie, bike-riding older ma...

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Posted in: Torrance

Gangster Kalid Dib, shot dead during a failed armoured van robbery on Tuesday.

Hundreds of mourners have gathered at Lakemba Mosque for the funeral of Kalid Dib, shot dead during a failed armoured van robbery on Tuesday.About 200 friends and relatives marched in a procession from a funeral parlour next door and into the mosque just before midday.A group of young men carried Dib's white casket, draped in a green religious sheet, up the steps and inside.The mourners included the clearly distraught immediately family of Dib, as well as controversial Sydney cleric Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly.After a half-hour service the crowd re-emerged and watched as the coffin was placed in a hearse and driven to Rookwood Cemetery, where he is to be buried.A small contingent of police and Sydney media stood by as the crowd walked up Wangee Road and then dispersed to drive to Rookwood.Dib...

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Posted in: Sydney

Gangster John Gizzi yesterday blamed the credit crunch for stopping him paying back his ill gotten gains to the state.

John Gizzi yesterday blamed the credit crunch for stopping him paying back his ill gotten gains to the state.Lawyers for Gizzi, 36, also blamed bad headlines in the media on him being unable to sell his house in St Asaph to raise the full amount of cash he owes.The 36-year-old faces a default sentence of eight years unless he finds £2.6m under a proceeds of crime order made against him in March last year for every asset he owned.At a Proceeds of Crime Hearing to discuss why the money had not yet been paid back yesterday, Prestatyn court heard that so far £300,000 had been realised.But several offers had been made and withdrawn for his principal asset, Bronwylfa Hall at St Asaph. Originally it was offered at £1.75m, but was now “a bargain,” the court heard.District Judge Andrew Shaw agreed...

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Posted in: Wales

Philbert Truong was gunned down outside the Red Jacket nightclub

The two young men charged in last month's shooting death of Victoria student Philbert Truong were among the 11 suspected associates of the violent Red Scorpion gang identified by Victoria police during a recent drug sting, sources close to the investigation said yesterday.Dubbed Operation Mongoose, the initiative kicked into gear on July 22, three days after Mr. Truong was gunned down outside a View Street nightclub.On Tuesday, police said they had seven of the 11 alleged Red Scorpion affiliates in custody. They later acknowledged that only five of the people arrested in the sting have been linked to the gang.On condition of anonymity, sources close to the investigation acknowledged that the other two who are "believed to have some affiliation with the Red Scorpion gang" are the suspects in...

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Posted in: Red Scorpion gang

Seven members of the Vancouver-based Red Scorpions gang are facing multiple drug trafficking charges in Victoria.

The Red Scorpions are a multi-ethnic gang known for its lack of mercy. The gang has been mentioned in connection with the death of six men in a Surrey apartment last October. Two of the people killed were uninvolved with crime (Ed Schellenberg and Chris Mohan). Seven members of the Vancouver-based Red Scorpions gang are facing multiple drug trafficking charges in Victoria. Victoria Police say the bust of a dial-a-dope scheme was designed to keep the notorious Vancouver gang from moving into the provincial capital. Victoria Police Sergeant Grant Hamilton says they started an undercover operation focused on the Red Scorpions when they heard local drug dealers were being threatened by a gang from Vancouver. "We felt we had to do that, because we believe there was a significant risk to public...

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Posted in: Victoria

Glock handgun seized by gardai during a raid on a house in Dublin's north inner city is being linked to a series of underworld hits.

Glock handgun seized by gardai during a raid on a house in Dublin's north inner city is being linked to a series of underworld hits. And one of the men arrested during the raids has been described as a 'serious player' in Dublin's inner city underworld by informed gardai. The gun which was fitted with a silencer was uncovered by gardai from Pearse Street Drugs Unit when they raided a house on Sean McDermott Street. Drugs with a potential street value of nearly €500,000 were also seized in separate searches in Dublin. In addition to the weapon, detectives also seized 10 rounds of ammunition at the house, €100,000 worth of heroin, €40,000 worth of valium and up to €45,000 in cash. The majority of the cash was found in a fridge. Two men, one in his late 20's and one in his mid teens were arrested...

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Posted in: Balbriggan

Arthur Thompson, organised the hit. Thompson, was a notorious Glasgow-born gangster who took charge of organised crime in the city

John McGranaghan said that a city businessman, who now lives in Spain, went to Glasgow crime baron, Arthur Thompson, to organise the hit. Thompson, was a notorious Glasgow-born gangster who took charge of organised crime in the city for more than 30 years.Thompson began his career as a money lender and became infamous for nailing those who failed to pay debts to him to the floor by their hands and feet.Linked to the notorious Kray twins, protection rackets soon followed and Thompson invested his money into legitimate businesses, making him very wealthy.One of the most feared criminals in Scotland, it was rumoured that, by the 1990s, he was earning £100,000 a week as a loan shark.His former protege, Paul Ferris, was acquitted of shooting his son, Arthur junior, and Thompson later denied he...

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Posted in: Scotland

Shawn Walker, also called Coach, was taken into custody after he was injured during a shootout with the police on Wednesday.

Shawn Walker, also called Coach, was taken into custody after he was injured during a shootout with the police on Wednesday. He is still in hospital under police guard. Walker has since been charged for shooting with intent and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. The police say Walker is the leader of a gang, which operates out of a section of the Phase Two Housing Scheme in Seaview Gardens known as Marley. According to the police he was also a suspect in the murder of bus driver, Roy McFarlene about three weeks ago. The police say he will be facing an identification parade in connection with that case as soon as he is released from hospital. Further charges are also expected to be laid against Walker in the case of a murder, which is reportedly being probed by the Major Investigative...

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Posted in: Jamaica,Kingston

Nate Craft the former hit man testified against a Detroit drug gang in return for prosecutors reducing a first-degree murder charge

Nate Craft the former hit man testified against a Detroit drug gang in return for prosecutors reducing a first-degree murder charge for the killing of a drug dealer. Released from prison in April, Craft thought he would enter the Witness Protection Program. Not only was he rejected, but his probation requires him to live in Michigan for the next two years. By forcing him to live in the same place as the people he testified against, many of whom were paid killers and already have been released from prison, Craft said his probation amounts to a virtual death sentence. "You might as well pull the trigger and shoot me now," said Craft, who doesn't want to say where he lives in Michigan because he doesn't want to be found. The handling of his case raises questions about just how far prosecutors...

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Posted in: vicious Best Friends

Heroin kingpin, Roshan Fernando was shot dead on Friday by two unidentified gunmen.

heroin kingpin, Roshan Fernando (35) of Magazine Road, Borella was shot dead on Friday by two unidentified gunmen. Fernando sustained fatal injuries following gunshot injuries, the Police Media Spokesman SSP Ranjit Gunesekera told the Sunday Observer. No arrests have been made so far. The motive for the shooting is not known but according to the police it was due to business rivalry. Director, Police Narcotics Bureau, SSP Eric Perera has seized small quantities of heroin in the Talawatugoda and Kolonnawa areas. In a separate raid they also took in for questioning a man around 7 p.m. on Saturday at Keppettipola Mawatha, Kolonnawa for possessing 50 grammes and 100 milligrams of heroin. Meanwhile, there is a drastic drop in the volume of heroin in the country owing to the naval patrolling of...

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Posted in: Sri Lanka

Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafiabunkers with beds, bathrooms with running water, jacuzzis, CCTV to view the surface, internet and satellite links

special Italian police unit raiding the house in a mountain hamlet in Calabria had come for a fugitive mafia boss. But what they found was more James Bond than The Godfather.Hidden in a niche in the wall of an innocuous ground-floor room was an aperture for a compressed air pistol which, when fired, caused the floor to lower slowly, revealing a lift giving access to a secret bunker 3m below ground level.Welcome to San Luca, stronghold of the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia that has quietly outpaced Sicily's Cosa Nostra and the Naples Camorra to build an estimated turnover of €36 billion ($94.93 billion), winning a stranglehold over Europe's cocaine trade, all managed by invisible bosses hiding from police manhunts and clan feuds in subterranean bunkers."We are turning up bunkers with beds,...

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Posted in: Ndrangheta

John Gilligan's gang which had dominated the drug scene in the northern and north western suburbs of the city has been pushed out

A gang which had dominated the drug scene in the northern and north western suburbs of the city has been pushed out and replaced by a younger gang following the brief spate of killings in five days last month. The ousted gang had previously taken over control of the area in the late 1990s and were associates of John Gilligan's gang.Police believe that the murders of four men in the past month from the Finglas and Coolock areas of Dublin -- including two cases in which bodies have yet to be found -- are connected to the emergence of a new gang of drug dealers on the north side of the city.It marks a significant shift in power in the city's drugs trade with gardai trying to establish if this might lead to further bloodletting.Sources said that the killings last month marked the swift rise to...

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Posted in: Baldoyle to Finglas

Massimo Pisnoli, 48, was found with gunshot wounds to his face and back making his body virtually unrecognisable

Massimo Pisnoli, 48, was found with gunshot wounds to his face and back making his body virtually unrecognisable in what investigators said was a classic Mafia murder. His daughter Tamara married De Rossi, a Roma and Italy midfielder, in a spectacular ceremony complete with horse and carriage in May 2006, just a month before he won the World Cup. De Rossi is also known to Manchester United fans for scoring Roma's only goal when they lost 7-1 at Old Trafford in a Champions League quarter final in April 2007. Investigators from Rome's anti Mafia department were probing Pisnoli's background and revealed he had previous convictions for robbery and theft and was said to have moved in "criminal underworld circles." Pisnoli had been missing for ten days and his daughter, 24, had told officials after...

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Posted in: Calabrian N'drangheta

“bullets for gangsters”Crime Branch team gunned down notorious criminal Robert alias Rahul Raju Salve, 32, at Indrayani Nagar in the Bhosari area

Crime Branch team gunned down notorious criminal Robert alias Rahul Raju Salve, 32, at Indrayani Nagar in the Bhosari area early this morning. The police said they shot him in an encounter. This was the first encounter killing by the city police in one-and-a-half years — in what appeared to be a response to Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh’s “bullets for gangsters” call. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Anil Kumbhare said Salve, a resident of the Nigdi Ota Scheme with 42 offences registered against him, was killed in a joint operation by the Anti-Extortion Cell and Anti-Dacoity Squad of the Crime Branch. The police had received a tip-off that some criminals would be meeting at Indrayani Nagar and then execute a robbery at Moshi toll naka. Two Crime Branch teams were then formed to lay...

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Posted in: Yerwada jail

John D'Amico, charged with racketeering, pleaded guilty in May to extorting a cement company out of $100,000 and could serve less than two years

Hundreds of federal agents fanned out across the city and elsewhere in a roundup of 62 suspects from all walks of Mafia life, from reputed acting boss John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico — a crony of former boss John Gotti — to common street thugs.At the time, authorities made headlines by hailing the takedown as one of the largest in recent memory and predicting it would further cripple a storied crime family formerly led by the legendary "Dapper Don."Six months later and with far less fanfare, 60 of the defendants have pleaded guilty, with many taking deals that will put them behind bars for three years or less. Two of the pleas were entered Thursday and one case was dismissed last week, leaving a lone defendant charged with murder facing trial.D'Amico, originally charged with racketeering, pleaded...

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Posted in: New York's Gambino family

Shane Moloney is charged with the possession of heroin and possession of the drug for sale or supply.

Twenty-seven-year-old Shane Moloney, from Drimnagh Road in Dublin, is charged with the possession of heroin and possession of the drug for sale or supply.Detective Diarmuid Maguire from the Organised Crime Unit told Judge John Lindsey that Mr Moloney was arrested and charged yesterday at Ballyfermot Garda Station.He made no reply when the two charges were put to him and has been remanded in custody to appear at Cloverhill District Court on August 21st.Two other men, also in their 20s, are due before the court shortly on the same charges in connection with the haul.Six kilos of heroin were seized on Wednesday night after four cars were stopped on the Kennelsfort Road in south Dubl...

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Posted in: Dublin

Rüsselsheim killing fields for duelling mafia clans.

brutal murder of four people at a provincial German ice cream parlour last night raised fears that the country is fast becoming a killing field for duelling mafia clans. The attack occurred in Rüsselsheim – home to the Opel car factory – where many Italian workers have settled, establishing pizzerias and cafes with their savings. Three men, described as being of “Mediterranean appearance” approached the ice cream salon just before dusk and fired rapidly at a group of three male customers. A woman standing nearby was also killed, but it was still unclear last night whether she was a target or was gunned down by accident. The shadow of the Calabrian mafia may thus again be stretching over the industrial heartland of Germany. A few days ago, Italian...

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Posted in: Rüsselsheim

Death penalty for two gang members guilty of one of the largest gang killings in San Bernardino County's history

eath penalty for two gang members guilty of one of the largest gang killings in San Bernardino County's history.In July, the jury had found Luis "Maldito" Mendoza and Lorenzo Arias guilty in what has become known as the Dead Presidents case. They are set to be sentenced Sept. 10.The case involved a July 9, 2000, shooting at a West Side duplex in which four gang members died. Among them were Johnny and Gilbert Agudo, brothers and presidents of different West Side street gangs. Also killed were half brothers Marselino and Anthony Luna.Prosecutors alleged that Mendoza and Arias, both members of the 7th Street Locos who had grown up with the Agudos, were carrying out an order by members of the Mexican Mafia prison gang.The case was widely seen as an example of how Mexican Mafia influence has forced...

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Posted in: Mexican Mafia prison gang

Gary Hardy ran gang alongside convicted dealer John Dawes until he was jailed in 2005, earned millions of pounds

Gary Hardy has been convicted of pumping millions of pounds worth of class A drugs into Ashfield after masterminding one of the county's biggest ever narcotics empires. He controlled the Ashfield drugs scene through fear and violence and swamped the district with huge quantities of heroin and amphetamines between 2000 and 2007. The Mansfield businessman, who ran the criminal gang alongside convicted dealer John Dawes until he was jailed in 2005, earned millions of pounds from his underworld activities to finance a lavish lifestyle. Hardy consistently denied the charges during a two-month trial at Nottingham Crown Court and claimed his millionaire lifestyle had been funded through the profits of his extensive property and luxury car rental business....

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Posted in: Nottingham Crown Court

Taher Majid, Abdul Koser and Quentin Reynolds were found guilty of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue as well as money laundering charges.

Taher Majid, Abdul Koser and Quentin Reynolds were found guilty of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue as well as money laundering charges. They will be sentenced in September. Marcus Hughes pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to six years in prison. He is already serving a 12-year sentence for drug smuggling. In 2003, 350 HMRC officers took part in raids in the UK and Spain, which were described by customs officers as some of the largest to take place in the UK.Large amounts of cash were seized during the raids, and a ton of cannabis was taken from one of the business addresses, resulting in 33 men and six women being arrested.The raids even took place at Carphone Warehouse’s headquarters in west London. Two members of Carphone Warehouse’s staff were cautioned and questioned...

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Posted in: UK and Spain

Gangland has seen Billy Martindale shot at, stabbed, spend 15 years on the run from the police and mix with some of Britain's most notorious gangsters

Gangland has seen Billy Martindale shot at, stabbed, spend 15 years on the run from the police and mix with some of Britain's most notorious gangsters. Martindale spent seven years of his life growing up in Manea and when his best friend Tommy Shepherd was murdered, it sent shockwaves through the Fenland travelling community. Despite being linked with numerous crimes, including murder, kidnapping, armed robberies, fraud and causing grievous and actual bodily harm Martindale has spent just six months in prison. During his stint in Pentonville, he turned to Islam, and on release met with notorious hate-preacher Abu Hamza.He said: "It's my life from day one until now. It's been an emotional experience putting it together."Martindale is son the...

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Posted in: Manea

Sean Lynch faces a confiscation hearing in December after a jury convicted him of conspiracy to supply cocaine

Sean Lynch, 48, has had his palatial home and luxury motors seized by police. He now faces a confiscation hearing in December after a jury convicted him of conspiracy to supply cocaine Assets seized include his house on a gated estate in Warlingham, Surrey, a £170,000 Aston Martin, a Rolls Royce, Mercedes and BMW convertibles, a Land Rover, a VW Golf,a motorbike and an American police car. Lynch, who also owned a villa in Spain, lived with second wife Michelle and sent their three children to an exclusive private school — paying their fees of thousands of pounds in thick wads of cash. Lynch and his gang had been arrested when police raided addresses in Warlingham and Tooting, South London.Cops found cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis worth...

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Posted in: South London,Warlingham and Tooting

Giuseppe Coluccio, a suspected drug trafficker, who has been on the run since 2005.

Giuseppe Coluccio, a suspected drug trafficker, who has been on the run since 2005. The country's defense minister, Ignazio La Russa, said the arrest showed authorities were making advances in the fight against organised crime."Coluccio had lived happily in Canada thanks to the (support) provided by the Calabrian clans – a situation that shows the extraordinary reach of the 'Ndrangheta," public prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone was quoted by Italian media as saying. Italy's ANSA news agency reported that police found $1 million in checks at Coluccio's home.Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said in a statement late on Thursday that Coluccio was arrested near Toronto on a Canada-wide immigration warrant and is wanted by Italy for drug-related offenses.'Ndrangheta, based in the southern...

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Posted in: Canada

Patrizio Bosti, accused of heading a clan of the Neapolitan crime syndicate the Camorra, was arrested Saturday evening

Patrizio Bosti, accused of heading a clan of the Neapolitan crime syndicate the Camorra, was arrested Saturday evening in the north- eastern Spanish city of Girona, state radio RNE reported. Police in Spain have arrested a fugitive organized crime boss who is among the 30 'most-wanted' criminals in Italy, reports said Sunday. The 49-year-old had been sentenced in absentia to 23 years' imprisonment on charges connected with a double murder and membership of a criminal organisation. He was on the run since 2005, when he was released from custody following the expiration of the maximum amount of time he could be held on remand. He is believed to have taken over the leadership of a Camorra clan in 2007 after the previous head was jail...

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Posted in: Girona

Giuseppe Coluccio was arrested Thursday outside the luxury lakeside apartment building where he has been living in Toronto

Giuseppe Coluccio, 42, was arrested Thursday outside the luxury lakeside apartment building where he has been living in Toronto, ending two years as a fugitive, said prosecutor Nicola Gratteri.Coluccio has been on the lam since 2005 when he fled a trial alleging he and his brother ran a mob organization that controlled maritime traffic along a 60-kilometer (nearly 40-mile) stretch of the Calabrian coast. His brother Salvatore Coluccio, 41, also is being sought.«This is a very important arrest because it shows the connection between the 'ndrangheta in Calabria and in Canada,» Gratteri said in a telephone interview.The Reggio Calabria-based prosecutor said the Canadian branch of the 'ndrangheta has been operating for more than 50 years and is heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering....

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Posted in: Toronto

Gary Hardy was found guilty of supplying heroin and amphetamines and laundering his profits through a string of made-to-measure businesses.

Gary Hardy was found guilty of supplying heroin and amphetamines and laundering his profits through a string of made-to-measure businesses. And Hardy kept it in the family, using his crack addict brother Paul to deal vast quantities of drugs worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. The family connection did not end there - their mother, June Muers, 67, helped Paul deal drugs out of her home in Kirkby-in-Ashfield. And Paul's ex-partner Zoe Chapman, 29, would courier drugs to clients in her children's pushchair. All were found guilty of drugs offences at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday. Police seized £70,000 worth of drugs from his mother's home During the course of the trial, Gary Hardy, 46, was described as one of three drugs generals, with...

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Posted in: Nottinghamshire

Paolo Nirta ,31, was picked up at a house in San Luca, southern Italy. He is wanted on charges of Mafia association.

Paolo Nirta ,31, was picked up at a house in San Luca, southern Italy. He is wanted on charges of Mafia association.Italian police today arrested a wanted gang leader believed to be part of an organised crime clan involved in the massacre of six people in Germany last summer.Nirta's family was involved in a feud that led to the killing of the six Italians outside a restaurant in Duisburg, Germany.The feud, involving two rival families, drew international attention to the 'ndrangheta, a crime syndicate based in the southern region of Calabria.Some investigators say it is now more powerful than the Sicilian Maf...

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Posted in: San Luca,southern Italy.

Terry Adams, Kenneth Noye, Brian Brendon Wright, Brian Gunn and Curtis Warren crime bosses running networks from prison cells.

investigators have identified 27 crime bosses running networks from prison cells. Although they are all in jail, Terry Adams, Kenneth Noye, Brian Brendon Wright, Brian Gunn and Curtis Warren are being monitored closely. Deputy Chief Constable Jon Murphy, of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), told The Times that crime specialists work together to make money through drug deals, robberies and smuggling. “British gangs are quite unlike the Italian Mafia model or the Turkish groups,” he said. “There are no set ranks, rules and structures. They are more fluid, flexible and opportunist.” The intelligence picture was built up by Acpo working with the 43 police forces in England and Wales and other bodies. More than 15,000 individuals are said to have been identified as involved in organised...

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Posted in: Acpo

Pasquale ''Pat'' Barbaro, Crown casino high-roller and Rob Karam and the founder of the Black Uhlans bikie gang John William Samuel Higgs arrested

Police today busted the Australian arm of a Mafia-linked drug ring which smuggled massive amounts of ecstasy into Melbourne.In conjunction with the Australian Customs Service, police have seized 5.6 tonnes of ecstasy pills and 150kg of cocaine during a three-year operation. Almost 20 million ecstasy tablets were seized during the exhaustive probe, which involved hundreds of AFP agents. The bust is a world record amount for ecstasy and includes the largest amount of cocaine ever detected in Victoria.The drugs have a street value of about $600 million. AFP agents began raiding properties around Australia early today and by 8.30am had arrested 14 men and one woman. Nine of those arrests were in Melbourne and the other arrests were made in New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia. AFP Commissioner...

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Posted in: Melbourne.