Dave Courtney celebrity former gangster found with guns and knuckledusters in his car told police they were props for a gig he had just done

celebrity former gangster found with guns and knuckledusters in his car told police they were props for a gig he had just done and not for crime, a jury heard.
Bristol Crown Court was told that police stopped Dave Courtney, now an author and actor, being driven in his BMW because they suspected the car's registration number – BADBOY1 – was illegal.
When they found two knuckledusters, two bullets, as well as a 12 gauge shot gun and an eight millimetre handgun on Courtney and in the car, the 49-year-old said: “It's for a show.”
Courtney, pictured, of Camelot Castle, Chestnut Rise in Plumstead, East London, denies two charges of possessing ammunition without a certificate and two charges of possessing an offensive weapon.
Simon Morgan, prosecuting, said that it was in the early hours of October 29 last year when police spotted Courtney's BMW near Park Street, were suspicious about its number plate and pulled it over in Lewins Mead.
man called Brendon McGirr corr was driving, Courtney was in the front passenger seat and his son Beau was sat in the back, the court heard yesterday.
PC Tim Morgan said he searched Courtney and found a silver- coloured knuckleduster and bullet in his trouser pocket.
He said: “I seized both items and I arrested Mr Courtney on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon. When I cautioned him he said 'it's for a show'. I saw a gold-coloured knuckle duster in the central driver's pocket of the vehicle.”
PC Morgan said police also found two guns and a giant water pistol in the boot of the car.
He said though Courtney was not initially recognised by police it “came out” that he had earlier been involved in an event called “an audience with celebrity gangster Dave Courtney” at the Fuchsia night spot in Nelson Street.
Sergeant Martin Fox confirmed the boot of the BMW was full of “paraphernalia” including videos and DVDs.
Donalcorr McGuire, defending, asked him if he recalled finding DVDs with titles including Dodgy Dave, Hell To Pay and Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajis, and if he'd made enquiries about them.
Sergeant Fox replied: “We didn't ask them any questions about these at all.
“Mr Courtney was cooperative in our presence and he made no attempt to struggle or resist arrest.”
In interview Courtney told police he thought the bullets found were blank cartridges.
“He said he was a showman,” Mr Morgan said.
“He said he uses these as his props much as an actor on stage.
“He said he was involved in a show from which he was leaving.
“The Crown says it was unreasonable for him to possess them in those circumstances.”
“He made no effort to secure them so they would not be available for use if necessary.The Crown says these are offensive weapons specifically designed for causing injury to persons.”
The case continues.

Amir Hosseini,Hossein Obaei,Two former Chicago auto dealers were convicted

Two former Chicago auto dealers were convicted of turning their businesses into money-laundering havens for drug-dealing street gangs. Amir Hosseini, 50, of Winnetka and Hossein Obaei, 54, of Northbrook, were immediately taken into custody by marshals after being convicted of dozens of counts of racketeering, money laundering, bank fraud, bribery and structuring deposits to evade federal scrutiny. The two men convicted of 98 criminal charges, may end up getting life terms
At the trial, which began Jan. 22, members of the Gangster Disciples, Black Disciples, Latin Kings and Four Corner Hustlers testified that they used proceeds from sales of heroin and cocaine to buy Jaguars, BMWs, Cadillacs and other luxury vehicles from the two defendants. Prosecutors said Hosseini and Obaei were aware that drug money was paying for the luxury autos. Evidence showed that Hosseini transferred $100,000 of the cash to Iran but prosecutors declined to comment on the reason.When arrested, both men carried American and Iranian passports.Prosecutors said the two owners and two managers of the three dealerships on the city's West Side had allegedly laundered more than $9 million since 2001. "We're not talking about car dealers who sold cars to people who happened to be drug dealers or sold cars to people despite the fact that they were drug dealers. We're talking about a car dealership that was in the business to cater to people who were drug dealers and gang bangers," Fitzgerald said. The defendants Amir Hosseini, 48, of Winnetka, described as the owner and operator of Standard Leasing Sales, currently known as Amer Leasing Sales, and a partial owner in SHO Auto Credit; Ruhollah Bambouyani, 54, of California and formerly of Glenview, described as Hosseini's business partner at Standard; and Ramona Rodriguez, 38, of Chicago, described as the finance manager and office manager of both Standard and American Car Exchange. Prosecutors also charged Hossein Obaei, 52, of Northbrook, who owned and operated American Car Exchange and was a partial owner in SHO Auto Credit. Obaei also was charged with aiding and abetting a cocaine- and heroin-trafficking ring allegedly operated by some of his customers. Federal agents and Chicago police also seized more than 100 cars from the dealerships and searched the defendants' offices and homes. According to a criminal complaint, the defendants allegedly sold cars to people they knew were drug dealers or gang members in exchange for cash, "knowing that the transactions were designed to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds of their customers' drug-trafficking activities." The drug dealers used cash to buy more than 800 luxury cars, including Mercedes Benz, Jaguar and BMW models, according to prosecutors. Fitzgerald said fake transactions would be created on paper to look as if the cars were bought for less than $10,000 so that required paperwork did not have to be completed. As part of the alleged fraud, prosecutors accuse the defendants of placing liens on cars they sold to drug dealers and gang members, falsely indicating the dealership held security interests in the cars so the defendants could get the cars back if they were seized by law enforcement, prosecutors said.

Freddie Thompson reports suggested that the hood may have been “taken out” in a hit carried out at his hiding place in Alicante.

Dublin's underworld was holding its breath today as it awaits further news of one of its most infamous ex-pats. The gangland thug’s disappearance from Spain’s Costa Blanca had resulted in speculation that Thompson had been assassinated.
“As far as we can establish, Freddie is laughing the whole thing off. It was a ruse he came up with to try and smoke out an informer in his camp,” said one senior garda today. While mystery still surrounds the whereabouts of the 27-year-old, weekend reports of his death were rubbished today by garda sources who say they have no evidence that that mobster has been killed in Spain. Gardai and the Department of Foreign Affairs have both rubbished rumours that Dublin crime boss "Fat" Freddie Thompson is dead.“He hasn’t been answering his mobile but that’s a big jump to say he has been killed,” said a source. The reports suggested that the hood may have been “taken out” in a hit carried out at his hiding place in Alicante. Following persistent rumours in the underworld, gardai looked at the suggestion that the reason Thompson had gone “off the radar” and had not been in contact with friends or family for some time – was because he was already dead.A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that they had also investigated claims after the weekend rumour mill went into over drive. A department source said that contact had been made with their counterparts in Spain, but that no reports of a death of an Irish citizen were recorded. And, although underworld associates insisted that ‘Fat' Freddie was in trouble, without more information gardai cannot act on the claims. His crime associates have indicated that it was ‘out of character' for the south Dublin criminal to completely lose contact with his hoods in Ireland. Leader of one of the feuding Drimnagh/Crumlin gangs, Freddie fled to Spain earlier this month when fears for his safety here intensified. He has been warned several times by gardai about threats to his life. It is believed the mobster is top of a number of ‘hit lists' in the capital, but like his friend Martin ‘the Viper’ Foley, he has managed to survive.
Continued treats to his life, last week's failed assassination attempt on his partner-in-crime and previous Spanish hits on Irish hoods have lead to concern among the Thompson gang. Thompson was in southern Spain in February when one of his close associates, Paddy Doyle, also 27, was shot dead. The investigation into that murder is ongoing but Spanish police have suggested that they strongly suspect that Doyle and Thompson had fallen foul of rival drug traffickers. Thompson travels between Dublin, Spain and Holland. Since the much publicised Dublin gang feud was sparked in 2000 as many as 10 people have lost their lives. Countless others have been targeted. The spread of Irish gangland violence to Spain is not a new development. In 2004 the leaders of the ‘Westies’ gang Stephen Sugg and Shane Coates, were murdered and buried in a secret grave in Alicante.

Trigga Mob last year engaged in "kind of a turf war" with Keep It Lit, which had migrated from Oakland.

The Hurst investigation lay dormant until Oct. 2, 2007, when a reputed Trigga Mob member, Robert Earl "L'il Rob" Grimes III, 25, was shot dead at 733 Dixieanne Ave., a long-standing drug-and-prostitution outpost, according to police. The two-story, three-building stucco complex with a weed patch for a courtyard has been dubbed by police and some residents as "the Compound."Investigators cracked down on the neighborhood after the Grimes homicide. Their probation and parole searches took them back to Hurst.With a promise of police protection, Hurst decided to cooperate. In November, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office filed the conspiracy and attempted murder charges against Martin and Franklin.Deputy District Attorney Sean Laird, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment because the trial is pending.Defense attorneys Keith Staten, who is representing Martin, and Frances Huey, who is representing Franklin, also declined to discuss the case. Relatives of Martin and Franklin who have attended the trial also turned down interview requests.
It was the testimony of Detective Robert Quinn of the Sacramento Police Department's gang suppression unit that described the spread and structure of subsets such as the Trigga Mob, whose operations allegedly range from murder to dope to robbery, and the relationships between them and some of the other groups.Quinn described the Trigga Mob as one of several subsets of the Del Paso Heights Bloods, one that sought to spread fear and respect through drug sales, robbery, assault and murder.
Quinn said the Trigga Mob last year engaged in "kind of a turf war" with Keep It Lit, which had migrated from Oakland. At issue: control of a couple of northside crack cocaine markets, most prominently, the five-block stretch of Dixieanne Avenue around the Compound, Quinn said."It's where Keep It Lit and Trigga Mob are fighting for control of narcotics sales," Quinn testified.A judge signed a preliminary injunction earlier this year to stop blatant drug, gang and prostitution activity at the Compound. Police reported 633 calls for service to the apartment complex from December 2005 to November, according to court papers.
Up the block, Erik and Gale Snyder, who have lived on Dixieanne Avenue for 11 years, say they're moving."Lot of prostitutes walking up and down the street," Gale Snyder said. "Lot of drug activity. Sometimes we hear gunshots. Sometimes they sound pretty close to the house."In his testimony, Quinn said that as the investigation into Grimes' death unfolded, "slowly, people were saying that Keep It Lit was responsible for that homicide."No arrests have been made. The case remains under investigation.
It is one of two killings on Dixieanne last year that remain unsolved. In the other, someone shot and killed Charles Thomas Robinson, 19, on April 2, 2007, as he was sitting in a car about three blocks up.Police say they need the public's help with both cases and are asking people interested in a $1,000 reward to call 443-HELP if they have any information.Robinson's relatives described him as an independent dope dealer and craps shooter who squabbled on occasion with the Trigga Mob over those issues and others, including love interests.His cousin, Albert Moore, 31, said he sees Trigga Mob and Keep It Lit, as well as the other subsets, as trying to make quick reputations, often at the point of a gun.Moore said he suffered a gunshot wound to his leg last year when somebody from a subset on his block took aim at "somebody who was Crip walking too hard in the middle of the street," and missed.
"He was doing the little dance of the Crips, doing a little dance, and some Bloods happened to pass by and they seen that and they didn't like what they saw," Moore said.Moore said the subsets have fractured so much that on his street near Grant High School, "You see people wearing every (gang) color you could imagine."
Professor Hernandez said the cell division lends credence to his theory that things are becoming so fractured that even the concept of turf is becoming "antiquated."
Rivalry and violence are not.
"Another thing about gangs is, you've got to have an enemy," Hernandez said. "You have guys who don't have anything going for them, and all of a sudden, they've got another gang to fight. Then they have a new purpose in life and they're on their way."

Freddie Thompson, leader of one of the feuding Drimnagh/Crumlin gangs,assassinated in Spain

Dublin gangland figure 'Fat' Freddie Thompson, leader of one of the feuding Drimnagh/Crumlin gangs, was alive or dead after rumours spread throughout Thompson's associates that he had been assassinated in Spain.Senior garda sources said last night there had been no reports from Spanish police of a murder. Thompson left Dublin last weekend for Spain amid reports of a growing threat to his life. He has been warned several times by gardai about threats to his life.The sources said that there was no evidence of a murder, or disappearance, but did confirm that Thompson's associates believe he is dead. Intelligence reached gardai early yesterday that Thompson's gang were unable to contact him and that it was completely out of character for him to lose contact with his gang.Thompson, 27, was in Estepona in southern Spain in February when one of his close associates, Paddy Doyle, also 27, was shot dead. The murder has not been solved but Spanish police indicated to gardai that they suspected Doyle -- and Thompson -- had run foul of Turkish drug traffickers.Thompson was on the scene shortly after the murder, though it was not absolutely established if he was travelling in the car in which Doyle was shot, though Spanish police believe he was. A short time later Spanish police seized a car in a nearby car park and found 110kg of cocaine.Thompson travels between Dublin, Amsterdam and the Costa del Sol. He was arrested in Rotterdam in October 2006 when police seized seven kilos of cocaine, six handguns and ammunition at an apartment he had been used. He evaded prosecution on a technicality when the case came to trial in February 2007.Thompson is also an associate of Martin Foley, who has been the target of several murder attempts -- the latest in January when he survived being hit by five bullets.The feud in which Thompson and Foley are caught up began in 2000 when a gang of young drug dealers from the Drimnagh-Crumlin area fell out after gardai seized cocaine in the Holiday Inn in Pearse Street. The gang split and the violence started with the murder of one of the gang in 2001.
Since then there have been nine more murders, dozens of attempted murders and hundreds of violent incidents. The intelligence reaching gardai about Thompson's disappearance come after an upsurge in activity from his enemies, who carried out at least one known assassination attempt early this month and were planning another murder last week.The spread of Irish gangland violence to Spain is not new and six known Irish criminals have been murdered there in the past four years. In 2004, the leaders of the Westies gang, Stephen Sugg and Shane Coates, were murdered and buried in a secret grave in Alicante. John McKeown, 48, said to be a major figure in international drug trafficking, was shot dead in January last year in Torrevieja. Sean Dunne, 32, from Coolock, was shot dead in September 2005, also near Alicante. And, the body of Cork man Michael 'Danser' Ahern was found stuffed into a freezer in Albuifera, Portugal, in September 2005.
Gardai who know Thompson said last week that the murder in Spain of his friend Paddy Doyle had badly affected him and he had been acting in an erratic manner since.
Doyle was Thompson's main "enforcer" and had personally carried out the assassinations of two of Thompson's rivals. Doyle had been living in Spain since 2005.
Twenty-five drug dealers in south inner Dublin have been cautioned by gardai that their lives are under threat arising from the bloody feud between the two Drimnagh and Crumlin-based gangs.
It is the largest number of such warnings ever issued in a single division.
Intelligence has led local detectives to intercept and prevent several murders, but sources say the threat to life is ever present, with gang members "floating around" looking for rivals and setting up people for assassination.
One attempt at murder narrowly failed earlier this month when a leading member of one gang, whose brother was killed in the seven-year feud, was shot at near the North Strand.
That plot was carried out by members of the gang led by the opponents of Freddie Thompson, who narrowly escaped assassination in February this year when gunmen opened fire on a car he was a passenger in at Estepona on the Costa del Sol.
Paddy Doyle, from Portland Row in north inner Dublin, who was a front seat passenger in the car, was shot dead. Gardai said that following yet another upsurge in activity around the south inner city, Thompson left for Spain last week. Gardai arrested a man in the south inner city last week who is suspected of carrying out gun and machete attacks on the homes of Thompson's mother and grandmother earlier this year. Gardai say that Thompson's opponents, the gang formerly led by Joseph Rattigan who was murdered in 2002, are currently pushing to try and take over control of the drugs trade in the south inner city. The Garda "G" District -- which covers the Crumlin and Drimnagh areas -- currently, has the highest homicide rate in the country, with eight killings since last October, though not all of these were gang related.
Local gardai say that this might be a record for a single Garda District, and that they are desperately short of resources to handle so many murder investigations.
Gardai in some of the worst affected areas in Dublin are critical of the fact that even though they are making regular arrests of gang members on drugs and firearms offences, they nearly all get bail.
"We're doing out job, the DPP is doing their job and the prisons are keeping them in. The courts aren't doing their job," one source said.The Government changed the Bail Act in 1997 following a referendum the previous year sparked by public outrage over the number of accused, including people charged with murder, who were routinely being released on bail. Garda sources say that some of the most dangerous criminals in Dublin are currently on bail. In many cases, they say, the criminals are at their most active when on bail because they are usually trying to amass money to look after family while they are in prison.
Meanwhile, gardai in Finglas and Coolock are continuing their search for the killers of the two men gunned down within 12 hours last weekend. Both Trevor Walsh from Finglas and Anthony Foster from Coolock are believed to have been killed by rival drug dealers. Gardai said the murders do not appear to have been linked. Asked about feuding that had been going on the Finglas-Blanchardstown area last week, one local garda said: "It's too complicated to explain." There are a number of rivalries and vendettas between drug dealers in the Finglas-Blanchardstown area that have arisen since the break up of the "Westies" gang and the murders of its leaders Stephen Sugg and Shane Coates in Spain two years ago; and the break up of the gang led by Martin Hyland, who was shot dead in December 2006. One source said that there are currently a number of criminals vying to take over the drugs trade in the north-western suburbs of the city, and this is expected to lead to more killings.The north inner city feud, which has claimed four lives over the past year, is still "live" according to gardai.
And despite claims earlier this year that a truce had been engineered in the Limerick feud between the Keane-Collopys and the McCarthy-Dundons, this too is "active".
A plot to murder a senior McCarthy-Dundon gang member was uncovered last month when gardai stopped a car containing two rival gang members and a former IRA assassin.
A map detailing the location of the gang member's home was found in the car, leading gardai to issue a caution to the man believed to have been targeted.

Brothers Dennis and Enrique Medrano both pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering, felonies punishable by up to 30 years i

Brothers Dennis and Enrique Medrano both pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering, felonies punishable by up to 30 years in prison.Dennis Medrano, 20, accepted a plea deal in which he'll serve 12 years in prison, followed by 10 years probation. He was also sentenced to five years in prison on a cocaine charge, and will serve the time concurrently.
Enrique Medrano, 21, accepted a deal in which he'll serve 10 years in prison, followed by 10 years probation. Of the 13 reputed gang members indicted by a statewide grand jury, six now have pleaded guilty and two more who have cooperated with statewide prosecutors are expected to plead guilty soon.The Medrano brothers join another brother, Alexis Medrano and a cousin, Kevin Medrano, who also have pleaded guilty. Dennis Medrano's defense attorney, Marianne Rantala, said outside court that defendants' flipping on each other has prompted the succession of plea deals. "When there are family members ready to testify against you, it's not good," she said.Dennis Medrano appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit signaling that he has had some discipline problems at the jail."Yes, ma'am," he politely answered Circuit Judge Lucy Chernow Brown's questions.Dennis Medrano, who has an eighth-grade education, acknowledged participating in a variety of crimes prosecutors used to mount the racketeering case against him. They included physical attacks on people, stealing a car, cocaine posession and run-ins with law enforcement. Medrano also acknowledged being one of the shooters in an attempted first-degree murder, Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Todd Weicholz told the judge.The gang life is "the only life he's ever known," Rantala said. "I'm trying to get him to focus on the future."
These Sur 13 gang members, based in the Westgate neighborhood, became the first targets of a statewide grand jury convened to tackle a rise in gang violence.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has said that Sur 13 is a violent criminal enterprise that is active across the nation, a gang responsible for robberies, drive-by shootings, beatings and drug dealing. "Street thugs. Street terrorists," another agent, Mike Driscoll of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, has described them.A coalition of investigators built the case under Florida's racketeering statute, historically applied to take down mobsters, but now used as a weapon against street gangs. Investigators link together the activity and planning by the gang to commit crimes.Enrique Medrano's defense attorney, Morgan McDonald, did not want to speak specifically about his client. But characterized the life of the gang members as an idle search for excitement, many fully expecting not to live long.
"Young men that lead this lifestyle don't care or don't have the foresight to understand they will end up dead at the hands of another gangbanger or in prison," McDonald said. "No one is concerned about long-term consequences."

Frank "the German" Schweihs who died late Wednesday in federal custody after battling cancer, spent decades as a reputed enforcer for the mob

Frank "the German" Schweihs, and even fewer carried out their threats with his cruel enthusiasm.
Schweihs, who died late Wednesday in federal custody after battling cancer, spent decades as a reputed enforcer for the mob's Grand Avenue street crew, gaining a reputation as a profane killer who was feared even by his cohorts in the underworld.
A chance encounter with him could leave many wondering whether they had finally stepped on the wrong toes. According to testimony last summer at the landmark Family Secrets trial, at least one mobster warned his family to call 911 immediately if Schweihs was ever seen lurking around their home.
"He was the one guy that nobody wanted to see coming," said John Mallul, supervisor of the FBI's organized crime unit in Chicago. "It was bad enough to have a meeting with him, let alone see him by surprise."The Outfit had its bosses and moneymakers, but investigators said Schweihs was known for one thing: muscle. He was among those indicted in 2005 in the sweeping Family Secrets mob case, charged with storied Outfit capo Joey "the Clown" Lombardo, who allegedly used Schweihs to collect "street tax" and eliminate enemies of the Grand Avenue crew.
He was too sick to stand trial with the others last year. The once-imposing Schweihs, 78, had appeared in court in recent months a pale, withered old man slumped in a wheelchair. His trial, set for October, had been put off for a time this year when he signed—but later rescinded—a do-not-resuscitate order.
Schweihs was transferred Monday from Chicago's downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center dehydrated and needing emergency treatment. He died of complications of cancer Wednesday evening at Thorek Medical Center in Chicago, said Vincent Shaw, a jail spokesman.Authorities said Schweihs started his life in crime as head of an armed-robbery ring in Chicago in the 1950s and rose to become a reliable Outfit assassin of German descent known by mob code names that included " Hitler."
He relied on a reputation as a maniac to keep those under him in line, losing his temper and dishing out beatings for seemingly no reason, sources said.
As part of the Family Secrets prosecution, Schweihs was accused of taking part in the ambush hits on federal witnesses Daniel Seifert in Bensenville in 1974 and Emil Vaci in Phoenix in 1986. Shortly before he was to testify against Lombardo, Seifert was gunned down by three masked men outside his business as his wife watched.
The key government trial witness, Nicholas Calabrese, a mob turncoat, testified that Schweihs also played a role in early attempts to take out Las Vegas chieftain Anthony Spilotro and his brother, Michael, stalking them in 1986. In one of the most notorious gangland slayings in Chicago history, the Spilotros were later slain after returning here for a mob meeting and buried in Indiana.
Though not charged, Schweihs also had long been a suspect in other unsolved Outfit hits, as well as in the murder of a former girlfriend, sources said. Calabrese linked Schweihs to the 1983 murder of corrupt insurance executive Allen Dorfman, who had been involved with Lombardo in schemes to loot Teamster funds.
Dorfman was shot seven times outside a Lincolnwood hotel as he met a friend for lunch.
"In life, Schweihs was a vicious, ruthless, cowardly murderer and Outfit thug," said Assistant U.S. Atty. Markus Funk. "Now his case is closed."
Schweihs' attorney, Ellen Domph, said he was determined to fight the government's case to the end. He had a "loving relationship" with his three children, Domph said, and though he could be rude and threatening even in court, he had always been courteous and polite to her.
Like Lombardo, Schweihs fled after the Family Secrets indictment came down in 2005. He spent months on the lam before the FBI caught up with him and a girlfriend in Berea, Ky.Even though he was missing from the courtroom during the Family Secrets trial, Schweihs still played a role in the historic trial that resulted in convictions of five Outfit figures, including Lombardo. To show the jury how the Outfit prospered through extortion, prosecutors played undercover tapes of William "Red" Wemette, a porn shop owner being pressed to pay mob street taxes in the late 1980s.On the grainy video, a gruff Schweihs, wearing a baseball cap, announced that another mobster whom Wemette had once paid taxes to had gone to "open up a hot dog stand in Alaska." The shop was now under his control, said Schweihs, who didn't like hearing that someone from the Rush Street crew had come around bothering his new property."I don't care who it is," Schweihs barked on the undercover tape. "If it's Al Capone's brother and he comes back reincarnated. This is a declared [expletive] joint."Schweihs would tolerate no one moving in on his turf, he said."I'll be looking at the obituaries," an obviously nervous Wemette replied.In an interview Thursday, Lombardo's lawyer, Rick Halprin, called the playing of the tape a pivotal moment in the trial. Jurors had suddenly been confronted with the reality of the case, he said.The same tapes had been used to help convict Schweihs of extortion in 1989."It was a very scary performance," Halprin said. "I would not dispute that."
Schweihs displayed flashes of his fiery temper even in public. At a court hearing last month, he spoke loudly to Domph and spat insults when Funk looked over in his direction."You makin' eyes at me?" Schweihs snarled. "Do I look like a [expletive] to you or something?"

Three shootings in less than two hours in St. Léonard and Rivière des Prairies are being investigated as conflict between a street gang and the Mafia

Three shootings in less than two hours in St. Léonard and Rivière des Prairies are being investigated as a possible conflict between a street gang and the Montreal Mafia.Police sources said yesterday the first man shot has ties to a street gang. They suspect the two shootings that followed were done in retaliation.All three victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.The first shooting occurred around 9 p.m. at Le Ritz, a bar with a checkered past on Lacordaire Blvd. in St. Léonard.
"The victim went inside the café and after a short discussion with people ... inside, he was shot," Montreal police Constable Raphaël Bergeron said.The man crashed through the bar's front window to escape and jumped into a waiting car. He was driven to a hospital, where staff alerted police they had a patient who had been shot.No one inside the bar called 911 and when officers eventually arrived at Le Ritz, they found it deserted, its front door unlocked.The 30-year-old man who was wounded in the shooting is a known drug trafficker with a lengthy criminal record. Last year, he was sentenced to 14 days in prison and three years' probation after pleading guilty to being part of a drug trafficking ring tied to the Bo Gars gang. The ring controlled drug trafficking in a neighbourhood close to Le Ritz.Le Ritz has been identified in the past as more of a drug den than a bar, where the door was controlled by an electronic lock and customers were buzzed in.
In 2006, the Régie des alcools suspended the bar's licence for four months after Montreal police said undercover agents purchased cocaine there. One police source said yesterday that investigators were having a hard time finding out who owns the bar.after the shooting at Le Ritz, a young man dressed in dark clothing stormed into Café-bar Mare e Mondo on Maurice Duplessis Blvd. in Rivière des Prairies.
"He fired several shots (into) various parts of (the café) and left the scene," Bergeron said.A 36-year-old man was struck in the stomach and taken to hospital. Bergeron said the victim is not known to police.
Mare e Mondo has reputed ties to the Mafia. It was opened in 1997 by Giuseppe Torre, 37, an alleged drug trafficker arrested in Projet Colisée, the 2006 roundup of suspected Mafia leaders and associates. Court documents show that although the bar changed ownership in 2000, Torre referred to it on wiretaps in 2005.The third shooting was less than an hour after Mare e Mondo came under fire. A 19-year-old man was struck in the leg as he sat in a vehicle parked behind another café on Maurice Duplessis."The victims in the second and third shooting are not known to the police at all," Bergeron said. "They were probably in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Tywin Marcell Bender, 18, of Minneapolis, was one of two teens charged in September's gang-related shooting that left a 12-year-old girl, Vernice Hall

Tywin Marcell Bender, 18, of Minneapolis, was one of two teens charged in September's gang-related shooting that left a 12-year-old girl, Vernice Hall, wounded by a bullet to the head. Vernice, now 13, survived but suffered permanent brain damage. The other teen charged, Semaj Marquise Magee, 17, was tried in May; a jury acquitted him. Prosecutors claimed afterward that key witnesses changed their testimony from their original statements. At the time, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman said gang intimidation might have caused witnesses not to implicate Magee in the crime. Freeman said Friday that when prosecutors took measure of their evidence — and the witnesses' changed stories — they determined they didn't have enough to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt at Bender's trial, scheduled to start Aug. 5. "We're disappointed," he said. "It's a reluctant conclusion that came from reluctant witnesses changing stories. "These gang cases are really hard," Freeman said. "It's not like we've got witnesses from Central Casting that are Sunday-morning church choir members. The folks who witnessed this shooting have proven to be very unreliable witnesses."
Bender walked out of the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center at 4:15 p.m. Freeman said if evidence turns up that witnesses were intimidated, new charges could be filed. Asked if he still believes Bender and Magee were involved in the shooting, the prosecutor answered an unequivocal "yes."
"That really hasn't changed," he said.
'I Am Gonna ... Shoot This Party Up' / Vernice, known by friends and family by her nickname, "Star," was shot in the 1800 block of Oliver Avenue North as her brother's birthday party was breaking up Sept. 22. Bender — identified in court documents as a member of a gang that calls itself the Stick Up Boys, or SUBs — had gotten into an argument with other people at the party who were members of a rival gang known as the Murder Squad or the 19s.
"You all better clear out because I am gonna come back and shoot this party up," Bender told the crowd, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
He left the party. Witnesses said that about an hour later, a black sport utility vehicle pulled up to some partygoers still milling about in the street. Bender and Magee were in the vehicle, witnesses said.
Police said witnesses told them Bender climbed out of the vehicle with a handgun, while Magee was holding a shotgun when he got out. Magee allegedly fired first, then again, and Bender fired about 20 rounds before they got into the SUV and fled.
After police said witnesses gave them the teens' names, the two were arrested. Questioned by police, Bender claimed he didn't hang out with the SUBs anymore, and he denied being involved in the shooting.
Among witnesses police interviewed was one who said he was riding a city bus the day after the shooting and heard people talking about it.
The purported witness "heard one of the young men brag that he got into it with gang members and he got out of the car and started 'busting' into the crowd," the criminal complaint against Bender claimed. "The young man said that 'they' said he shot a little girl." Bender faced four counts of attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault, 12 counts related to being involved in a drive-by shooting and a single count of being a prohibited person in possession of a gun.
The last charge was filed because Bender was ruled delinquent in December 2006 after being convicted of a robbery. 'We Can't Prove It' / In a two-page petition filed in state court, prosecutors noted Magee's acquittal and said that in his trial, "witnesses crucial to this case testified in a manner inconsistent with previous statements and/or testimony."
"Despite due diligence by investigators in the case, further investigation has failed to reveal relevant and admissible evidence that would support a conviction after a jury trial of this defendant," Assistant County Attorney Susan Crumb wrote of Bender. She did write, though, that a dismissal "will permit the State to continue to investigate and discover additional evidence and locate additional witnesses." Freeman said he believed the witnesses had been intimidated.
"We can't prove it," he said. "If we had really strong leads about who did it and how it happened, well, we've brought cases more than once before on witness intimidation. But we've got to have proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

Suspect Edwin Ramos awaits trial in San Francisco County Jail, a system that released him nearly three months before the slayings. Convicted twice

On June 22, Anthony Bologna, 48, and his sons Matthew, 16, and Michael, 20, were driving back to their home in this city's Excelsior neighborhood from a family get-together at Kennedy's home.Driving south on a narrow street, Bologna stopped the car, inadvertently blocking the path of a Chrysler 300M, authorities said. The Chrysler's driver pulled up alongside and began shooting. The father and his oldest son died at the scene. The younger boy died later at San Francisco General Hospital."That Sunday, we had breakfast, hugged each other, kissed each other and the kids," Kennedy said.Later that day, the phone rang, and "the homicide inspectors told my wife her brother was shot and killed along with his son . . ."Bologna "was a wonderful individual and a great father," Kennedy said. "To have him assassinated in broad daylight with my two nephews is incomprehensible."
Three days later, police arrested Ramos of nearby El Sobrante. San Francisco Police Sgt. Neville Gittens said Ramos is allegedly a member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang.
He was charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Because of the serious nature of the crime -- including the fact that there were multiple victims -- he would be subject under state law to the death penalty.
Kennedy, his sister-in-law Danielle Bologna and various activist groups are calling on Dist. Atty. District Attorney Kamala Harris to seek the death penalty in the case.
Harris is opposed to capital punishment and came under fire earlier in her career when she did not seek the death penalty in the murder of a San Francisco police officer. She has yet to decide whether to do so in the Bolognas' case.
The widespread uproar over the Bolognas' deaths began this week, after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Ramos had been found guilty of two felonies as a juvenile.
Because of the city's sanctuary policy -- enacted in 1989 -- local agencies do not consider immigration status when dealing with young offenders and therefore did not check whether Ramos was in the country legally.Frank Kennedy is a third-generation San Franciscan, the son and grandson of local police officers and the proud owner of a Bay Area business. And this week he became Exhibit A for all he believes ails his hometown.On Wednesday, a 21-year-old undocumented Salvadoran immigrant pleaded not guilty to murdering Kennedy's brother-in-law and two nephews in a case that has galvanized sentiment nationwide against this "sanctuary city" and its ambitious mayor.
Matthew BolognaKennedy has spent much of the time since telling anyone who will listen that San Francisco and cities like it should stop shielding illegal immigrants from federal authorities and that officials here are responsible for his loved ones' deaths.
Suspect Edwin Ramos awaits trial in San Francisco County Jail, a system that released him nearly three months before the slayings. Convicted twice on felony charges as a juvenile, he was protected then from immigration officials because of the city's sanctuary policy."Any mayor, any board of supervisors that passes these laws should be prosecuted to the fullest," Kennedy said in a recent interview.
"This is not the United States of San Francisco . . . My family was the sacrificial lamb in this."
Immigration activists have embraced the grieving family, using the June 22 deaths of Anthony, Matthew and Michael Bologna to call for change. Conservative broadcasters have vilified the city and its officials all week.Outraged e-mailers have lit up message boards for days. And federal immigration officials have demanded greater access to the city's jails, telling Mayor Gavin Newsom in a letter Wednesday that the sanctuary policy means they can't "prevent the release of these criminal aliens . . . "CNN's Lou Dobbs asked Kennedy: "What is your reaction when you think about the fact that Mayor Newsom has with great, complete, sanctimonious arrogance defended the sanctuary policy of this city?"

Hells Angels targeted several high-profile members by agents working for the police buying and selling drugs

Animosity between the RCMP and the Organized Crime Agency of B.C. led to the failure of a multimillion-dollar investigation into the Hells Angels, a former lead investigator with the agency has alleged in a wrongful dismissal suit.
The investigation, known as Project Phoenix, targeted several high-profile members of the Hells Angels biker gang, with agents working for the police buying and selling large quantities of drugs.
The investigation was completed and reports were sent to Crown counsel for charges.
However, no charges were ever laid, something Allen Dalstrom - the officer who led the investigation and is now suing for wrongful dismissal - blames on infighting between the RCMP and the organized crime-fighting agency.
Dalstrom was fired in 2004 after concerns were raised about his handling of Project Phoenix and over comments he allegedly made to a journalist writing a book about the Hells Angels.
However, in a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Dalstrom argued there were no grounds to fire him and that Phoenix was derailed because of RCMP jealousy over the creation of the organized crime-fighting agency in 1999.
"Certain members of the senior management of the RCMP in British Columbia were opposed to the creation of the OCABC from its inception because the OCABC was given the mandate to carry out investigations that had previously been within the mandate of the RCMP," Dalstrom alleged in his statement of claim.
"The RCMP in British Columbia sought to persuade the province to disband the OCABC and return the mandate for investigating organized crime to the RCMP."
Dalstrom alleged the RCMP attacked his handling of Phoenix "as a means of discrediting the management of the OCABC generally."
According to Dalstrom, a number of outside reviews of Project Phoenix concluded the case had been handled properly.
Documents filed by Dalstrom quote a 2003 independent review of Phoenix which states: "The multimillion-dollar Phoenix investigation could have been prosecuted, but the prosecution was derailed because of interagency jealousies."
The court records do not state who the criminal targets of Phoenix were. However, the Vancouver Sun reported the investigation targeted members of the Hells Angels biker gang.
In his statement of claim, Dalstrom argued that lawyers with the Department of Justice ultimately decided not to prosecute because it would have meant the "persistent interagency dispute between the RCMP and the OCABC" would become public.
"In the opinion of the Vancouver office of the Department of Justice, such an examination would have a negative effect on public order and morale, and on public confidence in the administration of justice," Dalstrom stated.
In 2004, the same year Dalstrom was dismissed, the organized-crime-fighting agency was folded into the new Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, an integrated team of RCMP and municipal police officers.
Dalstrom's lawsuit names the province of B.C.; David Douglas, the former chief officer of OCABC who fired him; and Kevin Begg, head of the provincial government's police services division, as defendants.
In his statement of defence, Douglas, a former RCMP officer, denied that Dalstrom was fired without cause, arguing that his "overall performance . . . was not meeting acceptable standards" and that he mismanaged major investigations.
A report on Dalstrom's job performance, prepared by Douglas and filed in court, indicated Douglas had several concerns with how Dalstrom managed Project Phoenix.
Those concerns included that investigators with the project did not adequately handle exhibits, such as properly marking purchased drugs as evidence.
"During the investigation, drugs that had been purchased from one target were then, at a later date, trafficked to another target," Douglas's report stated. "Both cocaine and marijuana were trafficked in this manner."
Similarly, Douglas's report alleged, proceeds from the sale of drugs were also not marked as exhibits, instead forming part of the "cash pool" used by investigators to make future purchases.
Douglas's report argued it was Dalstrom's mismanagement of the case that led to the decision by Crown not to prosecute the offences.
Douglas's report stated he was concerned about a comment in reporter Julian Sher's book, The Road To Hell, in which an "OCA insider" said that, when it came to organized-crime investigations, the RCMP had done "f- all here for 25 years."
According to Douglas's report, Dalstrom at first denied making the statement, but later said he couldn't recall and said, "There's a possibility I made them because that's the way I may have felt about the situation."
In his statement of claim, Douglas denied making the comment to Sher but added that, even if he had, it was not grounds for dismissal as it was "fair comment" and did not reveal any confidential police information.
On June 17, Insp. Andy Richards, a former investigator with OCABC who is now with the CFSEU, filed an affidavit in support of Dalstrom's lawsuit.
Richards, who was Dalstrom's immediate supervisor, said it was his job to prepare regular performance appraisals on Dalstrom.
"Just before Christmas of 2003 Chief Officer Douglas asked me to change two performance appraisals for Mr. Dalstrom," Richards states.
He said Douglas wanted him to change his generally positive appraisals of Douglas' work to ones that cited Dalstrom's work on Phoenix as unsatisfactory.
"This was untrue," states Richards. "I refused to go along. I told Chief Officer Douglas that that would be unethical and unfair. He just shrugged and walked away."
In a phone interview Friday, David Butcher, Douglas's lawyer, denied Richards' allegation that Douglas asked him to change Dalstrom's performance appraisal.
Butcher said he had no further comment on the case.
Richards added in his affidavit that he strongly disagreed with the decision to fire Dalstrom.
"It appeared that Mr. Dalstrom was being fired simply because David Douglas and the RCMP wanted him out of the OCABC," Richards stated. "To my mind, this was simply politics."
According to an affidavit filed by Dalstrom, he was told a week before Christmas 2003 that he had been relieved of his duties and to go home.
"I was not told why I was sent home, who had made the decision, or why," Dalstrom wrote. "I was merely told that there was no work to assign to me."
On Feb. 5, Dalstrom received a letter telling him he was being put on administrative leave because there was no work to do.
"I was devastated," Dalstrom wrote. "It appeared to me that I was losing not just my job, but the career I loved."
Finally, on July 19, 2004, Dalstrom received a letter from Douglas telling him that he had been terminated.
Dalstrom was offered 12 months' severance pay, which he refused.
On April 11, 2006, he filed his wrongful dismissal suit. He said in his affidavit he had not worked since.

Leslie Adgar,Jon Patton admitted conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin

Former Delta employee Leslie Adgar, 42, and one of the former TSA workers, 44-year-old Jon Patton, admitted conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin.Andre Mays, 24, the other ex-TSA worker, pleaded guilty to entering a secure airport area in violation of screening requirements.Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 17. Adgar and Patton face a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. Mays could receive up to a year.Prosecutors said a confidential source working for the Drug Enforcement Administration arranged in December to smuggle two kilograms of what was purported to be cocaine to New York in luggage carried past security in Atlanta and onto a Delta flight in exchange for $8,000.Two subsequent arrangements were made in January and February involving shipments of fake cocaine or heroin from Atlanta to New York, U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said.Rodney G. Benson, in charge of the DEA in Atlanta, said the three "were aggressively investigated for abusing their positions of trust as TSA and Delta employees.""Such misconduct undermines the efforts of law enforcement officers who work so hard to keep our airports safe from the dangerous substances these individuals were attempting to smuggle," Benson said.

William David Wallader acquitted

William David Wallader, 62, was serving a minimum six-month jail term after being found guilty in May.The Court of Appeal in Brisbane has acquitted a former financial adviser, jailed for possessing counterfeit US treasury bonds worth $1.3 billion.
His trial heard he was negotiating the sale of the fake bonds to the Turkish Government when he was arrested. The court is yet to publish its reasons, but in a short hearing this morning allowed the appeal.
Mr Wallader is expected to be released today.

Chilling message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.

Violence is spinning out of control is areas along the U.S. Mexico border and now drug cartels are sending a chilling message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.The threat appears in recruiting banners that are hung across roadsides and in publicly posted death lists. Cops are receiving additional threats over their two-way radios. At least four high-ranking police officials were gunned down this month, including Mexico’s acting federal police chief
Mexico has battled for years to clean up its security forces and win them the publics respect. But Mexicans generally assume police and even soldiers are corrupt until proven otherwise, and the honest ones lack resources, training and the assurance that their colleagues are watching their backs. Here, the taboo on cop-killing familiar to Americans seems hardly to apply.Police who take on the cartels feel isolated and vulnerable when they become targets, as did 22 commanders in Ciudad Juarez when drug traffickers named them on a handwritten death list left at a monument to fallen police this year. It was addressed to “those who still don’t believe” in the power of the cartels.Of the 22, seven have been killed and three wounded in assassination attempts. Of the others, all but one have quit, and city officials said he didn’t want to be interviewed.

Arrest of an alleged serial killer in Modimolle, Limpopo, came as a result of random DNA tests conducted on several men in the town.

The recent arrest of an alleged serial killer in Modimolle, Limpopo, came as a result of random DNA tests conducted on several men in the town. The man was arrested in Lwamondo in the Vuwani area near Thohoyandou on Friday morning. Provincial police commissioner Calvin Sengani said a task team established to investigate the serial killings in Modimolle had led to the arrest of the 45-year-old man last week.Though Sengani would not reveal the exact circumstances leading to the man’s arrest, he expressed confidence that they had apprehended the right suspect.The man was sought in connection with a spate of rapes and murders in Modimolle between 2004 and 2008.The recently arrested man is expected to appear in the Modimolle magistrate’s court today on kidnapping, murder, indecent assault and abuse charges.Sengani said on April 10 last month, the police cordoned off a section of Phahameng Location and took blood samples for DNA testing to find who was responsible for the killings. The samples were linked to DNA tests done on the bodies of seven children and one adult found. Three children are still missing.
“We are absolutely confident that we have arrested the right person this time,” said Sengani.He said they had relied heavily on the forensic investigations.Police had earlier arrested another man for the deaths. He was arrested in Vuwani on January 19 but had to be released two months later after the state could not link him to the crimesA reward of R250000 was offered for information .These are the victims:
Matshidiso Greycia Makhubela, 3, went missing on September 12 2006. Her body was found a day later. She had been raped.
Rosina Malete, 8, went missing with her brother, Petrus, 11, on March 28 2006. Their decomposed bodies were found on April 5.
Kedibone Princess Shiburi, 19, went missing on July 14 2006. Her body was found 11 days later. Ramaesela Salome Kwinana, 46, went missing on October 8 2006. Her body was found a week later. Johanna Rebecca Baloyi, 8, went missing on April 27 last year and her body was found the following day.
Refilwe Ringani, 8, went missing on June 12 last year and her body was found on July 8. Mokgadi Maria Mafora, 5, went missing on April 5 this year. Her body was found two days later.Nono Johanna Lefawane, 8, went missing on January 10 2005. She has not been found. Joshua Moyati Chauke, 10, went missing on December 28 2005. He has not been found. Johanna Ramokoni Motshabi, 4, went missing on January 11 2006 and has not been found.

Foreign workers who work airside at UK airports do not have to undergo full mandatory criminal records checks

"Anybody who is able to work in a restricted zone is screened in exactly the same thorough way as any member of the public," he added. Foreign workers who work airside at UK airports do not have to undergo full mandatory criminal records checks, the BBC's Newsnight has discovered. Since 2003, staff have been checked against UK criminal records, but offences abroad are not covered. Aviation Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has defended vetting procedures for staff. After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, governments across the world pledged to make airports more secure. In the UK, the government introduced mandatory criminal records checks for all staff working airside.To not do anything about it because it's inconvenient, it's a disgrace But Newsnight has discovered a serious loophole in the legislation. Foreign workers are being employed without undergoing any criminal records checks. The government says it would simply take too long and be too complex to check criminal records from abroad.

Jose Francisco Cardoza Quinteros: an unrepentant, violent former gang leader responsible for attacks and killings in his home country,

Jose Francisco Cardoza Quinteros: an unrepentant, violent former gang leader responsible for attacks and killings in his home country, or a devout Christian trying to turn his life around in British Columbia.
Lawyers for the federal government and Cardoza Quinteros offered competing images in court Friday of a man who claims he fled to Canada to escape his former gang, which he says is out to kill him.A Federal Court judge ultimately agreed Cardoza Quinteros poses a danger to the public and on Friday stayed an earlier immigration board decision to release him.Justice Yvon Pinard ordered him to remain in custody until a judicial review of the original decision, or until his next chance to argue to remain in Canada - known as a pre-removal risk assessment - is finished.Cardoza Quinteros has already been ordered deported because of his gang ties, but he's fighting to stay.The opposing portraits of Cardoza Quinteros offered Friday are mostly due to his own accounts of his life in El Salvador, accounts that varied wildly during a lengthy interview with border officers in Surrey, B.C., when he tried to enter Canada last September.He initially denied he was a member of a gang, but eventually admitted once belonging to the Mara Salvatrucha, a violent organization with thousands of members throughout Central America.Cardoza Quinteros said he was the gang's treasurer, then offered an evolving picture of his involvement in the gang. He first said he only took part in beatings, then gradually changed his story to include four killings and fierce grenade attacks on rival groups.Caroline Christiaens, a lawyer for the federal Immigration Department, offered a suggestion about which version to believe.She said Cardoza Quinteros, a member of Mara Salvatrucha from 1999 until 2004, became adept at using violence to control gang members and eventually left only because he feared for his life, not because he had any desire to change his ways."He wanted to join that gang, he joined voluntarily, and he knew the nature of the gang at the time," said Christiaens.
"He's been involved in crime and violence since the '90s. . . . He's never said that he's remorseful, he's never said what he did was wrong."Cardoza Quinteros later recanted much of what he told border officials, and an immigration board member ruled earlier this week that she doubted he had ever killed anyone.Instead, in ordering him released, board member Daphne Shaw Dyck said Cardoza Quinteros may have exaggerated his past in the erroneous belief that it would help his case.But Christiaens said the discrepancies instead suggest Cardoza Quinteros was lying to minimize and hide his past.Christiaens said Cardoza Quinteros is dangerous and argued Shaw Dyck was wrong in concluding the Salvadoran man did not pose a significant risk to the public.She said his history of violence isn't limited to his gang involvement, and said that risk increases as his deportation draws closer.
"It certainly increases the potential for conflict," she said. "He's under a lot of pressure. He's used to being in a position to control his surroundings through violence."But Cardoza Quinteros's lawyer, Shepherd Moss, noted that his client was released soon after arriving in Canada last September and had lived peacefully in Surrey until he was ordered into custody on April 21 to face another detention hearing.He was living with a supportive family and following all of the conditions imposed on him, had overcome the alcoholism that fuelled his violence in El Salvador, and had found support among church members in Surrey, Moss said.
Moss said his client has demonstrated he can live free in the community while his case works its way through the system, proving his release last September was the correct decision.
"Allowing Mr. Cardoza Quinteros to continue on this path of rehabilitation and better himself is in the public interest," said Moss, who rejected the claim that his client would become violent if faced with confrontation.
"His dedication to the Christian faith will allow him to turn the other cheek. There's no evidence of such lashing out. There's no evidence of random violence, there's no evidence of fights when he's alone on the street and sober."
The judge hearing the case said Cardoza Quinteros's past indeed make him more likely to become violent.
"I do not find that the danger to the public, if a stay is not granted, is purely speculative," Pinard wrote in his decision. "The danger is real and, for the purpose of this motion, it constitutes irreparable harm."
Even though his refugee claim has failed and he has been ordered deported, Cardoza Quinteros is still pursuing other options to remain in Canada.
He has applied for a pre-removal risk assessment to argue he would be put in danger if returned to El Salvador - a process already underway that could be finished soon.
If that fails, Moss told court Friday that he would then apply for a judicial review of the case.

Gary Michael Hilton was indicted in February on charges of murder, kidnapping and two counts of grand theft

Gary Michael Hilton, 61, was indicted in February on charges of murder, kidnapping and two counts of grand theft in the death of Cheryl Dunlap, whose body was discovered December 16 in the Apalachicola National Forest southeast of Tallahassee, Florida.The theft charges involve Dunlap's car and ATM card, prosecutors have said.
Hilton has 30 days to appeal Friday's ruling from Butts County Superior Court Chief Judge Thomas Wilson. William Meggs, of the Florida State Attorney's office, said he is confident Hilton will be extradited to stand trial.Florida prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Hilton.Hilton pleaded guilty January 31 to killing Meredith Emerson, 24, after he met her hiking in the North Georgia mountains. Authorities believe Hilton killed Emerson on January 4, three days after she disappeared while on a hike with her dog.Hilton directed authorities to Emerson's body on January 7. An autopsy found she died from blunt-force trauma to the head and was decapitated after she died.Florida investigators have said they know Hilton was near the area at the time Dunlap disappeared, December 1, because he encountered a forestry agent who wrote down Hilton's vehicle's tag number and ran it through a police database. No warrants for Hilton's arrest or other criminal alerts were found.
Police released surveillance camera photos of a man they said was using Dunlap's ATM card to obtain cash on December 2, 3 and 4. Authorities have not released information on how Dunlap died or the condition of her body when it was found.
North Carolina authorities have named Hilton a suspect in the deaths of John Bryant, 80, and his wife, Irene, 84, who disappeared October 21 while hiking in Pisgah National Forest. Irene Bryant's body was found near the couple's car November 9, and a hunter discovered John Bryant's remains

Canada an "international embarrassment," 146 Canadians have been charged overseas for sexually abusing children

At least 146 Canadians have been charged overseas for sexually abusing children, Benjamin Perrin, of the University of British Columbia, has found.And many more Canadians have likely bribed their way out of being charged in jurisdictions such as Thailand and Cambodia where children are easy prey for foreign pedophiles, he said.
The data on Canadians charged abroad between 1993 and 1997 was released to Perrin through a Freedom of Information request."To date, the Canadian policy has been to not aggressively, or even actively, enforce our own child-sex tourism law and that needs to change," Perrin said Tuesday.
"It's one of the most underenforced provisions of the Criminal Code," he said. "It was brought in to confront a serious transnational crime and this is very concerning."Canada's child-sex tourism law was enacted in 1997 and bolstered five years later to no longer require the foreign country where allegations of sexual abuse took place to consent to the charges.Donald Bakker is the only person in Canada to be convicted under the law after he pleaded guilty in 2005.
He received a 10-year sentence for 10 sexual assaults on girls between ages seven and 12 in Svay Pak, Cambodia, where he videotaped his horrific exploits.
But the investigation of Bakker began only after he was arrested in Vancouver for unrelated offences and police found video evidence of him abusing children.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Rick Greenwood, of the RCMP's National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre in Ottawa, said police forces around the world are overwhelmed with the number of child-sex cases in developing countries that include Costa Rica and India.
"Internationally, we've got to be set up better," Greenwood said of the Mounties' ability to share intelligence and properly train investigators."We are looking at that quite seriously.""What we're trying to do now is respond for the future so we're better aligned with our international partners," he said, referring to agencies such as Interpol, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security in the United States.According to the U.S. branch of EPCAT - End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes - Canada is among 44 countries with extraterritorial legislation that allows for the prosecution of its own citizens for sexual crimes committed in other jurisdictions.
But Canada does not conduct its own investigations of child sex abuse overseas. The foreign government must provide Canada with enough evidence to support charges.
Perrin called Canada an "international embarrassment," saying officials often don't ask for any evidence from other jurisdictions.
He said compared to countries like Australia and the United States, Canadian prosecutors are failing to lay charges against suspects in child-sex crimes abroad.

The Justice Department refused comment on the lack of charges in Canada despite several requests from The Canadian Press.

The most recent case of child-sex tourism involves a Quebec aid worker and another man who face multiple charges involving the sexual abuse of children in a Haitian orphanage.

Denis Rochefort, 59, and Armand Huard, 64, will make their next court appearance on April 11 in Quebec City.

Perrin said the case came to light only after the Haitian government contacted the United Nations, which informed the RCMP.

Often, he said, Canadians who see foreign children as easy targets use their Canadian passports as "get-out-of-jail free cards" by moving from country to country to escape detection and that the real number of sexual abuse case will never be known.
Perrin said part of the problem is that the RCMP's liaison officer program doesn't have enough resources in sex-tourism hot spots like Southeast Asia to send a clear message that Canada has a law prohibiting its citizens from exploiting children in developing countries that aren't able to protect themselves from pedophiles.
"The local police and judiciaries are often infant democracies and they are undermined when corruption from western tourists and businessmen allows them to escape charges."
The Justice Department's information on the number of Canadians charged in other countries with child-sex crimes does not include their identities, where in Canada they're from, where they committed their alleged offences or if they eluded other charges by paying officials.
"The very significant concern is that in countries where corruption is rampant - and in many developing countries that is unfortunately the case - Canadians are able to buy their way out of even being charged," Perrin said.
While the identities of suspected sex tourists who molest children overseas are rarely known, the case of Maple Ridge, B.C., resident Christopher Neil has made international headlines.
Neil, 32, was arrested in Thailand last October for allegedly abusing a nine-year-old boy after a worldwide manhunt when Interpol unscrambled his swirled digital images from the Internet.
As Neil awaits his next court date in Bangkok in June, another Canadian, 54-year-old Orville Mader of Abbotsford, B.C., is wanted on a warrant in Thailand for allegedly abusing at least three boys.
But while Neil sits in a Thai jail, Mader slipped back into Canada last year and was arrested at Vancouver International Airport.
He has been charged in Thailand, but the Thais have not formally asked Canada to return Mader and Canada has not charged him here.
Simon Buck, a Vancouver criminal lawyer and member of Beyond Borders, said the non-government group will seek intervener status in the case of Kenneth Klassen, the second Canadian to face child-sex tourism charges for allegedly exploiting girls as young as nine in various jurisdictions including Cambodia.
Klassen, 57, of Burnaby, B.C., is scheduled to go on trial in July.
Buck said prosecutors in every province need to approve more charges against alleged child molesters who conduct their business outside Canada's borders.
"It's probably the resources of the Crown in combination with the perception that they're difficult cases to prove and whether that's the correct perception I don't know because it hasn't been tested (at a trial)," he said.

Timothy Cunningham charged at Cork District Court with having more than £3.5 million in cash and cheques

Timothy Cunningham, 59, was charged at Cork District Court with having more than £3.5 million in cash and cheques from the audacious heist in Belfast, in December 2004.
The moneylender, known as Ted, from Farran, in Co Cork, was charged with trying to launder the money by disposing of it through friends and business associates.
The charges follow a massive cross-border police investigation lasting more than three years, which involved anti- terrorist units, fraud squads and the republic's dedicated Criminal Assets Bureau.Cunningham was accused of having £3.5 million in cash, 200,000 (£155,000) in cheques and three cars, all related to the bank robbery.
He was first arrested in February 2005 and questioned for two days after Irish detectives running Operation Phoenix raided his home and seized sackloads of cash.
A series of other searches in counties across Ireland recovered thousands more in cash as well as cheques allegedly linked to the businessman.Cunningham was arrested at his home yesterday and taken to a police station in Cork before his court appearance.The court heard he had made no reply when the charges were put to him.
One charge alleges he gave a cheque for 56,000 (£43,000) from the heist to his son, Timothy Junior.

Never Get Busted Again, Never Get Raided teaches viewers how to buy, sell and grow pot without going to jail.

Barry Cooper a fast-talking former narcotics cop, is best known for changing sides in the war on drugs in December 2006, when he released Never Get Busted Again. In the DVD, he offered marijuana users advice on how to avoid arrest during traffic stops.Police greeted the movie with sarcasm, but no real concern.
Now Cooper has begun shipping a new title, Never Get Raided, which teaches viewers how to buy, sell and grow pot without going to jail. He also gives tips for identifying undercover officers."Now that's getting a little close to home," said Richard Dickson, who served with Cooper on the West Texas Permian Basin Drug Task Force in the 1990s. "That kind of information affects all kinds of undercover agents. It puts all kinds of operations at risk, even on homeland security issues."
Cooper, who has filed as a Libertarian candidate in the 31st Congressional District in Central Texas, seems to have a talent for flaming the fuzz. Even so, his former colleagues concede he was a star narcotics officer.In eight years, Cooper claims to have taken part in 800 drug busts, 300 of them felonies, and seized more than $500,000 in cash. Photos tell some of the story.In one, with a buzz cut and overgrown mustache, he kneels next to a head-high heap of weed. The photo is marked, "230lbs." In another, a young Cooper stands thumbs-up by PVC pipes stuffed with marijuana and a thick stack of $100 bills. A sign reads: Permian Basin Drug Task Force."He was very good, no doubt," said Dickson, who now works as an investigator for the district attorney's office in Yoakum County, about 50 miles southwest of Lubbock. "Barry always liked to have his picture made with all the dope, even if somebody else knocked down a load. I remember him commenting one time, 'Twenty years from now I'll tell my grandkids I got all this.'"Cooper's former boss, Tom Finley, once called his protege the best drug interdiction officer in Texas, and perhaps the nation. Now a private investigator in Midland, he is more circumspect."He was one of the best we had, but we didn't have but two or three," Finley said last week. "Evidently things have changed a lot since then. He's just trying to make some more money."Cooper turned in his badge and grew his hair long about 10 years ago, after souring on U.S. drug laws and being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Agency for smuggling drugs out of Mexico.
He said he confronted DEA agents about the case."Let me tell you the drugs I smuggled from Mexico," he recalled telling an investigator. "The same drugs everybody smuggles from Mexico - the same ones your informant and my ex-wife smuggled from Mexico - they're called Valiums, and those little green pills that make you speed. Everyone grabs a box of those."
He was never charged with a drug crime. But over the years he has been arrested for allegedly making terroristic threats after a yelling match with a woman in a bar in Big Sandy, Texas. He pleaded guilty to making a verbal threat in that misdemeanor case. He filed for but did not complete Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 1995."The last three months of my law enforcement career, I had started smoking pot," he said recently, sitting at his kitchen table in Big Sandy, a small town east of Tyler. "And I noticed the people I had been arresting were nice people. They had a balanced checkbook, their kids made straight A's, and I was like, 'This drug is not making people crazy.'"He advocates the legalization of all drugs. If the laws changed, he said, addicts would receive better treatment, drug-fueled crime would plummet and illegal drug empires would collapse.It is similar to an argument advanced by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an organization of 10,000 members including former judges, prosecutors, federal agents and police officers that opposes the war on drugs."We don't agree philosophically at all on these issues," said Jack Cole, executive director and a 14-year undercover officer for the New Jersey State Police. "He thinks he should be able to school people on how to break the law; we believe in changing the law."Drug laws will be broken, whether or not the law is changed, Cooper said. He's simply trying to help people avoid jail time for non-violent crime:"Americans are not going to stop growing it, they're not going to stop buying it, they're not going to stop smoking it, even if you continue to put them in jail."He said the discovery of seven fields and more than 25,000 plants near Dallas last summer illustrates his point.
Dallas Police Department Deputy Chief Julian Bernal doesn't dispute the public's appetite for marijuana, but he condemned Cooper's tactics."I think it's unconscionable for an ex-law enforcement officer to give tips to criminals. I don't think there's any question he's putting officers in danger, and he bears full responsibility for that."

Roger Reese Kibbe state prisoner suspected of being the "I-5 Strangler" could face the death penalty if he's convicted of six murders committed more t

Roger Reese Kibbe, 68, was arraigned Friday in San Joaquin County on charges he murdered five women in 1986 and a Walnut Creek woman in 1977.He is currently serving a life term at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga (Fresno County) for strangling a 17-year-old West Sacramento prostitute and leaving her naked body in the mountains south of Lake Tahoe in 1987.Investigators have long said they suspected Kibbe in the other slayings.El Dorado County prosecutors presented some of that evidence at his 1991 trial for Darcie Frackenpohl's murder. The runaway from Seattle was killed after she disappeared from a West Sacramento street frequented by prostitutes.At the time, the state Department of Justice said fibers from nylon rope used by skydivers was among the microscopic evidence linking Kibbe to three of the other slayings. Witnesses alleged Kibbe, who was a skydiver, had a murder kit including handcuffs and scissors.But prosecutors previously said the multiple jurisdictions where the crimes occurred and complications in state law made it difficult to press other charges. California law has since been changed to let one county prosecute crimes from several jurisdictions.Only one of the victims' bodies was dumped in San Joaquin County, but investigators from Sacramento, Napa, Contra Costa and Amador counties all testified before the San Joaquin grand jury that indicted Kibbe on Feb. 25.He faces six counts of murder with special circumstances including rape, kidnapping and multiple murders that make him eligible for the death penalty.According to the indictment and media accounts, Kibbe is charged with the murder of Lou Ellen Burleigh of Walnut Creek in 1977 and five other slayings in 1986:
Stephanie Brown, 19, of Sacramento was sexually assaulted and strangled, her body dumped in a ditch. A crumpled map was found near her car parked along I-5.
Charmaine Sabrah, 26, a mother of three from Sacramento, disappeared after her car broke down along I-5 and she drove off with a strange man who offered to help. Her strangled body was found three months later.
Heedrick, 21, of Modesto, was last seen getting into a car. Her body was found along I-5 five months later.
The other two victims are Katherine Kelly Quinones, 25, and Barbara Ann Scott, 29.
Kibbe is being held without bail for a court appearance Monday.

Police have seized 255 kilograms (560 pounds) of heroin Iranian driver has been detained

Turkish authorities say police have seized 255 kilograms (560 pounds) of heroin hidden in a truck at the Iranian border.Police found the heroin with the help of sniffer dogs during a search after the truck crossed into Turkey from the Gurbulak border point on Sunday.The truck's Iranian driver has been detained.Turkey is a major transit point for drugs from the Middle East and Central Asia on their way to European markets.

"In my heart I knew that she was murdered." launched a murder investigation after the partially naked body of a British teenager was found .

Popular Indian resort state of Goa have launched a murder investigation after the partially naked body of a British teenager was found last month on a beach.The announcement came after doctors conducted a fresh autopsy and concluded 15-year-old Scarlette Keeling was murdered, and did not drown as local police had initially insisted. "We are investigating it as a murder case," senior Goa state police official Kishan Kumar said, after a panel of three doctors conducted a six-hour examination of the body. "There will be detentions now," he said, without providing details, though sources say the owner of a cafe on popular Anjuna beach where Ms Keeling was last seen alive is likely to be questioned. But Mr Kumar denied allegations by Fiona MacKeown, Ms Keeling's mother, that police had initially tried to hush up the murder. "Police never failed in their duty. They were right on the track," said Mr Kumar. Ms MacKeown pointed to the large numbers of bruises on her daughter's body to bolster her call for a second examination after an earlier autopsy concluded the girl drowned in the choppy Arabian Sea. The first autopsy found only five bruises on Ms Keeling's body, but yesterday's examination discovered as many as 50, with at least half of them believed to have been inflicted before she died. Ms MacKeown's lawyer also said the family suspects Ms Keeling may have been sexually assaulted. "When a 15-year-old girl is found with her panties and shorts pulled down by the sea and covered with bruises... there is a possibility of sex assault," Vikram Varma said. The autopsy panel did not confirm rape but said that some of the injuries indicated sexual assault, a Times of India report said overnight.Ms MacKeown welcomed the autopsy findings.
"We have been saying this since day one," she said.
"In my heart I knew that she was murdered."
Mr Varma also alleged police in Anjuna beach hid vital information about the circumstances in which Ms Keeling's body was found.
Local politicians have also queried the police, noting that an officer who initially investigated the case had been suspended for covering up a murder four years ago.
Ms MacKeown, from Devon in southwest England, brought her oldest daughter and five younger siblings to Goa for a six-month stay in November. Ms Keeling's body was found lying on the beach with her clothes partially removed on February 18 while the rest of her family was travelling in the neighbouring state of Karnataka.
Ms MacKeown had wanted her daughter to accompany the rest of the family on the trip, according to Mr Varma, but the two squabbled and Mr Keeling was allowed to remain in Goa. The month before Ms Keeling's death, the Federal Government asked authorities in popular tourist destinations like Goa to review security measures after a spate of highly publicised sexual attacks on foreigners. Goa receives about 400,000 foreign tourists each year.

Murder-suicide in Sydney industrial premises at Robertson Place, Jamisontown

An attempted murder-suicide in Sydney's west has left one man dead and another fighting for his life with a slashed throat, police say.Police called to industrial premises at Robertson Place, Jamisontown, at about 1.30pm (AEDT) Sunday found the body of a man believed to be in his 50s.A second man in his 30s, who police believe was attacked by the older man, was taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment of a slash wound to his throat.Police are investigating the matter as an attempted murder-suicide, and specialist forensic officers are examining the scene for clues.A post-mortem examination would be carried out within days to determine the deceased man's cause of death, they said.

William Donald Collins,arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine

William Donald Collins, 24, of Summersville, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute (a class B felony) after deputies conducted a massive manhunt in the woods at the end of County Road 7400, south of Newburg.Phelps County deputies arrested a Summersville man Thursday morning after he ran into the woods with three other suspects who fled from a deputy who attempted to stop their car for a traffic violation in connection with a missing license plate.According to a spokesperson for the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Collins was a passenger in a white, two-door, 1990’s model Chevrolet. A pursuit ensued when the car sped away, traveling south on State Highway T at 9:30 a.m.The deputy saw the occupants of the car throwing items out of the window.As the car turned off the highway and east onto County Road 7400, one passenger jumped out and ran into the woodsThree other passengers remained in the car and tried to outdrive the deputy, but the road came to a dead-end. The driver of the car tried to continue on an old fire trail, but the car became mired in mud.The remaining three suspects jumped out of the car and ran into the woods.The pursuit lasted 15 minutes.A massive manhunt followed the pursuit with up to 12 Phelps County deputies scouring the woods for the fugitives.In approximately one hour, deputies caught and arrested Collins as he walked through the woods.Of the remaining three suspects, two have been identified but not found. Warrants are being sought on Gregory Scott Bates, 40, of Alton, Mo. and Joshua Harris, 26, of West Plains.One suspect remains unidentified.The items tossed out the window included a plastic bag containing methamphetamine.Collins was released Friday to the Missouri Department of Corrections for a parole violation, pending Phelps County charges.The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department is asking for help in locating the three fugitives.

Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton recovered $55 million worth of cocaine

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton recovered $55 million worth of cocaine from the Eastern Pacific Ocean Feb. 29. An MH-65C helicopter crew from the Coast Guard's Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) in Jacksonville, Fla., underway with the Hamilton, spotted the bales while flying a patrol of the area.
The helicopter was on its first search pattern when one of the crew members saw six bales clumped together. The crew marked the position of the bales and vectored the boat in for recovery. The source of the cocaine was not found, but an estimated 1800 kilograms (nearly two tons) was recovered. The Coast Guard, along with the Navy, has been searching the Pacific waters of Central America for illegal activity, and it is believed the crew of a smuggling vessel fearing capture may have dumped the drugs.
This is the first time a Coast Guard vessel has used the MH-65C helicopter for drug interdiction operations during a patrol of Pacific Central American waters. The MH-65C is similar to the HH-65 helicopter that is most well known for its role in search and rescue missions. However, the MH-65C has been modified for use in counter narcotics operations and HITRON crews flying the helicopter are armed with a high-powered .50 caliber rifle used for disabling the engines of smuggling vessels.
The crew of the Hamilton began their patrol after leaving San Diego Jan. 29.
The Hamilton is a 378-foot high endurance cutter homported in San Diego.

Anthony Pellicano and Hollywood's rich and famous

Private investigator Anthony Pellicano was the architect of a corrupt, criminal enterprise that spied on Hollywood's rich and famous and was fueled by greed, a federal prosecutor said Thursday during opening statements in the wiretapping trial.
"This is a case about corruption," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Lally said while laying out the government's case against Pellicano and four co-defendants.
Clients "would pay a premium fee to discredit, and in some cases destroy, their adversaries," he said.Pellicano, 63, is accused of running a criminal enterprise that wiretapped phones and bribed police and telephone workers.Pellicano is acting as his own attorney and indicated he would give an opening statement.
Pellicano wore a prison-issued green jacket, gray shirt and green pants. As Lally spoke, the balding private eye watched through glasses with his head rested on his hand.He could provide some fireworks for the eight-man, four-woman jury when he cross-examines some of his former clients and employees who are expected to testify.
Federal prosecutors have released a list of 127 potential witnesses in the case that included Sylvester Stallone, Chris Rock and Garry Shandling. It was not clear, however, how many people would actually testify.The trial is expected to last about 10 weeks.One of the first witnesses will be retired baseball player Matt Williams, who had a bitter divorce battle in 2002 with his second wife, actress Michelle Johnson.Prosecutors said in a court filing they have an audio recording of Williams and Pellicano but didn't elaborate on its content.Prosecutors estimate Pellicano, retired Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Arneson and former telephone company employee Rayford Earl Turner collected nearly $2 million from what they say was a racketeering scheme."At the end of the day I hope the jurors understand one thing - that I'm not a criminal enterprise," Pellicano told The Associated Press in an interview last month from federal prison. "If they understand that I'm ecstatic."
Pellicano and his co-defendants, including Kevin Kachikian and Abner Nicherie, have pleaded not guilty.Fourteen people have been charged, and seven already pleaded guilty to a variety of charges including perjury and conspiracy. Six of those seven, including film director John McTiernan and former Hollywood Records president Robert Pfeifer, were expected to be called as witnesses.Other prominent Hollywood players on the potential witness list include one- time Walt Disney Co. (DIS) president and agent Michael Ovitz; Brad Grey, chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (VIA); and Ron Meyer, president and chief executive officer of Universal Studios, a unit of NBC studios, which is a unit of General Electric Co. (GE).Stallone and Shandling were alleged victims in the case.Federal authorities previously questioned Ovitz, Grey and Meyer about their connections to Pellicano. Representatives of Rock retained Pellicano in a paternity battle, according to court documents.

Emperors Club VIP.seven-diamond woman arrested

Four organizers and managers of an international ring were arrested after they ranked prostitutes on a Web site with one to seven diamonds -- charging wealthy clients $2,000 extra for a seven-diamond woman, prosecutors said Thursday.U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia announced that charges were unsealed in Manhattan accusing the four of participating in a prostitution ring that called itself Emperors Club VIP.Authorities said the defendants arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris. Clients paid between $1,000 and $5,500 per hour for services.The defendants were charged with conspiracy to violate federal prostitution laws. Two of those charged were also accused of conspiring to launder more than $1 million in illicit proceeds from the prostitution crimes.All four were arrested Thursday morning and were expected to make an initial court appearance later in the day. Welcome to the only social introduction service providing exclusive, beautiful,
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Robert Matthew Bentley conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer fraud

Pensacola, Florida - Gregory R. Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced today the guilty pleas of Robert Matthew Bentley, 21, Panama City, Florida, to conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer fraud.
Bentley was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pensacola, Florida in November 2007. The case originated in December 2006 when the London Metropolitan Police (“The Met”) Computer Crime Unit requested assistance from the United States Secret Service after European representatives of the United States-based “Newell Rubbermaid” Corporation and at least one other European-based company contacted The Met to report a computer intrusion against the companies’ European networks.
The indictment resulted from a multi-year criminal investigation by the United States Secret Service, primarily involving the London (England) Resident Office, the Paris (France) Field Office, the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Field Office, the Seattle (Washington) Field Office, the Jacksonville (Florida) Field Office, the Tallahassee (Florida) Resident Office, the Panama City (Florida) Field Office, the Santa Ana (California) Resident Office, the Los Angeles (California) Field Office, the Wilmington (Delaware) Field Office, and the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).
Secret Service worked the investigation together with the Finland National Bureau of Investigation, the London Metropolitan Police, the Westminster (California) Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Field Office.
Bentley agreed to a detailed factual summary filed at the time of his guilty plea outlining his role in the computer intrusions. Bentley and other unnamed co-conspirators infected hundreds of computers in Europe with “adware” that cost tens of thousands of dollars to detect and neutralize.
Bentley and others received payment through a Western European-based operation called “Dollar Revenue” for unauthorized intrusions and placement of the adware. Bentley used computers in the Northern District of Florida to accomplish the intrusions and to receive payment.United States Attorney Miller observed, “The identification, indictment, and conviction of Bentley constitutes a significant success in a complex international investigation, and resulted from the outstanding cooperation of the many participating law enforcement agencies. The use of “botnets” – a series of computers covertly controlled by Bentley and his co-conspirators to accomplish the intrusion of victim computer systems – is a major focus of computer-related criminal investigations worldwide.
Botnets are responsible for much of the malicious activity conducted on the Internet. “Botherders” or “Botmasters” operate within a group of computer hackers on a global scale, making this computer crime one of the most pervasive forms of organized criminal activity plaguing law enforcers in this country and abroad.”
Bentley is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Richard Smoak on May 28, 2008. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release for each charge. He must pay a special monetary assessment of $100 for each charge.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas P. (Tom) Swaim of the Pensacola Division.