A man has plunged to his death after "planking" on a seventh-storey balcony in Brisbane's inner-south this morning

A man has plunged to his death after "planking" on a seventh-storey balcony in Brisbane's inner-south this morning, police have confirmed.

Acton Beale, aged 20, fell from the balcony of a unit block on Main Street in Kangaroo Point shortly before 4.30am.

He was trying to lay face down on the balcony railing of his apartment when he suddenly fell.

Paramedics spent 20 minutes trying to revive Mr Beale at the scene, however, he died a short time later.

Planking, which involves somebody lying flat on their stomach in unusual or different environments, is a burgeoning internet craze that has attracted thousands of fans right across Australia.

Photographs of their exploits are usually shared through social media sites such as Facebook.

Deputy Police Commissioner Ross Barnett today said his worst fears about planking had been realised.

“This morning we have seen a young man take this activity a step further and attempt to plank on a balcony. Unfortunately he has tragically fallen to his death,” he said.

Mr Barnett said the 20-year-old and another person had been out during the night and had been planking in various spots on their way home.

"He has tragically lost his footing and fallen to the ground below," he said.

"It is what we've been fearing."

Mr Barnett warned people against taking unnecessary risks in a bid to out-do each other for the ultimate photograph.

“Accepting a risk of injury for yourself is one thing, but the potential is there for others to be injured as a result of your behaviour,’’ he said.

Earlier this week, a man was charged in Gladstone for trespassing on police property when he "planked" across the back of a police car.

"If other people break the law during this activity they will be charged as well," Mr Barnett said.

“But no penalty will ever return this young man to his family and friends.

‘‘This is a tragedy and our condolences go to the family.”

People have already condemned the internet craze on Facebook following the man’s death.

‘‘One life has been lost because of this! Think of what could happen if it went wrong. Don't be stupid ... think before you do this!’’ one person wrote.

Investigations are continuing.

Citibank (C.N) said a former employee had committed fraud in Indonesia and sought to reassure card clients on Saturday, a day after the central bank slapped lengthy bans on its credit card and wealth management businesses.

Citibank (C.N) said a former employee had committed fraud in Indonesia and sought to reassure card clients on Saturday, a day after the central bank slapped lengthy bans on its credit card and wealth management businesses.

The sanctions came as Indonesian police investigate both the death of a Citi credit card client following questioning by debt collectors and a case of alleged embezzlement of around $2 million in its wealth management business.

Citi, which has previously only said it uncovered suspicious transactions, sent a letter to credit card holders on Saturday aimed at keeping them onboard, saying it had taken corrective action and the suspensions would not impact clients.

"We regret the two recent incidents involving the tragic passing of a credit card customer and the unacceptable fraudulent actions of a former employee," said Citi country officer Shariq Mukhtar in the letter.

"We are committed to restoring public trust in our franchise."

Police have detained a former wealth manager at the U.S. bank and said the case involves around $2 million.

An Indonesian woman has filed a civil suit against Citi seeking $347 million in damages, after her husband died on March 29 following questioning over bills on a Citi credit card.

Indonesia's central bank barred Citigroup's local unit from adding new credit card clients for two years and new customers for its premium wealth service for a year starting May 6. It said if the police found crimes were committed, it would revoke the bank's operating license.

The penalties will hit the expansion of Citi's business in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, where global banks are seeking to tap rising middle class wealth and millionaire tycoons.

YOUNG man who was chased and stabbed to death last weekend was murdered because of a drugs debt of about €2,000,

Gardai are now satisfied David Byrne owed money to a local gang in payment for drugs.

And the 19-year-old paid for his delay in handing over the cash with his life.

Officers also think there had been a minor personal dispute between Mr Byrne and the prime suspect.

The revelation emerged as gardai last night continued to question four male and two female teenagers about the murder at an apartment complex in south Dublin at the weekend.

Two of the seven detained in a garda round-up on Tuesday were released without charge.

But a second girl was detained on suspicion of withholding information about the stabbing and was being held last night under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, which allows the gardai to hold her without charge for up to three days.

Two of those being questioned are suspected of playing a major role in the stabbing, which took place in the Emmet Court apartment complex in Inchicore at around 10.30pm on Saturday after Mr Byrne had been chased by at least four attackers.

Gardai have established that the prime suspect had a deep personal dislike of Mr Byrne for some time.

After Mr Byrne had failed to settle his debt for drugs, his attackers decided to ambush him as he left his home at Davitt House, where he lived with his mother.

At least four men, wearing hooded tops, were waiting for him shortly after 10pm but he managed to escape from them and ran across a footbridge over the Grand Canal.

Europol said overnight police in several countries have arrested 184 alleged members of the pedophile ring and rescued 230 children since the operation began in 2007.

Europol said overnight police in several countries have arrested 184 alleged members of the pedophile ring and rescued 230 children since the operation began in 2007.

"Six-hundred-and-seventy suspects have been identified, 184 arrests have already been made and 230 children, the victims of these terrible crimes, have been identified and rescued from further harm,'' the policing agency's director, Rob Wainwright, said during a press conference in The Hague.

"We expect these numbers to rise further,'' he said, adding: "This is already the biggest case of its kind we have ever seen."

Dubbed Operation Rescue, Europol said the probe started three years ago, and targeted an online network, its server based in The Netherlands, with almost 70,000 members worldwide at its height. It has since been taken down.

The suspects were members of an online forum, boylover.net, that promoted sex between adults and young boys.

Europol said the website operated as a forum where members connected without committing an offence. Having made contact on the site, they would then use other channels, such as email, to exchange images and films of children being abused.

"I can confirm that this is one of the most successful police operations in recent years in what is probably the largest online paedophile network in the world,'' Wainwright said.

In the course of the investigation, the agency sent more than  4000 intelligence reports to police authorities in more than 30 countries.

Fifteen Victorians are among the Australians arrested by Australian Federal Police officers since investigations began in 2007.

The AFP started investigating in August 2007 and discovered several of the internet addresses came from Australian internet service providers.

AFP high tech crime operations investigation manager Grant Edwards said four children had been removed from harmful situations and arrested 31 suspected offenders.

"The Australian suspects in this operation are aged between 19 years and 84 years, including four suspects we will allege were senior members of this syndicate,’’ Commander Edwards said.

"These suspects are from all walks of life, from scout leaders, to lifesavers and teachers."

Two of the Victorians arrested since the operation began, George Iliakis and Philip Alan Reid, have already been jailed.

Brighton Grammar teacher Iliakis, of Edithvale, was jailed last year after handcuffing and gagging children to fuel his twisted fantasies.

Iliakis, who was jailed last year for four years with a minimum of two years, had a decade-long obsession with young boys and kept more than 16,000 child pornography images at his marital home.

For four years the grade 6 teacher used the name "Mr Teacherman'' to trade sick requests with other online child porn users, sending them videos and photos he had taken himself.  He did not molest any students at the exclusive bayside school.

Reid, of Malvern, was jailed over child pornography in 2008 for three years with a minimum of 15 months.

The former music teacher admitted writing a note about how to "seduce and develop relationships with young males", sentencing judge Lance Pilgrim said.

The AFP worked along side the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, Europol and other international agencies as part of the bust, dubbed Operation Rescue.

Commander Edwards said the total number of children safeguarded around the world would never be known because child porn was ``such a limitless crime”.

The website, which portrayed itself as a discussion only forum where people could share their sexual interest in young boys without committing any specific offences, has been taken down.

Members made contact on the site and moved into more private channels like email to exchange and share illegal images and films of children being abused.
Internet investigators also tracked offenders who had migrated to other sites.

Commander Edwards said further investigations and risk assessments then continued against multiple suspects who did not realise they were being probed.

"At the end of the day, our goal is simple: child safety," he said.

Nightclub bouncer Carl Whant was last night charged with the murder of teenager Nikitta Grender

Nightclub bouncer Carl Whant was last night charged with the murder of teenager Nikitta Grender and the “child destruct­ion” of her unborn baby.
Whant, 26 – a cousin of Nikitta’s boyfriend Ryan Mayes – will ­appear before magistrates tomorrow.
Nikitta, 19, of Newport, Gwent, had been due to give birth this coming Thursday, Ryan’s 18th birthday.
Use of the child destruction charge, which dates from 1929, is rare.
District Crown Prosecutor Stacey Turner said: “Offences relating to unborn children fall outside the scope of murder legislation.
“Therefore in respect of Nikitta Grender’s unborn child, we have advised Gwent Police to charge Carl Whant with the offence of child destruction under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929.”
Nikitta was stabbed twice in the bedroom she shared with Ryan early last Saturday. The flat was set on fire.


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Mondevergine back in the slammer, this time with his bail set at a cool $1 million by a Common Pleas Court judge.

Steven "Gorilla" Mondevergine, the former outlaw biker boss, figured he'd be out on bail in a snap when he waived extradition from Gloucester County and agreed to be taken to Philadelphia last month to face attempted-murder and assault charges.

At first, that is how it played out for the 55-year-old ex-leader of the Pagans Motorcycle Club.

But then, at a bail-modification hearing, an assistant district attorney started talking about a box of shotgun shells, a medieval jousting weapon, and a 7-inch knife found in the hulking ex-cop's South Jersey apartment.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Grady coupled that with the biker's alleged history of violence. And two days after he was released on $75,000 bail, Mondevergine was back in the slammer, this time with his bail set at a cool $1 million by a Common Pleas Court judge.

"There's just not a legitimate purpose to have any of this," Assistant District Attorney Brian Grady said last week in explaining the motion he filed two weeks ago that got Mondevergine's bail increased.

"This" was the contraband that Grady said authorities had confiscated Dec. 15 when they arrested Mondevergine at his apartment in Turnersville.

The box of shotgun shells presents an additional problem for Mondevergine because of his racketeering conviction. Convicted felons are prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition. That offense alone could carry a five-year prison sentence.

Grady also pointed to the other items found in the apartment as he argued that Mondevergine was a danger to society and that his original bail was exceedingly low.

Laying the items before Common Pleas Court Judge Frank Palumbo during the Dec. 21 hearing, Grady pointed to what authorities described as a "boot knife," a weapon with a 7-inch blade and a leather sheaf. The sheaf had two straps that, Grady said, could be wrapped around an individual's calf to hide the knife under a pant leg.

He also showed the judge a three-foot ax handle and a medieval weapon known as a flail found in the apartment. A flail is a spiked steel ball attached to a chain that is attached to a short steel pole.

Grady said there was no indication that Mondevergine was either a collector of medieval weaponry or a participant in Renaissance fairs.

It also could not be determined if the flail was from Mondevergine's days as a Pagan leader and underworld enforcer.

"There's just no legitimate reason to have any of this," Grady said for a second time.

Arnold Silverstein, Mondevergine's attorney, declined to comment after a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday was postponed until Jan. 31.

Mondevergine, unable to post the higher bail, remains in the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.

He is charged with the shooting and stabbing of Timothy "Casual" Flood in a Pagans clubhouse in January 2008.

Flood, who took over the top spot in the biker gang after Mondevergine was sentenced to 27 months in prison in 2001, was shot once in a knee and stabbed in the back.

Authorities say they believe Mondevergine and several associates burst into the clubhouse, near Torresdale Avenue and Disston Street in Northeast Philadelphia. Mondevergine, they say, targeted Flood because Flood was part of a group within the biker gang that was trying to force Mondevergine to "give up his colors" and leave the club.

Flood, 47, who was recently convicted of a minor gambling charge linked to a broader investigation into Pagans operations up and down the East Coast, at first declined to provide information about the assault.

But sources say he may now be cooperating and helping the district attorney build the case against Mondevergine.

Besides the weapons and ammunition seized from Mondevergine's residence at the Country Place Apartments on Fries Mill Road, Grady introduced evidence about the Pagans' history of violence and Mondevergine's leadership in the group.

The allegations were similar to charges in a federal sentencing memo at the time of Mondevergine's 2001 conviction. These included references to the Pagans' involvement in drug dealing, extortion, and violence.

Mondevergine was described in the mid-1990s as a close associate and enforcer for then-mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino.

Mondevergine had been fired from the Philadelphia police force in 1982 after being accused of accepting a bribe to protect a gambling operation. He denied those charges, which were dropped.

In 1999, he was shot nine times while walking home from a South Philadelphia bar. Authorities attributed the shooting to a dispute between the Pagans and a street-corner gang.



Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20110110_Seized_weaponry_keeps_ex-Pagans_leader_jailed_on__1_million_bail.html#ixzz1Adp9x1av
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The Geezer Bandit, allegedly robbing a U.S. Bank in Poway, has captured the public's imagination.

Geezer Bandit bank heist spree continued ,The Geezer Bandit, allegedly robbing a U.S. Bank in Poway, has captured the public's imagination.

Move over, John Dillinger, here comes ---- a geezer?
Certainly, modern-day bank robbers are not the Tommy-gun-toting bandits of the Depression era, but come on. A Poway mom, a former biker and a transient were among those identified or charged as bank robbers in North County last year.
That list doesn't even include the most infamous robber to hit the region in recent years, the Geezer Bandit, who may or may not be an actual geezer, according to the FBI.
The apparently geriatric bandit began his spree in 2009, when he held up six banks in San Diego County, including one in Carmel Valley and one in Rancho Santa Fe. But his legend grew in 2010 as he robbed six more banks, including one in Temecula and one in Bakersfield.
Late last year, authorities bumped up the reward for information leading to his capture from $16,000 to $20,000.
"The Geezer Bandit captured America's interest from his very first robbery," said San Diego FBI spokeswoman April Langwell.
Gaining notoriety
TV comedians, including Jay Leno, and T-shirt makers also took notice.
In one of his monologues, Leno joked about the Geezer Bandit.
"The last time he walked into a bank in San Diego, he pointed a gun at the clerk and said, 'What did I come in here for?'" Leno said.
Entrepreneurs have started selling T-shirts that say, "I (heart) Geezer bandit."
Leno and T-shirt makers were not the only ones capitalizing on the Geezer Bandit's fame. One other alleged bank robber claimed he was the infamous robber.
On Nov. 1, Edward Bernard Power, 58, a former Mongol outlaw biker, was overheard saying that he was the Geezer Bandit during his attempt to rob a Carlsbad bank. He was arrested later the same day and pleaded not guilty to the bank robbery charges later that week.
Authorities said Power was not the Geezer Bandit. To date, the real Geezer remains elusive as ever.
The FBI named the Geezer Bandit for his elderly appearance. In photos released from bank surveillance videos, the robber appears to have a wrinkled face and wears eyeglasses.
The bandit typically wears a hat, usually a dark baseball cap or newsboy cap, gray slacks, dress shoes and a blue blazer. He was known to tote an oxygen tank during his earlier heists. He appears to be a white man between 60 and 70 years old, about 6 feet tall and 190 pounds, according to the FBI.
Despite his elderly appearance, FBI agents have warned that he is armed and could be dangerous.
He has used a revolver in some of his heists.
Based on witness reports, authorities also have raised the question of whether the Geezer may actually be a younger man wearing Hollywood-type makeup or a Halloween "old man" mask.
In 2010, the Geezer Bandit accounted for six of the county's more than 160 bank robberies, as of Dec. 23, FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth said. Although that total number may appear large, it was not an unusually high number for the region in recent years, Foxworth said.
Odd characters
Over the past five years, 2007 had the most heists, with 171; 2009 had the lowest number, with 101 robberies. There were 165 bank robberies in 2008 and 142 in 2006.
According to FBI statistics, most bank robberies are committed by young men. About 95 percent are committed by men, about one-third of the offenders are between ages 18 and 29, roughly half of the suspects are black and about 40 percent are whites, according to the FBI.
About half of all bank robbers are caught, according to the FBI.
However, not everyone fits those demographics. The Geezer Bandit was just one of the many unusual characters who graced bank surveillance cameras countywide.
In March, Roxanne Pennock, 37, a married mother of five kids, was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for robbing two Poway banks. She also pleaded guilty to robbing two Temecula banks.
She told authorities that she lied about making sales at work and earning an extra $4,000 in commissions. When her boss caught her and threatened legal action, the Poway woman promised to repay him.
And to get that money, Pennock said she secretly turned to what she felt was her only option: bank robbery.
One of the banks she robbed was so close to her residence that she was able to run home and put her clothes in the washer as she listened to the police sirens approach the bank, according to a probation report included in court documents.
Power, the man who allegedly claimed to be the Geezer Bandit, was featured in a 2005 North County Times story. Power told the newspaper at the time that he was a former Mongol outlaw biker who left the gang after a stint in prison in 1991 on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
He told a reporter at the time that he hoped to overcome his racist and criminal past to become a role model for kids.
In January, a 63-year-old transient was arrested on suspicion of bank robbery. Stephen Hill allegedly entered the First Republic Bank in Del Mar and handed the teller a note demanding money.
A deputy later spotted him in a vehicle on South Coast Highway 101. Agents allegedly found the money and the demand note in Hill's car, authorities said.

Ernst & Young LLP, raised no red flags.

As time ticked down for Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the embattled investment bank expanded its use of an accounting trick to mask the extent of its borrowing. Its auditor, Ernst & Young LLP, raised no red flags.

Now, the giant accounting firm could face civil fraud charges as early as this week, alleging that it helped Lehman hide the truth from investors ahead of the bank’s catastrophic downfall in September, 2008.

UK High Speed Fibre Optic Broadband Could Trigger Internet Crime Surge − ISPreview UK

UK High Speed Fibre Optic Broadband Could Trigger Internet Crime Surge − ISPreview UK: "Next year, the UK economy will benefit from new high-speed fibre optic internet connections, which could boost online trade by nearly £20 billion. This is a huge opportunity for legitimate commerce – and for online fraudsters.

Of the 385 police officers in England and Wales dedicated to online work of all kinds, around 85% are tackling child exploitation and the internet trade in child abuse images.

The shows how little of our specialist cyber capacity is dedicated to the kind of online crime I’ve discussed. We do not have the equivalent of the US’s federal Cyber Command to combat this kind of crime.'"

grenade thrown into a square in Mexico's northern business city of Monterrey on Saturday, injuring 12 people in an attack

grenade thrown into a square in Mexico's northern business city of Monterrey on Saturday, injuring 12 people in an attack the government blamed on drug gangs.

Unidentified men on foot threw the grenade from the edge of a square where people had gathered on a warm autumn night in the municipality of Guadalupe, which is part of Monterrey, police said. Four children were among the injured.

"There was a loud explosion and people started screaming and running," a witness, who declined to give her name, told local radio.

The explosion was the fourth from a grenade during the weekend in Monterrey, one of Latin America's premier business cities. No one was injured in the earlier attacks.

Television images from Saturday's scene showed crying children rushed to the hospital, their heads wrapped with white bandages, but no one was seriously injured, Guadalupe Mayor Ivonne Alvarez told local newspaper El Norte.

Mexico's Interior Ministry condemned the incident and promised a crackdown. It blamed organized crime for the grenade attack in a reference to drug cartels vying for smuggling routes into the United States and Mexico's lucrative home-grown drug markets.

"These actions underline the need for the three levels of government ... to face head on the threat from organized crime," the ministry said in a statement.

Monterrey, which has close U.S. business ties, had been an oasis of calm but has been sucked into Mexico's drug war since the start of this year. One of the three grenade attacks on Friday across Monterrey came in the center of the city near the U.S. consulate, which had been targeted at least twice with grenades in 2009.

The government blames a split between the powerful Gulf cartel and its former armed wing, the Zetas, for much of the violence, which also has surged in neighboring Tamaulipas since the start of the year.

In September 2008, a drug gang killed eight revelers in a grenade attack on Independence Day celebrations in the city of Morelia in western Mexico, raising the specter of what the Mexican media called "narco-terrorism."

But fears of a surge in attacks on civilians have not materialized across Mexico and most of the dead in the drug war are hitmen, corrupt police and soldiers, although civilians have been caught in the cross-fire of deadly shootouts.

More than 29,000 people have died in drug violence since President Felipe Calderon launched his army-led offensive on drug cartels in late 2006.

The explosion in Guadalupe is likely part of a wider intimidation campaign by drug gangs across northern Mexico. Drug gangs detonated several bombs in cars in Tamaulipas state earlier this year but no one was injured in the blasts.

While the drug war has become notorious for grisly murders, Mexico has yet to reach the level of violence of Colombia in the 1980s and early '90s, when drug smugglers set off powerful car bombs and also bombed a commercial airliner, killing 107 people, in protest at extraditions to the United States.

Nashville may be ground zero.

Nashville may be ground zero.

Area police have been making bigger heroin busts over the past three years than in the past decade as a fresh influx of cheap, widely available heroin hits the streets. Mexican drug cartels have pumped out more than 400 percent more heroin than just six years ago, and one of the main trafficking routes runs straight through Nashville, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Yes, we have seen a rise in heroin in the state of Tennessee," said Kristin Helm, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. "It's up more in Middle Tennessee than in the rest of the state."

Heroin busts in and around Nashville are increasing, with larger quantities being seized.

Dickson County detectives made the biggest heroin bust in county history in June, seizing $90,000 worth of black tar found hidden in a potato chip bag in a car. In September, Metro police nabbed three alleged drug mules carrying more than $50,000 worth of heroin from Ohio to be distributed in and around Nashville.

"I've been doing drug work for about 10 years," said Sgt. Buddy Rhett, in Metro police's narcotics unit. "When I first started drug work, you didn't really see heroin. It's been increasing over the last three years."

In 2007, Nashville officers seized 99 grams of heroin, and in 2009 that number had risen to 991 grams.

Though law enforcement isn't calling the resurgence an epidemic, some treatment centers are seeing more patients with heroin addictions than in the past.

"People are snorting it and injecting it, adolescents all the way to people into their 30s," said Chuck Rapp, admissions coordinator at the Cumberland Heights drug treatment center.

Bikie gang members charged over shooting - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Bikie gang members charged over shooting - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Two members of the Comanchero bikie gang have been charged over the shooting of Hells Angel gang member Peter Zervas at Lakemba in March last year.
Mr Zervas was shot eight times, a week after his brother Anthony Zervas was bashed to death at Sydney Airport.
A 30-year-old Matraville man and his 26-year-old brother have this afternoon been charged with conspiracy to murder and participate in a criminal group."

Alleged gang members held in Daly City slaying

Alleged gang members held in Daly City slaying: "Carlos Mejia-Quintanilla, 20, of San Francisco and David Mejia-Sensente, 26, of Daly City were taken into custody at about 5:30 p.m. Friday in the shooting death of Alexander Castanon, said Daly City police Sgt. David Mackriss.
Castanon, 26, was found on the 6200 block of Mission Street at 12:24 a.m. June 21 by officers who were investigating reports of gunfire, Mackriss said.
Castanon, who lived two blocks away, was shot in the head, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators believe some kind of altercation occurred on the bus, said Mackriss, who did not elaborate.
Castanon worked at the Baby Blues BBQ on Mission Street in San Francisco and was not a gang member, police and friends said.
Three other alleged gang members were also arrested Friday by Daly City police."

British Troops Face Allegations Of Smuggling Heroin

British Troops Face Allegations Of Smuggling Heroin: "Britain's military police are investigating allegations that British soldiers may have smuggled heroin out of Afghanistan using military aircraft, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Sunday.
An official spokeswoman said the investigation was focusing on service personnel posted to airports in Camp Bastion and Kandahar.
'Although they are unsubstantiated, we take any such reports very seriously and we have already tightened our existing procedures both in Afghanistan and in the U.K., including increasing the use of trained sniffer dogs,' she said, ading: 'Any of our people found to be engaged in trafficking of illegal narcotics will feel the full weight of the law.'
Afghanistan accounts for almost 90% of the world's total production of opium. NATO has said that the revenue generated by illegal opium trade is financing and sustaining the Taliban insurgency in the war-torn country."

BBC News - Italian mafia boss arrested in France

BBC News - Italian mafia boss arrested in France: "top mafia boss and one of Italy's most wanted men has been arrested in the south of France after a decade on the run, officials said.
Giuseppe Falsone is thought to be the mafia boss for the province of Agrigento in Sicily.
He has already been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and international drug trafficking.
The 40-year-old has also been linked to renowned mobster Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested in 2006.
He was caught in Marseille and is believed to have had plastic surgery and to have been using false identification.
Police footage showed a small hideaway in the south of France where they say Falsone had been living."

DRUGS are being smuggled into Edinburgh's Saughton Prison

DRUGS are being smuggled into Edinburgh's Saughton Prison hidden behind postage stamps and inside felt-tip pens, it was revealed today.

The increasingly inventive ways inmates use to obtain drugs on the inside were shown in documents obtained by the Evening News using freedom of information laws.

They also described drugs being sewn into jeans and jogging bottom waistbands and eve
n in the labels of clothing such as boxer shorts.

The documents reveal that a soaring amount of drugs, mobile phones and weapons have been found in the Edinburgh prison this year. On average, around five batches of drugs, three mobile phones and one weapon have been confiscated every week for the past two months.

LSD and SIM cards were found behind stamps on letters to inmates. In cells, wardens discovered mobile phones hidden in light fittings, and drugs, weapons and mobiles hanging from string out of the window.

Since January this year, cell finds include spears made out of mop handles and hooks; 215 packets of tobacco in just two cells; a stash of counterfeit DVDs including a porn collection; a knife made out of a razor blade and a brush; and an inhaler converted into a crack pipe.

Hells Angels were arrested in a massive drug sweep in the Montreal area Tuesday morning

Hells Angels were arrested in a massive drug sweep in the Montreal area Tuesday morning

The Weston Mercury - Businessman on trial for gun crime

The Weston Mercury - Businessman on trial for gun crime: "Cam Mu, of Brean Down Avenue in Weston, will begin his trial after being charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, as well as assault.

Mr Mu previously pleaded not guilty to both charges at North Somerset Courthouse in St Georges.

The trial could last several days"

New York City Mob Tour

John (Cha Cha) Ciarcia hopes to bring some of the city's old gangland history back to life with a new bus tour."Everybody loves the mob," said Ciarcia, a restaurateur, radio host and actor who had a bit part in "The Sopranos." "We'd like to give them a taste of history in the mob."There are plenty of Mafia walking-tour guides - famed mob rat Henry Hill himself wrote "A Goodfella's Guide to New York."Bus tours of "Sopranos" filming locations in New Jersey are still popular nearly three years after the TV show's finale.Ciarcia's bus tour of blood-soaked Manhattan will be the first of its kind, say organizers, who were surprised by the lack of competition.
"There's a lot of things that are hidden in plain sight," said tour guide Moses Gates, 34, who intentionally looked the part in his black gloves and heavy gold chain.The gory front-page photos of the executed executioner ensured the hit went down in history.The Dapper Don's Mulberry St. den, where the FBI recorded damning tapes, is now a store that hawks $300 minimalist leather shoes to oblivious hipsters.
Most people rushing through Columbus Circle have no idea that Colombo crime-family boss Joe Colombo was shot there just before addressing an Italian Unity Day rally in 1971.The New York City Mob Tour (nycmobtour.com) offerings will include newsreels and film clips showing the way the locations once looked. The tours also will show tourists where famous fictional mob scenes were filmed.Ciarcia came up with the idea for the mob bus tour with his childhood pal Vinny (Skinny) Gione.They plan to charge $50 per person for a two-hour tour leaving from Ciarcia's Mulberry St. café, Bocca al Lupo, and driving through Little Italy to midtown and back.

large collection of Howson paintings in the possession of his ex-manager, William O’Neil, were reportedly seized in October

Back from the edge of financial and mental collapse – legal guardians for the painter have now agreed two mainstream exhibitions in London and Edinburgh.
First images were released yesterday of a show of Howson drawings to take place in late March at the prestigious Flowers East gallery in London. He called them the “cream of the crop” from works he had kept for himself.A second exhibition has been provisionally agreed at the Scottish Gallery, one of Edinburgh’s oldest and best-known private galleries, in early 2011. It will be his first show there since 1988.
Last month a court appointed legal guardians for Howson at his own request after sales of his work threatened to descend into chaos.He suffers from a form of autism known as Asperger’s syndrome and was described as struggling in social interaction and business dealings.Howson, 51, has been showing at Flowers, which has branches in London and New York, since 1987. But he has had an on-off relationship with the gallery. He said: “The reason the exhibition was done was to re-establish contact with the gallery. I’ve fallen out with them but also been friends.

“It’s drawings I’ve earmarked over the past five or six years that are the best of my work that I’ve kept to myself, the cream of the crop. We were trying to get back into the London market, we are also trying to establish contact with a major Scottish gallery.”His last major exhibition of oil paintings at Flowers in October 2008 reportedly sold out for over £700,000 before it opened.The new show features a selection of mostly pastel, pen and ink and pencil drawings.One – Falling Star – was a study for The Harrowing of Hell oil painting which sold in 2008 with a £300,000 price tag. But it bears an uncanny resemblance to the artist himself, visibly in trauma, while another work, Tilting At Windmills, is also full of angst.
A spokeswoman for Flowers said: “Howson is an incredible draughtsman and he has produced an outstanding body of work. It is a comprehensive selection of recent studies. Frankly, we were blown away by the pieces.”
Howson has been a driven and hugely productive artist despite personal turmoil, including past battles with addiction and alcoholism. In late 2006, a show devoted to St Andrew, at the council-run City Art Centre in Edinburgh, featured more than 80 paintings and drawings.Last year, as part of the celebrations of Robert Burns’s 250th anniversary, he produced scores of artworks inspired by the bard. Three galleries at the Glasgow Art Fair feature his work next month.A large collection of Howson paintings in the possession of his ex-manager, William O’Neil, were reportedly seized in October by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.

Howson was recently commissioned to paint the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie at the renovated St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow. It is expected the Pope will view it when he visits in September.



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Tags: Contemporary Artists, pen and ink, flowers in october, Contemporary Artist, Modern Artist, business dealings, tilting at windmills, Paintings, falling star, cream of the crop

Alberto Hurtado Osorio, 60, was behind bars in Colombia last night

Alberto Hurtado Osorio, 60, was behind bars in Colombia last night. His arrest came two years after the Australian Federal Police and counterparts in South America and Latin America launched a sting to smash his cartel, which is suspected of smuggling drugs across the world through the post.Osorio, who served two years in Sydney on drug charges in the early 1990s, had been on the AFP's secret "top 10" target list for years.But the Colombian, a senior member of a well-known Bogata-based cartel, had eluded police by constantly moving throughout the South American country and keeping the operation at arm's length.It is alleged the drug cartel was smuggling cocaine to contacts in Australia in comparatively small amounts -- about 300g -- via air mail, certified mail and private parcel companies.Police have no idea how much cocaine the cartel had managed to smuggle into Australia. It was sent from Peru and Argentina in a bid to disguise its Colombian origins.Police began to close in on Osorio late last year after the AFP intercepted three consignments of 300g of cocaine in Sydney. At the same time, Peruvian authorities seized two consignments bound for Australia.
The gang is also suspected of smuggling drugs into other major Western markets worldwide.Peruvian police arrested two men at the same time Osorio was picked up. All three have been charged with trafficking and will face trial in their respective countries.
The investigation into the cartel's Australian connections is continuing.
AFP investigators said yesterday drug-smugglers had returned to using the post after the post-September 11, 2001, security crackdown on ports and airports made it increasingly difficult to smuggler large amounts of drugs.AFP national manager for serious and organised crime Kevin Zuccato said Osorio's arrest was a significant development in Australia's fight against drugs."This guy has been on our radar since 1992," Mr Zuccato said. "Increasingly, smugglers are sending comparatively smaller amounts of drugs through the post and with `swallowers' on planes."It is difficult to know how much drugs this gang got in to Australia. It is not about the quantity of the drugs seized but the quality of the crook we arrest and stop from bringing drugs into this country. He was a very senior member of a significant drug syndicate in Colombia, with suspected links to other syndicates."
Police arrested 25 people in Australia this week for allegedly mailing drugs around the country hidden in different items, including a teddy bear.The AFP said it had seized 145 parcels and 73kg of drugs.The teddy bear was used to hide a new drug called "miaow", which has been likened to ecstasy.

Scott William Schneider, 30, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to driving while impaired and possession of a prohibited firearm.

Scott William Schneider, 30, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to driving while impaired and possession of a prohibited firearm.He was handed a two-year and nine-month sentence, a 10-year firearm ban and a two-year driving ban.
Schneider was carrying a loaded handgun when he was arrested early Christmas Day after a hit-and-run in the 800-block Parker Street in White Rock.His passenger, a 27-year-old White Rock man, is scheduled to appear in Feb. 18 in Surrey Provincial Court, where he will face charges of uttering threats and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.In 2008, Schneider was acquitted, alongside White Rock Angel Villy Roy Lynnerrup and chapter president Douglas Falconer Riddoch, for assault charges stemming from a home invasion and assault in 2007.

Bomb blast killed two men in Adelaide.

The man, of suburban Munno Para West, has not been charged in relation to the fatal explosion that claimed the lives of a Hells Angels bikie gang associate and a convicted drug dealer.The pair died when a homemade bomb went off in a car at suburban Enfield before dawn.Police believe the bomb was triggered by accident and a rival gang member was the intended target.The man charged was detained after police went to the home of one of the dead men and found a second bomb.He was also charged with drug and firearms offences and was remanded in custody to appear again in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court in March.

Joseph Ferraiolo was targeted.

"To me it seems like there was some inside or some targeting here because we never ever had problems here," says Steve Frydman who has owned a real estate business on the second floor of this building for 20 years.
In that time he says he's never experienced the violence police say took place right below his office, "the space that they rented here was always quiet and discrete I never saw any unusual amount of people at once that would come here."
Things changed Tuesday just after 8pm. Hamden Police were called to a Touch of Color tattoo parlor where they found 64-year-old Ferraiolo shot to death.
There were signs of a struggle inside the shop but few clues pointed to the shooter. Now investigators are looking at all leads, including Ferraiolo’s possible affiliation to motorcycle gangs.
"Summer time they have a lot of bike guys coming over there," Jimmy Patel owns a package store close to Touch of Color, he remembers seeing the bikes parked outside.
But Kaleb Edgar, a tattoo artist at the parlor tells NBC Connecticut News that nothing illegal happened in the shop.
Bob Piccirillo, the owner of Hamden Barber Shop, also calls the connection police are trying to make between Ferraiolo and a gang a stretch, "have I seen bikes? I’ve seen some but it’s not like they all congregate. Like I said, I’ve seen a couple of them but that is kind of surprising to me."
Edgar says Ferraiolo is survived by four adult children. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the Hamden Police Department.

“RIP King Of The Hill.”

Another said: “True Bad Man. RIP bro. Never forgotten.”
And another said: “Words cannot explain how we all feel as you were a true friend to us all and you did many good things for us all and helped us out in ways others would not.
“You were at the top but still had time for us at the bottom. Just to know you and call you a friend was an honour. The respect you had for others around will be very missed. We all turned to you in our times of need. And now we all seem so lost now you have gone.”‘King of the Hill’ who was found shot dead in the Cheshire mansion of a controversial businessman Arran Coghlan.

Stephen ‘Aki’ Akinyemi, 44, was said to be a prominent member of the notorious Cheetham Hill gang, which is believed to be behind major crime and the supply of drugs in Manchester.He was known for enjoying champagne and cruising Manchester’s clubland in his silver Porsche, with the private registration AKI.He had a string of previous convictions and most recently had been jailed for 13 months in 2006 for violent disorder.At the time of his death, he was on bail for allegedly attacking someone with a baseball bat outside the Lounge 31 nightclub in the city centre in November.He was found with serious stab injuries at Mr Coghlan’s Alderley Edge home on Tuesday afternoon. He was wearing a stab vest.But a post-mortem examination revealed he had died of a gunshot wound, not knife injuries.Mr Coghlan was also discovered with stab injuries at the scene and he was taken to hospital under police guard. He was later discharged although he remains in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder.Last night a tribute page to Mr Akinyemi on social networking website Facebook, titled ‘RIP AKI’, had more than 600 members.
Another said: “True Bad Man. RIP bro. Never forgotten.”
And another said: “Words cannot explain how we all feel as you were a true friend to us all and you did many good things for us all and helped us out in ways others would not.“You were at the top but still had time for us at the bottom. Just to know you and call you a friend was an honour. The respect you had for others around will be very missed. We all turned to you in our times of need. And now we all seem so lost now you have gone.”Mr Coghlan was cleared in 1996 of murdering Stockport ‘Mr Big’ Chris Little, who was shot dead at the wheel of his Mercedes.In 2003, Mr Coghlan stood trial for the murder of drug dealer David Barnshaw, who was kidnapped and forced to drink petrol before being burned alive in the back of a car in Stockport in 2001.But the case collapsed when it was revealed police had failed to pass on important information about another possible suspect.

Chris Little was known to police in Stockport as an empire-builder

Chris Little was a product of Greater Manchester, a city now coping with some of the most viciously criminal neighbourhoods in urban Europe. As a local villain, he was known to police in Stockport as an empire-builder rather than 'self-employed builder' as he had lately styled himself. In reality, he was a feared racketeer. One man who betrayed him was bundled into a small dark room with only the Rottweiler for company.
Little's gangs of doormen provided 'security' at nightclubs in Stockport. One club run by rivals was targeted in a gun attack recently.Earlier this year, Little recruited young men to launch a spate of arson attacks in Stockport in which schools, shops and vehicles were damaged by firebombs. No one was hurt, but about pounds 1m worth of damage was done.Although the police suspected Little of organising the attacks (thought to have been carried out as a show of strength), he was never charged.Lately, Little had tried to expand his empire into the Stretford area, stepping on the toes of drug barons there.He owned a nice house in a good area of Stockport, but probably his greatest pride and joy was the Merc - a black 500 SLE. With the Rottweiler, nobody would surprise him; with the car, nobody would catch him. It turned out to be a fatal double delusion.As he stopped at traffic lights in Stockport Road, Marple, on Friday night, a white Ford Granada travelling in the same direction pulled up alongside. The shots came from its open window.Under the dying man's foot, the automatic Merc sped off, colliding with two vehicles and injuring four people.At the dead man's home yesterday, the Rottweiler could be heard barking.

Arran Coghlan, 39,guarded by armed police in hospital while being treated for knife wounds.

Arran Coghlan, 39,guarded by armed police in hospital while being treated for knife wounds.His business associate Stephen ‘Aki’ Akinyemi, 36, was found stabbed to death in his bathroom following an alleged row.Yesterday, officers were searching Coghlan's £2million converted chapel in Alderley Edge, Cheshire – known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’ where Premiership footballers rub shoulders with soap stars.
Members of his family have been taken into protective custody.Police said yesterday: ‘A 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is receiving hospital treatment.’Akinyemi, from Cheetham Hill, Manchester, suffered fatal knife wounds despite wearing a stab proof vest.Coghlan, dialled 999 as Akinyemi lay dying, suffered serious knife injuries to his upper body.The call, made at 2pm on Tuesday, occurred after father of one Coghlan - who survived an attempt on his life in a bar on New Years Day 2009 - was suspected by police of building a multi-million pound crime empire.In 1996 he was acquitted of the gangland murder of drug baron Chris Little dubbed the Devil Dog Mobster because he set rottweilers on rivals.
Little, 32, was shot dead at the wheel of his Mercedes.Coghland was cleared .In 2002 Coghlan stood trial accused of murder again after claims he kidnapped and burnt to death petty drug dealer David Barnshaw, 32, in the boot of a car in September 1999.
Jurors were told that Coghlan – who has a bed shaped like a pirate ship – had ‘built an empire through ruthless violence, demanding respect and loyalty from all those who worked for him.’ The case against him and others collapsed when it was revealed police had failed to pass on important information about another possible suspect.
Coghlan, nicknamed ‘Az’ on the registration plate of his Bentley Turbo, has always denied any involvement in wrongdoing and claimed detectives were involved in a ‘campaign to get him at all costs’.
He is now suing the Greater Manchester force after it emerged a disgraced senior detective had withheld vital evidence from a file which linked the second of the murders to another suspect.
Despite his alleged underhand connections, many neighbours thought he was an accountant. Residents of Alderley Edge include Manchester City star Carlos Tevez, cricketer Freddie Flintoff and Coronation Street actress Samia Ghadie.
On New Year’s Day 2009, Coghlan was stabbed in the head face and back as he partied with friends at Cobdens bar in his native Stockport, Greater Manchester.
The knifeman was never traced but police suspect the attack was linked to mobsters from the Cheetham Hill gang.

Danielle Bardsley, 30, wept as she was imprisoned after ignoring a court order

Danielle Bardsley, 30, wept as she was imprisoned after ignoring a court order demanding she pay back some of the money stolen by her boyfriend Peter Anderson.
Last year the M.E.N. revealed how Bardsley, of Barrow Street, Salford, enjoyed a footballer's ‘WAG’ lifestyle thanks to Anderson’s life of crime.
A court ruled she had benefited to the tune of £112,000 but a VW Golf car and a few pounds in a bank account were the only assets of hers police could find.
She was handed a suspended prison sentence and given four months to hand over £5,036 of ‘realisable assets’, mainly the VW Golf.In December, she flouted her suspended prison sentence by failing to keep appointments with her probation worker as required.But judge Anthony Gee gave her another chance after hearing she had become ‘depressed’ because her boyfriend was locked away.She was allowed to walk free although she was handed a curfew to prevent her partying over the Christmas period.But she still couldn’t stay out of trouble.Bardsley was arrested on Monday after snubbing six police letters and a court summons.Yesterday Bardsley sobbed as magistrates in Bolton invoked the jail term handed down last year in the event she failed to pay up.The court heard she had paid £2,000 on November 27 after selling the Golf but she later ignored two letters and a court summons about the outstanding amount.
She claimed she had again been ‘depressed’ and that the value of the Golf had been slashed due to damage.Giving her 72 days behind bars, chairman of the bench Dr Derek Tate told her: “We believe there’s no evidence that you have made a concerted effort to discharge this order.”He added there was ‘no merit’ in her bid to adjourn the hearing to, as her solicitor Vic Wozny said, ‘beg or borrow’ the money from her family.Bardsley’s boyfriend Anderson was jailed for six years in 2006 for a terrifying armed bank raid in Preston.At the previous hearing, a court was told how she had enjoyed a luxury lifestyle while claiming benefits.She wore Prada designer clothes and jewellery, went to a private gym and lived behind wrought iron gates in a comfortable semi-detached house equipped with the latest mod cons, including a Bang & Olufsen flat-screen TV.Bardsley boasted a permanent tan thanks to holidays in Mexico, Florida and Tenerife and had access to a fleet of cars including a Porsche Cayenne, Range Rover Sport and Audi A4.Despite all that, for nearly 10 years the mum-of-two claimed she was unemployed and sponged £30,000 from the state in income support as a ‘single mother’.
She also claimed free school meals for her two children.She admitted money laundering but escaped jail at the first hearing because of concerns over the care of the two children she has with Anderson.

Stephen Marshall, 38, admitted having butchered the bodies of four other men while working as a doorman for a London nightclub

Stephen Marshall, 38, also admitted having butchered the bodies of four other men while working as a doorman for a London nightclub run by gangsters in the 1990s. Police will reopen a number of cold cases involving missing people and body parts found in the past 15 years.Described as both "charming" and "highly volatile", Marshall will serve a minimum of 36 years for murdering Jeffrey Howe and then scattering his body parts across two counties before emptying his bank account and selling his possessions. His 21-year-old girlfriend, Sarah Bush, was sentenced to three years and nine months for helping Marshall cover up the murder.
Howe's body had been so expertly dismembered that pathologists who examined the macabre finds correctly concluded that the person responsible must have "previous experience of such activity". St Albans crown court heard that Marshall had previously boasted that he used to cut up and bury bodies on behalf of the notorious Adams family, who ran a crime empire in north London. One witness told the jury that Marshall worked as a bouncer for the family and would carry out "additional jobs after hours" – decapitating and dismembering murder victims and burying them without a trace.
Today Marshall's barrister Peter Doyle, QC, told the jury his client had described between 1995 and 1998 working as a doorman at clubs where on four occasions he had been asked to assist in the dismemberment of four unidentified men who had been killed earlier and brought to the clubs during the night. Doyle said Marshall had thought it "sensible" not to ask questions, and following the chopping up of the bodies the parts would be collected by others and taken to Epping Forest in north-east London and buried.After sentencing it emerged that Marshall had a string of previous convictions, including one for battering his first wife in 2003. He was also arrested on suspicion of murdering Minesh Nagrecha, whose corpse was disfigured and burnt when found by police in 1996. Marshall was never charged with the crime, instead appearing as a witness.

When the trial opened three weeks ago Marshall denied being the murderer, instead blaming Bush, a "vulnerable" young sex worker who had given birth to the first of her three children just a few days after her 15th birthday. But in a dramatic about-turn last week Marshall changed his plea and admitted being responsible for the whole crime.Sentencing him, the judge, Mr Justice Cooke, said that Marshall, a heavy cocaine user, now admitted stabbing Howe twice on March 8 last year. The judge said Marshall carried out the murder in a "muddled and no doubt drug-befuddled state" as Howe lay sleeping in bed in his house in Southgate, north London, which he shared with the couple.Today Bush finally admitted perverting the course of justice by helping Marshall cover up Howe's murder. She said she was with Marshall when he dumped Howe's head, unwrapped, in a field near Ashfordby in Leicestershire.
She admitted misleading police and friends of Howe by claiming he had simply "upped and left" while secretly using his money to buy shoes, a laptop, takeaways and other goodsHer barrister told the judge she was "terrified" of Marshall and helped him because she was scared of becoming his next victim. To Bush, the judge said: "You were well aware of what Stephen Marshall had done. You took advantage of Mr Howe in life and then after his death you used his money."Bush was acquitted of murdering Howe but pleaded guilty to helping to dispose of his body parts and giving false information about his whereabouts when police were investigating his disappearance.She was sentenced to three years and nine months for the first offence and to two years and three months for the second one, with the two terms to run concurrently.
She received a relatively lenient sentence because of her upbringing. The court heard she had spent most of her life in care before falling into prostitution and that her first baby died when he was 10 days old. After the verdict, police admitted being "quite surprised" when Marshall's previous involvement in dismembering bodies was aired in court.Detective Superintendent Michael Hanlon, who was in charge of the investigation, said Marshall would be visited in prison and asked to expand on the 11th-hour admissions made moments before his life sentence was handed to him.
Parts of Howe's body began turning up last March, a few days after Marshall had stabbed him to death. Police quickly realised they were dealing with a murder victim whose identity at the time was not known. As more pieces were discovered the victim became known as the "jigsaw man".
Howe's hands have not been found and police say they hope Marshall will show "decency" to the victim's family by giving their location. After the verdict Howe's family issued a statement that described him as a "a jovial, charming character who had a heart of gold". They said they would never be able to comprehend "Jeffrey's death and the macabre actions of those who killed him".

Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair has said that he always feels "relaxed and safe" whenever he stays in Dublin.

Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair has said that he always feels "relaxed and safe" whenever he stays in Dublin. Adair (46) is currently living in Troon in Scotland but plans to end his self-imposed exile and return to Ireland. In an interview with Dublin's Herald newspaper, the gangster ruled out living permanently in Dublin but said he never felt threatened in the Irish capital. "The thing that struck me about Dublin is how relaxing it was and how safe I felt there," he said. "I wouldn't be as easily recognised in Dublin as I would be in the North or in Britain, so I feel more at ease. "I've been recognised on a few occasions while I was in Dublin but I was never threatened and had no negative experiences, no one seemed to have a problem.
The notorious gangster led one of the most brutal loyalist companies in the history of the Troubles. A spokesperson for the newly decommissioned UDA said: "It will be up to the police to deal with him if he comes back and there's no doubt he'll be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life," he said. However, Adair is determined to come home and start a security firm. He said: "I'll be going back to the North, absolutely. It's not an option at the moment because there are still threats against my life from the UDA."