Scots drugs gang jailed | Scotland | STV News

Scots drugs gang jailed Scotland STV News: "Seven men, including five Scots, have been jailed for a total of 106 years for their part in a major drugs and firearms conspiracy spanning the UK, Europe and South America. Martin Graham, of Methil, Fife, Edward McIntosh and Lucasz Litwinski, of Arbroath, Angus, James Boyle, of Kirkcaldy, and Leslie Graham of Dundee appeared at Liverpool Crown Court for sentence on Tuesday. They, along with Karol Siejda and Jason Bowley, had previously pleaded guilty to drugs offences in relation to Lancashire Constabulary’s Operation Greengage. Officers from the force’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit began the operation in November 2006, the main subject of which at this time was Ivan Hue, of Robin Street, Preston. The investigation identified that Hue was using a network of couriers, which included close family members and friends, to transport funds to Amsterdam to pay for controlled drugs that would be subsequently imported into the UK."

Guns stolen from gun range operated by Harvey police :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime

Guns stolen from gun range operated by Harvey police :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Chicago Crime: "20 weapons have been stolen from a gun range operated by south suburban Harvey’s police department — and the State Police and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting in the efforts to recover them, officials said today.
Harvey authorities have told federal and state investigators that 21 firearms were stolen at about 9 a.m. Monday from a trailer at the range, said Tom Ahern, a spokesman for ATF."

The Shower Posse, which the U.S. government says holds influence with Jamaica’s governing Labour Party and is responsible for more than 1,400 drug-related killings,

The Shower Posse, which the U.S. government says holds influence with Jamaica’s governing Labour Party and is responsible for more than 1,400 drug-related killings

The Shower Posse, which the U.S. government says holds influence with Jamaica’s governing Labour Party and is responsible for more than 1,400 drug-related killings, is an international organized crime syndicate that police say funnelled drugs through the Caribbean to GTA street-level gangs such as the Falstaff Crips and the Five Point Generals.

On Tuesday morning, more than 1,000 police officers from forces across Ontario executed 105 search warrants in the GTA and Ottawa, resulting in 79 arrests and the seizure of $30,000 in cash, $10,500 in casino cheques, 19 firearms, diamonds, cocaine, body armour, vehicles and more than 10,000 ecstasy pills.

The arrests signal the first time police have been able to establish a link to the infamously violent Jamaican drug cartel, which one expert says has been operating in the GTA for decades, reaping profits in the shadows while fuelling gang warfare and terrorizing residents.

Global News

Police say that some of the men arrested in Tuesday's crackdown could have links to Jamaica's powerful Shower Posse gang.

“You’re not gonna notice them. You’re not gonna see them,” said Staff Inspector Mike Earl, noting members of the Shower Posse are typically in their 30s or 40s. “They’re smart, they’re organized and they’ve been around a long time.”

Dubbed Project Corral, the investigation began in August 2009 focusing on several shootings and other violent crimes in northwest Toronto that police believed to be a result of fighting between the area’s competing criminal organizations.

While investigators initially targetted members of the Falstaff Crips and Five Point Generals — street-level gangs allegedly selling illicit drugs and trafficking in firearms — police now allege that these gangs were being controlled by the Shower Posse.

“Over the course of this investigation, a more significant organized crime involvement has been identified,” Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair told reporters at a media conference on Tuesday. “We’re very hopeful that by incapacitating these organizations … we can make our communities safer.”

Police say their investigation revealed that the Jamaican gang is allegedly responsible for a “significant part” of the city’s drug trade, and that its influence stretches as far north as Sault Ste. Marie, sweeping from Windsor in the west to Ottawa in the east. Earlier this year, Project Corral investigators in the Dominican Republic intercepted more than 70 kilograms of cocaine and a load of firearms destined for Toronto, police say.

Two unsolved homicides, one on Dec. 3, 2009, and the other on Feb. 8, 2010, both of which occurred on Falstaff Ave., are also part of the investigation.

The Shower Posse takes its name from its modus operandi — showering communities with bullets to enforce their dominance, said Michael C. Chettleburgh, author of Young Thugs: Inside the Dangerous World of Canadian Street Gangs.

The Posse has a strong presence in northwest Toronto because members fled to Canada when Michael Manley’s government took power in Jamaica in the 1970s.

“They came with a lot of violence in their system, essentially, in that they were brought up in the ways of badness by government officials,” said Mr. Chettleburgh, the founder of Astwood Strategy Corp., a crime and social justice consultancy group. “They came with access to the drug trade, and they arrived in Canada … and basically set up shop.”

The gang’s lineage has been passed on to a new generation of Canadians, he said.

“In terms of the street level, they still have a presence, they’re still a powerful entity in terms of supplying the market with the tools of the street gangsters, which is dope — drugs of all kinds,” he said. “They are a force to be reckoned with, as are traditional organized crime entities.”
The Shower Posse, said to operate drug bases in more than 20 U.S. cities, has its roots in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Vivian Blake founded the gang in the 1970s. Before his incarceration in a U.S. prison in 2000 for racketeering and cocaine possession, the native Jamaican was allegedly responsible for importing thousands of tons of drugs into the United States. He served eight years of his 28-year sentence and returned to Jamaica in January 2009. He died on March 25 in Kingston at the age of 54.

The gang’s alleged current leader, 41-year-old Christopher Coke, is a powerful player in Jamaican politics, so much so that the U.S. State Department’s attempt to extradite him has rattled relations between the two countries.

Mr. Coke is facing charges in the United States of firearms trafficking and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana.

He is so influential that intermediaries managed to seek a resolution of his legal predicament directly with top aides to President Obama.

The State Department has suggested that it is Mr. Coke’s influence with top ruling party politicians that is impeding his extradition. The Jamaican government continues to resist Mr. Coke’s extradition, claiming insufficient evidence.

Teen dies, 3 hurt in gang shooting - MassLive.com

Teen dies, 3 hurt in gang shooting - MassLive.com: "Springfield teen was killed Saturday night in a gang-related shooting that also injured an 8-year-old boy and two others.
Rafael Montanez, 16, of Alderman Street, was shot near 57 Allendale St. after a gunfight broke out at about 8:15 p.m., said Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet.
When police responded to calls for help at the corner of Allendale and Dwight streets in the city's North End, they found four male victims suffering from gunshot wounds. One was shot in the shoulder, one had a wound in his leg and the 8-year-old boy was shot in the foot. Three were transported to Baystate Medical Center"

Man with ties to Bacon brothers arrested in Abbotsford

Man with ties to Bacon brothers arrested in Abbotsford: "Lance Wust, a former associate of the Bacon brothers, was arrested Friday by the Abbotsford Police Department's new Gang Suppression Unit.
Wust was stopped in a black Ford pickup near a residence in the 36000-block of Old Yale Road with another man.
Const. Ian MacDonald said in a news release that the men were connected to the house where the Abbotsford gang squad, backed by members of the Municipal Integrated Emergency Response Team, executed a warrant.
'The search of the residence resulted in the seizure of a loaded .40-calibre semi-automatic handgun, ammunition, two bulletproof vests, cash and OxyContin,' MacDonald said.
Wust, 35, now faces three firearms charges, as well as one charge of possession for the purposes of trafficking."