David Francis Giles.is charged along with two associates of the club, David Roger Revell and Richard Andrew Rempel, with associating with a criminal organization and trafficking in cocaine

The June 2005 wiretap, captured from a bug placed in the Hells Angels Kelowna clubhouse, was played in court by prosecutors during final arguments in the trial.
Prosecutor Martha Devlin told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne Mackenzie the East End chapter is a "highly structured, highly sophisticated" criminal gang that exercises a monopoly over certain kinds of criminal activity, primarily the drug trade.
She argued that Giles, a full-patch member who had been with the club for 20 years, did nothing without thinking about how it could benefit both himself and the club.
Giles helped direct and supervise the expansion of the East End chapter to Kelowna from Vancouver, she said.
Wiretaps have Giles laying out his vision of the expansion of the club and how it "must invoke the power of the patch" in Kelowna, said Devlin.
At one point during the wiretaps Giles can be heard warning others to beware of people who try to benefit from their association with the club.
"In no way, shape or form should anybody be riding on our coattails and it's happening all the time and I'm not going to tolerate it, period."
Devlin said the evidence shows that over 15 months, between March 2004 and July 2005, at least five members of the East End chapter were implicated in criminal activity, including the production and distribution of methamphetamines, and the distribution of multi-kilos of cocaine. The club members were also involved in extortions, assaults and possessing weapons, including firearms and grenades.

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The reputed head of a North Charlotte drug distribution organization was apprehended early this morning in New York.
Twenty-nine year old Roscoe Abell was indicted in early 2007 in connection with an organized gang distributing drugs in the Hidden Valley area of Charlotte. He was also wanted on outstanding federal warrants for violating supervised release stemming from a previous conviction. Abell eluded arrest during the original roundup of the others named in the indictment, and remained at large until investigators with the Hornet's Nest Task Force in Charlotte developed information the led the U.S. Marshals New York/New Jersey Fugitive Task Force to an apartment in Manhattan. Marshals found Abell in a rear bedroom of that apartment this morning and arrested him on both of the outstanding charges.
Abell will appear today in U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York for initial proceedings before his removal to Charlotte.

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- Testimony has concluded in a trial for a leading member of the Hells Angels accused of cocaine trafficking.
The trial was conducted without publicity because Justice Anne MacKenzie of the British Columbia Supreme Court barred news media from reporting on it, the Vancouver Sun reported. The ban was partly lifted after a challenge by the Sun and other media companies.
David Francis Giles, 58, a member of the motorcycle gang, is charged with trafficking "for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, to wit: the East End chapter of the Hells Angels."
The testimony still cannot be published. MacKenzie imposed the ban to protect the rights of other Hells Angels members scheduled for later trials
A two-year police investigation included infiltrating a nightclub bouncer, Michael Plante, into the organization. Plante was promised $1 million Canadian ($994,000) for his efforts

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Police arrested seven people and seized cocaine worth €7.7 million. Meanwhile, there was growing doubt yesterday as to whether Freddie Thompson, an associate of murdered gangland figure Paddy Doyle, was in a car with Doyle when he was shot dead in Spain on Monday. Detectives yesterday arrested an Irishman and six Britons, including a minor, and seized 110 kilos of cocaine hidden inside a lorry transporting furniture near to the murder spot.
Government spokesman Juan Jose Lopez Garzon said: “All the indications are that there is a link between the drugs and the dead man.” Gary Hutch, who was travelling in the car with Doyle, presented himself at a police station in Spain yesterday. Hutch was driving the BMW 4x4 in the town of Cancelada, in the resort of Estepona, on the Costa del Sol, with Doyle in the front passenger seat, when they came under attack from another car at lunchtime on Monday. The attackers sprayed the windscreen and front passenger door with five shots, forcing Hutch to career off the road, smashing into a lamp post. Both himself and Doyle tried to flee, but the gunmen ran after Doyle, aged 27, and fired two shots into his head. Hutch managed to escape. The initial reports suggested that Freddie Thompson was also in the car. But a number of Garda sources yesterday said they were not sure that Thompson was in the 4x4 and that there may have only been Doyle and Hutch.Sources said the initial information they received on Monday was that there were three people in the car — Doyle, Hutch and another man, who was said to have an English name. Local sources in Spain were saying this was Thompson. Doyle was a hit-man and trafficker for one of Ireland’s largest drug supply operations. He was a feared “enforcer” for the gang, which has been involved in a violent feud with another gang in the Crumlin-Drimnagh area of south Dublin. This feud has claimed at least nine lives since 2001. Doyle is suspected of involvement in the death of at least two of those men, Joseph Rattigan in July 2002 and Noel Roche in November 2005. He fled to Spain shortly after Roche’s death, where he became a key gang member in organising massive shipments of cocaine and cannabis back to Ireland. Garda sources suspect Doyle’s murder was organised, and carried out, by the rival gang. But they have not ruled out the possibility that he may have been murdered following a row with local drug suppliers.

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On trial is David Francis Giles, 58, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels East End chapter, who is accused of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking "for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, to wit: the East End chapter of the Hells Angels."
The case stems from a two-year, $10-million police investigation that resulted in charges against 18 men, including six Hells Angels, in July 2005.
It was the largest police probe in B.C. to target the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, long considered to be the wealthiest and most sophisticated biker gang in the province.
The central issue at trial is whether the chapter is a criminal organization, which was alleged in an indictment filed July 11, 2005, by Canada's deputy attorney general.
If the Crown succeeds in its criminal-organization prosecution, it could put the assets of all the chapter's members - real estate holdings, cars and motorcycles -- at risk of seizure under B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Act.
It could also make it easier to seize property in future trials involving Hells Angels and other gangs, although the criminal-organization case would have to be made each time.
In their investigation, code-named Project Epandora, police used a nightclub bouncer to infiltrate the motorcycle club.
The man, Michael Plante, applied to become a Hells Angels member and was accepted "in the program" as an official friend of the club.
Mr. Plante, who was promised $1 million by police, testified at an earlier trial that he was given keys to the East End chapter's clubhouse and carried out illegal activity on behalf of Hells Angels members.
Mr. Plante now lives under a new name but is not in witness protection. When he surfaced in 2006, he was 30. He has been paid half his fee -- $500,000 -- and will get the other half after he finishes testifying in various trials.
The charges alleged in the indictments include methamphetamine production and distribution, cocaine trafficking, weapons offences, explosives offences, assaults, extortions and possession of proceeds of crime.
In total, police seized more than 20 kilograms each of methamphetamine and cocaine; more than 70 kilograms of marijuana; restricted and prohibited weapons, including five handguns and fully automatic weapons with silencers; 11 sticks of dynamite with detonation cord and blasting caps; four grenades and an assortment of ammunition.
Police also seized more than $200,000, 250 kilograms of methylamine, a precursor chemical for the production of ecstasy, and two methamphetamine laboratories.

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Queensland man associated with an outlaw motorcycle gang may have been murdered.
But no body has been found and there is no known victim.
Detective Senior Constable Graeme Simpfendorfer, from Victoria's Armed Crime Taskforce, said police believed the murder occurred in the northern suburbs of Melbourne in 2005 and involved several people.
Although they had assessed the information as credible, they have yet to identify the alleged victim who was believed to be aged in his 40s, fit-looking with a thin build and wide shoulders.
He was also said to have short hair and skin described as olive or tanned. He is thought to be from Queensland or South Australia and been associated with outlaw motorcycle gangs.
A computer-generated face image of the man has been released and detectives have urged people with information about his identity to come forward.
"There may be relatives, associates, friends who recognise this man and we implore them to contact Crime Stoppers,'' said Det Snr Const Simpfendorfer.
"This is really a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma and definitely one of the more bizarre investigations in which I have been involved.
"However, we are confident a murder has occurred and identifying the victim would be a leap forward in what is currently an investigation without a great number of leads.''

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Patrick Doyle (27) was shot as he tried to escape in a luxury BMW 4X4 which had come under fire on the outskirts of Estepona, about 10 miles from Marbella.
Injured in the incident was another convicted Dublin criminal, Gary Hutch, while Freddie Thompson, who was recently acquitted of drugs and firearms charges in the Netherlands, escaped unhurt.
The three men were travelling in a BMW 4x4 in the Cancelada district when another BMW 4x4 fired on them.
Four shots were pumped into the front windscreen and another into the front passenger door, before the driver, Gary Hutch, lost control of the vehicle.
The BMW hit a lamp post and Doyle, who was a front-seat passenger, attempted to run away.
The occupants of the 4x4, however, began firing again and the Irishman was struck twice in the head.
The attack took place at the Bel-Air apartment complex, and eyewitnesses said the gunmen made their escape in another BMW 4x4.
Freddie Thompson (27), who was in the back seat of the car yesterday and escaped injury, was arrested in the Netherlands in 2006, when police swooped and found seven kilos of cocaine and six handguns in his rented apartment. The motives appear to be a retaliation shooting which appears to be linked to the gang wars in Ireland.
Martin "Viper" Foley who remains in hospital in a critical condition after being shot in Kimmage Dublin. Has survived 6 previous assassation attempts. Linked with both gangs but mentioned as a sympathiser towards the Gavin/Thompson gang(Sunday World, Ireland on Sunday, Sunday Independent). However, Star Sunday claims he has influence over both gangs yet does not claim allegiance to either side due to fear ofgetting caught in the crossfire. "Fat" Freddie Thompson (24): According to the Sunday World, "Fat" Freddie is the leader of the gang who shot deadNoel Roche in Clontarf on Tuesday, 15 November. Thompson was once part of the same gang as Brian Rattigan (leaderof the rivals in the ongoing feud). Garda sources say he is their prime suspect in at least a dozen shooting incidentsacross the city. Declan Gavin (20): First victim of the feud and one-time leader of the gang. Escaped raid in Holiday Inn drugs seizurethat initiated allegations that he was an informant (Sunday Independent). Stabbed to death in Crumlin, 2001. Darren Geoghegan (26): Suspected murderer of Rattigan gang-member John Roche in March of this year. Shot dead on13 November by IRA hit men supposedly hired by Rattigan's gang (Sunday World) Gavin Byrne( 30): Shot dead with Geoghegan in the same car that was parked in Firhouse. Rattigan Gang: Brian Rattigan (25): Leader of Rattigan gang although currently serving six (ten, according to Sunday World) year prisonsentence for various crimes including drugs and gun charges. Was also charged with the murder of Declan Gavin.Controls his gang via mobile phones and messengers. Narrowly escaped a murder attempt (suspected to have beencarried out by the Thompson/Gavin gang) although had spleen removed and lost a kidney three years ago (SundayWorld). Joseph Rattigan (18) : Brother of Brian. Shot dead in July, 2002 (Ireland on Sunday, Sunday World). John Roche (24) : Major drug dealer wanted by gardaí for attempted murder (Ireland on Sunday). Shot dead inKilmainham, the murderer is suspected to have been Darren Geoghegan (Ireland on Sunday, Sunday World). Noel Roche (27): Chief enforcer of Rattigan's gang who was shot dead in Clontarf on 15 November as part of revenge forthe double murder of Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne (Ireland on Sunday). Eddie Rice (32): Escaped a murder attempt when in the same car as Noel Roche the night he was killed. Turned himselfin but was released without giving any evidence to gardaí.1998: Feud begins. Declan Gavin, then an 18 year old who was already involved with petty crime and was making hismark on drug-trafficking, had his bike burned and his family car covered in paint by Derek Lodge. Suddenly two seperateVillage - Politics, Media and Current Affairs in Irelandhttp://www.village.iePowered by Joomla!Generated: 7 December, 2007, 02:47
gang factions emerged, one led by Declan Gavin, another led by Joseph Rattigan, who was 16 years old at the time(Sunday Independent). Both gangs began to deal cocaine and their main associate was Martin "Viper" Foley and therewas relatively no animosity between them (Sunday World). 3 March, 2000: The event that led to the complete breakdown between the two factions: the Sunday Independentreported that Gavin and one gang member locked themselves into a room at the Holiday Inn hotel on Pearse street inorder to "cut" cocaine (breaking down cocaine into powder and then mixed with glucose in order to distribute more todealers). Gardaí heard of this deal and completed a successful raid on the premises, finding only a 17 year old in theroom. Gavin soon emerged on the corridor and was promptly arrested. This led to allegations that Gavin was aninformant for the gardaí (he had escaped conviction on a previously successful raid). 25 August, 2001: Declan Gavin is murdered (stabbed) outside a restaurant on Crumlin Road. 17 March, 2002: Brian Rattigan is critically injured when shot a number of times in his home. He loses a kidney and hisspleen as a result of the attack. A woman in the house allegedly saw "Fat" Freddie Thompson commit the attack but laterdenies this to gardaí (Sunday World). 16 July, 2002: 18 year old Joseph Rattigan shot dead by the Gavin/Thompson faction (Sunday World) around the sametime his brother Brian was being released from hospital. May, 2002: An associate of Brian Rattigan, Colm Smith is shot through the cheek and tongue after he answers the doorat 3.30 am. Smith survived the attack but refused to talk to gardaí (Sunday World). 2002: "Fat" Freddie Thompson is jailed and serves a sentence for road traffic offences (after being charged with thoseoffences and giving gardaí a false name, aiding the escape of another man from lawful custody), according to the SundayWorld. 25 January, 2004: Paul Warren shot dead in Grey's Pub by two men of the Rattigan faction. Subsequently, BrianRattigan is jailed for a total of ten years for drugs, firearms and violence offences. He is currently serving a four-yearstretch for being in possession of €40,000 worth of heroin. Last year, he received another six years for aiming aloaded shotgun at a Garda during a chase. He continues to control his gang from inside Portlaoise prison with the aid ofmobile phones and messengers (Sunday World). 9 March, 2005: John Roche, one of Rattigan's men and a major drug dealer, is shot dead outside his apartment inKilmainham, reportedly by Darren Geoghegan (Ireland on Sunday). 13 November, 2005: Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne, leading members of the Thompson/Gavin faction aremurdered by suspected hit-men reportedly hired by Rattigan's gang (Ireland on Sunday). 15 November, 2005: Seen by many as a revenge attack (Sunday World, Sunday Independent), Noel Roche (olderbrother of John Roche), Brian Rattigan's "chief enforcer" (Ireland on Sunday) is shot dead in Clontarf. His fellow gangmember, Eddie Rice, escapes but refuses to tell the Gardaí anything about the killers.
There are two gangs: the Crumlin lot (the Gavin/Thompson gang, who may or may not be under the wing of old-hand Martin "Viper" Foley) versus the Rattigans of Drimnagh. These are the young, thrusting newcomers, making their mark where once self-effacing Martin "The General" Cahill (cleaned up by the IRA, 1994, but pictured, left) ruled the roost. The cause of this feud seems to go back to 1998, when Declan Gavin was serving an apprenticeship in small-time crime and drug-trafficking. He had his bike and the family car vandalized, thus causing a rupture with the Rattigans.

Trouble flared in 2001 with the first murder. Declan Gavin had been head of the Crumlin boys. Gavin and a mate were "cutting" a consignment of cocaine in the Holiday Inn, Pearse Street, when the Gardaí raided. Gavin had been caught in a previous raid; and was now suspect of grassing. He was taken out in a stabbing (August 2001). That one is still going through the courts.
Brian Rattigan (St Patrick's Day, 2002) was badly shot up at his home. A witness (who later recanted) identified "Fat Freddie" Thompson as the gun-man. There was a further gun attack on a Rattigan affiliate, Colm Smith, in May 2002: Smith then refused to talk to the Gardaí. "Fat Freddie" was now in jug (driving offences!, but also for giving a false name and aiding the escape of an arrestee).
To celebrate Brian Rattigan's release from hospital (July 2002), Doyle of the Gavin/Thompson gang shot Joe Rattigan of the Drimnagh mob.
On 25 January 2004, in the toilet of Gray's pub, Paul Warren of the Crumlin team was shot by two of the Rattigans, a further revenge murder. Brian Rattigan went inside at Portlaoise for drugs and firearms (10 years) and heroin possession (4 years). Apparently, through mobile phones and runners, he still controls his gang.
The next to go (March 2005) was John Roche, a Rattigan dealer. He was shot, allegedly by Darren Geoghegan, one of four of the same team that shot Joe Rattigan.
14 April 2005, Terence Dunleavy, a dealer, shot in the head. The motorbike used by the killer belonged to a relative of "Fat Freddie", so this was another Thompson execution.
Then, two for one, Darren Geoghegan and Gavin Byrne were executed, perhaps by their own Crumlin side, but more likely as a reprisal, even on a contract basis.
Doyle struck again, 13 November 2005, shooting John Roche's elder brother, Noël, who has been identified as the Rattigan enforcer.
Late summer, 2006, and two more in quick succession: Wayne Zambra (assumed to be part of the team that killed Paul Warren) buys it: again, this is likely to be an internal job; and Gary Bryan, who was the gunman in the Paul Warren murder, was released from gaol and promptly dealt with in a drive-by killing.
Then Eddie McCabe, last December, who had been in on the Zambra murder, was (for a change) beaten to death. He may have been stabbed through the eye.
Now Doyle himself.

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Former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Robert "Eddie" Blake and his co-accused Nick Chyzy were in court this morning for the beginning of the scaled-down hearing to determine what evidence will be admissible in their case, and if there is enough evidence to go to trial, among other things.
The hearing had originally been expected to take more than two weeks, but has now been reduced to only a handful of witnesses.
A court-ordered publication ban prevents any of the evidence presented at the hearing from being published.
Blake and Chyzy were among 17 people, including 10 Manitobans, arrested in September 2004 in a project called Operation Diversion.
Police allege the accused were running a criminal network that smuggled ephedrine from a Thunder Bay, Ont., bodybuilding supply company called Pumpuii Energy Products through Winnipeg, Lac du Bonnet, and Hanna, Alta. From there, the ephedrine was allegedly repackaged for sale to underground drug labs in Vancouver, Buffalo and Sacramento, Calif., where it was being used to make crystal meth, one of the most lucrative and destructive illegal drugs on the market.
During those September 2004 raids, cops seized 20,000 pounds of ephedrine, $3.5 million in cash and several other things, including a few Dodge Vipers and some other vehicles.
Also arrested were Dwight Mushey, who is now in jail in Ontario charged with first-degree murder in the 2006 massacre of eight Bandidos bikers, and Manny Barbagianis, whose fatal shooting in Winnipeg's West End in 2006 remains one of the city's few unsolved murders.

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Black Cobra, with its 50 members, had allegiances with the Bandidos gang, one of the two largest biker gangs in Denmark
Black Cobra had members in the towns of Roskilde, Hundige, Kalundborg, Næstved and Vordingborg. The majority of their members were from ethnic minorities.
The report found that the group's activities were increasing and that it had plans to expand to Jutland and Sweden.
Another gang, the International Club, based in Esbjerg in western Jutland, was striving toward more co-operation with the Black Cobra group. The two groups resembled each other in structure and members of both groups wore their affiliations openly.
Police expected that there would be increased pressure on the Hell's Angels group especially on the drug scene. The Hell's Angels have already been pushed out of three towns in Jutland, and their drug dealing activities taken over by the International Group.

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200 officers from the Riverside County Gang Task Force Regions served 12 search warrants in the city of Moreno Valley. The search warrants concluded a three-month investigation involving local and L.A. based gang members involved in distributing and sales of rock cocaine in Moreno Valley. The following is a synopsis of the investigation
Total Stats:
Felony arrests: 51
Misdemeanor arrests: 6
Felony warrants served: 10
Misdemeanor warrants served: 6
Firearms seized-6
Cocaine base seized: approx. 133 grams
Marijuana seized: 69 grams
Money seized: $3,300
Three strike suspects: 2
Parole violations-7
Probation violations-10
CPS cases initiated-16 (26 children)
Vehicles towed-14
Phase I: Investigation
Between November and January 2007, Officers from the MVGTF (Region 5) and MVPD SET and POP teams conducted numerous buy and surveillance programs in the 15000 block of Elm Ct. in Moreno Valley. During these initial operations officers were able to identify approximately 18 gang members and their associates that were responsible for drug dealing and assaults in that area. Officer identified approximately 12 primary residences that were directly linked to these suspects. As a result of this investigation, Officers were able to secure 12 search warrants for the locations and numerous arrests warrants for the primary suspects.
Phase II: Search Warrant services
On February 1, 2008 about 0700 hours, approximately 200 officers from the various agencies served 12 simultaneous search warrants in Moreno Valley. During the initial execution of the search warrant phase of the operation, officers arrested 31 suspects (28 felonies and 3 misdemeanors. Additionally, 6 firearms, cocaine and other drugs were seized. During the operation, 26 children were placed with Child Protective Services (CPS). Officers are seeking child endangerment charges against 16 of the parents or guardians.

Phase III: undercover operation/45 probation searches
Between 1200 and 2200 hours, Officers conducted an undercover program in the 15000 block of Elm Ct. During this phase of the operation, officers made 20 felony arrests and 3 misdemeanor arrests. Between 1100 hours and 1600 hours, officers conducted 45 probation searches of residences targeting known gang members in Moreno Valley. Three (3) additional felony arrests were made during this portion of the operation. A total of 26 suspects were arrest during this phase of the operation.

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The Sheriff's Department along with the Gang Enforcement targeted members the Vagos outlaw motorcycle gang at the Happy Haven Trailer Park on Lake Isabella Blvd. The Sheriff's Office was investigating the possibility that the Vagos were looking at the Kern River Valley to start a club.
Deputies ended up arrested Michael Bryan Dunn 36, Kevin Earl Corly 44, Christopher Peterson, 19 of the Lake Isabella area and Clarence Hoffman 52, Shane Nursery 34, and Roy Virgin 51 of Goshen Ca on charges of having weapons, drugs and gang member charges.
During this investigation Dunn and Corley were also charged with assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, kidnapping, dissuading a witness, conspiracy and gang charges. Those charges come from an early investigation in which deputies say there could still be more arrests.

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American gang graffiti can be found on Baghdad walls, said Byrne.
When discharged, soldiers armed with knowledge of military weapons and tactics become increasingly effective gang members and more threatening to police. Members of the Aryan Brotherhood, a particularly violent prison gang, are known to practice "takedown" methods learned in the military, said Byrne.
But two "weapons" found in civilian life, cell phones and the Internet, also are proving useful to gangs and their "counterintelligence" tactics directed at police.
"The more information they've got, the stronger they are," said Byrne.
A gang member was caught taking a cell phone picture of a Marysville police officer in Yuba County Superior Court. Threats have been made against officers and their families by gangsters who have home addresses, said Byrne.
The officers "aren't afraid for themselves, but they have wives and kids," he said.
Cell phones also limit the effectiveness of police sweeps aimed at wanted gang members. Once officers enter a neighborhood, word quickly spreads, said Sgt. Allan Garza, head of the Gang Intelligence Unit at the Yuba County Sheriff's Department.

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Rivi was, for a time, the hit-man of choice for Griselda Blanco, aka the Black Widow. Griselda was the grande dame of the Miami cocaine business, a Colombian mother of three, of impoverished origins, who slaughtered and intimidated her way to the top of a billion-dollar industry. She is a central character in this movie, the most deadly figure in a story in which the bodies are stacked like dominos. Conspicuous by her absence as an interviewee, she is one of the few key survivors of the era whom the film-makers were unable to coax before the lens. “Her release was imminent at that point, as was her deportation. I think she has changed her mind since, because we have been reapproached,” Corben says.

contract killer Jorge “Rivi” Ayala, the director of Cocaine Cowboys Billy Corben says: “He told me where there is a body buried in Miami, by the Florida turnpike. It’s all developed now, malls and condominiums. He knows where all the bodies are buried. We told the police. I think he told the police too. I just don’t think they care.”
Now serving three life sentences for 12 counts of murder, Rivi is a chillingly cool customer. He affably reels off the names of the victims he dispatched as if he were running through a shopping list. “The guy is one of the most pleasant interview subjects, the most laid-back, easy-going, polite, friendly and simple to deal with. But we’d be sitting there in an interview and you would have to kick yourself in the head to remind yourself what it is that this guy is talking about. He might as well be talking about the weather outside. But he’s talking about murdering women and children.”
The film’s approach is an unabashed tabloid assault of sensational images. Police and press photographs of nameless bodies, the collateral damage in the cocaine wars, dominate the screen, their twisted bodies leaking blood on to the Dade County sidewalks.
Rapid-fire editing unleashes an onslaught of information. This is documentary-making for ADD sufferers and has now inspired a feature film to star Mark Wahlberg, based on the the drug dealer Jon Roberts, featured in Cocaine Cowboys.
Corben, a Miami native with a conversational style like a runaway train, acknowledges the drug’s influence on Cocaine Cowboys’ aesthetic. “My intended effect was that after this movie, you felt like you had been on a bender.” Besides Griselda and Rivi, the key characters in the film are Roberts and Mickey Munday. They are the “cowboys” of the title, two outlaws who imported but didn’t sell the drugs. The way they tell it, their clever smuggling methods transformed the fortunes of the once sleepy backwater of Miami.
Corben’s memories of growing up in Miami during the cocaine-fuelled 1980s are of nightly news stories with a body count to rival a small war, and an awful lot of money. “I remember being in this working-class neighbourhood and everybody was doing very well. Whatever business you were in, the city was flush with so much cash that it trickled down, sort of a Reagan theory of economics. The trickle-down theory worked as long as you had successful drug king-pins in the community.”

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In Guyana, security troops have killed two members of a gang suspected of participating in the murder of 11 people last Saturday. The Guyanese authorities said that the two men were killed in a gun battle in the village where they were hiding.
Thousands of people attended the cremations of 10 of the murder victims on Thursday, which President Bharrat Jagdeo had declared a day of national mourning.
The 11 victims, who belonged to a native Indian community, were shot dead in their homes by armed men. Police say the gunmen belong to a criminal gang headed by Rondell Rawlins who is on the run from police.

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David Sauceda, the Mexican Mafia gang member and murder suspect who escaped from the Bexar County Jail on Oct. 28, was apprehended Saturday by Mexican law enforcement officials at the Mexico home where he was living, authorities announced this morning.
Sauceda, 28, was captured outside a house in Tangancicuaro, a remote city of about 30,000 people in central Mexico, where he was living with his girlfriend and two children, according to the U.S. Marshal's Service.
Sauceda tried to run but was quickly taken in to custody by Mexican immigration officials and state police, who have been working with the Bexar County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Eschewing extradition procedures, Mexican authorities instead immediately deported Sauceda on immigration violations. He was flown to San Antonio to once again face murder, armed robbery and home invasion charges. An additional charge of escape stems from his getaway to Mexico.
"There wasn't an extradition issue at all," said U.S. Marshal LaFayette Collins. "The Mexicans wanted to get rid of him."
Sauceda walked out the front door of the Bexar County Jail in part by duping detention officers into handing him the card of his cellmate, whose personal information he'd memorized.
Sauceda and his brother, Jesse Sauceda, are accused in the November 2006 murder of Juan Guevara, whom they allegedly shot in the head and then ran over in a car. A second man was shot twice and stabbed multiple times, but survived.
Six days later, Sauceda allegedly broke into an elderly woman's home and duct-taped her, stealing cash, jewelry and an ATM card. After fleeing from a police standoff in Corpus Christi the next day, Sauceda was arrested walking down a roadside with a handgun.
In December, Sauceda was named one of the U.S. Marshals Service's 15 most-wanted fugitives.

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Alleged Memphis drug lord and half-brother to Three 6 Mafia's DJ Paul is facing 56 charges in federal court after being arrested early this month in Mexico, while appearing in the top 15 of America's Most Wanted fugitives.
A nearly 70-page indictment was handed down to 31-year-old Craig Petties this week, detailing his alleged drug operation which is estimated to have run from 1995 up until this year. The superseding indictment follows a 40-page one laid against him originally in 2002 before he went on the run.
Petties -- in addition to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and cocaine from the original indictment -- now faces several other charges including conspiracy to commit murder for hire, money laundering and racketeering.
Authorities have learned, since 2002, that Petties' organization allegedly attempted to kill people who interfered with their drug trafficking business.
As far as money laundering charges, the indictment says that Petties used drug money to pay for several expensive cars, a home in Las Vegas as well as one in Memphis.
During raids and arrest, authorities have confiscated several firearms, lots of money and vehicles.


"So far we've had seizures of almost $3 million, little over 2.9 million and something like 40 vehicles and over $600,000 in cash," said U.S. Attorney David Kustoff.
He wanted arrested on January 11 in Mexico, along with a female companion -- believed to have been his girlfriend -- and three other individuals. Petties was apparently running multi-million dollar drug ring while evading arrest in Mexico.
Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin told local FoxNews affiliate that they've begun combing through homicide cases to find connections to Petties or members of his gang. Six others who listed as associates all face the same or similar charges.
Petties and his co-defendants are all in federal custody. If convicted of all charges, he and his associates could face life in prison or the death penalty.
Prosecutors haven't yet to determine what punishments they will seek.

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The boss of Colombia's biggest remaining cocaine cartel was killed by gunfire in Venezuela in an apparent settling of accounts between drug gangs, Colombian security forces said on Friday.
The body of Wilber Varela, known as "Jabon" or "Soap," was found on Wednesday in a hotel room in Merida state in neighboring Venezuela, said a Colombian police source who asked not to be identified.
"We have intelligence information that the person found dead in Venezuela is Jabon," the source said.
Varela, a former police sergeant wanted for extradition by the U.S. government for helping to smuggle tonnes of cocaine to the United States, was one of the last Colombian drug kingpins at large after last year's arrest of Diego "Don Diego" Montoya.
The two had battled for control of the Norte del Valle cartel, a violent rivalry that left hundreds of people dead.
The U.S. government had offered a $5 million reward leading to the arrest of Varela, who got his nickname from a brand of soap with the same name.

The Norte del Valle gang, based near the western city of Cali, is the only Colombian cartel that still controls all areas of the business from cultivation of coca plants to production of cocaine and its exportation. (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by John O'Callaghan)

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Aaren Dexter, 21, of Akron, was sentenced to four years in prison for the drive-by shooting of a crime witness.
He was found guilty of felonious assault, intimidation of a crime victim and being a felon with a gun.
On Aug. 22, Dexter shot a man in retaliation for the conviction of Brandon Whiteside, 18. Whiteside was convicted on July 19 of attempted murder and criminal gang activity. He is serving 15 years in prison.
Dexter and Whiteside were in the V-Not gang, prosecutors said.
The man Dexter shot is the father of the victim of another shooting carried out by the V-Not gang, prosecutors said.
"This case is a prime example of the threats posed by gangs and gang violence in our community," Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh said.
"This sentence hopefully sends two messages; first, we will not tolerate the intimidation tactics of street thugs who think they are above the law. Second, we will do everything we can to protect citizens who do the right thing by reporting crimes and participating in the
judicial process."

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The partnership of Lehder and Jung handled transport and distribution, while Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar handled production and supply (By the age of 32 Pablo Escobar was netting $500,000 a day). Other elements of the cartel, such as the Ochoa family, helped deal with political matters in Colombia.
Using an efficient, high-tech approach to cocaine smuggling that facilitated shipment of the drug in mass quantities, Lehder and Jung were soon rising stars.
In the late 70s, the Lehder-Jung partnership began to diverge, due to some combination of Lehder's megalomania, and Lehder's secret scheming to secure a personal Bahamanian island as a complete all-purpose headquarters for his operations.
Carlos Enrique Lehder started out as a stolen car dealer, a marijuana dealer, and a smuggler of stolen cars between the US and Canada. While serving a sentence for car theft in federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, Lehder decided that, upon his release, he would take advantage of the burgeoning market for cocaine in the United States, and enlisted his bunkmate, former marijuana dealer George Jung (Portrayed by Johnny Depp in the movie Blow), as a future partner. Jung had experience with flying marijuana to the US from Mexico in small aircraft, staying below radar level and landing on dry lake beds. Inspired by the idea, Lehder decided to apply the principle to cocaine transport and formed a partnership with Jung. While in prison he set out to learn as much information, that would be useful to him in the cocaine business, as he possibly could. Lehder would sometimes spend hours questioning fellow inmates on money laundering and smuggling. George Jung said that Lehder kept countless files and constantly took notes. Norman’s Cay was a popular anchorage for visiting yachts. It was developed in the early 1970s as a small residential community with a clubhouse and marina. But in 1978 a Bahamian company called International Dutch Resources began buying up land there. IDR was set up for Lehder by a regular trust company in Nassau, which conveniently managed his working capital.
Lehder bought as much property on the island as he could and then chased off the remaining residents. Armed guards patrolled day and night and former Member of Parliament Norman Solomon was once threatened at gunpoint on the beach. As Lehder chased away the local population and began to assume total control of the island, Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden Pindling, believed to have taken massive amounts of money in bribes from Lehder and associates, did nothing. Norman's Cay became Lehder's lawless private fiefdom. By this time, George Jung had been forced out of the operation, and international criminal financier Robert Vesco had allegedly become a partner. Jung used his prior connections to take up a more modest line of independent smuggling for Escobar, and stayed out of Lehder's way.
Lehder's smuggling operation on Norman's Cay was an overnight success. Court papers show that the first (and modest) load Lehder handled reaped a $1 million profit for two days of work. From 1978 through 1982, the Cay became the Caribbean's main drug smuggling hub and a tropical hideaway and playground for Lehder and associates. Cocaine was flown in from Colombia by jet and then reloaded into the small aircraft that then distributed it to locations in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas. These unexpected destinations made evasion easier because U.S. authorities were watching only the country's southern borders.



After their releases (both were paroled), Lehder and Jung built up a small stream of money through simple, traditional drug smuggling - they enlisted two American girls to take a paid vacation to Antigua, receive cocaine, and carry it back with them to the US in their suitcases. Repeating this process several times, they soon had enough money for an airplane.
Using a small plane and a professional pilot, they began to fly cocaine into the United States via the Bahamas, increasing their financial resources and building connections and trust with Colombian suppliers while spreading money around among Bahamian government officials for political and judicial protection. Their untraditional method of drug-smuggling began to gain credibility.

Shortly thereafter, Lehder talked other drug lords, already active in the marijuana trade into forming a cooperative that became a cartel based in the northwestern industrial city of Medellin (Colombia's second largest city).

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Constantin (Big Gus) Alevizos, 45 stumbled into the halfway house late last night with gunshot wounds to either the back or stomach, said Const. Wayne Patterson.
Peel Regional Police received a call around 10 p.m. with a report that someone had been shot at St. Leonard’s Place, a transition house for both homeless men with serious mental illnesses and ex-offenders.
“We do know what he had been in prison for but at this time we need to revisit his past as we investigate,” said Patterson.
Alevizos was sentenced in a Newmarket court to three years in prison last February for his role in a drug conspiracy, the last of 32 co- accused to be sentenced — without a single trial held.
Alevizos was part of a large police investigation that hampered the expansion of the Montreal Mafia into Ontario, shut down one of the largest Ecstasy vendors in Canada and sparked the recent arrests of some of the biggest names in crime.
In an interview last year with the National Post, Alevizos dismissed suggestions he stole any cash and said that he was only afraid of only two things in life: God and his mother.
He was once described by a witness as the "biggest man I've ever seen" and by police as a 6-foot-6 male weighing 460 pounds earning him the nickname “Big Gus.”
One of Alevizos' closest friends, Gaetano Panepinto, was tight with outlaw motorcycle gang members, mafiosi, and high volume drug dealers.
He signed on early with the Rizzuto organization, the powerful Montreal-based Mafia family, when it started moving into Ontario, which gave him tremendous influence in the underworld.
Police do not have any suspects and are asking anyone who may have witnessed the shooting to come forward.
Alevizos had a pulse when police arrived but his vital signs soon disappeared, police said. He was then transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Alivezos was an all-star for the Guelph Gryphons university football team in the late 1980s. He also tried out for the Toronto Argonauts, in a brief career in the Canadian Football League.

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