Victims
Christopher Lynch (1999)
Miguel Reyes (12/26/2004)
Fenise Luna (12/29/2004)
Claudia Rosio Chenet (2003)
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury has ordered the death penalty for an Azusa gang member convicted of killing four people.Ralph Steven Flores, 26, sat impassively at the defense table as the verdict by the jury of nine men and three women was read shortly after 11 a.m. Flores was convicted last year in four separate slayings dating back to 1999. His activities were part of a larger crime wave afflicting the usually tranquil city, authorities said.

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In a secret report by the National Detective Information Service (DNRI) of the Dutch police, it is noted that Polish gangs are regularly flown into Charleroi Airport in Belgium. There they are given instructions, by SMS, navigation apparatus and even signs on shops, on where they should carry out robberies in the Netherlands. The annual theft amounts to about 220 million Euro. One center of these gangs is the Polish town of Wroclaw; others come from elsewhere in Poland and Lithuania. The gangs often consist of 10 or more people.

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Calvin Nicholson had asked several days before the drive-by shooting whether he could be a member of a gang called the Bloods. He was told he would "have to put in work."Putting in work, according to the Durham detectives, meant breaking the law but not necessarily shooting someone."It's committing crimes," Cates said. "It's like an initiation process."On the day of the shooting, according to the statement, Nicholson left school early because he was not feeling well.His mother picked him up and took him to his brother's house where they watched a movie. Later that afternoon, they returned to his mother's home and the brothers sat on the front stoop while she went to pick up an aunt from work.At some point, Nicholson got into a car with other teens he knew and they went to The Streets at Southpoint mall.They stayed until about 9 p.m., according to the statement, then stopped at a McDonald's on the way back to the neighborhood.
At some point, according to Nicholson's statements, someone in the car zeroed in on Douglas, a high school teenager who they thought was associated with the gang called the Crips. Douglas was in an open lot not far from a corner convenience store.The driver, the same teen Nicholson had approached about being in a gang, passed a handgun back and said, "It's time to put in work," the investigators recalled in the statement.Nicholson, according to the investigators, shot the gun twice from the back seat and put it in his lap. It was unclear from testimony given at the hearing whether those bullets killed Douglas.Nicholson eventually ended up in front of his house. He left the weapon on the back seat of the car, according to the statement, and ran inside, fearing that his companions would come after his family if he said anything."I prayed to the Lord and asked for him to have his angels watch over me, for me not to get caught and for him to forgive me," Cates said Nicholson told him.
The teen didn't learn of Douglas' death until noon the following day.
Some of the same problems exposed by the Duke lacrosse case, where defense lawyers complained about missing and doctored notes, arose in last week's hearing.Holmes, the defense lawyer, found out late last week that he did not have an investigator's notes from the key interrogation.In his testimony about how he obtained the statement -- by asking questions and then writing Nicholson's answers -- Cates, the investigator, talked about things he had jotted down elsewhere, evidence that Holmes was not aware of. State law requires prosecutors to open their case files to defense lawyers and turn over all evidence.
"You're telling me there may have been handwritten notes," Holmes asked Cates during the hearing.
"It was just scribbling," Cates said.Ronald Stephens, the Superior Court judge who oversaw the hearing, asked Cates: "In getting the general feel for the information, you say you may have made some notations?"Cates also told Nicholson's attorney that he had put his notes in the case file, and after that he did not know what happened to them."You don't keep notes from murder confessions?" Holmes asked with a raised voice. "You can see that it's a problem.
Holmes, the defense lawyer, also argued during last week's hearing that while investigators had Nicholson in the interview room, his mother and other relatives tried several times to come in.
Cpl. A .Z. Jaynes, the first to interrogate the teen, testified that he remembered several run-ins with Nicholson's family on the second floor of the police department. Holmes said an aunt asked about getting a lawyer and Nicholson's mother asked to sit in on the interview.
"I recall her saying, 'He's slow,' or something to that effect," Jaynes said.
The investigators testified that Nicholson waived his right to have a lawyer present. They also said the teen said he did not want a parent present.
"I believe I told her that we had to talk to him and he had to request that," Jaynes said.

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The Mafia fraud targets £10million Italian government bank account, it was revealed yesterday.The hi-tech scam is thought to have been worked by N'drangheta Mafia from the southern Italian region of Calabria.It was spotted six weeks ago but kept secret so police could investigate.Rome police said: "We are working on the theory they were given the passwords by an insider."The money went to Bologna and then Egypt.

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Luca Megna, 37, was with his daughter and wife when two killers riddled their car with bullets. Megna was the son of jailed Godfather boss, Domenico Megna.
Police in Cataznaro, southern Italy, now fear a bloody reprisal. They said: "The killers would have seen Megna's wife and daughter but it did not bother them." A rival gang is thought to be behind it. Five year old daughter was fighting for her life last night after Mafia hitmen shot her as they gunned down her dad.

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Jesse Lee Peterson is founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny. He says he has family members who live in south central Los Angeles who tell him they are much more fearful of Hispanic gangs than they are of black gangs like the Crips and the Bloods. In fact, says Peterson, those two notorious groups have actually joined forces in a turf war against the Mexican gangs.But according to Peterson, innocent blacks are being targeted. "It is so bad in Canoga Park that the police department sent out a message to black Americans that they should be careful because [blacks] have been shot down at random," he points out.Peterson relates an incident involving a promising 17-year-old south central Los Angeles athlete, who had nothing to do with gangs but was murdered near his own home. "Three doors down from his home, a Mexican gang member walked up to him and [asked if this was his] neighborhood. [When] he didn't respond, they shot him in the chest and the head and killed him ...," he shares.Peterson says in another incident, Mexican gang members drove up to a black family driving on a Sunday afternoon and randomly opened fire, striking a three-year-old child. The situation is getting so bad, he adds, that many black families are being compelled to leave the area.

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The Electro Chopper, a collaboration by Hybrid Technologies and Big Bear Choppers, is being shown now at the New York International Auto Show. The CHP Chopper was also built in with input from the California Highway Patrol, and thus the CHP part of the nameThe California Highway Patrol helped design the bike in commemoration of fellow officer Thomas Joel Steiner, and other male and female police offers who have been killed in the line of duty. The CHP Chopper can go from 0 – 30 mph in 5.2 seconds and has a 40 mile range with its 42 lithium-ion batteries.The prototype was unveiled in 2005, but lives on today not only to commemorate the fallen, but to show the possibilities of the future as well. Green motorcycles are an underdeveloped market segment right now.There are a few electric motorcycles hitting the consumer market right now such as the Enertia, Lectra and Zero, but the high price and lack of range still tend to be a barrier for many looking for a gasoline-burning alternative. A lower cost alternative would be electric bikes for those who want to go this route.
The CHP Chopper though gives a glimpse of what the future will hold a few years down the road. Green and mean, the motorcycle gang of the future may just be one that is spewing zero emissions.

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Whyalla police have been an instrumental part of crackdowns on alleged illegal activities by members of the Red Devils OMCG and seized a small amount of alcohol and cash, which was being sold under alleged breach of the Liquor Licensing Act.
Sergeant Steve Sims of the Whyalla Police station said investigations were underway since the seizure on Saturday, March 15 and appropriate charges would be laid later.
About 40 police officers from Crime Gang Task Force, Northern Operations Service, Licensing Enforcement Branch, Star Group, Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie police joined forces to carry out the operations on Saturday.
The officers monitored the behaviour of people participating in the red Devils 'Poker Run' that visited a number of hotels.The run travelled from Whyalla to Port Augusta, Quorn and Wilmington, before returning to Whyalla late in the afternoon."On Saturday, officers from the Licensing Enforcement Branch and other police conducted a search of the Red Devils Motorcycle Club at Jacob Street, Whyalla," Sergeant Sims said."SAPOLS Licensing Enforcement branch continues to investigate alleged breaches of the Liquor Licensing Act.
"Police also conducted vehicle examinations, drivers' license checks and random breath testing of participants, resulting in 21 people being reported for a variety of traffic offences and the defecting of 13 vehicles."On Friday, March 14, 15 officers from the Crime Gang Task Force and Northern Operations Service Tactical Unit attended Port Pirie as part of ongoing investigations into illegal activities of the group in the area.Police spoke to a senior member of the Red Devils and a woman outside a local hotel.It is alleged that the duo was in possession of 48 ecstasy tablets for sale and $1290 cash.A 34-year-old man and 24-year-old woman, both of Port Pirie, will appear in Port Pirie Magistrates Court on Monday, May 19 in relation to the alleged items

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In a move designed to "protect" the Nanaimo's Hells Angels clubhouse from theft or vandalism, the provincial government has ordered that all signs relating to the group be removed from building's exterior.Police arrived on scene last week to board up the signs and remove the notorious skull-and-wing insignia from the front of the building.The Hells Angels have been in Nanaimo since 1985 and are one of seven recognized chapters in B.C.Metal fencing preventing anyone from entering the property was installed in November and all windows have been boarded up.
The removal of signage was a "precautionary" step, said a ministry spokesman in the department of Public Safety and Solicitor-General's civil forfeiture office.
No vandalism or theft has occurred since the province took control of the building on Nov. 9, when about 50 heavily armed police officers were called in to assist agents from B.C.'s Solicitor-General's office in seizing the property under the province's Civil Forfeiture Act.
The provincial director of civil forfeiture now possesses the property, under an interim preservation order that was issued in B.C. Supreme Court.
Under the terms of the order, the province has an obligation to keep the building safe and secure."We didn't want any rocks thrown to the sign or damage done," said the spokesman.The preservation order was recently extended to May 30.A hearing will take place before that date to determine whether the preservation order will carry through to a civil trial, at which the province will try to prove the property has ties to criminal activity. If successful, the property would be forfeited to the province.No date has yet been set for a trial.

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Jamaican Drug Trafficking Organizations (JDTOs), also referred to as "posses," "crews," and "massives," are generally mobile, loosely knit groups that engage in a variety of criminal activities including; drug and firearms trafficking, money laundering, murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping, and fraud. They deal in several types of drugs, including cocaine, marijuana (ganja), heroin, and PCP.
Violence is an integral part of JDTO operations and their members are usually well armed with modern weapons. Violence is most often directed at individuals perceived to be a threat to their illegal ventures, but they have little regard for bystanders. They are particularly brutal using torture, dismemberment and other extreme measures to intimidate rivals and members. JDTO members often resist arrest and have been in a number of shootings with law enforcement.
While JDTOs have been characterized as loosely knit, they have an extensive national and international network to carry out their illegal activities.
Six men from Jamaica's most wanted list are believed to be living in Britain. They are Donnovan Bennett, 38, nicknamed "Bulbie," the "don" of a drug trafficking gang called Clans Massive based in Spanish Town, west of Kingston, who is blamed for at least 20 murders; Kemar "Natty Patch" Jarrett, 20, alleged to have gunned down a magistrate in Kingston; Mark Bromley, alias "Shotty Mark," a member of the President's Click thought to be in Brixton; scar-faced Glenford Spencer, seen recently in Bristol; Daniel Lowe, nicknamed "Gun Power," wanted for shooting dead a 17-year-old boy who argued with him; and Andrew Meade, known as "Dread", who is alleged to have shot dead his own brother and a girlfriend. Yardie gangsters find it not only easier to enter Britain but can also make bigger profits than in the US, where the street price of cocaine has slumped.
"More and more of the criminals of the Jamaican gangs are going to the UK," said Tony Hewitt, a senior superintendent with Jamaica's Special Branch. "It seems that every time you search for a man, you hear that he is in England."
The consequences can increasingly be seen on Britain's streets. Incidents involving Yardie-style gangs in London more than doubled in January, compared with the same month last year. In England and Wales, a significant proportion of the 9 per cent rise in gun crime last year to a record 4,019 incidents is attributed to Yardie gun culture.So engrained are the Yardies in London that part of Brixton in the south of the capital is known as Little Tivoli, named after Tivoli Gardens.However, it is not just London where the Yardies have established strongholds. Seven police forces covering cities from Leeds and Leicester to Southampton and Plymouth have now launched operations similar to the Metropolitan police's Operation Trident, set up five years ago to tackle black-on-black gun crime.
Detective Inspector Bruce Ballagher, who runs Operation Atrium in Bristol, said: "We believe the major part of the crack supply revolves around Jamaican organised crime groups. They drive their drugs trade dealing by fear, intimidation and violence."
Operation Stirrup, run against Yardies in Leeds last year, led to 160 arrests and 57 people being deported to Jamaica. A new initiative, Operation Safeguard, led to 30 more arrests in a six-day clampdown earlier this month; two have already been deported.
Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Brown, who is heading the Leeds operation, said it was meant to send a strong message to the Yardies.
Jamaican police estimate there are 30 Yardie gangs operating in Britain. Some, like the Black Roses, which they claim to have smashed in Jamaica, operate in Bristol and Brixton. One of the most powerful is known as the President's Click, which was formed out of the notorious Shower Posse. It is headed by Christopher Lloyd Coke, also known as Dudas.
The cocaine is grown by the drug cartels of Colombia and shipped to Jamaica in fast boats that can do the journey across the Caribbean in 16 hours. The Jamaican coastguard, with one patrol boat capable of 12 knots, is powerless to stop the trade.
The cocaine is worth £1,000 per pound in Jamaica. A mule, often a prostitute working her passage, is paid a similar sum for swallowing a pound wrapped in condoms or in pellet form and flying to London. Customs officials at Heathrow and Gatwick suspect that at least one in 10 passengers from Jamaica are drug "mules."

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The Hells Angels have always maintained they are mostly law-abiding and should not be punished collectively for the misdeeds of a few bad apples.But any pretense that Hells Angels is a harmless brotherhood is shattered by a "simple check with the court cases across the country," says Michel Auger, the former Le Journal de Montreal crime reporter who survived being shot in the back six times on Sept. 13, 2000, the day after he ran a story on the latest round of murders in Quebec's notorious biker wars between the Hells Angels and rival outfits. Also, biker police in Canada got more determined. They realized the only way to take down outlaw bikers was through infiltration - an expensive, lengthy and dangerous enterprise.
In March 2001, police in Quebec arrested 138 bikers, including the entire Quebec Hells Angels Nomads chapter in Operation Springtime, which involved planting two police agents in the Angels-controlled Rockers gang.In Ontario, Project Tandem resulted in the arrest of 15 Hells Angels on drug, weapon and murder charges in September 2006. And last April, 16 full-patch members were arrested in Project Develop after police rammed through the wall of the Toronto chapter's clubhouse and seized $500,000 in cash, 80 weapons including rifles and shotguns, more than nine kilograms of cocaine, and almost 500 litres of concentrated GHB, the date-rape drug.
In both investigations, police had the help of full-patch members.And the current Hells Angels trial in B.C. is a result of Project E-Pandora in which the RCMP paid a Hells Angels enforcer $1 million to help collect evidence against the East End chapter.Drawing on Bill C-24, which was passed in 2001 and defines a criminal organization as three or more people benefitting from serious offences, prosecutors in that trial aimed to prove the Hells Angels chapter as a whole gained from the alleged offences. A conviction will not permanently blemish the Hells Angels patch in B.C. It has to be proven in court with each new trial.But it would carry stiffer penalties for the accused, would allow police to more easily seize Hells Angels assets or prevent them from operating legitimate businesses, and would give law enforcement more discretion in putting Hells Angels under surveillance.It may also cause tension within Angels' ranks, who are under strict orders not to plead guilty to any "criminal organization" charges, Shinkaruk says. Members who run afoul of the law will more and more have to draw on chapter funds to pay for expensive legal defences.And when you add the psychological blow of having been infiltrated by police, there is the potential for some serious rifts among members, he adds. Angels may be less likely to trust their full-patch brothers automatically, or take on new members. And their partners in criminal circles may be less likely to trust the Hells Angels for fear of dealing with informants.

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The body of Hark Hans, a 28-year-old Indo-Canadian man from Surrey, was found lying partly inside a white Honda on Wednesday night in the parking lot of the Eaglequest Coyote Creek Golf Course.Surrey RCMP Sgt. Roger Morrow said police were "aware" of Hans, but could not say if there was a connection to other recent shootings or to the drug trade."Investigators cannot confirm any involvement in the drug trade or affiliation with any gang," said Morrow.It was the 11th targeted killing this year in the Lower Mainland, according to statistics compiled by The Province.The shooting could have put innocent bystanders at risk of being injured, Morrow noted. Golfers were practising at the nearby driving range and diners were in the course's restaurant at the time.Oppal called the shooting "alarming," but pointed out that killings related to the drug trade in Metro Vancouver are not a recent phenomenon.
"It indicates how evil this whole underworld is, where people end up killing each other all for money and drugs and all the rest of it," he said.
While police generally have success in solving murders that are crimes of passion,gangland slayings are not as easy to crack, said Oppal.
"These crimes are not like ordinary crimes, where you have victims who come forward to the authorities and ask for help," he said.
"[Among drug gangs] the victims exact their own justice. They have their own justice system, and they take care of their own," said Oppal.
In total, there have been 18 murders across the Lower Mainland this year.
"Eighteen [murders], it's an extraordinary year," said RCMP Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).
"We need people to stop killing each other."
IHIT is responsible for investigating murders from Boston Bar to Pemberton, including all RCMP and municipal police departments except for Vancouver, West Vancouver and Delta.
He called IHIT "a very effective, very highly motivated unit," and rebutted criticism of its success rate.Carr noted a four-year-old murder case in Richmond was cracked this week and a Malaysian man accused of it is being extradited from Belgium to stand trial. He added that nearly half of the files that IHIT have handled since last May were solved. A man shot to death in a semi-rural area of northeast Coquitlam last week has been identified as Alfred "Fred" Walcott, 22.
Walcott pounded on the door of a house on Mason Avenue shortly after midnight on March 12, then collapsed and died on the doorstep.

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Fifteen people, including two Burien men, were arrested today in local raids against what federal law enforcement officials said was a large cocaine distribution ring.
The two local men were identified as John Gerald House, 38, and Paul Peterson, 38. No further details were given.The arrests followed a year-long investigation of a family-based group suspected of buying and selling wholesale quantities of crack and cocaine, said a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
Altogether, 15 people were indicted this week, and arrests were made Thursday morning in Seattle, Kent, Burien, Edmonds and Des Moines. Seized in the raids were eight firearms, more than $40,000 cash and a large amount of cocaine, officials said.
Neighbors of houses in Kent and Edmonds were awakened when local police officers and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms served arrests warrants at a home in each city at about 6 a.m.“A minute to six we heard two loud bangs,” said Gary Chelin, who lives near the Edmonds home. “My wife and I got up, came out and looked at the street and it was lined end to end with minivans and SUVs full of police officers.”According to records filed in the case, some of the suspects allegedly sold the drugs from their Edmonds residence and also from a business, Extreme Auto Detail, 11027-A 1st Avenue S. in Seattle.
Many of those arrested possessed firearms despite multiple felony convictions, according the officials.
The investigation, lead by the ATF Violent Gang Task Force, used court authorized wiretaps to uncover the group’s drug dealing and illegal weapons sales and possession.
In one recorded phone call, Gary Kilcup, 39, of Edmonds, Washington, discussed how he “coulda whacked that (victim) himself,” after his son was arrested in connection with a shooting, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Kilcup, his sister, Nicola Kilcup, 36, of Seattle, and her husband Shawn Vanell Piper, 38, allegedly were key players in the distribution ring.
One of their primary cocaine suppliers Jose A. Morales Victoria, 37, of Des Moines was also arrested. All of the defendants arrested today made their initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Seattle today at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
“Drug trafficking and firearms are a deadly mix,” said U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Sullivan. “The conversations recorded on the court authorized wire tap make clear the threat posed by those willing to protect their drug network with violence.”
“This operation has shown the diversity of the gang members in our communities. It included almost all ethnicities in the gang culture as well as both genders,” said Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle Field Division, Kelvin N. Crenshaw.
According to records filed in the case, Piper and Nicola Kilcup allegedly sold crack and powder cocaine from their home and the auto detail shop.
Throughout the investigation Piper, Kilcup and others sold cocaine to confidential informants. Many of the sales were captured on audio and video. Some of those arrested today are affiliated with area street gangs.
A grand jury returned a 19-count indictment against the group on Wednesday, charging conspiracy, cocaine distribution, and weapons violations.
Other suspects indicted by the grand jury were
Cedric Barquet, 37, Seattle Tanfred Arnez Russell, 36, Seattle John Gerald House, 38, Burien Christopher Terrill Scott, 33, Kent Lavelle Daniel, 31, Seattle Deandre Offord, 31, Seattle Paul Peterson, 38, Burien Daima Anderson-Ross, Seattle Jermaine Satterwhite, 34, Seattle Alicia Sykes, 36, Seattle Jodie Taylor, 35, Seattle

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Harkinder Singh Hans, 31, was found shot dead Wednesday night in his car parked at Eaglequest Golf Course in Surrey here. The police said the victim was "known" to them, without saying whether he was ever arrested for any criminal activities.
They said they were called at about 8.30 p.m. after someone heard shots being fired in the parking lot. When investigators reached the spot, they found the Indo-Canadian youth shot dead in his parked Honda car. However, the family of the deceased denied Hans was involved in any criminal activity. "Never, never. My son was never involved in any crime," Balwant Singh Hans, father of the victim, told IANS. He said: "My son was never into crime. He was a Canadian-born networking engineer. Currently, he was driving a truck locally." Hans leaves behind a 14-month daughter. Though the police have not said whether it was a gang-related killing, most Indo-Canadians believe Hans is another victim of this vicious cycle, which has claimed more than 100 young lives in the community in the past 15 years.
Young Indo-Canadian gangsters have been killing members of rival drug gangs in turf wars here since the early 1990s. Most of the cases remain unresolved. On demands of the community, the British Columbia provincial government set up an integrated task force four years ago to solve these cases and work with Indo-Canadians to find the root cause of the problem.

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Federal judge in San Diego sentenced seven members of a notorious state prison gang to life in prison Thursday.
The sentence by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw capped an extensive prosecution into the Mexican Mafia that targeted upper echelon members of the gang on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
seven members of the gang sentenced yesterday were convicted by a jury after a month-long trial that ended Jan. 4. The defendants were charged with a variety of acts including two murders, attempted murder, drug sales and money laundering.
In October, two top members of the gang, Raul Leon and Salvador Perez, pleaded guilty to similar charges and will be sentenced in April.
Sentenced Thursday were Eduardo Gonzalez-Gallegos, George Fernandez, Thomas Durkin, Salvador Perez, Richard Valenzuela, Cesar Abarca, and Joshua Cruz. Several already are serving life sentences in state prison.

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Arrests made in what police called a "major" crack cocaine operation in the Hilltop City are now being pursued in federal court.At least two members of the Bloods — a notoriously violent street gang known for running drug rackets in many major U.S. cities — were arrested recently for running a drug operation out of an apartment at 231 High St. Police seized more than $3,700 worth of crack split among 70 packets with a total weight of 23 grams. Police also found ammunition indicating those involved possessed guns at some point.Michelle Tillman, 35, resided at the High Street residence and was charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine. She was released on $50,000 personal recognizance bail.
Charles Nelson, 21 of 473 Pennsylvania Ave., Apt. 43, Brooklyn, N.Y., was charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine and one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell. Tyree Everson, 18, of 611 Blake Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., was also charged with one count of conspiracy to sell crack cocaine, one count of possession of crack cocaine with intent to sell and one count of sale of crack cocaine. Both Nelson and Everson were discovered to be members of the Bloods, police say, after review of information gathered during the course of the investigation.

Nelson and Everson were scheduled for probable cause hearings Friday, but before that date their cases were "nol prossed" and transferred to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Concord. U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono's office said until further notice no information about the case will be released as the case is under seal.
"Nelson and Everson were in Somersworth with the intention of selling crack cocaine and possibly opening a chapter (of The Bloods) here," according to a press release from the Somersworth Police Department.
Police Capt. David Kretschmar said the department has "no insight" about why these individuals chose Somersworth as a location to form a local chapter.
Four days elapsed before police notified the press about the arrests, which Kretschmar said was due to "the way the investigation was going."
He said there were elements of the investigation that had not been completed and to maintain the integrity of the investigation, information had to be withheld until a certain time.
Kretschmar did say there will be "more arrests down the road" related to this case.

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Two suspected Seattle gang members have been charged in connection with a drug-related carjacking on Mercer Island, according to court documents.One defendant, Edmond Cummings, 18, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in King County Superior Court to second-degree robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was being held in the King County Jail with bail set at $100,000.The second defendant, a 15-year-old boy, pleaded not guilty last week in Juvenile Court to first-degree robbery and malicious mischief. The second charge pertains to an alleged tirade in an interrogation room at the Mercer Island Police Department, court documents say. Mercer Island police started investigating Feb. 1 when a resident called 911 to report that several associates had threatened him with a gun and had stolen his 1999 Ford Explorer outside his apartment in the 3200 block of West Concord Way.The victim told police he previously had lent the vehicle to the same suspects in exchange for crack cocaine to feed his drug habit, but that he no longer wanted them driving it, court documents say. About 10 days earlier, the Explorer was spotted driving away from a Seattle home-invasion robbery in the 900 block of 33rd Avenue South. In that case, assailants tied up a resident and ransacked the home, Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson said.No charges have been filed in that case.
The defendants are affiliated with the Deuce Eights, a Central Area gang connected to a rash of shootings in the past year.On Feb. 1, they allegedly drove to the victim's home in the Mercer Island man's vehicle and asked him to get in and drive. Two men followed in another car. According to the victim, Cummings asked to borrow the vehicle again and the victim refused. Cummings then opened his jacket to reveal a handgun in his pocket, court documents say.The victim, "fearing for his and his family's safety," got out and called 911, court documents say.On Feb. 2, Seattle police found the Explorer in the 2900 block of East Alder Street and arrested another suspect, 17, with the vehicle. A Seattle detective then contacted Mercer Island police because the vehicle had been reported involved in the home invasion.
One of the suspects from the Mercer Island case matched a suspect's description from the home invasion, court documents say.
On Feb. 6, police from Seattle and Mercer Island, along with an FBI agent, searched a South Seattle apartment that Cummings shared with his mother and found a 9 mm Ruger handgun, a 30-round rifle magazine and two magazines for a .45-caliber handgun. Cummings has four prior felony convictions, making him ineligible to possess a firearm, court documents say.
Cummings, whose birthday was Feb. 6, turned 18 while being interviewed by detectives, court documents say.
The second suspect was booked into King County's juvenile detention center after he was interviewed at the Mercer Island Police Department. During a period when he was left alone in the interview room, he threw two metal chairs at the soundproof walls and door, causing $300 in damages, court documents say.

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Jerrottaye Tyrone Pratcher, of Portland, is accused of attempted murder with a firearm, first-degree assault, disorderly conduct, second-degree trespass and interfering with a peace officer. Portland gang enforcement officers on Wednesday arrested an 18-year-old in connection with a Feb. 2 shooting that stemmed from a gang dispute over a blue knit cap. The shooting occurred about 11:30 a.m. at a bus stop near North Fessenden Street and Richmond Avenue. Pratcher pulled a handgun and fired three shots into the victim because he felt the victim was "disrespecting the Crips gang by stomping on a blue knit cap," Gang Enforcement Team Lt. Mike Leloff said. The victim was transported to Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center and survived his wounds. Police have recovered the firearm. Leloff said police are noticing an increase in gang-related violence since December, with some of the recent shootings resulting from clear disputes over gang-related turf.

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Don't trust the kindness of hardened criminals -- especially if you are a prison guard. Four sentries in Denmark learned their lesson the hard way
Mom always said not to take candy from strangers. Apparently this tried-and-true advice didn't really sink in for four Danish prison guards who ate some inmate-baked cake Wednesday that landed them in the hospital.And these weren't just your run-of-the-mill prisoners turned bakers, but members of some of Denmark's meanest criminal motorcycle gangs.The guards -- two men and two women -- were being treated for stomach pains after eating what officials have described as a cake laced with an unidentified narcotic, according to the AFP.
The suspected poisoning victims work at the Nyborg State Prison, on Fyn Island in central Denmark. Una Jensen, a deputy prison warden, told the AFP that the bakers included members of the Black Cobra and Den Internationale Klub gangs.
Bo Soerensen, head of the Danish prison guards' union told Denmark's Ekstra Bladet tabloid that the alleged poisoning was "an attack on the entire Danish penitentiary model and the good tradition of where guards and prisoners interact in an informal manner."Guards are now banned from accepting cakes, sweets or other prisoner-made treats. Blood test results could take two weeks, according to the Copenhagen Post.
The top-security prison was the site of riots in 2004 following a decision by prison authorities to remove larger dumbbells and weights. At the time, Carsten Pedersen, chairman of the Union of Danish Prison Officers told the New York Times: "Some inmates have grown to abnormal size. They have become monster men."Apparently the kitchen isn't any safer than the weight room.

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In Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Mexcian federal police excavated 33 bodies in the past two weeks from the backyard of a house where authorities had seized more than 3,700 pounds of marijuana. Most of the bodies had been buried at least five years, authorities said.In Guadalajara, police on Friday investigated the slayings of seven people shot dead the day before in a law office. Its principals counted accused drug gangsters and corrupt officials among their clients.
Authorities in Ciudad Juarez said Friday that they had uncovered the remains of 33 people buried in the yard of an abandoned property, a mass grave believed to be linked to the city's violent drug trade.
The grisly discovery surfaced as part of a recent government crackdown on narcotics traffickers in this city across the border from El Paso that has been gripped by a spasm of drug-related killing unseen in years. Authorities said the Juarez drug cartel might be involved in the deaths.The same area attracted worldwide attention for the violent deaths of hundreds of women and girls beginning in the early 1990s. Many of the cases remain unsolved.Acting on an anonymous tip, federal police on March 1 began excavating a weedy lot hidden behind a cinder-block wall in a low-income neighborhood on the city's west side. Day one yielded six corpses. It took law enforcement nearly two weeks to uncover the other remains, working with sniffer dogs, shovels and a backhoe.All but three of the victims were men. Some were dismembered. Forensics experts said some of the corpses may have been buried for as long as five years. Police confirmed the body count Friday.The discovery stunned neighbors in the normally tranquil La Cuesta neighborhood."We never imagined we were living across from a tomb," said one neighbor, who like others interviewed declined to be named for fear of reprisal.It's the second such find in less than a month. Federal authorities unearthed nine bodies buried in the yard of a Ciudad Juarez home in late February after a drug bust.Security experts say the discovery of old graves is a result of recent government efforts to strike hard at Mexico's drug cartels. Military and federal police have been deployed to Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and other trafficking hot spots across the country, a strategy that has resulted in some major drug and weapons seizures as well as some high-profile arrests.
This week, Gustavo Rivera Martinez, an alleged leader of the Arellano Felix cartel, was nabbed in Cabo San Lucas by federal agents. Mario Montemayor Covarrubias, identified by Mexican news media as a key leader of a kidnapping cell of the cartel, was arrested in Tijuana earlier this month after a seven-hour shootout with authorities.Organized crime has resorted to unprecedented violence to intimidate informants and police. Dozens of people have been killed in drug-related slayings this year in Ciudad Juarez, authorities have said. Drug violence has claimed at least 70 victims in Tijuana. Some have been mutilated and left with gruesome messages warning informants not to cooperate with law enforcement. Police officers have been gunned down in their homes in front of their families.In January, gunmen stormed the home of Tijuana Deputy Police Chief Margarito Saldana Rivera, 43, killing him, his wife and his two daughters, ages 12 and 20. Hours earlier another high-ranking officer and his deputy were shot as they sat in their car at a busy intersection. The attacks were believed to be in retaliation for the officers' helping foil the robbery of an armored car.This week, gunmen also killed an immigrant safety officer as he patrolled a dangerous migrant-smuggling neighborhood near the border in Tijuana.Organized crime's violent reaction shows that the latest crackdown is working, experts say.
"I'm inclined to believe that they are sticking with a confrontational policy that leads to these kinds of gun battles and high-profile shootouts," said Robert Donnelly, the coordinator of the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute. In contrast, experts said the 42 bodies unearthed at the two locations recently in Ciudad Juarez didn't appear to be part of the recent campaign of retribution, but a clandestine, almost routine, effort on the part of drug traffickers to reprimand members in their ranks.

"If you have a problem with a distributor or someone who's selling the drugs, you don't file a lawsuit against him. You just kill him," said Jorge Chabat, a security expert at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City. "It's a way of establishing discipline."Seasoned observers of Ciudad Juarez's drug wars said the latest discovery had a decidedly old-school flavor, if only because the killers took the trouble to bury the bodies. Since the 1990s, drug enforcers have evolved from dumping bodies in shallow graves to hiding them in car trunks to wrapping them in blankets to simply leaving them where they drop, said Louie Gilot, who writes about border affairs for the El Paso Times."In the past they'd be somewhat discreet, but they're getting bolder and bolder," Gilot said. "Now they just kill them in front of people in broad daylight."Residents of Pedregal Street, where the 33 corpses were unearthed, said there was very little coming-and-going at the abandoned property. It consisted of little more than a small garage-type structure and a weed-choked lot surrounded by a cinder-block wall and a solid, locked metal gate that blocked their view.
One neighbor recalled strangers entering occasionally on weekends, and smelling the smoke of their barbecue.
"A lot of guys went in, but it was very quiet," the neighbor said. "We never saw luxury cars or anything suspicious."
Another remembered heavy vehicles entering with what neighbors thought might be loads of produce.

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