Darrius Eugene Spearman who took the stand Wednesday, claimed he was acting in self-defense when 19-year-old Marcus "Fish" Allen was shot on the dance floor at Tiffany's, a Port Arthur club located at Houston Avenue and 10th Street. The Nov. 25, 2007, shooting occurred as rap music filled with the sound of gunshots played in the background.Spearman and Allen were members of rival street gangs and their mutual hatred was part of what motivated the murder, Jefferson County prosecutor Ramon Rodriguez told jurors in his closing. In support of his contention, he noted that when asked by defense attorney James Makin to write the names of the two gangs on a dry-erase board, Spearman switched from red to blue.
"Without anyone asking him, (when) asked about the Crips he writes it in blue," Rodriguez said in his closing. "That's the mindset. I'm red, he blue. We're red. Them other people- they blue."
Spearman, a member of the Bloods-affiliated 4-2 Pirus, also wrote down his family members' names Wednesday as part of Makin's effort to refute the validity of a statement read by the prosecution during his trial Tuesday.The statement, said to be provided by fellow Piru-member Korwin Thomas to police, indicated that Spearman had punched and then vowed to kill Allen the day before after Spearman's sister, "Dee Dee," told him Allen had taken money out of her purse.Thomas, who spoke of PCP use during that period, testified Tuesday that he did not recall providing this statement, read to jurors by Ramon Rodriguez.Spearman testified Wednesday that he never confronted Allen, a member of the rival Crips-affiliated 5-2 Hoova gang, at a Port Arthur apartment complex as the statement alleged.Running through the list of siblings one by one, Spearman testified that none of them go by the name "Dee Dee." His attorney later emphasized Thomas' testimony that he was perpetually high on PCP at that time in his life and encouraged jurors to question how reliable his testimony was if there is no "Dee Dee."Rodriguez, however, noted that it would not be unusual for someone to call Spearman's oldest sister, Dewanda, "Dee Dee," placing a check mark above each of the two Ds in her name.Spearman claimed he first saw Allen on Nov. 25 when he approached him on the dance floor at the club and began throwing gang signs as Z-Ro's "I'm a Gangsta'" played. The two began to fight, Spearman testified, and he hit Allen, knocking him back. Allen drew a gun and they struggled. Spearman said he pushed the gun away from himself and toward Allen before it went off."I had nothing against him. We was just fighting and I didn't know it would go to gunplay," he said.Asked on cross-examination by Rodriguez which hand the gun was in, Spearman testified that it was in Allen's left hand.On rebuttal, Rodriguez called Allen's father, Alfred Allen, who testified that his son was right-handed."If you're right-handed, this is your dominant hand and you're strapped, you're packing, where are you going to have your gun?" Rodriguez asked in his closing. "Common sense will tell you that."

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Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi announced today that a Burlington County Grand Jury indicted three men for the August 16, 2008 shooting of two brothers – one fatally – in the parking lot of the Mount Laurel, N.J., Marriott.

The Grand Jury indicted the following individuals on charges of Murder, Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose: Daniel Cruz, age 24, of North 27th Street in Camden, N.J.Richard Martinez, age 34, of Gibbons Court in Atco, N.J.Antonio K. Streater, 26, of Vine Street in Camden, N.J.The investigation revealed that on August 16 at approximately 10:15 p.m., Gabriel Figueroa and Luis Pedroza, who are brothers, exited the Marriott and were shot after being confronted by Cruz, Martinez and Streater in the parking lot.
Figueroa was pronounced dead at Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Cherry Hill. Pedroza was shot in the shoulder and survived after being treated at Cooper University Medical Center in Camden. Figueroa, 20, and Pedroza, 27, were from Camden, N.J. They had checked into the hotel a few hours before being shot.Cruz and Martinez were arrested October 16, 2008, and Streater was arrested the following day.
Streater is a member of the Bloods street gang. Martinez is a member of the Latin Kings, and Cruz is an associate of the same gang.The shootings were investigated by detectives from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, the BCPO’s Gangs, Guns and Narcotics Task Force and the Mount Laurel Police Department.An indictment is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty.

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Colton gang member who shot and killed 19-year-old Michael McLeod outside a party was sentenced Wednesday to life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Andrew Robert Ramirez, 21, was convicted in November of murder and special allegations, including the use of a firearm, during a trial in San Bernardino Superior Court. The jury also found true a charge of special circumstances for committing a robbery to benefit a street gang. The special circumstance carried the life sentence, explained Deputy District Attorney Sharon Caldwell. Ramirez was also sentenced to 25 years to life for the murder and 10 years for the special allegations. However, Ramirez will not go to prison right away. He is awaiting trial as a defendant in another case for a home invasion robbery in June 2007 in Colton. Ramirez shot McLeod while he was leaving a party with a group of people in the 600 block of West L Street in Colton on April 20, 2007. McLeod was shot in the head and died at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, according to Colton police.
Police arrested Ramirez about two months later after he ran from them near 6th and Congress streets. He was captured after a short foot chase and booked into jail.

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Suspected Zeta gang leader Gregorio Sauceda Gamboa, One of Mexico's 24 most-wanted drug traffickers.Federal police say Sauceda Gamboa was detained in the border city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas.Sauceda Gamboa appears on a list of 24 alleged drug traffickers published by prosecutors in March. Authorities have offered rewards of up to $2.1 million for each suspect.Police said Wednesday that they also seized five rifles and more than 4,500 rounds of ammunition in the raid that netted Sauceda Gamboa.The Zetas are a violent drug gang based in the states along Mexico's Gulf coast, and have been involved in many of the killings that have taken more than 10,650 lives since 2006.

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Self-proclaimed gang members shot and wounded a man in front of his home as he took out the trash Wednesday afternoon, authorities and witnesses said. The drive-by shooting occurred about 1:50 p.m. in front of a house at Amar Road and Melham Avenue in an unincorporated county area near La Puente. The wounded 20-year-old man was shot twice in the leg, said his uncle, who asked that his name not be published for fear of retaliation. The nephew and two of his friends were doing some cleaning at the home prior to the attack, the uncle said. "They were taking out some trash... and there were like five shots," he said. The assailants yelled out the name of a Bassett street gang during the incident, he added. The two or more attackers fled southbound on Melham Avenue in a dark-colored compact car, Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Rico Sandoval said. The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, he added. A minivan parked in front of the home had two bullet holes in it. The home's wall also had one bullet hole. "The other two are in my nephew's leg," the uncle said. The uncle said his nephew was not involved with gangs and he did not know what motivated the shooting. "I don't know what happened," he said. "Why in broad daylight?" A teenage boy at the scene said he was standing next to the victim during the shooting but declined to comment further. The uncle said the shooting in the normally quiet neighborhood had him worried about the safety of his family. One of the bullets struck a wall only feet from his elderly mother's room. "I'll keep an eye out," he said. "That's all I can do." Wednesday's attack occurred about a mile away from a fatal shooting on March 28 in which attackers yelled the name of a Bassett street gang. Oscar Reyes, a 33-year-old father and local resident, was gunned down as he stood in front of an apartment building on Cadwell Street, just west of Aileron Avenue, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said. Family members said Reyes was not involved with gangs. Sandoval said gang violence often comes in surges. "Like any gang out there, sometimes their activity level rises and then drops," Sandoval said. "It often depends on which members are currently in jail."

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Three men were charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a suspected high-ranking member of the Four Corners Hustler street gang.Reginald Royal, 32, Lonnial Rountree, 20, and Terrance Hilson, 29, were charged Saturday for the murder of 38-year-old Ray Washington who was shot dead at the 3800 block of West Flournoy in the West Lawndale neighborhood Thursday.A housing inspector with Washington was also shot but was expected to live.
Washington was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead.The three men led police on a brief chase before being arrested shortly after the shooting.

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Prosecutors say more than 20 members of the "Chain Gang" and "Wolf Pack" are locked up. Federal agents busted a major Rochester gang Monday.It is a major takedown for Rochester. "I can tell you these individuals are responsible for a tremendous amount of violence that's taking place in our community," said Rochester Police Chief David Moore.Prosecutors tell us it's the first time in the city's history that the RICO statute is being used to bust up a gang. It's the same law that was used to bring down the mob. Monday, it was used to arrest two-dozen young people, mostly on the city's east side.Federal and local law enforcement teamed up Monday to make the arrests. Many of the arrests came in and around Grand and Garson Avenues. Gail Ashley has heard of the gangs. She's known as the church lady in her neighborhood and even knows some of the gang members. "They don't want to be out there selling drugs, and they don't want to be in a gang and all of that," said Ashley. "But what choice do they have?"Ashley says many times they don't have a choice. She believes the problem is poor education and lack of jobs. Other neighbors like Jeff Hoffmann agree. He says the lack of jobs turns many teens to the streets. "Living here in the midst of it, there are a lot of good people in this neighborhood," said Hoffmann. But while he is tending to his garden, crimes are being committed around him. "You get property destruction, you get theft, and you get transits coming in out of the neighborhoods," said Hoffmann. "Perhaps buying drugs." Police Chief David Moore says Monday's arrests are significant."Gang violence is a significant role in the violence we see in this community," Moore said. Sources tell us the suspects are accused of all sorts of crimes ranging from murders to gun charges to drug dealing. But Ashley sees a different side to these suspects."Most of them are good boys," said Ashley. "They just (come from) broken homes or just boredom."
People who live in the neighborhood hope Monday's arrests will help clean up the streets. Chief Moore says there's no doubt. It's a guaranteed safer community. We also spoke with Mayor Bob Duffy. He says gang activity simply will not be tolerated in Rochester. Racketeering comes with a stiff penalty. If convicted, the maximum sentence is 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

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Fifteen alleged members and associates of the Raza Unida prison and street gang were indicted in Houston, Texas for trafficking in significant quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine and possessing firearms unlawfully and during the commission of drug trafficking offenses.

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German Torres, 29, was arrested in Mexico City on Friday. He is believed to be a founding member of the feared "Zetas" wing of the powerful Gulf cartel that dominates drug smuggling from northeastern Mexico into Texas.The public security ministry said Torres was also thought to be involved in the kidnapping of Batista, a Cuban-American credited with negotiating past releases of hostages held by Colombian rebels, in the northern city of Saltillo on December 10.Investigators ran DNA tests in February on charred bodies found in the surrounding state of Coahuila but have yet to confirm whether Batista was among them.The Coahuila state attorney general's office declined to comment on its investigation into Batista, who disappeared after he apparently stepped outside a restaurant alone after answering a cell phone call.Separately in Coahuila, suspected drug hitmen killed the police chief of Piedras Negras, a town on the Texas border, after less than three weeks in the job, local media reported.Arturo Navarro, a former army colonel, was shot in his vehicle in the early hours of Saturday, Zocalo and El Norte newspaper websites said. Police declined to comment.

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Mexican drug cartels are entrenched in Oklahoma, casting an ominous shadow on the future of our cities and rural communities. "Oklahoma's No. 1 threat is the Mexican drug cartels," said Darrell Weaver, executive director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. "Make no mistake." gathered over the past 14 years has revealed a shadowy underworld of "second- and third-generation" Mexican drug smugglers who have gained a foothold throughout Oklahoma. They often operate in rural towns under the guise of a legitimate business such as a meat market or restaurant, and their connections have been traced to nearly all of Mexico's most notorious cartels — Sinaloa, Los Zetas, La Familia Michoacana, La Linea and Juarez.

"At least 90 percent of the drugs we see here in Oklahoma are coming from the Mexican drug cartels," said one undercover state agent who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.

The agent, known as "Agent M.S." for this article, is a veteran investigator who often conducts direct buys with major drug distributors. He is a second-generation American citizen whose father once served in the Mexican military, and he has participated in many of Oklahoma's largest drug busts in the past 15 years. "They're really in our neighborhoods," said Agent M.S., who posed as a seller in a sting operation in August at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City. Unarmed, he met three Mexican dealers who scanned his body with a hand-held metal detector to see if he was wired with a recorder or listening device. Once satisfied that he wasn't an undercover agent or police informant, the men began to talk about business and their connections with Mexican drug cartel members in Dallas and beyond the Rio Grande. "They mentioned real names of cartel members," Agent M.S. said. "Suddenly I realized I'm dealing with a guy on a real level. He wanted 50 kilos (of cocaine) a week. You're talking $1 million to $1.5 million a week worth of cocaine. That's real money and whenever you're talking about those kinds of purchases, you're dealing with a Mexican drug cartel.
Information gathered from the encounter led to a Mexican restaurant owner who had been using his popular western Oklahoma business as a front for his drug-smuggling operation. The investigation continues with hopes of netting higher-level cartel members. "Oklahomans are in danger because they deal with these people without them knowing," Agent M.S. said. "They'll visit their restaurants (or other businesses) they own. The danger is being caught in the crossfire." The cartels are also providing children with drugs, and rural communities are no longer insulated from the major drug operations. In fact, Agent M.S. said, one informant recently claimed that two large warehouses are cooking methamphetamine somewhere in the state. Such warehouses — known as "fiesta labs" in Mexico — are designed to cook massive amounts of methamphetamine around the clock. Another undercover state agent, who also asked for anonymity as "Agent P.A.," said, "The average citizen doesn't have a clue as to the reality of the Mexican drug cartels operating in the United States, and specifically Oklahoma. "And it's not just in Oklahoma City. It's everywhere they can gain a foothold. You go to Elk City, and if you dig deep enough you'll find a connection in Elk City. You can go to Woodward Altus Frederick and you can find a connection if you look hard enough."

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Police arrested 29-year-old Jose Callehas-Alfaro, 23-year-old German Escobar and 22-year-old Pedro Escobar on suspicion of possession of meth for sale, conspiracy to commit a crime, participating in a criminal street gang and other charges.Police say a month-long investigation has led to the arrest of three high-ranking Salvadoran gangsters suspected of being major drug suppliers.On Friday, Santa Cruz police said they seized three pounds of methamphetamine and a loaded, stolen handgun in a drug sting coordinated with the Fresno County Sheriff's Office narcotics team.Police Capt. Steve Clark says officers purchased meth from the three men on Wednesday for $42,000. Police say the men are suppliers of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin and that this particular shipment was destined for Fresno County.Alfaro and Pedro Escobar are being held on $35,000 bail at the Santa Cruz County Jail. German Escobar's bail is $85,000.

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Killed was Ray Washington, an alleged leader in the Four Corner Hustler gang, police said. The inspector with Washington also was shot, but he was expected to live.alleged high-ranking Chicago gang member with addresses on the North Shore and in a far southwest suburb was gunned down Thursday afternoon while standing outside a West Side residence with a housing inspector, authorities said.
Washington and the inspector -- who works for a company contracting with the Chicago Housing Authority -- were shot at 1:30 p.m. Thursday while standing in the 3800 block of West Flournoy. Police think Washington was in the neighborhood because of property he is involved in there and was possibly shot over gang issues, Gang Enforcement Section Cmdr. Leo Schmitz said.Although investigators initially believed the property was being appraised, CHA officials said the inspector was there to do a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) inspection on a unit.Police arrested three suspects after a short chase and also seized two weapons within minutes of the shooting.According to records and law enforcement sources, Washington, 38, has several addresses in the Chicago area. His address was listed in the 1900 block of Browning Court in Highland Park, although it is unclear whether that was his current home.
That home was described as expansive, as was another home he apparently had in south suburban Frankfort.Washington, a convicted felon, has an arrest record that includes narcotics and weapons violations, according to records. His name also surfaced in major mortgage fraud investigations involving upper-level gang members, a source said.Harrison District tactical officers heard the shots and saw the gunmen getting into a car. Other officers, including gang enforcement teams, joined the chase and walked the neighborhood to find the guns. The suspects were arrested a short distance away after running from the car.“They did a murder in plain view in the middle of day,” Schmitz

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Asian gangs are expanding and becoming more visible. The groups have typically been overshadowed by larger street gangs, like Crips or Bloods. As police investigate Wednesday’s firebombing of the home on N. Banks police are learning more about the gang that's reportedly behind the attack. The homeowner claims a Hmong gang is trying to recruit his sons through intimidation. They've vandalized cars, sprayed the house with bullets and now the violence. No one was hurt in the attack. "I think they are trying to scare me or give up and join them," he said. Threats and violence are common gang recruitment tactic. "That is that the way these gangs often work, is you join us or else, you are either with us or against us and using those intimidation factors brings other people in," Portland State sociologist Randy Blazak said. Experts say, Asian gangs often go unnoticed. Unlike other street gangs, they tend to prey on their own community. "Its a sort of insular world that a lot of people on the outside world don't have access to, including other gang members," according to Blazak. “I mean, it is often a mystery to other gang members like Bloods and Crips about how groups like Asian Cobras and those groups work.” Police records obtained by KGW detail another rare public incident in November, when gang members sparked a small riot at a Hmong New Year's festival in Hillsboro.


Police worry the once relatively quiet gangs are becoming more active and the violence more extreme and more public.


Police don't have an exact number of Asian gang members, but they figure it is a small percentage of the estimated 3,000 street gang members statewide.

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Ten young Albany men, most 19 or 20 years of age, were indicted Wednesday on 45 counts of aggravated assault, firearm crimes, and street gang activity. Prosecutors say they are members of the Southside Bloods, East Side Bloods, Southside Rattlers, or West Side Rattlers gangs.Prosecutors say December 27th in the 11-hundred block of West Gordon Avenue they opened fire with shotguns and pistols. 17 year old John Greene and 19 year old Jonathon Williams were both wounded."From an earlier incident where there had been a brief altercation, and then this retaliatory incident. And that's what this involved," said Dougherty District Attorney Greg Edwards.Both Greene and Williams are recovering, and were not charged in the indictment. Edwards said the Grand Jury message is clear, that gang violence will not be tolerated in Albany."This type of gang warfare endangers everybody and this is a clear instance of this. They just opened fire and two people were hit," Edwards said.If the ten men are found guilty, they will likely spend most of the remainder of their lives behind bars.
"If they are convicted, their parole officer probably has not been born yet," Edwards said.Seven of the ten gang members have been released on bond, three remain in jail pending trial.

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Clayton Roueche is scheduled to enter a guilty plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. It wasn't immediately clear Friday if he would plead to all or just some of the charges against him. No plea agreement has been made public, and his lawyer, Todd Maybrown, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.Roueche, of Vancouver, British Columbia, had long steered clear of the U.S. because he feared arrest - telling one woman in a monitored conversation he couldn't drive her to Bellingham, Wash., because he'd spend the next 20 years in a U.S. prison.But he was finally caught last year after he tried to attend a wedding in Mexico. Mexican authorities wouldn't let him enter the country, and at the request of the Americans, they put him on a flight home that landed first in Dallas.U.S. authorities immediately arrested him based on a then-sealed indictment charging him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and to launder money.The charges against him stem from an investigation called Operation Frozen Timber, which uncovered the smuggling of tons of marijuana into the U.S. by private planes and helicopters. When results of the investigation were announced in 2006, federal agents had arrested 40 people and seized roughly 4 tons of marijuana, 800 pounds of cocaine, three aircraft and $1.5 million in cash.
Canadian officials say Roueche founded the UN gang - so called because of its ethnic diversity - in the Fraser River Valley southeast of Vancouver about 12 years ago."This is a significant case that will have an effect on this organized crime group," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Tim Shields said Friday. "The UN gang poses a significant risk to public safety in the greater Vancouver area and beyond, and it has been linked to drug trafficking, violent crimes and murders."In recent months, Mexican soldiers have clamped down on the cocaine trade there, dramatically cutting the supply and driving up prices in the U.S. and Canada, investigators say. As a result, gangs in British Columbia that export marijuana and import cocaine and guns have been fighting over the remaining supply. There have been more than 30 killings in the Vancouver area this year, with police attributing many of them to gangs.

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Harvey Lewis, 15, a cadet with the police Explorers program, and his friend Dominque Smith, 18, both of South Philadelphia, each suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head as they walked home from a friend's house.Police say they believe three assailants, possibly in their teens, ran up behind Lewis and Smith on 26th Street near Morris Street and shot them. Several 9mm casings and a 9mm gun were recovered there."They were just walking home, walking down the street," Homicide Capt. James Clark said yesterday. "We believe somebody in the neighborhood knows who did this. . . . We really need the public's help finding the people who killed these two very innocent people."
Neither Lewis nor Smith had a criminal history or was involved in activities that would make him a likely victim, police have said. Clark, who has called the victims "good kids," said detectives had ruled out robbery as a motive.The task force will be made up of investigators from homicide, patrol, South Detectives, and the Criminal Intelligence Unit.Lewis' mother, Arleen Weston, and Smith's mother, Sharon Smith, said this week that their children likely had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.The neighborhood is well-known for slayings among teens from rival blocks. The 27th Street Gang often clashes with the 31st Street Gang. Relatives said Lewis and Smith had not been part of that.
Bishop James Darrell Robinson of Yesha Ministries Worship Center, 2301 Snyder Ave., has been counseling the two families."Last thing I heard was that the culprits approached and realized it was the wrong people, but one of them said, 'Shoot them anyway,' " Robinson said of reports circulating in the neighborhood.He also decried the pervasive "no snitch" culture, saying: "The biggest fight we have is really against the mentality. We definitely need the public's help, and hopefully someone will come forward."Detectives have not been able to find witnesses who heard what the gunmen said or could give a detailed description of them, Clark said. The task force is checking all surveillance cameras in the area with recordings from that night.Both mothers said their sons desperately had wanted to get away from the violence in the neighborhood.Services for Lewis and Smith will be held together Monday at Yesha Ministries Worship Center. Friends may call from 9 to 10:45 a.m., with the funeral service at 11 and burial to follow. Officials said the families were trying to make arrangements for the two friends to be buried next to each other.

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The operation against the 36th Street Bang Squad was carried out Friday morning, Hampton police spokeswoman Cpl. Paula Ensley said.Hampton and Newport News police officers, with the assistance of federal and state investigators, have busted 13 members of a street gang, bringing more than 100 charges, police said Friday.
She said warrants were obtained for 15 members of the gang. Police eventually picked up 13 people."The Hampton Police Division, along with the assistance of the Newport News Police Department, Virginia State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigations conducted a warrant operation in reference to serving 103 felony and misdemeanor gang related warrants," Ensley said.The gang is a sect of the criminal street gang Bloods, according to previous affidavits for search warrants."The Hampton Police Division would like to thank the Hampton Commonwealth Attorney's Office, Newport News Police Department, the Virginia State Police and the FBI for their assistance in this operation. This successful operation is another perfect example of how all local law enforcement agencies are working together to combat gangs in our cities," Ensley said.The operation comes just over a month after federal prosecutors announced indictments against 10 people who they said were members of the "Dump Squad," the "Bang Gang" or the "Slump Mobb" — a gang based in southeast Newport News.Almost 40 charges, including three homicides, were leveled against the people arrested in Newport News under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which entails running a criminal racketeering enterprise.Ensley said federal law was not used in Friday's operation and all of the charges were from Hampton Police Division warrants.Details of the charges were still emerging Friday evening.Ensley said "numerous felony charges" had been brought in the Hampton operation but no charges for homicide had been brought.The 36th Street Bang Squad was mentioned last year in court documents when police investigated the shooting death of 14-year-old Robjea Mitchell inside a home on Greenbriar Avenue in Hampton in October.Police said suspected juvenile members of the gang were in the house at the time.Police have not made a decision on whether the death will be considered an accident or a homicide.

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Shots were fired from a van at Sarto Street and Cambridge Avenue in Carlisle.Sheriff David Taylor said the violence stemmed from a dispute between gangs in Union and Carlisle.A vehicle deputies said was connected to the shooting was pulled over at Highways 215 and 72 in Union County.Deputies said that the shooting was connected to drug deal last week at the Union County alternative school.
Investigtors said that 11 adults and 15 juveniles have been charged, with more arrests expected.

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Former Gangster Disciples enforcer Wallace “Gator” Bradley sued a former Death Row inmate today, claiming he was not paid for his services as an “urban translator.”
In a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Bradley says Aaron Patterson owes him $100,000 for consulting and investigative work. Patterson received a $5 million settlement from the city in a false-imprisonment lawsuit. He is back in prison on a federal weapon conviction.

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Jackie Tran could remain in Canada for up to another year, with his lawyer today applying for a federal review of his deportation order.Raj Sharma, who is representing Tran, said they are seeking a review of last week’s decision by the Immigration and Refugee Board tribunal, which dismissed Tran’s appeal of the five-year-old deportation order.The Federal Court likely won’t be able to hear the review for another six months to a year, said Sharma.In the meantime, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) won’t be able to remove Tran to his native Vietnam, said spokeswoman Lisa White.“We can’t enforce (the removal order) until all levels of appeal and right to due process have been fully accorded,” she said.Last Friday, the tribunal accepted the testimony of Calgary Police Sgt. Gavin Walker and ruled that Tran is a member of an organized gang, which he denies.Tran had appealed to the tribunal on humanitarian grounds, arguing he is the sole source of support for his young sister and mother. Allegedly a member of the Fresh Off the Boat Killers, Tran was first ordered deported to his birth country on April 20, 2004, for serious criminality after being convicted of trafficking cocaine.Tran, also known as Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, first appeal of that decision was dismissed in January 2008.
Sharma said he believes there are sufficient grounds for the Federal Court to overturn the deportation order.“We’re really interested in Sgt. Walker’s qualification as an expert by the board — I think that is some fertile ground for us,” he said.“And, of course, the various findings that found Mr. Tran to be a member of a gang.“We’re arguing that... there are errors in this decision and the decision should not stand.”Meanwhile, CBSA are pursuing an organized criminality removal order, which will be handed to the Immigration and Refugee Board by May 1, said White, adding there is no appeal if Tran is found to be a member of a criminal group. Within the next 30 days, Tran’s legal team expects to file a record with the Federal Court that contains their arguments.Tran is currently released with conditions.

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