Snehanshu Rakshit Contract killers were hired to kill Rakshit

Four days have gone since the body of a Kasba-based promoter, Snehanshu Rakshit was found dead, but the South 24-Parganas police are still in the dark about the identities of those who murdered the promoter.
A senior district police officer said that they suspect some business rivals of Rakshit, a resident of Kasba, had masterminded the murder. Contract killers were hired to kill Rakshit, police suspect. Seven persons including Rakshit's some friends and a few real estate agents of Kasba were already interrogated in connection with the murder, but police have failed to get any leads to solve the murder. "We are investigating into the case, no one has yet been arrested. We hope that we would manage to nab the murderers and the mastermind behind the murder within a few days," said Mr DP Singh, additional superintendent of police, (industrial), South 24-Parganas.
Rakshit went missing on 20 February from New Market. He had come to a bank there to withdraw money. Rakshit had received a threat call on his mobile a few days ago, but he didn't disclose the caller's name to his family members. Rakshit's body was found in a bheri near Sonarpur on 21 February with his legs and hands tied with a rope. The mobile phone of the victim couldn't be traced till today. "We have contacted the mobile service provider to know about those who had contacted Rakshit on his mobile phone before he had gone missing," said an officer.
Rakshit's family members and his relatives were questioned, but they failed to give any leads to the police. They told the police that their kin had no personal and business rivalries with anyone in the area or in his business circle.Police also questioned some local residents of the area where Rakshit's body was found. A police officer said that the murderers had made Rakshit unconscious and later they tied his legs and hands with a rope. We suspect that those who masterminded the murder were known to the victim.
Though police suspect business rivalry to be the motive behind the murder, the officers are yet to find any proof. The officers have also questioned an employee of a bank where Rakshit had come to withdraw money. "We have decided to question some promoters of the area in this connections. It is clear that Rakshit was not kidnapped from New Market area. We spoke to the city police officers," said the officer.Meanwhile, residents of Kasba and relatives of the victim are unhappy with the police for failing to solve the case. They said they would wait for another week. If police fail to solve the case within a week, Rakshit's relatives would write a letter to the state government seeking a CID probe into the murder.

Avenues gang, A man wielding an AK-47 rifle was killed by police as they returned fire

The Avenues gang has cast a long shadow in these poor, largely Latino sections north of downtown L.A.They gained national attention in 1995 when a 3-year-old Stephanie Kuhen was shot and killed when her family made a wrong turn into a Cypress Park alley.Two years ago, the gang was again in the news when members were convicted on federal hate crime charges for violently trying to drive black residents from the area, a prosecution authorities hoped would hobble the gang's activities.A drive-by attack followed by a wild shootout between gang members and police shut down dozens of blocks of Northeast Los Angeles for nearly six hours Thursday afternoon, stranding thousands of residents, keeping students locked in their classrooms and leaving two people dead.
Veteran L.A. Police Department officials described the bizarre midday shootings -- and the widespread disruption they caused -- as highly unusual even in an area known for gang activity. It left the neighborhood littered with shell casings and its residents fearful.Police blamed the incident on the notorious Avenues gang, which has cast a wide shadow over districts north of downtown L.A. for decades and continues to be active despite several high-profile attempts by authorities to shut it down.The violence began around noon when a 37-year-old man police described as a bystander was shot more than a dozen times by suspected gang members as he held the hand of a 2-year-old girl. He later died. The toddler, apparently picked up by a passerby and carried to safety, was not wounded. As the gunmen drove off, witnesses told police, several pedestrians who apparently knew the victim opened fire on the car.Minutes later, police attempted to stop suspects driving in a white Nissan sedan about 10 blocks away. Three men jumped out of the car, and at least two of them fired weapons at officers.A man wielding an AK-47 rifle was killed by police as they returned fire, authorities said.Another suspect was wounded and later found hiding under a car, where he was still holding a semiautomatic handgun, law enforcement sources said. Police said he is expected to recover.But it was a massive manhunt for the two remaining suspects that shut down dozens of streets in Cypress Park until police arrested one of the men about 5:30 p.m. The other is believed to have driven out of the area, police said.

William Bowden, a Hell’s Angels member out of Winnipeg

William Bowden, a Hell’s Angels member out of Winnipeg, was arrested in Whistler on a warrant stemming from Bowden’s home town. The warrant was for various weapons and violence charges.
Bowden, who was in Whistler to celebrate Valentine’s Day with his girlfriend, did not know that there was a team consisting of the Sea to Sky General Investigations Section and other partners, who were anticipating his arrival in Whistler. Bowden was identified and arrested by the team which also included General Duty members from Whistler and the event went without incident.
Bowden was taken to Whistler Detachment and later transported to North Vancouver Court where he appeared before a judge on February 15/08. Bowden will be sent back to Winnipeg where he will attend court on his outstanding charges.

Brain Chhoun,Daniel Chhoun shootings at rival gang members

Brain Chhoun, 23, and Daniel Chhoun, 25, both admitted to committing crimes, including shootings at rival gang members, in support of the Tiny Oriental Posse, or TOP.
Federal prosecutors claim at least 14 TOP members took part in or supported an array of assaults, home-invasion robberies, drug trafficking and even murders to bolster the standing of their gang.
Among their violent acts was the Nov. 7, 1998, fatal shooting of Bethany Hyde. Police say TOP members mistook Hyde's car for that of a rival gang member.
Based on the original charge, Brian Chhoun and Daniel Chhoun both faced up to 20 years in prison. Under the plea deal, they could face around five years. Sentencing for the two will be May 28 and 27, respectively.
Friday's pleas came at the heels of a trial scheduled to begin March 10. Prosecutors say TOP members are scrambling to strike plea deals of their own.
For trial, prosecutors have lined up a comprehensive history of the gang's violence, including drive-by shootings, home-invasion robberies and homicides.
The group was indicted last July, accused of running a criminal organization. Federal agents say TOP is an Asian gang with no real hierarchy or written rules, but whose members demand strong loyalty. Disloyalty to the gang sometimes results in physical punishment.
TOP is the third violent gang to be dismantled by federal prosecutors using the federal RICO racketeering law.

Open Contract on "Gays" in Jamaica

Jamaica’s gays socialize at underground nightclubs and worship at secret church services that move around the island. The leading gay rights organization, Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, must lie low even as it pushes for societal change.The New York TimesA mob assaulted gays in Mandeville recently.
Gareth Henry, a former leader of the group, fled to Canada last month, saying he had grown tired of being threatened. “Here, I’m no longer living in fear,” he said in a telephone interview from Toronto. “I’m finally able to be myself, to be an out gay man.”The commander of the Mandeville police station, Inspector Claude Smith, while making clear that his religious beliefs firmly oppose homosexuality, rejected the notion that the police condone violence against gays. Enforcement of the law against homosexuality, he said, should be up to the police, not angry mobs.
In an interview, he recalled protecting a gay man who was chased through the streets of Mandeville about 15 years ago for wearing lipstick and carrying a purse. He predicted that the climate would not change for gays any time soon.
“Based on the response of these mobs, people get very angry when they come across them,” he said. “I don’t think they can survive in the open.”
The issue, though, is certainly out in the open. Last November, The Gleaner, the largest daily newspaper here, published an article saying that some of the island’s schools were using a home economics textbook that suggested same-sex unions were a type of family. Andrew Holness, the new education minister, swiftly pulled the book from circulation. “We are reviewing all our books to ensure that they adhere to the moral view of society,” he told reporters.Last April, the local news media reported that gays had protested outside the offices of the Western Mirror, a Montego Bay newspaper, after it published an article that said gays were responsible for a shortage of women’s underwear in the city.
Then there was the recent attack in Mandeville, which is still under investigation, with no arrests. Next to Andre, huddled in a corner during the attack, was his boyfriend, 22, who goes by the nickname Junior. Deep machete slashes run up and down the arm he held in the air to protect himself. His head was also battered, though he escaped a more vicious beating by running through the mob waving a kitchen knife.
Two other men at the dinner got away, but the fate of one guest remains unknown. He had fled into the yard before the attackers broke in and has not been heard from since. The police found blood at the mouth of a deep hole nearby; they suspect he may have been attacked in the yard, then fallen to his death.
Since the attack, Andre said, he has been trying to undo his gayness, following a common view here that it is an acquired behavior that can be dropped if only one prays more and pays more attention to the opposite sex.
He fled Mandeville after the attack and found refuge at the home of a pastor, who now delivers at-home sermons to him on how he must change.
With the pastor standing over him, Andre said he would try to be attracted to women, if only so he would never be beaten again. But he mentions another option, as well: leaving Jamaica.
The pastor says he has a son who is gay and has been unable to turn him around. But he is intent on converting Andre.
“Instead of cutting him, people should be counseling him,” said the pastor, who declined to be identified out of fear that his family might be attacked for protecting a gay man. “He needs to get over this demonic thing.”

Gagik Dzhangiryan had on him a Czech-made pistol with 15 cartridges, while his fellow travellers had a Makarov pistol with cartridges and a rifle.

Former Armenian Deputy Prosecutor-General Gagik Dzhangiryan was brought to police on Saturday evening, Itar-Tass learnt at the public relations service of the Armenian police department. Its report notes that the organised crime division of the Armenian police department received information that armed people whose aim is to destabilise the situation in the Armenian capital, are driving in two cars along the Bagarshapat-Yerevan highway. Officers of the organised crime division stopped a BMW and Lada cars at around 23.00. People in the cars, including Dzhangiryan and his brother, offered resistance. All of them were brought to the organised crime division.
Dzhangiryan had on him a Czech-made pistol with 15 cartridges, while his fellow travellers had a Makarov pistol with cartridges and a rifle.
Police officers found in the cars a shotgun, a loaded Browning pistol, a dagger, handcuffs and a bulletproof vest. A criminal case was instituted in connection with this incident. The investigation is conducted by the Main Investigation Police Department of the Republican Interior Ministry. On Saturday morning, Armenian President Robert Kocharyan issued a decree, removing Dzhangiryan from his post and depriving him of his rank of state justice adviser.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office reported that Dzhangiryan had broken up requirements of the law on the prosecutor’s office, under which “prosecutors are forbidden to be party members and to go in for politics in any other way”. “Under any circumstances, a prosecutor is duty-bound to display political restraint and neutrality,” the Prosecutor-General’s Office noted.
Dzhangiryan had participated in and addressed a rally of the Armenian opposition.

Russia"A wave of contract killings has hit the country,"

"A wave of contract killings has hit the country," Mr Chaika conceded.A surge in contract killings reminiscent of Russia's mafia wars in the 1990s is threatening to damage Vladimir Putin's legacy of stability in the dying days of his presidency. As the Russian leader prepares to hand power to his handpicked sucessor, Dmitry Medvedev, after Sunday's election, the Kremlin has been keen to remind Russians the president replaced Yeltsin era lawlessness with what he calls "the dictatorship of the law". But last week, Yuri Chaika, Russia's prosecutor general, was forced to admit mafia-linked assassinations were again on the rise. The last seven days alone have seen the killings of the powerful prosecutor in the Saratov region, a leading Moscow lawyer and the procurement director of Russia's biggest carmaker Avtovaz. A general in charge of defence ministry contracts also died suspiciously.
Despite the increase in assassinations, many of which have been linked to a power struggle between Kremlin factions, the violence pales in comparison with the anarchy of the mid-1990s when thousands were killed in turf battles between rival gangs. Reminders of that astonishing period of attrition are everywhere in Russia, from photographs pinned on kitchen walls in the homes of widows to the gravestones in cemeteries from Moscow to Vladivostok. Perhaps the most ghoulish can be found in two graveyards on opposite sides of Yekaterinburg, one the final resting place for members of the Central Gang, the other for their rivals in the Uralmash Gang, named after one of the city's most hardscrabble suburbs.In larger-than-life photographs etched into the granite, the tombstones depict hardened men in Hawaiian shirts and leather jackets. One holds a cigarette in his hand, another the car keys of his beloved Mercedes. These are museums of vice set among the pine trees, but even here there are signs Russia's mafia scene has not yet completely faded into history. Beside the grave of a Uralmash leader who died mysteriously in prison two years ago, two men in dark glasses keep watch over their former master's resting place from a battered white Renault. A camera perched on the top of the tombstone swivels in the direction of approaching strangers, a warning — it is said — not to pilfer the gold that lies within the grave. But most of the young fighters who once made up the brawn of the gangs, collecting protection money, kneecapping those who would not pay up and planting explosives in the cars of their rivals have moved on to lives of semi-respectability. Few miss those days, a period, they said, when the only way to survive in Russia's regional cities was to work for the mafia. Most also credit Mr Putin with ending the violence by giving the police new powers and ordering the arrest of many gang leaders.

"We were young and stupid," said Oleg, a former gang member who now works at a drug rehabilitation centre. "The criminal life seemed beautiful and exciting. Then all of my friends began to die, most of them shot or from overdoses."
"The wars are over. People's values have changed and the laws have become tougher like they should have been. We should be thankful to Putin for that."Many of the mafia leaders who survived have gone straight too. Yekaterinburg is now littered with shopping malls, hotels and even juice bars owned by former Uralmash capos.
While soaring oil prices have largely driven Russia's economic boom, businessmen say the end of the mafia wars has done much to allow ordinary entrepreneurs to make money without fear of losing it. Take Nikolai, for instance. As a new graduate in the early 1990s, he first made it big by taking control of a metallurgy factory near Yekaterinburg using a questionable but legal method known as corporate raiding.
"My brother and I cropped our hair, put on leather jackets and went to shareholders' homes," he said over dinner in Yekaterinburg's most exclusive restaurant.
"We basically intimidated them into supporting our takeover of the factory."
With the plant's Soviet era "red director" ejected, Nikolai turned a failing factory with 300 workers into a successful operation that employed 1,000.Yet, although he employed mafia protection, Nikolai was forced to hand over the plant to Uralmash. Today he directs a profitable consultancy with foreign partners and boasts that he does not even have to pay bribes.
His young fiancée, who grew up in a mafia family, works in a charity for the disabled and believes Russia's future in bright.
"I used to live in terror," she said.
"I would be scared to walk home. You would often hear explosions. I think that many Russians are grateful that the terror and instability is gone — it's an important reason why Putin is so popular."Once feared men now inspire little more than passing interest. Outside a café in the Siberian city of Omsk, a corpulent bald man stepped out of a Lamborghini with a younger female companion. "That's The Enforcer," said Andrei, a driver, as the man walked into the café.
"He was in charge of imposing discipline. Everyone was terrified of him but now we just think he's a loser."
The appearance of stability does much to explain why Mr Putin is both popular and supported in his clampdown on democracy — a fact many Russians believe has allowed the restoration of order.
Yet appearances are in some ways misleading. Experts estimate 30 per cent of the Russian economy is still in gangster hands. Most of these gangsters now work in local politics and even in the Kremlin itself and are still prone to using illegal methods to further their interests.
Alongside them the FSB, the KGB's successor, has grown increasingly powerful and uses many of the same mafia techniques the gangs of the 1990s used.
"Russia's main problem, one that stops it from becoming a normal country, is that an unholy nexus of politics, big business and organised crime still dominates the ruling class," said a western diplomat. It is a point that Nikolai, the Yekaterinburg businessman concedes — although he is more optimistic.
"Russia is not the wild east any more," he said. "It hasn't completed the transition to normal modern state yet. But maybe in the next generation when professionals manage the state rather than the ex-military, things will work out."

Human rights activists say there have been over 800 extra-judicial killings in the Philippines

The government of Philippine President Gloria Arroyo is under fire from many segments of the society after being rocked by fresh charges of corruption and human rights abuse. At this time it doesn't appear that public disapproval will swell to the levels that washed away her predecessor Joseph Estrada, who relinquished power following months of protest over his plundering of the economy for his own benefit. But President Arroyo must move quickly to clear the air if she hopes to maintain credibility and effectiveness until the end of her term in 2010. The new corruption charges don't directly implicate President Arroyo, but they come uncomfortably close, and not for the first time. The president's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, along with former elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr, are accused of demanding a $130 million kickback in negotiations for a $330 million government broadband contract with the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp. The contract was cancelled in September last year after growing criticism that it was hugely overpriced. The allegations were revealed to the public in startling fashion on nationwide television during a Senate investigation into the deal by government consultant Rodolfo Lozada. Mr Lozada has also alleged that the president's own security forces tried to keep him from testifying by kidnapping him and holding him for 24 hours. Last Friday about 10,000 protesters joined an opposition rally in Manila demanding President Arroyo's resignation, and on Sunday a Mass led by Roman Catholic groups was performed in a show of support for Mr Lozada. After the Mass, which was attended by around 3,000 people, a group of former officials which included ex-president Corazon Aquino and former Philippine ambassador to the United States Albert del Rosario, called on President Arroyo to resign and called on current officials who ''can no longer endure this wrongful governance'' to quit the administration. The former president urged Filipinos to ''unite once again and to rally behind people who reveal the truth and fight corruption''.Members of the clergy have made clear that they were not joining in the calls for President Arroyo's resignation, but have said they were trying to protect Mr Lozada from ''harassment''. Segments of the Catholic clergy were, of course, heavily involved in the protests which led to the ouster of former presidents Estrada and Ferdinand Marcos. Adding to President Arroyo's troubles is a report released this week by the Commission on Human Rights, which found that soldiers looking for members of the militant separatist group Abu Sayyaf in Sulu province, had killed seven innocent villagers, including two children and a pregnant woman. Human rights activists say there have been over 800 extra-judicial killings in the Philippines since President Arroyo took over in 2001.
The demonstrations have, till now, been relatively small but the mood of the general public can perhaps be gauged by the amount of scepticism which greeted the reports last week of an uncovered plot to assassinate the president.

In many respects the situation in the Philippines today is reminiscent of the situation in Thailand a little less than two years ago, when former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was dogged by allegations of corruption in his cabinet over the procurement of CTX baggage scanners for the new airport, and the tax-free sale of his telecommunications empire to Singaporean interests, as well as human rights abuses centring on the ''war on drugs''. Mr Thaksin chose to dissolve Parliament to avoid scrutiny. President Arroyo does not have that luxury. Besides, if Mr Thaksin's experience is any example, and if the well-being of her country is taken into consideration, the best approach for President Arroyo would be to cooperate with the Senate inquiries, admit wrong where warranted and then put the matter behind her and move on.

Yevgeny Chivilikhin, president of the Moscow Markets and Fairs Guild

Yevgeny Chivilikhin, president of the Moscow Markets and Fairs Guild, died from several wounds to the head after being ambushed by an unknown gunman at the entrance to his house in central area of the Russian capital.
"Police believe this was a contract killing," said the Vesti-24 television channel.
Police were quoted as saying they hoped footage from surveillance cameras installed at the house could help to find the killer.In 2006, Chivilikhin escaped unhurt when a bomb exploded near his house.Chivilikhin, 57, was a co-owner of a giant market complex in Moscow.Several criminal groups had fought for control of the busy area that was visited by hundreds of thousands customers daily, media reports said.Last September a senior detective investigating fraud and corruption in Russian businesses was shot dead in Moscow.In October 2006, a gunman killed deputy central banker Andrei Kozlov who had been investigating money laundering at banks.Contract killings were commonplace in the turbulent 1990s in Russia but have become less frequent

Felipe Mendoza Rojas and Ramón Córdova Olave on the run after murdering two police officers in Quilicura

The two criminals on the run after murdering two police officers in Quilicura last week are still within national borders. This according to an investigation carried out by the OS-9 unity of law enforcement. This morning, General Jorge Rojas, acting Chief of the Narcotics Investigation Unit, affirmed that the fugitives have not crossed any international borders. He added that arrangements are being made with law enforcement officials of Argentina, Perú and Bolivia to coordinate investigations in the case that the criminals do manage to enter another country. The fugitives are identified as Felipe Mendoza Rojas and Ramón Córdova Olave. According to General Rojas, Córdova is the one who has the financial means to flee the country, “he owns mechanic shops, cars, summer homes, boats and motorcycles, all of illicit origin and part of the reason why he is wanted by police”. The police chief expressed gratitude to the community for all of the information they have passed on to law enforcement, information that has already facilitated the arrest of four of the criminals involved.

76 murders in Guatemala

There have been "at least" 76 murders in Guatemala in the first eight days since the inauguration of the country's new president. One was a police officer. Of the 76, 69 were by use of firearm; twenty other persons have been wounded, also by firearm.
Security forces have begun "high impact" operations in the more troubled portions of the capital city.According to the "Ministry of Government", the majority of these crimes are due to "narcotraffic", to wars between gangs and to their "settling of debts." Guatemala has one police officer for each 650 residents. Last year's murder tally reached 5,781 victims.

Ernesto Palacios Lopez criminal court judge, was shot and killed

Ernesto Palacios Lopez, a criminal court judge, was shot and killed while driving his vehicle yesterday evening. Unknown persons used a .223 caliber firearm. Judge Palacios was dealing with the case of a man believed to be an operative of the Sinaloa drug cartel. The murder occurred in San Nicolas de Garza, a suburb of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, where a second murder victim, this one tortured and shot, was found dumped in a park.

Ernesto Palacios Lopez criminal court judge, was shot and killed

Ernesto Palacios Lopez, a criminal court judge, was shot and killed while driving his vehicle yesterday evening. Unknown persons used a .223 caliber firearm. Judge Palacios was dealing with the case of a man believed to be an operative of the Sinaloa drug cartel. The murder occurred in San Nicolas de Garza, a suburb of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, where a second murder victim, this one tortured and shot, was found dumped in a park.

Kenneth Eugene Parnell has died of natural causes while serving a life sentence.

Kenneth Eugene Parnell, one of California's most notorious child molesters, has died of natural causes while serving a life sentence.
Parnell, 76, died at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville on Monday, corrections officials said today.
He was convicted of kidnapping 7-year-old Steven Stayner in 1972 and keeping him until 1980. That's when Parnell abducted a second boy and Stayner fled, taking the boy with him.Stayner's story was told in the television movie "I Know My First Name is Steven." He died in a motorcycle accident in 1989.
Stayner's brother, Cary, is awaiting execution for killing four women in Yosemite National Park in 1999.Parnell was paroled after serving prison time for the earlier kidnappings. In 2004, he was sentenced to 25 years to life after he attempted to abduct another child.Prosecutors said he asked the sister of his former caretaker to deliver a 4-year-old boy to his Berkeley apartment in exchange for $500. The woman went to police instead.

Phoenix police arrested Israel Anthony Morales, 17, Liburio Zaval, 30, and Jesus Duran, 22, following an investigation into a kidnapping

Phoenix police arrested Israel Anthony Morales, 17, Liburio Zaval, 30, and Jesus Duran, 22, following an investigation into a kidnapping that occurred on Friday, in which a 39-year-old man was kidnapped from his home in the 3500 block of West Portland Street. Three illegal immigrants who police believe kidnapped and tortured a Phoenix resident in a human-smuggling case were arrested.On Monday, Phoenix police investigators and SWAT officers made a tactical traffic stop on Interstate 17 near McDowell Road and took two of the suspects into custody, according to Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter. Information from the two men led officers to an apartment.
SWAT forcefully entered the apartment, arrested the third suspect and found the victim bound and gagged in a bathroom. The suspects had placed a gun in his mouth and said numerous times that they would kill him, Tranter said.
He had also been assaulted and tortured, but was not seriously injured, Tranter said. Police also found an assault rifle and a sawed-off shotgun in the apartment.
The three suspects have been booked on suspicion of several counts, including kidnapping, extortion and auto theft.
Police also found the vehicle believed to be used in the kidnapping at a shop near 400 West Broadway Road.
An additional suspect, David Delacruz, 28, was arrested on suspicion of drug charges after police seized an undisclosed amount of money and cocaine.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement assisted in the arrests and immigration holds were placed on all suspects, Tranter said.

Adelino Najera officers in the tower opened fire with a shotgun and shot and killed him.

An inmate at a Johnston County prison was shot and killed while trying to escape on Tuesday, just five months before he was set to be released.Adelino Najera had been working in a building next to the Johnston Correctional Facility in Smithfield when he tried to run. A corrections officer warned Najera to stop, but when he didn’t, the officer fired on the man, killing him.
In 2001, Najera was convicted in Stokes County for shooting and killing a female friend of his. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Adelino Najera "Officers saw him as he was climbing the first fence and gave him verbal orders to stop,” said Keith Acree, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction. “He ignored those orders, kept going and proceeded over the second fence. When he hit the ground after the second fence, one of the officers in the tower opened fire with a shotgun and shot and killed him.
Najera worked in a paint plant adjacent to the prison with about 100 other inmates. Despite being convicted in the shooting of a friend, the Honduran native was gettingout of prison in June of this year. Authorities say he had a few violations over the years, but nothing out of the ordinary."It appears to be spontaneous. We don't have any evidence at this point that it was a plot or plan or anything like that,” said Acree.Inmates were temporarily placed on lockdown until Najera's body could be removed from the scene. Pending an investigation, the officer who fired the fatal round which pierced Najera's back has been taken out of the tower and placed on administrative duty.In 2001 and 2002, two other inmates were killed while trying to escape from the same facility.Per state law, an inmate isn't allowed within 10 feet of a prison fence. If they go anywhere near it and are told several times to stop and don't, state law gives an officer the right to shoot them.

Pete Joseph Valdez III, 28, appeared at the South County Courthouse on felony charges of attempted murder of a police officer

Pete Joseph Valdez III, 28, appeared at the South County Courthouse on felony charges of attempted murder of a police officer, assault of a police officer with a firearm, being a felon in possession of a gun, and delaying or resisting a police officer. If convicted of these charges Valdez, who was denied bail two months ago, would spend the rest of his life in prison. A man accused of trying to shoot a police officer in the face appeared in court today, only to have his attorney request a continuance to address evidence presented by the district attorney.
Valadez's next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 22 and Deputy District Attorney Mark Hood said it could result in a preliminary hearing, another continuance or a discussion before the judge.
"It wouldn't be surprising in a case like this," Hood said of the possibility of Valdez's attorney requesting another continuance.
About 3 a.m. Nov. 15, Gilroy police officer John Ballard noticed Valdez biking east on West Eighth Street without a headlight and on the wrong side of the road, police said. When Ballard tried to stop him, Valdez took off.
Ballard caught up with Valdez a few blocks later and a foot chase ensued, police said. During the pursuit, Valdez punched and kicked the officer, then pulled a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun loaded with seven hollow-point bullets. Valdez aimed the gun at Ballard's face and repeatedly pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed and did not fire.
Ballard resumed fighting with Valdez while another officer arrived and helped subdue and arrest Valdez. In an interview after the incident, Valdez said he pulled the gun in hopes that an officer would shoot and kill him.
"I don't want to live," said a crying Valdez. Valdez has 10 prior convictions including three felony convictions for a strong-arm robbery. Valdez is the son of former 16-year Gilroy councilman Pete Valdez Jr., who has been present at his son's three previous court appearances and sat by as his son appeared today.

The police gave the names of the accused as Srinath (32), Somashekhar (23), Santosh (23), Raghavendra (23), Devaraja Gowda, Ajay (21), Girish (26), Ma

The Kalasipalya police have arrested nine persons in connection with a double murder of a driver and cleaner of a truck carrying coffee beans in Bellur Police Station limits in Mandya district on December 30, 2007.
The police gave the names of the accused as Srinath (32), Somashekhar (23), Santosh (23), Raghavendra (23), Devaraja Gowda, Ajay (21), Girish (26), Mahesh (30) and Aravind (24).The truck was on its way to Bangalore from Hassan. The accused had allegedly followed the truck and intercepted it near Bellur CrossLater, the accused reportedly strangled the driver and the cleaner of the truck and burnt their bodies near Mudigere tank. One of the accused, Mahesh, drove the truck and unloaded coffee beans at Kowdahalli. The accused then allegedly pushed the truck to a valley in Charmadi Ghat. The accused, who were armed with lethal weapons, were detained by the Kalasipalya police on charge of attempt to commit dacoity. During interrogation, they spilled the beans about the double murder.

Dale George Henry was shot point blank in the headin his home in Ranong, Thailand.

Dale George Henry, 48, was shot point blank in the head Feb. 3 in his home in Ranong, Thailand. His 27-year-old wife, a Thai woman who married him five years ago, is accused of hiring a hitman so she could collect on his $1-million life insurance policy.Now, Mary-Jane Matheson is left worrying about making arrangements, not for funeral flowers, but her own safety.Mary-Jane Matheson boards a flight Monday night at the Calgary airport, bound for Thailand, where her brother Dale Henry was murdered Feb. 3. Fearful for her safety, Matheson says she'll hire security when she arrives in Thailand for his funeral.
Jenelle Schneider, Calgary Herald
Hire security -- that's the first thing we'll want to do. I'm frightened of hitmen," Matheson said before boarding a flight Monday night to Vancouver.
"I've been told to go straight to the embassy. I'm going to ask them to have somebody pick me up."
Family learned of Henry's death only last Tuesday, when his brother Richard was contacted by police at his home in Victoria.
Richard has flown to the southeast Asian country and will sit inside a temple with his brother's body. A Thai funeral begins Wednesday.
Henry had been living in Thailand for the past decade, frequently flying between there and Nigeria, where he worked for a U.S.-based oil drilling company.
His marriage to Manreet Nee, who is 20 years his junior, was his first.
Henry, a Canadian who spent much of his life in the Calgary area, worked about a decade ago as a firefighter and emergency medical technician in Cochrane before contracting as a safety consultant for oil companies."Our 10-hour days went by quick," said former Cochrane paramedic/firefighter Mike Lamacchia. He and Henry were partners in 1991 and 1992."He was a great health care provider, a lot of fun to be around. He wasn't a shy guy. He was definitely heard wherever he went."He could tell a ton of jokes. It was never boring being around Dale."Lamacchia said he was stunned when he learned of Henry's dramatic death.
In 1994, Henry started a Calgary-based consulting business, Panther Safety Services, specializing in safety audits, inspections, training and safety program development.
Henry was due to return to work in Nigeria Feb. 22 after recovering from a broken leg that became infected. The injury occurred during a fall while hiking in the jungle.Looking back, Matheson said she believes that was the first attempt on her brother's life.The crime has resulted in the arrest of Dale's wife, Manreet Nee, an alleged hitman and a third man, said to be Nee's lover.It's believed the motive for the killing was a million-dollar-plus insurance policy Henry had through his company.
The murder has rocked the tight-knit expat community in Thailand, many of whom are speaking out online about what they say is a corrupt justice system.Australian Mac McLeod said in a telephone interview Monday night that the alleged hitman has killed before."It is well-known that he is a hitman. That is his job," said McLeod, who left Thailand several years ago in fear for his own life after a run-in with the man accused of pulling the trigger on Henry.He said the area where Henry lived, a town called Panong in the south, is not heavily populated by ex-pats."There are all sorts of nefarious characters. There are more hitmen around Thailand than anywhere. That's the way they do business there -- it's a buck a gun."
He joked that "Dracula once went and barely escaped with his fangs."
Henry is the second Canadian slain in Thailand in as many months. Calgary native Leo Del Pinto, 25, was shot to death Jan. 6 while he and a friend were walking home in Pai. A Thai police officer has been charged in that case.

New York City murders dating back to the 1970s

A look at seven New York City murders dating back to the 1970s outlined in a sweeping indictment filed by federal prosecutors against alleged members of the Gambino crime family:
Authorities contend five murders are linked to Charles Carneglia, a reputed mafia soldier since the 1970s.

_ March 11, 1976: New York state court officer Albert Gelb is gunned down days before he was to testify against Carneglia in a gun possession case. Previous attempts to prosecute Gambino associates for the killing, including Carneglia's brother, failed.

_ Nov. 6, 1977: Michael Cotillo, a Gambino associate, is stabbed at a diner following a fight with Carneglia.

_ July 29, 1983: Salvatore Puma, a Gambino associate, is stabbed on a streetcorner after arguing with Carneglia about money.

_ Oct. 4, 1990: Reputed Gambino member Louis DiBono is shot in a parking garage at the World Trade Center. Gambino boss John Gotti and several underlings are convicted of orchestrating the hit, which was related to DiBono's contract to install fireproofing at the Trade Center.

_ Dec. 14, 1990: Jose Delgado Rivera, a 57-year-old security guard, is shot in the back during an armored car heist at Kennedy International Airport. Two gunmen dressed as airline employees reportedly escape with $65,000. Police said Carneglia fired the fatal blast.

Authorities pin two killings on Nicholas "Little Nicky" Corozzo, a reputed Gambino captain.

_ Jan. 26, 1996: Mob assassins attack a car in Brooklyn, killing Robert Arena, said to be a low-level mafioso, and Thomas Maranga, who prosecutors said was a bystander. A suspect in the case, Michael Yannotti, was acquitted in 2005. Corozzo is charged with ordering the hit.

Yevgeny Chivilikhin, president of the Moscow Markets and Fairs Guild, died from several wounds to the head

A prominent Moscow businessman was shot dead overnight in what police believed was a contract killing, Russian media reported on Thursday.
Yevgeny Chivilikhin, president of the Moscow Markets and Fairs Guild, died from several wounds to the head after being ambushed by an unknown gunman at the entrance to his house in central area of the Russian capital.
"Police believe this was a contract killing," said the Vesti-24 television channel.
Police were quoted as saying they hoped footage from surveillance cameras installed at the house could help to find the killer.
In 2006, Chivilikhin escaped unhurt when a bomb exploded near his house.
Chivilikhin, 57, was a co-owner of a giant market complex in Moscow.Several criminal groups had fought for control of the busy area that was visited by hundreds of thousands customers daily, media reports said.Last September a senior detective investigating fraud and corruption in Russian businesses was shot dead in Moscow.
In October 2006, a gunman killed deputy central banker Andrei Kozlov who had been investigating money laundering at banks.

Contract killings were commonplace in the turbulent 1990s in Russia but have become less frequent.

woman who confessed to shooting a man for $10,000 three decades ago is headed to prison for 20 years to life

Karen Lucille Martin, 53, was sentenced Friday in the death of Leroy Grant, a 36-year-old mechanic and widowed father who was left to die along a Maple Valley road in 1978.The former prostitute confessed to the crime the following year, after a federal prosecutor agreed to give her immunity in exchange for information about contract killings and organized crime.
She told them she killed Grant after hearing from her imprisoned husband that there was a $10,000 contract out for the man's death because he'd "received some money which he was not supposed to have gotten," according to court papers.
She told investigators she lured Grant to meet her, shot him three times and rolled his body down an embankment -- but never got paid.Though she escaped prosecution for years, she didn't get away with the crime because King County prosecutors never promised her immunity. So when a task force looking into unsolved murders and organized crime recently discovered her confession, prosecutors charged her with first-degree murder.Martin, whose criminal record had apparently been limited to a 2002 drunken-driving conviction, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last month.

Man traps reported by South Australia Police

DRUG busts of major cultivations which included "man traps" near Port Lincoln have disrupted the distribution of cannabis around South Australia, police say.
More than 430 mature cannabis plants, some up to 2m high and worth more than $500,000, have been seized over the past two days from several sites in national parks, scrubland and private farms near Port Lincoln.
On Monday, 132 plants were located in national parks and 300 mature plants were seized yesterday from a private farm, found hidden in a plantation of bamboo about 20m high. Several smaller cannabis crops were discovered on the property.
A witness said the main plantation also had about a dozen sharpened steel rods about 1m high stuck in the ground and pointing upwards and spread among the cannabis plants, apparently as potential trap for unwanted visitors.
The bamboo crop had been cleared in the centre to allow the cannabis to grow. It was topped with straw and hay in an attempt to camouflage the plants.
The crop of 1m high cannabis plants were discovered about 40m behind two farm houses on a property near Coulta, north of Coffin Bay, on Eyre Peninsula.
Neither house was occupied when police arrived.
The drug raids came as part of a successful strategy by Port Lincoln police to prevent the harvesting of cannabis crops grown in remote locations, officer-in-charge of West Coast local service area Chief Inspector Brad Flaherty said.
"This is a prime example of (a) disruption to the drug trade," he said. "While there have been some reports and arrests the objective was to disrupt the cultivation and eventual trade of cannabis within the state.
"In this case, the operation has been successful."

Davao Death Gangs Send your boys away or I will get them one by one

Clarita Alia’s nightmare began after a man in a police uniform showed up outside her hovel in this southern Philippine city in July 2001.
Send your boys away,” the stranger warned, “or I will get them one by one.”
Two weeks later, Richard, 17, who like his siblings had dropped out of school and joined a gang, was knifed to death in the tough Bankerohan neighborhood of Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao.
Chistopher, 16, and Bobby, 14, met the same fate within 16 months.
By 2006 Clarita’s youngest, Fernando, 15 was also dead. No one was arrested or prosecuted for the killings.
Their 54-year-old mother, who hawks cigarettes and lives in a six-square-meter shack at the Bankerohan public market with two dogs, her remaining son and his wife and two children, swears the man who threatened her boys still lives nearby.
“I know God will be angry, but I feel happy every time I learn on television that a policeman has died,” she told Agence France-Presse. “I tell myself it’s only right that they also suffer.”
Independent rights monitors here say at least 583 persons, including 45 minors and 185 young adults, have been shot or knifed to death since 1998 by unknown assassins in a city whose local officials openly back a tough stance against drug dealers and juvenile offenders.
Philip Alston, a special investigator for the UN Commission on Human Rights, flew to the Philippines last year to investigate extrajudicial killings of leftist dissidents across the country and of minors in Davao.
All the young Davao victims lived on the street, had joined gangs, and many had police records for petty crime or were drug couriers, local rights monitors say.
“One fact points very strongly to the officially sanctioned character of these [Davao] killings: no one involved covers his face,” Alston wrote in his report.
Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, unavailable for an interview for this article, previously denied that the killers were executing his orders.
Alston, who also talked to the mayor last year, said Duterte would “perfunctorily deny the existence of a death squad.”
“This is a war against the poor,” said Father Amado Picardal, vicar of a Roman Catholic Church that caters to the Davao urban poor community of Sagrada Familia.
“The death squads are actually copying Brazil,” he said, referring to the wave of vigilante killings of street children in the South American country in the 1990s.
He recalled a wealthy parishioner venting his spleen at a group of street children after his car was broken into as he attended Mass in 2003. A week later a youth was shot dead outside the church.
Davao has a long history of political violence, and Picardal is alarmed that some of his flock approve of the killings.
“They said that this is a good thing for Davao. This is good for business because people feel safe, that the DDS [Davao death squads] is doing a service to the community—that they’re trying to get rid of the garbage,” he said.
Communist New People’s Army (NPA) rebels turned Davao’s slums into laboratories for urban guerrilla warfare in the 1980s until they were supplanted by anti-communist militias, some of them armed and trained by the security forces.
Rights monitors say the killers’ tactics uncannily ape those used by NPA gunmen who assassinated soldiers, police and government officials in the 1980s—two men on one motorbike, one acting as the executioner and the other as lookout and getaway driver.
Davao, a sprawling city of 1.3 million people, is the hub of Mindanao island’s industries, mining and corporate farms.
Massive labor migration from surrounding rural areas in recent years swelled its teeming slums and accounts for rising numbers of children joining gangs, said Carla Canarias, a case officer for Tambayan, a Davao halfway house that helps out street children.
“They actually have families. But when they moved into the city the parents have to look for work and the children are left at home,” she told Agence France-Presse. “Many of them are abused, physically or sexually,” she added. Alma Loysabas, another Tambayan official, said a girl who sought refuge at the center suffered a nervous breakdown after one of her young male friends was murdered. “She said she was tailed by unknown men who flashed their guns and showed her a hit list that included her name,” Loysabas added. In 2006 the killers’ tactics shifted and they started using mostly knives. Jesus Dureza, a Davao-based senior adviser for President Gloria Arroyo, said the government “does not condone extrajudicial killings” and added “no one can play God” in Davao or elsewhere

No funeral for Daniele Emmanuello to take place in his church in Sicily.

Bishop Michele Pennisi, 62, stood his ground against the Cosa Nostra and said that he would not allow the funeral of one of its bosses, Daniele Emmanuello, 43, to take place in his church in Sicily.
Within days of making the ruling he was the target of a poison pen campaign and posters and flyers of him appeared overnight containing threats against him.
Emmanuello, 43, was the Godfather of his family and had been on the run for more than ten years before he was tracked down by police to an isolated country farmhouse at Villarosa near Enna two months ago.
In the shoot-out with police he was gunned down and as he lay dying officers pulled from his throat pizzini, or little notes, that he had used to pass on orders to members of his crime family.
Emmanuello was the boss of the Caltanissetta region, accused of more than a dozen murders by police, and was said to control a multi-million drug and construction empire.
The bishop's residence and office in the town of Piazza Amerina has been ringed by armed guards. Officials said it was the first time an escort had been assigned to a bishop since 1984.
Bishop Pennisi said: "The Lord will protect us and free us from the Mafia and from the pizzo [protection money payments].
"I have been the target of threats and insinuations from the beginning, and I did not wish to respond to and give further ammunition to these people.
"However the police have told me not to underestimate these people and as such I have been assigned protection - I understand the last religious figure to do so was the Bishop of Palermo in 1984.
"The flyers said that I was a servant of the State because I had refused to allow Emmanuello's funeral to take place in my church.
"I believe this was the right decision - my mission is against the Mafia and I have always believed that between the Mafia and Christian values there is no compatibility.
"It is the Christian duty of everyone to fight crime and make these so called men of honour become new people.
"I assured the Emmanuello family of my spiritual help but that I was not going to allow the funeral to take place in the church.''
Emmanuello's funeral has since been conducted in a local cemetery but it is not known if there was any religious element to the service.