Gérald Gallant was a contract killer at the centre of a shifting roster of gangsters accused of carrying out 28 homicides and 13 attempted murders

Gérald Gallant was a contract killer at the centre of a shifting roster of gangsters accused of carrying out 28 homicides and 13 attempted murders over three decades, peaking with Quebec's biker war from 1994 to 2002. Ten suspects were rounded up yesterday, based on evidence Mr. Gallant provided after turning informant. An 11th person facing a murder charge remained at large. In Donnacona, the news was met with stunned mutters that there was always something strange about the man. "I would see him regularly touring around the streets by bike," said Mayor André Marcoux, who lived three streets down from Mr. Gallant. "He really kept a low profile." From his unassuming redoubt near Quebec City, Mr. Gallant was in the middle of a gang war that eventually killed 160 people, police said. He and...

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Alexis Aguilar fatally shot a man in the back on March 4, 2007, after confronting him in Acosta Plaza.

Alexis Aguilar fatally shot a man in the back on March 4, 2007, after confronting him in Acosta Plaza. Authorities said the man was walking with his 10-year-old son and was shot in the back as he tried to run away.Judge Timothy Roberts, who presided over both of the defendant’s jury trials, sentenced Aguilar to six years for the gang charge with use of a firearm, one life term for first-degree murder and one life term for the use of a firearm causing death. Aguilar will not be eligible for parole until he has served 56 years.The victim's family was present and the father of the victim addressed the court. On behalf of his family, the father expressed his great sorrow and sadness over the brutal slaying of his s...

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Kevin Gary was arrested and charged with gang conspiracy,he was a member of a local Bloods gang called Tree Top Piru

Kevin Gary was arrested and charged with gang conspiracy,he was a member of a local Bloods gang called Tree Top Piru, known for his signature red contact lenses and for dealing drugs, according to a statement of facts he signed as part of his January guilty plea agreement.On Friday, during an emotionally charged hearing, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.Gary's family and friends asked to be heard, passing a microphone through the courtroom, outlining his acts of kindness. They knew Gary as the young man who took neighborhood children to the swimming pool and volunteered at the Rose Street Community Center. They didn't know the "monster" portrayed in court."They see past the bandanna, past the red contacts … past all of that. They just see me," Gary, 27, said to the judge. "[The...

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Philip Collopy footage of the shooting he had taken on his mobile phone

Philip Collopy, 29, a top member of a feared feuding gang in Limerick, apparently didn’t realise his Glock 9mm pistol was loaded when he pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger. Investigating gardai were able to rule out any foul play in the death almost immediately after one of his associates handed over footage of the shooting he had taken on his mobile phone. Five or six people at the party were all being “unusually fully co-operative” because they didn’t want to be done for the killing, said one Garda source. Detectives believe Collopy, whose gang has been targeted by Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), was messing about with associates at his friend’s house in the early hours of Saturday morning when he unwittingly killed himself. It is believed there were drink and drugs taken...

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Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi president of one of the nation's strongest outlaw motorcycle gangs the Comanchero

Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi president of one of the nation's strongest outlaw motorcycle gangs the Comanchero.He is married with two children, reportedly owns a number of properties and is, in the words of one friend, "f. . .ing loaded". And, as president of one of the nation's strongest outlaw motorcycle gangs the Comanchero, Hawi is very, very powerful. It is a power he wielded yesterday when he publicly appealed for bikies to stop the violence. His position put him in physical danger at Sydney airport on Sunday when, according to bikie sources, he was caught up in a brawl and stabbed in the arm. Hawi is said to be extremely careful about his personal security, travelling in bulletproof cars. In November 2007, Hawi was inches from death when a car he was travelling in was hit by bullets outside...

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30 chapels devoted to “Saint Death” - a figure that is worshipped by drug traffickers - in the northern city of Nuevo Laredo

Mexican federal authorities used bulldozers to bring down more than 30 chapels devoted to “Saint Death” - a figure that is worshipped by drug traffickers - in the northern city of Nuevo Laredo, the daily Reforma reported Wednesday.The image of the saint is a skeleton dressed and adorned as a woman, and is not based on any particular Roman Catholic saint. Many criminals, but also people without a criminal record and even police officers, have taken it as their patron saint.Although the figure is venerated by people from many walks of life, the saint has been adopted by drug gangs. In recent years, there has been a proliferation around Mexico in...

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Site Specific Privacy Policy run in accordance with http://www.google.com/privacy.htmlWe can be reached via e-mail atcopsandbloggers@googlemail.comFor each visitor to our Web page, our Web server automatically recognizes information of your browser, IP address, City/State/Country.We collect only the domain name, but not the e-mail address of visitors to our Web page, the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us via e-mail.The information we collect is used for internal review and is then discarded, used to improve the content of our Web page, used to customize the content and/or layout of our page for each individual visitor.With respect to cookies: We use cookies to store visitors preferences, record user-specific information on what pages users access or visit, customize Web page...

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Manuel Marquez, also known as Morro, was sentenced after pleading guilty in December to a pattern of racketeering activity that included murder

Manuel Marquez, also known as Morro, was sentenced after pleading guilty in December to a pattern of racketeering activity that included murder, attempted murder and witness tampering.Marquez is the last of the defendants to be sentenced on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO.Fourteen gang members were indicted and charged in January 2007 with racketeering conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, assault, weapons charges and obstruction of justice.Marquez admitted to planning and participating in several 2006 shootings. He also stated that he and other gang members shot and killed two rival gang members sitting inside a car at a traffic light, and that he and another gang member shot a rival gang member several times in the back at Percy Priest Lake outside Nashville.Ronald...

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Mahmoud Dib , 27, had been charged with six firearm offences after a semi-automatic pistol was found in a car connected to him, police said.

Mahmoud Dib , 27, had been charged with six firearm offences after a semi-automatic pistol was found in a car connected to him, police said. He was also being investigated in relation to a string of drive-by shootings.Superintendent Angelo Memmolo said tests were under way to determine if the gun had been used in a spate of shootings at houses and cars in Sydney's western suburbs last week. Police said another incident occurred on Monday night, when four shots were fired at a house. No one was injured and there have been no arrests.The shootings are believed to be part of a dispute between the Bandidos and a gang called Notorious. Police said shots were fired into Dib's house on 16 March and they suspect some of the attacks have been reprisals.A standing state commission into organised crime...

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Gangster Philip Collopy (29) from St Mary's Park, Limerick is in the city's Mid-Western Regional Hospital where he has been since he shot himself

Gangster Philip Collopy (29) from St Mary's Park, Limerick is in the city's Mid-Western Regional Hospital where he has been since he shot himself in the head on Saturday morning.The career criminal shot himself with a glock handgun at close range in a house at St Munchin's Street, St Mary's Park. He had been inspecting the gun and removed the loaded magazine from it while handling it. However, he failed to realise a bullet was still in the chamber before he discharged the weapon while it was pointed at his head.A youth alerted members of the armed Regional Support Unit who were on patrol in the estate and told them that an ambulance was needed for the wounded man.A glock handgun and three magazines were recovered from the scene. Eight bullets were recovered from the magazine which Collopy...

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Henry Hill,mobster-turned-FBI informant, former North Platte resident, whose life inspired the movie "Goodfellas" is wanted

mobster-turned-FBI informant, former North Platte resident, whose life inspired the movie "Goodfellas" is wanted for failing to appear in court on tickets alleging he was drunk in public in San Bernardino.Henry Hill, 65, made quite a splash in North Platte after he moved here and presented a menu for a local Italian restaurant, Firefly.Hill faces two $25,000 arrest warrants. He says he wasn't aware he needed to be present in court Wednesday and had asked for a new hearing date because he was having hernia surgery."I was hoping the court would understand," Hill told The Press-Enterprise of Riverside from his San Fernando Valley home.The cases...

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Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg disappeared in January 2004 after leaving their homes in Torrevieja, Alicante.

Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg were two of the most ruthless and violent criminals ever involved in the Irish gangland scene.Their Westies gang, based in the Dublin suburb of Blanchardstown, controlled a massive drugs empire in west Dublin in the late 1990s and early years of this decade. "These guys could go from being calm to high-order violence like the flick of a switch. They were real psychopaths," said a retired garda who investigated their activities.Drug users who bought from anybody else in their area were often being beaten or tortured. Street dealers who agreed to sell for other gangs were also dealt with in a similar fashion.In 1999, heroin addict Derek 'Smiley' McGuinness was severely beaten and had his face sliced open with a Stanley knife because he couldn't pay a small debt....

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"Crazy Charles," Charles Carneglia, 62, sat stone-faced as the jurors delivered a split decision after nearly four days of deliberations

Charles Carneglia, 62, sat stone-faced as the jurors delivered a split decision after nearly four days of deliberations. They found him guilty of more than a dozen racketeering crimes, but failed to come to a decision on whether he murdered a court officer in 1976.The twin daughters of one victim, an armored-car driver killed at Kennedy Airport on Dec. 14, 1990, wept tears of relief as Carneglia was convicted of gunning down their father."They have put an animal away. This is one of the happiest days of our lives," said Mildred Delgado-Jimenez, a daughter of murdered guard José Delgado Rivera.Known as "Crazy Charles," Carneglia was also convicted of carrying out a hit on wiseguy Louis DiBono, who refused to attend a meeting called by Gotti in October 1990.Carneglia was also convicted of stabbing...

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Eddie Cummiskey was a leader of the murderous Westies gang which ruled the upper West Side in the 1960s and '70s,

Clifford Cummiskey had been accused of pummeling an off-duty State Department agent in a drunken brawl outside a Ninth Ave. bar. He said it was self-defense, and that his dad's notoriety still follows him. The son of infamous Hell's Kitchen gangster Eddie (The Butcher) Cummiskey was acquitted Tuesday of beating up a federal agent."My last name is Cummiskey, my father was a known gangster," Cummiskey, 36, said after a Manhattan judge cleared him of a single misdemeanor assault charge. "He died 33 years ago and to this day, anytime anything happens it's the first thing [the cops] bring up." Cummiskey, whose father was shot dead on the streets near their home, did acknowledge many past run-ins with the law, including a 1992 felony assault conviction for breaking a man's jaw and a more recent...

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Roman Vidal, age 57, allegedly smuggled millions of dollars' worth of black-market cigarettes through the Port of Miami on behalf of European gangs

Roman Vidal, age 57, allegedly smuggled millions of dollars' worth of black-market cigarettes through the Port of Miami on behalf of European gangs — including the Real IRA, which claimed responsibility for the March 7 attack on four soldiers waiting for a pizza delivery.The brutal killings — which included execution shots to wounded victims lying on the ground — threaten to derail the peace process in Northern Ireland, with one Protestant leader warning it might signal a return to the "bad old days where people are being killed in open-air gun attacks."Vidal fronted a freight company that imported millions of cigarettes from Panama, hid them under wood flooring and insulation in freighters at the Port of Miami, and then sent them to gangs in Dublin, according to the complaint. He has been...

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"El Chapo," Joaquin Guzman heads the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel

"El Chapo," Joaquin Guzman, 54, heads the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel. He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 and the United States has offered a $US5 million ($A7.69 million) reward for his capture.On Wednesday, Guzman's name was listed in Forbes magazine as the world's 701st richest person, with a reputed $US1 billion ($A1.54 billion) fortune made from trafficking in cocaine.Calderon, whose two year old war on drug traffickers has ignited a wave of violence, expressed outrage over the Forbes list."Public opinion and now even magazines not only attack and lie about the situation in Mexico, but they also extol criminals. In Mexico we consider this a crime, that is, a justification of crime," Calderon said.In a speech before the America Society and Council of the Americas, Calderon lamented...

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Giovanni Strangio is wanted by investigators in Italy over a multiple killing at Duisburg in Germany two years ago

Giovanni Strangio is wanted by investigators in Italy over a multiple killing at Duisburg in Germany two years ago that earned comparisons with the infamous St Valentine's Day Massacre in ­prohibition-era Chicago. Six people, including a 17-year-old boy, were shot dead outside a restaurant where they were suspected of celebrating an initiation into the 'Ndrangheta, the mafia of the poor, southern Italian region of Calabria. Police in Italy said 29-year-old Strangio was found living in the centre of Amsterdam with his wife and son. His brother-in-law, Francesco Romeo, was also arrested. Though Strangio was placed on Italy's most-wanted list over the murders in Germany, the story behind the killings led back to the small but notorious hillside town of San Luca, in Calabria, often described as...

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www.colingunn.net – gives his address as HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.

Bestwood gang leader, who is serving 35 years, will use the site to "restore positive thoughts" about him.Gunn has already used it to attack "rumours and hearsay" in the media, saying he will "tackle head-on" any allegations against him.But Notts Police Authority chairman Coun John Clarke said: "It's highly unusual that any prisoner can set up anything like this."I will certainly be asking questions about this with our Police Minister Vernon Coaker MP and the Home Secretary."North MP Graham Allen said he would check whether the site broke prison service rules."I will be raising it with the relevant authorities to see whether this is a legitimate...

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John Gizzi walked away from court a free man last week after a dramatic release.

John Gizzi walked away from court a free man last week after a dramatic release.Rhyl’s “Mr Big” walked out of Mold Crown Court on Thursday under tight police security.The 36-year-old spent three years behind bars for conspiracy to supply counterfeit cigarettes and serious assaults.The man who was once described as ruling the town on threats and intimidation was due for release last December but was put behind bars for another seven years after failing to pay back £2.6m under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).An original order found Gizzi had benefited to the tune of £6.89m from his crimes.But a judge at Mold decided the £1m he had paid back was enough to secure his release, as the £2.6m figure had been calculated before the current downturn in the economy.Gizzi raised the cash by selling off...

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Louis Pasquin is believed to be the first lawyer in Canada to be convicted of gangsterism.

Louis Pasquin is believed to be the first lawyer in Canada to be convicted of gangsterism.Pasquin looked shocked as he heard the verdict, which was delivered by Quebec court Judge Carol St-Cyr after nine months of deliberation.Pasquin, 49, has been a lawyer for more than 20 years and has also represented members of the Montreal Mafia.St-Cyr said Pasquin's explanations during testimony didn't hold water."Your testimony did not withstand analysis, is unlikely and not credible," the judge said.St-Cyr said he didn't believe Pasquin when he said he was unaware of the activities of two other men arrested in the case."The caution he used in his conversations and the cryptic language show that contrary to his assertions he knew perfectly well about their activities," St-Cyr said.Evidence at Pasquin's...

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Vivian Blake, ex-leader of one of the most dangerous gangs ever to hit the United States, the Shower Posse

Vivian Blake, ex-leader of one of the most dangerous gangs ever to hit the United States, the Shower Posse, (recently featured prominently in the American Gangster series on American television) said something startling.Asked if he had his life to live over again whether he would do anything different, he said, without hesitation, "No". Get a copy of that American cable show or the book written by Blake's own son to see the atrocities of which the Shower Posse was accused. Blake was insistent and stressed: "After I lost my job, I had to live. I had to live. I had my children to look after and my grandmother. I used to see her fridge empty. I had to live", by any means necessary. That is why he could say openly that he had no regrets - for anything is justifiable to live. The hosts must have...

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Mafia Cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa

Former NYPD detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa were sentenced Friday in Brooklyn federal court after telling the judge they are innocent.But the son of one of their victims told the former cops: "May you have a long life in prison."Prosecutors said Eppolito and Caracappa moonlighted as hitmen for the Luchese crime family while on the force during the 1980s."Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Steven Caracappa, convicted in April 2006 of committing eight murders while on the payroll of a mob underboss, received life sentences Friday in Brooklyn federal court.Eppolito, the son of a mobster, was sentenced to life plus 100 years. Partner Caracappa received life plus 80 years. Each was fined more than $4 million.Although the pair remained jailed in the years since they were convicted of...

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Mary Ann Gianelli pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court, and in exchange, prosecutors dropped 141 money laundering counts

Mary Ann Gianelli, the wife of Arthur Gianelli, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court, and in exchange, prosecutors dropped 141 money laundering counts. pleaded guilty to racketeering, money laundering, and other charges just before her trial was scheduled to start.Prosecutors say the 52-year-old woman helped her husband run an illegal gambling business after he was indicted on federal racketeering charges in 2005 by picking up shoeboxes full of cash in Boston's North End.Mary Ann Gianelli, 52, a nurse and mother of two, posted the family's sprawling Lynnfield home as collateral to get Arthur Gianelli released on bail. And when he was...

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Six men face federal charges, accused of belonging to the Crips street gang

Six men face federal charges, accused of belonging to the Crips street gang in Wichita between 1991 and 2007.U.S. District Court, Wichita, with Judge J. Thomas Marten presiding.Deb Barnett, assistant U.S. attorney | Chris Oakley, assistant U.S. attorneyDefendantsJermal Campbell (also known as "L"): Age: 27 | Attorney: Paul McCausland | Charges: Two counts racketeering; engaging in racketeering activity: murder; felon in possession of ammunition Jonearl Smith (also known as "Smeral"): Age: 30 | Attorney: Mark Bennett Jr. | Charges: Two counts racketeering; two counts conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance Lonnie Wade (also known as "LaLo"): Age: 29 | Attorney: Craig Shultz | Charges: Two counts racketeering; two counts maintaining a place for the purpose of manufacturing and distributing...

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James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol.

James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol. Liverpool gangster was today behind bars in Spain after being arrested for attempted murder.James “Pancake” Taylor was picked up by police trying to stop a violent drugs war that has broken out on the Costa del Sol.The 29-year-old is also being investigated over claims he is the ringleader of a gang which has brought terror to the sunshine streets.A leaked report to a Spanish judge over a spate of shootings says the gang is a “worldwide organisation that is dedicated mainly to drug trafficking, targeted assassinations and...

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John Gizzi, walks free

John Gizzi, 36, from St Asaph, Denbighshire was jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2006. His trial heard he was a "thug" and "bully" who assaulted homeless people and preyed on the weak and vulnerable in the Rhyl area. He was freed after a judge at Mold Crown Court heard he had repaid £1m under the Proceeds of Crime Act. An original order made under the Act found Gizzi had benefited to the tune of £6.89m from his crimes. He was ordered to repay £2.6m, but that figure was based on a valuation of his assets before the recession. They included a mansion which had been originally valued at £1.7m but eventually sold for £850,000. Gizzi had been due...

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Ronnie and Reggie Kray paintings under the hammer at Hampshire Auctions

Seven landscapes and one seascape painted by the twins during art classes at HMP Parkhurst and Broadmoor went under the hammer at Hampshire Auctions in Andover as part of a private sale by an anonymous vendor.Eight paintings produced by the east London gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray while in prison for murder sold for a combined total of £12,200 at auction today.An image of the two convicted murderers crossing a field in top hats and tail coats sold for £1,850, the highest price of any of the Kray paintings on the day. One 1971 painting of a stormy sea by Reggie Kray, which has echoes of the Japanese Edo period painter Hokusai, sold for £1,800....

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Officers shot and killed Oswain Walcott who was wanted for questioning in a South Beach man's death

Police had been searching for 22-year-old Oswain Walcott, whom they wanted to question in connection with the death of 18-year-old Bradley Paul. After searching for days, authorities found Walcott in an apartment complex at 119th Street and Northeast 16th Avenue on Wednesday afternoon. Miami-Dade police said there was a confrontation at the complex. Police said Walcott reached for his waistband while yelling to officers, and police opened fire, shooting Walcott. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died Wednesday night. Officers from both the Miami Beach and Miami-Dade police departments fired shots during the confrontation, Local 10's Elena Echarri reported. Investigators are trying to determine who actually shot Walcott. Before authorities found him, Miami Beach police...

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