HEADLINE NEWS

Friday, 18 September 2009

Manny Buttar told a restaurant patron that he killed for a living and had gotten “rid” of gangster Bindy Johal

Manny Buttar told a restaurant patron that he killed for a living and had gotten “rid” of gangster Bindy Johal, B.C. Supreme Court heard Tuesday.Pardeep Dhillon recounted the night that he was left bleeding and dazed after Buttar allegedly began pummeling him in a Surrey restaurant.Dhillon said Buttar and two friends offered to buy a round at the India Kitchen Restaurant on Nov. 6, 2006 after learning Dhillon and the restaurant owner had the same last names as Buttar’s two pals.He said he was making small talk with the trio, who were strangers, when he asked Buttar what he did for a living.“He said ‘I kill people for a living,’” Dhillon told Justice Kathleen Ker, saying he began to laugh because he assumed Buttar was joking.He said Buttar repeated that his profession was hit man.“I said I had a cousin and he used to do the same thing, but he is dead now,” Dhillon replied, saying he told Buttar his cousin was Johal.“Mr. Buttar was very upset.”Dhillon said Buttar began punching and slapping him as he urged the man to “remember” his name.“He mentioned that ‘I got rid of him and I can get rid of you,’” Dhillon testified.No one has ever been charged in the December 1998 execution of Johal, an admitted cocaine trafficker gunned down at a Vancouver nightclub.But Buttar’s younger brother Bal confessed to The Vancouver Sun in 2004 that he had arranged the hit on Johal even though he was working under the gangster in the “Indo-Canadian Mafia” at the time.Vancouver police have described Manny Buttar as the leader of a mid-level drug trafficking gang that has been involved in a violent conflict with two rival groups on the city’s south slope in recent years.The undercover probe dubbed Project Rebellion has led to dozens of arrests of members of all three gangs this year alone.Buttar is facing three charges related to the 2006 assault — including assault with a weapon, uttering threats and using an imitation firearm.
His co-accused, Tirathpal Dhillon, pleaded guilty to assault as the trial opened in New Westminster on Monday.Pardeep Dhillon said he saw his namesake pull a gun out while Buttar continued to beat on him. “The magazine fell out and I was able to kick it,” the victim testified. “Mr. Dhillon looked like he was scared … . It was almost like he wanted to scare me and he did.”Under cross-examination, Dhillon admitted he was an alcoholic with convictions for assault, impaired driving and breaches of probation.Buttar’s defence lawyer Karen Bastow suggested that Dhillon’s account “seems incredibly unlikely.She said no one would admit to a stranger that he had committed murder.“So Manny Buttar says ‘I am a killer and I capped Bindy Johal.’ Is that what happened?” she asked“Yes,” replied Dhillon.She also said it was unlikely he had the fortitude to kick a clip away while he was being slapped and punched.“That’s pretty fancy footwork Mr. Dhillon for a guy that is not part of the life,” Bastow said.She suggested someone else punched Dhillon and Buttar was not even near the booth where the attack occurred.But Dhillon strongly disagreed, pointing to Buttar as his attacker several times.
Also Tuesday, a waitress at the restaurant who called 911 claimed she saw Buttar — not his associate — with the gun.Rosie Nand’s emergency call was played in court in which she could be heard saying “there is a big guy beating another guy … he is bleeding but I think he is okay.”
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Ternae Ramone "Bud" Hatten a self confessed member of the Gangster Disciples gang.

General Sessions Court Judge Clarence Shattuck bound aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping charges to the Grand Jury against Ternae Ramone "Bud" Hatten, 23, of 1724 E. 17th St.Judge Shattuck also doubled Hatten's bond, that he said was set too low by a magistrate. Prosecutor Rex Sparks had asked that the bond be tripled, saying Hatten had repeatedly threatened the alleged victims in the case against testifying against him.Dionee Parker said she and her husband were driving in their Cadillac Escalade around on July 25 when they came to a four-way stop at Bennett Avenue and South Kelly.She said they were approached by several men with guns, who ordered them out of the vehicle and into an apartment at 2200 Bennett Ave.
She said she saw a large amount of marijuana in the residence and said it was "foggy" and had a strong smell. She said Hatten was one of the men who held a gun on her and took $200 from her husband, Joe, as well as $1,300 they had in the vehicle. She said the men also took their house key, two cell phones and her husband's wedding ring. She said they asked that the ring not be taken, saying they had just gotten married.Ms. Parker said Hatten kept asking if they had any items at their house and wanted to be taken there. She said she was taken back out to the vehicle and Hatten tried to get in one side, but the door would not open. She said another man had one leg in one of the doors when he dropped something. She said she took the occasion to speed off.She said she drove nearby and spotted her husband walking down the street.Joe Parker gave a similar account. He said he was made to lie down on the floor in the kitchen.He said after his wife was able to drive off, he was told to "walk out like nothing happened."He said he has not gotten any of the money back.Hatten admitted having marijuana, crack cocaine, digital scales, baggies and other drug items in the residence, that he was renting at the time.But he said he knew Joe Parker and that Parker had come over to get some marijuana. He said it was another man in the residence - A.J. - who had pulled a gun on the couple.
Hatten had a separate drug case bound to the Grand Jury.Prosecutor Sparks said his record includes aggravated robbery, aggravated assault and a first-degree murder charge. Rodriquez McGlocton was also charged in the case.Hatten said he was playing dice at the residence with McGlocton and A.J. at the time of the incident.
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Jackson has members of four major gangs that are known worldwide - the Bloods, Crips, Gangster Disciples and Vice Lords

Joe Richard Poston, 24, and Robert Benjamin Seats, 28, died of gunshot wounds after a shoot-out in the parking lot of J-Mumbly's, at 903 Hollywood Drive in the Hollywood Shopping Center. Police believe the men shot each other during an argument that began inside the club.
Police have confirmed that two Jackson men killed in a Sunday morning shooting in a nightclub parking lot were affiliated with rival gangs, the Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples.But police have said they are still investigating whether the shooting was gang-related and whether it was connected to another shooting near another nightclub the same night.
Seven others - three women and four men - were injured in the incident. Another man was wounded earlier Sunday night in the area of the Sesame Street Lounge, at 411 Railroad St.In another possible gang-related incident Wednesday, about 150 students at North Side High School gathered in a hallway.According to a Madison County Sheriff's Office report, students told Principal Jan Watson that a Vice Lords leader and a Gangster Disciples leader were making peace between the rival gangs when a crowd gathered.Willis said police have seen an uptick in the last year in assaults and robberies of individual gang members involved in selling drugs.Many of those crimes are not reported, but police hear about the crimes through intelligence from reliable informants, Willis said. Police also corroborate the information when they interview people who are in custody on other criminal charges.
Jackson has members of four major gangs that are known worldwide - the Bloods, Crips, Gangster Disciples and Vice Lords, Willis said. Police are also aware of some local gangs, which are frequently established by teenagers in middle school and older. Those gangs may eventually die out, and others are started.




During the 1990s, Jackson saw a major spike in gang violence, with 19 homicides in 1993. But in recent years, police have said gangs are keeping a lower profile.



Willis declined to estimate how many people are part of gangs in Jackson, saying he could not give an accurate number.

"We do not come into contact with every gang member," he said. "All gang members do not get arrested. All gang members do not admit their affiliation, nor do they reveal any indication that they are in a gang."

'A lot of work to do'
Mayor Jerry Gist called the recent shootings "distressing" and "disappointing."

"It indicated we still have a lot of work to do," Gist said. "We knew we had a gang presence, but gang activity had been more passive in the last years, so this is very disappointing."

Gist said he still believes the changes suggested by the crime task force in recent years have the city headed in the right direction. He cited new officers added to the police department and progress made by the Gang Unit.

There has been a lot of effort to educate younger people about the dangers of gangs, Gist said.

"The problem is those already in gangs; it is almost impossible to escape once you are in," Gist said. "People also need to understand that gang activity is part of every community in this nation."

When asked about reducing the number of the guns on the street, Gist said he did not think much could be done.

"There are not a lot of ways to crack down; you can always get weapons," he said.

No guns were recovered at the crime scene Sunday morning, and police are still investigating how many guns were fired.
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Member of MS-13, a feared criminal gang, was captured in Hitchcock early this afternoon.

Member of MS-13, a feared criminal gang, was captured in Hitchcock early this afternoon. The Police News learned that undercover police who had intelligence the man was heavy armed, possibly with an AK-47, was hiding in Hitchcock. Lawmen from the Gulf Coast Violent Offender's Task Force accompanied by Hitchcock Police made the arrest at an apartment on Jackson Street.The man is said to be wanted on a multitude of criminal warrants from various parts of the country. He was being taken to Galveston to be arraigned by a federal magistrate. He was to then be taken to jail in Houston.Officials did not identify the man for intelligence reasons.
MS-13 is a criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles and has spread to Central America, other parts of the United States, and Canada. The majority of the gang is ethnically composed of Salvadorans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Nicaraguans.
Their activities have caught the eye of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who in September 2005 initiated wide-scale raids against suspected gang members, netting 660 arrests across United States. ICE efforts were at first directed towards MS-13, in its Operation Community Shield. In May 2005, ICE expanded Operation Community Shield to include all transnational organized crime and prison gangs. ICE's Operation Community Shield has since arrested 7,655 street gang members. In the United States, the gang's strongholds have historically been in the American Southwest and West Coast states.
Membership in the U.S was believed to be as many as about 50,000 as of 2005.
MS-13 criminal activities include drug smuggling and sales, arms trafficking, auto theft, carjacking, home invasion, assault, aggravated assault, assault on law enforcement officials, drive-by shootings, contract killing and murder.
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) oversees the nation's regional fugitive task forces, including the Gulf Coast Violent Offender's Task Force. The purpose of regional fugitive task forces is to combine the efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to locate and apprehend the most dangerous fugitives and assist in high profile investigations.Task Force members involved in today MS-13 arrest were from the Galveston County Sheriff's Office, FBI, U.S. Marshal's Service, and Galveston County Precinct 8 Constable's Office.
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Monroe Ezell is one of the ranking members of the Hoover Criminals 74

Monroe Ezell is one of the ranking members of the Hoover Criminals 74 a South Seattle gang Ezell is a marked man. At 21, Ezell is one of the ranking members of the Hoover Criminals 74, a South Seattle gang affiliated with the Los Angeles–based Crips. Members of the Valley Hood Piru (a Blood-­affiliated gang), and other Seattle gangs, want him dead.Ezell has a rap sheet with charges for robbery and drug possession, and law-­enforcement sources say he is a suspect in a handful of drive-by shootings around Seattle. According to Seattle Police Department search-warrant records, Ezell was also a suspect in the murder of 15-year-old Quincy Coleman—a known Deuce-8 gang member with apparent ties to the Valley Hood Piru—who was gunned down outside of Garfield High School on Halloween 2008.Last month, Ezell was nearly killed outside of the King County Youth Service Center, presumably by a rival gang member, possibly in retaliation for Coleman’s murder. No arrests have been made
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15 taxi firms in Scotland are controlled by organised crime gangs Network Private Hire has been linked to the city's McGovern crime clan.

Mr MacAskill said: "Where organised crime infiltrates legitimate business, like the taxi and private hire trade, we will take action. We won't allow hard-working cabbies to be driven off the road by crooks and gangsters." Legislation was brought in this year to force taxi booking offices to obtain licences. Police checks of premises and records are being introduced. Mr MacAskill's pledge came only days after NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was warned off giving a £2million taxi contract to Network Private Hire - which has been linked to the city's McGovern crime clan.
The firm was raided in 2004 as part of a money-laundering probe that could see McGovern in-law Russell Stirton lose £5million under proceeds of crime laws.
Last year Glasgow City Council suspended the licence of CS Cars, run by jailed crime boss Jamie "The Iceman" Stevenson's wife Caroline.Legislation introduced earlier this year will see taxi booking offices having to obtain licences for the first time. The police have also been given full powers to carry out checks of company premises and booking records.Although all cab drivers must secure a licence to take to the road, there has never been proper regulation of taxi operators and firms, which have been unveiled as fronts for money-laundering, drug-dealing and prostitution.Taxi industry leaders say the new measures will allow tough action to be taken against rogue private-hire drivers and companies that flout laws banning drivers picking up fares on the street or touting for business at ranks.Mr MacAskill said: "There has traditionally been much less control over private-hire firms than black-cab operators, which have generally served our cities well. Basically, anyone could set up a cab company from their front bedroom or garage and there was little that could be done to monitor them."He added that he wanted to send a "clear message" to organised criminals that there was no room in the industry for those who want to use taxi and private-hire car firms as a "front for illegal activities".
"We won't allow hard-working cabbies, who borrow from the bank to mortgage their home to buy a cab and make a living, to be driven off the road by crooks and gangsters," he said.It emerged earlier this year that police believe at least 15 taxi firms in Scotland are controlled by organised crime gangs.Private-hire businesses in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and beyond are said to have been infiltrated by underworld figures using cars to ferry drugs, prostitutes and enforcers. Frank Smith, Edinburgh's new taxi licensing inspector, said: "It is up to the police to work with the council to ensure the new regulations are enforced. I aim to ensure the existing high standards in the industry are maintained and, where opportunities arise, are improved upon."
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