Joseph Bruno's Blog, page 73

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Accused Killer of Jeffrey Pettigrew Arrested in San Francisco

It took less than 2 weeks after the incident, but the suspected killer of Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, the president of the San Jose Chapter of the Hells Angels, was arrested on the campus of the University of California.

Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, alleged member of the Vagos motorcycle gang, was sitting his his car, a block away from campus police headquarters. Sgt. Gutierrez of the San Francisco police department noticed that Gonzalez was acting suspicious and seemed quite nervous, so he asked Gonzalez for his license and registration. A routine background check discovered that Gonzalez had a warrant out for his arrest in Nevada for the murder of Pettigrew.

UCSF Police Chief Pam Roskowski said that authorities throughout California and Nevada were told to be on the lookout for Gonzalez., "It's just good old-fashioned police work. The sergeant is an experienced investigator who simply trusted and followed his instincts."

Gonzalez is accused of killing Pettigrew during a shootout inside John Ascuaga's Nugget Hotel and Casino in Sparks, Nevada on September 23. The evidence against Gonzalez came from surveillance photos taken of Gonzalez inside the casino, which matched photos the California Highway Patrol took of Reno-bound motorcycle gang members in the hours leading up to the casino shooting.

According to Sparks Police Detective John Patton, Gonzalez, who appeared in pictures with other Vagos gang members at a gas station in Applegate, on Interstate 80 between Reno and Sacramento, was wearing the same clothes when he was seen on the casino security video — a green long-sleeve shirt, a black Vagos vest, black jeans and black sunglasses.

Gonzalez is being held in a San Francisco jail awaiting his extradition back to Sparks, Nevada, where his indictment for first-degree murder will take place.

Gonzalez could fight the extradition from California to Nevada, which is his right. And although it is not certain if Gonzalez has an attorney to represent him at the present time, if he doesn't, both the states of Nevada and California are required to make sure Gonzalez has proper legal representation.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. There is no indication that there are any eyewitnesses to the shooting of Pettigrew, and all evidence at this time against Gonzalez seems to be circumstantial evidence.

In addition, if there were any eyewitnesses to Pettigrew's murder, people belonging to motorcycle gangs are not likely to come forward and become informants. They tend to handle these types of matters "in house," if you know what I mean.

Like I said, this could be interesting.

The two articles below can be found at:

http://kliv.com/Pettigrew-murder-susp...

and

http://www.ktvu.com/news/29346309/det...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police from Nevada are in the Bay Area to lay the groundwork for the extradition of a man accused of killing a San Jose man in a Sparks, Nevada casino. Authorities say Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez was taken into custody Thursday on the University of California, San Francisco campus.

The 53-year-old alleged member of the Vagos motorcycle gang is accused of killing Jeffrey Pettigrew, the president of the San Jose Chapter of the Hells Angels. The Sparks Police Department says authorities haven't ruled out more arrests.

Sparks detectives say Gonzalez must appear in court on a fugitive-from-justice charge before formal extradition procedures can begin. However, they don't know when that will happen or if Gonzalez will fight it.

Pettigrew, a long-time employee of the San Jose Department of Transportation was 51 years old when he was killed on September 23rd.

Rival club leader arrested in Hells Angels slaying

SAN FRANCISCO: Alleged killer of Hells Angels president found at UCSF

A man accused of killing the leader of the San Jose Hells Angels in a shootout at a Nevada casino has been arrested on a college campus in San Francisco, authorities said Friday.

Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, an alleged member of the rival Vagos motorcycle gang, was taken into custody Thursday after a University of California, San Francisco police sergeant spotted him in a parked car just a block from campus police headquarters, UCSF Police Chief Pam Roskowski said Friday.

Sgt. John Gutierrez was on routine patrol when he spotted a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu with Washington state license plates and saw a man inside acting nervously shortly after 8 p.m., Roskowski said.

Gutierrez then asked Gonzalez, 53, of San Jose, for his keys and driver's license. A background check quickly revealed Gonzalez's arrest warrant in the Nevada murder.

He was arrested without incident.

"It's just good old-fashioned police work," Roskowski said of Gutierrez, noting authorities across California and Nevada were told to be on the lookout for Gonzalez. "The sergeant is an experienced investigator who simply trusted and followed his instincts."

Gonzalez is being held in the San Francisco jail pending his extradition back to Sparks, Nev., where police accuse him of killing Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, 51, of San Jose during a shootout inside John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel and casino last Friday.

It wasn't immediately known if Gonzalez has an attorney.

Gonzalez allegedly shot Pettigrew, president of the San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels and a city transportation worker, four times in the back, authorities said. They believed Gonzalez was in hiding and feared rival bikers would track him down before they could.

Two Vagos members also were wounded in the Sept. 23 shootout, and a third was shot in the stomach the next morning by a gunman in a passing car. Saturday's shooting happened a few blocks from the Nugget and the town square where the 18th annual Street Vibrations motorcycle rally was being held.

Sparks Mayor Geno Martini canceled the event and declared a state of emergency amid fears the gang violence might continue.

Police Sgt. Greta Woyciehowsky said Friday authorities have no new leads or evidence to definitively connect the casino shootout and the shooting the next day of a Vagos gang member by a gunman in a black sedan. But she said the circumstances indicate they were linked.

"We had an individual that was dressed out in Vagos attire, in the color green, riding on a motorcycle and the people come up next to him in a car and shoot at him five times,"' Woyciehowsky said a news conference. "I think you can reasonably assume that was an act of retaliation."

Investigators say they were able to track Gonzalez in part by matching up casino surveillance footage with photographs the California Highway Patrol took of a number of Reno-bound motorcycle gang members in the hours leading up to the casino gunbattle.

Gonzalez appears in pictures with other Vagos members at a gas station in Applegate, along Interstate 80 between Reno and Sacramento.

He was wearing the same clothing as when he was captured on the casino security video — a green long-sleeve shirt, a black Vagos vest, black jeans and black sunglasses, Sparks Police Detective John Patton said in an affidavit.

Patton wrote in the affidavit made public Thursday that those photos were taken Sept. 24 — the day after the casino shooting. But Woyciehowsky told reporters Friday that date was in error and in fact the photos were taken a day earlier, on Sept. 23.

Sparks detectives traveled to San Francisco late Thursday to assist in the investigation and begin to lay the way for Gonzalez's extradition to Nevada, where he is wanted on the warrant for first-degree murder.

Gonzalez must appear in court in San Francisco to face a charge of being a fugitive from justice before the formal extradition process can begin, Woyciehowsky said. She said she didn't know when that would be or whether Gonzalez would fight it.

Woyciehowsky added authorities haven't ruled out making additional arrests in the case. Investigators continue to interview witnesses, though some are reluctant to talk, the said.

One other person has been arrested in last weekend's shootout. Cesar Villagrana, 36, of Gilroy, Calif., did not enter a plea during his initial arraignment Thursday on multiple felony charges, including assault with a deadly weapon.

Police say video surveillance shows Villagrana, a member of the Hells Angels, pulling out a gun from his waistband and firing into the crowd after Pettigrew was gunned down.

A hearing has been set for Oct. 5 as Villagrana's attorneys will argue to lower his $500,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 12.

Villagrana's lawyer Richard Schonfeld has said his client is a good family man with no prior felonies who cares for his ill mother and stepfather.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – FBI pays out $2.1 million reward for Bulger

Well it looks like Keith Messina might have gotten his money after all.

In a previous blog I wrote that Messina has complained to the FBI that he should be entitled to part of the $2.1 million reward for information that led to the arrest of Bulger in Santa Monica, California.

I previously wrote:

Messina was vacationing in Sana Monica with his wife and three children, when he spotted a tanned, shirtless elderly man, dressed in shorts, sporting a gold necklace, and holding a book, leaning against a post on the pier. Messina was wearing a Boston Celtic jersey, and as he passed, Messina said the elderly man yelled at him, "Where are you from, Boston? (Why Bulger, who was supposed to be in hiding, would start a conversation with a stranger in Santa Monica, is hard to believe., but apparently true.)

The two men allegedly started talking Boston sports, and when Messina left, he realized he had been talking to Whitey Bulger, a man wanted by the FBI for 13 years at the time. Messina immediately called a tip into Fox's America's Most Wanted, and was assured the tip was passed on to the FBI. But Messina never heard from the FBI, and was startled to find out Bulger had been arrested in 2011, exactly where Messina had told America's Most Wanted Bulger could be found.

When Messina contacted the FBI for the $2 million reward, he was told that someone from Iceland had provided them the tip in 2011, after they had watched a TV advertisement, paid for by the FBI with taxpayers money, targeting Greig, rather than Bulger. The FBI said that the unidentified person, allegedly a lady who had met Greig in Santa Monica, had already been paid the money Messina thought was rightfully his.

"They would have caught him years ago but nobody called me in regards to my tip," Messina said during a telephone interview with The Boston Globe.

However, The FBI recently released this statement:

"As of Friday, September 23, 2011, the FBI has paid this reward money to more than one individual," the bureau said, without disclosing any information about the parties collecting the reward.

More than one person likely means Messina and the lady from Iceland both split the $2.1 million reward for giving up Bulger. But so far, neither the FBI, nor Messina, would verify that this was, in fact, the truth.

The article below can be seen at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/...

FBI pays out $2.1 million reward for Bulger

(AFP) – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON — The FBI has paid out $2.1 million in reward money for the information that led to the capture of feared Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, according to the bureau.

The Boston FBI office last week got the green light to disburse $2 million for Bulger and an additional $100,000 in reward money for his companion, Catherine Greig.

"As of Friday, September 23, 2011, the FBI has paid this reward money to more than one individual," the bureau said, without disclosing any information about the parties collecting the reward.

Bulger, who is charged with 19 murders in the 1970s and 80s in Boston, was arrested in June in Santa Monica, California, where he had been living under an assumed name with long-term girlfriend Greig, 60.

Police found some $800,000 in cash and a "fairly big arsenal" of weapons in Bulger's modest apartment after his arrest, law enforcement sources said.

Bulger, an 81-year-old Irish-American, whose life inspired a gritty Hollywood movie, pleaded not guilty to the string of murder charges at a court appearance in July.

Greig, who is accused of helping to shield Bulger during his time on the run, was indicted by a federal grand jury and faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.

Bulger fled Boston in January 1995 after being tipped off by an FBI contact that he was about to be arrested. He was spotted in London in 2002 and in California in 2000 and 2005, but had managed to evade arrest.

After he fled, it emerged that he had been a long-time FBI informant about the mafia, fueling suspicion about the agency's fruitless efforts to find him.

Bulger became the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in "The Departed," the 2006 crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.

Bulger and Greig had lived for years under the pseudonyms Charles and Carol Gasko.

In addition to accusations that Bulger murdered mob rivals, potential witnesses and others who threatened him, prosecutors accuse him of a crime spree spanning into the 1990s that included extortion, money laundering and, at one point, running guns to Northern Ireland's IRA militants.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reservedHEhlF34SNkDz3Pe6TRYkFwQ?docId=CNG.d04de50ec0f21b6b1de0c3cbefe5054a.61

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Matthew Johnson Found Guilty of Carl Williams' Murder

I can't say this verdict surprises me very much.

Matthew Johnson's defense in the jail house murder of master criminal and multiple murderer Carl Williams (which was caught on tape in an Australian prison) was that he killed Williams before Williams could kill him. Johnson said he had been told by cell mate Tommy Ivanovic that Williams was planning to kill him by using a "common prison weapon" – a sock full of billiard balls.

But the jury didn't buy that defense, and after three days of deliberation, they found Johnson guilty of murder.

The prosecutors claimed that Johnson killed Williams because Williams had become a rat for the government in a case against an allegedly crooked cop named Paul Dale, who Williams claimed was involved in the murders of Terence Hodson and his wife Christine. For cooperating with the government, Williams' father George Williams would be moved from another prison to the same prison as his son. Also, Williams father's tax debt of $750,000 would be paid off, as would his daughter's private school fees. In addition, Williams would be eligible for a $1 million reward for solving the Hodsons' murders. And finally, the police would support Williams' appeal to have his 35-year sentence cut by up to 15 years.

Prospectors claimed that when Johnson found out Williams had become "a dog," a jail house term for "informer, he decided to kill Williams, because Johnson hated informers. Williams had told Johnson he really wasn't really a "dog" because he was only ratting on cops, but Johnson would have none of that.

As I predicted in a previous blog, when it came right down to it, even though it might be true that Williams had threated to kill Johnson, a jury is more likely to believe the prosecutor's side of the story, instead of someone like Johnson, who is a lifetime criminal.

And that's exactly the way the jury's deliberations played out.

The two articles below can be found at:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-29...

and

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/20...

Killer found guilty of Williams murder

Sarah Farnsworth

Updated September 30, 2011 00:59:58

A jury has found the man who killed drug boss Carl Williams guilty of murder.

As Matthew Johnson, 38, learned his fate on Thursday, he stared ahead with his hands clasped, displaying a resigned indifference.

The verdict comes after three days of deliberations following a trial that lasted 14 days; one in which Johnson played only a minor role.

The focus was on the late gangland boss, four-times convicted killer and drug trafficker Williams.

Johnson pleaded not guilty to murder and maintained he bludgeoned Williams to death in self-defence, believing he was to become the next target of the baby-faced killer.

At the time he was killed, Williams was serving a minimum 35-year sentence for the gangland murders of Michael Marshall, Lewis Moran, Jason Moran and Mark Mallia.

He was also convicted of drug trafficking.

Prosecutor Mark Rochford SC asked the jurors to push aside who and what Williams was, pointing out that when he was killed he was sitting reading a newspaper and posed no threat.

"It doesn't matter if someone in the community thinks Matt Johnson did the world a favour by killing Carl Williams … that's no excuse," he said.

CCTV cameras captured the moment on April 19, 2010 when Johnson attacked Williams unawares in Barwon Prison.

Johnson walked up behind him and bludgeoned him eight times with the stem of an exercise bike, a weapon he had moved closer to his cell after what he said was months of bullying and torment.

The first blow was so hard it knocked Williams off his chair. Johnson then dragged Williams's bloodied body back to his cell.

It was nearly another 30 minutes before prison guards stormed the unit and found Williams after Johnson told them "Carl has hit his head".

Johnson admitted on the stand it was a planned attack.

He told the court that another inmate, Tommy Ivanovic, had told him Williams was planning to kill him using a "common prison weapon" – a sock full of billiard balls.

Johnson said he took the threat seriously as Williams was "a killer".

He told the court Williams was "the boss" who would talk of murders like others talk of football.

Johnson said he had decided to "get in first"; and he said letters he wrote to other inmates on April 18, 2010 hinted of what was to come.

"I think I'll have to hang around for a while longer," he wrote to one friend.

"It doesn't matter because I love this s***. I'm the true general so I must keep things in good order."

In a second letter to Ange Goussis, he wrote: "By now you'd know that Charlie's team also lost. What can ya do, buddy? Life goes on."

On the stand, Johnson admitted he was referring to Williams's killing, which he planned to carry out at the first available opportunity the next day.

According to Johnson's lawyer, Bill Stuart, Williams was "the most dangerous man to walk the streets of Melbourne".

He was described as a master manipulator, a man who hired assassins to kill.

Mr Stuart argued the drug boss wanted to remain the "top dog" and be "the most dangerous man to walk the corridors of Victoria's prisons".

He argued that Williams's character was paramount to Johnson's decision to "kill or be killed".

The defence never shied away from the imposing figure Johnson cut – 188cm and 100 kilograms.

In Johnson's own words, he was "fairly big" without an ounce of fat on him; he was much larger than Williams, who had dropped 20 kilograms in prison.

Johnson has spent the best part of his life in jail. Since a teenager he has been in and out of prison.

Just last year he was sentenced to 16 years, to serve at least 13, for a vicious aggravated armed robbery.

Two years ago he was acquitted over the 2007 murder of an 18-year-old over a $50 drug debt.

The burnt body of Bryan Conyers was found by a security guard at a vacant house in Pakenham. He had been shot, stabbed and set alight.

Johnson and another man were cleared of the murder. His co-accused, Timothy Prentice, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder.

The trial was one of revelations, twists and turns.

Johnson was the self-titled "general" of a group of inmates known as 'Prisoners of War'. He hated "dogs", a prison term for police informers.

At an earlier and unrelated trial, later to be dubbed "the trial from hell" by the presiding judge, Johnson and four other men displayed the worse examples of contempt of court in Victoria's history.

As a fellow Barwon prisoner broke the cardinal rule and testified against them, human waste was thrown from the dock, some of the men bared their bottoms, and Johnson broke wind into the microphone.

Later his lawyer told the court of appeal the witness "knew how to push his buttons".

They were the same words he used to describe how Carl Williams got under his skin.

Williams had confided in his fellow prisoners about the help he was giving police to solve the 2004 double murder of Terence Hodson and wife Christine at their Kew home.

Three statements written by Williams detailed his cooperation and implicated former drug squad detective Paul Dale.

Williams alleged Mr Dale asked him to organise a hit on police informer Hodson for $150,000.

The statements also implicated a hit man who cannot be named, but one widely known in the prison system – someone known to Johnson.

In a secretly recorded prison phone call, Johnson whispers he had found the statements and put them on his computer. Police found copies on his computer after the killing.

The prosecution argued that was the motive behind the killing; that Williams was a "dog" and despite attempts to keep Johnson onside, his hatred spilled over.

But on the stand, Johnson said he knew the drug boss was spinning a yarn, hoping to get 15 years knocked off his sentence.

"He was pulling the wool over their eyes… Then he was going to shaft 'em," he said.

Johnson also said Williams had asked him to kill Mr Dale for $200,000 if he was granted bail.

Despite his infamous reputation, Williams died the same as many of his victims: the victim of a cold, callous and brutal death.

Johnson's legal team has 28 days to appeal the conviction.

Outside court, Detective Superintendent Doug Fryer expressed relief at the verdict.

"We're pleased obviously with the result, and [it's a] great result for everyone, certainly the family are rapt about it," he said.

"It's been a sensational trial and sensational events over the last 12 to 14 months and justice has been done today."

Victoria Police released a brief statement saying investigations into a number of matters surrounding Williams's death are continuing.

Johnson found guilty of murdering Williams

Matthew Johnson has been found guilty of murdering gangland figure Carl Williams at Victoria's Barwon Prison.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: A jury has found a prisoner in Victoria's highest security jail guilty of murdering gangland boss Carl Williams.

In an explosive twist to Melbourne's underworld saga, the court heard Carl Williams was helping police try to solve a notorious double murder before he died.

The execution of Melbourne couple Terrence and Christine Hodson eight years ago ties together police corruption and some of Victoria's most infamous criminals. And as Josie Taylor reports, it remains the darkest stain on the reputation of the state's police force.

JOSIE TAYLOR, REPORTER: This man, 38-year-old Matthew Charles Johnson, was today convicted of murdering Carl Williams in April last year. A jury rejected his argument that he'd killed Williams out of self-defence. Johnson snuck up behind the gangland boss in the prison unit they shared and bashed him to death with a bicycle stem. Williams was reading a newspaper at the time. He featured on its front page. The article described the gangland killer's decision to co-operate with police, a decision that cost him his life.

What did you first think when you learnt that Carl Williams had been killed?

NICOLA KOMIAZYK: I actually was shattered and I nearly fell backwards because I knew that Carl Williams was crucial to the whole case of Paul Dale and dad. That was what the connection was. So it was – I actually screamed, I think, for two hours and cried and just in disbelief.

MANDY HODSON: That's, once again, silencing someone that had crucial information.

JOSIE TAYLOR: This Saturday's AFL Grand Final marks eight years since life for the Hodson family started to unravel.

What significance does it have for your family?

MANDY HODSON: Oh, it's a big one because that's where it all started. It's – now I am gonna cry. (Getting emotional. Voice becomes high-pitched). That's where it all went wrong.

JOSIE TAYLOR: On Grand Final day 2003, Terence Hodson was caught with a corrupt detective, stealing drugs from a house in Melbourne's south-east. Hodson decided to strike a deal with anti-corruption police. He agreed to give evidence against the detective and his sergeant, Paul Dale, but before he got to the witness box, someone executed Terence Hodson in his home. His wife Christine was shot dead beside him.

NICOLA KOMIAZYK: We've lost mum and dad. You know, our kids have lost their grandparents.

JOSIE TAYLOR: Without Hodson's evidence, police were forced to drop all charges against Paul Dale. He moved to Victoria's north to run a petrol station. But a specialised police taskforce had him under investigation, and in 2009, Paul Dale was arrested and charged with the murder of Terence Hodson. The case against him collapsed suddenly last year.

PAUL DALE, FORMER VICTORIA POLICE DETECTIVE (June 2010): I've maintained my innocence from day one of these events. I'm totally innocent of the murder of Christine and Terence Hodson.

JOSIE TAYLOR: But evidence that has emerged in a Melbourne court in the past fortnight suggests otherwise. A jury was told that gangland killer Carl Williams implicated Paul Dale in the murder of Terence Hodson. Williams told police that Dale had approached him to have Terence Hodson killed. Williams made three statements to police before the gangland killer was bashed to death in Victoria's highest security prison last year.

Carl Williams was at the centre of Melbourne's gangland war. He was serving 35 years in jail after admitting he ordered several murders.

Williams told police he began a corrupt relationship with drug squad detective Paul Dale around 2002. Dale would give Williams information in exchange for cash, about $40,000 in total.

But in 2003, Dale was arrested and Terence Hodson was due to give crucial evidence against him. Williams says the former detective asked him to kill Terence Hodson.

CARL WILLIAMS, STATEMENT TO POLICE (male voiceover): "We went for a walk. Dale told me that he had to get Hodson and he had to get Hodson before Dale's committal. Dale said he didn't want to go back to jail. Dale asked me if I could help him out. He said it had to be done before his committal. I knew why, because if the evidence goes into the committal it could still be used if the witness is dead at the trial. … I told Dale I would help if he needed me to."

JOSIE TAYLOR: The agreed price according to Williams was $150,000. He hired a known hitman and Dale deposited bundles of cash in a wheelie bin. Carl Williams then passed on the money to the hired killer who carried out the job.

CARL WILLIAMS, STATEMENT TO POLICE (male voiceover): "I said to him, 'What happen with the sheila?' He said, 'That's not for you to worry about.' That was the end of the conversation. I asked him about the sheila because I didn't think she needed to die and she wasn't part of the contract."

JOSIE TAYLOR: But in exchange for telling police this information, the jury was told Carl Williams got big rewards. His father George Williams was moved from another prison to be housed with his son. His father's tax debt of $750,000 would be paid off, as would his daughter's private school fees. He'd be eligible for a $1 million reward for solving the Hodsons' murders, and crucially, police would support his appeal to have his 35-year sentence potentially cut by up to 15 years.

The maximum security Acacia unit of Barwon Prison is under constant CCTV monitoring, but no guards responded to the murder until Johnson alerted them to it nearly half an hour later.

PETER NORDEN, MELBOURNE LAW SCHOOL: The day of his death, he was front-page headlines. And from my experience working in the prisons, whenever that happened, the prisoners would be under very tight scrutiny, at least for the next 48 hours, 72 hours, but especially given the fact that it publicly identified him as a police informer. The fact that the staff in that unit failed to even notice what happened for at least half an hour is very surprising.

JOSIE TAYLOR: The man who killed Carl Williams was once his friend and ally. A jury heard Matthew Johnson withdrawn was the founder and leader of a hardcore prison group called the Prisoners of War. The group believed in doing time old school, which means never ever informing.

CARL WILLIAMS (2nd May, 2010): He's a fat f#%*ing sook. He bit off more than he can chew. In here, mate, he's just another bare bum in the f#%*ing shower block.

JOSIE TAYLOR: During the trial the prosecution played taped phone calls and prison visits between Johnson and his close friends. Johnson whispers to his best friend about the moment he stumbled across the statements Carl Williams had made to police.

MATTHEW JOHNSON (8th May, 2010): Carl's statements were on there. His statements. I found 'em. Put 'em all on there.

Friend: Plenty there?

MATTHEW JOHNSON: One proper one, on the Hodsons. But six that he was doin', ready to givem to 'em. Yeah, people I know.

JOSIE TAYLOR: After killing Williams, Johnson, along with a third inmate in the maximum security unit, walked laps of the exercise yard. The third man was convicted murderer Tommy Ivanovic. He was a close friend of Carl Williams and Matthew Johnson, but Ivanovic also had a friendship with former detective Paul Dale. In fact Dale had once registered Ivanovic as an informer and had given evidence to help Ivanovic in his murder trial.

Paul Dale and his lawyer Tony Hargreaves declined 7.30′s request for an interview.

The evidence against Paul Dale was never tested in court. The trial of Matthew Johnson heard that without Carl Williams Victoria Police did not have a case against the former detective.

TED BAILLIEU, VICTORIAN OPPOSITION LEADER (April 2010): Where a high-security prisoner can be brutally murdered in the middle of the highest security jail we have, something terribly wrong has gone on.

JOSIE TAYLOR: In Opposition, the now Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu called for a judicial inquiry into the killing, but today no-one from the Baillieu Government was prepared to talk.

Victoria Police refused to dwell on the information Carl Williams took to his grave.

DOUG FRYER, VICTORIA POLICE: The events of today was about seeing a conviction for the murder of Carl Williams and we're really pleased with the result that's come down. Thankyou.

JOSIE TAYLOR: The Hodsons' daughters want a Royal Commission into their parent' deaths, but they hold out little hope there'll be further scrutiny of their murders and that of Carl Williams.

NICOLA KOMIAZYK: If he was helping police with any inquiries, he shoulda been their main target by keeping him safe, because look what happened to dad. He was helping the police out and they lost their lives for it. The same should have been done with Carl.

JOSIE TAYLOR: What hope do you have now of police securing a conviction in the murder of your mum and dad?

NICOLA KOMIAZYK: I don't. We'll never get the justice that we're looking for. Never.

LEIGH SALES: Josie Taylor with that report.

Editor's note: When the prosecution put to Matthew Johnson that Tommy Ivanovic was an informer, Johnson denied that was the case. Tommy Ivanovic denies any knowledge that he had been registered as an informant by Paul Dale.

Top of Form 1

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Mob Rat Lewis Kasman Has No Shame

Imagine, a rat, a stool pigeon, one of the lowest forms of life, telling the world that actor John Travolta is not a tough enough guy to play John Gotti Sr. in an upcoming movie. And to make matters worst, Lewis Kasman, who once called himself John Gotti's "adopted son," also thinks that actor Ben Foster is not enough of a thug to play John Gotti Jr.

Of course, Kasman has his own angle for saying these things. He's writing his memoir "The Last Son," and is creepy enough to time it's release at the same time Gotti's Jr. movie "Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father" is scheduled to be released.

First of all, I don't know what Kasman's relationship was with Gotti Sr. But I do know after Gotti's Sr.'s death, Kasman, in order to save his own smelly hide, went over to Team America and began wearing a wire. Kasman is such a lowlife creep, he even wore a wire when he was talking to Gotti Sr.'s wife Victoria, while the lady was going through a severe illness.

It's hard to imagine anyone sinking any lower than that.

Kasman is right about one thing. John Gotti Sr., no matter what you think of him, was a "man's man." When he was finally convicted and sent to prison for life, Gotti Sr. kept his mouth closed. He never deviated one iota from the Mafia's vow of omerta. Not like Kasman, who became one of most despicable canaries in recent memory.

I can't conceive of anyone actually buying Kasman's book and expecting to read the truth. All you need to do is remember is Sammy "The Bull" Gravano's autobiography, which turned out to be a pack of lies too.

But at least Sammy was a made guy at one time: a "man of respect" in Mafia terms. Kasman, from what I hear, was nothing but a go-fer for Gotti Sr., and was never a tough guy, not even for one day in his crummy life.

And by the way, Kasman is "The Last Son" of who? Certainly not of John Gotti Sr, who if he were alive today, would spit right in Kasman's face, for even hinting there was some connection between the two.

Vote with your feet people, and run away from Kasman's book. You're better off throwing your money into the East River.

The article below can be seen at:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/go...

Ex-associate rips Travolta, other Gotti movie casting choices

By BRUCE GOLDING

Last Updated: 7:08 AM, September 26, 2011

Posted: 1:53 AM, September 26, 2011

More Print

A once-trusted associate of mob boss John Gotti is giving a thumbs-down to having John Travolta portray the late "Dapper Don" in an upcoming biopic.

Mob rat Lewis Kasman — whom Gotti once considered like an "adopted son" — told The Post that picking the "Pulp Fiction" star probably has the notorious Gambino crime-family godfather spinning in his grave.

"I think if he was asked, he would not be pleased at Travolta playing him," said Kasman, who entered the witness-protection program after cutting a deal with the feds.

Speaking by phone from his current hiding spot, Kasman said that while Travolta is a "great actor," the part should have gone to a "tougher guy."

"For John Gotti Sr., you need a man's man to play that role," Kasman said.

"John Gotti Sr. never danced a dance in his life," he said, taking a jab at the "Saturday Night Fever" hoofer Travolta.

A better choice, he said, would have been "Godfather" veterans Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, who's set to play a supporting role as Gambino family underboss Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce.

Kasman — whose undercover work for the feds helped him avoid an 11-year prison term — also said that "X-Men" star Ben Foster had been "miscast" as John "Junior" Gotti.

"He's a thug, so you need someone who's a thug . . . a guy who grew up in that life," Kasman said of Junior, offering "The Fighter" star Mark Wahlberg as a better pick for the role.

He plans to time the publication of his memoir, "The Last Son," to compete with the release of Junior's movie, "Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father."

Kasman maintains that the elder Gotti died "hating" Junior.

Kasman, who gave the eulogy at Gotti's funeral, also said he'll disclose the murderous mobster's secret relationships with "the millionaires and billionaires of New York."

Those movers-and-shakers allegedly include the late hotelier Leona Helmsley, with whom Kasman claims he was carrying on an affair when he arranged Junior's lavish 1990 wedding at the former Helmsley Palace Hotel.

A publicist for Fiore Films, which is producing Junior's movie, said, "I think we'll stick with the decisions made by our Academy Award-winning team of filmmakers, instead of taking casting advice from someone who has never made a movie."

Gotti's widow, Victoria — who last week gave her blessing to having Travolta play her late hubby — called Kasman a "rattlesnake personified" and said he "becomes an authority only when he has a diary of lies to sell."

Travolta was summoned to Victoria's home in Howard Beach, Queens, on Thursday to get Mamma Gotti's blessing for the role. He spent more than two hours at the house screening family movies.

The actor — who was still making his bones playing "Sweathog" Vinnie Barbarino on "Welcome Back, Kotter" when John Gotti Sr. was being made as a Gambino family capo in the late '70s — mimicked the boss of bosses' sprightly strut as he left the mob matron's house with Junior.

bruce.golding@nypost.com

Preface – Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 2 – New York City

Volume 2 should be released around December 2011

Volume 1 is already available on Amazon Kindle and Barnesandnoble.com.

While researching "Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 2 – New York City," I realized that I have a long way to go to even scratch the surface of presenting a complete list of all the miscreants who have roamed the streets, of what we now call "The Big Apple."

"Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 1 – New York City" started in the time period of around 1825, when the first New York City street gang, named the Forty Thieves, ruled what was then called the "Five Points Area." The time period in Volume 1 ended around 1940.

However, while researching Volume 2, I found tons of information about various reprobates that started around 1824 (The Sawing Off of Manhattan Island), and ended in the time period around 1960. So it's truthful to say that trying to write a series of books on this subject in chronological order is virtually impossible, because the more research I do, the more bad people I turn up in past time periods. So I'm not even going to try to write my books about criminals in New York City under that premise again.

Future volumes on this subject (There will be at least two more volumes covering just New York City, before I move on to other areas of America) will again highlight deviant subjects who lived in the 1800′s up until the present time.

Now for the good news. In "Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 2 – New York City," I've uncovered some real dillies.

Of course, no book on this subject would be complete without the prerequisite Mafia entries. So this book contains bios of men like the "Prime Minister of the Underworld" – Frank Costello, Albert "The Lord High Executioner"Anastasia, Joseph Bonanno, and the Mafia Killing of Police Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino.

Irish gangsters are also well represented here, starting with the first New York City Irish Mob Boss – Isaiah Rynders, and continuing with little ditties on Big Bill Dwyer – the "King of the Rum Runners," James Farley – "King of the Strikebreakers," and Joseph P. Ryan – President of the International Longshoremen Association – Port of New York.

You want crooked politicians? Well in "Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 2 – New York City," you'll read about the "Ultimate Political Fixer" Jim Hines, crooked New York City Mayor Jimmy "Beau James" Walker, and whom I consider the most abominable politician of all time – Joseph P. Kennedy, Rum Runner Extraordinaire, and the father of United States President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

There is also a little piece on Allie "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum, one of Murder Incorporated's most prolific killers, who turned canary and ratted out his boss – Louie "Lepke Buchalter. As a result of Tannenbaum's testimony in court, Lepke got the electric chair, and Tannenbaum got a short prison sentence, then crawled into the woodwork, only to reemerge to testify in several more Murder Incorporated murder trials.

In "Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 2 – New York City," there are also pieces on garden-variety crooks like George Appo – "The Most Successful Pickpocket in the History of New York City" and William Sharkey – a vicious murderer who escaped from the Tombs Prison while he was waiting to be hanged.

Included in this book are articles on murderers Harry Thaw, who shot famed architect Sanford White on the rooftop of Madison Square Garden, and Ruth Snyder, who along with weak-kneed lover Judd Grey, brutally killed Ruth's husband Albert Snyder. I also detail the vicious 1836 murder of Helen Jewett, a well-known New York City prostitute.

The Gay Nineties are well represented here too. You'll meet Steve Brodie, the man who made a name for himself by jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. Or did he really? You'll also read about con- man Chuck Connors, who was called the "Mayor Of Chinatown," even though the Chinese already had an elected Chinese mayor named Tom Lee. Connors made tons of cash staging bogus tours of Chinatown, resplendent with tall tales of murder and white slavery, and concluded with an excursion to a fake opium den, with fake opium addicts smoking fake opium, and sometimes even smoked molasses.

The Crazy Butch Gang and the Midnight Terrors were two ruthless Gay Nineties adolescent New York City street gangs. Crazy Butch was just that – crazy. Butch taught his dog "Rabbi" to rip the handbag off the arms off unsuspecting women, then run like the wind, until Rabbi met up with Butch latter, to give his master the spoils, in return for a nice meaty bone. Crazy Butch was nothing if not creative in his thievery. Butch used a bicycle to crash into female pedestrians, then when a crowd gathered to see what had transpired, Crazy Butch's gang of boys, as young as ten years old, picked every pocket in sight, then scattered in all directions to escape arrest.

The Midnight Terrors were the bane of the First Ward, located at south-most point of Manhattan Island. They were called The Midnight Terrors because all of their robberies and muggings took place after dark, while most of the city was asleep. Led by "Chief" Dan Dalton, an incorrigible 14-year-old, the Midnight Terrors decided to start a baseball team. And that they did. And while the Midnight Terrors were causing mayhem on the baseball diamond using their sharpened spikes and an occasional bat to an opponent's cranium, their non-baseball-playing gang members would roam the stands, robbing spectators at will.

The biggest con job of the late 1800′s was the "Green Good Swindle," which was "built upon the common desire in human nature to get something for nothing." Hundreds of thousands of circulars were mailed to targeted individuals around the country, offering, in vague language, huge amounts of counterfeit bills for a fraction of their face value. In these circulars, the word "counterfeit" was never used, but rather terms like "articles," or "paper goods," and sometimes even "cigars," were used instead.

When the greedy suckers arrived in New York City to meet the green goods "operator," they were shown bills that looked so real, they were, in fact, just that – real paper money. The green goods operator completed the transaction, by taking the dupe's money, and purportedly giving him a suitcase filled with the counterfeit money. Then, a distraction would take place, and the suitcase would be substituted with an identical one. As a result, the mark was now in the possession of a suitcase filled with useless paper, and sometimes even sand. The "operator" would then hand the mark off to a "steerer, who, aided by the local police who were also in on the scheme, would hustle the mark out of town, on the next train available.

The beauty of the green goods swindle was that if the mark discovered, either on the train, or when he arrived home, that he had been hoodwinked, who could he run to? Certainly not to the police, since he was involved in an illegal transaction in the first place.

There is also an article in this book that is so outrageous, there is some doubt as to whether it actually occurred. It supposedly happened in 1824, when the local newspapers were not quite a reliable source of information. A man named Lozier, who was considered one of the brightest men in town, convinced the locals that the tip of Manhattan Island (which was inhabited by only 150,000 people at the time), because of the weight of the newly-build tall buildings, was sinking into the East River. The only way to save Manhattan, Lozier said, was to was to cut off the island at its north end, in the Kingsbridge region, then turn the island completely around. After this was done, they would need to anchor the sagging end to the north mainland. So in effect, when the task was completed, north would be south, and south would be north, averting the terrible loss of lives and property.

What happened next, you will have to read in the main section of this book, and make your only decision as to if this incident actually occurred, or not.

I believe it did happen.

And no book about crooks and criminals would be complete without an essay on the two crookedest lawyers of all time: "Big Bill" Howe, and "Little Abe" Hummel. The nefarious law firm of Howe and Hummel used every trick in the book, most of them illegal, to get the most vicious criminals of their time (1862- to past the turn of the 20th Century) declared not guilty in a court of law. Howe and Hummel not only defended the worst of criminals in court, but in fact, taught these same criminals how to commit their crimes in advance. And if the criminals got caught by the law, well, don't you worry. They would be defended in court by none other than the diabolical duo of "Big Bill"Howe and "Little Abe" Hummel themselves.

"Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps – Volume 2 – New York City," which is arranged in alphabetical order, is a labor of love, but it is also a work in progress. Volumes 3 and 4 will again feature the worst criminals in the history of New York City. Then I'll move on to the rest of America, which, I guarantee you, will take up several more volumes on the subject.

I hope you enjoy reading about some of the most despicable people ever to roam the face of the earth.

I know I enjoyed researching and writing about them.

Joe Bruno

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Who is Mike Yevtuck And Why Is He Badmouthing the Hells Angels?

I never heard of this guy Mike Yevtuck, and I don't know why he has an ax to grind with the Hells Angels. But his comments about the Hells Angles are obscene, and in my opinion, uncalled for.

In the article below, Yevtuck, using the most vile language, goes on a racist rampage against the Hells Angels, then claims "I'm not a racist."

I'm not going to comment directly on Yevtuck's remarks, but I do want to tell you that branding the Hells Angels as drug dealers and worse, is like calling all Italian/Americans like myself — members of the Mafia.

I know the Hells Angels have gotten a lot of bad press lately, with the murders of Jeffrey Pettigrew and Jonathan Bacon, the shooting of Larry Amero, and the arrest of Cesar Villagrana. But as far as I'm concerned, these are isolated incidents and in no way indicative of the behavior of the vast majority of the Hells Angels.

I grew up in Manhattan's Little Italy, which northernmost boarder is Houston Street, just three blocks from the Hells Angels Manhattan headquarters at 77 East 3rd Street. I've always felt that the Hells Angels were to their neighborhood, what the wise guys were to my neighborhood. You might not like them personally, and maybe some of them committed crimes, but they kept their neighborhoods safe. Going back to the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s, Little Italy, and the area around the Hells Angels headquarters, were the safest neighborhoods in the five boroughs.

And you'd think with the close proximity of the two groups, both sometimes known for violence, that there would have been problems between the two factions. But to my knowledge, and I lived the Little Italy area for 48 years, the Italian/Americans and the Hells Angels got along just fine, because we basically left each other alone. We practiced mutual respect, which is much needed in our world today.

In the 1970′s and the 1980′s, there was an Italian/American after-hours joint on 2st Street, just off First Avenue. Many times I'd be cruising in my car through the neighborhood with my friends, looking for a parking spot, so that we could spend some quality time in the social club. And many times, while looking for that parking spot, we'd pass the Hells Angels headquarters, where a few Hells Angels were congregating outside their club. They knew who we were, and we knew who they were. We'd wave a greeting to them to them, and they'd wave back.

No trouble. No animosity. No "What are you doing in our neighborhood?" nonsense.

And as far as I know, this peace has continued until today. (I moved to Florida in 1995)

In fact, when Robert DeNiro, who was born and raised on Bleeker Street and hung out in Little Italy, was starring and directing the film "A Bronx Tale," he hired several actual Hells Angels for the classic bar-fight scene, which was supposed to have taken place in the Bronx's Little Italy.

Sure, there's bad apples in the Hells Angels. But like the Italian/Americans in Little Italy, most Hells Angels are law-biding citizens, who just like to enjoy the camaraderie of a biker gang.

I don't know what Mike Yevtuck's problem is with the Hells Angels, and frankly, I don't care. But stereotyping an entire group because of the actions of a few of its members, no matter what group, or no matter what nationality, is not what America is all about.

The article below can be seen at:

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/vall...

Hells Angels Hater Mike Yevtuck Wants World to Know He Aint No Racist

By James King Tue., Feb. 1 2011 at 2:39 PM

Mike Yevtuck: Not a racist.

​The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and this newspaper have an (ahem) interesting relationship. Every time we write about the gang (literally every time), the comment section of each blog post erupts with comments from people accusing the group of molesting children, cooking meth, and various other crimes. Members of the group counter by threatening New Times writers, spelling things wrong, and apparently posting racist comments under the names of those who oppose them.

One of those in frequent opposition to the "8-1″ is Mike Yevtuck, who tells New Times his hatred of the gang dates back to when he was 14 years old. More importantly, Yevtuck wants New Times readers to know that he's not a racist, despite there being some very racist comments left on blog posts under his name.

For example, the following comment was left under the name "Mike Yevtuck" on a blog post about a few guys who stole about 5,000 OxyContins from a pharmacy last week (all sic):

"those drug addict spooks and pecker woods in the pictures are friends with new times hack writer james king.he hangs out with a bad crowd and always has. the hells angels are his main local drug connection for meth. talk to james king at new times if you want these drug addict bandits caught. james knows good and well where they are and where they live."

Yevtuck wants the world to know that he's not a racist and the rant quoted above, and other racist comments left on the New Times website in the past, were not left by him. He suspects the people leaving the comments are members of the Hells angels trying to discredit him.

"[The Hells Angels] are out there runnin' around, doin' what they do," Yevtuck says, "but they're too pussy to do anything about it."

Yevtuck says his problems with the gang date back years and stem from the way it's historically treated women and children.

"They've been beatin' 'em up and fuckin' 'em up for as long as I can remember," he continues.

So, just to clear things up, Mike Yevtuck wants the world to know that he's not a racist. If you see racist comments on this website under his name, they were not written by him.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Hell's Angels Boss Killed in Casino Gunfight Between Rival Gangs

First of all, biker gangs are not a bad thing. Biker gangs that cause violence are a bad thing.

Big difference.

It seems that Jeffrey Pettigrew, head of the Hell's Angels San Jose Chapter, was shot to death during a gun fight between rival motorcycle gangs inside a Reno, Nevada casino. Two other men belonging to a rival gang were also injured.

Because the shooting caused chaos and fear amongst the people who were in the casino at the time of the shooting, the city's mayor to declared a state of emergency, and he canceled the annual Street Vibrations festival, a week-long festival that brings tens of thousands of bikers into Reno, Sparks and Virginia City every year.

I can't say I can blame the mayor for his actions. But I would also say that maybe the security in the casino at the time of the shooting wasn't so great either. I mean, don't people who enter the casino get scanned for armed weapons, like they do at the airport? If not, they certainly should be now.

Meanwhile, because of the actions of a few bad apples, thousands of peaceful bikers had their festival canceled. It doesn't seem right, but, considering the circumstances, I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing as the mayor did.

The article below can be viewed at:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/natio...

Hell's Angels boss killed in casino gunfight between rival gangs during Nevada biker event

The leader of a California chapter of the Hells Angels was shot to death during a gunbattle between rival motorcycle gangs inside a Nevada casino that also wounded two others.

A fourth biker was wounded in a drive-by shooting hours after Friday night's shootout at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel-casino, in what authorities suspect was revenge for the biker boss's murder.

Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, 51, the chief of the biker gang's San Jose chapter, was killed in the casino mayhem while two members of Vagos motorcycle club were wounded.

Leonard Ramirez, 45, was shot in the stomach, and Diego Garcia, 28, was hit in the leg.

Both were reported to be in stable condition at a hospital in Reno. Security was tightened at the hospital to protect the men's safety.

The violence forced the city's mayor to declare a state of emergency and pull the plug on the annual Street Vibrations festival, an annual week-long festival that brings tens of thousands of bikers rumbling into Reno, Sparks and Virginia City every year.

"After the retaliation, it's just too tense of a situation," he said. "It's hard to say what's going to happen. It's just not worth the chance."

One Hell's Angel, Cesar Villagrana, 36, was arrested in connection with the casino brawl.

Sparks police said video surveillance showed the burly biker firing wildly into a crowd, sending terrified gamblers diving under card tables for cover.

Cops said they weren't sure if he hit anyone.

The second shooting occurred at 10:49 a.m. on Saturday.

The unidentified biker was riding down a street near a square that served as the center of the festival when he was shot in the stomach by a gunman riding in a black BMW with tinted windows, witnesses and police said.

His name and location were not released for his own protection, cops said.

Investigators in Sparks haven't linked the two incidents, but Martini told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the second attack was "definitely" revenge.

Witnesses said the incident at the Nugget after a fistfight broke out among Hell's Angels and Vagos members.

Joe Franco, of Reno, told the Reno Gazette-Journal he saw a Hells Angel member pull a pistol after getting punched in the face.

"He was down with the bloody nose, gets up and pulls out the gun, and that's the first shot," Franco told the paper.

The casino was evacuated and locked down on Saturday, but has since reopened.

With News Wire Services

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Was the Hell's Angel Larry Amero an Innocent Bystander in Shooting?

Where there's smoke there's usually fire.

Here are the facts we definitely know. 1. Notorious gangster and Hell's Angel Jonathan Bacon was shot to death in Kelowna, British Columbia, outside the Delta Hotel. 2. Larry Amero, a full-patch member of the White Rock chapter of the Hells Angels, was also shot in the same incident. However, Amero survived.

At the time he was killed, Bacon was out on bail on a series of gun and drug charges. In December 2002, Amero was found guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance; i.e. drugs.

See a link here?

Yet Amero gal-pal Jasmine Wong says that Amero was not a target in the shooting, but in actuality, an "innocent bystander," who happened to be in the "wrong place at the wrong time." Wong told a Canadian news outlet, ""You shouldn't judge him (Amero) What you do on your own time, in your hobby, just because you belong to a club — a bike club, a car club chess club . … He should be treated just like everyone else."

Well, that's true.

But it boggles the mind to believe that Amero just happened to be innocently in the company of Bacon, a notorious Red Scorpion gangster, when the person, or persons committed the fatal shooting, which also injured two other women.

I mean, what were Bacon and Amero doing together at the time of the shooting?

Discussing the fine art of crocheting?

Or how to properly cook Foie gras with mustard seeds and green onions in duck jus?

Bacon and Amero had recently been seen together several times. In fact, Port Moody police recently stopped Bacon and Amero on a cigarette boat with a man linked to the Independent Soldiers, another well known British Columbian gang.

So I think it's fair to assume that, for reasons unknown, Bacon and Amero were both targeted in the shooting.

Time will tell. Or maybe not.

The two article below can be viewed at:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british...

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Injur...

Injured Hells Angel linked to number of gangs

A Hells Angel injured in the same shootout that left notorious gangster Jonathan Bacon dead Sunday has ties to members and associates of a number of for reasons unknown.

Larry Ronald Amero, born in 1977, is a full-patch member of the White Rock chapter of the Hells Angels.

Amero leases three vehicles: a 2006 BMW M5, a 2007 Cadillac Escalade and a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado. The Escalade is a shared lease with his former live-in girlfriend, Sarah Trebble.

Trebble, a West Vancouver realtor, was acquitted this year of a charge of occupying a vehicle in which there was a firearm. The charge was laid after Trebble was found in a car involved in a shooting outside of the T-Barz strip club in Surrey in 2009. Police have alleged that Trebble is a known associate of high-ranking United Nations Gang member Barzan Tilli-Cholli.

Amero has also been photographed with one of the founders of the Independent Soldiers gang, Randy Naicker. Naicker was convicted of a drug-related kidnapping and extortion and was also the intended target of a shooting at a Vancouver halfway house. Another gangster — Raj Soomel — was killed instead.

Naicker and another Independent Soldier met with members of the Red Scorpions in 2006, reports state.

In December 2002, Amero was given a one-year conditional sentence followed by a year of probation after being found guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance.

The address associated with two of Amero's vehicle leases is a $1.13 million Surrey property owned by a Ronald Amero.

Amero was in critical condition on Sunday. An update on his condition was not available Monday.

jensaltman@theprovince.com

Hells Angel hurt in Bacon shooting 'like you and me'

CBC News

Posted: Aug 18, 2011 7:47 PM PT

A man wounded in Sunday's gang-related shooting in Kelowna, B.C., shouldn't be judged by his membership in Hells Angels, a friend says.

Jasmine Wong says Hells Angel Larry Amero was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire when Jonathan Bacon was shot and killed outside the Delta Hotel. Two women were also wounded, including one who was left quadriplegic.

"Wrong place, wrong time," Wong said of her friend. "[http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british...

Police have said it's not clear who was the intended target of the shooting — Bacon, who founded the Red Scorpions gang, Amero or a passenger reported to be a member of the Independent Soldiers gang.

Amero is a full patch member of the Hells Angels, but Wong cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

"You shouldn't judge him," she said. "What you do on your own time, in your hobby, just because you belong to a club — a bike club, a car club chess club . … He should be treated just like everyone else."

Wong said she has no idea why Amero was with Bacon but she knows they were friends.

Amero was just a regular person, she said.

"He still goes home, he still has an old lady and a kid, a job, like you and me."

Leah Hadden-Watts, 21, was reported to have suffered a shattered neck vertebra and was paralyzed when the SUV that Bacon and four others were riding in was showered with bullets from an automatic weapon. The second woman's injuries were not life-threatening.

Police have made no arrests in the shooting.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – 17 New York City Cops Indicted

It really sucks when the criminals turn out to be cops.

A Bronx Grand Jury, to the surprise and consternation of some, have voted to indict as many as 17 New York City police officers in a parking ticket scandal, and more. We're not taking about the regular cops on the beat here ether. According to the article below in the New York Post, among those who will be arrested are union delegates, police sergeants, and maybe even high-ranking police officials of the NYPD. Besides fixing parking tickets for pals, relatives, and paying customers, the charges that were voted on by the Bronx Grand Jury may include obstruction of justice, official misconduct, and receiving bribes from known drug dealers.

Heck, this scandal even goes up to an official of the Bronx Bombing New York Yankees, who who suddenly realized his parking ticket violation had vanished from all police records.

What's next? The police fixing a parking ticket for Derek Jeter's Ford Edge, the one with the spiffy moon roof?

Yeah Jeter, he's got an Edge alright!

Hopefully, it's not the same edge one of his bosses had.

Let's face it, police corruption has been around since the creation of the first New York City Police force in the 1850′s. It was systematic all during the late 1800′s, during Prohibition, during the Great Depression, and right up until the Knapp Commission hearings in the early 1970′s. But then cops either got more honest, more devious, or maybe even both.

Sure, we had isolated incidents, like the arrest and conviction of the so-call Mafia Cops: Louis Eppolito and Steven Caracappa. And we had police brutality cases, like in the one concerning Abner Louima, who was sexually violated by Justin Volpe. But fixing parking tickets just to make a few bucks; it just doesn't make any sense.

Maybe the Bronx Grand Jury made a mistake. Maybe the cops won't be charged, and if they are charged, maybe they will be found not guilty (which is not the same as innocent) at trial. Maybe Derek Jeter really does drive a Ford Edge.

I think all three of the statements in the previous paragraph have about equal veracity.

The link for the article below can be found is:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/br...

A Bronx grand jury has voted to indict 17 cops in the massive ticket-fixing scandal, sources told The Post.

"I know guys have to turn themselves in on Monday," one police source said.

The criminal charges against the NYPD officers snared in the probe — including union delegates, sergeants and possibly even high-ranking brass — could include obstruction, official misconduct and bribery for allegedly lining their pockets with cash from drug sales.

The indictments are the culmination of a three-year investigation during which NYPD probers bugged union officials, who were caught blabbing about fixing tickets for pals and relatives.

The cops allegedly took cash, liquor and other gifts.

In one case, a Yankee executive saw his ticket suddenly vanish.

The probe began with IAB cops looking into 40th Precinct Officer José Ramos and his alleged ties to a drug gang, sources said.

Investigators caught Ramos on a wiretap spilling his guts about fixing a ticket, and that led to a probe that eventually included allegations of shocking misbehavior.

The wide-ranging probe even has gone beyond ticket fixing.

Sources have said the investigation uncovered an allegation that Ramos ripped off a drug dealer to the tune of more than $10,000 in cash, a source familiar with the probe told The Post.

The probe also may have pushed one officer to the limit.

Earlier this month, Robert McGee, a 30-year department veteran, tried to electrocute himself by touching the third rail of a subway rather than potentially testify against his fellow officers, sources said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/br...

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Irish Gangster Rides a Bike to Avoid Being "Hit."

Martin Foley, an 59-year-old Irish criminal called "The Viper," is a wanted man these days. So to avoid his car exploding when he's headed on a trip to collect his money on the streets, "The Viper" has taken to riding a bicycle around Dublin.

How embarrassing, and not the safest thing in the world to do either.

It seems that Foley has a €60,000 bounty on his head, which was allegedly posted by The Godfather of Irish mob bosses: Christy Kinahan, affectionately called "The Dapper Don." It seems that over a decade ago, Foley swindled Kinahan out of €100,000, and now that Kinahan is scheduled to begin serving a four-year jail term for money laundering, he wants to tied up some "loose ends." Unfortunately for Foley, he is one of those loose ends Kinahan wants tied up, or actually eliminated.

According to the article below in the Irish crime reporting publication call Sunday World, Kinahan has given the contract to Fat Freddy Thompson to whack out Foley, who has survived four murder attempts already. But Fat Freddy as problems of his own, since he is reportedly "holed up at his mother's house after it was firebombed by rivals who want him dead."

So to sum things up, Kinahan is headed to the can, Fat Freddy is incognito for the time being, and Foley is peddling his butt around Dublin, with his head on a swivel.

Not a great time for organized crime figures in Dublin, Ireland.

The article below is available at the following link:

http://www.sundayworld.com/

DEAD MAN RIDING

September 12, 2011

GANGLAND hardman Martin Foley has taken to his bike in a bid to dodge another assassination attempt.

"The Viper' is paranoid about car bombs and hitmen outside his Dublin home after 'Dapper Don' Christy Kinahan offered €60,000 to have him whacked.

Each morning Foley, who has survived four murder bids already, checks for hidden devices under his car and is now cycling instead of driving himself. And the Viper is not the only gangland tough guy under siege this weekend.

Violent mob boss 'Fat' Freddie Thompson is holed up at his mother's house after it was firebombed by rivals who want him dead.

Thompson has even gone to the gardai looking for protection as the feud threatens to explode.

Viper's Vicious Cycle

MARTIN 'The Viper' Foley has been warned that his life is in serious danger after 'The Dapper Don' Christy Kinahan put a €60,000 bounty on his head.

The Sunday World has learnt that Christy Kinahan's son Daniel has been telling criminals around Dublin that his father will put up the money to anybody who manages to shoot the Viper dead.

Kinahan wants Foley whacked after accusing him of scamming him out of €100,000 in a row that goes back over a decade. Foley was recently approached and warned to pay up but refused so Kinahan has decided that he should be taken out according to Sunday World sources.

Foley has escaped four previous assassination bids and is said to be concerned about the latest murder contract and has taken to travelling around on a bicycle in disguise.

He also no longer drives himself and checks under his car and van for bombs each morning and evening according to insiders.

Debt

The Sunday World observed Foley on his bike last Friday morning and when he returned after an hour an associate arrived in a van to drive the 59 year-old criminal around to intimidate people as part of his debt collection business.

It can also be revealed that gardai recovered three guns a short distance away from Foley's house on Cashel Avenue last week and believe that they were being stored to use in another hit attempt on the notorious villain.

A close associate of Fat Freddie Thompson was arrested close to where the deadly arsenal was being stored and detectives believe that he was intent on shooting the Viper and claiming the loot.

Because the recession has drastically affected the sale of drugs it is thought that a number of serious criminals will consider taking up the contract.

Martin Foley has been told by gardai that there is a threat on his life with sources saying that he is taking extreme personal security measures and is using anti-surveillance techniques wherever he goes to make sure he is not being followed.

Gardai have stepped up patrols on Foley's road because of the death contract.

In January 2008 a close associate of Freddie Thompson ambushed Foley as he was leaving the Carlisle Health and Fitness gym on the Kimmage Road. The 24 year-old calmly walked up to Foley's Audi A6 and opened fire with a Glock 9mm pistol.

Seven shots were fired at Foley from close range with four hitting him in the lower chest, shoulder and leg. Another bullet grazed his head.

Foley believed he was going to die and shouted out the name of his attacker but after he survived he refused to cooperate with gardai.

Christy Kinahan was also behind that murder attempt and ordered Freddie Thompson to set it up. Kinahan is the undisputed godfather of Irish organised crime and operated for over a decade from Marbella masterminding the importation of an estimated €1bn worth of drugs.

However he was targeted by Spanish police a year ago and his empire fell apart. He was extradited from Spain to Belgium last week to serve a four-year jail term for money laundering.

Sources say that Kinahan has been "tying up loose ends" over the last few weeks and that he will not rest until Foley is six feet under.

The Dapper Don was furious that the murder attempt failed but it had been thought that peace had been declared between the two men but garda sources have told them about the latest contract and are taking the threat very seriously.

Christy Kinahan and Foley fell out in the late 1990s after Kinahan accused The Viper of scamming him out of €100,000. Kinahan despised Martin Foley, but he never tried to exact revenge on Foley for the alleged con job.

However, Kinahan was eager to return to Ireland but knew that he couldn't show his face in Dublin if he did not seek revenge for the missing money. So, he asked Thompson to take out Foley as a personal favour to him.

Source: sundayworld.com