Independent Soldiers street gang second-in-command is scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty in April to charges stemming from his dealings

Thomas Crawford is scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty in April to charges stemming from his dealings with a pair of undercover cops in January 2007.
At that time, the now-27-year-old was believed to be second-in-command in the local chapter of the Independent Soldiers street gang.He has since claimed to have left the gang, but Mounties say he sold four ounces of cocaine, a .357-calibre handgun and a box of bullets to a pair of undercover cops posing as mid-level drug dealers.
Alleged Independent Soldiers boss Jayme Russell was also charged following the investigation, but pleaded not guilty to a lone drug-trafficking charge.
Earlier this year, a judge found Russell guilty following a trial in B.C. Supreme Court and he was handed a two-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.It's not yet known which charges Crawford pleaded guilty to, but the firearms charge carries with it a mandatory one-year jail sentence.Crawford was released on bail shortly after the January 2007 transaction, but has been picked up by police a number of times for allegedly breaching his conditions.Last summer, he was arrested and later pleaded guilty to threats charges after leaving a number of intimidating messages on the cellphone of an acquaintance.Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to breach charges after he was caught out past his curfew with a pair of men — one of whom is alleged to have gang ties — who were allegedly brandishing handguns in a pair of local restaurants.During a bail hearing last year, Crawford claimed to have left the Independent Soldiers and said he is in the process of having his gang tattoos covered up.

Wanted Guadalupe Ceja on a warrant charging him with Murder.

Wanted Guadalupe Ceja on a warrant charging him with Murder. Detective Mark Pollio reports that on February 11th 1996 in the late evening a gang related murder occurred in the 600 block of Stambaugh Street. Numerous members of a criminal street gang chased down and caught a rival gang member. Those persons beat the victim until Lupe Ceja then allegedly approached and shot the victim numerous times while he lay on the ground. The persons who had beaten the victim were subsequently identified, arrested and convicted for their part in the murder. The shooter, Ceja, was identified but never arrested.

Ascot Vale slaying:Geoffrey Leslie Armour, 43, pointed to his injuries as he entered court but then crouched behind a wall

Geoffrey Leslie Armour, 43, pointed to his injuries as he entered court but then crouched behind a wall, apparently trying to protect his identity.As sketch artists worked furiously to catch an image of Armour, his defence counsel objected to any publication of sketches or photographs of him, arguing identity could be a key issue in the case.Police, who will set up an information caravan near the site of the slaying to canvass for additional witnesses, supported the objection. It was felt that if images of Armour were made public they could influence witness decisions.
Police are still searching for another alleged hitman and the getaway driver from the Ascot Vale slaying.Magistrate Dan Muling agreed to a suppression order on Armour's image, ruling that the publication of his image would risk contaminating witnesses' evidence.Mr Muling set Armour's next court date for September 9, the day co-defendants Judy Moran and Suzanne Kane are also due back in court. There was no application for bail.Judy Moran, 64, and Suzanne Kane, 45, who is Armour's defacto wife, appeared in court on Wednesday on charges of being accessories after the fact of the murder. Both women were also refused bail.

Remand prisoners at the Sunyani Central Prison in the Brong Ahafo Region have allegedly resorted to acts of vandalism

Remand prisoners at the Sunyani Central Prison in the Brong Ahafo Region have allegedly resorted to acts of vandalism because of frustration resulting from long delays in the adjudication of their cases in the law courts.A convict at the prison, Eric Quaye, who painted a sordid picture of the frustrations of the prisoners and conditions of the remand prison to the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, last Thursday, said some of the cases had been pending before the courts for between seven and 12 years.Quaye told the minister, who was visiting the prison, that without any provocation, some remand prisoners who had been there for those periods allegedly fought other inmates to relieve themselves of their frustration.He a11eged that some dockets on the cases which were in the custody of the police were missing, while some of the police investigators had refused to escort those on remand to the courts.Currently, there are 839 inmates at the Remand prisoners at the Sunyani Central Prison in the Brong Ahafo Region have allegedly resorted to acts of vandalism, out of which 635 are convicts, 176 on remand and 28 facing trial. The number of prisoners in the region, including those at the Duayaw Nkwanta, Kenyasi and Yeji camps, stands at 1,293.Quaye, who acted as the spokesperson for the inmates, further alleged that even when the police came for prisoners on remand for court, the police returned with the excuse that they did not meet any judges to hear the cases.He intimated that some of the police investigators were in league with the complainants in some of the cases and alleged that some of those complainants had paid money to the policemen handling the cases for them to delay their early adjudication or discontinue with the investigations.In one instance, the spokesperson, who was once working with a mining company in the Brong Ahafo Region but has been incarcerated because of financial malfeasance, said a man who had committed a crime with another per-son had long completed his prison term of 10 years while his accomplice, who is currently suffering from stroke, was on remand.
According to him, remand prisoners were a source of worry to the other inmates, pointing out that “they are difficult to control by the selected leaders of the inmates”.On other problems in the prison, Quaye indicated that some of the convicts were grappling with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) but the only available drug administered to them was paracetamol, adding that “para is used to serve all sick prisoners”.He emphasised that characteristic of all TB patients, those suffering from the disease coughed and spat anywhere but there were no detergents and soap to clean the cells and other areas.“We use raw water to bath, wash and clean the place,” he said.Quaye said because there were limited toilet facilities for the inmates, some of them soiled themselves while they were in the queue waiting for their turn, while others fought to secure their positions in the queue.One startling revelation he made was that there were minors staying and mingling with the hardened criminals, pointing out that human rights activists did not visit the prison to know the plight of the minors and fight for them.The Brong Ahafo Regional Commander of the Ghana Prison Service, Mr Jacob Agambire, who conducted the regional minister round the premises, corroborated the story told by the spokesperson and said his outfit was using the available resources to manage the prison.

Des "Tuppence" Moran Gangster has been shot dead in a busy Melbourne street

Police said a man in his 60s was shot and killed in a suburb of Australia's second city shortly after noon, but refused to confirm media reports the victim was Des "Tuppence" Moran, the member of an infamous Melbourne crime family.
Gangster has been shot dead in a busy Melbourne street, sparking fears of a resurgence in an underworld war that has so far claimed around 30 lives, reports have said.Australian 'gangster' shot dead in Melbourne notorious gangster has been shot dead in a busy Melbourne street, sparking fears of a resurgence in an underworld war that has so far claimed around 30 lives, reports have said.
Police said a man in his 60s was shot and killed in a suburb of Australia's second city shortly after noon, but refused to confirm media reports the victim was Des "Tuppence" Moran, the member of an infamous Melbourne crime family.
Moran's brother Lewis and his nephews Jason and Mark were all killed in Melbourne's drug gangs war that raged from 1995 to 2004 and was dramatised in Australia's hit "Underbelly" TV series.The Age newspaper reported that Moran was killed in an execution-style hit, quoting ambulance officers saying he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the head and witnesses saying three men had fired at him.
A witness named Joan said the shooting occurred on a busy street with children nearby."I was across the road from where it happened, at the post office and I just heard all these gunshots," she told commercial radio."I'm really angry because there were lots of kids and what-not, going about their business. It's a really busy shopping strip... there were people everywhere."Another witness, Han Tarkeek, told national news agency AAP that Lewis Moran's wife, Judy, arrived at the scene within 15 minutes of the shooting screaming "Dessy, Dessy."Moran survived an attempted assassination in March, when a balaclava-clad gunman fired at him while he was sitting in a car. The bullet lodged in the steering wheel.The incident follows this month's shooting of a Sydney businessman with close links to the city's notorious Kings Cross area. Fadi Ibrahim was shot five times and remains in hospital fighting for his life.