7 suspected gang members arrested at 'stash house'

Alex Whitlatch
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 6, 2008 01:54 PM

In a multi-unit effort, Chandler police officers arrested seven suspected gang members Wednesday night at a house in the 800 block of West Germann Road in Chandler.

One suspect was struck by another fleeing vehicle when police closed in. The man, Dante Cherry, 21, suffered internal injuries. His condition has not yet been released.

Also arrested were Joseph Smith II, 30, Carlos Smith, 27, Brian Ross, 33, Dawone Jones, 26, Aaron Hagler, 22, and James Gonsalvez, 32, all from Phoenix. The men were taken into custody at approximately 9 p.m.

According to a statement released by police Thursday morning, the seven men were believed to be committing robberies on "stash houses."

Members of the Chandler Police Department's Special Assignment Unit, Criminal Apprehension Unit, Gang Unit, and patrol worked together to coordinate the operation after receiving a tip.

Surveillance was set up and the men were followed to the target house, between Alma School and Arizona Avenue, police said.

Moe Wakefield, a 29-year neighbor that lives just a few houses east of the suspected stash house, said Germann Road was shut down between Alma School and Hartford while police were in the area.

When police arrived and attempted to make contact with the men, all fled the scene, police report. Some suspects fled on foot and in two separate vehicles, police said.

According to police, all were subsequently captured in the immediate area.

Other residents in the area reported hearing at last two very loud bangs about 9 p.m., which is about the time police report making contact with the suspected gang members.

One woman who lives nearby said she and her husband heard what sounded like two or three explosions, and when they looked toward the residence with the police surrounding it, they saw smoke coming from the east end of the house.

Wakefield said he saw flashes of bright light at the same time as the loud sound - typical of the flash-bang explosive devices police often use to disorient suspects during a raid.

"I went outside after I heard the bang. I saw a bright light reflecting off of the palm trees," he said.

Detective David Ramer, a Chandler police spokesman, said this type of stash house is typically considered valuable to gang members because they can contain money, weapons and even undocumented immigrants.

Police recovered two rifles, two handguns, and body armor at the scene.

Gang crackdown results in 72 arrests in Mesa
Katie McDevitt, Tribune

The Mesa police gang unit arrested 72 people and identified dozens of new gang members in a three-week investigation called “Operation 480.”

The special investigation targeted gang members who were participating in illegal activities. Police said Thursday during a news conference that some of the gang members committed armed robbery, aggravated assault, drug violations and possession of stolen property. “An important fact to point out is that 81 gang members from 34 different gangs were contacted,” said Mesa police spokesman detective Chris Arvayo in a prepared statement. “Through their efforts, investigators were able to identify 32 new gang members.” U.S. Marshals, Eloy police, Salt River police, Tempe police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also assisted Mesa police in the investigation.

Teen arrested in New Year’s Day Tempe homicide
Gary Grado, Tribune

Tempe detectives arrested a teenager Tuesday in connection with a New Year’s Day fatal shooting.

Rickey Wooley, who just turned 18, was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, assisting a criminal street gang and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, said officer Brandon Banks, Tempe police spokesman.

The 1:09 a.m. death of Corey Washington, 25, was the first homicide of the year in the state.
Banks said the incident began as an altercation at a bar on Third Street. Wooley was walking near Third Street and Farmer Avenue when Washington, who was driving, pulled alongside him in a car with four other passengers. Banks said people in the car were taunting Wooley and he fired his gun, striking Washington and a passenger who survived his wound.
The car crashed at Fifth Street and Farmer Avenue.

“This is definitely gang related,” Banks said. Banks said it was a difficult investigation because witnesses, victims and suspects weren’t cooperative

Police get tough on gangs

Judi Villa
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 5, 2007 12:00 AM
The window tint was way too dark.

But it wasn't until police pulled over the Chevy Impala that they found what they were really looking for: gangsters. Four of them, heavily tattooed and hiding a golf-ball-size rock of crack cocaine packaged for individual sale. One of the men in the car had a felony warrant for aggravated assault and was taken to jail. Another was on probation and shouldn't have been hanging around gang members and dope. Police seized the car.

"It's zero tolerance with these gang members," Phoenix police Sgt. Todd Goehring said. "If they commit a traffic violation, they're going to get a ticket. If they have guns or dope, they're going to jail. Anything just to let them know we're watching them. They need to know when we're on the streets that they need to look behind them at all times."

Across the Valley and nationwide, police are redoubling efforts to crack down on gangs after a resurgence of activity has brought new waves of fear and violence to communities.

This year, all three Valley police officers shot to death in the line of duty were gunned down by gang members. In Phoenix, the number of gang-related homicides more than doubled from six in 2003 to 16 in 2006. There have been 11 gang-related murders this year.

Gang members also are responsible for armed robberies, home invasions, thefts and drug dealing in neighborhoods across the Valley, officials say.

"We're just trying to keep our heads above water now," Phoenix police Sgt. Derek Stephenson said.

Targeting gang activity

In Arizona, officials estimate there are 20,000 known gang members belonging to 2,500 street gangs. Nationwide, the number of gang members has more than tripled, from 250,000 in 1991 to 800,000 now.

From New Jersey to Arizona and California, legislatures are passing tougher laws to target gang activity and police are fighting back.

In Los Angeles, for example, police have embarked on a new strategy that involves asking former gang members to help prevent violence. Police in California also have pursued injunctions to keep gang members from congregating in groups, an approach officials in Arizona say they are looking into.

New York prosecutors recently used terrorism laws to convict a gangster of fatally shooting a 10-year-old girl, saying the gang had terrorized the west Bronx for years.

In the Valley, police tactics include saturation patrols, like the one that led to the traffic stop in Phoenix, and mass arrests, coupled with a surge in intelligence gathering, and the creation of massive, real-time gang databases that are being shared among agencies like never before.

Officials say there is an unprecedented level of cooperation among federal, state and local agencies to track down gang members and build cases against them that will result in the harshest possible prison sentences.

"The most effective thing we can do is cooperate with each other, work together and conduct long-term investigations that are going to have the result of putting these people in prison for a long time," said Lt. Andy Vasquez, who oversees gang enforcement for the state Department of Public Safety.

It's a paradigm shift in enforcement but "a smarter approach," said Chuck Schoville, a retired Tempe police gang sergeant and president of the newly formed Arizona Gang Investigators Association, which already has 300 members. "All the cities realize they can't do it alone."

DPS has brought back the Gang and Immigrant Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission and now has squads working with local police throughout the state to do gang enforcement and conduct intelligence-driven investigations. Chandler police have partnered with the non-profit Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods to do street outreach a couple of times a month and direct at-risk youth toward more positive activities. And law-enforcement agencies in the East Valley have teamed up to create the Fusion Center in Mesa, in which gang detectives not only share information but work together to solve crimes, regardless of where they occurred.

"We recognize that the bad guys do not understand about city boundaries," Mesa Police Chief George Gascon said. "We all have limited resources, and if we share the resources and we share the knowledge, we can become more surgical about how we go about fighting crime."

The efforts come a decade after gang activity reached its peak in the Valley. Back then, vast numbers of gang members were thrown in prison with tougher sentences for operating criminal syndicates, and the violence ebbed.

But after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, many law-enforcement agencies cut back or eliminated their gang units, reassigning detectives to homeland security. In the past couple of years, as some gang members finished their sentences and returned to the streets and others migrated from California, enforcement has been sporadic, and the problems have resurfaced with a vengeance.

Supression efforts

The graffiti scrawled on a central Phoenix fence is testament. It surfaced after Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle was killed in September by an illegal immigrant and documented gang member.

"Cop killa," the graffiti said, also boasting the gang's name. The group had been relatively quiet for more than a year until Erfle was killed, and police realized their intelligence wasn't up to date.

"They're making a statement, so we're going to pay them some attention. Sometimes an act like this can fire them up," Stephenson said on a recent night as he patrolled the gang's territory. "We want to make sure they don't emerge into anything."

In July, after Phoenix police noticed an increasing amount of gang-related shootings, officials resurrected Operation Safe Streets, which began in the early 1990s to quell gang violence. For the first time, the operation has expanded beyond the summer months, with about 100 officers hitting the streets almost nightly to target gangs.

In the first three months, the efforts focused largely in the city's South Mountain and Maryvale precincts, and overall crime in both areas fell. Violent crime also dropped in all but one of the eight individual areas targeted within the precincts, with dips ranging from 9.5 percent to nearly 45 percent.

More than 300 gang members have been arrested, and police have identified nearly 500 other suspected gang members.

Drugs, vehicles, cash and more than 140 weapons have been seized.

The idea is to contact as many gang members as possible to develop information on their activities and associates. Suspected gang members are photographed when they are stopped and asked to show their tattoos. Some will flash gang signs for officers or show gang monikers written on their shoes. Anyone with a gun is checked to see if they can legally carry it.

At the same time, gang detectives are gathering intelligence that could enhance prison sentences when a gang member is caught committing a crime, and they are targeting gang leaders for racketeering and operating criminal syndicates.

Just this year, the Arizona Legislature passed a law increasing the presumptive prison sentence by five years for committing certain crimes to promote or assist a criminal street gang and made it a crime to participate in or assist a gang. The legislation also allowed the "use of a common name or identifying sign/symbol" to be used to prove gang membership, just the type of information police gather every time they contact a suspected gang member.

"There's a lot of emphasis on gangs for good reason," Stephenson said. "You can eliminate robberies, homicides, burglaries that those guys are committing.

"If we weren't here, it would get really ugly."

Running the street

"This is the Phoenix Police Department," an officer booms into a public-address system outside a central Phoenix home. "The house is totally surrounded, and we are not leaving. . . . Jose, we're going to stay here until either you come out or we come in and get you."

Officers were on a traffic stop when a man came up to them to tell them about a drug house in the neighborhood. Officers were familiar with the home. "Mijo" is there now selling drugs, the man said.

Mijo's real name is Jose, and he is wanted for a gang assault. Officers quickly surrounded the house, and the man shut himself inside. A helicopter flew overhead. Police brought in the K-9 unit. An officer held a rifle to the front door. The man wouldn't come out. Officers wouldn't leave.

Hours later, Phoenix police, alongside deputy U.S. Marshals who also wanted the man, forced their way into the home. The man was found hiding inside a sofa. He remains in jail.

"We're out here and we won't tolerate this type of behavior," Phoenix police Lt. Charlie Consolian said.

"The gang doesn't run the street. We run the street."

ICE roundup in Arizona nets 47 suspected gang members
Daniel González
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 10, 2007 12:00 AM

Federal agents partnered with local law-enforcement agencies throughout the country over the past three months to combat immigrant gangs, netting more than 1,300 arrests, including 47 in Arizona.

The 47 suspected gang members in Arizona had prior arrests for offenses ranging from murder and sexual assault to possession of false documents, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Of those, 20 were foreign nationals from Mexico who face possible deportation in addition to criminal charges, said Alonzo Peña, ICE's special agent in charge of investigations in Arizona.

"We went after gang members regardless of their (immigration) status," Peña said.

"If they are in the country illegally, we handled them that way."

The nationwide crackdown, known as Operation Community Shield, was aimed at reducing gang-associated violence and crime and dismantling criminal street gangs.

The ongoing operation started in 2005 and has netted more than 7,500 gang members or affiliates nationwide since its inception.

In Arizona, officials allege that some of those arrested belonged to violent street gangs, including the Mexican Mafia and Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13.

As part of the operation, ICE agents worked with Phoenix police and the Arizona Gang and Immigrant Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission, or GIITEM.

ICE agents in Arizona also partnered with officers from the police in Mesquite, Nev., to target a gang known as the Rebels 13 based in Beaver Dam, a town in the remote northwestern corner of Arizona.

Law-enforcement officials allege the gang was involved in home invasions, assaults and immigrant and drug smuggling and used the state border with Nevada to evade police.

Mesquite Police Chief Douglas Law credited ICE's broad immigration authority with helping take suspected gang members off the street.

"Anytime we can get people who have warrants who are involved in criminal activity, it's going to make a difference in the community," Law said.

ICE agents arrested 15 illegal immigrants affiliated with the Rebels 13 gang, including the suspected leader, Nolberto Ortega.

Ortega has a lengthy criminal history, including arrests for vehicular manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon and battery, officials said.

He had previously been deported and faces criminal charges for re-entering the country, officials said.

Crips, Bloods gangs targeted
Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 11, 2007 07:42 AM

CASA GRANDE - More than 100 law officers swept down on urban-style gangs in rural Pinal County this morning, trying to stanch a yearlong frenzy of gun battles and violent crime attributed to a rivalry between Crips and Bloods.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Detective Edward McNeill said a task force has worked since September to rein in gangs from Casa Grande, Coolidge and Eloy that are believed responsible for 5 murders, 27 drive-by shootings, 19 bullet wounds and 2 stabbings.

"We wanted to stop the killing while we investigated in an undercover capacity," added Tim Mason, a DPS sergeant. "This was an all-out gang war . . . Some of these guys watched too many movies and thought they could lead the lifestyle."

Police tactical teams from eight agencies descended on Casa Grande shortly after dawn with 22 arrest warrants and nine search warrants for suspected gangsters.

McNeill said there are about 60 members and associates from each gang operating in the Casa Grande area, directly in the path of Phoenix's southward residential expansion toward Tucson. The gangsters are members of entrenched local crime families rather than interlopers from California or metro Phoenix, McNeill said. In some cases, they gained the affiliation in prison or through relatives who served time.

More than 20 suspects were arrested during the past four months, but McNeill said today's crackdown is the largest to date. He described the suspects as heavily armed, preferring AK-47s and semi-automatic pistols. One member was wearing body armor when captured.

While gangsters usually target one another, McNeill said, a number of civilians have been injured and their homes damaged in shooting episodes.

"They're scared to even speak up," he added. "They're afraid of these guys."

McNeill, the lead investigator, said the case was nicknamed "Operation Enough Is Enough" because bloodshed was disrupting otherwise peaceful towns with low crime rates.

"We're dealing with the worst of the worst here," he added. "They're very brazen . . . We felt that the violence had escalated to a point where enough was enough, which is how we got that name."

The Bloods-Crips rivalry in Casa Grande turned lethal on Sept. 14, 2006, with the murder of gang member Frank Alexander III. Shootouts increased over the next few months, prompting authorities to move in with high-profile patrols. At times, as many as a dozen two-man teams patrolled Casa Grande in dark uniforms that led them to be nick-named "the men in black."

Crime plummeted for awhile, then escalated with more homicides. The most public was a Coolidge shootout that took the life of 20-year-old Ernest Kelly Jr. of Casa Grande, and left two other men wounded. Investigators believe at least five people took part in the exchange of bullets over a drug dispute.

Bloods and Crips are uncommon in most of Arizona's rural communities, but McNeill said they are found in small-town pockets throughout Pinal County.

The groups in Casa Grande, Eloy and Coolidge are believed to have substantial drug operations, and McNeill said they fight over narcotics deals as well as colors. "I would say the people we're targeting are responsible for the majority of drug trafficking in these communities," he added.

Most of the arrest warrants are for drug offenses and weapons violations. McNeill said several of the homicides have been solved, with defendants in custody already, but suspects in at least one killing remain at large.

The raids were headed by DPS officers in the Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GIITEM), with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It also involved the DEA, FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Pinal County Sheriff's Office and police from the three cities.

McNeill said the entire GIITEM staff from southern Arizona has been assigned to Casa Grande gangsters for months with single objective: "to remove them from the neighborhoods and make it a safer place."

Strength to survive
Bodiford's grit helped him turn life around
By BOB McGINN
Posted: Aug. 10, 2007

Green Bay - Shaun Bodiford knows that he probably should be on the streets, incarcerated or dead.

The fact that Bodiford instead is playing pro football makes no sense at all.
When the Green Bay Packers kick off their exhibition opener tonight at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, watch where No. 19 lines up. Just to the left of the kicker (L5 in special-teams terminology) will be Bodiford, a 5-foot-11, 192-pound wide receiver eager to perform the most hazardous duty on a football field.

"I went down as a 4 once or twice in pre-season my first year but never a 5," Donald Driver said. "You've got to be loony to hit a wedge. Shaun is one of those loony guys. He doesn't have a problem doing it."

Wide receivers almost never are assigned to sprint 50 yards and sacrifice themselves on the shoulders, chests and arms of 300-pound blockers. A year ago, Green Bay's "wedge busters" were defensive end Jason Hunter and several linebackers.
Dozens of aspiring players in a National Football League camp will tell you they'll do anything to make a team. When Bodiford says it, you believe him.

"I've always had that Napoleon complex," he said. "I just want to show the big guys that I can bang with the best of them. I want to play football."

The tattoo, crude and almost illegible on the inside of his left forearm, reads: "Shine. Rise Above All."

Bodiford looks down at it often, a reminder of where he came from and what he dreams might be in store.

Ten years ago, he was living on the streets of his native Seattle, stowing away in the homes of various friends or sleeping on garbage bags behind a 7-Eleven.

His mother first kicked him out of the house when he was 13. Two years later, she kicked him out for good.

"I sold drugs probably when I was 15," Bodiford said. "For, like, a couple months. Then I was, like, 'It's not for me.' My conscience got to me."
One night, Bodiford was crashed in some flea-bag motel in a section of town where the drug traffickers did business.

"A crackhead walked into my room and said, 'I can kill you right now,' " he said. "I woke up and he was looking at me. I don't know if he was holding a gun but he was holding something. I just lay there. That's why I'm really not afraid of anything but failure."

Bodiford said he had never been arrested or been in trouble with the law.

"I was lucky," he said. "Grace of God. God is good."

Rough beginnings

His father, Glenn, and his mother, Alvina, never married. When Shaun was born, his dad took him to Cleveland, where his aunt raised him until he was 8. Then he went back to Federal Way, a suburb 20 minutes south of Seattle, and lived with his mom.

Two years ago, Bodiford listed six brothers and one sister on a scouting questionnaire. This week, he said he had "four or five" older brothers and a cousin that the family adopted.
Two of his brothers have spent time in prison.

"My stepdad was a Blood," Bodiford said, indicating that other family members were in the gang known as Crips. "I've just been around. I never got jumped into a gang or claimed anything or anything like that."

He was into playing hoops with his brothers at the playground when others began saying his athletic talent could be a way out. Some people started calling him "NFL," and others wondered aloud what would happen if he channeled his energy into sports.

But Bodiford was in no position to play organized ball. He was carrying his belongings with him in two garbage bags, flopping here and there.

"I'd go over to people's houses and hang out and be, like, 'I'm too tired to go home, let me stay here,' " he said. "And their parents would say, 'It's OK.'

"Nobody in high school really knew it. I always changed clothes, always kept fresh. I never wanted anybody to feel sorry for me. But my closest friends knew what was going on."
He made the varsity basketball team at Federal Way in ninth grade but basketball fizzled out. He tried baseball one summer. Football wasn't in the picture.

Then Bodiford was befriended by Leon Hatch, a volunteer assistant football coach at Federal Way. Hatch took him in, made him follow rules and get to class.

In football, he played only three games as a junior, his first year in the sport, before starring as a senior at running back and defensive back.

Bodiford signed with Division I-AA Portland State in 2001 but was ineligible because of a low SAT score, so he sat out the year. He enrolled at Butte College in Oroville, Calif., where he played with Aaron Rodgers in '02. After two years at Butte, he re-signed with Portland State and had two productive seasons, catching 91 passes for 1,132 yards (12.4-yard average) and returning 48 kickoffs (but no punts) for 22.7.

Hatch, now head coach at Decatur High in Federal Way, still talks to Bodiford daily. Of Hatch, Bodiford says: "I know he turned my life around."

Lions offer chance

Detroit signed Bodiford as an undrafted free agent in May 2006. He broke the wedge throughout the exhibition season for the Lions, returned punts and kickoffs and beat out former top pick Charles Rogers for the last berth at wide receiver even though the sprained knee ligament that he suffered returning a kickoff sidelined him until Week 4.

The Lions used Bodiford to bust wedges for three games at mid-season before releasing him. Claimed by the Packers Oct. 23, he was sent out to return punts against Arizona six days later when Charles Woodson was injured and took the first one back 19 yards.

A week later, Bodiford showed courage, good hands and speed returning against Buffalo. The next Sunday, he was running downfield on the opening kickoff when a Minnesota tackler cracked him, breaking his fibula.

Special opportunity

In training camp this year, Bodiford looks like the only player on the roster with perhaps enough explosiveness and guts to fill the Packers' five-year void at return specialist. Besides durability, he will have to prove himself dependable and dangerous to win the return job. He has good but not great speed. Evaluating him as a receiver, offensive coordinator Joe Philbin says he's still raw.
"Roell Preston and Desmond Howard were specialists. Period," said Reggie McKenzie, the team's director of pro personnel. "Bodiford can play receiver. He's a better receiver than (Antonio) Chatman. He's a bigger man.

"The door is open and now he's got to show what he can do. You ain't going to get a job bobbling a punt or run into people's backs on a kickoff return."

To say Bodiford is driven would be an understatement. After the season ended, he went back to Portland State for winter session. He is three classes short of a degree in communications.
His toughness goes without saying.

"You remember Michael Bates?" said special-teams coach Mike Stock, referring to the five-time Pro Bowl kickoff returner and coverage ace. "We had him in Washington and he was an L5. I'm bringing up Bates because this kid can do the same thing inside."

And strength coach Rock Gullickson said Bodiford was as consistent and hard-working as anyone during the off-season.

"I really don't have any doubts about that kid," Gullickson said. "You wish they were all like him."
Back in Seattle's Central District, Bodiford used to watch the NFL as if it were Mars. The journey he has taken from Washington to Wisconsin sometimes must seem like Earth to outer space.
"I just have that feeling . . . that I can be a great receiver," he said. "One day my name's going to be just like Donald Driver's and Charles Woodson's and Al Harris'. I got a rough exterior, you know? But inside I'm a little softie."

Chicago-Based Drug Ring Busted
Chicago Tour Bus Company Served as Front of Million-Dollar Interstate Drug and Money Laundering Ring

(STNG) CHICAGO Three men who allegedly used a Chicago-based tour bus company as a front for a multi-million dollar interstate drug and money-laundering ring were charged after about $4 million in cash was seized by law enforcement officials.

Terrance Lamont David, Calvin C. Wiggins and James L. Reaves were charged in a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Milwaukee, Wis. with conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice. All three are in custody in Tucson, Ariz.

The organization allegedly used a Chicago-based tour bus company as a front for its drug trafficking operations. The tour company allegedly uses two buses to transport money and drugs. The buses are kept in a Chicago-area garage leased by the tour company.

The organization allegedly pays a number of individuals to act as legitimate touring passengers and bus drivers. The passengers and drivers then travel to Detroit, where the bus is loaded with travel bags with drug money. The bus allegedly travels to Tucson, Ariz. after Detroit to drop off the money at a prearranged location. The bus then stops in Phoenix where the drivers and passengers typically spend the night. The next day the bus returns to Tucson to pick up the marijuana. The buses then travel back to Detroit to drop off the drugs before returning to Chicago.

In January, one of the organization’s bus drivers and one of its passengers robbed one of the buses taking about $1.3 million. In March, officials in Milwaukee seized about $1.1 million in cash being stored from that robbery.

On April 23, officials followed one bus from Chicago to Detroit and finally to Arizona, where officials observed bags being transferred from the luggage compartment into a car. The car was driven to a Tucson-area house, where agents conducted a search warrant and seized bags filled with about $1.4 million in cash. At about the same time, a second bus followed by officials was pulled over near Oklahoma City. Officials seized bags from the bus that contained about $1.2 million.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of life in prison, a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and up to $4 million in fines.

3 shot in Park Place Mall struggle
July 2, 2007 03:17 PM MST

Inside a busy Park Place Mall an argument erupted between two men Sunday afternoon. The fight turned physical. Shortly after, three shots were fired. Both of the suspects were shot inside Dillard's, as was a female shopper. One of the suspects has been identified as 20 year old Vicente Alcara. He has been charged on 4 counts, including aggrivated assault and possession of a stolen weapon. Tucson Police say he was arrested after trying to take the necklaces off of the other suspect in the shooting. Tucson police have also confirmed that this shooting was gang related.
The shooting disrupted business across the entire mall and sent thousands of shoppers running for safety inside locked shops.

Bobby Rich had just come out of a movie. "We were in a very happy mood," he says.
And in an instant that mood changed: he felt like he'd walked into a movie. "Right as we turned that corner into Dillard's is when we heard the sounds go up. " Hundreds of others heard it too.
"It sounded like balloons popping," said Jamba Juice Manager Hope Reichlein. "One of my employees actually had to pull me down 'cause she's like. 'Those were gun shots!'"
"I saw the guy in the orange shirt going down. I'm not sure if he was the shooter or the victim," Rich says.

When the shots stopped people saw the aftermath. "We saw two people on the ground one was in handcuffs," said witness Denise Lopez. Panic set in. "There was a lot of running and a lot of yelling," Reichlein says. No one knew if a gunman was on the loose.

"We all three hit the floor and we crawled our way into the fitting room and we stayed there until we heard things were calming down," says a Dillard's employee who did not want to be identified.
Alcara, the other suspect and the innocent bystander all suffered minor injuries and are expected to recover. While police have conformed this was a gang shooting, they have not released the official cause of the fight.

2 shot in Phoenix; residents blame gangs
Becky Bartkowski
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 22, 2007 01:00 PM

Two men were shot in a southeast Phoenix neighborhood Friday morning.

Phoenix police found the victims, one 23 years old the other 32, lying
outside of their SUV in the 4000 block of Hidalgo Avenue, near 40th
Street and Southern Avenue. The men each suffered multiple gunshot
wounds and were taken to a local hospital; their conditions were not
immediately available.

The shooting occurred around 9 a.m., said Phoenix police spokesman Sgt
Andy Hill.

Witnesses told police that two adult suspects shot the victims as they
drove by in a red Cadillac El Dorado, possibly a 1990s model. The
suspects drove away after the shooting.

Some neighbors gathered around the yellow tape perimeter of the crime
scene afterwards and speculated that the cause was gang violence. Police
have not determined whether the incident was gang-related.

One of them, Michelle Odoms, said she rushed home when she learned of
the shooting in a text message from a friend. Odoms thought that her
brother was shot.

"I feel unsafe in this neighborhood," Odoms said. Her brother was not
among those who were shot.

Other neighbors pointed out the cinderblock fences spray-painted with
graffiti and lamented that gang elements coming from other neighborhoods
are ruining theirs.

This is the second shooting they have seen in the past few weeks, Odoms
said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Phoenix Police Department
Violent Crimes Bureau at (602) 262-6141.

30 Arrested in Crackdown on Street Gang That Operates From Jails
By Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX, AZ -- Authorities on Monday arrested more than 30 members and associates of a violent street gang whose activities are largely dictated from behind bars.

FBI officials declined to name the gang but said its members and associates are involved in methamphetamine distribution and property crimes that span across the Valley.

The sting was among the first in a series of investigations that partner federal, state and local law enforcement to dismantle violent street gangs in the greater Phoenix area.

Each month, federal, state and local agencies have met to discuss gang-related activity throughout the Valley and allocate resources to focus on mutually agreed upon targets.

"Street gangs don't have boundaries, nor should we have boundaries," Phoenix police Commander Joe Klima said.

Monday's sting marked the second such operation since the cooperative effort began in January. So far, more than 90 people have been arrested or charged in connection with this particular criminal syndicate.

"You're talking about drug dealers, drug runners, the type of people that don't add anything to the quality of life here," said John Lewis, special agent in charge of the FBI's Phoenix division. "Many of them have prior criminal history. They've been down this road, one, two, three times before. How many times will it take for these people to get it right?"

Police started knocking on doors at daybreak, rousing people from their beds or grabbing people from their place of business. Several suspects were shoeless as they sat in the holding area of the FBI's downtown offices.

Most sat quietly as they waited to be booked. One woman wept.

Among those named in an indictment handed down last week by a Maricopa County grand jury was Kristine Tietjens, a gang associate who authorities said was "key" to member connectivity, meth distribution and other criminal enterprise.

Officials said Tietjens, who was identified early on in the investigation, had a history of allowing gang members to use her home as a safe house to store stolen property. She also let members and associates use her vehicle to commit crimes including robberies and thefts, authorities said.

"She was there to relay messages. She was there to keep them together," said Special Agent Deb McCarley, an FBI spokeswoman. "In jail, it's hard to make early contact and keep your presence known.

"In reality, she was one associate who has more importance to that gang than some of its members."

2 sentenced in stomping death
Man was fatally beaten in Phoenix parking lot
Michael Kiefer, The Arizona Republic, May. 26, 2007 12:00 AM

Two men suspected of being skinheads were sentenced to more than 20 years in prison Friday for the 2002 stomping death of a young Phoenix man.

Samuel Compton, 27, and Christopher Whitley, 25, were initially charged with first-degree murder. They were allowed to plead down to second-degree murder.

The two men were sentenced separately. Compton received 22 years in prison and Whitley 21 years. A third man, Justin LaRue, 29, had already been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

In October 2002, the three men were thrown out of a Phoenix bar and then took out their anger on Cole Bailey Jr., 20, who was waiting in the parking lot for a cab. The men kicked Bailey with steel-toed boots and beat him to death, officials said.

The case gained national attention as Bailey's father, Cole Bailey Sr., made it his mission to track down his son's killers.

He hired private investigators, offered a $10,000 reward and even called White supremacist groups to see if they were harboring the killers.

Cole Bailey Sr.'s persistence paid off when he lured Whitley to a restaurant, spoke to him for 30-45 minutes and tried to persuade Whitley to turn himself in. Whitley was arrested by police.

Bailey did not attend Friday's sentencing, however, and Whitley expressed his remorse to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Warren Granville.

"I don't have any excuses for my behavior that night," Whitley said. "I'm ashamed to stand here before you."

Compton told the judge: "My intention that night was to beat someone up. I can't deny that. But I didn't intend to kill someone."

Compton made an obscene gesture to the television cameras as he was led from court.

The two men were tape- recorded in phone calls at jail laughing about Bailey's funeral and saying they were going to beat someone when they got to prison.

Granville likened the men to "a pack of wolves following prey."

YPIC grad gives thanks to cops

BY SARAH REYNOLDS, SUN STAFF WRITER

May 21, 2007 - 11:24PM

A few years ago, Victor Cortez never thought he'd graduate from high school.

The 18-year-old said he got involved in gangs in junior high and was arrested several times for assault and other petty offenses. His mother, his teachers and his school resource officers at Fourth Avenue Junior High and Yuma High School tried to steer him away from that life, but Cortez said he didn't listen.

"They told me a lot of things then, but I didn't really hear it," he said. "It took a lot of people to open my eyes."

Things have changed now. Cortez left the gang life behind, and has a job as a chef at Chili's and a family of his own. He is earning As and Bs in school. This Friday, he will graduate from the Educational Opportunity Center, a charter school run by the Yuma Private Industry Council, with his high school diploma.

He said he has many people to thank, but he singled out his old Yuma Police Department school resource officers, Officer Tom Salviejo and Detective Ruben Perez.

"I had a couple of dealings with Victor," Perez said. "I told him back then I thought he was a good kid but he made a couple of bad choices."

Before becoming a detective, Perez spent three years at Fourth Avenue, where Cortez first became involved with the Southside gang.

"That is just a critical age," Perez said. "That's where they start creating bigger relationships with friends and making bigger decisions. Sometimes peer pressure takes over and they make bad decisions."

Cortez kept getting in trouble when he moved on to Yuma High, where he met Salviejo.

"He even arrested me a couple of times," Cortez said.

"He was a scrapper," Salviejo said. "He wasn't a trouble-maker. He wasn't disrespectful, he wasn't obnoxious. He just picked the wrong friends to hang out with. One of the kids he used to hang out with is doing eight years in Florence Prison now."

Cortez was expelled from Yuma High in the middle of his freshman year when he got caught on campus with a knife. His mother sent him to Los Angeles to live with his uncle, a former Marine.

Cortez said things changed for him once he got away from the local gangs. Instead of fighting, his uncle got him involved in boxing, a sport at which Cortez excelled.

When he returned to Yuma he wanted to continue his education but he couldn't get into the public schools. A counselor at Yuma High directed him to the YPIC center.

"She told me it was my last chance," Cortez said. "They didn't want me at any other schools because of my record."

Cortez said YPIC has been a good place for him.

"There's no gangs here," he said. "At Yuma High, I had Fs. I used to ditch every day ... I haven't been in a fight since I came here."

Cortez plans to continue his education in the fall at Arizona Western College. He said he likes being a chef and may take some culinary classes but he's also interested in studying criminal justice. He said he may become a cop one day.

"I want to work in the gang unit. Help kids," Cortez said.

Cortez will be giving a speech to his class at his graduation Friday. He plans to thank Perez and Salviejo for helping him succeed.

"It's cool for a kid you worked with to come back and say, 'Come check me out. I made it,'" Salviejo said. "It sure feels good."

Chicago-Based Drug Ring Busted
Chicago Tour Bus Company Served as Front of Million-Dollar Interstate Drug and Money Laundering Ring

(STNG) CHICAGO Three men who allegedly used a Chicago-based tour bus company as a front for a multi-million dollar interstate drug and money-laundering ring were charged after about $4 million in cash was seized by law enforcement officials.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of life in prison, a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and up to $4 million in fines.

House OKs bill targeting gangs
The Associated Press
Apr. 17, 2007 03:05 PM

PHOENIX - The House on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to target criminal street gangs by spending millions more on specialized law enforcement and making gang-related crimes subject to stiffer sentences.

The bill (SB1222), championed by House Speaker Jim Weiers, now goes to the Senate. An earlier version considered by that chamber had entirely unrelated contents that the House jettisoned and replaced with the gang provisions.

The bill would appropriate $3.5 million for prosecution and intelligence gathering. With some of that money, the state Department of Public Safety would be permitted to contract with a vendor to use public records and other means to monitor the movement and changes in residence of gang members, including those moving in or out of Arizona. advertisement

Other provisions make some crimes, such as a committing a felony in a school safety zone or obstructing a criminal investigation, punishable by stiffer sentences if committed by a gang member or committed to promote a gang.

The House's 58-0 vote came one day after the Republican-led chamber rejected numerous Democratic amendments to add additional spending, including money for youth programs intended to keep young people out of gangs in the first place.

"We're falling short of a balanced approach," said Rep. Theresa Ulmer, D-Yuma.

L.A. police panel backs anti-gang plan
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer
April 25, 2007

The mayor's gang reduction plan won support Tuesday from the Los Angeles Police Commission, but members also called for a swift evaluation of city-funded prevention programs to weed out those that are not working.

The panel was briefed on the plan, announced last week by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, to flood eight neighborhoods with police officers and workers who would offer social services and jobs as well as gang prevention and intervention help.

"This is a significant step in the right direction in terms of the comprehensive approach, a recognition that if we are going to be successful long term in significantly reducing gang violence, there has to be a focus, not just on suppression," said John Mack, president of the civilian commission. "Prevention and intervention is extremely important."

However, Mack and Commissioners Shelley Freeman and Andrea Sheridan Ordin urged Deputy Mayor Arif Alikhan to act quickly to review the effectiveness of programs aimed at keeping young people out of gangs and getting those who have joined to quit.

"Some of them work and some of them don't work," said Freeman, a Wells Fargo Bank regional president. "It's frustrating, as a citizen and as a police commissioner, that there is a tremendous amount of energy and effort being expended and frankly with not great results because we have a gang problem that is as bad as it can be."

Alikhan said that an evaluation of anti-gang services is planned but that it won't be complete for several months.

Replacing programs that don't work will take time because the mayor wants the evaluation to be overseen by a gang reduction director who has not yet been hired. Time also will be needed to request and review new proposals.

With promises having been made in the past to evaluate and weed out ineffective programs, commissioners pressed Alikhan to move quickly on the issue.

Drug bust nets alleged suburban gang leaders
By Ray Quintanilla
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 26, 2007, 10:11 PM CDT

With nine suspected Latin Kings gang leaders arrested, including some Thursday, on drug-trafficking charges, gang activity has been significantly disrupted in Carpentersville and across the northwest suburbs, authorities said.

The arrests culminated more than two years of police work and involved recovery of at least 5 kilograms of cocaine, some marijuana and weapons, one of them a .45-caliber machine gun, authorities said.

"We believe [the gang] is in a bit of disarray right now," said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Paul Bock. "This is a violent group of individuals. We know this has had an impact."

Police said they obtained important information on the structure of the Latin Kings and their alleged drug activities by using wiretaps, traffic stops and undercover drug purchases, primarily of cocaine, from March 2004 to August 2006.

Carpentersville Police Detective Tim Bosshart said the investigation into the Latin Kings also led authorities to about two dozen others who have been arrested in recent months for such crimes as burglaries, shootings and a kidnapping.

Authorities said five street gangs could be operating across the northwest suburbs.

Arrested in Thursday's sweep were Carpentersville residents Richard Olvera, 27, Antonio Torres Sr., 55, and Lisa Urbina, 27. Also arrested were Joseph Garcia, 23, of Algonquin, Francisco Morales, 26, of West Dundee and Jonathan Inman, 24, of Gurnee.

The crackdown included charges against three other Carpentersville residents already in jail: Gabriel Morales, 25, Christina Corbin, 21, and Alex Fahey, 20.

The arrests were made in coordination with the Carpentersville Police Department, the North Central Narcotics Task Force, Illinois State Police, the Aurora Police Department and the Kane County Sheriff's Department.

Carpentersville Village President Bill Sarto called the arrests important in his community's efforts to crack down on crime and open-air drug dealing.

"It's a major step forward in cleaning up Carpentersville's streets," Sarto said. "Something like this is vital."

The investigation also opened paths to other crimes and suspects, officials said. For example, wiretaps helped lead to a warrant for David Rose, 21, of Carpentersville in connection with the firing of shots at the home of Kane County Board member Hollie Kissane in March 2006, Carpentersville Police Chief David Neumann said.

Rose is being sought on charges of armed violence and aggravated discharge of a firearm.

Authorities declined to say why the house was targeted, but officials said it had nothing to do with Kissane's role as an elected official.