Gunwalker guns now showing up at US crimes

For months the ABC15 Investigators have been searching through police reports and official government documents. We’ve discovered assault weapons linked to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ controversial “Fast and Furious” case strategy have turned up at crime scenes in Glendale and Phoenix communities.


Weapons linked to the strategy have been turning up at dangerous and deadly crime scenes near both sides of the border, including the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed last December.

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered documents showing guns connected to at least two Glendale criminal cases and at least two Phoenix criminal cases also appear in the ATF’s Suspect Gun Database, a sort-of watch list for suspicious gun sales.

All four cases involve drug-related offenses. In one Glendale police report dated July 2010, police investigators working with DEA agents served search warrants at homes near 75th and Glendale avenues in Glendale, and 43rd and Glendale avenues in Phoenix as part of a “large scale marijuana trafficking” investigation.

Police investigators reported they “obtained information that members of the (trafficking) organization were using the homes…as stash houses used to store large amounts of marijuana temporarily.”

They reported finding hundreds of pounds of marijuana, more than $63,000 in U.S. currency and three guns inside the homes. One of the recovered weapons, a Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in November 2009, proving agents knowingly allowed the suspicious gun sale, months before the weapon turned up at the crime scene.

In a separate Glendale Police Department case, dated November 2010, detectives discovered “bulk marijuana and weapons” inside a residence near 75th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Glendale. Investigators recovered nearly 400 pounds of drugs and several firearms from the home.

One of the recovered weapons, another Romarm/Cugir WASR-10 rifle, appeared in an official ATF Suspect Gun Summary document in February 2010

 

THE mother and daughter plotted together to hire a hitman,

THE mother and daughter plotted together to hire a hitman, apparently believing that if they stayed close and stuck to their story they would get away with murder.

But last night, after a Supreme Court trial full of twists and betrayal, Coralie Coulter and Helen Ryan were found guilty of the murder of Ryan's husband, Jeffrey.

Mr Ryan, a 48-year-old grazier, died after he was shot by the hitman in 2009 on the $1.1 million farm near Tamworth that he shared with his wife.


Ryan was reportedly ''hysterical'' when found her husband's body. But over the ensuing months the truth came out: that Ryan, Coulter and Ryan's sister Ganene Coulter conspired together to find and then pay a hitman $30,000 to kill Mr Ryan, then to cover up their crime.

In taped phone conversations played to the court, the three women referred to themselves as a ''triangle'' that would not be broken if they stuck together.

But as more evidence emerged, some of it obtained by an undercover policeman who infiltrated the triangle, the alliance crumbled completely, with the women turning on each other.

First it was Ganene Coulter, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, conspiracy to murder, and gave evidence against her sister and mother in return for a 30 per cent discount on her sentence.

Then, when the trial began, Ryan claimed that her husband had turned violent, physically assaulting her and another family member. She said that she had paid $5000 to have her husband ''roughed up a bit'', and that her sister had obtained extra money from their mother to have him killed.

Ganene Coulter, she said, had hired the hitman out of jealousy and revenge at the breakdown of a relationship between Ganene and Mr Ryan 16 years before.

But the Crown Prosecutor Terry Thorpe told the court that Ryan was ''a woman scorned''.

The jury heard that her hsuband had been having an affair and wanted to leave the marriage. He had also changed his will to reduce his wife's share of the estate. It was jealousy and greed that drove Ryan to hire the hitman, Mr Thorpe said.

Coralie Coulter told the jury that Ryan had asked her for a loan in September 2009 because ''Jeff was in a lot of trouble''.

But the Crown said she was not ignorant of the plot, as she had claimed, and that she knew exactly what the money she gave her daughter was for, and when the act would be carried out.

The jury took just three hours to find both women guilty.

Mr Ryan's family gasped as the verdict was read out.

The stepson of the former gangster Dave Courtney has been shot dead in south London.

Genson Courtney, 23, was shot in the head and shoulder as he sat in a hired black VW Golf in Greenwich on Sunday night. He was taken to hospital with gunshot wounds and died on Monday morning at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich.

Scotland Yard said officers were called to Banning Street in Greenwich at 10.50pm on Sunday after receiving reports of gunshots. Sources said the victim had been in a hire car and appeared to have been shot by a gunman who approached the car on foot. Detectives appealed for witnesses to contact them.

Scotland Yard's Trident unit, which specialises in gun crime, has launched a murder inquiry and officers are investigating the victim's background and recent associations. A spokeswoman said they were keeping an open mind about motive.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Gower, who is leading the investigation, said: "At this early stage it is believed a male suspect may have ran from the scene in the direction of Christchurch Way shortly after the shooting.

"I would like to reassure anyone concerned about contacting the police that Trident has great expertise in protecting witnesses and there are a huge variety of measures that can be put in place to protect you."

Genson Courtney's stepfather claims to have been involved in debt-collecting, minding clubs, assault, contraband and murder. He has more recently become an actor and has had small roles in a number of gangster movies.

He claims to have been the model for Vinnie Jones's character Big Chris in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He has had published six books, including an autobiography.

A profile on his website reads: "In his time, Dave has been shot, stabbed, had his nose bitten off (they sewed it back on) and has had to kill to stay alive himself."

Convicted murderer Judy Moran spat in the direction of other prisoners and ran over an inmate's foot with her electric wheelchair in a jailhouse row,

Convicted murderer Judy Moran spat in the direction of other prisoners and ran over an inmate's foot with her electric wheelchair in a jailhouse row, a court has heard.

The gangland widow who was convicted in March of orchestrating her brother-in-law Des "Tuppence" Moran's 2009 execution was being kept at bay from three other prisoners at the Dame Phyllis Frost women's jail following security concerns, the Victorian Supreme Court heard on Monday.

The court heard Moran, 66, was living in cottage accommodation at the prison but was moved to a management unit earlier this month as a result of a security incident sparked by a newspaper article stating Moran "expected to be waited on hand and foot".

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Moran had complained the article breached her privacy and accused other prisoners of sharing information about her, leading other inmates to threaten her.

She had also spat in the direction of other prisoners and ran over one's foot using her electric wheelchair, the court was told.

After the incident, Moran was moved to a management unit known as "the slot" for 19 hours for her safety before returning to the mainstream jail population.

The evidence came during Moran's further pre-sentence hearing regarding her health concerns, which her defence claims will make her jail time more onerous.

Justice Lex Lasry will sentence Moran at a date to be fixed.

former prison mate of slain gangland killer Carl Williams could be quizzed over bribes he allegedly made to a former policeman.

Tommy Ivanovic is alleged to have made an unsworn statement to police about the bribes. His statement was corroborated by one made by another man who is now dead, a police ethical standards investigator told the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday.

Detective Sergeant Jason Lebusque of the police Ethical Standards Department applied to the court to question Ivanovic in custody over the matter.

Magistrate Jelena Popovic adjourned the application until next Monday.

Last month, a magistrate gave police permission to interview Ivanovic over an attempted murder 12 years ago.

Ivanovic is serving 20 years’ jail, with a 15-year minimum, for murder over a road rage incident in 2002.

Magistrate Gregory McNamara granted police six hours to quiz Ivanovic over the attempted murder of Westmeadows man Leigh Pascu, then 32, in 1999.

Ivanovic shared a high-security unit at Barwon Prison with Williams and Matthew Johnson.

Johnson will stand trial in September, accused of bludgeoning Williams to death with a bike shaft on April 19 last year.

Pc held during house drugs raid

award-winning policewoman who was arrested during a drugs raid on a house in Oldham has been released without charge.

Pc Leanne Murphy, 26, was among four arrests on 12 November when officers found cocaine and cash at the house.

Pc Murphy, who won an excellence award while a cadet, was held on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to supply.

She is being investigated by Greater Manchester Police's Professional Standards Branch.

Pc Murphy from Rochdale, who was off-duty at the time of her arrest, was praised in 2008 when she threatened to set a passing dog on to two potential burglars.

A GMP spokesman said: "The officer has been now been released without charge."

Oldham drug arrest Pc Leanne Murphy released

Pc Leanne Murphy was one of GMP's best cadets during her training period

Two people have been arrested in connection with a Saturday night drive-by shooting that wounded a Clearlake man.

Jerry Lee King, 18, a student from Sacramento, and a 13-year-old male were taken into custody following the incident, police said.

A Sunday afternoon report from Sgt. Tim Hobbs of the Clearlake Police Department said that at about 10 p.m. Saturday officers were dispatched to a residence on Walnut Avenue on the report of a shooting.

Hobbs said that outside the residence officers found 32-year-old Marvin Turl, who was suffering from a single gunshot wound.

He said Lake County Fire Department medical personal who had been staged at the scene treated Turl – who had sustained life threatening injuries – before he subsequently was flown by helicopter to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

On Sunday afternoon Turl was said to be in stable condition, Hobbs said.

During the late-night investigation police discovered that King – accompanied by two male juveniles – allegedly drove a vehicle to Turl’s residence to confront Turl and his wife regarding an incident earlier in the day, Hobbs said.

Once at the Turls' residence, King is alleged to have fired a .380-caliber handgun at Marvin Turl several times, striking him once, according to Hobbs.

Hobbs said King and the two juveniles then allegedly fled in the vehicle, which radio reports had described as a white four-door car.

At 12:30 a.m. Sunday Clearlake Police officers, with the assistance of detectives who were called in to assist with the investigation, located King at an apartment in Clearlake, Hobbs said.

King was arrested for attempted murder, along with felony charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and discharging a firearm from a vehicle at a person, and misdemeanor charges of exhibiting a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle, according to jail records.

He was booked into the Lake County Jail shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, with his bail set at $50,000. He remained in custody Sunday afternoon. Jail records indicated he's scheduled to be in court on Tuesday.

Hobbs said a 13-year-old male passenger in the vehicle at the time of the shooting was arrested for allegedly making criminal threats and conspiring to commit a felony.

The juvenile – whose name was not released because of his age – later was booked into the Lake County Juvenile Hall, Hobbs said.

Hobbs said police located both the vehicle – a white, four-door 1998 Dodge Intrepid – and the .380-caliber firearm that King allegedly used in the incident.

Stockton police are investigating a drive-by shooting after four teens were shot early Sunday.

Police said the shooting happened around 1 a.m. in the 8600 block of Acapulco Way.
An 18-year-old male, who police have identified as a documented gang member, was fatally shot.
Three other victims were taken to local hospitals, where they are expected to survive. Police said the surviving teens are 15, 16 and 17 years old.
The teens were standing outside a home when they were shot at, according to police.
Police do not have anyone in custody. Witnesses describe the shooter's vehicle as a small white Honda. Anyone with information is asked to call the Stockton Police Department.

Gangster sentenced to 19 years

Gangster sentenced to 19 years: "leader of a gang a prosecutor called “the scourge of Worcester” was sentenced yesterday to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison.

William “Papa” Guivas, 28, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine. Although he had considered giving Mr. Guivas even more time in prison, the judge said, he went along with the recommendation of Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher F. Bator."

Former Cancun Leader Extradited to United States to Stand Trial for Drug Crimes | Addiction

Former Cancun Leader Extradited to United States to Stand Trial for Drug Crimes | Addiction: "Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid is also charged with laundering millions of dollars through the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers investment firm. This successful extradition is a major catch for U.S. law enforcement, while it also targets the corrupt political system in Mexico.
According to John P. Gilbride, special agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency in New York, Villanueva Madrid “abused the trust placed in him by the citizens of Quintana Roo when he facilitated drug trafficking and money laundering across international borders.”"

Ireland’s top drug trafficker arrested in raid in Spain

Ireland’s top drug trafficker arrested in raid in Spain: "operation was aimed at smashing Christy Kinahan’s global money laundering service.

British police estimate “hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty cash” was invested by his network for criminal gangs in offshore accounts and properties.

Europol, the EU police agency, said his “extensive criminal network” was involved in commercial and financial transactions in South America, Africa and the Far East. Sources suggested assets linked to Kinahan and his gang may be worth as much as €200million.

Senior Garda sources and Justice Minister Dermot Ahern believe the operation would have a serious impact on Kinahan’s empire and on the drug market in Ireland."

Massive Bt5 Million Drug Haul Unveiled by Joint Taskforce | Pattaya Daily News - Pattaya Newspaper, Powerful news at your fingertips

Massive Bt5 Million Drug Haul Unveiled by Joint Taskforce | Pattaya Daily News - Pattaya Newspaper, Powerful news at your fingertips: "3000 pills of Ya-Ba and a host of other illegal drugs, firearms and stolen vehicles, with a value of over Bt5 million, have been uncovered by the Pattaya Police as the clampdown on illegal narcotics in Pattaya continues.


Pattaya, the 3rd of June 2010 [PDN]: At approximately 12:00pm on Thursday, Lieutenant General Thanet Phingnammueng (Chon-Buri Police Superintendent) along with the superintendents from Pattaya, Banglamung and Huay Yai police stations announced their success in a collaborative police drug operation in Pattaya on Wednesday. Involving a team of officers from the three largest divisional stations in Pattaya, drug raids were conducted as a result of the continued clampdown on the illegal narcotics trade prevalent in the city."

allAfrica.com: Mozambique: Mozambican Businessman Named as Drug Baron

allAfrica.com: Mozambique: Mozambican Businessman Named as Drug Baron: "United States President Barack Obama has named Mozambican businessman Mohamed Bachir Suleman as a drug trafficker, and the US Treasury Department has frozen any assets that his companies may own in the United States.
Obama identified Suleman as a drug baron under a US law, the Kingpin Act of 1999, which makes it possible for the government to impose financial and economic sanctions against foreign drug traffickers"

National Briefing - West - California - Drugs Contributed to Death - NYTimes.com

National Briefing - West - California - Drugs Contributed to Death - NYTimes.com: "Mexican man who died Saturday after he was hit with a baton and shocked with a stun gun by immigration officers deporting him had signs of methamphetamine abuse and high blood pressure, the San Diego medical examiner said Wednesday. The man, nastaAcio Hernández-Rojas, 32, died of a heart attack, with methamphetamine abuse and high blood pressure listed as contributing factors. He fought with officers as they prepared to walk him through a gate into Mexico. An officer shocked him with a Taser."

National Briefing - West - California - Drugs Contributed to Death - NYTimes.com

National Briefing - West - California - Drugs Contributed to Death - NYTimes.com: "Mexican man who died Saturday after he was hit with a baton and shocked with a stun gun by immigration officers deporting him had signs of methamphetamine abuse and high blood pressure, the San Diego medical examiner said Wednesday. The man, Anastacio Hernández-Rojas, 32, died of a heart attack, with methamphetamine abuse and high blood pressure listed as contributing factors. He fought with officers as they prepared to walk him through a gate into Mexico. An officer shocked him with a Taser."