THE top actor who bedded Wayne Rooney’s hooker took his life in his hands because her boyfriend was a gun-running gangster.

Vice girl Helen Wood, 24, claims she charged a world-famous star for sex.

And pals say her gang boss boyfriend Louis Larsson, 25, will be furious about the revelations.

He is currently serving five years for trying to smuggle firearms into the UK.

A friend of the vice girl’s said: “Louis could be very jealous. This actor and Mr Rooney can both count their blessings they got out alive!”

Mum-of-one Helen claims the actor, who is a married man, paid her £195 for sex in a posh apartment.

And, just weeks after their romp, armed police swooped on the couple’s home in Bolton.

Larsson was arrested and officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Xcalibre Organised Crime Unit found gun parts in the home the couple shared.

The raid was staged after UK Border Agency officials had earlier found pistol parts which Larsson was trying to smuggle into Britain from the US.

Helen escaped charges but her boyfriend was jailed in September after admitting a series of firearms offences at Manchester Crown Court.

This is not Larsson’s first spell behind bars.

In 2005 he was jailed for five years and 10 months for a gun raid on a hotel in Blackpool, when a terrified 11-year-old girl begged him not to shoot her dad.

Larsson is so dangerous that Rooney’s security experts warned the star he had put his safety at risk by romping with Helen and 22-year-old Jenny Thompson, who was also dating a villain, in Manchester’s Lowry Hotel.

Helen’s actor punter has won a High Court injunction banning his identity from being released.

She says he booked her through an escort agency and called himself “an actor” but was not wearing a wedding ring and refused to say if he was married.

He paid her for an hour of sex but Helen said he kissed “like a virgin’’.

Her dad Dr Stephen Wood, a music lecturer at Salford University, said he had no idea of the actor’s identity and no longer had contact with his daughter.

The pal added: “Whoever this star is had no clue what a chance they were taking.

“We’ve never really known just how much of Helen’s escorting activities Louis was aware of.”

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Ex-Mob Boss Tells Jury, Calmly, About Murders

cross-examination of a Mafia turncoat started quietly and predictably enough on Thursday. Joseph C. Massino, the former boss of the Bonanno crime family, spoke matter-of-factly about having to kill one of his closest associates, simply because he had disobeyed protocol.
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“As much as I didn’t want to kill him,” Mr. Massino said of the 1999 murder of Gerlando Sciascia, “I had to kill him.”

Richard Jasper, a defense lawyer for the crime family’s former acting boss, Vincent Basciano, who is charged with ordering the murder of an associate, worked throughout the morning and early afternoon in United States District Court in Brooklyn to try to discredit the star witness, the first official boss of a New York crime family ever to cooperate with federal authorities.

In his low-key questioning, Mr. Jasper tried to conjure a portrait of Mr. Massino as a remorseless, calculating criminal who hoarded gold and power and would do anything to get avoid being sentenced to death.

Mr. Jasper soft-pedaled Mr. Massino, who had been the Bonanno crime family’s boss since 1991 and is serving two consecutive life sentences for eight murders, into surprisingly detailed answers, like Mr. Massino’s acknowledgment that he had forfeited $12 million to secure a cooperation agreement with the government — including the $7 million he had hidden in his attic and the nearly 500 bricks of gold he had stashed in the basement of his home.

Explaining his cooperation with the government, Mr. Massino said his wife and mother were able to keep their houses and remain financially secure.

Mr. Massino, 68, his ample belly folded into his black sweatsuit, did not seem to be sweating. He never looked at the well-coiffed Mr. Basciano, who wore an olive suit and betrayed little reaction to Mr. Massino’s testimony.

But just after 4 p.m., the trial took a surprising turn when the lead defense lawyer, George R. Goltzer, took over the cross-examination and in a sharp, forceful manner asked about the day in 2005 that Mr. Massino signed his cooperation agreement with the government.

“Did you consider yourself to be a hypocrite?” Mr. Goltzer said, nearly shouting.

Mr. Massino said he had not thought about it.

“You really didn’t care about anyone but yourself?” Mr. Goltzer asked.

Mr. Massino replied that he cared about his family — the one with his wife and mother — and Mr. Goltzer began asking insistently about the number of people Mr. Massino had killed who had violated the oath of the crime family.

Mr. Goltzer handled the last 90 minutes of an exhaustive day of cross-examination after the defense explained to Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis that Mr. Jasper had not been feeling well.

Taryn A. Merkl, an assistant United States attorney, protested to Judge Garaufis that the switch in defense lawyers was tantamount to taking a “second bite of the apple,” an effort to duplicate the earlier cross-examination. It “smacks of gamesmanship,” Ms. Merkl said.

While Judge Garaufis allowed the change in questioners, he sounded deeply disturbed at the defense’s lack of protocol. “This is unheard of in my 10 years on the bench,” the judge angrily told the defense at the end of the court session. Mr. Jasper will continue the cross-examination on Monday, the judge said.

Earlier, Mr. Jasper asked Mr. Massino if he had feared being executed. “You weren’t concerned about the death penalty?” Mr. Jasper asked.

“No, I was not,” Mr. Massino said casually, and later added, “If you’d like, I’ll explain it to you.”

Mr. Massino explained in detail his involvement in many murders, including those of three captains of the Bonanno family in 1981. He admitted under questioning that the bodies of two of the captains were buried deeply in a plot supplied by John J. Gotti.

Later, Mr. Massino admitted that he had lied to the crime family about his involvement in the murder of Mr. Sciascia (known as George from Canada) in 1999, whose body was dumped on a Bronx street.

“Do mob members often lie to each other?” Mr. Jasper asked.

“All the time,” Mr. Massino answered. “It’s a way of life in the mob.”

Mr. Basciano is charged with ordering the 2004 murder of Randolph Pizzolo, a Bonanno associate. Mr. Massino told the jury on Tuesday that Mr. Basciano had spoken to him about ordering the killing, in a conversation he had taped in January 2005 when the two were in prison in Brooklyn.

It was in prison in 2004 that Mr. Massino learned from his lawyer that Mr. Basciano had appointed himself the acting boss. He acknowledged that he also heard that the “word on the street” was that the captains were unhappy with Mr. Basciano’s leadership because “he thinks he’s John Gotti.”

Under questioning from Mr. Goltzer, Mr. Massino conceded that Mr. Basciano had shown disrespect by appointing himself acting boss, since Mr. Massino was technically still the boss even while in prison. He added that he could have ordered Mr. Basciano killed, but that by that time he was already cooperating with the government.

“I love you,” Mr. Basciano said at the end of one of their taped prison conversations that was played in court.

“I love you, too,” Mr. Massino responded.

 

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Police investigating the shooting of a five-year-old girl in south London have arrested two more people.

Five-year-old Thusha was shot in the chest during the Stockwell incident
Youngster Thusha Kamaleswaran and 35-year-old Roshan Selvakumar were shot inside a Stockwell food and wine shop on March 29.
A 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy have been taken into custody in connection with the incident.
Two teenagers have already been charged over the double shooting.
Anthony McCalla, 19, and Kazeem Kolawole, 18, are accused of the attempted murders of Thusha and Mr Selvakumar.
The will both appear at the Old Bailey on June 10.
Thusha was hit in the chest and Mr Selvakumar received a head wound.
The girl's mother, 12-year-old brother and three-year-old sister were also in the shop at the time, but were unhurt.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder on April 1, but released on bail pending further inquiries.
Another 17-year-old male arrested on suspicion of the same offence was also bailed until later this month.

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MEXICO URGED TO TAKE ACTION OVER COLLUSION BETWEEN CRIMINAL GANGS AND POLICE

Amnesty International has urged the Mexican government to thoroughly investigate links between drug and criminal gangs and public officials, following the arrest this week of 16 police officers accused of working with gang members responsible for mass killings near the US border.

More than 120 bodies have been found in the last 10 days alone in mass graves in Tamaulipas state, on a route used by migrants travelling to the USA.

Amnesty International has repeatedly documented collusion between criminal gangs and public officials in abuses committed against migrants and others, but officials are rarely prosecuted for human rights violations.

"The arrest of 34 suspects is a positive step, but with 16 police amongst those implicated it shows how criminal gangs and their accomplices in the security forces often operate with impunity to commit grave abuses," said Rupert Knox, Researcher on Mexico at Amnesty International.

"In the case of Tamaulipas, the heavy presence of federal police and army in the region did not prevent these killings or the collusion with criminal gangs."

"It is crucial that a full, impartial and prompt investigation, which ensures respect for human rights, continues to identify all those responsible in order that they are brought to justice and the public are provided with reliable information on the actions taken.

"In turn the discovery of mass graves has served to highlight the Mexican government’s wider failure to deal with the country’s public security crisis and to reduce criminal violence which has left many populations vulnerable to attacks, abductions and killings."

“It is vital that there are wider investigations to expose the collusion between security forces and criminal gangs in other areas of the country and prevent such grave abuses occurring again.”

The mass graves were found last week in San Fernando municipality in Tamaulipas state, in the north of the country, where drug trafficking and other criminal gangs operate. The 16 officers arrested are all local municipal police.

Information on the identity of victims remains scarce, but it seems likely that they were not connected with drug gangs. Tamaulipas is also part of the route travelled by Mexican and non-Mexican migrants on their way to the USA.  At least some of the victims are believed to have been forced from long-haul buses at gunpoint at the end of March.

Amnesty International has called for the rapid and reliable identification of the victims and the respectful treatment of the hundreds of relatives seeking to verify if their loved ones are amongst the victims.

There have been reports of abductions of migrants travelling through Tamaulipas toward the northern border for many months, but little action was taken to investigate.

In August 2010, the bodies of 72 irregular migrants were found in the same municipality of San Fernando. Several reported gang members have been arrested in connection with this killing but the identity of 16 victims remain unknown.

"Only now on this new discovery of bodies is any action being taken. This is an indication of the limited impact of public security policy to ensure the safety of the population." said Rupert Knox.
The government has acknowledged there were more than 15,000 gang related killings in 2010 and more than 34,000 since President Calderón took office at the end of 2011 The vast majority have never been adequately clarified.

There are also hundreds of cases of abductions that remain unsolved and the whereabouts of the victims unknown.

 

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Drug gangs clash with dogged miners in Mexico

Mexican drug cartels greedy for new sources of revenue are targeting the country's rich mines, pushing up companies' security costs and prompting at least one project to be halted.

Vast mineral deposits have made Mexico the world's top silver producer and a major source of gold and copper, and the potential riches are too attractive to walk away from, according to companies expected to invest more than $4 billion in the sector this year.

But as international metals prices surge, gunmen are attacking workers to steal valuable ores and equipment at often remote mining sites that have fallen under the gaze of drug gangs extending their reach into new criminal rackets.

Canadian miner Torex Gold Resources Inc halted drilling at its exploration property in the western state of Guerrero last month after assailants stole trucks. Mexican authorities blamed a drug cartel for illegally extracting iron ore at another site and exporting it to China.

Shares in the company slid afterward and although an isolated incident, it raised alarm bells nearby, including a site owned by Canada's Newstrike Capital Inc, which is exploring gold prospects in Cuetzala del Progreso in Guerrero.

Inspecting the property with a group of major shareholders, Newstrike's chief executive Richard Whittall said

 

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Tupac Received Threats From Jewish Gang

Tupac Shakur, the iconic rapper shot dead in 1996, received death threats in the months before his death from a Jewish terrorist organization called the Jewish Defense League (JDL), Haaretz reported Thursday, citing recently released Federal Bureau of Investigation files.

"The JDL … have been extorting money from various rap music stars via death threats," the FBI file on the case stated.

The report goes on to describe how the group would make the death threats, then call the rap star and offer protection for a fee.

Shakur was fatally shot in September 1996 as he left a Mike Tyson boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Despite an exhaustive investigation, police were never able to determine who committed the crime.

Shakur often surrounded himself with friends associated with gangs and frequently recorded insulting lyrics about many perceived enemies, including the rapper known as "Notorious BIG" -- who was fatally shot less than a year after Shakur's death.

In the years since both shootings, many theories have emerged -- mostly among rap music aficionados and pop-culture scholars -- about who may have been responsible for Shakur's death. One theory suggests associates of Chistopher Wallace -- the given name of the rapper known as "Notorious BIG" -- were to blame.

According to the FBI documents, the JDL targeted Shakur as well as rapper Eazy-E, who, along with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, comprised the 1990's sensational rap group NWA.

While the documents refer to JDL extortion efforts, they do not make a direct connection between the group and the murder of Shakur.

According to its website, the JDL is a Jewish nationalist organization advocating for the protection of Jews from antisemitism.

"JDL was created in part to teach the world -- fellow Jews and non-Jews alike -- that it is not unJewish for Jews to defend themselves -- even physically if need be; to the contrary, it is sinful for Jews to silently countenance evil and to sit idly by while Jews are harmed, suffer and even die," the group's website states.

 

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Police are to hold US-style ceasefire summits with London's most dangerous gang members in a new attempt to tackle gun and knife violence.

The scheme is aimed at urging thugs to reform or face a major crackdown.

Details emerged a day after two killers were jailed for life for the machinegun murder of Oxford University hopeful Agnes Sina-Inakoju, 16.

Gunman Leon Dunkley, 22, and look-out Mohammed Smoured, 21, were told they must serve at least 32 years for killing the schoolgirl in a Hoxton takeaway.

Police seized a terrifying arsenal of guns the gang had hidden under the bed of a nine-year-old boy. The haul included two sub-machineguns capable of firing 800 rounds a minute.

The Met today revealed it took 16 sub-machineguns from London gangs last year. A total of 530 guns were seized, including 299 handguns, 181 shotguns, 24 rifles and a machinegun.

Most of the sub-machineguns seized were Uzi-style machine pistols favoured by military special forces and similar to the weapon used to murder Agnes.

Sources from Operation Trident, which tackles the gun violence, said the guns are suspected of being smuggled into the UK from eastern Europe. The ceasefire project has been launched as a trial scheme in Waltham Forest but is expected to be rolled out across boroughs worst hit by gang violence. So far nine criminals and their families are being offered help with housing, addiction, education and jobs in a bid to tackle the causes of gang problems.

The Gang Prevention Programme, run by Waltham Forest council and the Met, hopes to recruit 30 members to the three-year scheme. Gangsters are first invited to take part in the project and then hold a series of meetings with officials about their lifestyle.

A council spokesman said: "We're trying to tackle people who are the most involved in gang culture and those most at risk."

If support is refused, police advise people they will be targeted relentlessly. The spokesman added: "There is a zero tolerance approach to those who persist in their gang activities and do not engage with us."

Some estimates suggest there are 200 or more gangs in London, with a combined membership of 15,000. In some boroughs gang violence has become so serious that vulnerable youngsters are ferried to school in taxis to avoid disputed gang territories.

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TWO bikies from rival gangs, the Rock Machine and Rebels, have been charged over a brawl at the Kingsway Shopping Centre earlier this week.

Police will allege the two men were involved in a fight on at the shopping centre  at about 2:10pm on April 11.

It will be alleged chairs were thrown and a number punches and kicks were exchanged during the brawl.

Detectives later raided a Balga house linked to the Rock Machine member where it will be alleged ammunition was found.

A 26-year-old man from that address was charged with fighting in a public to cause fear and possession of unlicensed ammunition.

He is due to appear in the Joondalup Magistrates Court on April 20.

A 27-year-old Rebels member from Hamersley  was charged with fighting in a public to cause fear and assault occasioning bodily harm.

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Police are seeking as many as three suspects on Montreal Island in connection with an extortion case "related possibly to street gangs,"

Police are seeking as many as three suspects on Montreal Island in connection with an extortion case "related possibly to street gangs," Sgt. Laurent Gingras of Montreal police said Thursday afternoon.

He spoke shortly after two men had been detained, with a considerable show of force, in connection with the same case.

The latter two were arrested at gunpoint about 12:50 p.m. by members of the Montreal police SWAT team, just east of the Montreal Children's Hospital on the western edge of the downtown core.

One man, age 20, and another male were taken into custody near the corner of Tupper and Sussex Sts., Gingras said: "The other one, I don't have his age."

The two were stepping out of a car when the SWAT members, clad in heavy body armour, swooped in to detain them, a witness recounted.

"They appeared not to be armed," Gingras said of the two.

The SWAT team was present "in sufficient numbers," Gingras said.

"When they come, they come in force," he replied when asked to be more specific.

"It's an operation that's still under way, so I can't really tell you anything more at this point," Gingras added, such as what charges the two men are expected to face.

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Asia Boyz street gang, but for Skooter this was some kind of a Filipino mafia

They call it Asia Boyz street gang, but for Skooter this was some kind of a Filipino mafia. On Wednesday a Los Angeles judge sentenced a Filipino-American leader of the Asian Boyz street gang to life in prison without parole in connection with eight murders and 10 attempted murders during a crime spree in mid-1990s.
The Fil-Am guy is the 37-year-old Marvin Aclaro Mercado. Judge Robert Perry called Mercado a clear menace to society, noting that only two of his murder victims were rival gang members while the rest that he had killed were innocent, law-abiding citizens
Mercado carried out the killings with his gang in 1995 and 1996, then fled to the Philippines where he was arrested in 2007.How did he become the mogul of the fame killing machine? He organized the notorious Asian Boyz in the early 1990s with fellow Cleveland High School students in San Fernando Valley. By the mid-1990s, the gang had garnerd about 200 members with Cambodian, Vietnamese and Filipino factions, three groups in the suburbs of Los Angeles and one in San Jose, and affiliates as far as Texas.
Skooter believe Mercado would like to follow the footsteps of Al Capone, the Italian-born mafia chief. It was good he was sentenced to life imprisonment, not by lethal injection like what the Chinese did to the three Filipino drug mules.

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