AN expat gangster has fled his £3million Spanish villa amid claims his life has been threatened by the Russian mafia.

 

 Pat McCadden hasn’t been seen at the Marbella mansion for weeks and his cleaner has told callers he has moved to South Africa. The convicted drug dealer – nicknamed Pat the Rat – is said to be living in fear after a bootleg tobacco deal turned sour. Underworld sources claim McCadden is wanted by a Russian gang who claim he ripped them off in a plan to smuggle cigarettes and tobacco to Ireland. One said: “McCadden is terrified. He has been missing for weeks and has only spoken to his cleaner. “He struck a deal with some Russians to smuggle tobacco into Ireland but they accused him of ripping them off. Now he’s been told there is a price on his head. “He has told her to tell anyone who calls that he has moved to South Africa.” No one answered the door when the Sunday Mail called at McCadden’s mansion last week. It’s a stone’s throw from the exclusive Las Brisas Golf Club, where Sean Connery was a regular when he lived on the Costa del Sol. Post and junk mail remained uncollected in the post box outside the property. There were no cars on the drive behind the metal gates and high hedge which surrounds the front of the house. A postman said: “I’m still delivering letters in Mr McCadden’s name but I’ve never seen anyone here.” A neighbour added: “Pat lived at the house with his family but they haven’t been around for five or six months at least. “Someone’s looking after the house and they’ve told us he’s gone away.” Another neighbour in the upmarket estate of Nueva Andalucia said: “I used to see Mr McCadden quite a bit and he seemed pleasant. I haven’t seen him for ages.” McCadden, jailed for 10 years in 1985 for drugs trafficking, has lived in Spain for more than 10 years. He spent most of 2006 on remand accused of the attempted murder of a Spanish police officer in December 2003. The officer was gunned down during a shootout with two men who moments earlier had shot British expatriate businessmen Luke Miller in the leg. McCadden was in jail for almost seven months before being released on bail while a judicial probe continued. But a judge dismissed the case against the Glaswegian after witnesses failed to identify him and there were also problems with DNA evidence. A source at Malaga’s Policia Nacional, which covers the Marbella area, said: “There’s nothing outstanding against Pat McCadden that we’re aware of at the moment.”

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Gang violence continues to escalate in Mexico

Gang violence continues to escalate in Mexico ever since President Felipe Calderon in 2006 declared he would ‘wipe out’ gang activities in his country.

Over the past five years more than 40,000 murders have been registered throughout Mexico and violence and death tolls continue to rise.

Yet once again drug gangs show they are still ‘in charge’ in Mexico and aren’t intimidated by Calderon’s plight as authorities discovered seven human heads Wednesday morning in a busy street in the city of Santiago Papasquiaro, Durango, Mexico.

Images like this one are now an almost daily occurrence throughout Mexico. Photo Credit: Photo News

The heads were accompanied by small notes that issued threats and warnings, not against citizens, as is normally done by gangs, but against a dignitary of the police force.

The city of Santiago Papasquiaro has seen a major increase in violence and gang retaliations recently. Shootouts between rival gangs and gangs and the military or police force, has become almost a daily event.

Drugs play a major part in gangs looking to increase their ‘sales territory’ as well as claim export routes into the United States, a major liquidator of Mexican cultivated drugs.

Durango, together with the states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua form what’s known as the ‘golden triangle’ of Marihuana growth.

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Thirteen dead in Mexico shootout

 

Thirteen suspected gang members have been killed in a shootout with Mexican soldiers and police in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo. Mexican media had reported since Thursday on a raging gun battle in Nuevo Laredo as well as the mounting of blockades in some areas. Military officials, for their part, told EFE that 13 suspected members of criminal gangs were killed in the shootout, adding that no lives were lost among the security forces. The Defence Secretariat later confirmed the death toll, saying three soldiers were wounded in the shootout. Thursday's shootout occurred on a road in Nuevo Laredo, where the troops came under attack while following up on a tip as part of their efforts to strike a blow to the "command structure" of organised crime groups in Tamaulipas state. Following the clashes, the armed forces seized 12 automatic rifles, a rocket launcher with projectile and a grenade launcher, a grenade, ammunition clips, ammunition and three vehicles. The bodies of the gunmen, their weapons and vehicle were turned over to the relevant authorities. The army is carrying out Operation Northeast in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and San Luis Potosi states in an effort to weaken the drug cartels that operate in the region. The Gulf drug cartel has been waging a war in northeastern Mexico against Los Zetas, a band of army special forces deserters turned hired guns and drug traffickers. The government said earlier this year that 12,903 people were killed in drug-related violence between January and September 2011 in Mexico, an increase of 11 per cent from the same period in the prior year. Mexico's drug war death toll stood at 47,515 from December 2006 to September 30, 2011. Unofficial tallies published by independent daily La Jornada put the death toll from Mexico's drug war at more than 50,000.

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Mexico Arrests Boss of La Mano con Ojos Gang

 

Mexican authorities have arrested the La Mano con Ojos (The Hand with Eyes) drug gang’s reputed leader, who confessed to ordering the murders of 10 people. The arrest of Marco Antonio Hernandez Garcia was made near the Villa Olimpica neighborhood of southern Mexico City, the capital’s district attorney, Jesus Rodriguez, told reporters. Hernandez Garcia, alias “El Comandante,” who was detained Thursday along with bodyguard Gustavo Moreno Diaz, confessed to ordering the killings of 10 people “whose bodies were mutilated – some incinerated – and abandoned in different parts of the capital,” Rodriguez said. The victims, all decapitated and found with threatening messages alongside them, were suspected rivals involved in the local drug trade, the DA said. The suspect told authorities that he took over leadership of La Mano con Ojos after the arrest last August of Oscar Oswaldo Garcia Montoya, alias “El Compayito,” who confessed to participating directly in 300 homicides and ordering 600 others. La Mano con Ojos operates mainly in the central state of Mexico, which surrounds Mexico City, and is known for using extreme violence against its victims, most of whom have been decapitated. The Mexico City DA’s office will ask a judge to order Hernandez Garcia and Moreno Diaz held in preventive detention for their alleged responsibility in the multiple homicides. Clashes pitting drug cartels against each other and the security forces have claimed more than 50,000 lives in Mexico – according to media tallies – since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon took office and militarized the struggle against the drug gangs.

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Los Granados, run by Angel Cortez Granados and his family, force women into prostitution in N.Y.C. and Mexico.

AP

Sex trafficking gangs like Los Granados, run by Angel Cortez Granados and his family, force women into prostitution in N.Y.C. and Mexico.

• GANGLAND KINGS

A Mexican man pleaded guilty in Brooklyn to working for the family business — an international sex trafficking ring that goes back generations.

Angel Cortez Granados, 25, admitted Friday he wooed a woman and brought her to the U.S. as his “girlfriend” only to enslave her as a Queens prostitute traveling from john to john in a livery cab.

“I threatened her, telling her that she was alone in this country, that nobody would help her, so that she would work as a prostitute,” Granados told Federal Judge Cheryl Pollak.

He said he warned the victim, identified only as Esperanza, that he would call the cops if she didn’t follow orders.

“Since she didn’t have any papers, (I was) scaring her with the possibility of going to jail,” he said.

Six other members of the Los Granados ring have been charged in New York, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Pamela Chen.

The feds identified their first victim in 1998. Prosecutors believe at least 20 relatives are involved in luring women into sexual slavery in the city.

Mexican authorities have arrested four members and at least four others are reportedly on the run. There’s a $78,000 reward.

The Granados are from Tenancingo, in Tlaxcala state — notorious as the center of Mexican sex trafficking.

The town of 10,000 even holds a procession every year for a “patron saint of pimps,” prosecutors said.

It’s also famous for luxurious mansions paid for by the prostitutes’ earnings, called calcuilchil or “houses of ass” in the region’s indigenous language.

Chen said the pimps rope in the women “with some sort of romantic relationship.”

But once they get to the U.S., they are forced to sell sex, usually for $35 for a 15-minute session.

“They use all sorts of intimidation, threats, against the women,” Chen said. “It’s a whole industry, which is upsetting.”

The feds have found at least 15 women trafficked by the Granados family ring in the city, Chen said.

The pimps often partner with livery drivers based out of Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, Queens, where promoters hand out cards and even bottle openers advertising sexy girls for “delivery,” she said.

Granados, who was nabbed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Bronx in September, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

He sneaked over the Arizona border with Esperanza in 2010, pushing her into prostitution in North Carolina before bringing her to the city in January 2011, court papers say.

He took most of her earnings — but must now pay her restitution.

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Gun, drugs found in Kennewick home targeted by drive-by

Two more arrests have been made in connection with an investigation into Monday’s gang-related drive-by shooting in Kennewick. Detectives searched the home Thursday targeted by the shooters — 704 S. Hawthorne St. — and recovered bullets and bullet fragments from the outside of the house, said Mike Blatman, Kennewick police spokesman. Inside the house, investigators found drugs, a large-caliber firearm and gang-related paraphernalia, he said. The victims in the case are rival gang members of the seven suspects arrested so far and have not cooperated with the police investigation, Blatman said. “We strive everyday to live up to our motto of ‘Committed to Your Safety,’ ” Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg said. “However, if you engage in criminal gang activity at any level in our communities, regardless of being the aggressor of the victim, we will continue to pursue this criminal activity relentlessly and put people in jail.” Two residents in the home were arrested Thursday. Candida Suarez, 21, of Kennewick was booked into the Benton County jail on suspicion of making false statements and three misdemeanor warrants. Bobby Rojas, 28, of Kennewick, was arrested on unrelated felony and misdemeanor warrants. Police say additional arrests are anticipated and prosecutors are reviewing the reports to see if additional charges are warranted. Two homes were hit in Monday’s drive-by shooting, but no one was injured. This is the second time the home at 704 S. Hawthorne St. has been targeted by rival gang members, police say.

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Last in trio of defendants gets 25 months in drive-by shooting

The last of three drive-by shooting defendants was sentenced Friday to more than two years in prison for his role in the gang-related incident, which left a pedestrian with a gunshot wound to the right arm. Federico Hernandez, 21, of Yakima pleaded guilty in Yakima County Superior Court to drive-by shooting and attempting to elude police. He was sentenced to 25 months. The suspected shooter, 26-year-old Israel Ramos Salamanca of Yakima, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and his sentence included a mandatory five years for the use of a firearm. The third defendant, 24-year-old David Amezcua of Moxee, was sentenced last summer to 26 months. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault; the sentence included a mandatory two years for the involvement of a deadly weapon. The trio was arrested following a July 31, 2009, shooting at the intersection of Sixth and E streets in Yakima. The 18-year-old victim was walking outside when he was shot in the arm, deputy prosecutor Tamara Hanlon said. The man believed he was targeted because he was wearing a red shirt; the defendants were identified by authorities as gang members who favor blue. Hanlon said she did not believe the victim had any gang ties. Officers working a special gang patrol were in the area at the time and heard the shots, Hanlon said. They found the suspects' vehicle, but the driver fled from an attempted traffic stop. The car was eventually stopped with the help of a tire-deflating spike strip.

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Monrovia gang member to be sentenced for 2009 murder

Monrovia gang member is is awaiting sentencing for the 2009 slaying of another man along Colorado Boulevard. Gary Sanchez, a member of the Monrovia Nuevo Varrio street gang, faces up to 50 years to life in prison March 23 when he returns to Pasadena Superior Court for sentencing, according to Los Angeles County District Attorney's officials and Monrovia police Detective Robert Wilken. Four other suspected MNV gang members are still awaiting trial in the Dec. 15, 2009 killing of Jason Gentile, 22, of Anaheim, Wilken said. The exact motive in the altercation between Gentile, who was walking with his girlfriend, and the five suspects was not clear, however it may have stemmed from Gentile's white supremacist ties, investigators said. "He had visible swastika tattoos on his head," Wilken said. In addition to the murder of Gentile, Sanchez was also convicted of wounding Gentile's girlfriend, who was shot in the foot during the attack, officials said. The jury also found true special allegations of firearm use and committing the crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang. The killing of Gentile took place just before a judge granted a gang injunction against MNV and another rival gang, the Duroc Crips.

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Fugitive arrested on murder charges in 2002 slaying

 

Fernando Herrera-Salas, 40, was arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States, Mata said, adding that police believe he has been hiding south of the border since the slaying. The announcement of his arrest comes exactly 10 years and two weeks after the victim, Clemente Nulutagua, 29, was beaten and stabbed to death in the Crown Heights neighborhood, a gang area behind Oceanside High School. On Feb. 17, 2002, Nulutagua was chased and stabbed by gang members after he was trapped on the front porch of a house on the 400 block of Garfield Street, authorities said at the time. The attack happened shortly after the victim's brother was beaten with a beer bottle and a piece of wood, as part of a money dispute, authorities said. Fernando Salas fled to Mexico immediately after the homicide, and a warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest, Mata said. In September, Mexican police found and arrested Salas for the outstanding murder warrant, and held him pending extradition to the United States. On Thursday, U.S. marshals escorted Salas to the United States and handed him over to the Oceanside Police Department. Salas is scheduled to be formally arraigned on March 12 at the Vista courthouse, according to the San Diego County district attorney's office. Carlos Herrera-Salas and Jose Manual Garcia, two of the suspected gang members who took part in the attack, pleaded guilty in 2004 to voluntary manslaughter. The two men were sentenced to about 20 years in prison, according to authorities. Carlos Herrera-Salas is the brother of Fernando Herrera-Salas, Mata said.

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Vagos pleads to 2nd-degree murder in Nev. shootout

 

A member of the Vagos motorcycle gang who police blamed for starting a fight that led to the killing of a rival Hells Angel in a Nevada casino shootout has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Gary Rudnick is the former head of the Vagos Los Angeles chapter. He entered the guilty plea Friday in Washoe District Court in the Sept. 23 shooting death of Jeffery Pettigrew, president of the Hells Angels San Jose chapter. Police say Rudnick repeatedly taunted Pettigrew until Pettigrew threw a punch and the casino floor turned into a shooting gallery.

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