Gérald Gallant was a contract killer at the centre of a shifting roster of gangsters accused of carrying out 28 homicides and 13 attempted murders

Gérald Gallant was a contract killer at the centre of a shifting roster of gangsters accused of carrying out 28 homicides and 13 attempted murders over three decades, peaking with Quebec's biker war from 1994 to 2002. Ten suspects were rounded up yesterday, based on evidence Mr. Gallant provided after turning informant. An 11th person facing a murder charge remained at large. In Donnacona, the news was met with stunned mutters that there was always something strange about the man. "I would see him regularly touring around the streets by bike," said Mayor André Marcoux, who lived three streets down from Mr. Gallant. "He really kept a low profile." From his unassuming redoubt near Quebec City, Mr. Gallant was in the middle of a gang war that eventually killed 160 people, police said. He and the 11 suspects targeted bikers, street gangsters and Italian mobsters with little regard for allegiance.
They also had little regard for the innocent. At least one of the dead and several of the wounded were described by police as bystanders or victims of mistaken identity. "I think this may allow me to close the circle," said Hélène Brunet, a former waitress who was shot in 2000 when a Hells Angels associate used her as a human shield. She became an outspoken critic of gangs. "It's a great relief and it restores some of your faith in justice."Hells loan shark Robert "Bob" Savard died in the attack on Ms. Brunet.
Mr. Gallant's stunning conversion from prolific hit man to police witness began in 2001, when he left his DNA at the scene of one of his final murders. But it wasn't until an RCMP tip, followed by a DNA match in 2006, that police started following him. He got wind police were onto him and fled to Europe in 2006. Months later, Swiss police snagged Mr. Gallant for credit card fraud and sent him back to Canada. In 2008, he suddenly and quietly pleaded guilty to the 2001 murder of Yvon Daigneault, a bar owner in the Laurentian town of Ste-Adèle. The plea was unusual for a man facing a tough automatic sentence of life in prison, with no chance at parole for 25 years. Police made it known Mr. Gallant claimed he had killed 26 people, but they added few details. The whiff of possible exaggeration dissipated rapidly yesterday, as police unveiled the list of 11 people charged with murder, including one-time leaders and members of competing Quebec gangs. Lieutenant François Doré, a senior provincial police spokesman, refused to say if a deal was struck with Mr. Gallant, who is not currently charged with any other crimes. Gang expert and author Julian Sher said some deal may be in the works, but hired killers occasionally seek to settle accounts. "I wouldn't call it conscience, but there is an element of wanting to clear the air, or wanting to get back at past masters," he said.Some arrested suspects, such as Frédéric Faucher, a former leader of the Rock Machine, and Raymond Desfossés, an alleged high-ranking member of the West End Gang, are alleged to have ordered hits. One of the more prominent dead was Paul Cotroni, the son of Montreal mob boss Frank Cotroni, who died in 1998.

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Peter Zervas, the 32-year-old brother of Anthony, was shot ,Hells Angel was shot multiple times as he came home, a brothel was peppered with bullets

Hells Angel was shot multiple times as he came home, a brothel was peppered with bullets and hundreds of police are spending every night primed for another outbreak of gun violence but don't worry, our state's police minister is feeling confident, declaring today: "Everything's under control."Minister for Police, Tony Kelly, made the optimistic comment during a radio interview .Hells Angels brother of a man bashed to death in a bikie brawl at Sydney Airport has been gunned down outside his Sydney home.Peter Zervas, the 32-year-old brother of Anthony, was shot three times as he tried to park his car in an underground car park at a Punchbowl Road apartment block in the suburb of Lakemba about 11.45 last night.He had got out of his car to open a mesh security gate allowing entrance to the car park when he was shot.He was treated by ambulance officers and taken to St George Hospital in a critical condition.As of 4am he was being operated on but was in a stable condition."A 32-year-old-man stopped his motor vehicle in the driveway of a unit block ... a number of shots were then fired, hitting the man," Campsie local area commander, Superintendent Paul Lennon, said."Another man was seen ... running from the unit block."
That man was described as being about 175 centimetres tall, of large, muscular build, with collar-length dark hair and wearing dark jeans and a dark, long-sleeved jacket.He was seen running across Punchbowl Road after the shooting."A [white] motor vehicle ... had to sound its horn to avoid colliding with the gentleman running across the road."Police want to speak to both the driver of the white car and the man who ran across Punchbowl Road.
It is not yet known whether another motorcycle club is responsible for the shooting.The shooting comes only two days after Peter Zervas, along with family and members of the Hells Angels and Bandidos, buried his brother.It is also the latest in a string of bikie-related shootings that has swept south western and western Sydney.Both Zervas brothers were involved in a brawl with about 10 Comanchero Motorcycle Club members at Terminal 3 of Sydney's domestic airport on March 2, along with Hells Angels Sydney Chapter president, Derek Wainohu, and other club members.Anthony Zervas was killed after being hit with a metal bollard used in the fight.

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Juan Pablo Gutierrez was one of 23 people who purchased 339 weapons in a 15-month period.

Juan Pablo Gutierrez was one of 23 people who purchased 339 weapons in a 15-month period. At least 40 of these weapons have been recovered in Mexico and three have been found in Guatemala, according to court documents

."He was arming an infantry squad," prosecutor Mark White told U.S. District Judge Gray Miller. "He wasn't just arming local street thugs. This defendant was doing something a lot more serious."

The 24-year-old pleaded guilty in January to eight counts of making false statements to a federal firearms licensee, claiming he was buying the weapons for himself.White said Gutierrez refused to identify his customers.But prosecutors suspect Gutierrez was purchasing the guns for a cousin, and White said Gutierrez has a cousin whose father-in-law is Osiel Cardenas-Guillen. The drug kingpin was extradited in 2007 from Mexico to Texas and is set to be tried in Houston in September.After the court hearing, White declined to say if he knew whether the guns were purchased for Cardenas-Guillen's son-in-law."He's scared of the people that got him into this. That's why he didn't cooperate. He's worried for his family's safety," defense lawyer David Adler said.Gutierrez, who was also fined $7,500, apologized to his family and friends before being sentenced, saying he didn't know where the firearms he bought would end up."I've hurt people who I've never met," he said.
Gutierrez bought 20 weapons from Carter's Country, a chain of four gun stores based in the Houston suburb of Spring, from October 2006 to December 2006. Five of these weapons have been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.

Three of those included two Bushmaster assault rifles that were among an arsenal of weapons seized in April 2007 from a group of 20 suspected kidnappers and drug traffickers in Campeche, Mexico, in the Yucatan Peninsula, and another Bushmaster rifle seized in December 2007 when 11 suspected Zetas — the Gulf cartel's infamous hit men — were arrested in Campeche after assaulting police.

Prosecutors said Gutierrez also bought several FN 5.7 caliber pistols, semiautomatic handguns which can fire armor-piercing bullets and are popular with drug cartels. In all, Gutierrez bought weapons worth more than $17,800. The organization he worked for bought weapons worth more than $366,000.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began investigating in January 2007 after a routine inspection of Carter's Country's records. A worker at Carter's Country declined to make anyone available to comment on the case. The chain was named Houston's "best place to buy guns" by a newspaper in 2006.Adler said guns dealers share culpability for guns going into Mexico."The problem won't be solved until the government focuses on the conduct of gun dealers," he said.
Authorities say that Gutierrez also used a so-called "straw buyer" to buy eight Beretta 9mm handguns. That person later cooperated with authorities.Gutierrez could have been sentenced up to 10 years for each count he faced and fined up to $250,000.John Phillip Hernandez, another member of this organization, pleaded guilty last year to similar charges in the case and is set to be sentenced next month.Authorities say one of the guns Hernandez bought was recovered from a bloody February 2007 daylight shooting in the resort city of Acapulco, where more than a dozen armed assailants staged simultaneous attacks against two police stations, killing five police investigators and two secretaries.On Thursday, a South Texas man who organized a dozen others to buy guns from licensed dealers so that he could smuggle them to Mexico was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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Deputy Marshal Vincent Bustamante Executed in Mexican Town of Executed in Mexican Town of Juarez

US marshal accused of stealing government property has been shot dead execution-style in the lawless Mexican border town of Juarez in the latest murder along the violence-gripped Rio Grande frontier. The body of Deputy Marshal Vincent Bustamante was found with multiple gun wounds to the back of his head, according to Chihuahua state policeThe Mexican government is engaged in an epic war with drug cartels, the unrelenting violence has claimed the lives of thousands of federal troops, police officers, politicians as well as civilians. A favorite pastime of US politicians is to accuse the Mexican government of pervasive and systemic corruption, but we have to give Mexican President Felipe Calderon credit for having the courage to declare war on the drug cartels.The violence has spilled over into American cities along the US-Mexican border, and some Americans blame only Mexico for the drug-inspired violence.
Now that a US Marshal has been killed execution style in the Mexican border town of Juarez some yahoos are demanding that Obama militarize the border. What the "seal the border" crowd fails to mention is that the US Marshall was under investigation by US authorities for theft of US government property. The murder of the crooked US law enforcement official was probably linked to his criminal activity.We can't put all the blame on Mexico for the drug violence, the Mexican drug organization thrive because of the insatiable desire of Americans for illegal drugs. Guns of any kind are very difficult to obtain in Mexico, it's weapons from the US smuggled south across the border that enable the Mexican drug gangs to unleash death and mayhem on the Mexican population. Mexican President Calderon has requested more money from the US to fight the cartels. Obama should immediately send him more aid, considering that the drug gangs would go out of business if it weren't for American guns and American appetite for drugs.

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Tasmanian Outlaw bikies had long been linked to criminal behaviour, including violence, drugs and illegal weapon trading

Outlaw bikies had long been linked to criminal behaviour, including violence, drugs and illegal weapon trading.No doubt some Tasmanian gangs were linked to those interstate, and police must act to ensure violent feuds between rival gangs interstate did not leach into this state."I think these are real issues and I believe we need to be very conscious of what's going on interstate," Mr Dean said."Because of what's happening, police should lift it up to another level where they are watching very closely."We do not want (bikies) coming from the mainland to this state and creating the issues that they have on the mainland."A bikie war exploded in public last Sunday when a 29-year-old man was bashed to death after a brawl between two rival gangs - the Hells Angels and the Comancheros - at Sydney Airport.The attack came hours after the Bandidos bikie gang was involved in a series of drive-by shootings at six homes in Sydney suburbs, sparked by a feud with another club, Notorious.The interstate bikie bloodshed continued on Tuesday when two members of the Rebels were gunned down and killed in Canberra.Last year police raised concerns that Tasmania could become a haven for bikie gangs because of a lack of specific legislation targeting organised crime.A federal joint committee inquiry in Hobart questioned whether Tasmania could be a soft target for gangs moving from other states and heard bikie gangs had been linked with organised crime including drug and gun-trafficking, money-laundering and prostitution.The committee heard Tasmania had five active gangs - including Rebels, Outlaws, Satan's Riders and Devil's Henchmen - with 13 chapter houses and about 230 members.

Mr Dean said Tasmania did not experience the same level of bikie violence as other states but that he had seen regular cases of bikie-related crime during his 35 years in the police force.

"There were times when we had immense problems with bikie gangs," he said.

He said drugs were always a problem and recalled a major raid at Latrobe in which police had to use sledgehammers to gain access to a bikie clubhouse.

Mr Dean did not think huge changes to Tasmania's legislation were needed but that there should be better enforcement of existing laws - including enforcement of fortification legislation introduced two years ago to give police power to close fortified bikie clubhouses.

He said there were some very law-abiding motorcycle groups in the community but there were also outlaw groups with a history of violence and crime.

"As far as I'm aware (Tasmanian bikie-gang activity) has been reasonably quiet in recent times," Mr Dean said.

"But that's not to say it's not going to happen. We do have clubs here and with clubs come some problems."

"And while there's nothing to suggest (Tasmanian bikie gangs) are out of control, we certainly need to keep an eye out ... we don't want to go through what's happening on the mainland."

Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Phil Wilkinson said police already kept a close eye on bikies.

"The activity of all the clubs is monitored by Tasmania Police," he said.

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Crispin Borunda raiders overpowered guards and made off with Borunda.

Dozen men armed with automatic rifles raided a Chihuahua City hospital where Crispin Borunda, a suspected drug smuggler, had been transferred from a local prison for treatment of a heart ailment, said a spokesman for state prosecutors.The raiders overpowered guards and made off with Borunda.The prison's warden and 16 others, including guards and doctors, have been suspended and are under investigation for helping Borunda escape, the spokesman said.
Gangland killings have become commonplace in Chihuahua despite a crackdown on drug cartels by police and soldiers, and the escape was just the latest embarrassment to Mexican law enforcement.
Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, snuck out of a high-security jail in a laundry van in 2001 and now presides over one of the country's most deadly organizations, the Sinaloa cartel.

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Keith Ennis 29-year-old drug dealer found dead in a Dutch canal last month, and only identified last week, was tortured before he was stabbed to death

Keith Ennis 29-year-old drug dealer found dead in a Dutch canal last month, and only identified last week, was tortured before he was stabbed to death and his dismembered body parts put into refuse sacks. The torso of Keith Ennis showed signs of stab and slash marks. Ennis, of Oakway, Clondalkin, is believed to have been murdered by a Dublin gangster who has killed at least six men.
Ennis fled the Republic while on bail after being charged with possession of cocaine and a Glock pistol in November 2007. Two days after his arrest gardai raided a warehouse in Ballymount Industrial Estate and seized five pistols and nine kilos of cocaine. Two men were arrested at the scene. Ennis was an associate of a Dublin drugs gang controlled by former members of the republican terror group, the Irish National Liberation Army. The gang has close links with former Irish drug dealers now based in the Netherlands who are believed to have tracked down Ennis.The murder is the 11th killing involving Dublin gangs this year. So far all remain unsolved though gardai in the Kevin Street District have sent files to the Director of Public Prosecutions over the murder of "Champagne" Johnny Carroll shot dead in a pub in The Coombe on February 18. More than 20 people have been arrested in relation to that murder and last week gardai arrested and questioned a 61-year-old man related to the prime suspect.Keith Ennis was identified by fingerprints sent by Dutch police to Garda headquarters last week. The body had been dismembered the first time this has happened in a gangland killing.
A bail hearing at Dublin District Court heard that Ennis sold a business in 2006 and intended buying a trucking company. His partner was three months pregnant at the time he appeared in court.
Ennis was granted bail on a surety of €20,000 and on condition that he sign on twice daily at Clondalkin Garda station and observe a curfew. He fled shortly afterwards. His family was notified of his death on Thursday.The gang responsible for the murder is one of the most violent in Dublin and carried out the double murder of Darren Carey, 20, and Patrick Murray, 19, whose bodies were recovered from the Grand Canal on New Year's Day in 2000. It is believed the pair were killed after they stole cocaine worth €30,000 from the gang.
Ennis was arrested in November 2007 after he was recognized by gardai in Pearse Street station. He was carrying €23,000 in cash. When gardai raided his house they found the pistol and cocaine valued at €2,000.The gardai also found documents relating to the warehouse in Ballymount where they discovered the cocaine and five guns.The other gangland killings this year are: The January 8 murders of Michael "Roly" Cronin, 35, and James Moloney, 26, as they sat in a car in Summerhill in the north inner city; Stephen O'Halloran, 20, in Tallaght on January 19; Graham Nally, 35, in Finglas on January 20; Richard Keogh, 30, from Cabra, on January 24 in Spain; Michael Hendrick, 36, in Clondalkin on February 9; John Carroll, 33, in the south inner city on February 12; Michael Murray, 41, in Finglas on March 4; Seamus O'Byrne, 27, in Tallaght on March 12 and Liam Murray, 41, in Rathfarnham on St Patrick's Day.

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Alexis Aguilar fatally shot a man in the back on March 4, 2007, after confronting him in Acosta Plaza.

Alexis Aguilar fatally shot a man in the back on March 4, 2007, after confronting him in Acosta Plaza. Authorities said the man was walking with his 10-year-old son and was shot in the back as he tried to run away.Judge Timothy Roberts, who presided over both of the defendant’s jury trials, sentenced Aguilar to six years for the gang charge with use of a firearm, one life term for first-degree murder and one life term for the use of a firearm causing death.
Aguilar will not be eligible for parole until he has served 56 years.The victim's family was present and the father of the victim addressed the court. On behalf of his family, the father expressed his great sorrow and sadness over the brutal slaying of his son.

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Sex Money Murder Sentenced David J. Garmon, 24, of Seminole Trail, to serve 13 years before being eligible for parole.

Sentenced David J. Garmon, 24, of Seminole Trail, to the term that will require him to serve 13 years before being eligible for parole. The sentence was negotiated as part of Garmon's plea deal on charges filed by both the state Attorney General's Office and the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. Garmon told the judge he would get a new lawyer and appeal. In December, he pleaded guilty to weapon and drug charges stemming from an investigation into the Sex Money Murder set of the Bloods street gang, authorities said. It was part of a broader investigation by the New Jersey State Police Organized Crime Control Bureau - Street Gangs Central Unit and the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau into the criminal activities of the Sex Money Murder set. As a result of the investigation, detectives stopped a vehicle in which Garmon was a passenger on Feb. 27, 2008, and Garmon was arrested on outstanding warrants. He was found to be in possession of a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun.Garmon was convicted of aggravated assault in 2004 in Burlington County and therefore was prohibited as a felon from possessing a gun. On Aug. 8, 2008, members of the Pemberton Township Police Department, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Narcotics Task Force and the State Police Teams "C" Unit executed search warrants in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township at homes on Trenton Road and Seminole Trail. Garmon and Rhasaun Conover, 27, of Trenton were arrested in the raids. Officers seized drugs, cash, handguns, a stun gun, ammunition, a digital scale and drug paraphernalia during the raids. At the time, police described both as gang members.
Deputy Attorney General Philip S. Aronow told the judge Garmon continued to rack up charges while out on bail. "On each occasion that he was released, he was able to get a new weapon," he said. "Clearly, he's a danger to the community."
Over the past year, several reported members of Sex Money Murder have been arrested and prosecuted, resulting in convictions with lengthy prison sentence for some ranking members."This case is an excellent example of how we are operating throughout the state, working together across all levels of law enforcement to target street gangs and individuals who bring guns and drugs into our communities," said Attorney General Anne Milgram. "This defendant will be going to prison for a long time."

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Kevin Gary was arrested and charged with gang conspiracy,he was a member of a local Bloods gang called Tree Top Piru

Kevin Gary was arrested and charged with gang conspiracy,he was a member of a local Bloods gang called Tree Top Piru, known for his signature red contact lenses and for dealing drugs, according to a statement of facts he signed as part of his January guilty plea agreement.On Friday, during an emotionally charged hearing, he was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.Gary's family and friends asked to be heard, passing a microphone through the courtroom, outlining his acts of kindness. They knew Gary as the young man who took neighborhood children to the swimming pool and volunteered at the Rose Street Community Center. They didn't know the "monster" portrayed in court."They see past the bandanna, past the red contacts … past all of that. They just see me," Gary, 27, said to the judge. "[The prosecutor] spilled everything I did wrong, so my family spilled everything I did right."Gary was once held up as the face of gang life in Maryland, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason M. Weinstein said, referring to a 2007 Baltimore Sun story in which Gary said gangs are unfairly portrayed and that they give youth structure and uplift the community."Nothing could be further from the truth," Weinstein said. "If [kids] follow in those footsteps, those footsteps will lead right here."In his January plea agreement, Gary admitted witness intimidation, ordering gang members to rob drug dealers and unsuccessfully arranging a murder. But that's not the Gary his supporters described.Clayton Guyton, director of the Rose Street Community Center, said Gary was someone who cared deeply about his neighborhood and worked to make it a safer place. He bought school supplies for children and spoke to church youth groups, his mother said. He was "just a kid who made a mistake," his father said.They saw him as a victim of the system, someone who never had a chance."The anger is understandable because this is someone they love, and he's getting ready to go to jail for a long time," said U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles.But Gary has a duty to strike down their belief that "their government is railroading them," the judge added. "Mr. Gary has some responsibility to them to [help] them understand the truth."

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