Sunday 29 July 2012

NYPD detective suspended after kidnapping victim found in his garage

17-year veteran of the New York Police Department has been suspended without pay after a kidnapping victim was found tied up in his garage. The New York Post reports Ondre Johnson, a detective with the Brooklyn north gang unit, was being questioned in connection with the incident and was forced to surrender his gun and badge. A source tells the Post the 25-year-old victim was snatched off the street on July 26. The victim's friends then got calls demanding $75,000 for the victim's release. The call was traced to Johnson's home, MyFoxNY.com reports. When authorities arrived Friday afternoon, Johnson answered the door and identified himself as a detective with the NYPD. Investigators then found the victim tied up in the garage. Four men have been charged in the apparent kidnapping scheme, MyFoxNY.com reports. 30-year-old Hakeem Clark, who lives in the same building as Johnson, was charged with kidnapping and weapons possession along with 27-year-old Jason Hutson and 27-year-old James Gayle. 24-year-old Alfredo Haughton was charged with kidnapping.

Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson is back on the streets

Jamie “Iceman” Stevenson is back on the streets – less than halfway through his prison sentence for laundering £1million of drugs cash. Scotland’s most powerful mobster has been enjoying meals at expensive restaurants and socialising with pals after being allowed home for a week each month. Stevenson – who was also accused of shooting dead his best friend in an underworld hit – was put behind bars in September 2006 when he was arrested after a four-year surveillance operation by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. He was later sentenced to 12 years and nine months for money laundering. But, we can reveal, he is now allowed out of Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee – just five years and 10 months later. A source said: “He seems determined to show his face all around town to deliver the message that he’s back and, as far as he’s concerned, nothing has changed. “A lot of people are surprised that he’s being allowed out so early. Some are not too pleased about it for a number of reasons.” Stevenson, 47, has been spotted at Bothwell Bar & Brasserie, which is run by his friend Stewart Gilmore. He and his cronies have also dined at upmarket Italian restaurant Il Pavone in Glasgow’s Princes Square shopping centre. And Stevenson has joined friends at various other restaurants and hotels, including Glasgow’s Hilton Garden Inn. A Sunday Mail investigation can today reveal that the Parole Board for Scotland could recommend Stevenson’s total freedom as early as February next year. However, the final decision on his release will rest with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. Yesterday, Labour justice spokesman Lewis Macdonald said: “I’m surprised to hear this and that anyone in these circumstances should get out of jail before the halfway point of their sentence – far less so when the conviction is of someone involved in organised crime. “The only circumstances where that would be conceivable would be if someone completely changed their lifestyle. But even then that should not be before they’ve served half their sentence. “I’m sure the victims of these crimes – and with drugs there are direct and indirect victims – will also be surprised at this.” To prepare Stevenson for his release, prison bosses have allowed him to stay a full week each month at his modest flat in Burnside, near Glasgow. On Friday, we watched him leaving the property with his wife Caroline and driving off in a silver Audi. A prison service insider said: “The Parole Board expect the prison authorities to have allowed home visits to test suitability for release ahead of the first eligible parole date. In Stevenson’s case, that’s next February. “There are conditions attached which vary but usually include the obvious ones like not mixing with other criminals and staying only at the designated address. “For prisoners sentenced to more than 10 years, the Parole Board make their recommendations to the Justice Secretary, who then decides whether to release on licence. “Stevenson is trying to keep his nose clean to convince the Parole Board that he poses no threat to society. “But, given his high profile and significance, it’s inevitable that the authorities will be careful before making any final decision.” Stevenson headed a global smuggling gang with a multi-million-pound turnover when he was brought down by the SCDEA’s Operation Folklore, which seized £61million of drugs. He faced drug and money laundering charges along with eight other suspects, including his 53-year-old wife. But his lawyers struck a deal with the Crown Office to admit money laundering in exchange for his wife’s freedom and the drugs charges being dropped. Stevenson’s stepson Gerry Carbin Jr, 32, was also jailed – for five years and six months – but was freed in 2010. Stevenson was previously arrested for the murder of Tony McGovern, 35, who was gunned down in Glasgow’s Springburn in 2000. But prosecutors dropped the case through lack of evidence. A gangland source said: “He does not fear any kind of reprisal from Tony’s brothers, nor does he regard any other criminals in Scotland as a threat or even as rivals. He did not fear any other operation in Scotland before he was jailed. Why would he now?” Two years ago, the Sunday Mail exposed a backdoor deal when the Crown handed back Stevenson’s £300,000 watch collection, which had been seized under proceeds of crime of legislation. Last June, he was sent back to high-security Shotts jail in Lanarkshire from an open prison after a major SCDEA drugs probe, Operation Chilon. Detectives believed that the gang they investigated was controlled by Stevenson. Haulage firm boss Charles McAughey’s home was one of 11 targeted in raids. In 2009, we revealed that French police had found 684kg of pure cocaine worth £31million in a lorry owned by McAughey. Chilon resulted in the SCDEA seizing 242kg of cannabis worth £1.21million and the jailing of three men for a combined 15 years.

Saturday 28 July 2012

Tulisa's Friend, 21, Shot Dead In Gangland Hit

Reece James, 21, a close friend of Tulisa Contostavlos has been shot dead in a reported gangland attack. The 21-year-old, who appeared with Tulisa in a video for rapper Nines, was shot in the head in a "pre-planned and targeted" hit, 100 miles from his home in London, reports the UK's Sun newspaper. Police found James' body in Boscombe, Bournemouth, at around 2.30am near where Somali drug gangs are said operate. A 22-year-old man was arrested. Reece was said to have been in the area with some friends for "a couple of months", though had filmed the video earlier this month with Tulisa and rapper Nines on the Church End Estate in Harlesden, North West London. The former N Dubz star caused controversy at the time, making a "C" symbol to the camera - the same sign that is used by Harlesden's notorious Church Road Soldiers gang. Tulisa claimed it was a reference to Camden, where she was born. Twitter tributes began flooding in last night, with one user writing, "RIP Reece James. Thoughts are with him and his family and friends". Local MP Tobias Ellwood described the killing as "a spill over from the drugs turf war in the capital", adding, "This was one London gang chasing down another, carrying out a professional hit and then going back".

Wednesday 4 July 2012

DRUG lord Tony Mokbel has been jailed for at least 22 years on a string of drug trafficking charges.


Tony Mokbel

Drug lord Tony Mokbel arrives at the Supreme Court in Melbourne for sentencing over trafficking charges. Picture: Trevor Pinder

Mokbel will serve the time after pleading guilty to trafficking large commercial quantities of methylamphetamine and ecstasy, and inciting an undercover policeman to import ecstasy.

The thinned-down drug tsar - once dubbed "Fat Tony'' - showed no emotion in a Supreme Court dock yesterday as Justice Simon Whelan sentenced him to a maximum 30 years' jail with a 22 year minimum, minus time served.

The sentence related to three separate police operations, codenamed Magnum, Quills and Orbital.

"You conducted yourself as the manager," Justice Whelan said today.

"Ultimately you determined what was to be done (by your drug syndicate)."

Justice Whelan said Mokbel coordinated the criminal enterprise and demanded respect and loyalty from his associates.

"Drug dealing was your business. It was your area of expertise. It was your career."

Justice Whelan said things hasn't turned out as Mokbel had planned.

The judge said he took into account Mokbel's guilty pleas and health issues.

Today's sentence shuts the door on one of the longest-running sagas Victoria's criminal justice system has seen.

At Mokbel’s eventual plea hearing in May this year, prosecutor Peter Kidd, SC, called for a maximum sentence of 26-29 years with a minimum of 20-23.

"This is not the case of a man who had a lapse of judgment or momentarily fell into criminality,'' Mr Kidd said.

"It's quite the opposite.''

Mr Kidd said Mokbel ran his monster drug empire as if it were a legitimate business.

He described Mokbel, now 46, as "the principal'' who "orchestrated its operations''.

Mokbel had continued to run his syndicate, known as "The Company'', while a fugitive in Greece after skipping Australia in 2006 while facing cocaine smuggling charges.

Defence counsel Peter Faris, QC, told the plea hearing in May that while a minimum of 20-23 years had been accepted by the Crown on the back of a guilty plea, Mokbel had suffered a heart attack that shortened his life expectancy.

Justice Whelan noted a doctor's report that suggested Mokbel had a life expectancy of a further 24 years.

Mokbel suffered the mild heart attack in February and had a stent inserted into a blocked artery.

The pre-sentence hearing was told that Mokbel was now a reformed man with excellent prospects of rehabilitation.

"Dealing in drugs was definitely wrong,'' he had told a forensic psychologist while in jail.

"It causes damage to a lot of people, creates headaches and violence in people's lives.

"It puts good people in awful places. Kids in vulnerable positions.''

Today's sentence brings the police informer who dobbed in Mokbel one step closer to Victoria's first $1 million reward.

Codenamed 3030, the drug dealer turned on Mokbel and other members of The Company.

Information provided by 3030 resulted in multiple arrests of members of The Company, including Mokbel in Greece on June 5, 2007.

A decision on the reward is expected to come after Mokbel's 28-day appeal period ends.

Last minute wrangling

In the last of submissions made during the long-running drug case, Mokbel’s defence team this morning confirmed that an affidavit had been filed clarifying Mokbel’s “run-out” time from his Barwon Prison cell.

He gets exactly 6.46 hours per day, on average, the Supreme Court was told.

During discussions about sentencing considerations, Justice Simon Whelan described Mokbel’s large scale trafficking, the fact he absconded overseas and then continued to run his syndicate as a fugitive as “just unbelievable, really”.

“I can’t find any comparable case, can you?” he asked Crown prosecutor Peter Kidd, SC.

During discussion about comparable sentences, Justice Whelan described Mokbel as “the leader” who was at the “apex” of the drug operation.

Justice Whelan also flagged that he was going to fix a minimum term.

There was also brief discussion about state and federal sentencing regimes.

“It’s a minefield, Your Honour,” defence counsel Mark Gumbleton conceded.

How Mokbel finally faced justice

The man who sparked one of the nation's biggest manhunts, when he skipped bail in 2006 and went into hiding in Greece, walked into the Supreme Court this morning to learn his fate.

As one of the country's most prolific illicit drug makers, Mokbel was facing seven different trials over his vast amphetamine manufacturing empire when he struck a plea deal with prosecutors last year.

The deal saw all but three of the drug cases dropped in return for the former millionaire property developer's guilty pleas.

And the prosecution agreed that they'd ask for a minimum term in the 20-23 year range for the crimes, some of which carry maximum life terms and involved millions of dollars worth of drugs.

They had urged Justice Whelan to jail Mokbel, 46, for up to 29 years.

But the striking of the agreement in April last year did little to ease the court process.

Mokbel attempted to renege on the bargain and change his pleas late last year amid the affidavit controversy that swept Victorian law enforcement.

Police had routinely been simply signing affidavits used to get warrants to search properties or wire tap suspects.

They were required to swear an oath or affirmation as well as signing the documents.

Police involved in some of Mokbel's drug investigations were among those who failed to swear the oath. Legislation was rushed through Parliament to legitimize the wrongly sworn affidavits.

But Mokbel's bid to change his pleas had failed anyway, with Justice Whelan saying Mokbel had not shown it would be a miscarriage of justice if he were not allowed to contest offences he had already admitted to committing.

Justice Whelan was told that Mokbel may not live as long since his heart attack, and his lawyers urged the judge to give him a lesser term.

A psychologist also said Mokbel had seen the error of his ways and wanted to make amends, offering an apology to those he had hurt including the women in his life.

Those include former wife Carmel, mother of two of Mokbel's children; mother Lora; and ex-flame Danielle McGuire, who fled with him to Greece.

Their daughter Renate, named after Mokbel's sister-in-law Renee, was born while the couple hid from the law. .

She was jailed after putting up the $1 million bail surety that had to be forfeited when he disappeared. She couldn't pay, since the property she used as the surety wasn't hers.

Mokbel is already serving at least nine years for cocaine smuggling, and was acquitted by a jury of ordering the murder of gangland patriarch Lewis Moran. A charge over another underworld murder, that of Michael Marshall in South Yarra in 2003, was dropped.

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